Best of 2010 - Part One - Life

Has anyone ever wondered what it would be like if Christmas was in the middle of the calendar year?  We hit Halloween at the tail end of October, coast into Thanksgiving, full speed ahead through Christmas, then we ring in the New Year.  That's one jam-packed final quarter!  Would time seem to fly by the way it does if those celebrations were scattered a little more?  What would we do with ourselves if there wasn't this busy hubbub of giving and caroling and christmas lights to end our year?

I don't have an answer to offer... it was just something I was thinking about today. 

Moving on, closing out a year usually inspires us to think back.  Not only to see what we accomplished this year, but to convince ourselves that another year really HAS gone by (I'm still shocked that it's December already).  

My 2010 in Bullet Points:

-gained a new nephew (a week ago today!)

-three of my good friends had babies

 -I read some great books (post on this coming this week)

-met some rockin' authors--Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat, Pray, Love); Ally Carter (Gallagher Girls series); Tera Lynn Childs (Forgive My Fins); Maggie Stiefvater (Shiver).

-met a famous chef--Bobby Flay  

 -woke up and realized my manuscript was NOT good enough to query so I started two other novel projects while I let that one stew a bit

 -broke down and joined Facebook which has turned out to be a great marketing tool (and I've reconnected with some awesome people)

-learned to knit BETTER

-went to Jamaica for a wedding

-went to Alaska with hubs' family

-asked myself why I never pursued acting

-reminded myself that being a celebrity was too much work

-reminded myself that I blush when someone says hello

The biggest change of this year was definitely losing my job.  I know I'm far from the only one faced with that kind of reality, and I'm extremely thankful that I've had the resources to fall back on a long-time hobby--photography.  It's still not where it needs to be, but it's grown faster than I imagined, and I'm pretty happy about that. 

How has 2010 treated you?

And I'll leave you with a little Merry Christmas from yesterday's session:

----

Don't forget to enter my Blogiversary Contest HERE!

Tag, I'm It - 50 Questions

The always delightful Jen at Unedited tagged me (on Facebook) for this 50 questions game, so I thought I'd share it with y'all! 

1. What time did you get up this morning? 9:00 AM 

2. How do you like your steak? Medium-Well

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader 

4. What is your favorite TV show?  The Vampire Diaries, Glee, Modern Family--can't pick just one!

5. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be? Tuscany, Italy; Denver, Colorado--I'd have a house at each. 

6. What did you have for breakfast today? Nothing yet... 

7. What is your favorite cuisine?  Italian

8. What foods do you dislike?  Tofu, anything REALLY spicy, fishy tasting fish

9. Favorite Place to Eat?  Kobe Japanese Steakhouse

10. Favorite past time? Reading

 11. What kind of vehicle do you drive?  Chevy Tahoe

12. What are your favorite clothes?  Yoga Pants 

14. Cup 1/2 empty or 1/2 full?  Full to the brim :) How's that for your Sunday School answer?!

15. Where would you want to retire? Tuscany, or Denver

16. Favorite time of day?  I get the most accomplished in the evening

17. If you could have been born anywhere in the world, where would it have been? Rome 

18. What is your favorite sport to watch? Sports in person--Figure Skating, Baseball (I refuse to watch sports on TV... unless it's the olympics)

19. What is your favorite sport to play? Figure Skating, Tennis 

20. Do you have a crush?  on just about everything--some books, authors, movies... I'm always smitten with something. 

21. Who was the last person you hugged?  My husband

22. Bird watcher?  If one flies by, I will watch it, yes. 

23. Do you consider yourself attractive?  Not so much anymore

24. Pets?  2 Dogs

25. What's your greatest achievement so far? Starting my own business and having people CHOOSE me over other photographers

26. What did you want to be when you were little?A Figure Skater

 27. What is your best childhood memory? Grandma's basement in winter

28. Are you a cat or dog person? Dog

29. Are you married? Yep :)

30. Always wear your seat belt? Of course--I'm not an idiot

31. Been in a car accident?  Nope

32. Any pet peeves?  When people cuss just to cuss (F-bombs especially!), when people don't use turn signals (can't read your mind!)

