SYW303 – Shaping Your Memory Making

Jennifer Wilson: Welcome to Scrapbook Your Way, the show that explores the breadth of ways to be a memory keeper today. I'm your host, Jennifer Wilson, owner of Simple Scrapper and author of the New Rules of Scrapbooking. This is episode 303. In this episode, I'm catching up with Alissa Williams about our memory keeping and memory making of late.

Our conversation includes a discussion of adaptation and evolution in our storytelling processes. Okay.

Alissa, welcome back to Scrapbook Your Way.

Alissa Williams: Hi Jennifer. Thanks for having me.

Jennifer Wilson: I [00:01:00] am looking forward to our conversation. As always. We do have an outline. Maybe we'll follow it. We'll see what happens here. Um, yeah, can you share a little bit about yourself so that our audience can familiarize themselves with who you are, where you live, et cetera. If they've not heard you on the show before.

Alissa Williams: Sure. I am a director of a small public library in Central Illinois where I live with my husband and my two teenage daughters. They're officially both teenagers now.

Jennifer Wilson: Wow.

Alissa Williams: Um, and yeah, it Wow is right. Um, and so we're living our best summer life here in the Midwest.

Jennifer Wilson: Will you go to the pool this summer?

Alissa Williams: Probably not.

Jennifer Wilson: Really? past.

Alissa Williams: Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: You've really been into it and you liked reading your book next to the pool, and why is it different this year?

Alissa Williams: Well, my, my, my daughter, my older daughter is a lifeguard and does not want me anywhere near the [00:02:00] pool. Um. And my 13-year-old gets all the pool time she needs at camp, so, and does not really like to go anymore. So plus they're both old enough to go unsupervised. Um, so yeah, early on I had declared Sunday afternoons our pool time. And for about five years we would go to the pool from four to seven on Sundays. And then we would order, we'd order pizza from the pool and pick it up on our way home and watch a movie. And that was one of my most beloved summer traditions. And then your children get older.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Alissa Williams: COVID happens and it all kind of fell apart. Um, and ironically we moved. And now we're like two blocks from the pool and it'd be super easy for us to all go to the pool, but we don't. 'Cause we're in a different season of life.

Jennifer Wilson: So have you scrapbook that story about that particular season of life?

Alissa Williams: Oh yeah. I have probably like four pages of different, [00:03:00] pool pictures and talking about that. Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: Well, I know that you're going to Florida next month, so I hope that you get to go to the pool there.

Alissa Williams: It's probably gonna be too hot to sit by the pool in Florida in June. It's probably gonna be like 80 and 90% humidity and I'm gonna die.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes.

Alissa Williams: But yes, I mean, I hope, I hope to do that as well. I mean, I like to sit by the pool. Um, and actually what kind of replaced our public pool, uh, time was my, my brother-in-law had a pool at his house and we'd take the girls over there and barbecue and or go out to dinner or whatever.

And we did that for a couple years. But last summer, at the end of the summer, he moved to a house without a pool. So we're, so now my kids think we need to put a pool in our yard. And I'm like, no, I don't. I'd like to go to other people pools. Not my, I don't need my own.

Jennifer Wilson: Do you have enough room for a pool?

Alissa Williams: Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh, well maybe you should.

Alissa Williams: [00:04:00] No.

Jennifer Wilson: All right, so we've talked a little bit about season of life. How does that season of life right now with two teenage daughters, how does that impact what your scrapbooking, when you're scrapbooking, how you're scrapbooking.

Alissa Williams: Well, I mean, the easy answer is I'm not. I mean, I am, but I'm really, I don't. So, um, last late winter in November, my daughter made a club travel, heavy travel national volleyball team. And from January until the end of June, we go to tournaments on the weekends. And we are not home. And we drive her to practice 35 minutes away from our house three times a week.

Um. So it's been, this year has been a ride. Um, and my crafting has certainly taken a hit. Um, [00:05:00] so I've had to be, so when I was doing my planning for 25, I was not super ambitious um, in what? I decided I needed to do. And 'cause I knew I wasn't gonna have a lot of time. Usually January and February I get a lot done, but we had tournaments and then my younger daughter does archery through our school.

And those tournaments are, they're only one day. But, um, we're in central Illinois and most of the archery schools are an hour and a half to two, to two and a half hours away from us. 'Cause they're more in southern Illinois. So we would have an archery tournament and we'd have to drive two hours and then she'd shoot for 45 minutes and then we would drive two hours home.

So even on the weekends where we didn't have volleyball, we would have archery. So I just, um, I I did not get a lot done. Um, well, I [00:06:00] shouldn't say I didn't get a lot done, but I just did not have the time I was used to having. So I'm actually really looking forward to summer. Uh, as you mentioned, we have, so I have two more tournaments to go, two more weekends with tournaments, and then we are going to Florida for a week. Because of volleyball nationals, although we are trying to make that a family vacation.

Um, so once that hits, I will have more time. And I actually have more time now in the evenings because, you know, we're not running places all, you know, school's out. So our evenings are much freer. So I'm, I'm finding myself with some more open time and I did a lot of crafting Memorial Day weekend.

Jennifer Wilson: I need to rebut you here because I feel like what you have shared is not the full picture. Because you are someone who is excellent at taking the little pockets of time you do have and saying, I know I have this time. I [00:07:00] want to scrapbook. I wanna make a layout, and you do it.

Alissa Williams: Well, I should mention that. So there were two weekends, two tournaments that were team travel tournaments where she went with the team and was with the team. Typically on a tournament weekend, like I am her driver and have to get her to places and feed her and water her and all that stuff. But there was, at the end of February, we went to a tournament up in the Wisconsin Dells where she traveled with the team, and then I was more there just to feed her in between and make sure she was good and cheer the team on, which I've enjoyed. I've learned a lot about volleyball in the last six months, um, watching a lot of games. Anyway, I purposefully decided to make that more of a retreat weekend for myself. And I had my fall Let's Create Together, um, scrapbook kit from Scrapbook and Cards today that Megan Andrews does.

And [00:08:00] so I, I purposefully printed pictures before I left. Planned out what I was gonna do, and took that kit. And I made two layouts, um, after volleyball was over. 'Cause I, you know, we're typically this season we've been in morning waves, so you know, we're there from like eight to two and then, you know, we're back.

So, you know, after three o'clock you have the whole evening. And so I did that and I really did enjoy that. And, but I've, like, I'm not ordering, I. I think one of the last times on the podcast I talked about how I was doing Shimelle's Best of Both Worlds Kits. Well, I haven't done any of those since, um, probably last summer was the last one I ordered.

Although I did just order the June one because it's featuring her new collection. And so anytime she uses her new collection, I can get on board with that. Um, but also I found too that, I mean, those [00:09:00] Best Of Both Worlds Kits, you know, those are seven to nine layouts that she does with those, and that's a lot.

