Yesterday & Today

I recently embarked on something new and exciting. I am taking an online scrap booking class titled Yesterday & Today. I have never before taken a scrapbook class of any kind (online or otherwise). I steer away from most of these classes because they seem to focus on a bunch of stickers and glitter which is just not me. What I love to do is take photographs...I know, surprising...and I love to tell stories...again, I know you're stunned. Well this class focuses on just that...taking your photographs, old and new and telling your stories. As part of this class and the process of getting ready for the class I have had to collect a bunch of photographs from my childhood and before. I am so incredibly lucky to have a father who enjoys the camera and loved documenting our lives growing up. Almost all of the stuff from the 70's and early 8o's is in the form of slides though; which has meant that over the past few weeks (and over a few bottles of wine) my family has traveled down memory lane and watched NUMEROUS slide shows. So far I have pulled 377 slides to have converted into digital format. Along with documenting my life and my childhood I plan to document the lives of my parents, grandparents and great grandparents - at least as much as I can. So...the journey began to collect even more photos...even older photos...memorabilia...stories. I have really enjoyed this process and loved some of the stuff I've come across. This is my grandmother (on my mother's side) when she was young...

and this is her at her baby shower when she was pregnant with my mom.

And this I just LOVE. This is a letter to my grandmother from her brother, congratulating her on the birth of my mother.

And the bill for my mother's delivery... So loving uncovering and learning the history of my life....