It’s not that I haven’t been making mini albums… just haven’t been sharing a lot! I have a ton going on with school and whatnot right now… and that’s how it will be for the next couple of weeks. But I wanted to share a little summin summin I did with mostly Hambly products. It’s also a gift for my brother… that I haven’t given him yet. So, Matt, if you’re reading this now… here’s a gift for ya! :)

Hambly is having a contest right now at 2Peas… you should check it out!

The rest of the journal will be up with the rest of them in the photo album to the right. Now off to work on homework like a good girl!

My dad said something the other day…. that people had better be careful with their stuff, or I might find it and scrapbook about it.

“Or blog about it!” I was quick to add. And then I informed him that someday his scrapbook was going to make its way here….

And today is that day.

My dad and I have a history, I suppose. (That might be an obvious statement, but it goes deeper.) When I was growing up, my dad had a tumor growing in his brain that none of us knew about until I was in 8th Grade. It made him sick all of the time, and though he tried his best, but it was hard to be super involved as sick as he was. My mother thinks that I developed an attachment to him as an effort to make up for lost years. Whatever the reason, it’s true that I idolize my father. And I look for ways that we are alike.

I was the nerdy Middle Schooler who listened to old Carpenter’s records. And I’m pretty sure I can blame that on my dad’s love for the Carpenter’s.

He has slides and slides of Carpenter’s photos that he took when he was in college. Once he told me that he was going to have one blown up into a poster for me. I really hope he does, because I would treasure it (even though I’m not that into them any more, it would be the connection between us that would make it special).

Some things I’m recently learning about my dad… before he got sick, he was really into photography.

He took pictures of lots of silly things that really have no purpose (like I do, I suppose!). But I love looking at them and seeing what his friends from college were like.
Another surprising Dad fact that I found… he had lots of dates. He even went on a date with Miss Universe! I saw this one lady in particular, and couldn’t help but wonder about her…. But I think it would be more lovely to wonder about her than to know the actual history.

I guess some people think it’s silly to scrapbook about “selfish” things, like my favorite food or favorite t.v. show, because who will really care about those things when I’m gone? Well, I think it’s silly to think that such a thing is silly! My dad did it, and I think it is fascinating to see them!

I’ve loved looking through my dad’s things that I found, and I think I’m going to ask my mom if she has some hidden memories somewhere for me to find… It’s a blast. I highly recommend it.

I have discovered that my family has mastered the art of covert scrapbooking. Scrapping in secret. Hiding the albums. It’s so strange to me. I’m always so shy andtimid about showing my scrapbook to anyone… unless they’re a scrapbooker too. Here, it turns out my family is full of them, and I never knew!

After my grandmother passed away, I spend hours looking through all the things she had kept. But one particular item captured my fancy to be sure. My grandmother, queen of generic photo albums and standard midwest granny decor, had made a scrapbook for her ideal future home.

She did lots of hand written fonts, which I find quite amusing considering how long I would laboriously sit over her letters trying to decipher her chicken scratch. But the most shocking part of all was how much I loved the interiors she had chosen.

It makes me wonder… did she give up her dreams for her ideal home? Or did her idea of an ideal home simply make the shift from furnishings to family? I’m a firm believer that the two can peacefully coexist. But this puzzles me, how different the grandma I knew was from this highschool girl who was shockingly similar to myself. You can be sure that I will begin investigating Grandma’s home decor from the pre-grandchildren days. Maybe there was a super chic lady in her that I totally never noticed.

I also loved looking at her friends’ photos and the notes they had written to her. (her picture is on the bottom right of this page) She was a swell friend. And, not to be overlooked, a highschooler who, just like me, practiced writing the name of her beaux and future hubby all over her books. :)

My dad also had a scrapbook around the same age. Shocker! I’ll have to share it with you soon.