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Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Last Day!!!

I know I'm incredibly behind on my blog, but I just had to post my last picture on my last day.  I'll go back later and add the posts for the last few months (I took a picture every day, by the way...just wasn't good at posting them).

But for now...CELEBRATE!!!!!  I'VE FINISHED!!!

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Days 286-292

The following pictures are from the week of March 14-20.

Day 286: Too Cool for School

Katie loves those sunglasses.  She wore them during her entire visit at our house today. Too cute!

Day 287: FAIL

Oh guys...saddest day ever.

I forgot to take a picture yesterday.  Completely spaced it!  I remembered around 3pm TODAY that I never took one.  I double-checked my phone, my iPod, and my camera for stray pictures, but there was nothing.

So SAD!  But since I'm so very close to the end of my journey with this project, I've decided to keep going anyway.  So here is a picture I took this evening that I will use as a filler for yesterday's screw-up.  I call it: Walk on By

Day 288: Headless

Self portrait number...whatever.  I still feel awful about missing yesterday's picture so I'm portraying that frustration by cutting my head out of the shot here.

Day 289: Old School

The two most used cook books in our house: Grandma's Betty Crocker cook book and the Better Homes and Gardens cook book we've had forever.

Day 290: One of These Things is Not Like The Other

I didn't stage this.  I found the cans perfectly lined up like this in our food storage shelves.  Pretty cool.

Day 291: Fun and Games

Hyrum and Esther trying to play Foosball tonight at the family dinner.  It's a good thing they're both on the same side because they were slamming those rods back and forth and were sure to poke somebody's eye out.

Day 292: Movie Food

Yum!

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Days 279-285

Hey guys,

Sorry for the incredibly, ridiculously, embarrassingly late posts.  Hopefully I'll get back on track with these pretty soon.  This is a great indication of how I get easily overwhelmed and shut down.  It's amazing that I've made it this far on the project without giving up entirely. :)

The following pictures are for the week of March 7-13.

Day 279: Playdate?

Some cute cards my friend Kimmy gave me for my birthday last year.  They're so cute, I don't have the heart to use them. I know it's silly, but I'm weird like that.

Day 280: Pre-spring sunset

One day I might count how many sunsets I took at work during this photo challenge...I bet it's in the double-digits.

Day 281: I'm toast

Trying to get creative with bland-looking food by putting pretty plates underneath it.

Not sure it worked.

Day 282: Reading Party!

We like to have reading parties in our family.  They mainly consist of us all sitting around in silence, reading different novels.

...It sounds cooler than it is.

Day 283: Snow-capped Mountains

Some days I'm just struck by the beauty of this place!

Day 284: The Chocolate!

Coolest little bakery I've ever been to!  I'm going back.  Soon.  Who cares about that stupid, "no sugar" rule anymore.  Life after this place will never be the same!  There is so much I want to say about it...the awesome pictures on their website, the quaint atmosphere of the shop, the friendly staff who know how to joke around with customers, the AMAZING vanilla cake with chocolate ganache, the TO DIE FOR hot chocolate with spices in it that really make you feel like you're drinking Christmas in a cup all year round...

SO GOOD!

Day 285: My Triumph!

Inspired by that awesome bakery from yesterday, I decided to make a cake of my own...

After a fiasco with the first cake, Christine made a great red velvet from scratch so I could still use all of the awesome decorating stuff I got for my birthday.  This is what we made as a result!  I'm so proud!  I can't believe it looks almost presentable!  Cake decorating is easier than I thought it would be!

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Days 272 through 278

Day 272: Inundated

This is the pile of mail that greeted us when we got home last night.  It's about half as big as the pile of paperwork on my desk when I returned to work.  I am thoroughly overwhelmed.  I have no idea where to even begin with everything I have to do now that I'm home.

Help!


Day 273: Glory in Imperfections

I got this penguin at the flea market in Cabo.  I picked him out amid a bunch of other, better looking, trinkets because I liked his little gimpy fin.  Being unique is something of which we all have the capability.  But here's the secret: you can't be unique when you're trying to be.  You can only pull it off when you are truly yourself - when you are no longer concerned with how you compare to others.

That is the challenge.


Day 274: The End of Something

Month 9 is complete!  That's right, I only have 3 months left!  The end is near...finally.

Today as I took pictures of the sunset, I was sad to know they would be the last pictures I took with this awesome lens I rented from Borrow Lenses.  I rented this same lens last summer for my family reunions, and I can't express how much I wish I didn't have to give it back.  It's too expensive for me to justify the purchase, but if I rent it any more times I will completely nullify that excuse.  The rentals aren't cheap, and soon I'll have paid the same amount in rental costs as I would have if I'd purchased the dang thing.

