A whole month documented, more or less.

This week? It was all about just getting it done. We’ve had a couple of crazy weeks, full of sick kids and meetings and drama and it’s just been exhausting. This week, I didn’t care about coordinating or themes or anything other than just getting it done.

And I still love it.

Lots of journaling directly on the photos – something I did as I pulled photos off the camera during the week. The pictures in the top left and bottom right were collaged in my ancient version of Photoshop…

and on this one, I used a little digital paper file. Not quite sure I like that exact color – I should pick up one of the Project Life digital sets to pull things together a bit more.

This is what I love most about Project Life – my haircut, a Tweet of a Caleb quote and a reminder about an asthma attack. It’s minutia, really, but it’s the sort of stuff I find so interesting.

I love this second page – the reminders that we live in an agricultural area with the kids picking oranges with their Great-Grandpa and chicken eggs from my parent’s house…a spelling test…a really, really big omelette…the firepit at Grandma and Grandpa’s.

This is the stuff of memories.

Still able to get that Week In Review card in – I love that I can jot down a bit more that I want to remember. Also, had to capture our new vaccuum. I don’t think you ever truly realize how bad the old one is until your first run of the new one.

Ick.

A couple of thoughts:

• I’m finally working in some quotes, Tweets and Facebook status updates.
• Also, I’m making a point to work in more memorabilia. Love that Caleb’s spelling test just happened to fit in perfectly. For next week’s, I’ve got my notes from Wednesday night Bible study and one of those cup holders from Whole Foods.
• This week, I’m starting to work on picking a month’s worth of photos for a single layout to catch up these past few years that I haven’t scrapped. Not sure if I’m going to use Project Life protectors or maybe a combination of the Doodlebug ones. I’m thinking easiest would be the 6 4×6 layout.
• I told my Mom recently that I don’t see myself going back to “regular” scrapbooking. This feels so much more natural and organic, and maybe even authentic.

What’s Project Life? It’s a scrapbooking system created by Becky Higgins to simplify memory keeping. Quite simply, it’s awesome.

All of my Project Life posts can be viewed here.

I’ve got a full month of Project Life done now.

It’s so much fun – already – to look through and see what we did even just a few short weeks ago. As I finished up week 4′s layout, I had to sit for a few minutes and flip through the pages. You can see week 4 tomorrow, but here are one, two and three.

And you know what I noticed?

I’m in two pictures in week one.

And not a single one in the other three.

I know, there are weeks that will naturally be more focused on different family members…but I’d still like to try to get at least one picture of each of us every week.

I tend to be a little non-existent in our scrapbooks. I don’t hand over the camera, I usually don’t like my hair or the way I look, and in those rare times I do say cheese…it’s awkward. In the 10 plus  years I’ve been scrapbooking, there are maybe a handful of pages with photos of me on them.

That needs to change.

I’m making the effort – I’m working on a more natural smile (or at least hoping someone catches me in a not-so-ridiculous pose). I’m trying to take the occasional self portrait. I’m realizing that my grandkids won’t care that Grammy Sam was having a bad hair day – they’ll just want to see what I looked like and the things I did.

It’s an effort that’s worth making, even when it means I’m handing over my new D5100 to the 9 year old.

Are you present in your families albums, beyond your journaling voice? Do you struggle with photos of yourself?

I love a good marinade, especially as I’m starting to get that spring and summer itch. While we’re definitely many days from those warmer weather, every chance I get I like to throw something like this together and make dinner just a little bit easier on me…by making my hubby do the cooking at the grill.

And while it’s a great, Asian-inspired (but soy free) marinade for the grill, I’ve also used this with cubed London Broil under the broiler. Veggies are pretty tasty when given a few hours in this marinade, too. Chicken would be a great option, and it could also be a stir-fry sauce if you’d like.

Side note: tamari or soy sauce is a much stronger flavor than coconut aminos, but the aminos really allow the flavor of your meat to shine.

