Project 52 - Week 4

For week 4, Mother Nature brought a little snow our way. It wasn't much and it was gone by the end of the day. But it was enough to give this week's picture a little variation! 

And it seems I wasn't the only one out for a little stroll to check out the snow! I'm guessing these are raccoon prints, since we have a bunch of them in the neighborhood. 

Project 52 - Weeks 2 & 3

I have been taking me weekly photos, I just didn't get around to posting last weeks.

So here is Week 2:

And here is Week 3:

As expected, other than a slight change in the angle I shot the photo... nothing changed. Even that weather was the same. I'm hoping next Saturday for at least some sun or snow to really show a change in the scenery!

Project 52 - Week 1

For the last few years, I have attempted Project 52. And each year the same thing happens... by week 6 or 7 I find myself searching for things to take a picture of. Since I rarely leave the house and I don't have any children, I was left with random, meaningless items or photos of my cat. So I decided to do something a bit... different this year. 

With trees and nature being one of my favorite things to shoot, I picked an area of my yard and every week I'm going to take a photo from the same spot. This way I can record all the subtle changes the trees and weather makes throughout the year. I don't expect there to be lots of changes week to week, but at the end of the year I'll make a slideshow and it should be pretty neat. 

This is the area I picked to photograph. It's of the woods in my back yard. I thought it would give the most variety during the year.

Before I picked this location, I shot a number of pictures. Here are the runner-up locations. I really liked the pine tree, but being an evergreen I don't expect much change in the next 51 weeks.  As for the little tree, it's in my neighbor's yard and the house is currently empty. Can't guarantee that when someone moves in that tree will remain.  

Someday soon, I hope to redo or relocate the site so I can make the horizontal pictures larger!

2013's Word De L'année

Last year, I was inspired to pick a word for the year. The word I went with was confidence, and for the most part I think I did okay. Now it's time for this year's word.

Unlike last year, this year was much easier to pick. I'm working on changing the way I think about things, so I automatically knew my word for the years has to be:

DO

I'm a dreamer, I have great ideas... but very little follow through. Not this year. No more excuses. I'm going to DO. Got an article idea... don't add it to a list, DO it. Cute idea for a craft, DO it. No more lists... instead of spending the time writing it down on a list, I'm going to DO it! Enough with the plans, enough with the "well I need to complete this before that", the "I'll work on that on this day"... no, DO it right then and there. So what I don't have quite the right photo for a project, either get up and take it or DO the project with something else. There are so many incomplete projects around here, waiting for one thing or another. No more! Like Nike's slogan says, "Just DO it!"

Are you picking a word for 2013? If so, what is it?

2013 - The Year of ME!

Hello 2013! You were totally made for me.

13 has always been a bit of a lucky number for me, you can say we were born together:

• I was born on the 13th.
• I have 13 letters in my full name... which is interesting since my mom only used one N for my Lyn instead of the more standard NN.
• I'm a 76er! 7+6=13!
• I was born in the 4th month (1+3=4) and that also happens to be my name!
• A lot of times when my birthday lands on a Friday it tends to be Good Friday... extra luck!
• My 13th birthday was awesome!

Okay, some of these are reaching.. but still the number 13 as always be good to me. I'm hope that luck will be with me throughout the year!

In the past, I've always started the year with a bunch of pretty specific resolutions... and I all my years I've never completed one. 7 weeks is about the longest I think I've ever kept anything. So I'm not doing that to myself this year. I do plan on setting some goals, but I'm keeping them loose and I'm not going to stress over them or freak out because I struggle to keep them up. If I succeed, WOO HOO... if not, I'm not going to beat myself up about it. I'm going to be flexible. I'll still try my hardest, an in the end that is all that will matter... I tried.

Here are some of the things I hope to accomplish by the end of the year.

• The 2013 Reading Challenge on Goodreads. Aiming for 10 books. 
• Purge, Purge, Purge - We got rid of a good amount of stuff in 2012 and we still have a lot to go!
• Project 52 - Take 5 or 6 - In the past I think I've made it too difficult. This year I have an easy topic!
• Do a lot of writing, drawing, and crafting.
• Work on becoming a toy historian, or as I like to say - toy geek!
• Lose some weight, try to eat better, do some exercising. No set # of pounds or days. Just work it into a routine instead of make it a project.
• Just be me.

That's it. Simple goals, no pressure. No hard and fast deadlines. And I'm not going to fret. It'll be what it'll be.

Happy 2013 Everyone!