One day...


Day 275: The "Little" Things

I'm so glad RoseAnne came over tonight for our regularly scheduled girls night!  She was all dressed up for an appointment she had before she came over, and she looked so cute!  Jack was his usual adorable self, chasing the cats around the house in his speedy crawl, making faces at us, and being generally captivating for the camera.

I really love my family!


Day 276: Red Trees

I'm used to seeing trees turn red during the fall, but I'm not familiar with red trees with no leaves.  I saw these today in a parking lot and had to stop and capture them.  In the slanting winter sunlight, the bark on these trees shone a vivid red - almost fuchsia.  I wish I still had that lens I rented because it would have been able to capture these better.

Ah, well.  No use thinking about it.


Day 277: Note to Self

Note to self: put makeup on before taking an extreme close-up of your face.

If I had taken any other pictures today, I would have posted one of them instead.  This picture required an obscene amount of touch-up to make it even slightly acceptable, when all I needed to do was dab on a bit of cover-up and eyeliner before I hit the shutter button.  I guess I'm still shell-shocked from my return to work this week.  I can't believe how busy I was, and yet how little I got done!  So frustrating!  I guess all I can hope for is to do better next week.


Day 278: The Old Standby

Whenever you see a picture of my cats on here, you can almost be certain it's because I forgot to take a picture until right before I went to bed.  The cats seem to be my last resort subjects.  If I'm too tired to think of something original, I just run upstairs and snap a few of the cats and call it good.

I need a new standby I think.

Monday, February 28, 2011

New Rules

Ok, I'm so far behind on this blog and it's so near the end of the photo challenge, that I'm going start a new procedure.  Instead of doing daily posts (which frankly take up way too much time for me and you) I will be doing weekly posts from now on.  I may go back to daily posts as I near the final days of the project, but for now, that's the new rule. :)

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Day 271: The Long Road Home

Somewhere in Arizona.

We drove home today.  There's not much to say about it.  That's how it usually goes for the return trip of a vacation though.  The trip out is so much fun and there's so much excitement and anticipation for the upcoming fun, but the trip back is usually tainted with sadness since it's the end of the fun.

At least the drive went by fairly quickly this time, and at least we were blessed with good weather.

I'm not excited about returning to reality and the mess that is waiting for me at work tomorrow.

Not at all excited.

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Day 270: Amusement Parks and Motion Sickness

The sign reads, "Nourishment for the Weary Traveler and Those Possessed of Voracious Appetites"

We went to Knott's Berry Farms today and - silly me - I decided not to bring my camera in the park with me.  That would have been fine, had I already taken a picture for the day, or if I had returned to my camera before midnight.  As it is, all I had with me today by way of camera equipment was my iPod, so this is the best picture I was able to produce.

It's better that I didn't bring my camera anyway.  I had a great time at the park with everyone, but after one of the rides (I wish I could remember the name, but I don't think I ever paid attention to it) I was so motion sick that I was completely useless for a few hours afterwards.  I wasn't the only one who got hit with the queasiness either.  Both Ryan and Brittney were pretty sick after that ride as well.  We all had to go find a place to sit and recover when we got off.  After about 20 minutes, Christine and Lalo got bored of waiting for us to feel better so they went off to another ride while we sat in misery.  When they got back, we all decided to head over to the next ride even though we weren't ready yet because it was getting so cold that sitting around outside wasn't helping.

I think it was around this time that I took the photo above.  Things got a bit hazy for me during the second half of the day, but I think it's pretty funny that I chose to take that picture when I could barely open my eyes without the world spinning and my stomach contracting uncomfortably.  I also feel it important to mention that I only took 2 pictures at all today.  The other one was a blurry mess of everyone's backsides as they were walking in front of me.  And I took that when I was actually feeling good!

Friday, February 25, 2011

Day 269: The Lion Sleeps Tonight

The king of the jungle and his girl.

Today was debarkation day on the ship.  We arrived at port in San Diego in the morning, and by 11am we were driving away.  It's sad to leave all the amazing people I met, but my vacation isn't over for a few more days, so I'm still flying high!

After Ryan's sisters picked us up at the pier, we went to the Wild Animal Park in San Diego.  There were so many beautiful animals there!  I had a really hard time choosing between all of the pictures I took this time because of it.  As a result, I've made a little collage of the runners up again.  It's below.

