For the second year in a row, I’ve selected some of the objects and things we have that can represent our past year.
See our 2011 in objects here (and the Blurb book I made about it)
I love chronicling the meaning of the objects we choose to keep in our lives.
I believe in things.
I believe that your belongings DO have meaning beyond just their physical makeup.
And I believe those things deserve to be recorded.
This is NOT about materialism …. this is about valuing those things that actually have meaning.
Take a look below – and I’d love to hear what objects represent your 2012! Or check out Tell Its Story for ideas on how to document the objects in your life.
Our 2012 represented in objects:
(in no particular order)
Big Bear:
We didn’t go on any real vacations this year (versus 2011 when we spent a week in Alaska and a week in Scotland). But we were able to schedule a really quick weekend trip to Big Bear. One of the fantastic things about living in Southern California is there are so many great destinations nearby.
We didn’t do really anything on this weekend. It marks one of the only times in my life I have gone on ‘vacation’ without doing a ton of touristy things. We took long naps both days and read pages and chapters of our respective books. And then went to bed early.
I sometimes forget what it’s like to relax … but this weekend in Big Bear was certainly relaxing.
This is a small patch we bought while there – I still haven’t decided what I want to do with it 
Project Life:
This is the year I started truly memory keeping again.
I began my first Project Life album on my 30th birthday (April 2012). Since then I’ve spent all of … oh, $50 total on photo prints. Nothing on paper. And started collecting a few little embellishments to use throughout the album (like the washi tape and Elise stamps pictured here).
I know I talk about this all the time. I’m sorry about that. But truly truly Project Life has done WONDERS for my memory keeping. I love the photos and the stories I’ve documented of the last 9 months. And I love that I’ve been able to do it with such a small time and product investment.
Khaleesi and Fangsana:
My babies (my coworker calls them that and I’ve picked it up). We got our first pets this year! 2 darling little sister kittens in June.
Who are apparently very picky with their food and only like this one flavor.
It’s so different having to take care of other living creatures. Our whole lives changed this year. We now wake up early to feed them. We now have to make sure we don’t leave out little things (like bobby pins) for them to chew up. We sleep with warm heavy weight on our legs.
I love them.
Plus every single time I go to the grocery store I need to grab 12 or 18 cans of this!
Schubert HQ:
Um. Yes. Big news.
We bought our first house this year! We closed mid-February. Moved in mid-March. And have been doing work on the house consistently since then.
Being homeowners is … such a change! We finally got all our belongings out of storage after 4 years (even though all the boxes are not yet unpacked). We get to make decisions for changes however we like (I got to had to design our kitchen from scratch).
And now we have a guest room (and lots of floor space) for family and friends to stay with us.
Owning a home (and paying for repairs) changes the way we spend our time. Owning a home also means I can now plan to quit my day job (since I don’t need that job history to qualify for a loan). So excited!
Writing:
2012 was the year I really started what I’ve been thinking about for years.
I also started reading more of the writers’ memoirs and instructional books that I’ve been collecting.
I’m not saying 2012 was a HUGE year for my writing …. but it was a START.
Home improvement:
Why, yes. That is toilet paper.
Totally emblematic of all of the home improvement (and headaches) we had to deal with in 2012.
Basically every single thing that could go wrong has gone wrong with this house. I think we have it settled now, but the very first weekend we lived there we had no kitchen, no gas (which means no hot water), the plumbing/sewer backed up into our downstairs tub and we discovered some of our windows leaked because it poured rain all weekend.
So, yea. Toilet paper? Just reminds me that we have tree roots growing into our pipes that have already cost us $1200 and will probably cost more in the future.
Sugar free:
I have white sugar in the house that I haven’t used in …. I don’t really know when.
2012 was the year I significantly cut back on my sugar consumption – with an eye to quitting completely eventually. Haven’t had any sugar yet in 2013
I haven’t put sugar in my coffee since the end of January – after 10+ years of sweetened coffee every single day (at least once).
It was ROUGH. ROUGH ROUGH. But remember last year when I included NyQuil in my ‘year in objects’ because I got so many head colds? NONE this year. Not a single one. I’m not saying it’s because of the sugar, but I really do feel so much healthier this year and there aren’t really any other changes I made.
I would 100% recommend trying it.
Ghostbot Records:
2012 was Andrew’s first full year running his record label – and I could not be more proud of him. His freelance recording clients are really (really) taking off! He just recorded a song for a Fraggle Rock anniversary tribute album! He may be getting producing credit on an album released by a major label. And he’s just about to put out his 4th release on Ghostbot.
Other than a couple big things this year – our house and our kittens – 2012 has been low-key. But those big things have been totally life changing.
Balance, my friends.
and learned all the differences between whisky around the country …. So interesting!
Taking a break from my normal fare today to let you know I’m guest posting over at 