And I was very prolific those years I was doing it, which was great 'cause I was catching up on some stories from the past and it really worked. But as you mentioned, like I have less, It's not that I have less stories to tell, but I kind of have less stories to tell. In a sense that, you know, my, my girls don't wanna be in pictures.

Um, my weekends are mainly spent at volleyball. I have a lot of volleyball pictures. Uh, so I have been doing Project Life, um, monthly spreads this year, but not the same way. Last year I did monthly spreads and then I picked two stories a month to use my, uh, story cards. Story kits with, um, and I really like that to kind of spotlight two stories.

But I've even found, like in the first couple months of the year, I really don't have a enough of a, I don't have [00:10:00] a story I wanna elevate to that level. Or if I do, it's something I wanna do a page on. So I don't wanna double duplicate.

Jennifer Wilson: Sure.

Alissa Williams: Which is fine. I do still like doing the monthly spreads. Um, so I've been doing that.

Jennifer Wilson: Do you think you'll continue?

Alissa Williams: Maybe, I mean, I have a lot of pocket cards, so, and I do it nine by 12 now. And I do like the chronology and being able to see our year and kind of see the highlights of it. I, I do, I do like that. Um, it's a nice compliment to my Library of Memories. And I was thinking about this in that, because I'm only doing one spread per month. I could probably fit two years in an album, so that's kind of appealing.

Jennifer Wilson: That's nice.

Alissa Williams: So we'll see.

Jennifer Wilson: Okay. You don't have to have an answer.

Alissa Williams: Yes, I do. I'm a professional answer of questions. I need to always have an answer. So yeah, I mean, it is definitely different. Um, now I will say I did have a retreat weekend, um, [00:11:00] in March. And I, you know, was very intentional about what I wanted to get done. So I thought I was gonna become a card maker, but that's not gonna happen. So that's interesting. I thought that since my scrapbooking was slowing down, I would be able to use my supplies and I would start making all these cards. At this crop I went to, had brought these supplies to make these birthday cards, and maybe I was too ambitious in the project I picked, I don't know, I picked a card to copy. I bought all this stuff for it. It's too detailed. It's too meticulous. I don't like it.

Jennifer Wilson: So I'm curious, you went to the Tailored Expressions event and you seem to enjoy that. What was different about making cards at that event versus making them on your own?

Alissa Williams: Uh, they had prepped a lot of the supplies for you, so you did, you know, like, you, maybe you die cut, you would just die cut these candles and like a lot more of the prep work was done for you. You only made one [00:12:00] versus I was making 10 in a batch for this particular card. So making one, making a one-off, I don't mind.

But when you're doing 10 plus, like I be, I think it's Shimelle's influence. I've become less, um, of a perf, well, I've never really been a perfectionist. But like, it's messy, it's sloppy. It's not a lot like whatever. But with a card that you're giving someone, I feel like I felt more pressure to make it look perfect. And you know, I mean, it is a homemade card, so meh.

But it just, I did not find it as satisfying as I thought I would. And I did not enjoy the repetition of it all. So I, I mean, I have a few projects. Yeah. And now I know, and I can stop buying card making supplies in. Thinking because like that's what Cathy Zielske did. You know her kid, she was prolific, her kids grew up, she started making cards.

I thought, oh, I will just be Cathy Zielske when I grew up. No, no, I'm not gonna be, I'm gonna be Stacy Julian and just keep making pages and simple pages. And it's gonna [00:13:00] be great. But you are also living this volleyball mom life alongside me. So.

Jennifer Wilson: I am. And so for those who saw like our Instagram photo, we've been able to meet up a couple times because even though we live 90 minutes apart, our daughters play at the same volleyball club and they've been practicing the same nights for the past, uh, month and a half or so. And, you know, we both have carpools, so we don't, definitely don't always overlap, but we are spending a lot of time in Bloomington, Illinois. Um, your daughter's a year older though, so your travel schedule has been much more intense. Uh, it's given me a preview though, if, if she should make the team again next year of what, what we can expect. Um, but it is a lot to have, especially to have practices. Uh, and previously after school, multiple two to three nights a week, an hour away.

That's, you know, it's, it's a big time commitment. But at the same time, [00:14:00] I felt like I've had a little more time for myself. Because not here a lot. Um, and even when she is home and not doing volleyball, she's of that age where she plans things with friends and she's got this friend group, with one friend who actually lives out of town, but comes and visits his dad every other weekend.

And they always like plan to get together their whole friend group and they're, they're living their best teenage lives. And I'm trying to like figure out what this season of life is gonna look like for me, for me and Steve together. And I also think that kind of a combination of different personal factors have all come together to give me more focus and I guess creative stamina.

Like I can take the time that I have, even if it's in the evening and sit down and say, Hey, I'm just gonna putter with this for a while, and, and make some good progress. So, [00:15:00] I've done probably more than I normally would've in the first, you know, almost half a year so far. And I feel, feel good about where I'm at. Is that accurate? Based on your recollections? I called you out a little bit, so.

Alissa Williams: Yeah, no, I think that's accurate. Um, I think you are, you know, it is a weird feeling when you've suddenly gone to this like, oh, there, like, I think I messaged you last night. I was like, um, I'm alone in my home. There are no children here for me to feed or entertain. What is this feeling? Um, it lasted for like 15 minutes until my younger daughter came home from the park, but it was still like, what is happening?

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Alissa Williams: Um, and so this time opens up in a way, but also, like you said too, you know, like you, I, I spend a lot of time in the car. I spend a lot of time waiting in the car [00:16:00] and thinking about this hobby. Okay, can I quickly go through and delete photos. Can I favorite some photos? Can I write some journaling in a note? What can I do to stay engaged even when I'm on the road.

Jennifer Wilson: Do you do that? Do you work on your photos when you're in the car?

Alissa Williams: I have, yeah. Mm-hmm.

Jennifer Wilson: I don't do that. I do it sometimes, but not very often. Like I'm more likely to do it when I'm in the car with my family than I am to do it when I'm in the car by myself. 'Cause I think when I'm in the car by myself, I'm more likely to listen to a podcast, watch a YouTube video, even watch a Netflix show. Then I am to, I guess, have it be quiet and to do something. I don't know.

Alissa Williams: Sure. Yeah, that makes sense. So I think what I'm trying to do is capture the stories I wanna tell, because the stories about my, especially my older daughter who [00:17:00] doesn't really wanna be in the picture so much. Are more things about like the weird, not the weird, it's not weird, but like teenage slang. And like I have this whole idea for something with speech bubbles or I guess labels. 'Cause I don't have speech bubbles. I don't know. Maybe I need to buy some speech bubble.

Jennifer Wilson: Think I.

