Treading water

I've got a LOT going on. Maybe a little too much. So far I feel like I have all the projects I'm carefully juggling still up in the air... but I'm afraid I might drop one.

Project 1: photography... or should I say "Project 365". This is going pretty well so far and I feel like I learn something new about myself and my photography every day. Last night was also my first time attending a meeting of the Central Maryland Photographers Guild where I met a bunch of other photo enthusiasts like me. While I didn't necessarily feel like I took home a wealth of information from the topics specifically presented at the meeting, I did have some great conversations with some other experienced members about some photo editing software that I have had my eye on, and ended up leaving the meeting with a fresh outlook on my options in that area. I'm really hoping to get some more out of this club in the future; I'm especially hoping for some more constructive criticism of my work and some group field trips to work on my technique.

Project 2: cake decorating. So I've started on another of my "101 in 1001" tasks by signing up for the second Wilton method cake decorating course. I really enjoyed the skills I learned in the first course, but was a little frustrated with the "informal" feel to the class, which I took at Michael's craft store.

My final cake project from Course 1

This time around, I've signed up to take the class at a local bakery, Cake's Plus. I've heard that their classes are faster paced and a little more "serious" which will hopefully suit me a bit better. In the mean time, I'm also working on a cake masterpiece for my husband's 30th birthday party this coming Saturday. Right now I am up to my eyeballs in batches of colored icing, cake mixes, and other decorating tools. It's by far the biggest cake project I've ever taken on, and I REALLY don't want to screw it up.... especially since it's for an important birthday. :-) I'm keeping the theme a secret for now, but will be sure to blog about the process after the fact, so stay tuned!

And of course, there are lots of social obligations, a trip to Germany/Austria in May to plan, a baby shower to help host (and make another cake for!), and a full time job unrelated to all these projects to stay on top of. Just trying to stay afloat for now....

Wish List

As I continually look over my "101 in 1001" list of things to accomplish, I keep finding myself adding things to my Amazon wish list. I love this feature on Amazon. It helps me keep a running tally of all the things I'd like to own, and when people ask for Christmas lists and such, I have something ready to give them!

Of course I am currently trying to pace myself... don't want to buy everything off the list at once. My most recent purchase was some travel guide books for our upcoming vacation in (hopefully) May. We are planning on trying to make it back over to Europe to tour Germany and Austria. The past couple trips we've taken to Europe have taken a lot of time to plan, so I went ahead and ordered books to start the planning process.

My recent delve into the Project 365 world has immediately added a number of photography items to my wish list. I'm setting these items up as "rewards" for myself along the journey. I'll probably treat myself to one item after I complete my first month of the project. Right now, I'm longing for:

1) Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 lens for my dSLR
2) Opteka Wireless Remote Release for Canon cameras

3) Adobe Photoshop Elements 8


On the non-photography side, I am drooling over a few new gadgets for my kitchen, including:

4) Wood Pastry Board, for bread making, pasta making, and other dough-related tasks
5) Silpat non-stick baking tray liners
6) Mini-muffin pan, to make pecan tassies (yummm...)

7) Round cookie cutter set, for biscuits, cookies, and many other baking items

I am also yearning for a set of packing cubes, as I am determined to only bring a small suitcase on our trip to Germany in May, and I'm hoping these will help me pack more efficiently

8) Packing cubes

Snow!

We received our second snowfall this winter... the first of 2010, and while the snowfall totals were only 2-3 inches, it was just enough to make all that blah winter scenery look beautiful. I headed out to my back yard early in the morning before heading to work on Friday to get a few photos for my 365 project, but I liked more than one that I took, so I'm posting them here. Would love any feedback you might have, otherwise... enjoy, and stay warm this weekend! :-)

Black and white version of the last image... and my 365 image for the day

Time suck... and some new photo editing skills

So today marks the end of my first week of "Project 365." What a major time investment! Sure, it's only "1" photo-a-day... but do you know how many photos it takes for me to be satisfied with that day's photo? Definitely more than one! And then there is the editing - very few photos are perfect before editing. More time invested... but I must say that so far the time invested is totally worth it. I love the photos I've taken so far and can't wait to look back on all 365 at the end of the year. But I guess that is getting a bit ahead of myself....

In the mean time, I have learned some new features of my photo editing software while working with the photos that I have been taking. One new effect I have finally learned how to do is a soft black border. Looks simple.. it is simple... but took forever for me to figure out. I currently use Paint Shop Pro 8 as my editing software which has more than met my needs to date (and is WAY cheaper than Adobe Photoshop), but the only frustrating thing about using this software is that everyone else on the planet seems to use Photoshop! So learning how to do new techniques is a bit challenging... not many resources on the web. But check out the borders I've started adding to my photos. Here is my 365 photo for today. I also hope to create a better watermark when I figure out how to do that... another day. :-)

Project 365

First off, Happy New Year! 2010 is here and so is the start of my 101 in 1001 project. So far I am off to a good start with some of the items on my list. I already have a few to check off, including "Start a new blog" and "Make pasta from scratch" (will do a separate post about that another day).

But one of the big tasks on my list is to start and complete a Project 365. One of my many interests is photography. I love taking photos and experimenting with image composition and lighting and would love to be able to take my hobby to the next level. I thought one way to help encourage myself to experiment with my photo skills on a regular basis would be to do a "365" project in which you require yourself to take one photo every day for a whole year. In principle it's not a difficult thing to do, but from many blogs I have read about this topic, it can sometimes be challenging to figure out what to take a picture of every day, especially if you haven't had a chance to go anywhere other than work or home. Obviously, I am doing alright so far since it has only been 2 days. But I imagine I will hit some mental walls somewhere along the way.

So I wanted to start by posting the two images I have taken to begin this project. During the course of this project, most photos will probably only be pasted on the Project 365 page which you will alway find the link to at the top of my blog. But if an especially interesting or intriguing image happens to be captured, it might be featured on the main blog, so keep a look out for my daily progress!

1/1/10 : "Festive Flowers"

1/2/10 : "Jam Session"