January Goals

Besides my Resolutions for 2010, I thought I should start off the year right with a few goals to get done this month, aka the last full month before our baby will most likely make his appearance into the world.

First, December Goals check-in (ones in bold I actually did):

*Make 6 more Christmas cards, write in store-bought cards and have all of them sent out by the 11th
*Finish gift for my friend in Italy, mail by the 7th
*Have 95% of my Christmas shopping done by the 18th
*Journal in my December Daily album every day and take a photo every day
*Have a turkey dinner with Dan
*Put up Christmas tree by the 18th
*Pack up everything that's non-essential to living for the next 10-14 Weeks
*Learn how to make the tabs at the top of my blog like the ones everyone else has
*Get the car winter-ready
*Find out my delivery date and tell the people at work my final day
*Continue paying off other credit card and saving money; keep spending to a minimum
*Have a name chosen
*Wrap all my gifts in an eco-friendly way
*Write to Jelena
*Record my Week 20-26 vlog, take Week 26.5 and 28.5 shots
*Watch Elf, the Sound of Music, Charlie Brown Christmas and other Christmas favs
*Blog at least twice a week
*Make candied citrus peels, White chocolate bark and shortbread cookies with icing
*Decide on a stroller/car seat and crib; look for a 2nd hand glider, make list of baby items that are needed
*Try not to let this season rush by in a panicky whirl!!

Hmm, still quite a few that I didn't do...well, that's ok, that's what carry-overs are for, right? :)

Since I'll be a prisoner at home for the next 2 months (I've been put on partial bedrest...more on that later), there will be quite a few things that I won't be able to do myself, but hopefully Dan or my mom/sister will be able to do them for me, so I'll list them here anyway with the assumption that with my direction they will get done...maybe. Oye.

So here we go:

*REST AND STAY OFF MY FEET AS MUCH AS I CAN HANDLE; GROW THIS BABY
*Re-do/clean up blog (I need to organize my blog roll and get a new, clean & simple banner)
*Blog at least twice a week (should be easy!)
*Buy a car seat, look for a 2nd hand glider, choose crib
*Write out our birth plan
*Finish my 52Qs
*Finish my December Daily
*Pack as much as I can (meaning Dan will pack with my direction)
*Buy more 0-3 months clothes for baby
*Look into photographers for Heather
*Get as much done as possible for work (from home)
*Get my short-term-illness and Mat Leave sorted out
*Finish Jelena's mini; mail
*Record v-log for Weeks 26-32, take 30.5, 32.5 and 34.5 shots
*Go through house, decide what to give away/throw out/keep
*Buy thank you cards from Etsy for after baby
*Cut my hair
*Work on post-baby budgets

There are probably more that I'm forgetting but those are the main ones. Lots and lots to do in preparation for the big change that's coming, but I'm managing to keep the stress levels fairly low, so I'll try to enjoy and remember this time, because I know it's going to go by in a flash.

What are your goals for the month? Or are you all goaled-out with your Resolutions?

Happy January,
G.

Goals for 2010

Well it's that time of year again, I can't believe it! We just got back yesterday from being away with our families for a week, and even though it was lovely and great, I'm pretty happy to be home (and off work) for a few days to catch up and relax. I'll probably do a Christmas re-cap in the New Year, but I wanted to share my Goals for 2010 which, for the last 4 years, I've documented both as scrap pages and blog entries.

First though, here are my previous years' pages, I can see that I'm definitely a fan of the strip journaling for these...

And here's my page for this year (not sure why it's so bright and cheery, guess it was all the BG Urban Prairie I used, it went with the pic I had...)

So my Goals for 2010 are somewhat similar to the goals I've had in the past, not sure if that's a good sign or a bad one (ha!). Anyway, here they are:

1. Survive (and thrive at) being a mother: Obviously the biggest change that's coming for us in 2010 is the birth of our little baby sometime in February/early March, so I'm trying to be realistic about what I can accomplish next year, knowing that I'll have this little person who will need me most of the time and will take a lot of my focus/energy (not that I mind). So part of me is just thinking that I need to survive being a first time mom, survive the late nights and lack of sleep, the pains/joys of breastfeeding, the fears and worries I'll have about every little thing, and all the other concerns and challenges that new moms face. I don't only want to survive this first year with him though, I want to be good at it. Of course I'll have lots to learn and I'll make plenty of mistakes, but I want to be the best mother I can be and have the best family possible, so I'm determined to do everything I can to make that happen.