Alissa Williams: Embellishments.

Jennifer Wilson: Have a Story Kit that has a lot of those in it that I haven't used.

Alissa Williams: Well pack that for when I see you and you're bringing me my Week In The Life kit.

Jennifer Wilson: Will do.

Alissa Williams: So, trying to capture the things they say more, kind of like, it's almost like when they were toddlers and they said cute things. Now that they're teenagers, they say interesting things too. So capturing that in the moment and having just a note that I can quickly do that in is helpful. So, and just, trying to tell deeper stories or just more personality stories versus event based stories.

Jennifer Wilson: So this, this reminds me of one that I really need to [00:18:00] write down in my creative hub. The other night we went to go see the new Mission Impossible movie, and Emily did something that I did when I was her age. She started writing down like the really good quotes from the movie, during the movie on her phone.

And I don't know, I, I actually remember I used to bring like a little notepad with me to the movie theater because we didn't have phones back then. And I would write down the quotes and I was super into that. And I would find the little, like, wave files online and download 'em to my computer. And she was just like so into it.

And, and Steve was like, Emily, get off your phone. I'm like, she's capturing quotes because she finds this memorable. And I'm like, I can't, I can't stop her. So I just thought that was like hilarious and adorable and reminded me of myself, of course. And yeah, just those stories are, are really fun.

Alissa Williams: Yes. They're, there's. Well, and you know, that whole thing of seeing yourself reflected in your child is [00:19:00] wild. I mean.

Jennifer Wilson: No doubt.

Alissa Williams: It's, it, yeah. There are some stories there that I need to document too. Of how she says things that I'm like, now I have a filter as a grownup, so I don't say these things. But then she says like, exactly what I'm thinking, and I'm like, oh my gosh, this is okay.

Yep.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes. So with all these, like our, uh, eighth grade promotion pictures, there were at least three people, if not more, that said, oh, she really looks like Steve. And when I said that to Emily, she's like, I may look like daddy, but I act like you.

Alissa Williams: Aw, you've got it, that needs, that's a page title right there. I would be one of those people who said she looked like Steve.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes, yes. But that it is a good page title and to be able to share like all the things that maybe like the traits that she has, similar to Steve and those traits that she has similar to me. I should, I should definitely do that one.

Alissa Williams: Put that in the Creative hub.

Jennifer Wilson: So of the things I know it's been really important to you this year is to be planning specific [00:20:00] things that you want to do. And so I've kind of outlined this as shaping your memory making, but can you talk more about why you made that choice and what you are choosing to do?

Alissa Williams: Well, you know, we gotta have stories to tell, so we gotta take pictures of things. Um, also just, you know, as we talked about earlier, this, this time has opened up. Um, and so we have time to do things. And I have been leaning into that more. Um, I really enjoy going to concerts and seeing live music. And so I've done that more in the past two to three years.

Um, and then of course I scrapbook about them. And then my girls and I really enjoy going to the theater together to see most, mostly musicals. Um, and so. We just actually did a kind of crazy thing on Tuesday night and we drove to St. Louis, which is two and a half hours away, and we watched a show [00:21:00] at 7:30 at night and then we drove two and a half hours home. And it was a hundred percent worth it.

And I'm so glad we did it. And I'm glad that they, again, like we were talking about just a minute ago, sharing the same enjoyment of things and what you see in them. Like I always liked the theater as a teenager and I didn't have as many opportunities to go. So it's enjoyable to be able to give them the opportunity to go, but then also to make those memories together.

Um, because you know, we're not going to the park, we're not going to the children's museum anymore, together. What are we doing together? And this is one way we can connect together. And I wish I had recorded it more in the moment. Um, but during intermission, my daughter was talking about her top 10 musicals. And, that when we were just thinking back of all the different shows that we've seen and what would make her top 10 and what would make, you know, the other ones top 10. And so yeah, it was, I wish I had been capturing that more. 'Cause I could probably go back and recreate it. [00:22:00] But, uh, it was just a fun conversation. And just reflecting on how many shows, both touring Broadway shows, but then also we have gone a lot to regional.

Um, we have a strong community theater in Peoria. It always amazes me that depth of talent in community theater. And so, um, we've gone to a lot of those shows. We had a friend, who was in children's theater for a while and we would go support her by watching her show. So they've seen a number of productions, both, you know, big and small, um, stage wise.

And my younger daughter has enjoyed being in her school musicals the last three years. And so I think she gets something different. She watches it with a different eye, having been on stage and performed before too. So, and that's actually something I should ask her about. That'd be a good conversation topic.

So yeah, so we've been going to shows and I've been thinking about how, how [00:23:00] to document that. Um, and actually, I mean, we've seen three, we've seen three big shows in the last six months. Um, which is really kind of amazing to me. Um, and fun. And I'm glad that we've been able to do that and squeeze it in amidst the volleyball and the everything.

I mean, if I'd known it was gonna rain on Sunday, we would've gone Sunday to a matinee. Um, but my daughter was scheduled to work and so I kind of, with my own work schedule and everything was like, okay, Tuesday night we can go. Typically we have volleyball practice Tuesday night, but they were on break for Memorial Day. So, it all kind of the stars aligned.

Jennifer Wilson: Well, I just, I love how you kind of set a plan at the beginning of the year to these are the things that you wanted to say yes to. So you felt like you had permission to do crazy things and go outta your way to drive two and a half hours and back on the same day. I think that's something [00:24:00] probably a lot of us need to do more of. Because that's how we, make new memories.

We rarely have regrets of the things we do. We have regrets about the things we didn't do. Particularly when we're feeling like time is going so fast. So I, yeah, you get lots of applause for that.

Alissa Williams: Well, I mean, those are two, those come from two kind of scrapbooking adjacent things. Uh, the first is, you know, we read in the Simple Scrapbook community, we read Laura Vanderkam's book. Um. About, you know, a big adventure and a little adventure.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes.

Alissa Williams: That was definitely a big adventure on Tuesday night, you know, and just trying to put that magic in her every day.

And then put this idea, I, I made a, on my 25 for 25 list, which comes from Gretchen Rubin, but I tied back to my One Little Word, which is, you know, Ali Edwards. I put, I wanted to go see four, four shows, [00:25:00] and I didn't, I was thinking a mix of local and Broadway touring. Um, and so far it's happened to be three Broadway touring shows, which has been great.

And we've gone with friends. And so that's been fun. I mean, obviously we went by ourselves on Tuesday, but the last two shows we've met up with people. And so that's also been enjoyable, um, as well. And then people know you wanna go, so then they invite you and just leads to more things. But my going to shows was part of my One Little Word, which we did not discuss earlier, um, in that I thought I was gonna do One Little Word this year.

