Category: .me, elsewhere.

365 photo project recap

One of my 2011 resolutions, the 365 photo project is over, and was also much, much more of a challenge than I anticipated. Can I admit that I’m so glad it’s over? A photo-a-day seems so easy, right? But it was harder that I thought to have a camera on-hand to capture the moments, and always remember to do so. (I can’t have it at work so it must stay in my car if I remember to put it there each day). And some nights I was struggling to find something interesting to capture before bedtime because I realized I hadn’t taken my photo yet.

I took a LOT of bad food photos, but I really am glad I captured my first year experimenting with vegetarian and vegan cooking nonetheless. Food photography is HARD. You cannot fake it with a point-and-shoot and some Photoshopping skills. Slightly off coloring, a shadow here, etc, can take something that’s real-life pretty and make it look completely unappetizing.

But, I managed to capture 343 days of 2011. Here are a few random faves!:

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fall shopping

Today I am working on my fave fall project – the seasonal clothing switch out! In the process, I am culling the closet immensely, pulling out what I never wear, then determining if it can be 1) modified, 2) given to someone I know or 3) just donated. I do this about twice a year.

Also in the process, I’m determining my want-to-have shopping list. I am going to do a bit of fall shopping this weekend but I want to go armed with a list of things that will make my wardrobe more versatile. Turns out I have a LOT of black pants and skirts. What I am lacking, really, is shoes that are both practical and stylish, variety in my work pants, and tops that aren’t cardigans!

This year I am going to focus on buying earthy warm neutrals that go with blacks and browns, a few go-with-everything pairs of shoes/boots, and tunics that can be worn as dresses, over leggings, or over pants. I don’t have the budget to buy all of this stuff, but here’s my “want list” to keep me focused.

PS: I’m fullfilling 2 of my organizing goals for September with this project {cull the closet, put together 10 work outfits}. (:

What’s everyone loving for fall?

Pinterest

Do you use Pinterest? If you aren’t already in the loop on this, you should definitely check it out. It’s basically a storage site for images you find around the web. You can organize them in categories, type notes, view other people’s saved images, and it credits where you “pin” them from, for future reference. It’s my new favorite thing ever for keeping track of recipes I want to try, inspiration for my new house, fashion photos, etc. And (hint hint, June 21 birthday), my wishlist!

Here’s what a pinboard looks like {with my notes on each – so cool}.

Perfect for a visual person/digital packrat/inspiration seeker like me. You can follow me here {or just check out what I’m diggin’}.

crank it to ’11

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!!!

I hope 2010 ended on a great note for you. I know mine did. I got my Christmas decor put away and the house spruced up, picked up some pretty little things at Pier One with the gift card I got from my boss for Christmas, and spent some time relaxing with a good book. Had a deeeliscious dinner at home {homemade pizza} with my husband, then a party at Casa Medina where we rang in the new year with a glass of bubbly.

Wednesday I posted a little tribute to 2010 – it really was a pretty great year, and I have EVEN BETTER vibes about 2011!

You may know, I am a committed resolution-maker! And I’m a pretty good resolution-keeper, even. Though for 2010’s I was only about 50%… I’m taking a trip early in 2011 {so I’m counting it! – it was paid for in 2010!}, I didn’t go swimming, host a girls night or have a clothing swap. The year really got away from me, but I haven’t scrapped those ideas altogether- I’ll carry them to the new year cuz they are still things I want to do!

I like to make goals that are practical/productive, and goals that are just plain fun/silly {because sometimes we forget to do fun things and life gets in the way! I fully believe some people have to schedule out their fun, and I’m one of those people!} My hopes for 2011 are that I can live with less while having more fun!

So, here’s the {practical/boring/measurable} list for 2011:

  • Save money – {note, I am writing down actual dollar amounts, but don’t want to post them on here} one amount each month in our savings account, and another amount in a vacation fund. It’s split up to a certain manageable amount from each paycheck so I will remember.
  • Pay off $1,200 of my student loans {that would be 10%- yeah, I know…} I’ve set up a Gmail alert to remind me of this each month.
  • Lose 10lbs from today’s weight {again, I wrote this elsewhere!}
  • Take 5 classes for my MBA {that will leave me with 4 left for 2012}

And the {FUN} projects for 2011:

  • Try/learn 12 new things, and post about them. Not necessarily one per month but that’s obviously what it works out to. Ideas include: origami, French braiding, seed-starting, kick-boxing, knitting, water-skiing… we’ll see what I feel like doing that month!
  • The 365 photo project. One photo a day to document my year. Can be me, or someone else, or where ever I am or whatever I’m working on each day. Might be with a cell phone camera, in a photo booth, or taken by someone else, but each day will have some part of it captured, even if it’s just the latte I’m drinking or a sign with bad grammar I find hilarious or a rain puddle. I will upload them to Flickr {likely more like a weekly or bi-weekly batch than daily, but there will be a photo to represent every single day} and I think it will be a really fun way to remember another great year! {PS I ordered myself an Holgawood – Merry Christmas, self! – and it should be coming any day now. CAN’T WAIT!}

What do you all have planned for the new year? ♥

2010 // the recap!