2. Save the down payment for a house, continue to pay off debt and bulk up the Emergency Account: I always have to include a financial goal in my list, and this year's is the same as last's. In 2009 we managed to save quite a bit for our down payment (about half I would say), but we didn't save enough, so I'm hoping that 2010 will be the year that we finally make it happen. We've got our finances pretty much in order which is great (2009 was the first year ever where Dan and I both worked full time for the entire year), but now the trick will be learning to adapt to the new way of doing things once we move and our incomes change, and also finding a way to continue saving/paying off debt while I'm on Mat Leave. I would also like our Emergency account to cover more than what it does now (it will need to built back up from scratch once we use what we have for the house), and I want to continue at the rate we're at now in our debt payments, which is still painfully slow but at least it's something. My other mini-goal is to have our credit cards paid off by the time the baby is born.

3. Build my photography portfolio: Besides the baby, this is the one I'm most excited about. Before I got pregnant this year I had major plans to move forward with my photography, but it all got shot to wayside once little bébé came into the picture (I just couldn't handle it both physically and mentally), so I'm hoping to start back up on it in the New Year. My main goal will just be to get a variety of shots to start building a portfolio that I can eventually use to show clients and start a website. I know of at least one wedding/engagement I'll be able to shoot, of course I'll have a newborn/baby model to use, and I'll have to ask anyone and everyone to let me shoot them over the year. I think that moving to Sussex will be a good first step, the locations and possibilities for shoots alone will be a great motivator for me I think. It's ambitious and will take a lot of work on my end (I admit I'm nowhere near ready to start taking on clients at this point), but if I have enough shots built up over the year, then perhaps I'll make it a goal to take on clients in 2011. This is my creative goal/dream, so I really want to work hard at it.

4. Keep my marriage a priority: With all the new changes coming our way, I wanted to make sure that I kept Dan and our marriage at the forefront of it all. I truly believe that a happy marriage makes for happy parents and that there's no way that I could ever get through this life without him, so I intend to make time for us alone, not to let the baby consume all of my time/thoughts (within reason of course, I know the first few months are going to be tough), and to keep reminding myself how lucky I am to have such a wonderful man, husband and father in my life.

5. Travel at least once outside of the Maritimes: This one is already covered since I know that we'll be flying out to British Columbia in the summer for my friend Heather's wedding. I'm so happy that I'll get to travel in 2010 though, I never want the joy of travel to leave my life. It can adapt (no more running off to Europe alone for 2 weeks), but as long as I get to leave home for a period of time and experience something new, I'll be happy.

6. Garden: Pretty straight forward. This is my 'practical skills' goal. My sister has grand plans for a garden at her house next year, and so I intend to help her with it as much as I can and learn the joys of growing our own food.

7. Continue blogging and scrapping at current rate: I love blogging and I really hope that I'll be able to keep it up next year. This is kind of my selfish goal, but I think it's really important that I keep something for myself and that I don't become consumed by being 'Mama' all the time. I've managed to post (on average) twice a week for most of the year, so if I can do the same in 2010 then I'll be happy. I have some scrappy goals I want to accomplish as well, finishing up projects mostly and using up my Stash.

8. Get involved: This one might be the toughest to accomplish, actually. I'm so anti-social most of the time, but with a new little baby on the way I have the perfect opportunity to get out there, meet new people, make new friends and get involved in my community (which will be my hometown, so all the more reason). Whether that means going to mommy-and-me type groups, crop nights, a running club, a cooking/photography class, anything at all, I want to get out there and experience new things and new people. It will be good for me I know, but like I said, might be the toughest one to actually do.