I bought all this stuff. I was going to do a six by eight album, and I was like, Nope, not gonna do that. After couple months, I realized I, one, I didn't really feel like I had, it wasn't what I wanted to do when I had time to craft. I didn't wanna work on that project.

Jennifer Wilson: Sure. You ended up selling the kit

Alissa Williams: I, I did, I did, I sold, [00:26:00] I sold, I sold my kit. And, and released myself from that obligation. So that was a good pivot earlier in the year of just letting go of that. Realizing I, that that wasn't how I wanted to spend my crafty time. I love the project and I love, and it's been beneficial and I'm still trying to connect with my word and I still made a list of things. My list, my 25 and 25.

Jennifer Wilson: That's what I wanted to point out.

Alissa Williams: Yeah, it was all based on things related to my word so.

Jennifer Wilson: Think that's awesome. I think that if you can it really actionable with that type of list, that's one of the best ways to live your word, and it will come out through the stories that you'll tell about the year anyway.

Alissa Williams: Well, and I definitely will do, and I have done this in the past when I haven't done made an album. Is I have done pages about my word. And I definitely think this is a year where that is gonna happen, where I'll do a page, I don't always do a page for my [00:27:00] albums about my word. But I definitely think this is a year word. I can tell that story with some different pictures, and my word is heart, so you know.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Alissa Williams: A couple good die cuts. I'll be good to go.

Jennifer Wilson: So for me it's, I haven't been planning a lot of things. Part of it feels like if we have a spare weekend, we probably have things we need to catch up on. And then Steve's been traveling a lot again for work, so sometimes he's even gone 'cause he has to like leave on a Sunday to be able to be there for a Monday conference. Our one free weekend coming up here in June, he's gonna be gone for another conference and then he comes back and we immediately go to Florida for nationals. So it's, yeah, it's, not, there's not been a lot of additional things, but I think I've really been focused recently on letting go a little bit.

Like, I love taking photos, don't get me wrong. And sometimes I [00:28:00] do bring my big camera. I've brought it, brought it to a number of volleyball games during the school season and during the club season. And sometimes I'm using it to take photos at home. But if we're out or with family, I let Steve take the pictures more often I didn't always do that.

I would always have to take my own copy to scrapbook not necessarily trust. He's a good photographer. He has a good phone. It's, it's, you know, 95% of the time it's fine. It's more than, more than good enough. And it's helped me get in the photo more. It's helped me just be less uptight about the situation. So it's just been, it's been good all around to let go. And I think in general, when we can relax our expectations and how we approach situations, it's usually a good thing.

Alissa Williams: I think that's wonderful for you. Um, and something else that I wanted to talk about about this season particularly that [00:29:00] um, is someone asked me, 'cause they know I scrapbook, they were like, so, you know, what are you doing with all your volleyball pictures? You know, what, how are you, how are you handling that?

Or I, that's not the way they asked it, but just, you know, are you making an album? What are you doing? And the answer is, I don't know. And I have not done anything yet. So, adjacently, Stacy Julian is ending her membership at the end of the year. I'll cue all the tears. Um, but one thing I have learned from Stacy is to wait and to do these compilation pages, um, or do an extended story.

Um, so I feel less pressure to A figure out how I'm gonna document it, but also B document in the moment. Like, you know, I'm not making all the volleyball pages now I have lots of volleyball supplies that I keep buying. But I have [00:30:00] not. Um, and I wish I had almost waited a little longer because I have documented like junior high volleyball and, but um, but this club story, this club story could last more than a season. So like the first year she played local club, I did a page at the end of the season with pictures from games and talked more about the friendships she developed with these girls and, and, and just a little bit about the season and whatnot. I did an overall page. I don't know if I need to do a page at the end of every season.

It's kind of also the same. I haven't really, doc, no, I did one page about, they took an amazing picture, uh, in high school, like one of those like, you know, pep rally pictures. And I had to scrapbook it. And, but I haven't done anything else with like the freshmen, so I'm, I'm just waiting to see where the, these volleyball stories go.

And I don't know if they're gonna [00:31:00] go, you know, they could go in a six by eight album. They could go in a nine by 12 pocket. Like I don't, they could be an extended story, which is something that Stacy teaches about layered, you know, using different size page protectors to tell the story. Um, so I haven't, I haven't figured out how to do that, but I, that's okay with me. I'm just collecting them and trying to jot down the stories that I want to remember about this particular, like this particular season. So that is also where I am in that. I don't know how you're approaching volleyball, documenting.

Jennifer Wilson: Very similar. I have done one layout about the school season and it was really more about, it was more about Emily than the season itself. You know, I'm not that good with the facts on my layouts anyway. So that said, uh, a, one of our parents for the school season is a [00:32:00] professional photographer and so she took some really great photos at the end of the season and I have not scrapbook those yet. Um, so maybe that's the layout about like her three years of middle school volleyball. Just 'cause I don't necessarily think it's that important to choose photos from the whole time. Like maybe I'll do like a little collage and, but really the star photo is gonna be, you know, one of these really great ones from the end of the season. And so I, I guess I'm thinking of it similar to you, but I also don't wanna wait too long. I probably will document this club season by October, at least this year. Because I'm not as great with the documentation in terms of remembering things. And so I know I wanna just go ahead and get that done.

Alissa Williams: Sure.

Jennifer Wilson: And to capture kind of more in the moment [00:33:00] feelings because your reflection like four years from now, my, what I'm gonna think about volleyball is gonna be very different than what I'm thinking about it right now. I, I do think it's important to get some of those stories done and then over time there'll be more stories that span time, that show evolution, that, um, you know, reflect changes. Whether she gets really devoted to working out and becoming the very best, or maybe she decides that she's just gonna, she wants to play a little bit less. We have no idea which way she's gonna go right now we're trying to support all of her decisions. Um, so I think some pages not a huge number. I certainly would not scrapbook every tournament, every match. There's just, it's just not possible and it's, and it's really boring. Um.

Alissa Williams: Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: And it's, it's it's, hard to take volleyball [00:34:00] photos of your kid. Uh, the best ones are often when they're serving because that's when they're the most stationary. So, but how many photos of your kid serving do you need? So.

Alissa Williams: A million. I have a million.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes. we do take a lot of video and so I have gotten some really great photos from the stills capturing like stills from the videos. That's been helpful.

Alissa Williams: Hmm.

Jennifer Wilson: But yeah, it's de it's definitely like kind of a, a nebulous not clear path to documenting, being in a sport over a long period of time.

Alissa Williams: So two more thoughts about this. One been super inspired by Ali Edwards, who also is living her best volleyball mom life with us on the West coast. Um, and so she did a really interesting thing where she had a, she micd some of her daughter's teammates during warmups this past weekend. And it's [00:35:00] really cool, like you should, and what she captured and how she's choosing to document this.

