Hello 2012!

Wow! It's hard to believe that it's 2012! It's going to be a great year :)


I want to do a little something new this year. I have tried many projects over the years for memory keeping, scrapbooking, paper art, photography, etc.  but none of them have stuck for a variety of reasons.  I am happy and pleased with the photos I have taken, the scrapbook layouts I have done, and the partially finished projects that resulted from my past attempts at ambition.  However, there's always room for improvement and I believe that starting this blog will help me accomplish many of my goals.

Those goals being:
Sharing photos and stories with friends and family
Becoming a better at expressing my thoughts and keeping the family memories
Being consistent
Finishing a year-long photo project

I have spent a lot of time thinking about what to do this year. I wasn't particularly inspired to try one of the previous projects or programs that I never completed.  I wanted to do something new and something I had more chance of success with. I've had a few friends that do their photo projects through their blog and then print a book at the end of the year. I thought that this may be the best way to go for now. I would be able to share with friends and family and could make the commitment to stick with it. I could share as many, or as few, photos as I wanted and also as much description and journaling as I would like. I can always create a scrapbook layout with my photos if I wanted to, but I don't have to if I don't feel inspired. I thought about following a program that has you go with a word or theme each week, but I believe that for the time being I will stick with general life items. Keep it simple :)


I would like to update the blog at least once a week, but that might not happen. It took me six days to figure out what I wanted to say in this post! I have a tendancy towards perfectionism, even though you'd never guess it if you knew me, and don't want to do something until I feel like I can do it right. That causes a lot of delays and procrastination.  I think that this project might help me just get some things done instead of obsessing over getting it perfect! Hopefully, in addition to capturing memories of life's wonderful moments, I'll also become a better writer!

So I hope you all have a wonderful 2012 as we start this journey together!

*~*~*

Here is my family as we celebrated New Year's Eve together.  From left to right, we have (back row) Kevin, Samantha, Jessica (me), Ben & Abby Miller, Ben & Beth Gilmore, John & Diana, (front row) Dad/Grandpa John, Justin, Andrew, Mom/Grandma, Noel & Naomi.  We all gathered at the Crespo residence this year.  Naomi and Noel have a lovely little apartment in Ashford and have just recently gotten it all decorated and furnished.  It was truly lovely to see them setting up a household together since their December 3rd wedding and very interesting to see their personalities and taste mesh together. 
We had a wonderful time eating a variety of snacks and hanging out.  Noel put on Horton Hears a Who to keep the children entertained and we all ended up watching it together.  I had never seen it before even though I am quite familiar with the book.  Justin and Grandpa played Phase 10 in the corner.  He is a master at roping people in to playing games with him.  We left around 9p.m. in order to get the kids to bed, but had a wonderful time while we were there!!!

I hope your New Year's Eve was wonderful as well!