9. Change my eating habits: I should have started this one, oh, about 6 months ago (ha), but I realize that I'm not just feeding myself anymore, there's someone else in the picture who needs more nourishment and a healthier diet than what I'm providing. I fully intend to give my baby the best start in life, and that includes providing him with the best and healthiest food possible, which means I myself will have to change what I put into my body. Gardening (Goal 6) should help this along I think, but it will also just take some sheer will power and willingness on my end to try new things. Another practical goal, but also probably one of the hardest (I'm a chip addict, I can't help it!)

10. Start going to church: This has always been my intention once we moved home; I have a few churches in mind, I'll have to try them out once we get home, but I really want to be part of a church community and get back 'on the path' as they say.

Well, there they are, 10 goals for 2010. I'd love to hear what your resolutions/goals are for the next year, so if you did a similar post, please comment and link me up!

I hope you all have a wonderful end to 2009 and a spectacular 2010. I personally cannot wait for the new decade (and all the wonderful things it will bring) to arrive.

What's on YOUR mind?

I've been on the fence about Facebook for awhile now (I deleted about 85% of my 'friends' earlier this year), but I still use it to communicate with a few people, so when I saw this application I thought it would be fun to go back and see what my statuses were for 2009. There were some pretty funny ones in there (at least to me), and oddly enough I can remember how I was feeling at the time when I wrote most of them.

It's so neat that technology these days allows you to capture the littlest moments of your days, your random thoughts, your routine, frustrations, feelings...your life. Some people might call it a waste, but I think it's great. Twitter, my blog, Facebook, Flickr, it's capturing my life as I live it and I'm quite thankful for that.

Anyway, I hope you all had a wonderful, peaceful and joyful Christmas with your family and friends. We're in Sussex now until Tuesday, going to visit my friends Anna and Sara, have a maternity photoshoot with my sister (if the weather cooperates), spend time with my family and hopefully get some rest. Oh, and work on my December Daily, which is sadly weeks behind at this point.

Happy Weekend,
G.

And we're off!

(Source)

In about an hour I'll be heading off to my doctor's appointment, where Dan will be picking me up afterwards, and then we're off to New Brunswick for the next 6 days! Very excited to have some time off, to see some friends and family that I haven't seen in a long time, to relax, hopefully take lots of wintry photos, eat, sleep (instead of drink) and be merry.

The plans, in case any of our family doesn't yet know:

Dec 23rd -> Driving to Fredericton (as long as the weather cooperates, there's supposed to be a storm tonight...) We're bringing Shimi, should be interesting!

Dec 24th -> Spending time in Fredericton, then driving to McAdam in the evening

Dec 25th -> Spending the day in McAdam; either heading back to Fredericton for the night or spending another night there

Dec 26th -> Leaving in the morning for Sussex, perhaps stopping to visit some friends along the way

Dec 27th & 28th -> In Sussex, visiting with friends and hanging out with family

Dec 29th -> In Sussex, driving back in the evening

Dec 30th-Jan 3rd -> Back in Halifax, maybe working, maybe not.

So that's that. I'll try to get back online a bit during this time if I can, but I'm hoping to be too busy to do much online-ing (I had meant to write some posts ahead of time but alas it didn't happen).

I wish you all a Merry, safe and happy holiday.

Loves,

G.

**EDIT: Friggin' storm, I guess we're not leaving tonight, the storm's too bad. Oh well, everything is packed, tonight Dan and I are going to go out to eat and relax and we'll head out in the mornin'.

Random thoughts on this whole baby thing [@ 29 Weeks]

Here we go, another batch of random thoughts from an increasingly large pregnant lady:

*Now that I'm in my 3rd trimester, the energy levels are definitely coming down a bit and it's kind of disappointing me since I still have so much to do! The past week I've been feeling quite tired and drained, the extra weight/difficulty in movement is certainly contributing to it I think, which is normal, but still, it was fun to feel like my old self for awhile. Also starting to wake up at night a couple of times due to having to pee/leg cramps, so that's adding to tiredness too. I will never be rested again! haha.

*I have no clothes. Yet again.