My favorite part of the day at the park I think was the Africa Tram ride we took in the safari park.  We got to see so many kinds of animals on that drive, and they were all just roaming free in this huge, miles-wide park.  It was an awesome site.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Day 268: Lap of Luxury

The glass elevators.

So I took this shot from the lobby (on deck 2), looking up to the huge red skylight on deck 10.  Everything on the ship is really...gaudy.  We were chatting about it tonight after dinner, and decided that it's a lot like Vegas. There are a lot of gold-guilded things, cherubs, carvings on walls and window frames, tacky impressionist paintings in the rooms, etc.

At first I loved the sheer tacky feel of the place, but after spending a few days on the ship, I've got to say it's getting old.  Still...it's been such a fun cruise!  We've done so many awesome things and met some great people!

Last night we had a dance for just the singles group, and it was awesome! They played great tunes, and I had a blast dancing with a nice, big group of friends.  In fact, I danced so hard I actually kicked a shoe off at one point.  It was really embarrassing.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Day 267: Lunch in Cabo

Ryan posing for a shot.

Today was our second excursion day in Cabo!  We decided to forgo the excursions for a casual day of shopping around town.  We heard about this restaurant called Mi Casa from some nice ladies we met at breakfast one morning, and decided it would be fun to try a local dive.  It wasn't so far removed from the touristy section of the city to feel scary, but it still had an authentic feel which was awesome.  The food was very good, and we all ended up getting the same thing, which was fun.

We also hit a flea market on our way to the restaurant, and I forgot until after I was robbed blind by the first merchant I came across, that you have to haggle at a flea market to get a good price.

I'm not very good at haggling. I spent too much money.

Here are the runners-up for today's picture:

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Day 266: Happy Birthday to ME!

I can't remember the name of this arch, but it's in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

Today was so fun! My journal entry was really long because of how great it was.  Seriously, what better way to spend my 30th birthday!  I didn't mind that I was turning 30 at all!  Who cares that I'm not married yet, when I had such great people to hang out with and meet.  

Seriously so blessed. :)

I was going to write an excerpt from my journal, but there's a reason why I wrote that stuff in my JOURNAL.  It was all too personal to post online.

But I will say this, Christine is the coolest sister ever!  She surprised me with the most thoughtful presents and made a real effort to make the day special for me which couldn't have been easy while we were on vacation. 

What a great day!

Monday, February 21, 2011

Day 265: Beam Me Up, Scotty

Sunshine on the Ocean

Today was our first official day at sea.  After my lovely bout of sea sickness last night, I wasn't too keen about the whole boat thing, but I felt better today (and I discovered the beauty of taking motion sickness medicine).  It's still colder than I was hoping.  We were going to lay out by the pool this afternoon - we even got in our suits and headed up to the deck with our beach stuff - but it was cold and windy, and the clouds kept covering the sun.  I couldn't make myself lay out in my suit, so I kept my shorts and shirt on the whole time and wrapping myself in my towel (which would have given me a farmer's tan if I had stayed out long enough).  We eventually gave up and went down to one of the lounges to hang out with the group we came with.

There's so much I can write about just today, and it wasn't even an interesting day.  So instead of writing a really long journal entry that bores me just thinking about it, I'll give you the highlights.


  • Morning work-out on the track/miniature golf deck.  It was fun watching all of the 8am drunks try to play mini golf on a moving ship.
  • Breakfast on the Lido deck where we were greeted with the stale smell of food blowing out of the exhaust fans at the top of the ship.  Once we were inside where they have the buffet it didn't smell, so that was good.
  • Lunch on the sun deck where we froze our little toes off and tried to read our books.
  • Hang out with the singles in the Shanghai lounge where we played embarrassing get-to-know-you games that involved winking and other stuff.
  • Get ready for formal night and hang out with the guys.
  • Formal dinner and sitting with new friends, with photo ops afterwards.
  • Another dose of motion sickness meds and change for after dinner fun!
  • Alas, stay in the room the rest of the night because of the drowsy effect of the motion sickness pills.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Day 264: Sailing Away

Christine and Ryan

It's approaching sunset and we are on the ship, setting sail for Cabo!

We were on the deck to watch as we left the harbor (and to be cheesy and wave at the doc like people do in movies).  It was chilly and windy...really windy.  Christine and I both had dancing hair.  Christine's looked cooler of course because it's longer.

I love this shot because it looks like her hair is reaching out to grab Ryan.  Also because they both have genuine laughter faces which makes me smile every time I look at it.

