Friday, January 25, 2013

Baby, It's Cold Outside ... Oh, Yeah, and Happy Belated New Year

So, it is SERIOUSLY COLD in DC right now.  As in, the coldest temperatures the city has seen in something like 10 years.  And I'll be honest, I'm not enjoying it very much.  But I have been enjoying the electric blanket my parents bought me for Christmas.  The blanket is very useful, because my thermostat won't stay at a set temperature; it keeps resetting to its base temp of 58* and I have to keep re-setting it to keep the apartment warm.

Speaking of the holidays, Happy New Year!  I know I'm a little behind the times, but then again, I'm pretty much always late.

Happy New Year!  Sorry I missed the boat.
Speaking of the New Year, I was thinking about resolutions.  I haven't really made any, so my resolutions should be easy to keep!    My friend A.J. O'Connell posts all of her resolutions on her blog, and then posts monthly updates on her progress.  She did it in 2012, and is doing it again for 2013.  I think this takes a lot of chutzpah; I'm not sure I could put myself out there like that.
But today I did come across a good idea for a sort-off resolution, one that I think I can do and I'm happy to share here.  I follow a lovely blog called Chez Larson, which is written by a Swedish woman named Benita, and her blog covers crafty stuff and the renovation/design work she's doing on her home.  I love her blog, because Benita has a great minimalist sensibility combined with a real creative streak.  I find inspiration on her blog all the time. 

Anyway, so Benita published this yesterday, and I think it's a pretty cool idea.  (Ok, so if you don't want to click on the link, I will summarize: she takes a picture for each day, and then has all the pictures printed into a book at the end of the year.)  I would like to do something like this, and given that my Galaxy S3 takes awesome pictures and I LOVE Instagram, I think this could be fun. 

We're already more than 3 weeks into the new year, so doing a book by the calendar year probably won't work.  So, what I was thinking was I could do it by birthday year instead - start the "year of record" with my birthday, so the photo book would cover Age 34, 35, 36, etc ... this would also give me some time to get into the habit of taking at least one pic a day.

What do you think?  Could you do a picture a day?  Of do you have some other New Year's Resolutions you're working on instead?

1 comment:

  1. I'm horrible at taking pictures! Something like that would force me to get better, though. I often feel like the worst. mom. ever. because I've never made a scrapbook or even a photo album of my daughter's childhood. I have some random photos here and there, a huge Costco bag full of older photos & negatives, too ... although when Em was a baby I used to go up to this little city in Northern Alberta so that she could bond with her dad, and so he could see her, etc. I'd go stay for 5-7 days at a time, and when spring finally arrived I started driving myself up there (I was taking a Greyhound the first few times because it is a treacherous highway, lots of accidents, especially in winter due to icy roads, lots of blind curves, etc), and I bought a few little photo albums and FINALLY put all my wedding photos in, with captions. It was a few years before the scrapbooking craze, so it's just plain plastic pages that you insert photos in... but considering that I had 4 different people that wanted to take lots of pics, and I had done the "disposable camera on every table" thing, so I had a TON of photos, AND it only took me 3 or 4 years to do it, whoops.

    I stopped making true resolutions because I felt like a failure every year, so I decided to "focus" instead... this year my focus is on getting my house fixed -- it's broken. My yard ios broken, too... I just lost the ability to handle it all. This year I have warned my daughter that the computer is getting turned off on nice dasy and we are just going to commit to going outside even if it is to read. I've become very self-conscious the last couple of years, because...well, it's one of those vscious circles, I get behind on yardwork, so I know neighbours are talking about me (the neighbour's little girl was walking home from school one June, after I had been working extra hours at work, so it had gotten really long, and I had mowed that morning, the kid goes, "OH MY GOD, she CUT. THE. GRASS!!" and I thought, "You little bitch, I wonder where you got that from -- you sound just. like. your. mother." so I knew my lawn was the subject of gossipy bitchiness in their home. (The mother hates me I have no idea why. Maybe because her husband always says hi & chats for a bit?"). Then the other neighbour, the new ones next door, were out in the yard with a bunch of friends, I had been working in my yard alone, I was wearing a tight tank top because it was 28C, but when they arrived, I went & worked inside instead. They left so I went back outside... and was around the other side of my house & came around to the back door & the husband & his friend were back & working on something... I was going back inside because I didn't want to be around working, sweating, in front of anyone, so I started picking up my stuff & went in, but I had to go back around outside for one thing... as I came through between our houses, the friend goes, "Scary", and the neighbour agreed.

    So I'm extremely self conscious outside now. To make matters worse, they built a HUGE deck that is above my patio area. It wasn't so bad because we had a huge birch tree beside the deck, blocking the view of my patio... they chopped it down last fall when I was at work :(. So now I feel like I'm on a stage, they not only overlook "my space", they can see directly into my kitchen. And garage. And ensuite bathroom (although they can't see the toilet area, they could easily see my getting ready area.
    Ugh.

    I think I just hogged & blogged in your comments... sorry! I think it's been too long without blogging, I can't help myself!

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