January 31

January 31
Originally uploaded by Sally Bouley

My kiddo and cousins built an awesome snowman today. They have had so much fun playing in the snow this weekend. Back to school tomorrow though!

Week 4 Layout

Here's my layout of my Week 4 photos!

Week 4 Layout, originally uploaded by Sally Bouley.

January 30

January 30
Originally uploaded by Sally Bouley

And it snowed some more! By morning it had finally stopped snowing but we had a total of about 10 inches of snow. My daughter is out at my Gram's farm so she can play in the snow with my cousins. My uncle has been pulling them around on the four wheeler and they've been sledding. I'm sad that I'm not there to play with them and take pictures, but I sent my camera with them so they could take lots of pictures for me. (Someone had to stay home and take care of the animals here, lol.) I'm using my daughter's camera for these couple of days, so the photo quality isn't going to be as good as it usually is, but I wanted good pictures of them playing in the snow, so I sent mine. Hopefully someone out there is a decent photographer! LOL

January 29

January 29
Originally uploaded by Sally Bouley

It snowed and snowed and snowed! I took this photo at about 10pm and we already had 5-6 inches. We don't get this much snow very often, so it was neat. You can even see some of the flakes falling where the flash caught them. Very cool!

January 28

January 28
Originally uploaded by Sally Bouley

Yes, my photo for today is bragging on my kid again, lol. I'm allowed to do that, tee hee. We found out today that she got 2nd place in a poetry contest, and I'm super proud of her. A couple friends asked me to share the poem, so here it is:

Morning in the Forest

The wind blew through the forest
Her legs clung tightly to the flower as she sucked down the nectar
Refueled and ready to fly, she slowly spread out her wings
And then she waited
She waited for a gust of wind to blow her out into the morning sun
Slowly it came and gently plucked her off of the flower and carried her away
She felt her wings surge gracefully up and down to the beat of her heart
She was flying
She was beautiful
She was magnificent
She was a butterfly


Pretty good, huh?

January 27 and a blog revamp

January 27
Originally uploaded by Sally Bouley

Here's my photo for today. Casey made the honor roll for 1st semester, so she got a certificate for a free pizza from Papa John's.

Hopefully you've noticed that the page has been renamed. I spent some time thinking about it and I decided that I want this blog to be more about my life in general, as opposed to just my Project 365. I'll still be posting my daily photos, and weekly layouts here, but I also want to be able to post about other things happening in my life, and I didn't want to do a seperate blog for that. My goal for this year is still to find joy in everyday life. But I've decided that trying to focus my P365 on that is quite restricting when it comes to taking the actual photos. The thing is, obviously whatever I photograph is something I find some joy in, or I wouldn't bother to take a photo of it. So my new idea for my P365 is just "life." Whatever it throws at me that I want to photograph each day. I might try to set myself some themes, but for the most part my photos will be completely random, just whatever strikes me and says "take a photo of me."
This blog is still about a journey, and it's still about finding the joy IN the journey, but now I just feel a bit less restricted about what I can photograph, or what I can post here, and THAT makes me feel good! :)

January 26

January 26b
Originally uploaded by Sally Bouley

A hybrid project I'll be working on tomorrow. Have it all printed and ready to go!

January 25

January 25
Originally uploaded by Sally Bouley

The kid and the dog, lol. Asia has a couple new miniature tennis balls and she has to have them in sight. Just seconds after I took this she jumped on the one in Casey's hair and scared Casey to death, lol.

January 24

January 24
Originally uploaded by Sally Bouley

How can this picture not make you laugh? This is my Gram. She's 80 years old and obviously can be goofy as all get out. But she's my rock. My home port in a storm. But I love that I point the camera at her and she makes faces at me like a 4 year old, LOL!

January 23

January 23
Originally uploaded by Sally Bouley

My new best friends, lol. I don't go anywhere without one of these two water bottles. I've cut down from 8-10 diet coke a day, to MAYBE one. I'm pretty proud of that. I'm now drinking about six of the purple bottles per day. (That's about 144 oz of water, lol)

January 22

January 22
Originally uploaded by Sally Bouley

Every other Friday I put fresh sheets on my bed. I love the smell and feel of clean, fresh sheets when I go to sleep at night. The dog being there is because she was following me all over the house tonight and when I went to take the photo she jumped up on the bed and wouldn't move, lol.

