The End is in Sight!

This title seems to be fitting in a number of ways today...

- I finally got ALL my digital files finished, uploaded & ordered for my December Daily album (and the first half of January Project Life 2011)...can I please get a big YIPPEE-YI-YAY! (and even better - they should arrive by the end of the week)

- the last week of classes in Semester 1 has arrived, then final exams, then bring on Semester 2!

- Mr. B has surrived 3 days of the stomach flu...hopefully he is on the mend

- only 1 month until our next holiday - February break :)

Sometimes January seems like such a "down" month. The hustle & bustle of the holiday season screeches to a halt, the cold weather seems to settle in and spring seems far, far away. This year, I am finding January to be a great month - I am enjoying it far more than I usually do - and it is speeding on by.  I am attributing this in part to all the projects I have on the go and feel really enthusiastic about, in part to the goal setting I have taken on (and making choices to prioritize things each day). Today, I made a conscious decision to spend and enjoy some quality time with my little boy. Of course, this is always my intention, but I usually have a to-do list of at least 10 items long on any given weekend day that I feel I HAVE to get done...and my frustration levels rise significantly if Mr. B does not feel like cooperating. Today, I let the to-do list take a back seat. I must say the change in perspective that choice gave me made a world of difference to the overall tone of my day. I did not get frustrated or upset at Mr. B once! I did manage to get some laundry done, and some vacuuming done as well. The house is not clean by a long shot, the schoolwork is not done, but today I am not concerned by this. We enjoyed our day together so, so much. Today, I have a happy heart.

So as not to keep you completely in suspense, here are a few more "peeks" at my December Daily album (I don't anticipate having time to completely finish the album before the February break):

As you can see, there is a real "mish-mash" going on...
- the single photos will be attached in a "traditional" manner to the daily, overlay pages
- the collages are 6x8 and will form the 2nd page of a 2-page spread (I did not do collages for every day)
- some journalling I have included digitally as either part of a collage or as an overlay on a photo, some journalling I have done digitally but will print out separately & add to the overlay pages (or collage pages), and some journalling will be done by hand once the album gets assembled
- I did not get hung up on my pictures being of the "best" quality - I had lots of pics where I wasn't completely satisfied by the colour balance, degree of sharpness, composition, etc - but wanted to include them anyways because of the memories they will help us cherish

I had wanted this project to be less time intensive than it has become, but due to the vision of the end product (that I have stuck to the entire duration without wavering in indecision once...kind of a big milestone for me!) I am just plodding along, and am very determined to get it FINIHSED!

The end is in sight...