*I'm trying really hard not to let all the doctor and medical stuff bother or worry me too much. So far a lot has been thrown at me (all the tests and appointments and worries about my heart/the cord/my cervix/the baby's growth/early labour/my sugar levels, giving me steroids and pushing beta blockers, etc, etc), but until I actually feel that something is wrong with either me or the baby, I'm not going to let it get to me. I feel healthy, I feel like the baby is healthy so that's how I'm going about the next 11 weeks, assuming everything is ok. Now, I'm being watched/looked after quite carefully and for that I'm very thankful (if a bit annoyed at all the time it's taking), but I don't want to let it consume my thoughts, I'd rather just enjoy the time I have with him and Dan now worry-free.

*I've gone for 3 ultrasounds so far (with another coming next week) and they are always great fun, the last time we got a good look at his lips and face...it's a little person in there, that's what I'm realizing the most now. No more alien baby, no more weird concept, but a real, adorable little guy who's part me and part Dan, and I'm getting more and more anxious to meet him :)

*My favourite part of this whole thing so far has been feeling him move. It's definitely more distinct now and I can almost tell what he's doing in there. In the past couple of weeks the kicks have become almost more of a dragging motion, like he's rolling over instead of just jerking around, and it tickles, oddly. I can't complain about him hurting my ribs yet, but I'm sure it'll come in the next 11 weeks or so. The feet are definitely higher up in my abdomen though, and sometimes I can pinch my skin a little and feel the outline of his little foot (or what I think is his foot anyway.) So cool. I'm still very much mesmerized by my belly.

*We STILL don't have all the things we need for him (like a crib or car seat), but we did get a stroller so I feel like we're getting there, slowly but surely. Our moving plans are just a teeny bit more definite (we've decided on a date at least), but everything else is still so up in the air that I don't feel like we can properly plan or purchase anything before we know more (which we should hopefully next month.) I think that once Christmas is over and things settle down a bit more, I'll be able to focus and go out for a few big shopping trips to pick up the things I need (I read something today about needing little baby washcloths and nail clippers, I didn't even think of that!)

*One of the best things we found out recently is that I can have a natural birth, which is great news. I won't lie and and say that I'm not nervous or a bit scared about labour though, for the longest time I had it in my head that I was getting a 'cop out' by being forced into a c-section, but now that I have to actually address the fact that I'm going to be giving birth naturally, there's lots to think about and consider. Dan and I have talked about it some already, and I'll probably develop a birth plan over the next few months, but I think that at this point it's still too much of a far-away concept for me to really deal with (and I'll probably continue saying that up until the moment it happens, ha!) I am excited about it though.

*The closer I'm getting to leaving work the guiltier I'm feeling about it. I don't want to start doubting our decision to move, but the people here are so great and my job has changed so much (for the better) over the last 6 months or so that it's really making me sad that I have to leave it. I know moving home is going to be great in so many ways (being close to our family, living in the same town as one of my best friends, having our kids grow up together, getting a house, living in the country, hopefully being able to stay home with the baby), but there are definitely things that I will miss about our life now.

*We're about 90% decided on the name, I've even addressed him as such a couple of times to try and get used to it...I think that whatever name we choose will sound weird until I actually see him, then hopefully the name will fit. I'm almost committed enough to buy one of these custom prints for the nursery, but I think I might hold off just a bit longer.

PS-It's not Maxwell.

Well that's enough for now, I still have 2 (possibly 3 if I do one 4 weeks after birth, which might be fun) v-logs left to do and 5 more Belly shots, time is flying! I'm really looking forward to the next few months though and to finally meeting my son.

Until next time, the thoughts keep piling up...

G.

Favourite Photos of 2009

I can't believe that 2009 is almost over already, it's the end of the decade, how can that be?! The 2000s still seem kind of new and exciting to me, not done and gone already...this is the first decade of my adult life and the first time that I can clearly remember what happened every year within it (I was only 7 in 1990, so it's kind of fuzzy...) Anyway, it's crazy, and it got be thinking that I should really start getting my "best of 09" posts ready, so here's the first, my favourite photos (shot by me) of 2009.