Week 3 Layout

Here it is, my Week 3 layout. The kit is from Wild Dandelion Designs and Kristin Cronin-Barrow and the title alpha is from Suzy Q Scraps.

P365Week3Web, originally uploaded by Sally Bouley.

One Love...for Haiti

“One love refers to the universal love and respect expressed by all people for all people, regardless of race, creed, or color.”

Forty-eight designers from around the scrapping community have joined together to bring you this incredible kit with the common purpose of raising funds for Haitian aid and relief. Our theme, “One Love”, symbolizes not only our heartfelt effort to help the people of Haiti, but also encompasses the diverse styles of all the designers involved in this project. This kit represents the diversity of our community and shows that even though we are all different, when we come together the result is truly spectacular.

The proceeds from the sale of this kit will be donated to the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund. We chose the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund not only because it embodies the spirit of One Love, but also because 100% of the donations will go to the relief and recovery efforts in Haiti and because they are working to provide both immediate relief and long-term support to the earthquake survivors.

This beautiful kit includes 114 papers, 356 elements, 3 alphabets, 6 page templates and 1 hybrid template and 16- 12 in. x 12 in. .png quick pages.

This product is only available for a limited time.

You can purchase the kit, the quickpages, or both together as a bundle. Click the links below to go to the Scrap Orchard Market to purchase. The Kit is $15, the Quickpages are $10, and the Bundle is $20.

The Kit

The Quickpages

The Bundle

January 21

January 21
Originally uploaded by Sally Bouley

I'm on a HUGE hybrid kick right now. I'm just loving playing with something in PSE and printing it and then having something real that I can touch and play with and add ribbon to, lol. This cute little truffle box was made using a template from PixelGeek Designs and decorated using Momma's Boy from Amanda Heimann Designs.

January 20

January 20
Originally uploaded by Sally Bouley

This isn't my first hybrid project, but it's the most involved that I've tackled to date. I'm really proud of how it turned out. I used a template from PixelGeek Designs and the kit Taking Chances from Wild Dandelion Designs.

January 19

January 19
Originally uploaded by Sally Bouley

I have to admit that I actually took this photo for my friend Jennifer. She's been after me for several weeks (if not months) to get into hybrid scrapping. So today for some reason I got really excited about it and went out and bought some hybrid necessities. I'm super excited about actually being able to do some hybrid stuff. Don't be surprised if one of my photos next week is of flowers and brads and buttons, lol!

January 18

January 18
Originally uploaded by Sally Bouley

Yep, I live in a zoo. This is our massive guinea pig Sammy. And unlike most guinea pigs, he bites. Hard. So he doesn't get to come out of his cage much, but he still makes me laugh when I walk by his cage and he runs along beside me, lol

January 17

January 17
Originally uploaded by Sally Bouley

Yet another animal in my house, lol. My dog Asia, who sleeps with me every night, UNDER my covers, lol. She's a giant pain in my butt, but she makes me feel loved!

January 16

January 16
Originally uploaded by Sally Bouley

Yesterday was Licorice, so it's only fair that today be Caramel, lol. Caramel is our "queen" cat. She walks around acting like she's too good for everybody, and I really get a kick out of her haughty attitude.

Now here's something else for you to check out!
On January 22 designers from Scrap Orchard, Sweet Shoppe Designs, After Five Designs, The Lilypad, Scrapbook Graphics, Shabby Pickle, Scrap Matters, Cat Scraps, and Peppermint Creative will come together to release a charity kit to benefit Haiti. Stay tuned for more information coming soon!

January 15

January 15
Originally uploaded by Sally Bouley

One of two cats that live in our house, this is Licorice, and I completely adore her.

Taking a Moment...

I know that everyone has heard and is probably completely horrified at the devastation in Haiti after the earthquake that hit there. Through the wonder of the internet, I have become acquainted with and friends with a wonderful lady named Corey who as adopted FIVE children from Haiti, and right now she's just a mess. Her family have kept in touch with all of the birth mom's they've adopted from (as much as one can keep in contact with anyone in Haiti), and the orphanages they adopted through, and they have many friends that live and work in Haiti. At this moment, Corey has no idea if any of these people have survived. Estimates are that as many as FIFTY THOUSAND have lost their lives. Please, please take time to remember these people and pray for them. ALL the people in Haiti. This is a country that is fighting to survive on a daily basis and this tragedy has increased their struggle ten-fold.

Besides praying, if you feel led to help, here are a few sites worth checking out. I would trust any of them with my money.