So I've been super inspired by Ali, obviously always. Also been thinking about this in the context of my albums, which is a new thought approach for me. So I, last summer in the winter, um, went through and really did what I called album care on my Library of Memories and have, uh, put together definite, like, this is volume one for Lucy, this is volume two.

And kind of figured out, especially as we are looking at, you know, she's 15 and so not that I'm gonna stop documenting her when she's 18, but definitely we're in the less stories phase of her life. And so really grouping her albums and then saying, okay, putting a stake of, I [00:36:00] have a junior high album and now I have a high school album. And it's because of the lower volume, I definitely feel like I can fit her high school stories in one album. Maybe two, but probably one. And thinking, I don't want them to just all be volleyball pages. So, you know, thinking more about either, and maybe it's both. Maybe there's an extended story in her Library of Memories and then maybe there's a separate six by eight album that is her all volleyball.

But then it also, when you were talking, reminded me of a page I did. That, I took a picture of her that has like five pictures of her throughout her junior high, like from when she first came home and started, uh, peppering in our front lawn with a ball after an open gym at the end of fifth grade. To her, you know, sixth, seventh, and eighth grade pictures of her playing. And just kind of how she [00:37:00] felt, just telling the story of how she fell in love with volleyball. And how now she's all in on volleyball and just using a combination of pictures to tell that story.

And so I really loved, I love the, that's something that's my biggest takeaway from Stacy Julian is just being able to, to wait and then tell kind of that bigger picture over time. Um, I'm not worried about documenting my feelings because I don't have them. So, um.

Jennifer Wilson: That is not true.

Alissa Williams: I, um, but I definitely am trying to, to, uh, put captions on pictures when I have a story that I wanna remember or something that I wanna make sure that is part of that when I later tell the story.

Jennifer Wilson: You still say this, but I really feel like you've come so far in the past, let's say five years in terms of feeling your feelings, expressing them. Working on them. So I, I know we have all, we all [00:38:00] have lots of different stories we tell ourselves about who we are, but I also think you do have permission to change and maybe like take on a new identity of someone who has, who has feelings and is okay with that.

Alissa Williams: As an Enneagram 8 I don't like to feel vulnerable and thus do not like to share my feelings.

Jennifer Wilson: I understand. All right. Let's talk about priorities. So at Simple Scrapper, we work in creative journeys. We're in the May, June creative journey. At the time of this recording, are your priorities for this time period, if you have them at all? Is it just to survive the end of club season?

Alissa Williams: No, I mean, summer is definitely when I always feel like I have more time to scrapbook and create. And so I've been thinking a lot about what are my priorities and what projects do I need to work on? I said at the beginning that I have purposely didn't pick a lot of things when I put my crafty plans together. So, [00:39:00] I had picked six kind of overarching priorities for the year, as well as I have a couple ongoing things that I do. So, um, I have an Alaska album that I wanna make. And I sort of started thinking about it, uh, more seriously again, this past long weekend. Um, I wanted to do the backup bootcamp class that Ms. Freddy taught. And I did do that in January or February, and that was very, that's been super satisfying and has paid off in terms of trying to tell older stories or finding older photos.

Jennifer Wilson: That's great.

Alissa Williams: Um, yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: Would you recommend that for others who maybe are, are kind of figuring out their systems?

Alissa Williams: Yes, I think it is excellent. And actually, uh, they we're trying to do some photo management backup at work and I'm finding her resources helpful there too, so.[00:40:00]

Jennifer Wilson: Wonderful.

Alissa Williams: It's amazing. Yes. Um, I. I subscribe to an entire year of the sc, the Scrapbook and Cards Today, quarterly kits. So those come out in March, June, September, December.

Also, I wanna pause here to give Catherine and the Scrapbook and Cards cards today team a huge, huge praise, um, for the way they're handling everything. I am signed up for the Crop and Create, that's happening next week at the end of May, early June, uh, for scrapbooking. And there was a whole issue with the whole tariff stuff, and they have been amazing.

And of course, since I'm signed up for the quarterly kits, there's an issue with shipping and the tariffs for those. And it's kind of a wild, wild west time. But they have been amazing in their communication and in their desire to, to make customers, they are a customer centered business and she has been [00:41:00] amazing in her communication and what she's tried to do for people. So.

Jennifer Wilson: Totally agree. Like really setting the bar for professionalism that many folks, not just in in our industry but beyond could, could learn from.

Alissa Williams: Yeah, I'm just, I am now forever brand loyal to them because they've been handling this with such grace. And it's amazing. So I just finished my March kit, did all the pages, uh, thought I had enough to do a bonus page. I don't, or I do, but I don't have a story for it. So I'm gonna put that in my kit envelopes, and then the June kit will be coming next week. So I'm on track with those. I said I was gonna do card making projects.

Jennifer Wilson: Not so much.

Alissa Williams: Cross that off, not so much. I have three, three small card kit projects that I'm going to do at my next crop weekend that I have. Um, I have a mini book I wanna do with a very [00:42:00] old Scrapbook and Cards six by eight album from Vicki Boutin that I never made.

And so that is a project I'm going to do at a crop weekend. 'Cause I always like to have a mini book project at the crop weekend. And then my last party was to work on my Story Kits, which I haven't done at all. And that may be a later fall thing.

Jennifer Wilson: Well. We were talking About your Alaska album. You asked me like, what should I work on? And I said, because of your options, the Alaska album was the story first option. That it was to me, I would choose that so that it didn't get too far away. Because with the story kits, there'll always be stories that fit those kits. So when you're working with more of a product first approach, which is totally fine, I'm not like trying to weigh them against each other, they're just different. And we might have different reasons for choosing them, choosing one over the other.

Alissa Williams: Yeah, and I do want to get this Alaska project [00:43:00] done. We, it was a year ago right now that we were there. And so I did, took extensive notes and journaling and I've got the basis, but like you said, I don't wanna let it get too far down the road to where my memory is totally terrible about it. Um, you know, of not remembering some of the stuff. I have done, um, a page for each of the girls' albums with a picture of them in Alaska, just to kind of mark that trip for them. And kind and put on the journaling has like their top three moments. Or, you know, Lucy said, well, what do you remember about what did, what do you remember at Alaska?

It was cold and wet. That's all she says. How was your trip to Alaska? Cold and wet. So I should have titled the page Cold and Wet, but. Uh, that was a missed opportunity. But anyway, uh, so I feel like all of these things are still reasonable, um, with what I have time for, [00:44:00] allotted for, uh, I have two weekend crops, um, one the summer and one in the fall.

And, and then I'll have a lot of time this summer. Um, so those are, I mean those are still my priorities. I think my biggest priority now is to make progress on this Alaska album. 'Cause I suspect I'm gonna be doing a little more digital stuff than I typically do, and that's easier to do at home. 'cause I don't have a laptop.