Who cares that the subjects of the photo aren't in focus.  It's not like I'm a professional or something. ;)

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Day 263: Hometown America

Lunch

My favorite parts about today's road trip to San Diego:
 - Lunch at Hamburger Patty's in Parowan (and checking out the awesome retro signs they had)
 - Rocking out to They Might Be Giants in the car
 - Riding the Desperado at Buffalo Bill's in Primm
 - Quietly rocking out to Free Bird while Ryan was sleeping
 - Driving through the Fallbrook hills in the rain

Friday, February 18, 2011

Day 262: Packing and Stuff

My suitcase...all packed!!

I'll right, it's finally time!  The long-anticipated, much-talked-about Cruise is finally happening!  We leave for Cali tomorrow morning and then I'm off for 8 awesome days!  I should probably take this moment to point out that I will not (on purpose this time) be posting anything until I get back.  I've been told the internet access on the ship is really expensive, so I'll just do what I did this summer when I was camping and write my blog posts on my laptop until I'm home and can post them to the blog.

I'm so excited!

Oh, and don't you just love the cat hairs stuck to the suitcase?  Awesome.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Day 261: Cuddle Bug

Jack and RoseAnne

It's so fun to hang out with family.  It's so fun to live near so many family members!  Especially since I used to feel so isolated from family here in Utah (weird, I know).  Now, so many family members live close that I never seem to catch up with all of them.

I love it when RoseAnne comes over to hang out.  We always have so much fun just watching TV or laughing and reminiscing.  I also love it that I love hanging out with family because I used to really struggle with it.  You know, social anxiety and all that.  Life just seems so much better now that I can enjoy people and want to be around them!

I'm not saying that I don't have my down days, because I obviously do.  But I'm definitely better than I was.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Day 260: Pelting Snow?

The snow storm tonight.

I knew there was a storm coming today.  The wind was howling all afternoon and when I went outside at lunch to run some errands, my hair literally swirled around my head and straight up as if I were in a cyclone.  But even though the weather was freaky cool all day, I was still shocked to see the snow whipping through our back yard tonight when I looked out the window.

There was no way I was going out there in the cold and wind, so I took this shot from the window to the back porch.  Lazy, I know.  But at least I got a picture of it. :)

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Day 259: A Flying Leap

Hyrum showing off for me. :)

I dropped by RoseAnne's house tonight to get her help on altering a dress for me.  After we pow-wowed quickly on what to do to the dress, I left RoseAnne to do her thing (she is an amazing seamstress) and I played with the kids.  At first I felt guilty for just hanging out with the kids while she did all the hard work, but after a couple of reminders from her that I was - in fact - helping a great deal by keeping the kids away from her working area, I settled into it and enjoyed their company.  We read a few books together and then I got out my camera to take a few pictures and they started showing off.  It was so fun!  I love these guys so much!

Also, the dress turned out so cute!  I'm so excited with what RoseAnne did with it!

Monday, February 14, 2011

Day 258: Just For Me

The sky today.

So I completely forgot it was Valentine's day today until I was driving to work.  Ah, oh well.  It's not like I had someone to get a gift for or anything.  And I have to say, I handled Single Awareness Day much better than last year.  I felt very...unaffected.  I was glad for my married friends who had plans, and had no tinge of jealousy at their happiness.  Definitely felt more grown up about the whole thing. :)

I walked outside to run some errands during lunch and found the most gorgeous sky!  Of course, I didn't get my camera out until later and almost missed the beautiful rays.  It was the perfect day to run errands!  It was windy, sure, but it was worth it to see the awesome patterns the clouds were making on the mountains surrounding the valley.  Everywhere I drove I was in awe of the beautiful landscape and weather!  I needed a little beauty to distract me from my all-consuming vacation plans.  It was like the sky was painted just for me, to remind me to be happy for the details in life!

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Day 257: Confetti Stuff

A close-up of a cat toy.

Today I felt better than I have all week.  It's like the cloud lifted a bit and I can see the end in sight.  Maybe it's because we got so much done yesterday, or because I caught up a little on my blog posts tonight.

In any case, I'm glad for the respite.  I'm glad to feel happy and excited about my upcoming vacation, and I'm glad to go to bed! :)

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Day 256: Bullseye

My parents' magnetic dart board.

The last Saturday before our cruise and we totally killed it on our chore list!

To Do Today:
*Grocery shopping
*Write packing lists and start packing
*Dress shopping for formal night
*Beauty prep
*Laundry
*Blog posts

Now, to get the second half of the list complete by next Friday!

