Ramble Ramble

Well, today is officially the last day of NaBloPoMo for 2008. I’m pretty proud of myself for accomplishing the  task of posting every day for the entire month. And frankly, I loved it. I loved having something to work towards everyday. I loved finding new blogs (though not as many as I had hoped…that blogroll has been a monster to try and get through!). And I definitely loved knowing that people had a reason to come by every day if they so desired. It was a great challenge, particularly as a new blogger, and one I enjoyed immensely.

Unfortunately,  though, I don’t think I made good on all aspects of the personal challenges I gave myself. As a reminder, they were:

1. Post a full post every day. Or at least try to keep to the type of posts I already do and not fall back on just “Here’s my post. Done.” type stuff.
2. Post at least 3 new photos a week–if I’m challenging myself, why not challenge my photography as well?  I want to try and make these a real way to push myself to learn more, so I’m going to try and make those 3 photos be more than just my macro close up on pretty plants standby–things such as using a new setting on the camera, or trying new composition, or different lighting.

Now, I do think I pretty much fulfilled the challenge of doing a full post every day. I didn’t do any memes, there were a few days I posted twice, I only did one real cop out post, and even that one ended up being somewhat long winded. I am proud, for the most part, of the content I created this month. I tried to push myself to use my own creativity in my writing, and I’m excited by where it has led me.

However, number two? FAIL. I had a much harder time with photography this month than with written content, as I’ve talked about already. That’s not to say that I didn’t post photos, but I didn’t make my goal of 3 new photos a week, and I definitely don’t feel like I made my goal of doing something new in those photos.

But you know what? I’m ok with it. After my little hiccup last week, I understand that I’m going to have to push myself forward with photography if I want to get better. It’s not always going to come easily. But I’m going to keep going.

So, at the end of NaBloPoMo, I feel like I got plenty of bang for my buck this November. I enjoyed it, and think it brought me good things in the form of content, creativity, personal challenges, readers, commenters, and new blog friends (and who knows, it could bring me prizes!). I’m really really glad I did this challenge, and I will probably do it again at some point.

But for the record? You people who are going to attempt December? Are insane. I can’t wait to read what you come up with, but I’ll save my next attempt for a non-holiday month.

P.S. If you wanted to vote for my photo over at Exposarooni, it wouldn’t hurt my feelings!

Ha, I’m punny! (what? I never said I was good with titles for my posts!)

So I’ve submitted my photo to Exposaroonie, waiting until the last minute of course. Your comments really helped me choose…Option A! I’d been leaning toward that one anyway, but had lost the ability to actually see my photos objectively anymore, so your comments were a great outside perspective.

I think these photo challenges are good for me–forcing me to look for specific things that I maybe wouldn’t have looked for otherwise. I know I had a hard time with this one. I’m a pretty literal person, so for some reason I felt like the lines my photo was showing had to be extremely obvious. I probably never would have been able to take a shot that featured lines in a more subtle way like some of the ones already submitted for this challenge. That’s something I need to work on, looking past the obvious when I’ve got the camera out.

For those of you who are photographers (budding and pro alike), do you have tricks you make yourself use to get out of a particular photography mindset? Whether it’s because you’re taking every shot at the same angle, or using the exact same settings for everything, or because you can’t stop taking macro flower photos, is there something you do to prompt yourself to be more adventurous or creative or different in what and how you’re shooting?

Tags: exposaroonie, Learning Photography, NaBloPoMo

Today was the ultimate post-Thanksgiving lazy day. We slept late, watched tv, played video games, ate a lot, and never got out of our pj’s. Frankly, it was one of the best days I’ve had in a while–totally relaxing, with no obligations. I can feel my stress level going down, which is sorely needed.

We contemplated briefly doing the whole Black Friday nonsense, but decided that sleeping in trumps shopping any day. I’ve yet to venture into Black Friday shopping territory, and frankly, I’m ok with that. I like getting a deal, but I’d rather do it without elbows being thrown and fights breaking out thanks.

In other news, I’ve yet to decide which picture to submit to exposarooni for their “Lines” challenge. Yeah, I’m taking it down to the wire, since it’s due by noon on Saturday! I’ve got it narrowed down to two, I just don’t know which one I’m going to go with yet. If you read this before noon (pst) on 11/29, I’d love to hear what you think!

Option A

Option B

I’ve also got to do my photo for The Daily Focal Point’s weekly challenge–this one is about FOOD! I’m kicking myself, because I never did photograph any of the Thanksgiving yumminess (and I totally meant to for my own purposes, before I even knew about Cabe’s challenge). Things just got too hectic in the kitchen, and by the time I thought about it the food was long since put away. So I’m going to have to figure something else out…leftovers anyone?

Today, I am thankful.

I’m thankful for my mom, who is the epitome of a strong woman to look up to. I’m thankful for my family, who have been a constant in my life. I’m thankful for my friends, who put up with a slacker friend. I’m thankful for my kitty cat, who is a stinker but a cute one. I’m thankful for good food, and the resulting food coma. I’m thankful for paychecks, particularly right now. I’m thankful for perspective, for allowing me to recognize my happiness.  I’m thankful for blogging & blogging friends, for giving me a more interesting and creative life over the last 3 months.

And I am thankful for my husband, who makes it all fun.

Since tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and my in-laws are coming in town to celebrate with us, I’ve got the menu on my brain. I’m trying to plan how best to stagger dishes, what needs to be prepped tonight, and how best to not get full from “testing” all day tomorrow!

We did Thanksgiving at our place last year, and it was pretty successful (if I do say so myself). Sadly though, neither N.C. nor I can seem to remember how exactly we pulled it all off, so we’re sort of rehashing old ground. Luckily, we’re pretty traditional in our feasting, so should something go wrong I’m sure the interwebs can help correct it. Here’s the menu:

Turkey
Regular in-bird stuffing (for my husband)
Green chili cornbread stuffing (my favorite from growing up…that’s what living in New Mexico will get you)
Mashed potatoes
Gravy
Green beans
Glazed carrots
Rolls
Pecan pie
Pumpkin cheesecake (fingers crossed that this one works out)
Plus, we’ll have nuts and fruit and a relish tray to snack on throughout the day.

There’s nothing groundbreaking in there, but I take great pride in pulling off a holiday meal that everyone enjoys, so I keep running it all over in my head trying to plan it all correctly. Plus, I have to try and plan it so my mother in law doesn’t try and do everything–not that I have a problem with sharing my kitchen (at all!), but we just want them to relax while they’re at our house.

I love that Thanksgiving isn’t about gifts or stuff, just food and family. Christmas is my favorite holiday, bar none, but the stress leading up to it can be incredibly intense. Thanksgiving is the opposite–there’s no stress in the lead up at all, some minor chaos the morning of, and then nothing but food coma!

Tomorrow, I will be doing a brief post (thanks NaBloPoMo!) on what I’m thankful for this year, but today…today it’s all about the food.