Soy-free Asian Marinade
Makes: enough for meat and veggies for 4

• 3.5 T Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 5 T Raw Coconut Aminos (or 3.5 T. tamari or wheat-free soy sauce, if you’re okay with soy)
• 1 t sea salt
• 1 t ground black pepper
• red pepper flakes to taste
• 2 cloves garlic finely minced
• 1 t ground ginger
• 2 lbs round steak or steak tips cut into 1″ squares (works well with tri tip steaks or flank steak also, though keep them whole)
• lots assorted vegetables cut into somewhat equal sized pieces (mushrooms, onions, zucchini or other squash, broccoli, asparagus – if you can roast it, it works)
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil additional for the vegetables

Just had to share one of my new favorite breakfast sides or snacks – fresh blueberries, coconut flakes, roasted pecans and a splash of coconut milk. And you know what would make it even yummier? A dash of cinnamon. I use cinnamon on a pretty much daily basis in something – my paleo muffin tops, in my mashed butternut squash and I’m working on a spiced coconut milk drinking chocolate that I’m hoping to share soon.

I love the first menu plan of the month – it’s when I’ve done my big Costco trip, we’ve usually hit the big city for Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods, and I find I’m always up to trying some new recipes.

This week, I’ve got a fridge full of produce – including a flowering broccoli-ish something I need to do a little more research on, a great big bag of baby bok choy, several pounds of mushrooms and three heads of napa cabbage.

I see lots of veggies in our future and some stir-fry’s coming for lunch! And, as usual, everything is gluten-free and paleo friendly.

Here’s our dinner plan:

Monday
Marinated Tri Tip Steaks and Roasted Veggies (mushrooms, asparagus, onions)
Zucchini Alfredo
Still working on perfecting the marinade for the tri-tip and veggies – hoping to share next week!

Tuesday
Creamy Chicken and Tomato Soup
Tossed Greens
Paleo Muffin Tops – but a little more savory

Wednesday
Beef with Broccoli (from the Make It Paleo cookbook)
Cauliflower Rice (using the roasted technique in this recipe, and pulsed a little less in the food pro so it’s more riced and less mashed. I’m finding roasting as opposed to steaming to be the way to go for non-mushy cauliflower rice)

Thursday
Red Curry Glazed Chicken Skewers (from Make It Paleo, but doubling the red curry paste for more flavor)
Grilled Veggies – whatever needs to be eaten most!

Friday
Smothered Pork Chops
Roasted Kabocha Squash
Mixed Greens Salad

Saturday
no idea – probably breakfast for supper? maybe paleo waffles?

Sunday
Paleo Chicken and Vegetable Lo Mein

Shared at Org Junkie’s Menu Plan Monday and the Gluten Free Menu Swap at Celiac Family!.

Hmmm…not reality bites as in reality bites…more as in a few quick thoughts…

1. I continue to be excited and amazed by how good I feel when I eat paleo. I’m also surprised that for the first time in my life, I don’t wake up starving.
   Seriously.
   I’ve always woken up with my stomach growing and have had to eat first thing. Now, I wake up and can take care of getting the kids off to school before enjoying a more leisurely breakfast.
   Stable blood sugar is a good thing, friends.
2. I added up a guesstimate of all of the money I’ve spent over the years on Weight Watchers, online programs, diet books, even shots…and it was scary. All along, all  I ever needed more fat, more protein, more vegetables, along with less sugar, no grains, no processed. Real food.
   Good to know.
   And I’ll keep doing all I can to spread the word: you can lose weight and get healthy without counting calories or points, and while eating real food that tastes good.
   Even bacon.
3. I only lost about 3 pounds in January, putting me back at where I was at the end of my Whole 30 (I dove head-first into some not-great holiday eating - trust me, a few pounds gained was nothing compared to how terrible I felt). Kind of disappointing, but I added up the inches I’ve lost in the past two years yesterday.
   48.5.
   In two years, I’ve lost 48.5 inches when I add up the 8 spots I measure.
   Holy cats.
   Nearly 10 inches from my waist alone. And about a third of that has been since I went paleo in September.
   I felt a lot better about that 3 pounds.
4. I stopped my second Whole30 on about day 8 while I was watching my son make his lunch for school: cheese, saltines and an orange. I had a bit of a bit of a lightbulb moment that I need to work on what the rest of the family is eating, and it’s easier to do that if my eating is a little bit looser than what a Whole30 allows. I’m sure I’ll do another one (maybe summer?) but until then, there’s more important work for me to focus on.
5. I’m doing Clean Eats in the Zoo’s 30 Day At-Home Cross Fit Challenge, in addition to a couch to 5 k trainer right now. For the first 3 or 4 months of eating paleo, I didn’t exercise.
   At all.
   I started back to the gym last month, and was just miserable there. I’m finding I really want to be outside and am surprised again by how much I like running. And how much I like strength training, especially my kettlebell workouts.