Jennifer Wilson: Sure.

Alissa Williams: And not at a crop. I might do finishing touches at a crop, but also I don't like to journal at a crop anymore. So, yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: Maybe you'd feel differently if you were typing though.

Alissa Williams: That would also require said laptop that I do not own.

Jennifer Wilson: You could borrow.

Alissa Williams: Maybe it's time I, buy a laptop. Maybe that's the solution to my problems.

Jennifer Wilson: But I also do have a PC laptop I could let you borrow. So.

Alissa Williams: Oh, well that's kind of you. So yeah, I mean, my priorities haven't changed. I have done my ongoing projects. [00:45:00] I always do a birthday page now for each of the girls. I've just finished Abby's this past weekend with my extra page from my Scrapbook and Cards kit. Um, I just finished my seventh grade chatbook that I've been doing for each of the girls since kindergarten.

Jennifer Wilson: We have to talk about Chatbooks.

Alissa Williams: Yes, we do. This is why I just said that.

Jennifer Wilson: I, they, and I, I'm assuming this is going to affect everyone. Chatbooks has announced that, um, Meta has closed off their API for Instagram to be able to pull in, uh, photos and captions into photo book services. I, I'm kind of shocked, honestly.

Alissa Williams: I am appalled and mad. I, I was very frustrated when I found that I have not, I put less and less on Instagram, actually now that the kids are older. But, uh, it was at least an easy starting point to [00:46:00] pull in the pictures and captions. And so I had to, it took, it took longer but it was still, and I had to go in and caption everything and that was kind of frustrating.

Uh, and so my captions are not great, but they're fine. So Lucy graduated eighth grade last year and I did a Chatbook, and I had already decided that, again, volume of photos is so small that I wasn't gonna do anything. I wasn't gonna do one per year for high school. I might do one at the end of high school, but now I'm even like, if the Chatbook like, I might as well just print four by fours in a small album through Persnickety Box.

And maybe I'll just, maybe I'll do it. Ooh, maybe I'll do it that way. And then I could at least print like her freshman year photos. And then I wonder if I still have, did Becky, were there four by four Project Life [00:47:00] page protectors?

Jennifer Wilson: Uh, there are from, We Are Memory Keepers for the little, those little mini albums.

Alissa Williams: No. But like the 12 by 12 ones.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh.

Alissa Williams: With four by fours in 'em. I'm gonna have to look at my stash of Project Life page.

Jennifer Wilson: There were.

Alissa Williams: Oh, I just had a big idea. I gotta write this down.

Jennifer Wilson: Do you have a 10 by eight album? Because those have some four by fours.

Alissa Williams: Ooh, maybe I need one of those. Maybe I need to do all of her freshman year and a 10 album, and that would use up some of my cards too.

Jennifer Wilson: Why not just do all of high school and a 10 by eight of them?

Alissa Williams: That's what I meant. High school. I didn't say that, but I meant that.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah. I think, I think this is something where you could lay out lots of different creative options and figure out, what is, which ones am I, would I actually finish? Which ones actually sound fun? And find out where the overlap and the Venn diagram is to be able to to pick a choice.

Alissa Williams: That's a lot of thinking. I don't do this much thinking about it. I just kind of like.

Jennifer Wilson: You do. I feel like you do.

Alissa Williams: Um, [00:48:00] okay.

Jennifer Wilson: No, just me.

Alissa Williams: Um, maybe you make me think this, overthink this like this.

Jennifer Wilson: Do you need me to create a worksheet for you so you can do this?

Alissa Williams: Obviously, uh, it's always a solution. It's a worksheet. Um,

Jennifer Wilson: We do have a flow diagram of how to choose the format for your project. And it's based on like starting with number of photos.

Alissa Williams: Problem is, I don't know the number of photos.

Jennifer Wilson: True. You don't, but you could pick in advance to say you wanna pick 25 photos per school year.

Alissa Williams: Yeah. Um, I guess the other thing I wanna talk about in terms of creative priorities is that I'm very committed to using my stash. So, for example, when we talked about my Project Life, I am using my Elle's Studio Kits that I bought and never used. And so, um. That has been very satisfying to get some of that supplies used up.

My goal with my Elle's Studio kits is to do [00:49:00] my Project Life spread and one layout with a kit. Um, and there is so much inspiration on their website for pages and on their Instagram feed for 12 by 12 pages of using their product that way. And so I, I really love that. And then, um, so I haven't actually, I bought the January kit, but then I had February, March, April, I have May, and I have June. And then I don't really have the fall stuff. So I'm debating between getting kits or just using what I have. Which I really should just use what I have 'cause that's really my commitment. But I didn't write it down, so I feel like I could buy stuff, which feels like cheating but I don't know.

Jennifer Wilson: Given that it's become, I, I don't think pocket page scrapbooking is going to go away. But we are seeing more cards that you have to cut apart yourself. We are seeing [00:50:00] maybe a decrease in the availability of page protectors and albums. And so I, I would, I guess my choice for you, my vote would be for you to use your stash.

Alissa Williams: Well, and that's fair. Um, so it will also depend on the designs.

Like sometimes I'm feel very called to a particular like, oh, I must have this particular card. I feel less less of that. And it's not really, it's not even fomo, it's just like, ooh, pretty shiny new. Uh, so I'm thinking about getting the July kit as just kind of a reward for you busting through my stash.

Jennifer Wilson: But once you get to August though, like I feel like you could basically make yourself a kit of fall supplies. That includes cards you already have, and then other fall items that would allow you to customize the cards, like papers, embellishment stamps, stickers. No.

Alissa Williams: That's too much work. [00:51:00] I don't have a lot of time see volleyball weekends.

Jennifer Wilson: You'll be in the school season. In the fall, you won't have as much weekend.

Alissa Williams: Oh yes, I will. Because when they play JV, they play more tournaments on the weekends. So.

Jennifer Wilson: I think you have some things you can think through and there's no pressure to make a decision right this moment.

Alissa Williams: Yes, I have been proud though that I have not really bought, um, stuff and that I only really caved. I, I mean, I look every month at Shimelle's. Best of both Worlds kits, but, I only bought the one for June. And partly it's too because I have, I have, I feel like I have a little bit of a backlog of stories where I know her layouts will help me get some of these one and two picture.

Because like what I've learned is the Scrapbook and Cards Today kits, she always does one two [00:52:00] page spread with a lot of pictures and then one single page. And that's great. But like Shimelle always does like one or two photos. Now I have learned a lot from Simple Scrapper member, Melissa Burnett, giving her a shout out for putting multiple pictures on a page and in creative ways and making photo collages because.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh, yeah.

