going to think I’m so strange but I actually find joy in creating new systems for organizing our life. Some of you think we’re uber organized and we’re not… you just see the parts of our lives that are “put together”. Yes, I labeled the shelves in our pantry… but I have an attic room that looks like a bomb went off in it! We’re not perfect…. and we’ll never be perfect… but we CAN be organized to some degree! I haven’t completely mastered this area of organization yet but I’m getting closer to really having a system that works. I obviously love photography… which means that I love having pictures of my family and our life.
The hard part is that the pictures that I take for my family never get edited. They get uploaded but those raw files just sit there. So this past year I decided to get better at my managing my personal images.
Michael and I are in a season of life where we have the opportunity and freedom to travel. We realize life won’t always look like this and so we’re taking advantage of it while we can!! … And we want to REMEMBER our adventures!! So this past year I have made it a priority to make Blurb Books of our big adventures! Blurp is just an great option for printing your own hardback books! There are a lot of other options out there! I may try Artifact Uprising for a personal book down the road just for fun! We’ll see! The beauty of designing these books is that they capture our adventures and we’ll keep them forever! My goal at the end of my life is to have a massive library of our adventure books…. well maybe just a few bookshelves. A library was a little over the top. :)
So far, I’ve documented Bokeh’s first year, Our Honeymoon, Our RV Vacation, Our House Building Adventure and our Hawaiian Vacation. I love the 12×12 books because they are huge and their full spread pages are beautiful!!! I also love that they look awesome in our coffee table! We bought THIS coffee table from IKEA and we love it!! Everyone loves it and compliments it because it’s great for entertaining. When we’re hanging out in the living room for an extended period of time, someone always ends up pulling out a book or two!!
Every time a new book is printed, the more I want to make another one! I just feel so accomplished having images printed and saved this way!! Now, you have to understand that this type of stuff is FUN for me! I enjoyed designing these books! If you don’t enjoy designing albums, I can totally understand why you may be rolling your eyes right now. Here’s a thought, someone should start a business offering to design people’s vacation albums!!!! Seriously! SO many people would pay for that! Tangent. Anyway… enjoy this little peek into how we are starting to store personal photos! My goal from now on is to still make books for our big adventures but to also print a “Yearbook” of our life every year!! (We’ll see if I can actually make that happen!!!:) Happy Monday!
Thanks for reading!
— Katelyn
MORE RECENT POSTS
This week, Michael is sitting down with me at the microphone to join me on the podcast! When we started our Acton Academy journey, we had big dreams and very little idea of the practical challenges that lay ahead. Today, in year three of running our own Acton Academy, Michael and I are thrilled to reflect on the incredible transformation we’ve seen in our learners, our community, and even our own perspectives on education.
I had the pleasure of chatting with Erica and Jon, two incredibly talented photographers and educators who have redefined their business and life by embracing change. From leaving a corporate career to transforming their wedding photography business into a thriving brand photography venture, their story is full of inspiration for anyone looking to take bold steps and live life on their own terms.
I run a Facebook group with over 20,000 photographers, and something I see constantly are people sharing their editing struggles, asking for critiques, or seeking advice on how to fix issues in Lightroom.
This is going to go down as the wedding day were we got lucky over and over again. Blair and Ashley heard that there was a chance of rain on their wedding day but we all wrote it off as nothing and kept moving on with all of our original plans.
In the fast-paced world we live in, finding purpose and intention in everyday life can feel like a distant goal. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, a parent, a creative, or simply someone searching for more meaning, this probably resonates with you! If you’ve been a longtime follower of the Katelyn James podcast, you know it’s always been about authenticity, growth, and family. So, we wanted the podcast to represent just that. Welcome to Doing Life Differently!
If you’re looking to build a personal brand that genuinely connects with people, you’re in the right place. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, a creative, or just someone looking for more purpose in life, I think these insights will resonate with you.
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