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

So much to say....

There are just not enough hours in the day right now. This is not a new feeling for me or for most people I imagine, but ever since I took on my 365 photo project, I feel like I have even less time than before. Why? Because I am spending almost all my free time taking and editing photos!

Now don't get me wrong... I am loving every minute of this 365 project. I love trying to find new sources of inspiration. I love trying out new things with my camera that I've always wanted to try. I absolutely love the freedom to express so much creativity. What I don't love so much is the lack of time to pursue all the other things I have going on in my life, including this poor blog. For example, I spent HOURS last night redesigning my 365 blog, including the creation of a new header. I am thrilled with how it all turned out, but of course the result was an entire evening devoted to photography and a bit of sleep deprivation. But it was worth it.

Right now, I have 4 posts that I can think of that need to be put up on this site. I guess that isn't that much, but I can see how I will continue to get backlogged as the days go on. Hopefully I can utilize my time better this weekend to catch up on this end, but in the meantime, keep following along with my "Project 365"!

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"

101 in 1001

This year I turned 30. The big 3-0. Yeah, that's not really THAT big of a deal. But I think it's the first birthday in my lifetime that I have wished would NOT come sooner. It was also a big reason that I started thinking about what I've done with my life for the past 30 years (more like the last 10... I don't think anyone really thinks that hard about what they did the first 20-ish years of their life... you're still figuring out who you are) and where I would like to take my life in the future. I was happy with most of the choices I've made, and I also found a number of areas in my life where I would like to make some improvements. But there are a lot of things I want to do next, and it would be hard to start a new blog about the variety of hobbies and interests that I have in my life.

Thus.... the reason for starting this blog and for the first post, titled "101 in 1001." If you read lots of blogs frequently, you very likely may have come across this idea before - lots of people are jumping on this bandwagon. But if this is the first time you have heard of "101 in 1001," then here's the scoop. You pick 101 things that you want to do with/for yourself in the next 1001 days. These items are supposed to be measurable and should hopefully challenge yourself to a degree. So for example "Compete in a 10 mile bike race" is a good goal = measurable and hopefully challenging you in some ways. "Watch fun TV" is not so good. How do you really define fun? And for most people, is watching TV really that much of a stretch? I think not....

So, after much thought and a little difficulty, here is my list of 101 in 1001. There is only one item on the list that has been changed for personal reasons. If the goal is met, I might reveal it, but we'll see. But anyways, here are my goals for the next 2.75 years, and as I cross things off the list, I will post about all the things I've accomplished!

Start date: January 1, 2010
End date: September 27, 2010

Marriage & Family
1 Visit my grandparents in Iowa
2 "Date night" with Mark once a month (3/33)
3 Take dance lessons with Mark
4 Visit my parents once a month (3/33)
5 Take a trip to Maine with my parents
6 Have my extended family over to our house
7 Send birthday cards to all friends/family for a year
8 Take my parents to the Magic Bar in Baltimore
9 Get a dog

Home Matters
10 Buy furniture for the formal living room in our house
11 Make curtains for the formal living room
12 Clean out and organize the garage
13 Organize the office closet COMPLETED Jan 2010
14 Successfully grow an herb garden
15 Clean out my closet 2 times a year and give unwanted clothes to charity (1/5)
16 Complete photo collages and hang them upstairs
17 Buy a headboard for our bed
18 Make curtains for the office
19 Re-do the lighting in our kitchen
20 Organize and consolidate all office files IN PROGRESS
21 Plant new flowers behind our back fence
22 Reupholster the cedar guest chest
23 Install hardwood flooring in living/dining room
24 Upholster/cover kitchen stools
25 Organize the attic
26 Switch all our lightbulbs over to "green" ones

Mind, Body & Soul
27 Get some form of exercise 3 days a week (1/143)
28 Volunteer for a charity organization once a year (0/3)
29 Participate in my first 5K run
30 Hike or bike part of the Appalachian Trail
31 Complete a crossword puzzle without any help/cheating COMPLETED Feb 2010
32 Drink at least 32oz water every day
33 Pray every day
34 Go an entire week without watching TV
35 Get a massage once a year (0/3)
36 Learn 5 new hairstyles and use them

Hobbies
37 Join a camera/photography club COMPLETED Jan 2010
38 Sew a skirt for myself
39 Sew a dress for myself
40 Wear at least one item I sewed for myself in public
41 Learn how to alter pants to fit me
42 Take an intermediate sewing class
43 Take an intermediate cake decorating class COMPLETED Feb 2010
44 Finish my Italy/Greece scrapbook
45 Join a book club COMPLETED Jan 2010
46 Participate in project 365 IN PROGRESS
47 Organize all my print photos into albums
48 Backup all my digital photos onto DVDs
49 Send a DVD of Hawaii photos to Fritzs
50 Create a hobby workspace for myself IN PROGRESS
51 Fix my kitchen shelves COMPLETED Jan 2010
52 Finish and frame my cross stitch project

Food & Entertaining
53 Try 2 new recipes every month (3/33)
54 Host a cookie decorating party
55 Make homemade pasta COMPLETED Jan 2010
56 Host a formal dinner party
57 Try 5 new restaurants in our neighborhood (1/5)
58 Roast a chicken
59 Host a holiday party every Christmas (0/2)
60 Make a loaf of bread.... by hand
61 Learn (and perfect) how to make pizza dough... from scratch
62 Cook my entire way through a magazine or cookbook
63 Make a personalized cookbook/tastebook
64 Organize my recipes

Out & About
65 Got to an opera performance
66 Organize an afternoon tea outing with friends
67 Visit a new city in the US
68 Visit Germany Planning phase
69 Visit Austria Planning phase
70 Bring only a small suitcase to Europe
71 Visit Sabrina in CA
72 Visit New York City at Christmas time
73 Go camping at a new site/location each year (0/3)
74 Do a Viginia wine tour
75 Visit a museum once a season (0/11)
76 Visit a planetarium
77 Visit a new town in my home state each year (0/3)
78 Get together with one of my girl friends once a month (2/33)
79 Go tubing at Harpers Ferry
80 Visit Falling Waters (Frank Lloyd Wright's home in PA)
81 See a professional soccer game
82 See a performance at Ford's Theater
83 See a orchestra performance
84 Go to a Penn State football game
85 Go ice skating outdoors at National Gallery of Art

Fresh Starts
86 Start a new blog COMPLETED Jan 2010
87 Sell my first photograph
88 Make my own "coffee table" book of my photos
89 Start a side business in photography
90 Get a new job COMPLETED Feb 2010

Other
91 Watch 10 new "classic" movies (0/10)
92 See an outdoor movie
93 Watch the sunrise
94 Re-read 5 books I own
95 Learn 2 new card games
96 Learn to play a song on the guitar
97 Read 5 non-fiction books (0/5)
98 Go one month without buying clothes/accessories for myself COMPLETED Jan 2010
99 Buy myself one nice piece of jewelry
100 Donate $5 to charity for every item not completed
101 Start a new 101 in 1001 list