mucho progress and new goal

This, my friends, is one year's worth of scrapbook progress:



This is 223 of my 240 goal for the year. I will reach my goal most likely at the November crop in a few weeks. 223 pages. This pile stands 9 inches tall. This is the most pages I have completed in one year since I've begun scrapping. I'm thrilled!

What are my thoughts on the year?

I feel as though I have completely delved into my style, embraced what I like and discarded what I don't want or need. I feel as though I have stretched a bit and have paired certain things that aren't necessarily matchy-matchy but still ended up working in the end. Sometimes quite well! I also feel like I have loosened up quite a bit on stressing over the layout, debating should I do this, should I do that...all that indecision just takes up so much time, and working so fast really helped me to just go with my instinct and not worry so much.

Very happy with 2009.

Over the weekend, I had an idea about what I'd like to concentrate on in 2010. A new goal, if you will. 2010 will have a focus on journaling. Real journaling. More stories and not as much fluff.

Currently, journaling is more of an afterthought for me. If I've incorporated a journal tag, I come up with something little to write and move on. It's all positive and rosy and paints a picture of one aspect of our life.

In 2010, I want to focus on more "real" journaling. I want to give words more of a thought in the planning process, so that I tell more stories, remember more, invite more levels of our life together into the memory process. Trials of a teenage girl...trials of parents with a teenage girl...things about my relationship with my dad...ways we've changed and grown as individuals and as a family. Not just details of an event but stories from the event. More depth. More levels.

I am excited to see what comes of this...

For now, for the rest of 2009, I have seventeen more layouts to accomplish. Piece-o-cake...