Alissa Williams: She has definitely influenced me in a few of my layouts where I'm like, oh, I should put a picture here instead of this here. Or let's make a collage instead of, doing. One photo or two photos.

Jennifer Wilson: Certainly. That's one of the things I love about the community and getting to know folks, is being able to learn from their specific techniques. And it's like, oh, I've never thought about doing it that way. I could try that. And then you pick something up and that's, that's how you do it.

Alissa Williams: Yeah, so we were talking about priorities. I don't even know what the question was anymore. I'm just rambling about my hobby.

Jennifer Wilson: So I have, like, I have [00:53:00] a, a current priority for this journey and then another priority for the summer. I am really focused on Week In The Life. I have made really good progress on last year's album. I've got all the photos, not just selected and edited, but printed, cut out, put in pockets. Um, I'm just to the point of needing to finish embellishing the album and writing my journaling. And so I, I feel really, I don't know, passionate, is that the right word? I feel like this is really important. Because of, I feel like this year and last year are just so different in so many ways that they.

Alissa Williams: Oh.

Jennifer Wilson: Almost feel like they're bookends of comparison. When I do this year's album, I wanna take some similar photos to be able to talk about what has changed. Um, and so I am prepping my album for this year. We'll be, I'm gonna be [00:54:00] documenting from this Sunday, June 1st through Friday, June 6th. I'm doing one day off. Then I guess the official timing, because I wanna include, um, volleyball tournament in that, and I have done that in the past.

That's what I did last year too, is I started a day early so that I could include waking up in a hotel room on Sunday morning as, as part of that story. Um, so I feel, I feel really good about that and it feels fun. I don't know that I'm gonna do it forever. I've always done the Week in The Life of, in some regard, like taken the photos and done something. I don't know that I feel as compelled to maybe do a whole album again in the future. But these two years feel like this good, like bookend of change. Um, and so I'm excited about that.

Alissa Williams: I'm also gonna do Week in the Life. We didn't talk about that.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes.

Alissa Williams: I haven't done an album in several years. And I also am feeling like you in that this, there is enough of a difference between the last time I did [00:55:00] an album and now.

Jennifer Wilson: Well and you're gonna do, do it in the, by the numbers perspective.

Alissa Williams: Yes.

Jennifer Wilson: Really interesting.

Alissa Williams: Yes. And I also like you wanna capture this volleyball season, so I'm gonna, so we have a tournament, I'm gonna do the typical Monday through Sunday and we'll be gone for a tournament next weekend.

So, yep, I'm doing that too.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes, yes.

Alissa Williams: Okay. What's your summer priority?

Jennifer Wilson: I want you to come boss me around and help me sort my memorabilia.

Alissa Williams: Okay, this is funny since you, we just did the replay of the episode where I came and bossed you around on your layouts.

Jennifer Wilson: I like, my memorabilia system is not that bad. I have boxes labeled from preschool through junior high. Time to make some, make a box for high school. But I also have some bins of stuff that has not been sorted yet. So I need to like, pull it all out, do a good letting go of some [00:56:00] items and get everything in,

its in its home. Probably do some photography of three dimensional artwork that I no longer need to keep. It's just gotten to a point where it's. It's sitting in a box in the floor of my closet and making it hard to actually get in the closet. Like the closet's still in pretty good shape, but the memorabilia is, is become a problem and I really need to tackle this. Uh, and I would really like to do it before we go, before Emily goes to high school in the fall and we're starting a whole new season of gathering items.

Alissa Williams: So we need to pick a date for me to come boss you. Is that what we've decided?

Jennifer Wilson: can do it on Zoom or FaceTime. But yeah, if you could come here, that would be awesome. I would appreciate it.

Alissa Williams: It's way more fun when I come in person.

Jennifer Wilson: So yeah, we will find sometime this summer

Alissa Williams: Okay.

Jennifer Wilson: During, probably during July when they're doing summer league volleyball. I don't know.

Alissa Williams: Yeah. Okay. That's good.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah.

Alissa Williams: I can do that. I do. Will travel to boss people.[00:57:00]

Jennifer Wilson: So.

Alissa Williams: That's funny.

Jennifer Wilson: Final question for our conversation is, is there anything that has surprised you recently about yourself, your hobby, this industry is like, what's, like, what's maybe been on your mind?

Alissa Williams: I don't know. I've been thinking about this. I, I've been sad about the amount of shrinkage in our industry over the last couple years. And I feel now some with this tariff stuff and like Canadian companies not shipping to the United States. Um, that's challenging. Um, I, I guess I'm almost surprised that here I am 22 years later still making pages. You know. This hobby is still really important to me. And even as I feel like I have less stories of my girls to tell, I still wanna make time to tell those important stories. And, [00:58:00] you know, I guess I'm surprised that I'm not the card maker I thought I was gonna be.

Jennifer Wilson: Yes.

Alissa Williams: I mean, I think too, this idea that I was gonna make 10 of these birthday cards, I think I'm more attracted to the idea of making a card.

Like I, because I was gonna be this fabulous card maker, I went off on this tear and signed up for the Scrapbook and Cards Today, card making event, and I have that whole box I haven't even tackled. Um, note it did not really make my priority list. Um.

Jennifer Wilson: Should you sell the box?

Alissa Williams: No.

Jennifer Wilson: Okay.

Alissa Williams: Because I, I wanna make those cards. And one of the reasons I had gone to Stamp Joy was I, I have a lot of stamps and I really like stamping and I wanted to do more stamping on my layouts.

I thought that this would teach me techniques for that. Um, but, and it has in a way, but I haven't stamped. Well, no, that's, I did do a layout where I did a bunch of stamping. So it all molds together. [00:59:00] Um, I guess, yeah, I'm surprised I'm not the card maker that I thought I was gonna be. That's not the new thing, but that I still have pages I wanna make and there are still stories to tell, um, that are important to me.

So, and I do have more time to spend, you know, like I talked about the Backup Bootcamp to, to do some of those, um, cleanup things. Like I talked about, you know, organizing my albums and I put them in all new, um, they all have spine labels and I'm working on title pages for everything. And just cleaning, doing some of that maintenance stuff that maybe I didn't have as much time for in the past because I was my crop time was so limited. I would just wanted to tell stories. 'Cause I felt like I had so many stories and it's not that I don't feel like I have so many stories. It's just, you know, the amount of stories I'm collecting has slowed.

Jennifer Wilson: Certainly.

Alissa Williams: What about you?

Jennifer Wilson: There's, I mean, there's a number of things. I think there's, there's a list of items that [01:00:00] always surprise me, but shouldn't. Such as, I always find ways back to my creativity, back into really feeling excited about the hobby. When I go to in-person crops, when I look through my albums and look at past layouts, when I really spent time in my photo library, like all the things that you would think of that we tell people to say, this is how you can reconnect with your hobby. Those things work. And every time I feel like, oh, I'm just like, feeling a little disconnected, am always able to find a way back. And I, I guess I've learned to trust that even more, even though it always does, like, give me this moment of like surprise and delight of like, oh yeah, it's still really there.

