Welcome, 2012!

It’s time to break out the old’ goals for 2012. I don’t always do this, but I’m feeling ambitious this year.

1. Grow as a photographer. I intend to attempt a 52-week photo challenge this year. I figure shooting at least one decent photo a week can’t hurt.

2. Run a half marathon. I’ll let you know when I’ve chosen one and registered.

3. Decorate my bedroom. Our master is always the junk heap of the house, an afterthought when it comes to decorating. It’s time to transform it into a more relaxing place.

4. Organize my pantry. It’s a mess. I’m open to suggestions.

5. Make and accomplish a really awesome summer checklist with the kids on summer break. I wanted to do this last year, and um…yeah, it didn’t happen.

6. Find a happy medium when it comes to eating healthy.

7. Take the kids to Disney World. Let’s face it. This one will be super fun for me, too.

8. Stop procrastinating, call the endodentist, and get my front tooth fixed…again. (Laura, don’t feel guilty. In a weird way, you have given me a little souvenir so that I can never, ever forget you. Not that I would anyway, because you’re awesome.)

9. Read more. I love to read. I haven’t done enough reading in the last year. It’s time to step it up. Maybe I need to find a book club.

10. …and so I thought 10 would be a good place to stop, but I’ve got nothing. My last resolution is to stop with nine resolutions. I’m sure that’s plenty.

Happy New Year to all!

Snap. Eat. Run. – Why?

Why am I here ?

I am passionate about many things – my family, my faith, sewing and crafting, decorating my home, exercise, cooking – you get the idea.  For the last few years, I have blogged about all of them. I’ve decided  that now is the time to narrow my focus. 

Snap. Eat. Run. is a place for me to narrow down the madness and zero-in on the three things I find most fulfilling and always find myself coming back to a photography, eating, and  running.

Snap.

Photography is a relatively old habit. I was five years old when my parents first gave me a little Kodak 110 camera. The camera was barely bigger than the film itself. You flipped a small, rectangular viewfinder up to frame the photo. I loved it. I was given more cameras through the years, and I adored them all. I was the kid who had to take ten rolls of film on a weekend retreat, or to band camp, or on vacation. Developing that film was almost like Christmas morning.

In college, I switched to video – majoring in broadcast communication. Still, I preferred the view through a lens. As a complete fluke, or goof by my advisor, I needed one art elective to graduate after my last full semester. I chose a photography course. For three weeks, five days a week, eight hours a day, I ate, drank, and breathed photography. I’m afraid my friends probably forgot what my face looked like without my dad’s old Canon AE1 in front of it. I fell in love all over again.

Over the years, I’ve lost some of the mechanics of taking a completely manual shot, but I am slowly working my way back. I plan to do a 52 week photo project this year and share the photos with you. Please bear with me. While I dearly love and enjoy taking photos, they will most certainly be a work in progress.

Eat.

Eating is an old habit as well. I’ve been doing it since the day I was born. Ba-dum, ching! I’ll be here all week. My eating habits seem to come and go in cycles. I’ll buckle down and eat healthy for a month or two. A busy week (or month) will hit, and all of that hard work goes out the window. I am searching for middle ground, and I’ve decided to document my progress here.

Run.

The last thing I’ll be blogging about is running. I’m fairly new to running. I began about a year and a half ago in a desperate attempt to shed two kids’ worth of leftover baby weight. When I started, I hated to run. If you’d ask me, I would have told you, “I only run when chased.” Before long, I was hooked. I liked the results, and I feel so much better when I’m running. This year, I’d like to train and run a half marathon. This will be a place to keep track of my progress and hold myself accountable to that goal.

There you have it, the lengthy explanation for Snap. Eat. Run. I hope you enjoy yourself, and I look forward to becoming friends.