since we're on the topic of my orderly nature...

I consider myself a semi-chronological scrapbooker. Most of the time I scrap whatever inspires me and don't worry about scrapping the photos that are "next." However, I do arrange my albums in chronological order. I like it that way; it makes me happy.

To further give order to my albums I do a calendar page for each month. These calendar layouts serve multiple purposes.
1.) They are an introduction to that section of the album.
2.) The calendars are a good representation of what when on in our lives for that month. (at least, when I fill them out in a timely manner and don't try to do 7 months at a time) I end up preserving lots of information and tidbits that would get lost otherwise. I might not do a page about how crazy busy I was this past April (and every April, for that matter!), but it will be quite obvious after one glance at the April calendar.
3.) Doing these gives me permission to leave things out of the rest of my album. It's recorded. I don't have to do a layout about it if I don't want to.
4.) The left page can be about a specific topic (like the July layout which focuses on my work at UNT), can be some photos I liked but didn't want to create a whole page for (like the June layout with some photos of me on my birthday), or can contain little bits and pieces of our life that month (like the March layout). It's extremely versatile and helps me get everything I want to include into my albums.

I created a calendar template in Microsoft Excel and just "save as" for each new month and fill in the info. It stays stored in my files until I'm ready to scrap it, which is good because I would never be able to fill these out if I waited. I'm all about simplicity in my scrapbooking, so I haven't altered the format much over the past years. I've seen other people do calendars on their layouts with individual cardstock squares for each day and it looked really cute, but it's just a little too time consuming for me. Plus, I like consistency. I'm just like that.

Even if you only do one, consider trying out a calendar page layout to get a lot of info into a single layout.





BTW, my original blog title was going to be "since we're on the topic of my Type A-ness," but after reading it I reconsidered. I'm a lady, after all. (Just not enough of one to make it stop me from sharing my inadvertent potty humor with the world.)

list maker extraordinaire

If you haven't figured it out by now, I have a rather type-A personality. I over analyze just about everything, I like things lined up and in order, and I like lists. Lots of lists. Surprisingly, I haven't created a list of things to blog about...yet.

do you like free stuff?

The Scrappy Shack is doing a giveaway. Go tell them which of their die cut designs is your favorite and maybe you'll be a winner! (My favorites are the die cut flourish frames ).

breaking the habit

...my Making Memories kraft patterned paper habit, that is. Look! I actually did some layouts without my security blanket, I mean, go-to patterned paper!

we're so cute together

Aren't we so cute together? Thanks to my friend Michelle for capturing these fun photos of us, especially since I made her stand on a 12-foot ladder to take them! (and yes, there's that Making Memories kraft patterned paper again. I think I need an intervention.)

wait...I can explain

What's behind my sudden disappearance? Basically, April. The end of the school year in Housing is absolutely crazy. We warn new employees, but I don't think they really understand until they've experienced it.

Here's my last 34 days in numbers:
1 birthday party
1 meal brought to a coworker who is a new mom
1 tri-org picnic
1 HOST (desk clerk) training/retreat day
1 call to 911 for a desk clerk who injured her knee at the retreat
1 bridal shower
2 Mother's Day gifts made
2 weddings
2 trips out of town
2 Midlevel lunches
2 apartment walkthroughs
3 trips to WalMart for work purchases
3 trips planned for employees' travel to conferences
4 wogs (walking/jogging around the neighborhood)
4 scrapbook layouts completed
5 hall director staff meetings
6 trips to the gym to work out
6 awards ceremonies
7 days on call
7 trips to local vendors to order and pick up awards
11 loads of laundry, 6 of which took a week and a half to finish
13 7:45 am visits to other halls to take desk clerk photos
16+ hours spent in meetings with the Midlevel Management team
17 group photos taken of hall staffs and other work teams
19 hall director selection files compiled and reviewed

Thankfully, Keith is amazing, completely understanding, and never once complained about how few actual dinners we got to eat together. I'm finally getting back into my groove--the house is picked up again, we have food in the fridge and menus planned out for the week, I have more energy, and I have some serious scrapping time planned out for this long weekend. I'll post some stuff soon!