Gehring Road

one week

My Project 365, one week in or "still hanging in there" if you will! All joking aside, one picture that captures the day each day sounds completely do-able until schedules, work, fading light (4:00 pm has never been so annoyingly dark in this neck of the woods!) and everything else gets in the way. My Flickr sets are littered with 365 projects that lost steam, usually around February or March. I'm determined not to let that happen this year. The process of watching and documenting with this project, this little thing I do each day, is a commitment I'm just really loving. It's important. I'm learning to have my camera with me at all times, which is a little strange but also important. On Thursday, Rob and I passed the most beautiful ice fall out of the side of a rock face while traveling home from work on a route we rarely take. I gasped at how beautiful it was, he grabbed for his phone. The shot was missed... but those falls are still there and I'm going to snap them very soon. Those unexpected moments are so lovely, but what is most unexpected is the way I go about finding shots in a day... I'm watching everything more closely, trying to appreciate and observe.  I find myself looking at things a little differently. Unexpected, indeed. I love the photo journaling part of this project, and am learning that the day looks a bit different with some reflection and most certainly is clearer the day after. Unexpected goodness from this little project of mine, the perfect start to this new year, I think. Happy Tuesday, all! 

a few resolutions

Looking back and looking ahead today. I don't usually make (or keep!) resolutions, yet something about this year we've had has me looking forward with the desire to live more purposefully and certainly in a more balanced way. So it is with the idea and promise of a fresh start that comes with this day, but more importantly comes with the opportunity of each day, that I begin this new year with some wishes...

* photographing - I want to get back into the swing of a picture a day. I've been so inspired this year by Erin's and Beth's photo journaling. Follow their amazing images on Flickr, I just love what they capture each day and am going to make it past March this year with my own :) Along with that, this will be the year we buy a DSLR. I need to investigate which will work best for our needs. 

* cleaning - kind of a bummer, but our routine here is incredibly disorganized. A schedule is really needed! I found the one we will use on Pinterest, but this one is similar. I love the idea of focusing on each day and having one major task that gets done each day. It feels manageable for me (I'm typically mentally exhausted after my day and the thought of cleaning when I get home makes me want to weep) and allows us to know when one or the other has done something in the house. Rob works from home and sometimes cleans while he's thinking something through for work... I know, I'm totally spoiled. 

* sewing - I need to be better about finishing works in progress. It's bad. My sewing time is so limited that I sometimes lose steam with a project I can't finish in a few sittings. My goal this year is to finish the works I've had in progress for a while... wish me luck!

* travel - I used to travel quite a bit, but for the last few years that really hasn't been something I've made a priority. It needs to be. I am a girl who wanders and it needs to be more a part of what I do.

* hikes - Rob and I used to spend more time outside, and I want to do more of that this year. Working on the house, graduate programs, and our individual projects sometimes makes time really fleeting and our hikes/adventuring has suffered. I'm looking forward to finding some new places to explore.

* cooking and baking - Rob is really the foodie here in our home, and I love that he is able to be so creative with food, spoiled, spoiled we are... I'd like to try more recipes and cook more than I do. It is certainly on my radar this year. 

* blogging - I love the time that I am able to spend in this space, and allowing that time for myself needs to be more of a priority in this coming year. 

These are just a few of the wishes I have for this year... are you making any? Before I sign off for the last time this year, I just want to thank each and every one of you for stopping by this space. I truly appreciate you being a part of this. Happy New Year everyone, see you in 2013! 

early autumn outside

Summer left us suddenly and early this year... usually these last few days of summer into autumn are warmer and often linger into October. This year feels different. Even my students have marked the earliness of it all. The socks and wool have made their appearance already, we've had temperatures around forty at night and stew twice in the past week. It's chilly. Those early signs of the "long season" have us quickly putting things away, harvesting what we can: loads of butternut, a surprise ghost pumpkin, the last of the eggplant. They have us putting garlic in the ground (Rob's crop this year was... abundant!) before the frost. And these days have us (and the small one) enjoying the last rays of the sun despite its strange autumn slant. I so love this season... Happy Monday!

365... that is 366

I've been thinking about this space, ways to connect with it on a more consistent basis and be more present in it (really in all areas of life) while also anticipating the coming days and weeks as I begin life again as a student. This anticipation is tinged with a bit of anxiety as student-teacher-girlfriend-daughter-friend-sewist-beginning knitter-dog owner-commuter and all the rest come together to make time a bit fleeting. I know so many of you have the very same or very similar juggling act, and like all things, balance is really important... something I'm going to try to maintain in these coming months. Tuesdays will be especially hard with an hour and a half commute home from class after a long day with my students. So...I've taken on a bit of a photographic project, one photo a day for the 366 days of this year... no rhyme or reason to the shot, just an image from my day. My hope is that it will connect me to this space even when I'm not here, so to speak. When I'm not here, know I'm wishing I was but you can follow my 366 project here. If you're also taking part in the photo-a-day challenge (there is a contingent of very talented crafters on Twitter doing this... so inspirational!) send me a link, I'd love to glimpse what you are seeing each day.