Friday, February 11, 2011

Day 255: Night Watchman

The tree in my front yard.

I've been checking out different pictures of trees, and I keep seeing these amazing shots of trees up close, at night.  Of course, all of the shots I saw were much cooler than this one, but as it is my first attempt, I'm pretty proud of myself. :)

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Day 254: Play Pens

Baby Jack

This little boy is so cute!  All night tonight he kept making this face at us while we were playing with him.  Also, while we were all watching our show, he decided it was boring in the living room and crawled off to the kitchen where the cat food is kept.  After I found him near the cat food I brought him back to the living room and put up a fake wall to close him off.  It was just a TV tray covered by a blanket, but Jack was so upset when he saw it the first time he tried to crawl away.  He stopped dead in front of it and pouted, then sat back on his little diaper booty and cried in frustration.

It was so cute!  And so sad at the same time.  We were able to keep him distracted most of the time, but every once in a while he would try to get out again and get upset.  Poor boy!

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Day 253: Brought to Light

A light fixture at Paradise Bakery

Tonight I almost had a mental breakdown.  Well, I kind of did have one.  I wasn't feeling good when I went to work this morning, and I told my coworkers that I'd probably leave early because of it.  I delegated as much work as I was able, to facilitate my early departure, and then started on my huge stack of invoices.

I tried my hardest to get those things done swiftly so that I could leave even an hour or two early.  The longer I stayed at work, the worse I felt.  And, try as I did, I still left work an hour later than usual, with a half-finished stack of invoices.

When I met Christine for dinner on the way home I was beside myself.  All that work and all that pushing when I felt rotten - and it didn't even make a difference!  I felt like a failure.  Especially since I had a meeting with my boss earlier in the day where he told me (at my own request from a week prior) that I needed to improve my work habits, particularly my swift completion of invoices, and that people had noticed that I took too long to get them finished.

I was devastated.  I was crying my eyes out all the way to the restaurant.  I couldn't face life anymore and expect to remain sane.  I felt like my handle on my life had slipped from my grasp and there was no hope of trying to pick up the pieces.

I was so dramatic!

After dinner I felt much better - emotionally anyway.  I drove home feeling a little foolish at my breakdown, but still feeling quite worried at how my day went.

I wasn't planning on making this my picture, but my outburst at dinner threw me off so much that I forgot all about it until just now...so, there you go. :)

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Day 252: Signs of Spring

Our Orchid plant

This is a direct result of Christine's undying faith in our two dying Orchid plants.  We were sure we had killed both of them months ago.  All of the flowers had fallen off (which is normal) and the stalks were drying up and dying and we had no idea how to fix it.  Mom and I wanted to toss both plants because we both thought they were dead, but Christine wouldn't let us.  She was sure they were still alive and wouldn't let us kill them for no good reason (even though they were both really ugly).

So we took them upstairs to the guest room and set them in front of the west-facing window.  We watered them and watched them do nothing for a couple of months.  Then one day after watering the plants, Christine came into the room announcing that the Orchids had both shown signs of life.  And more specifically, that one of them was already growing buds!

Tonight I went to check on the plants and was shocked to see how many beautiful little buds were on the one plant!  The other Orchid plant had much farther to go (it was really on death's door when we moved it upstairs), so it doesn't have as much growth, but it's definitely still alive and kicking!

It's a good thing Christine was so insistent with those little flowers or we would have killed two perfectly good plants for no good reason.

Monday, February 7, 2011

Day 251: Kitchen Experiments

Pasta Alla Norma

A few days ago Christine and I saw this awesome episode of Kitchen Boss where Buddy taught us how to make two Sicilian dishes: Pasta Alla Norma and Steak Pizzaiola.  We had just finished dinner when we watched the episode, and we were starving by the end of it.  He made the food look really appetizing.  

So tonight, Christine went online and found the recipes for the dishes and got all of the ingredients.

I have two things to say of the experience:
  1. Buddy makes EVERYTHING look way easier than it is
  2. Christine is an amazing cook

These recipes were so much harder than they looked and Christine tackled both of them simultaneously, without any help (I was there at the end of the prep and was dismally absent for the most stressful part, but I did pitch in a tiny bit by the end).  And even though she was sure all of it was going to turn out horribly wrong, both dishes were AMAZING.  We were both dying over the food as we ate it and freaking out at how yummy it was!

