Project 52 - Week 13

While the weather is still a tad on the chilly side, the sun has been visiting more and more! Soon it'll be warm enough we can start cleaning up the mess and get things looking pretty again!

And it seems Mother Nature is about to help add some pretty to the world, some if the tree buds are getting ready to opening!

Project 52 - Week 12

Yay for a nice sunny day... even though it was very cold and windy out, it was nice to see some sunshine!

Project 52 - Week 11

I always take my picture of the week on Saturday, and was pleased to find that while it was really cold out, buds were starting to form on the trees and there were signs of springs starting to appear. I took my weekly shot, then went around to get some signs of spring photos for a post later this week.

The photos came out great and I can't wait to share them... however, this happend just a few hours later...

Yup, snow. It wasn't a lot, and didn't amount to anything, but it did leave a coating on the trees. You just have to love March weather in New England!

Project 52 - Week 10

When I asked for some color in the world last week, white was not what I had in mind! Let in snow, let it snow!

Project 52 - Week 9

Ok spring... it's time for you to arrive. I need to start seeing some color and we need to get some of the mess cleaned up!

Project 52 - Week 8

As the snow slowly melts away the trees bounce back to life...

Project 52 - Week 7

Thanks to a lot of sunny days, we have had some bounce back with the trees and bushes! Just have to wait till spring to see if there was any real damage!

Project 52 - Week 6

Thank you Nemo for the 30" of snow for making my picture of the week... interesting. All the branch and bushes are basically flattened under all the weight of the snow. Not sure everything is going to recover from this.

Project 52 - Week 5

There were some subtle changes to the backyard this week, thanks to a few very windy nights. All the broken branches from Superstorm Sandy that were still hanging on finally came tumbling down. Hard to tell in the picture, but you can see it in person.

The biggest area of chance was were the pine had fallen.

Lots of new branches added to the pile. Looking forward to warmer weather so we can get it all cleaned up!

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 - 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!

So Long 2012... It's Been Real.

Oh 2012, where shall I being? You were not the best of years... in fact, you might have been the worst ever. I spent most of the year under the weather in one way or another. Even managed to land a lovely case of the shingles! Shingles... at 36! And let me tell you, it is one of the most painful things ever! Even worse than having needles stuck in your back, which I also had done this year. I learned that knee surgery will be in my near future and I'm ending the year with a migraine that's been around for almost 2 months. But, I'm still alive and I've avoided any hospital visits, so bright side there!

There were also couple of national tragedies that hit a little too close to home for me, namely Superstorm Sandy that hit the coast at the end of October and the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown... a small town 20 miles North of me. Both events shook me pretty hard and really made me be more aware of my feelings on certain topics.

But it wasn't all doom and gloom this year. There were a number of good moments. Spending 3 days in NYC at BlogHer `13, two of the days with my friend Laura, was awesome. Spent a day at New York Comic Con. Hit a few excellent toy events. Made some new blogging friends. Became a devoted Whovian. I also discovered my personal style when it comes to clothes and rediscovered a number of passions that were dormant in my life. Now more than ever, I can comfortably say what I like... and don't like, without caring what people think.

As for my resolutions from the start of 2012, they were mostly a bust:

• Do Project Life - this is going to be interesting... since I rarely leave the house - I made it *maybe* 5 weeks? It just wasn't a good fit for my lifestyle.

• Do Project 52 - going to focus this project on macro images - I lasted 7 weeks. 7. I'm pretty sure I narrowed my topic down too much, which became not so much challenging, but uninteresting.

• Lose 50lbs - I want to/need to lose more, but I'm being a bit of a realist with this goal - Nope, in fact, I think I ended the year weighing more than I started.

• Build readership on all 4 of my blogs  - Ended up with 7 inactive blogs. Yikes!

• Start up Pop Hearts Studio  - Nope, did nothing with this and I'm now not sure if I ever will.

• Try to find my drawing style  - Thought about it, did nothing. 

• Create, Create, Create  - I made a few things, wish it was more.

Then there was the 2012 Goodreads Reading Challenge - only completed 4 books out of my goal of 10. I have bookcases full of books waiting to be read and only managed 4. And for Christmas, I added some new books to my collection, so I'll be attempting the reading challenge again.

Oh, and NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) in November... I lasted 19 days. Which was better than 2011, but still wasn't the entire month. Honestly, if it wasn't for the election or SuperStorm Sandy, I don't think I would have even made it 19 days. Those two topics alone gave me a weeks worth of posts!

Something I did manage to do pretty well with is my word of the year. I picked CONFIDENCE, and I thing I did a pretty good job of it. Did I waver a bit, absolutely! But over all I'm kind of proud of myself.

Anyways, I'm going to put all of that behind me and know that 2013 can only go up from here!

Project 52 - Week 7

A mighty dragon

Project 52 - Week 6

German Chocolate Pie

Project 52 - Week 5

Putting together my new bookcase!

Project 52 - Week 4

Leaf inside a pine tree.

Project 52 - Week 3

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Project 52 - Week 2

Cookie time!