Gift wrap and Uno

Day 2/365

The kids run with excitement up to the door. The smell of turkey is overpowering. You can smell it outside as you come up the walk. Thoughts of stuffing and turkey with gravy and home made lefse fill my taste buds. Time to be spent with family. Indulge in more food and exchange gifts. Well executed, gifts from the heart. This will be the last Christmas celebration of the year. Then it will lay in wait, until the celebrations of next year fill and warm us. As Christmas always does. The lights, the smells, the activities... all spent with family, bringing us closer together.

As we sit down for lunch, the kids excitement fills the room. The anticipation of opening up one last round of gifts on their minds. The gifts from their great-grandparents. Grandma-great and Papa-great, as they call them. Soon the food is consumed and the dishes are done. The kids darting to the living room. "Can I open mine first?" "No, me!" "My turn first." is shouted all at once. As Grandma hands out the gifts and Papa-great and Grandma-great find their seats, respectively, near each other, of course. The kids start ripping. The paper is flying and the room is filled with cheers and thank yous. Barbie Clothes, a porcelain tea party set and a Cars car carrier and hot wheels cars are hugged close. Gifts that will forever be treasured and played with. Because they come from the heart. Well thought out gifts from Grandma and Papa-great. They beg to have them taken out of the boxes, to play with them. "Not until we get home, we don't want to lose pieces here." I say. "Awe man, mom, please!" They beg. Their minds are diverted to thoughts of sweets and a game of Uno.

We head to the dining room table, get out the deck of cards and Matt starts to shuffle them. Soon the chairs fill and we are ready to start the game. Little did we know.... there was someone sitting on a pile of four leaf clovers, as Grandma-great, would say. Because she was lucky... right off the bat. Winning three hands in a row. We are all hoping she joins the family... and the thought of one day becoming her sister in law fills me with more excitement than I can explain. Because she rocks. And my brother in law deserves someone as wonderful as her. Someone to spend his life with, happily ever after. Yes, Jenny, I am referring to you.

 And the card game went on, for hours. Because this is how we gather. Each dealt a hand to play of their own. As is life... a deck of cards, drawing up one at a time to play, and follow our paths. Until they all crossed. I am forever grateful to be a part of such a wonderful family. A family that has been such a blessing to me through the years. The family that my children will create memories with. That they will forever call their own. Their heritage. One couldn't ask for a more awesome set of in-laws. And they are in my deck of cards, the deck of cards that I call life.

And the Tom & Jerry mix made it's way to the table. Thanks mother in law!

We wish every one a happy and safe New Year's eve. May your deck of cards hold health, happiness and wonderment to your life!

The Little Village Under the Tree.

Day 1 of 365

Last night I was at the store and was wandering around, as usual. I ended up tossing some misc things in my cart along with the actual cat food I was there for.

Needles. Yarn. "Teach Yourself to Knit" book. and a little craft case to put it all in. It's black. With Polka dots. And on my way home I went.

I have wanted to learn how to knit for quite some time now. My grandmother used to crochet, yes I know - whole different ball game. I remember her sitting there in her recliner, needles in hand, working away, creating masterpieces. Beautiful doilies and throws. Gorgeous.  I wanted to do it so bad I smuggled home some of her needles after the end of one summer, and got myself into quite a load of trouble for it too. But all I wanted to do was be just like Grandma. Because Grandma was cool.

I have now learned how to cast on and make stitches and am currently on row 7 of a 35 stitch per row scarf. It is blue. The yarn is. All shades of blue and it is going to make one beautiful scarf when I am done. Now, it may just be the most hideous looking piece of clothing you will ever see. But that is okay, it is my scarf and it is my first. And it reminds me of my grandmother. Sitting in her chair twiddling away with the yarn and needles. Crocheting.

But I am knitting.

And the reminders of my grandparents house fill my mind with each stitch I make. The smell of the wood stove, the crackling of the fireplace, my grandfathers voice, the seed and Country Today magazines that filled the coffee table. The little village that always sat under the Christmas tree during the holidays. The cattle outside in the pasture, the endless summers I would spend there going to the pasture, with Grandpa, and getting the beef cows to prep them for the County Fair... all of the memories come flooding back. And it makes me warm inside. Happy and warm. But also filled with some sadness that my grandmother will never see me knit. We will never be able to sit side by side and twiddle away together, watching out the patio door at the birds, waiting for Grandpa to come in for the day, hang up his cap and remove his well worn cowboy boots. Sit down on the couch next to Grandma's recliner and ramble off the days events. Reminiscing of the days gone by. Because they are gone. Both of them, but, forever in my heart reminiscing memories, filling me with warmth and happiness.

365 How To

I found this super awesome article written by a very commited 365-er and thought I would share it with you all. His name is Taylor McKnight and he has been doing this since 2004. Now that is commitment! It is titled "Project 365: How to Take a Photo a Day and See Life in a Whole New Way". You can see his actual 2004 blog here. Along with a recap.

Here is the actual article - so you don't have to do all that clicking on links. I found it to be very informative and a little bit of motivation for myself, so hopefully it is a tad bit of motivation for you too.