This year has been kind of strange for me photography-wise, since the first half of the year (until the end of June) was mostly similar to 2008 as far as inspiration/motivation/quantity of photos taken went, but the 2nd half got completely turned around from a little thing called "getting pregnant", lol. Starting in June/July my desire to take photos completely vanished from the face of the planet (along with my motivation to do anything else), and it's been really hard to get it back since. My energy levels are back up now so for the last 6 weeks or so I've been thinking about my photography more and more and wanting to get back into it, but before then I was lucky to pick up my camera at all. Getting that spark and fire back is going to be the biggest step I think, but I feel like I'm ready again to get to that place.

Above is a mosaic of all of my Fav photos from 2009 (sorry some are so small, it was the only way I could get them all in one post! They can all be found in my Flickr though, I'll be making a "Favs of 09" set.) As always, lots of self-portraits, photos of Heather (before she left) and Dan, Shimi and the dogs, Italy and home, and something new to 09, the Belly shots :) Looking back through my folders, there were some pretty good shots in there (in my opinion anyway), which showed me that I did grow a little bit in my photography skills from last year (getting a new lens certainly helped), but I still have a loooooong way to go before getting to where I want to be, and I want 2010 to be the year that I continue moving forward. I'm hoping (perhaps foolishly) that I'll have more time to concentrate on it since I'll be home on Mat Leave, plus we'll be in Sussex (country!) and I'll have a perfect little model to practise on, but we'll see. It's going to be a major goal of mine for the new decade (Goals post coming later).

Now, just dreaming here, but I'd also like to upgrade my camera next year. If I want to attempt to shoot some semi-kinda-real shoots with people (or just build my portfolio for that matter), I can't walk in there with my Rebel XT, it just can't do what I want it to do. I have my 50mm f/1.4 lens which I love, but I need a new body, so I've been looking into the next step up, which for me (and my price range), would be one of these 2 babies, the 50D or the Rebel t1i.

As for my next lens, I'm not really sure, I definitely need another zoom lens, but the ones I'm looking into seem to be super expensive, so if anyone has any recommendations I'd really appreciate it! I was also considering either the 85mm f/1.8 or 100mm f/2.0 prime lens, but I'm not sure if they would be much different than my 50mm f/1.4. So much research!

To all the people who have expanded their photography businesses (or who want to), do you have any tips or advice for me? I know that getting out there and just doing it is the main thing, but I'd love to learn how some of you did it, as far as the equipment you started out with, what types of shoots, building the portfolio, etc.

Well that's all for me now, only a 3 day work week then we are off to NB for the holidays! Hope to be back on here before I go though, so until then enjoy your Monday!

Snap snap,
G.

Sunday Scrappy Vault-Volume 3

Only on Volume 3 and I'm behind already! Sheesh...anyway, here we go, another dive into the scrap vault...(I'll try to get Volume 4 up tonight, but we'll see.)

Title: "Better with age"

Layout date: July 2007

Supplies used: Lots of ephemera-type papers, Dollarama stickers, primas, brads, label from M's, letter stickers, wedding rub-on, letter rub-ons, random ribbons

Techniques used: N/A

What I like about the layout: The thing I like most about this layout (besides the picture of Dan, which is one of my favourites of all time and will be the one I show our grandchildren to tell them how handsome their grand-papa was), is the way I layered everything but still left some white space. This page was originally done in an 8.5X11 sketch book, which I then ripped out and stuck to a piece of cardstock, but I really like the white background and use of colours, it all just "goes". It's a full page, but doesn't seem crowded, which my layouts often do.

What I remember most about making this layout: This layout would have been made when Dan was away in Truro planting trees and before heading to Springhill for the year for school, so we were once again separated after being together for only 8 months (I'm seeing a theme here...) Anyway, the photo was taken at a family reunion we went to the month before and I knew immediately I wanted to scrap it. We also had just celebrated our 4 year anniversary, which brought on lots of feelings of "wow, time goes by" and all the general walking-down-memory-lane feelings I get when I realize how long I've been with this amazing guy. Instead of being mushy though, I decided to focus on his physical appearance, haha. Guess I was missing him.

Alright, short and sweet, I'm off to get ready for the day, which involves some experimental baking, wrapping presents, cleaning and catching up on my December mini hopefully! We're supposed to get a storm tonight, hopefully it won't be too bad, I'm so paranoid about walking outside these days!

Have a great Sunday,
G.