GOBI by the numbers

Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up.
―A.A. Milne

How appropriate that the above quote arrived in my inbox this morning. This is the first in a series (that shall be uninterrupted this time) about my Get Organized Be Inspired journey. Now don't think I'll be telling you enough so you don't have to take the class next time it's offered rather I hope to share just enough to get you as excited about it as all of us that took it this time are.

To start some background - I am a piler and I married a piler. We have stacks of stuff and we are postive we will remember what they contain. We hardly ever do but since the birh of our child (and honestly the need to empty a room for him) we have been better at it. One of us more than the other but regression has occurred from time to time. I had finally got my combination scraproom/office/spare room in order and was loving it when I realized said son was outgrowing his room and I needed to swap to give him the larger of the two. And so my organized scrap area and office fell to pieces. Did I mention that this we happening during the holidays? So I remembered a reference to The Organized and Inspired Scrapbooker by Wendy Smedley and Aby Garvey either in Stacy Julian's book Photo Freedom or on her blog and I asked my wonderfully enabling husband to get that and only that for me for Christmas. About the same time I started stalking Wendy's blog and learned in she was teaching a class at BPS it was Get Organized Be Inspired or GOBI to those who love it...

The aforementioned husband, AKA Jay, signed me up after seeing me look at it dreamily for days. I'd spend hours in front of our computer reading the about it and thinking I couldn't spend the money on just me. See money was a little tight at that time which was pre-refinance of the house. Then it hit me I am wasting more money by not being able to use the stuff I already paid for than the class costs! so the guilt was I had been feeling left me. And the most incredible journey began... I will caution you all that if you are considering the class get a copy of the book as soon as you can since it is vital to being able to participate fully! Several participants had trouble finding this popular tome as it was sold out.

I've posted before photos earlier and so don't want to go there again check them out here but I will be sharing some more after shots with more detail later on.

I'll be giving a brief overview of my journey through this process broken to the weekly sessions. And just so you know my mantra through out this amazing journey was 'trust the process' especially during some of the assignments LOL

Week 1 - we were tasked to create a mission statement and Wendy shared why this was important. We also had a book assignment. I grumbled and complained and ultimately I did the project and had a pleasant revelation.

Ok so the mission statement isn't my finest piece of work but it showed me much more than I expected.

Week 2 - we did another book assignment and created another project. I am thinking "what the heck..." I didn't sign up to make MORE stuff I need to get rid of some and get the rest organized! But I then heard my mantra - trust the process. I did and again was pleasantly surprised.

I can't find the photo of the Inspiration binder we did this week so am adding this clipboard for now. Also created during the class.

We also had our first bonus hand out from Aby Garvey. WOW!

Week 3 - Another book assignment and then again with the create something... I want to dig in and start organizing but again I TRUST the process... to myself I think 'for now'. And our first Super Saturday! We chatted, we commiserated and we moved forward with the gentle guidance of Wendy.

Week 4 - ARGH!! now we are wasting time making LOs for a week? Ok breath and trust TRUST the process... I did and all was right in my little world after all.



I'm only including these 2 LOs I did this week so as not to bore you all

This is the end of the first month. A month that I might add in which I learned a lot about myself and the *HOW* behind my scrapbooking and for that I am grateful that I did indeed trust the process. Tomorrow I'll be posting about the next 4 weeks and tossing in a bonus giveaway...