I love a fresh start, but before I start planning my next year, I wanted to remember that 2010’s been good to me. Here’s a little recap of my last year:

…but I will certainly try. I’m working on my resolutions now! How about you all? How was 2010 and what are you looking forward to in 2011?

what’s in my bag?

I totally love the “what’s in my bag?” posts I see every so often. Since I was in the process of cleaning mine out today, I thought I would do my own!

  • Purse: black leather Style & Co. from Macy’s. This is my everyday bag, and I love it. I’ve had it for over three years {I remember because I bought it before I started my current job}. It’s roomy, and giant, and looks like it costs way more than it did, and people are always asking where I got it.
  • Planner: red 365 Franklin Covey. It’s all there. I have carried this around for years, too, just getting new page refills. I’m terrible though, I can’t bare to throw away theold notes/calendar pages each year because I like to remember what I was doing 3 years ago today. I’m weird like that. I keep them in a magazine file in my office. 😛 I’m FREAKISH about being on time and keeping track of commitments and writing down goals and milestones. My calendar gets totally insane, not from appointments but from little notes to myself.
  • Green faux snakeskin wallet from Rue 21. You truly get what you pay for, because this thing’s not made it a full year and is falling apart already.
  • Aviator sunglasses from American Eagle. I finally found sunglasses I liked in the guy’s section.
  • Pink glittery pencil case from Target. I use this to hold lipstick, bobby pins, hair elastics, band-aids, etc.
  • Band-aids, of the Hello Kitty variety, for shoe-induced blisters.
  • Hello Kitty coin purse. Was a gift from Stephanie!
  • Aleve. I have tendonitis in both wrists. Believe me, if you don’t know what it’s like to have it, it’s HORRIBLE! Anti-inflamatories are all that help. Being stranded without it one weekend while 4 wheeling and camping was horrid. I lost ability to grip a coffee mug. For real. It’s crazy.
  • Sharpie pen. The world’s best pen!
  • Lipstick, MAC in “New York Apple.” It’s a soft red with just enough orange/rust in it to make it work for any time of day.
  • Lipgloss, Bath and Body Works Lemon Vanilla. It tastes like cookie frosting.
  • Keys. Complete with beer opener keyring.
  • Hand sanitizer, Bath and Body Works Nectarine Mint. I’m a hand sanitizer JUNKIE.
  • Extra Polar Ice. I’ve been chewing this flavor all day, every day, since high school at least.
  • Samsung Solstice. My first touch screen phone. It’s ok. I work in a high security facility bans cell-phone. Meaning I’m without a phone for 9 hours a day. I can’t justify the expense, and I don’t think I know, or want to know, what I’m missing without an iPhone.

How do men survive without a purse??? What are your “must haves”?

living the dream

What is your dream job? Though I try to find ways to make my current job as fulfilling as I can {and it’s a freakin challenge sometimes}, I still find myself daydreaming about escaping the cubicle and doing something I could say I loved doing. I’ve got ideas. In no particular order, here are the things I would like to say payed my bills:

  1. Boutique/consignment shop owner. I would sell things I make, others make, and give new lives and new homes to lovely things. I have considered opening an Etsy shop, and maybe some day I will, but right now I just dream about designing store fronts, managing inventory, scouting thrift shops and yard sales, and making a living making things. This one’s definitely the far-fetched dream, as I know it would take an insane amount of work to make it happen {and continue to succeed}. But it seems like it would be so worthwhile.
  2. Layout designer. Since I was a yearbook dork in high school, I’ve loved playing around arranging copy and photos on spreads. I can spend lots of hours buried in magazines. I design websites, I scrapbook, and I’m a compulsive rearranger. It seems like the kind of work that I could do while zoning out with headphones. And it sounds lovely.
  3. Food photographer/blogger. I’m not a great photographer, or a great chef… I’m learning with both. But I am mesmerized by beautiful food. I look at Tastespotting and other foodie blogs pretty frequently, wishing I could spend more time in the kitchen experimenting and were more committed to making every meal an EVENT. Seems to me it’d be such if it were a career.
  4. Party/event planner. It seems there would be something so gratifying about creating miracles to make an event come together and making it seem effortless. Nothing makes me happier than seeing people have a great time, especially when it’s due to hard work on my part. It’s a mix of creative and organized I feel totally suits me.