I have personally donated to the American Red Cross and Yele Haiti via text message.

You can text "Haiti" to 90999. This will give a $10 donation to the American Red Cross Haiti fund.

www.yele.org is an organization dedicated to helping Haiti, started by Wyclef Jean, who was born in Haiti. They also have a text donation set up, text "Yele" to 501501 to donate $5.

Heartline Ministries, an organization that works with women and children in Haiti. They especially need help so they can continue their work in Haiti.

Real Hope for Haiti This organization runs a rescue center for children in Haiti.

World Wide Village is another group that works with children and families in Haiti

Any and all of these organizations need your help. If you cannot give, that's ok, I know things are tight everywhere. But you can pray, and I beg of you to continue to do that. Pray for the rescue workers, the missionaries, the searchers, the medical personnel, the Haitian-Americans waiting for word on family members, families like Corey's, and most of all the residents of Haiti.

Also, there are MANY blogs who are donating money per comment by readers. For a list, please visit Money Saving Mom: HERE All this takes is some time, and you have contributed to helping Haiti. Please, please visit as many of these sites as you can and comment. Time is one thing we can all spare and share.

January 14 and Week 2 layout

January 14
Originally uploaded by Sally Bouley

So one of my goals this year is to get healthier. I blogged earlier about needing to lose about 35 pounds, and I also need to get off the diet coke and drink more water. So I've set a goal to drink at least 96oz of water a day. To encourage myself, I bought a Pur water pitcher. I'm doing pretty well so far. I've been drinking more than 120oz of water a day for the last couple days. Yay me! lol.

Here's my layout for Week 2. I have to admit I'm really very happy with myself that I've kept up with doing this so far. I know, I know....it's only week 2, but hey...by week 2 last year I'd already given up on the layouts, lol.

Week 2 layout, originally uploaded by Sally Bouley.

January 13

January 13
Originally uploaded by Sally Bouley

We finally got a Wii for Christmas, and we're having tons and tons of fun playing on it. I enjoy playing but I also really love watching my daughter get crazy over the New Super Mario Bros.

January 12

January 12
Originally uploaded by Sally Bouley

Snapping pictures of Casey and Asia, and the look on Asia's face in this one caught my attention. She had gone to Casey and sat right next to her, but the look on her face seemed to be saying "Get this kid away from me!" lol I just had to laugh.

January 11

January 11
Originally uploaded by Sally Bouley

My daughter brought home one of her costumes that she will wear in her dance recital in May. She wanted to try it on to show me. She absolutely takes my breath away. My ultimate joy.

January 10

January 10
Originally uploaded by Sally Bouley

My Gram and I have always had a very close relationship. She's been my rock for all of my life and her home has always been a safe haven throughout many of the storms life's thrown at me. When I left my ex-husband, I moved in with her, and called this house home until I got on my feet again. Turning the corner onto her road, this is the view of her home, and it always gives me a feeling of peace and safety and comfort.

January 9

January 9
Originally uploaded by Sally Bouley

I love to cook! A few weeks ago the very cool Corey had a raffle on her blog to raise money for a badly needed ambulance in Haiti. (The fundraisers met their goal by the way, they raised enough money to buy the ambulance!) Anyway, because I donated a prize to her raffle, I was given an entry, and I won these cookbooks! They arrived today and I am totally thrilled with them and can't wait to start using the recipes.

Week 1 Layout

After looking and thinking more about my week 1 layout, I decided I really wasn't all that happy with it. It just really wasn't my style. So...I re-thought my plan for my layouts for this year, and re-did this one. As Jennifer said when she saw the re-do, this one is much more "me." So...here is my Week 1 Layout take two.

Week 1 Layout
Originally uploaded by Sally Bouley

January 8 and Week 1 Layout

January 8
Originally uploaded by Sally Bouley

Today's photo is of our pain in the rear end dog, Asia, lol. She got a new harness and I just love how bright it is against her dark fur. I also love how she sits on the back of my loveseat like a cat with her paws crossed, lol.

Well, I made it through week one, and did pretty well. I took photos every day, and even though I didn't blog daily, I still have a week's worth of photos and memories and moments of joy. I finished my Week 1 layout today, and I'm pretty happy with it. I'm hoping to find several different layouts/templates and rotate through them on a weekly basis. So...here it is! Love to hear what you think! :)


Week 1
Originally uploaded by Sally Bouley

January 7

January 7
Originally uploaded by Sally Bouley

I love this book. I absolutely adore this book. I would marry it if marrying books was legal. Ree Drummond is my hero, and I want to be her when I grow up! Just looking at this book makes me happy, and cooking recipes from it? Heaven.