33. Favorite pizza topping?  Mushrooms

 34. Favorite Flower? Anemones, daisies, orchids

35. Favorite ice cream? Mint chocolate chip, chocolate chip cookie dough

36. Favorite fast food? Chick-Fil-A

37. How many times did you fail your driver's test? Zero 

38. From whom did you get your last email? Kim Franklin :)

39. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card?  Pottery Barn

40. Do anything spontaneous lately?  Not really

41. Like your job? Self employed, so you betcha!

45. What are you listening to right now? The dogs going in and out of the dog door

46. What is your favorite color? Aqua, Purple

47. How many tattoos do you have? Zero

48. Coffee drinker? No--love the smell though!

49. How many children do you have?  Zero

50. Beer or wine? Beer only belongs in bread or marinating steaks--Wine belongs in pasta sauce--neither taste good on their own

Scabior! Scrivener! What?

First of all, those of you who saw HPandtheDH part 1... did you think of Captain Jack Sparrow every time you saw Scabior?

Obviously (and regretfully), he's NOT Johnny Depp, but I couldn't help thinking this was the look they were going for with him.  

Moving on... as my Christmas portrait sessions have mostly wrapped up (that was a completely unintentional pun), I'm ALMOST ready to get some serious writing done!  The always awesome Kim Franklin shared with me a writing program called Scrivener. She's doing the trial version right now and so far, LOVES it.  I have to say, from what she says, it's pretty fantastic.  Keeps your writing projects organized to the MAX!! 

So for all of the writers out there who are Mac users (fear not, PCs! Your version is coming!!), have you tried it? What do you think? Never heard of it? Interested now?

I plan to give this puppy a try after Christmas when the portrait biz is slower than the molasses I usually put in my gingerbread cookies but I have no occasion to make them this year :)

What's on my Wish List this Year

I usually don't ask for much, and really, the things I'm about to show you are things that would be NICE to have--doesn't mean I'm asking for them.  I just want them :)

Numero UNO

A new camera.  I follow camera reviews pretty closely--my favorite camera and lens reviewer being Ken Rockwell--and he has given his approval to the newly released Nikon D7000.  It's small, lightweight (which is awesome because the lenses are already so heavy), and it's less expensive than the D300 which is what I originally wanted, but The Rockwell says this one trumps the D300... so that's exciting.  I'm still not planning on upgrading to a Full Frame camera and lenses anytime soon, so this one would work until the day I really want to lift weights while I work. 

No one I know would (be able to) get this for me in one swoop (though my mom is working on my dad for me lol), so I've asked the parental units on both sides (mine and hub's) to forego the "stuff"giving this year and donate to the cause.   

Numero DUE

The Bamboo Pen and Touch or the Bamboo FUN

Not only is this relatively affordable, but it's flippin sweet.  You can write on it, draw on it, and it inputs directly into your computer--no more scanning and tracing with the pen tool in Photoshop!! AND it comes with Photoshop Elements which I lost when I switched to Mac (Adobe gave me CS5 for Mac, but wouldn't do Elements for some reason...).  AND... it's purty. 

Numero TRE

Nikon 135mm f/2.0D AF DC-Nikkor Lens

Yes, it's a mouthful, but The Rockwell says it's THE portrait lens, and it sounds pretty sweet to me!  Too bad it costs the same as feeding a small village. 

Numero QUATTRO

Any gift card--Fav choices would be Borders, Amazon, Hobby Lobby

Numero CINQUE

MUSIC!!!  When I edit photos and write, nothing keeps me going like music.  Lately I've been listening to movie scores (because if the music has words, I WILL sing which is distracting and sometimes I'll type what I'm singing instead of what I meant to).  Here are a few I'd like to add to my collection.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1

The Holiday

And I wouldn't mind having the score to Sherlock Holmes too

Those are a "few of my favorite things" this year.  Of course, the music and gift cards are the more practical ones, and more likely :) But a girl can dream! 

What's on your wish list this year?

My One Year Blogiversary Contest!

Happy One Year to Me!!

