Dinner and a Sunset, originally uploaded by krisalis903.

I took this photo a couple weeks ago on a Friday night after a painful day at work. Honestly I was just ready to go home. I knew the only thing that would wash away the pain would be a great dinner on Mena’s patio and a delicious margarita.

I think I’m definitely going on a stash diet though. I’ve acquired way too much stuff for my own good. However, all of the stuff I used in this layout is new (with the exception of the kraft paper). I’ll be using a lot of new things over the next few weeks. The only thing I’ll be buying while on this stash diet adhesive!

Me in 2009, originally uploaded by krisalis903.

One of the things I love about scrapbooking is that it’s kinda like keeping an art journal. I used to never take pictures of myself but since I’ve started getting into photography and scrapbooking, I’m beginning to change my mind about recording myself in this way.

I watched this movie called The Duchess which was based on the life of Georgiana Cavendish, the Duchess of Devonshire. While the movie was good, it was the DVD extras that I watched that made me think about the sacredness of the written word, especially letters and journals. In one of the extras, they showed some of the letters the duchess had written to her mother and friends. It was through her letters that we were able to catch a glimpse of who this woman was and it was those letters that allowed her to leave her mark in this world.

The digital age is glamorous, high tech, and fancy. But in an instant, our digitized lives can be vaporized. And not to say letters are indestructible. A letter, much like a book, is something tactile, something meaningful that you can hold in your hand and cherish. It connects generations. And I hope maybe someday my descendants will be able to read my journals and learn more about me.

Now if only I can teach Izzie how to read