I’ve written about this before, but there really is just one trick that has helped me improve my photography the most, and that is daily practice. I’ve noticed that the time periods in my life where my photos look the best coincides with when I was actually taking pictures each and every day.

July was a tough month for us because our daughter Riley and her husband Ryan suffered a miscarriage. I share this with their permission and I think it’s very important to check with others before you include sensitive details about their lives. It can be difficult to know if you should include the really hard stuff sometimes. I always believe in including the good and the bad, but there are times when that isn’t possible or even comfortable. I’m grateful that Riley encouraged me to include this and how strong she is. Miscarriage is a very painful thing to go through (emotionally and physically) and having never gone through that myself, I’m glad that there have been others who could step in and tell her they know exactly what she is going through.

Last night, our son Alex was shocked to find out that it was going to be August on Saturday. He said “I don’t even know what month it is anymore!” I think we can all relate! It’s such a strange time, but that makes it even more important to take a few minutes to jot down what life is like right now. Use my simple roundup prompts to document the month so you don’t forget all that happened. It’s my favorite memory keeping tool and so many of my readers have made it a routine in their own lives as well.

I basically get through this crazy life because of humor and memes right now. Anyone else doing that? Oh, and eating. I’m definitely stress eating. Humor is a much healthier way to cope though so let’s focus on that instead!

My monthly roundups have been more time consuming to complete lately because of how much I’m trying to document, but they feel more important than ever. I’m so glad I established this habit long ago. There are plenty of ways to do a roundup, you don’t have to use a scrapbook page format. I love to illustrate the information so this is my favorite approach. Here are my layouts for the month of June 2020.

My mental and physical energy seem to be running a bit low the last few weeks. I have been in high gear for so long and I think I’ve just needed a break from that. I’m sure you can all relate. I can’t even imagine how medical professionals are getting through this time. I get overwhelmed just reading the news. I’m so grateful for the sacrifices that so many people are making right now to care for others.

I’m going to be working on my roundup later today and get back to regular posting soon. I just wanted to let you know that I’m still here. I’m glad you are too! Stay well my friends. ❤️

It’s been another crazy month in our world and there are plenty of things to document right now. I hope you will take some time to do a month-end review so you can keep track of all the details. This is what I refer to as a “roundup” and it’s a great way to gather your thoughts and memories from the past month and put them into an easy to access format. I just use a few simple prompts to get organized with this monthly activity.

My longtime followers will probably remember my linen photo board from our last home. I put it together about 7 years ago and loved looking at it every single day. When we moved to our new home in February, I knew that I would want to continue on the tradition, but also make it a little easier to update as time went on and I wanted to swap out for some newer photos. I’m so excited to show you how it all turned out!

I have to applaud Persnickety Prints for all they are doing right now to help us document the world we are living in. Including history in my albums is so important to me and I’m very thankful for the many resources they are providing!