"People will often say that their whole lives flashed before their eyes after they experienced a traumatic event. Perhaps it’s a bit morbid, but we think that sounds pretty incredible.

When Taylor McKnight started taking a photo a day on January 1st, 2004, he never imagined the project would not only serve as a way to remember a year, but also help him understand what was important to him in his life.

Whether it was his relationships, his career, or his fashion sense, recording a photo a day for a whole year left him with a rich visual history of his life. And it made him a better photographer to boot!
Now that he’s in the middle of doing it for a second time, we asked Taylor to write about it for us. Read on for our tutorial on how and why to create your own daily photographic history.

Project 365: How to Create a Daily Photographic History
www.photojojo.com/content/tutorials/project-365-take-a-photo-a-day/

Why do it?

Taking a photo a day is a big undertaking with big payoffs. Here are just a few reasons why you should consider doing it:

• Imagine being able to look back at any day of your year and recall what you did, who you met, what you learned… (Often we find it hard to remember what we did just yesterday or even last night, let alone a whole year ago!)
• Your year-long photo album will be an amazing way to document your travels and accomplishments, your haircuts and relationships. Time moves surprisingly fast.
• Taking a photo a day will make you a better photographer. Using your camera every day will help you learn its limits. You will get better at composing your shots, you’ll start to care about lighting, and you’ll become more creative with your photography when you’re forced to come up with something new every single day.

Tips on How to Do It

Here are six tips on how to create your own Project 365:

1. Bring Your Camera Everywhere
   Yes, everywhere. Get in the habit. Grocery stores, restaurants, parties, work, and school. Going to a movie theatre? Snap a pic of the flick with your phone–there are photo-ops everywhere. If you have one of those tiny tiny cameras, you have no excuse not to have it in your pocket all the time. And if you don’t? Camera phones are a great substitute.
2. Make Posting Easy
   You can install blog software like Movable Type or WordPress on your own site and create an entry for each photo, but for true ease of use, try a photo sharing site. Flickr will let you post a week’s worth of photos in 2 minutes flat, and fotolog and Photoblog.com are geared toward a photo-a-day workflow. Making it fast and easy means you’re much more likely to do it.
3. Vary Your Themes
   Try to capture the day’s events in a single photo. Perform photographic experiments. Take a photo of someone new you meet, something you ate for the first time, or something you just learned how to do. Take a photo of something that made you smile. And don’t forget to take a photo of yourself at least once a month so you can remember how you’ve changed, too.
4. Tell a Story
   Use your blog entry, or your photo description, to explain what’s going on in each day’s photograph. How good did that dinner taste? What made you want to take a photo of that stranger? It’ll help you remember down the road, and it gives friends following along a better appreciation of why you took the photo you did. You don’t need to write a lot, just enough to add some color.
5. Don’t Stop, No Matter What
   This is perhaps the most important tip of all. You will get tired of taking a photo every single day. Some days, you will consider giving up. Don’t. The end result is worth the effort. Remind yourself why you wanted to do it in first place.
   There will be times you’ll think there’s nothing interesting left to take a photo of, and times you’ll think you didn’t do anything exciting enough to take a photo of. There’s always a great photo to be made.
   Get out of the house and take a walk. Or stay inside and look around. Take a photo of something important to you. Take a photo of the inside of your house so you can see how your taste has changed over the years. Take a photo of anything, just don’t stop.
   N.b. It helps if you’ve told your friends about the project and asked them to follow along. Their encouragement will keep you going!
6. Post early, post often
   Plan on going through and posting your photos at least once a week so you don’t get backlogged and feel overwhelmed. Ideally, post every day or two. Again, spend the time up front to make sure it’s quick and easy to post. It’ll make all the difference.

Examples

• The Project 365 2004 Recap — Read Taylor’s thoughts on the project after the year was over and see some of the highlights.
• Project 365, 2006 (in progress) — Watch a slideshow of Taylor’s second go-around with Project 365.
• Noah Brier’s One a Day — In a more self-reflective variation, our pal Noah takes a photo a day using the webcam built into his MacBook."

What is this all about?!

You may ask... to me this is a second attempt at taking a photo a day for one year. Last year I was so ever consumed with editing all the weddings I shot along with portrait sessions, caring for my children, loving my husband and keeping house, that my project 365 fell by the wayside..... oh right around March.

This year one big thing is crossed off my list of to-do's and it will be freeing up A LOT of time. More time for me to be doing the things I love. Like spending time with my family, being a caring and devoted mother and wife, keeping house.... man that went by the wayside when wedding season got super busy. I love cooking and baking... so more of that will be done I am sure. The house filled with aromas of food.

What is this big endeavor that I am able to cross off my list you may ask? Well, I am glad you did because I am super excited about it! I am no longer going to be spending hours upon hours in front of my computer editing. Nope, not I. This year a commitment has been made and all my photos are being edited by a third party. After much research on all the companies out there that provide this service, one has been chosen and I am super excited. Because weddings this year are adding up, and I am ever blessed! And I will not be spending hours at this desk by this computer with my best friend called Dell. We have a love-hate relationship sometimes.

So here goes my project 365. It will start right away. Are you ready for this roller coaster of a ride?!