Year Two

A couple months ago I started to wonder if I'd keep doing the 365-Project Blog in 2010. I really wanted to, but I wanted to do something different. About that same time I came across the book The Best Camera by Chase Jarvis and an idea started to form.

The concept of the book is the assertion that you can take compelling pictures with any camera including the one that's always with you - your cellphone camera. Chase Jarvis went all over the world and took pictures with his iPhone camera.

This year my intention will be to exclusively use my iPhone for pictures and blogging. I'm going to focus more on artistic shots instead of the daily journal format. In fact, I won't be saying much this year (which may be a bit tough for me, but catch me in the comments) except for probably a short caption.

The other goal is to post in as close to real time as I can. Hopefully I can avoid the weekly data dump I've had to follow this year.

I'm so excited and a bit nervous. I hope to stretch my photography in a different way this year. I don't look at the abstract very well. I'm a linear thinker, so this will be both fun and challenging.

Hope you all enjoy the results!!

Day 332

I had a coupon for one of the local craft shops this weekend, so while the kids were napping, I went out to see what bargains I could find. I was really excited to find this beading book for 50% off.

There was also a trunk show going on today, and they had some fun copper pieces including this strand of copper pringles. Those will be tons of fun to incorporate into some new pieces, and they were sooo much less expensive than their sterling counterparts.

I consider it highly successful shopping venture.

Day 323

A couple of months ago, I was presented with an opportunity to attend the midnight showing for a movie I was really looking forward to. When you add in the fact that we'd be viewing the movie in a private, luxury theater (complete with recliners and seat-side service), then it certainly seemed like an opportunity I could not pass up.

I have to say that based on my viewing of the lobby at 11:30 tonight, the experience will totally live up to my expectations.

Day 292

I was sitting in traffic on the way home and was going to take a picture of the lovely fall leaves. But I got distracted with listening to Matt "reading" in the backseat, so I took a picture of him. I never did get a chance to take a picture of the trees before the traffic cleared up.

Day 289

Tonight we went to an event that we'd been looking forward to for at least two months. Rob and I started watching Good Eats on the Food Network probably seven or so years ago. We've always thought Alton Brown has such a fun way of presenting cooking.

We found out that he'd be signing his newest book at one of our local bookstores tonight, and for the cost of the book we were able to attend. He did a question and answer for about an hour before the book signing, and we bought our book early enough to be in the first group of signatures.

Mr. Brown is a pretty cool guy in person. He's a lot like his personality on the show. He could nearly have a stand-up act. But you can tell that he doesn't take his modest fame lightly, and he really enjoys his fans. It was an awesome evening and the price was great for an event like this.


My dear friend watched our little guy so we could better enjoy the evening (it was pretty darn crowded). Paul has been a fan for much of his four years, so he was excited to go too.

Day 278

Tonight I have a picture share of two of my guys kicking back and reading a story before bed. I'm not sure why the littler guy felt he needed to be read to in our bed, but he enjoyed it. It's the simple things some days.

Day 254

I'm sitting here eating my dinner and blogging while my boys are cruising the bookstore. We had an errand to run this evening, so we decided to grab dinner. The boys ordered pizza by the slice while I ordered a yummy Italian chop chop salad.

They were nearly finished with their food by the time I received mine, so now they're browsing the bookstore while munch away in peace (aside from the computer lunatic behind me).

This salad is somehow even tastier. ;)

Day 243

I have another book post today, but this one is a tiny bit different. I put Sophie Kinsella's Twenties Girl on hold a few weeks ago, and on a whim decided to put the CD set on hold also. I used to listen to a lot of books on CD when Paul was little, and basically didn't talk as much, because I drive around quite a bit to get kids to and from childcare.

After I found ways to finish listening to the book on CD I borrowed for our drive to my cousin's wedding, I thought I might be able to listen to an entire book that way. I'm almost done with the second to last disk and will probably be able to finish it in the next couple of days. Aside from the fact that I've really been enjoying the book, I also like the benefit of feeling like I can do other things while "reading".

I may have to see what other books I can get from the library to listen to. As a bonus, the audio book became available fairly quickly, and I'm still better than 100 people away from receiving the paper version.

Day 242

It seems like I talk about books a lot, but I mention this one because I finally finished it and it's only taken me about 2 1/2 months. It's Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, and it's a really good book about censorship.

It was written more than 50 years ago, and has a lot of very relevant stuff to say about technology and how we can end up using it to busy ourselves with stimulation and not take the time to question and think.

It's actually a very easy read and less than 200 pages. The reason why it took me so long is I've been working on other things and have been getting to bed later than I should. So when I'd pick it up, I'd make it about a page or two before I was fighting to keep my eyes open.

I actually cracked my brother up, who originally mentioned the book to me, by telling him I had about a page and a half left. He thought it was pretty humorous that I could be that close to the end and just decide to save it for another day.

I really recommend this book. It's interesting to think about. I didn't do it justice with my description, so check it out for yourself.

Day 229

I'm still exhausted from our trip this weekend for my cousin's wedding. I don't know what it is about driving nine hours in one day, but somehow it wears you out. Tonight I decided I'd put one of the last CDs from the book I listened to during our drive home on my iPhone. I'm going to listen to it in bed as I drift off to sleep early.

Day 226

We hadn't been to Costco for a while and since our list was nice and long, we decided to go tonight. One of the places my husband likes to look is at the books and see what's interesting. I'd been debating over getting the Twilight series for probably five or six months. They had it back in stock again, so I finally decided to make the purchase. I'm hoping to get to read the first two again before the newest movie is out in November.

Day 151

Before church this morning, I finished another book. This one was for our book group that met on the 15th, but I really liked this book and wanted to finish it. The book was Broken for You by Stephanie Kallos. It's taken me forever to get through because I've been unusually busy lately, but I'm glad that I did.

I also wanted to take this picture to play around some more with focus with my "new" lens.

Day 142

In a rare feat, I managed to finish a book. But not only that, I read the entire thing in 2 days. I'll have to admit that it wasn't a challenging read at about 170 pages with big type and lots of pictures, but I'm still strangely pleased with myself. I feel like I accomplished something.

Anyway, the book was Carrie Fisher's Wishful Drinking. I don't know if I would say that I recommend it per se because her language is pretty crass and she doesn't hold anything back. But if you have an even moderate interest in her life, then I think you'll find it an enjoyable read. I liked her wit, humor, and ability to laugh at herself.

I'm kind of wishing I had been able to see her show a few months ago like I had wanted to, but checking the book out from the library was much less expensive.