Tomorrow I will post my week one layout, I hope, lol. I'm working on it tonight and hope to finish it tomorrow.

January 6

January 6
Originally uploaded by Sally Bouley

It's such a small thing. But in all my adult years I've never owned a pizza cutter. When I cook pizza at home I cut it with a large butcher knife. So tonight I decided I was going to buy myself a pizza cutter. Small thing, lol, but one that makes me smile!

January 4 and 5, and something else!

January 4
Originally uploaded by Sally Bouley

Yesterday saw us getting back into our regular routine. School started back and as much as I love my kidlet, it was a relief in some ways to see her off on the school bus. Having my time to myself again is nice. I've got my own routine I'm trying to get into now, but more on that later. Today's picture is of a wall in my living room. About 5 years ago my Gram and I painted it, and it's so cool to have a daily reminder of that time we spent together working on it. (Not to mention she's amazingly talented!)

January 5
Originally uploaded by Sally Bouley

Now, on to other things. You might notice that I added something new to the blog. Over on the right is a weight loss ticker. I'm not talking specfic numbers here, lol, but I do need to lose about 35 more pounds, and my goal is to lose it by my birthday (the end of June). So, I put the ticker up to help keep myself motivated by tracking my progress. I will weigh in once a week and update the ticker!

January 3

My daughter makes these flowers from tissue paper, and after the holidays I asked her to make some to put in vases on top of my entertainment center. I love that she's so creative. She loves to paint and draw and do any kind of art project. And the flowers are so bright and colorful, how can they not make me happy?

January 3
Originally uploaded by Sally Bouley

January 2

January 2
Originally uploaded by Sally Bouley

Can a new mouse bring joy? You bet it can! My old one was driving me crazy. Double clicking when I only wanted to single click, clicking at weird times and places. So I bought a new one. Now it clicks only when and where I want it to. This makes me happy, lol.

January 1...The Joy is in the Journey

January 1
Originally uploaded by OTR Photography

Today I went to my grandmother's, and as I was driving there, I was thinking about the journey I'm challenging myself to take this year, to find the joy in my everyday life. Just before you turn onto her road, there is this huge hill. When I was a kid, we used to sled down it when it snowed. At the bottom of the hill the road curves to the right and disappears. I thought about the connection of that road and life. Life has ups and downs, twists and turns, and sometimes our path disappears, and we can't see exactly where it's leading. But it's still a journey, and each up and down, twist and turn, builds it's own memories. So today I chose to photograph this road, not only for the happy memories of sledding down it years ago, but also because I'm excited about the journey I'm taking through life. I hope that you are excited about your journey as well, and if you're doing a Project 365 and blogging it, I'd love to see it, so drop me a link in the comments. Here's to a 2010 full of love, laughter, and most of all, joy.


Joy in the Journey
Originally uploaded by OTR Photography

Finding My Joy

Welcome! You've found your way to my new blog, Joy in 2010. This blog is more personal, and is focussed on my Project 365 and Word for 2010. After a really difficult 2009, which found me spending a lot of my time upset, sad, stressed out, and even depressed, I'm determined to give 2010 a brighter outlook. My word for 2010 is joy. My focus is going to be finding the joy in my life. And my Project 365 is going to reflect that. Each day I will take a photo of something that brings me joy. Now, that may mean that you will end up looking at 350 photos of my daughter and/or dog, and if so, that's ok, because they are wonderful places to find joy in my life. But the only rule I've set for myself is that there are no rules. ANYTHING that crosses my path each day that brings me joy is fair game to be photographed. Now don't get me wrong, I do not expect that there will not be moments when I am not feeling particularly joyful, and that's ok. As long as each day I find ONE thing that brings me joy, I will have succeeded in my goal. I will, of course, post my P365 photos here. I may also post layouts or other projects that I work on. But this blog will also be a place for my personal reflections on the joyful, and not so joyful, times in my life. I hope that by blogging, not only will my friends and family get to know me a little better, but also that I will come to a better understanding of myself. Now that I've rambled on for quite a bit, let me say that I wish each and every one of you a Happy and JOYFUL 2010. Thank you for following along my journey with me!