After doing a little spring cleaning on this blog a couple weeks ago, I rediscovered, and then realized that it's been quite some time since I last looked at my 101 in 1001 list. And while I pride myself in being a 'doer,' and feel as though I might as well conquer the world after crossing off a few 'to dos' from my list, this is one list that's become a beacon of procrastination for me. In fact, I am roughly half of the way through my 1001 days and have crossed a mere FIFTEEN items off this list! Quite pathetic, I know.
I first thought that maybe I had changed in 18 months; that the bucket list items I chose to conquer had indeed evolved and been replaced by new desires and interests. Looking back at the list, however, I realized that many of them are more about the process than the final product. Because for every three hour nap Cruz has taken in his crib the past year, there has been a week or two that went south. And although that Lazy Susan in my kitchen has been organized and reorganized about a million times since I first wrote that list, it's been 'Cruz'ed' since then. And the losing a few pounds thing??? In a way, I feel I'm jinxing myself by crossing them off the list!
So, here is my update and my wake-up call. I have made progress and look forward to planning some deliberate excursions to flea markets, beaches, and baseball stadiums in the 18-month future!
13. Finish Cruz's baby book.
This has been quite the process, but I thankfully finished Cruz's book just in time for his first birthday party. Since I take way too many pictures to organize and print, I get pretty overwhelmed when it comes to displaying my favorites in one, tangible place. This blog is a baby book of sorts, and I did write Cruz's stats and tape a few pics in a traditional baby book (modern day technology hasn't quite developed a way to stick locks from that first haircut via the big wide web).
In addition to uploading my plethora of pictures on my home computer, I also upload them to three different photo sharing sites, each, with a different purpose. I use Photobucket for the instant share via my blog, Porter's Camera (a local place) for high quality prints, and Shutterfly for this book. I've used their simple photo book program in the past for gifts and ways to document trips, and was halfway through Cruz's first year book when they completely revamped their program. Their digital scrapbook templates and the freedom they offer to either choose one of their templates or completely create your own works well for this project. I use the max. pages it allows, 100, and try to spread the 100 pages out through 12 months (even though I always take more pictures in the summer months). My goal is to complete two pages each week, ending with enough time to edit, order, and have here by each birthday. That means each new book begins with the next year's birthday party.
As I said, some of the pages take me an hour to design, while some take ten minutes. This makes it doable. The book is 12x12 with a hard photo cover and thick binding. It's durable and very high quality, and serves as a wonderful memento of my favorite images and memories from year one. Cruz loves looking at it, too, and I can't wait to build his own little collection of unique memories of his life.