Like it's, I, I love this, this is important to me. Um, whether I'm doing a lot of it or I'm doing a little of it, it's, it's still just a part of my life.

Alissa Williams: Well, and riffing off that a little bit, I think, um, ever since my big renaissance at the end [01:01:00] of 2018, where in 2019, where I really got back into regular crafting after two years of really feeling like a failure and a fake scrapbooker. I figured out more of my system, my approach. I know that kits are the way that I wanna do it. I know that I'm in my copying era. So, leaning more into that has helped me be successful in continuing to stay engaged.

Jennifer Wilson: Like knowing what works for you, knowing your way.

Alissa Williams: Yes. So I know what works for me. I know having a kit that I can take on the road so I can make a page in a hotel room is really super satisfying. You know, and I can use these rails to continue to get the stories told and that is enjoyable.

Jennifer Wilson: That reminds me that something else that has surprised me recently, I've always thought of myself as a, like one to three photo scrapper in terms of layouts. [01:02:00] While I have done and more two page layouts. Recently, I've, I've done a number of pages, both single and double that had a lot of photos.

And I had this story I told myself of like, I don't make pages with lots of photos. I am, I'm not a Tracy Fox or a Melissa Burnett. I don't, I can't, like, I, that's not where my brain naturally goes. I naturally go to more of a Shimelle style layout with lots of layers and embellishments and a little, um, it ends up cohesive in the end. But it's kind of, you know, a process to get there. But I've really had fun and really felt proud of pages that I've made where I used a lot of photos. 'Cause it felt very satisfying. It was kind of, it was a challenge to put together. I just recently did one that had 31 or 39, I don't remember. I had to print them very small and they were all kind of collaged together. It was not a grid in any way. And [01:03:00] it was fun. So I, I guess I'm surprised by, going out of my comfort zone and and finding joy in that. I guess.

Alissa Williams: I think it's awesome 'cause like that 30, that 31 that, that layout you're referring to was amazing. And you are so, you do a variety of different things I think that are, quote, outside your comfort zone. You try different techniques. You, you know, you are very versatile in the pages you create, which is something I admire about you.

Jennifer Wilson: Oh, thank you. Thank you. I particularly when we're doing a Refresh Retreat or a Stash Bash event, and you know, months ago I've worked with my team to come up with a prompt. I really enjoy like working on those prompts at the same time as our members. And I think that forces me to often combine a different bunch of different decisions that have been pre-made for me. Even though I made them myself, it, my past self made those decisions. Doesn't ever feel like that. It feels [01:04:00] like somebody else is giving me the prompt. Um, and that makes it fun to follow along. Because, you know, it, it could have been six months ago that we came up with that and assigned it to the creative team, and they made their layouts back then. But I'm just making it live and following along and, and playing and playing with members as as a member myself.

Alissa Williams: Yeah, I think that's fun. Um, I was just paging through my creative hub to look at what I talked or thought about. And I, you know, I keep this list of stories by the month 'cause I like a good checklist. Um, and that seems to be the way that works best for me. But I, talking about volleyball stories, there are pages that I wanna make about this volleyball experience.

Like I have, I wanna make a page about Lucy's tournament jobs. So they have to ref, you know, a match. And Lucy always has to be the down ref because no one [01:05:00] else on her team wants to down ref. But also she's very, um, unfazed. Um, because when you down ref, you have to be very confident in your calls. And there was one, uh, tournament where a coach like got in her face and was yelling at her for a call she'd made, and.

Jennifer Wilson: That's awesome.

Alissa Williams: Didn't phase her.

Yeah. And then she is always the player who stands next to the coach on the opposing team during warmups and passes the balls to the coach. Like, she doesn't field balls, she stands there. And so it, so I have pictures of that and I wanna tell that story.

Jennifer Wilson: That is so interesting because those are Emily's two jobs too.

Alissa Williams: So funny.

Jennifer Wilson: We need to like swap photos.

Alissa Williams: So much alike.

Jennifer Wilson: And make layouts about that, about our parallel journeys, so that.

Alissa Williams: Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: Could be fun.

Yeah. Emily loves to be down ref. Like it's, it, it is, part of it's because no one else wants to, but she actually really likes and, and she asks to do that. So.[01:06:00]

Alissa Williams: Yeah.

Jennifer Wilson: Yeah. And she's always, I. Always the one with the ball basket. Um, it's, it's so interesting because she has, she is a leader in so many ways, and then also not one in so many others. So she's a little, she's very, introverted in certain ways, but not so much on the volleyball court.

Alissa Williams: Yeah. And then the other story that is about more about me and these weekends is my volleyball mom uniform. Um, as you know, I've purchased, I have a very set, um, set uniform of, although now that it's getting warm, I don't, it's kind of a little harder. But I bought some specific volleyball sweatshirts. And I just, especially in January and February around they go so much just I would wash them and put the back in the suitcase.

Um, so I have a very particular look at a volleyball game and I wanna just document that as well.

Jennifer Wilson: That's fun, especially since, you know, we're [01:07:00] often trading outfit photos and, um, I, I did a page of like a year of outfit photos and that was really fun. I was used, one of the last Story Kits. It was one of the first ones that had lots

Alissa Williams: Oh.

Jennifer Wilson: Mixed media. It had like flowers and a lot of green in it, and it was really fun to take all these little tiny pictures of outfits over the past year.

Alissa Williams: Yes. That was a good layout. They're all good.

Jennifer Wilson: Is there anything we've missed that we really need to talk about?

Alissa Williams: Well we could probably have a whole nother 30 minute conversation on planning and planners and organization, but.

Jennifer Wilson: Let's save that for next time.

Alissa Williams: Yeah, that's good.

Jennifer Wilson: By then, we'll probably be like in July or so, at least in that second half of the year where we're really starting to like question our choices and think about the next year. And that could definitely be a whole nother conversation.

Alissa Williams: Yes, it could and it will be, I'm sure.

Jennifer Wilson: Well, as always, I have enjoyed our conversation. Thanks for spending time with me. Can you share where our listeners can find you online?[01:08:00]

Alissa Williams: Uh, sure. I am on Instagram as alissarecommends. 'Cause part of what I do is recommend books. Um, I don't post as often as I was saying earlier, but I do post book recommendations. I don't actually post a lot about scrapbooking. Um, but it is a private account, you are welcome to request me to follow me.

Jennifer Wilson: Awesome. Well, I can't wait till our next time. And to all of our listeners, please remember that you have permission to Scrapbook Your Way.