Resolutions

I was watching The Today Show this morning and Dr. Oz was on telling people that one of the best ways to help stick to your Resolutions was to a) write them down and b) tell people about them. So this is me doing that. ;-) And here they are...

1) Educate myself on what I feed my family and take action in changing how we eat. I'm already getting lots of good tips on how to make changes. Last night Kyle and I watched Food Matters on Netflix. It was a great watch and definitely a good start. But it also left me wanting more. So here are some books I'm looking into:

Unhealthy Truth

Food Rules

Defense on Food

2) Run at 10k. I was going to just say "get into shape" but that was so vague and setting myself up for fail. So I thought a more definite goal would be to run a 10k in May. There are a number to chose from so I hope to register in the next month or so. I've already started back on Couch to 5k (and pre purchased the Bridge to 10k for my iphone). I'm SUPER excited to get into running shape. I grew up as a soccer player and being in good shape was always just a given. So being so out of shape has been hard on me mentally.

3) Grow out my hair. But you already knew that one. ;-)

4) Along the lines of #1, but still different... be more intentional about our meals and grocery shopping. This means making weekly food schedules and shopping with intention for those meals.

5) Quite time in prayer and in the Bible. Its so easy to get lost on this one and let it go by the wayside. My Pastor recently said "if its important to you , you will make time for it." That struck a major cord with me because at the time I was in the middle of watching Grey's Anatomy on Netflix. I had watched almost 4 seasons in 3 weeks. WHAT THE? I had to admit, at the time, Grey's was more important to me that time with God. So, I really am working on changing that.

So that's them! I have mini resolutions too, like doing the dishes after each meal and keeping my side of the bathroom clean but I don't believe that "not being a slob" should be a resolution as much as it is being a good wife and roommate to Kyle. ;-) He's been asking me to be better at these things for 5 years, its time to start doing that.

Now... off to get working on these!

JANUARY: Grow Hair, Grow!

Oh hey... I'm here! Bringing ye 'ol blog outta hibernation for a little bit. I've been wanting to grow out my hair for a while now... nothing drastic, just a little bob that goes past my chin. But its SUPER daunting to start the process of growing out my hair when the sides were practically shaved just a month ago. But I'm fiiiiiinally passed the shaved point.. and thought it might be fun to document my hair growth journey here.

When deciding to grow out my hair, I'm so easily swayed with not wanting to deal with it and then chopping it all off again. So this is hopefully going to keep me moving forward on setting the goal and keeping with it. I'm hoping to post at least a monthly update as I grow it out for the next 6 months. My hair grows pretty fast and I even went back on some good multivitamins that seemed to help last time. So HOPEFULLY in 6 months I will have a nice little bob! But we'll see. ;-)

Now, onto the pictures of my current hair situation. I'm still not quite to the point where I would normally get a hair cut, even though its been almost two months (I can go MONTHS between cuts)... so I defintley wouldn't consider this as part of the "grow out process." Its just the starting off point.

From the front:


From the sides:


The original hair cut was based off of this picture I found on Pinterst of Ginnifer Goodwin.


But its been a couple months, so as you can imagine, two months ago, this cut was much shorter. ;-)

I think the hardest part to get past is the whole side burn situation. When they start to grow out and get too long to be in front of my ears, but too short to go behind... that's the point I always just forget it and cut it all off again. So I think there will be a couple month period of knit hats and head bands. Just the excuse I needed to Etsy shop. ;-)

Anyway... so that's it!!! Riveting stuff, right?

Film - 2nd Roll

Shooting film has been a LOT of fun for me. It is a completely different way of shooting. Sure the same technical rules apply but learning to be more intentional with my images has been a change of pace for me. With digital, I could seriously shoot 700 images from one engagement session (!!) and come away with about 70 that the client will see. Often times I'm just shooting like crazy while the client is interacting and hoping for just one good image that has both of their eyes open and hope they look cute. And when my camera shoots like 8 frames per second... eventually I do get that shot I'm looking for. And while I still don't think that's a bad way to get genuine moments between a couple, there are other times where I know I could slow it down and just really think about the shot before I shoot it. And if I know I got it... I just need to STOP taking pictures of that moment and move on to something else.

Film has kind of reminded me of that. I am only shooting it for personal use and that is the way I intend to keep it. My wedding style does not lend itself to film. But I think as a photographer, challenging myself and learning new ways to shoot is definitely going to help me in the long run. It keeps my mind fresh and it really does change me.

This roll is only my second roll of film and I know its nothing fantastic, but here are some shots from it. This roll took me almost 4 weeks to finish. But last night I put in a 3rd roll and finished the entire roll in just a couple hours. Rowan and I were just hanging out in the backyard and I was snapping away. I'm excited to get that roll back later today. I also think I want to try black and white too. ;-) Ooooh... but color is so pretty!!!

DAY THREE: My Favorite Place to Be

For those of you who have followed me for some time, wether on my old blog, on Facebook or on Twitter, you know the personality of my child. He's a wild child. He's not a snuggler. He doesn't slow down. He doesn't just lay his head on my shoulder. Not even when he's sick.

However... over the last month all he wants to do is read books. He grabs my by the hand and walks me upstairs to a stack of his books and picks something out for me to read. And in his sweet little voice he says "read book?" And for the next hour he'll sit on my lap while I read him his favorite books. Its amazing. Its heart warming and its my absolute favorite part of any day.

DAY TWO: What I Wore Today

DAY ONE: Self Portrait

30 Day Photo Challenge

So, a bunch of us girls on Twitter all decided to start a 30 day photo challenge today. I'm not usually one to participate in these because sometimes I feel like they aren't that "challenging." The main challenge for me is finding time to take a one specific type of picture each day. Which to me feels more like work than fun. But after seeing a particular list thats been floating around, I felt like I wanted to do it.

I can't promise that each picture will be taken that day. Honestly, I KNOW each picture won't be taken that day. I fully intend on knocking out multiple pics in one day (aka. when I have a baby sitter)... then just posting them on the corresponding date. I know that isn't part of the deal, but that's how its gonna have to work for me. So you deal. ;-)

So anyway... all that to say, here is the list and I hope to post Day One a little bit later today. ;-) And once I confirm who's all doing the challenge, I'll post links to their blogs/tumblers as well. Happy shooting!!!!