When I Say I Have Heavily Scrapbooked And Photo Albumed My Life (And Bri's Life), I Truly Mean It

I am beginning to realize I have an addictive personality. When I go all in on something, I am all in - and I cannot stop. This includes chronicling my life and my child's life. Yes, it's a problem. At least it is an organized problem.

 

In my last post, I said I started creating albums in high school, but I was wrong. I started all of this either late elementary school or junior high. I have an album with pictures and mementos from elementary school, so I don't remember if I put it together in elementary school or right afterward. But it is fun to look back and see how young I was (and my friends).

 

I have been putting my life into books for 40 years. 

 

My first album...

 

Look at my before and after braces pictures. I got them on when I was nine and off at eleven. And behind me in the latter picture is a poster of Van Halen on my orthodontist's wall - boy that ages me...

 

High school and college scrapbooks...

I also recently started organizing mementos and memories from those early days that I had in boxes and bags and put them into albums as well...

 

These are all stored in my hope chest in my office...

 

 Then I really started to document my life. All of the albums here (from being engaged to Doug up until Briana came home and I started blogging) are all pre-Bri...

 

 This is the album from when I got engaged to Doug, was preparing to get married and enjoying my wedding shower (in the bottom corners of my books, you will see I started numbering them to remember the order)...

 

A few pages from several of my albums...

 

 I of course have a wedding album (that I did not put together put did choose the photos for)...

 

Now I will move downstairs to another storage chest in the family room where I keep albums and Shutterfly books...

 

My honeymoon album...

 

 

Trips Doug and I took pre-Bri...

Then Briana was about to enter the picture. My baby shower...

 

And that is around the time when I started my blog. I was waiting for my sweet girl. I have had a number of blog books printed out but only got up to age 10. Ordering blog books is stupid expensive, so I haven't completed that task (and I am not sure if I will). Briana doesn't need a baby book because she has all of these...

 

I made albums from our trip to China to meet Briana (each province)...

 

 

I also made a toddler friendly lifebook for Briana for when she had questions. I never made her an actual lifebook, which I regret. I still have all of her paperwork and information - so it's never too late...

 

 

I have made a yearly Shutterfly Briana favorite photos book to give to my mom at Christmastime (I would print copies for myself as well and they are displayed in my living room)...

 

I made books for every single one of Briana's birthday parties...

I made scrapbooks and Shutterfly books for three out of our four Disney trips and our Universal trip...

 

Heading back up to my office, I have another storage chest with albums.

 

It holds the Briana's school and soccer picture albums and also albums with my Christmas cards and favorite Christmas photos...

 

 

And I have an ottoman that hold albums in which I had random photos, important cards, graduation announcements, etc that were either in frames at one time or sitting loose and I decided to put them all in one place for safe keeping...

 

I have portfolios filled with Briana's art...

 

 

I also put together a book that accompanies all the quilt squares that Briana received for her 100 wishes quilt...

 

And finally, this green ottoman is filled with albums I put together for Briana with her memories and mementos from the time she was little (I told her from this point on, she is responsible for putting things in her own books!). When she moves out, this goes with her...

I almost forgot to add Briana's senior year session...

 

I have So. Many. Albums.

 

Too many albums. 

 

And remember, I also have a blog that also holds almost 20 years worth of memories. 

 

 When I am gone one day - people should be able to get an idea of who I was. And who my kid was. I almost wish I could put all of this in a time capsule somewhere that could be opened in a hundred plus years from now so people could see what life looked like for an average middle-class girl/woman in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. 

 

I guess that is what the internet is for though now, right? Hard copies aren't all that necessary anymore. 

 

  I am proud to look back on my life. I definitely have had my share of struggles, but overall when I look at all these albums and books, I realize how good my life actually has been. I've been a lot of places, I've done a lot of cool things, I've been connected to a lot of great people and I have had a number of memorable experiences.

 

I hope Briana will appreciate having all this stuff to look at one day (and that it isn't too overwhelming for her).