And a few quick goals for February – and hey, what do you know! They fit in with my 2012 goals too:

• another 3 or 4 pounds and another 2 inches down would be awesome. 5 pounds would be even more awesome, but I know I’m building muscle with these workouts
• 25 workouts – split between the challenge, running and the kettlebell
• keep up with my daily devotional and prayer time

What are your Febrary goals?

On to week 3 – and it’s a very boy heavy one. We finally went back to school after nearly 4 weeks of Christmas break, which means my 5 day a week buddy came back and so did my bigger nephews that I take to school and pick up each day (need to get a picture of that!). We also had another cousin come over to play and a birthday party…so it was a boy week for us.

The first page – now that I look at it, it’s all about obsessions. Caleb’s Halo obsession, our current tv faves, a new running obsession and my nephew’s corndog phase. Who knew?

A couple snaps of the tv screen this week. Easy peasy.

 The second page – a bit about a much needed weather change, a little block about my nephew’s birthday party and pictures of the kid’s school bags (held together in a 4×6 pocket with a few labels).

And smudged. Boo.

This week’s Week in Review card – it ended up on the first page this week and as a 4×6. I’m working hard to make sure they get in each week, but am not going to be too particular about where it ends up.

A couple of thoughts:

• no memorabilia this week – need to work on that, but I’m having trouble choosing to edit photos to make room.
• trying to select one or two colors that work well with the photos to tie things together. I think it worked well this week.
• I’m spending about an hour and a half total on this project – and it seems to be split pretty evenly between choosing and editing photos and putting it together. I’m taking notes each day in Evernote on my iPhone, which is making it so much easier.

And a quick snap of week 4…

Two weeks done and in the book, and I’m still loving it.

With 30 minutes to pick and order photos and plan, and another 45 minutes to put it together, this is the perfect form of scrapbooking for our lives right now. I love that I can be as simple or as elaborate as I want. This week, I really chose to strive for simple – it was our first week back at school after Christmas break and I felt like I was running all week long. Even with all that general craziness, I was able to carve out all the time I needed to come up with a spread I love.

The first page – I didn’t want to add a whole insert for Hanna’s birthday, and putting it all in the same column worked out well. I can see myself doing that again, as space permits and the need is there.

I love the way those bits of memorabilia look, but I really need to work on remembering to keep them.

The second page – more stories. I’m not positive I love typing the journaling or notes directly onto photos, but it saves a bit of space since my handwriting can be big.

Caleb and Tom went for a train ride with Grandpa to the California Railroad Museum in Old Town Sacramento – something definitely worthy of including. I didn’t have any pictures, but Tom did bring home a brochure and their tickets, which  made it easy to put together a little insert.

And that’s why I need to get better at keeping memorabilia!

This week’s Week in Review card – I was hoping last week to be able to include these every week. Not sure that I can, but I love that I can jot down other little bits and pieces of our week.

I still haven’t gotten around to having the kids journal…I still don’t know if I like rounded corners or squared…I’m still fighting with myself over which stories get told…I still haven’t added in any Facebook status updates or tweets or texts…and I still want more journaling.

But…

this week is done.

I did learn more about what I like and what I don’t.

I learned that super simple is okay.

I learned that each and every week has a different story to tell, and it’s okay to let some stories wait.

And I’m loving the process.

Links:

• Week 1
• Becky Higgin’s Project Life Products