Did you know that your life experiences, from simple to monumental, are worth gathering, curating and sharing with those that love you? Well, they are! Each week I share bits and bobs from my studio on how I'm working to make it easier for you to find the time, tools and motivation to preserve and share your family stories and photographs.
🗒️ Notes from the Studio - October 2, 2026 🏠
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Hey there friends! Well, hello October. 🍂 I’m so ready to fully embrace all things autumn that I made some pumpkin butter for the first time over the weekend. It's so good on toast! Farewell horrible dry hot spell. Welcome rainy, cooler days. I’ve just started work on a couple of booklets for my dear Presbyterian church client in Tennessee, so I’ve haven’t had much time this week to rustle up family story-gathering ideas. What I have been thinking about, though, is how the houses and apartments where we have lived carry their own rich family memories. Let me explain. Several times a week, my daughter will tell me what she dreamed about the night before. I am fascinated that almost all of her dreams take place at our former home in Tennessee. What’s hilarious is that the story part of the dream is in current time - but the setting is in a house where she hasn’t lived for almost 14 years. Her current co-workers and friends in NW Arkansas are in the stories, but the general story takes place in another state where none of those people live in real life! To be fair, this is the home where she lived from age 6 until her late 20s - so everything about that house is deeply imprinted in her mind. And that’s the way it goes with family memories and stories. You might be like me when you look at photos from the past - maybe those in your childhood home - and you are fascinated by the stuff in the background. The furnishings, etc. just bring back more memories sometimes than what was going on in the photo. Read more about this below where I tell you about some other things I’m working on. Happy almost weekend, BEHIND THE SCENES THIS WEEK I’m a bit of a productivity and software nerd, so it won’t surprise you to know that I’m currently obsessed with a new feature that Google has rolled out for Google Docs. I spend most of my work day deep inside 2 different Google Workspace accounts - my own biz account and that of a company I do contract work for. For that reason, my radar is always on for anything new for these tools that will make my day easier and save me time. Over the last few months, there has been a wonderful feature added to the simple Google Doc (free to anyone with a Gmail account, by the way). The new feature is the ability to use Document Tabs to nicely expand your Google Doc into separate pages and keep them organized with tabs in the left sidebar (you give them names). How can this help those of us writing and organizing family stories? Well, now you can literally put all of your stories into just ONE document with each story easy-to-find with tabs and subtabs that you name. Whether or not you are thinking about putting together a Memory Book, this a wonderful, free way to stay organized. A bonus is that you can also insert the photos you want to go with that story right into the doc for a point of reference later on. I hope this makes sense! Here’s a screenshot of a test doc I created to further explain. If you are a fan of “Home Alone” you might recognize these names. Stay tuned, because hopefully soon I’m going to roll out a short training to help you get started with this system. While we are on the topic of Memory Books and in reference to what I was saying earlier about places you’ve lived, I want you to start thinking about how fun it would be to have one that could show your descendants all the places you’ve lived. You might not have a photo for each place, but you could easily write up a description of your memories at that apartment or maybe even your dorm room and use a map for location reference. Take a photo. Write a little bit. Create a legacy story for your family. INTENTIONAL HOME - Decluttering & Curating Memories
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Did you know that your life experiences, from simple to monumental, are worth gathering, curating and sharing with those that love you? Well, they are! Each week I share bits and bobs from my studio on how I'm working to make it easier for you to find the time, tools and motivation to preserve and share your family stories and photographs.
Hey there friends! Happy Friday and happy Family History Month. I hope your week has been a pleasant one and you have been able to spend time doing something you enjoy. In a world where it seems like every day and month on the calendar we are celebrating something 😂 - it seems the month of October is when we celebrate Family History Month. I’m happy about this because it means that there is more of a focus on the resources we need to gather the history and stories of our own families. Today...
Hey there friends! What memories do you want to curate for your family about your time in a particular place? It’s not unusual for me to say to a friend or family member “Remember when....?” or “Do you remember that time…?” But this week, I’ve found myself saying that quite a few times. And each time, that question has been because we were talking about shared experiences in a place. Not the place we are currently living in, but one that we shared in the past. I’ve realized this week the...
Hey there friends! Just a quick note this morning. 😀 I hope your week is going well. For me, I’m ecstatic that Hellaugtember in the Ozarks has finally run its course after tormenting us through most of August and the first few weeks of September. We are now enjoying some mornings in the high 50s and afternoons topping out nicely below 90 degrees. Now, let’s get to the business of gathering family stories. I have one last family story thread for you to pull. I have a treasured memory of one of...