Dude, I'm updating my blog

This was a year of lofty goals that were not quite met.

Project 52 - Lasted 13 weeks
Goodreads Book Challenge of 40 books - Completed 25
NaNoWriMo - Lasted about 15k words out of 50k

Regular blogging? See Project 52.

And I am ok with this. It's not so much about not meeting my goals as looking at what I did do. I read 25 books. I wrote 15,000 words in about 2 weeks. I took 13 photos that I actually like.

For 2012, lower goals, higher expectations and maybe some regular blogging. I am going to attempt to not limit my blogging to photos, but we'll see. Let's not shoot too high now.

Week 13: Gadgets

I think I'll just stick to being literal from now on.

From Project 52

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I also need to pat myself on the back for following through for 13 weeks so far. Pat, pat.

Week 12: Signs of Spring

From Project 52

One of my favorite traits of the character Temperance Brennan on the show Bones is how literally she takes things. Often it's worked into a joke at her expense, but it also shows a vulnerability and almost innocence to her character that really appeals to me.

Our Spring season may officially be here, but you wouldn't know it based on the temperature, the snow we have had in the last week or how grim and gray everything looks. It will bloom, we're just not there yet.

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Another sign of spring would be mud. We don't like mud.

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And mud doesn't like us much, either.

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Week 11: Around The House

This was a strange week for me to try to capture a moment of my domestic life. I had a hectic schedule at work, I started a night course, and I've been sick. And when I think about my domestic realm, it includes my husband and two cats - all three of whom I have barely seen this week.

But something else was going on in our house this week. We have declared war on SUGAR. We are in the process of cutting out sugar and as a result cutting out most processed food. So, when I was present in my house this week - I was preparing food, eating food or thinking about food.

From Project 52

My relationship with food has always been a difficult one. I love food. I eat when I'm bored, I eat when I'm tired, and I've always eaten for comfort in times of stress. And I've tried different diets over the years with various amounts of success and failure. I had a hard time for a number of years with the outpouring of encouragement and adoration when I was at my skinniest and have fought for ways to get back there. This journey though, is not about being skinny. It's about caring enough for myself to treat myself the way I should. I know weight loss will be part of this journey, but it's about changing my lifestyle, changing my committments to myself and really becoming a healthier person.

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I originally imagined what I wanted to capture as retro, and what I ended up with was quite different but something I love just as much. In that way I am finding photography a lot like writing - sometimes you don't write the story, the story writes you.

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And for the record, cutting out sugar has already given Ron and I a fast and enouraging weight drop. A nice added bonus.

Week 10: Transportation

Trains always make me think of being a kid. Whether it's the sound of trains, walking on or near train tracks, or even taking the train - it always brings me back.

I grew up on a dead end street in a great neighborhood. At the end of our street, were the train tracks, and just a few streets over was one of the local commuter rail stations. So, the sound, the feel, the presence of trains was a given in my growing up. On some days now, especially when I'm at work, I can hear the trains from the nearby station and I find that sound comforting.

From Project 52

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This week's outtakes...

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The sun is shining, the temperature is feeling like spring, and the melting is in full effect. It is, without a doubt, a good day.

Week 9: Something Old

From Project 52

I was stuck with what would work best for this week's theme. It was Ron who suggested that I photograph my grandfather's Twindar camera. Among the thirty gifts my parents gave me for my thirtieth birthday, one of the most special was Grampy's camera. I had hopes of being able to find the manual online (which I did). And I hoped to find film to start using it (which I couldn't). I've looked into how film can be rolled and modified to fit the camera, but ended up a little over my head and a lot overwhelmed.

So for now, it sits on a shelf in our office, as a piece of my grandfather, as a gift from my family - and as a reminder to keep taking pictures. I hope to collect more in the future and figure out how to get this camera up and in use.

From there, I recalled seeing some great photographs of Ron's family in our basement and fell in love with the idea of combining a piece of my mother's family with a piece of Ron's mother's family.

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Its such a shame to me that there are these people, that made such an impact in Ron & I's lives, that will never meet. That we will never get to introduce. I think our moms would have really gotten along fabulously.

Week 8: Windows & Doors

I was especially excited about this week's subject, because I've always been drawn to taking pictures of windows and doors. Any entryway or a window can tell such a story about a residence or its residents. I love driving somewhere at night and seeing into lit rooms. It's a little picture of what is going on in the lives of strangers, or maybe into the history of a building. And as a writer...those small glimpses become stories that live in my head.

On a chilly late-winter day, it surprised to me to see this particular window open and I wondered, "Who is in there?"

From Project 52

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I lucked out in Cambridge, which is no surprise. I turned the corner and found all sorts of beautiful doors and windows. More than I could have hoped for!

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