I'll start off by saying how incredibly thankful I am for those of you who have clicked on the FOLLOW button, apparently finding my words worthy of reading.  Personally, I think I've grown from this whole blogging experience.... this was me a year ago:

Me: Um.. hello blogging world, I'm Kristin. Um, I like writing fiction... I live in Texas... I'm getting new carpet next week... I have NO clue how blogging works or how anyone is going to find my page. Come to think of it, I don't know how to find anyone else's page either...

Kristi Chestnutt: I write too! I'll follow you!

Me: OMG where did you come from?

Kimberly Franklin: I write too! I'll follow you!

Me: OMG, how did y'all find me? Can we be critique buddies and email back and forth all day every day? (yes we do that...)

Kristi and Kim: I was just thinking the same thing!!

Me: Seriously though... how did you find me, and how do I find blogs to follow??

With their help (and yours!) I've since figured out the wonders of blogging!

CONTEST TIME!

I really hoped to do some HUGE huge prize packet, but you've all seen my Christmas Branch, Stanley... Things are tight (at least, I'm making them tight, because I'd like to eat in January when people are done getting their Christmas pictures taken haha).

The Prize: 

A $15 Gift Card to Amazon!

I'm giving it a month, a WHOLE MONTH for you to spread the word.  I'm at 252 followers right now (which is awesome!), and between now and January 10th, let's see if I can get up to 300 followers.  If I do, I'll add a second winner! 

A $10 Gift Card to Amazon!

The Haps:

Must be a follower: new +1 / old +2

Sidebar: +2

Mention in blog post: +5

Send a new follower my way: +5 for EACH! Tell them to comment below and mention you!!

Tell me what you'd like to see more of from me in 2011 (book reviews, writing tips, etc...) +1

So that's it! And don't forget, I am giving away one prize.  If I get up to 300 followers, I'll throw in a second winner!

Contest ends midnight (central) January 9th

Winner(s) announced January 10th!

His name is Stanley. And Etsy Store RELAUNCH!

Thank you all for your kind words about my branch! 

And I didn't mention it before, but his name is Stanley...

Every year, I name my tree, or rather, it names itself.  Sometimes after all the ornaments are on, sometimes in the tree lot, the name will come into my head and then there is no going back--it has to be the first one I think of.  Usually our trees are girls (Francesca, Caroline, Isabella....), but this year, the branch is a boy.  And his name is Stanley. 

Anyway... here is a gift idea for you!  I'm giving the Etsy store another go!  People sell stuff on there, I know they do... so I've got some Italy prints available if anyone is interested. 

Things like 

and

and

and some others.  I had a friend order four from me yesterday and she didn't understand why I wasn't trying to sell them, so.... now I guess I am. :)

LINK TO MY ETSY STORE!

Check back tomorrow for my blogiversary contest announcement!

You guessed it! And... Christmas on a budget.

Tiana Smith is very resourceful and just earned herself an extra entry into my contest/giveaway.... I'm just not sure what I'll be giving away just yet!

That's right, my blogging anniversary is December 10th!  A whole YEAR!!

Be on the look out for the announcement!!

Now... onto Christmas with a Budget.  Every year since I've been married, we get a real tree for Christmas.  They're pretty, and they've already been chopped down, so why not let them go out in style.  This year, I'm not making a whole lot of money--we're surviving (hubs is keeping us afloat), but we've been very careful since the layoff, cutting out things that are nice to have, but not vital... like a tree.  Here's ours this year:

I know it's a terrible picture snapped with my iPhone at night, but you get idea.  It's a branch.  And it was free from my parent's burning pile.  Now, don't go getting all sad--we didn't go hunting for a tree/branch--this was the reject branch for my table at my first Christmas Market (which was a bit of a bust--I don't think they advertised).  Here's the one we actually used for that:

So we had this extra branch in the garage, and Sunday when I got home from a photo shoot, hubs had rigged it up in the tree stand (we had sort of joked about it before).  We decorated it that night, and I'm not going to lie, I almost cried it looks so pathetic.  I miss the smell of the real tree--the coziness of it.

Well, that's one way to save $70.  :) Now we won't show up empty handed to the family functions this month.