7/52 - Photo Project 2013

Again, I have many photos to choose from this week, but the winners mostly came from Valentine's Day.

"Love Mussels"

I was watching my mom scrub mussels and this caught my eye. As soon as she was done, I set them up and it worked just as I'd imagined. You never know what you'll see when you're cooking.

Runners up:

An accidentally blurry Tommy:

My favorite candy - nonpareils with rainbow sprinkles:

I took about 35 pictures today, exploring a new-to-me part of St. Louis as part of a new photographic meetup group... but none of them caught me quite like these. I look forward to future meetups with them! 

2/52 - Photo Project 2013

I blogged about it earlier, but the Zoo really provided the best fodder for my photo project this week. I really must remember that when the weather has unexpected changes, apparently it makes the animals more 'feisty'.

It's tough - this one is probably my winner for the week. I like my composition (framing and color) better:



But this one is a near second - because of the slight adorableness and the calm before the storm in the Kangaroo Fight:



I took a smattering on the day of the deadline - but these were just better.

1/52 - Photo Project 2013

Well, I think I'm off to a pretty good start. I had a great drive on New Year's Day where I explored a few places I'd been and a few nearby neighborhoods that I hadn't.  Since then I've found a few more here and there. I'm on my way to adding to my blue set, my window and my doors set, as laid out in the Photo Project 2013.

I ended up with about 45 photos from this fun set, but this was the clear winner to me. I really enjoyed finding this treasure:



Here's to the next 51!

2013 Self-Goals

Resolutions are funny things… You want to make ones that are specific so that you have something to strive for yet you don't want to set up yourself to fail.

There are things that I'd like to accomplish this year, but don't necessarily want to beat up on myself if I fail, such as (in no particular order]:

-I want to find the positive in things better than I do now. Sometimes it is still hard to see the forest for the trees, or whatever the saying is - seeing past the bad and seeing the good, or at least the big picture. If I have to resurrect the Happy List, I will. 

-I want to try to learn how to let go of things that are out of my control. I'm a fixer by nature and sometimes I drive myself nuts trying to fix what can't be or isn't my problem.

-I really want to stretch and learn more about photography. How to use my camera better, how to do new techniques - expand my horizons.

-I want to learn how to be more unplugged. Put my devices down and spend more time away from the computer. I can't give up any of them cold turkey, but I'd like to find a better balance.

-I want to work on my personal life - friendships, relationships, long-distance and local. 

-I want to find a better balance with work and home. 

-I want to read more books - I've gotten out of the habit (shame on me!)

-I want to learn how to manage my money better - hence the making of a budget and sticking to it. I'm not doing too bad of a job now but I can definitely do better. 

-I want to travel more - which may upend all the well-intentioned budgeting.  

-I want to find new-to-me-places in St. Louis.

-I want to try to do the Couch to 5K thing again. And stick to it. [notice that I did not make an ultimatum on this one - it is hard for me to find time that many weeks in a row] 

-I want to eat healthier - or at minimum, get better and realistic about portion sizes.

-I want to accomplish as many of these items as possible but not beat up myself if I don't do them all or don't succeed at them. 

So I'll check back periodically and let you know how I'm doing on these goals. Make sure to check in with me if I haven't - see what you can hold me to.