Obviously, my personal dream job is something creative and something with a very personal stamp on it. That’s the “theme” in my dreams, and I like to keep it in mind so it positively affects the decisions I make now.

Making notes, listing, dreaming and scheming can be absolutely productive; it makes the things I am doing NOW tolerable, acknowledging they are not only temporary, but not a waste of time. Sometimes I have to consciously remind myself how the things I’m doing now will help me live my dreams later. I set goals for myself to create things, never get out of the habit of challenging myself. I take on the projects at work that will give me experience, skills, or contacts I can use in the future {even if that just means helping to plan conferences and summer picnics}. Though I might not have a creative job, I am exploiting the benefits to beef up my resume and skill set. If nothing else, daydreaming {ironically} keeps me focused on making better choices for me.

Maybe I don’t even know what my dream job is yet; maybe I will find it simply by looking for the right characteristics in a job. It’s certainly possible.

What about you? What would you love to do, if you could pick anything in the world? How do you set yourself up to eventually make them happen? Or are you doing it- already living them dream?

a happeeee birthday

It’s my birthday! And yeah. Ok. I had all weekend to play, but I took today off anyway. By the way, I have been sick for a month now. I think it could be a sinus infection or something at this point. I said 2 weeks ago, if I still have this cough by Friday, I will go to the doctor. Well… the cough is gone. So… if I still have this snot by Friday, I will go to the doctor. :p

My family came over Sunday night for some dinner {lettuce wraps- yum!} and badminton {weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!} It was super fun. They spoil me. See?:

Today was nice and relaxing. And hella long, too. Jonathan had to work all day and will be workin all night! boooooo

So. My day. First, blogs n’ dog in bed. {I was still up and at em’ by 8.}:

Left: Cake for breakfast! Thanks, Mom! It’s lemon. Mmmmm. Oh, I don’t think trophy wives eat cake for breakfast – and whatever they do eat probably gets yoga’d off by 10am. But I am new at this. And calories don’t count on your birthday. Right: This is the card Becky made for me – I loooooooooove it!!!! It’s the cutest thing EVERRRRRRRRRRRR. I use a lot of extra letters, I know, when I am terribly excited about something.

I should tell you about my awesome gifts this year. My husband got me some hiking shoes in May before we went camping. He also got me a cute stripey umbrella for our patio set. AND he got me the mother of food processors. The Cuininart Prep 9. I did exhaustive review-reading on it! Can’t wait to try it out.

My parents gave me a Cricut scrapbook paper cutter. It’s awesome! I’ve been having lots of fun with it. Also, some accessories for the Cricut and a pattern/supplies to make a really funky tote bag. Kevin and Becky gave me a scrapbook paper organizer and a gift card to Roberts. I wasted no time putting it toward another Cricut cartridge. Thanks, family!!! You spoil me.

Anyway. Back to my leisurely day. I drove up Ogden Canyon a ways, with a mixed CD from last week’s swap, and a vanilla latte. It was a beautiful day.

On my way back down I stopped at the Ogden River Trail and lazed a bit by the water.

Continue reading “a happeeee birthday”

mom, dad? i blog.

I haven’t told many people I blog. Generally just friends who also blog {most of them more secure and “out” as bloggers}. Perhaps I’m scared of the rejection of it, that people will think it’s super dorky {it is, yes, but still. I am self-aware}, or self-obsessed {I am, but I’m aware of that, too.} It just hasn’t come up much because it’s awkward. And I’m the queen of awkward. In fact, when I email this link to friends eventually it might just say, “hi, it’s Kellie. You know how I’m always super awkward? TURNS OUT that I actually really like to talk about myself and the minutiae of my life.  Just not out loud. So I blog. Yeah… so this is awkward, too.”

And then half of them will say “honey, we’ve known about your blog all along, we are so glad you’re finally out of the closet.” And the other half will just shake their heads at my lifestyle choice and vow to never try to understand. “The girl takes pictures of herself and her wacky scissors/glue projects and puts em’ all over the Internet. That girl ain’t right.”

So, why the blog shame? What are your thoughts on coming out as a blogger?