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Day 250: Breakfast for Dinner

My dinner (part of it)

I don't know what's wrong with me lately, but I am so stressed out!  It's not like I have a great excuse as I did at Christmas when everything was hectic.  I mean - yes - I'm swamped at work, and I have my church calling that I'm behind on, and my vacation prep that I'm behind on, and my household chores that I'm behind on, but all of that is the result of me being stressed to begin with.  I'm behind on everything because I couldn't face half of it at the time - for no good reason - so, of course that means that I'm even more stressed now because I've let everything slip and because I'm just playing catch-up on everything.

But how did it start?  What made me so wary of my every-day tasks in the first place?

It's things like this that unnecessarily keep me up at night.

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Day 249: Errands

Some salsa, and my glass of water

Today was such a busy day!  We are gearing up to go on our cruise in a few weeks, and Christine and I had to run a bunch of errands in preparation.  In the middle of our crazy day we stopped to eat at California Pizza Kitchen.  It was a great break to be able to sit and relax for a while before the craziness started up again...

At least, that's what I thought at the time.  But, then we got home to finish our chores and found we had no energy left after our busy shopping morning.  So, even though we started the day at gun-shot-pace, we really kind of ended the day in a spluttering fizzle. 

But at least we had a productive morning!

Friday, February 4, 2011

Day 248: Wizater

My sister's car

Tonight the three of us went out to dinner and a movie - a typical Friday night.  We exited the movie theater to find the world covered in a light sprinkling of powdered sugar.  That's about the time I realized I hadn't taken a picture yet.  I panicked a bit...until Ryan walked over to Christine's car and wrote the word, "Wizater" on her rear window.  

"There," he said, "take a picture of that."

So I did.  I took quite a few pictures of it because we kept writing things in the snow on the trunk of the car.  It was fun and very cold.  My hands ached for a little while afterwards, but it was worth it. :)

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Day 247: Ball of Nerves

The sunset through the trees.

I named this picture "Ball of Nerves" because I wanted to use the word "ball" since it's a picture of a bunch of dangling balls on a tree, but no matter how I tried to mix the words around, "dangle" and "balls" just couldn't go together in the title without making unintended references.

Also, because I was a nervous wreck today.

Obviously this happens to me frequently since I write about it a lot on this blog, but it doesn't make it any easier.  Some days I just handle the huge responsibility of my work load better than others.  Today all I could see was the big picture of everything in the world that I had to do (personally and professionally) and it panicked me so badly that I couldn't concentrate on a single task.  I even had to take a break in one of the empty offices by sitting on the floor in the dark, trying to calm my breathing and empty my mind.  Of course, this didn't work because I really think it might be impossible to clear my head of all thoughts.  I've tried oh, so many times, but there's always something going on up there.  Plus I have the attention span of a kid in a candy store.  My brain is always frantically running from one subject to another so fast that I tend to loose the thread of my own inner dialog every few minutes or so.

I'm not kidding though, I literally lasted 4 minutes in that dark room before getting up and walking out more frustrated than when I started.

And it felt like 20 minutes.

But, I'm sure tomorrow will go much better, because it usually works out that way.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Day 246: Month 8 Complete!

The Mt. Timpanogos Temple

So today marks the first day of month NINE!  I only have FOUR MONTHS LEFT!

This extremely exciting to me because I've got to tell you...I've had it with this project.  It's not that I don't enjoy taking pictures anymore.  I still love to take pictures, I just wish I could do it on my own terms again.  It's so annoying when I realize at the end of the day that I still didn't get a good shot, and then I have to wander around my house or neighborhood, or bug one of my family members just to take a stupid photo that I know won't turn out because my heart's not in it.

But, I'm in it for the long haul baby.  The other night I contemplated just exactly what I would do if I totally spaced out (still a very real possibility with my A.D.D.) and didn't take a picture one day.  I'm proud to say that this has honestly never happened yet.  I've let my midnight deadline slip a few times, but those times didn't feel like the start of a new day yet.  I didn't go to bed without taking a picture.  Ever.  So what would happen if I actually missed a full day?

I've decided that, having gotten this far in the project, I would simply take two pictures the next day and keep going.  Obviously it wouldn't be quite the same for the remainder of the project, but I hit the point of no return a few months ago.  To just give up because of one spacey day is ridiculous.

And I've got to say, this is a huge improvement for me from the beginning of the year.  When I started this project, I never would have kept going if I had missed a day.  It just shows that this project has really helped me grow not just with my photography, but with my responsibility.  And to me, that makes it 100% worth it!