April 2012 - Blooming

The theme for April is "Blooming," which is appropriate, since EVERYWHERE in Texas the bluebonnets were blooming like crazy. They were amazing! I loved seeing them along the sides of the interstate, forming fields of blue. I LOVE April in Texas!

And to make things even better, I have about 10 beautiful tomatoes blooming on my balcony - blooming? growing? I don't care! I have tomatoes! Can't wait til they ripen. I'm sure they'll taste delicious.

Yes, spring is blooming in Texas. And it's fabulous!

March 2012 - Transition

The theme for March 2012 was "transition." I had several thoughts of how I wanted to represent this theme. Unfortunately, none of them came to fruition, since I really didn't take many pictures during March. However, I do have one shot that I think represents transition. There were some amazing sunsets throughout the month, and I have a pretty good vantage spot to view them from my front door, if only those trees weren't in the way! I think this one is my favorite - I love the rays shooting up, and actually the trees add some extra character in this case. Sunset might be one of my favorite times of the day - the transition from the brilliant daylight to the dark midnight blue of the sky. And I love how God has a tendency to show off his creative character during sunsets. They're like snowflakes - no two are alike. Thank you, Lord, for displaying your glory through this beautiful transition.

February 2012 - Love

February - a month all about love. Here in TX, it was all about writing. I finished chapter 3 of my dissertation, really focusing hard on making progress. That also means I took very few pictures. And it's hard to take pics that go along with a "love" theme when you live alone and rarely see people outside of work. I thought about taking pics of some of my favorite things that I love, but ended up running out of time. So here are two rare pics from February 2012. The top one is me snuggling with my sweet Brodie boy - I absolutely love moments like this, because he doesn't often want to snuggle. The second one is just a cute pic of Brodie looking out the window at Genny's while she and I scrapbooked - so it's a pic of my much-loved puppy and represents beloved friends and favorite activities. That works, right?!

Not sure what March's theme is, 

but hopefully it will involve more photos.

January 2012 - Resolution

Well, January is all about resolutions. And my resolution for January and this year is to finish my dissertation. I am so ready for it to no longer be hanging over my head. And since my (new extended) deadline to submit is January 2013, I have no choice but to finish this year. So I'm writing, writing, writing. As of now, I have 130 consecutive pages written, not counting the many pages I've written in other papers that will be pulled together to form chapter 4. So I'm making good progress, if I can just stay motivated and avoid other time-consuming distractions. So my pictures this month aren't all that exciting, but they do represent my resolution.

1.  A sad day - I cleared off all my scrapbooking tools and converted my scrapping desk into a dissertation-writing station.

2.  Two laptops, eleven pages, one productive weekend...

3.  The sooner I finish writing, and accomplish this resolution, the sooner I can get back to making giant masterpieces like this:

MCP Project 12 for 2012

In the interest of having any chance of meeting my one New Year's Resolution (completing my dissertation, of course!), I have decided to forego the daily (2010) or weekly (2011) photos. I may come back to those in future years when I have less stress. But for this year, I am instead going to participate in MCP Project 12, which involves taking 1-4 photos on a given theme per month. The themes are posted each month at the website (link above). I don't necessarily commit to following their posted themes, because I may or may not have anything to fit that theme. And I doubt I'll post many photos in their community for others to complete, because I know myself :), but I do want to continue working on my photography and documenting the everyday aspects of my life in photos, so this is one way to do so. I may post 1 photo in a given month, I may post 4, and I may post them as the month progresses or in a single post at the end of the month. It'll probably vary.

Appropriately, January's theme is "Resolution." I know exactly how I will approach this theme (you probably do too, given my resolution above). Check back for 1-4 photos showing how I pursued the completion of my resolution, at least at the start of the year. :)

2012, Week 1 - And so it begins

• Long drive from Texas to Atlanta
• Scenic stop at the Vicksburg welcome center to watch the sunset over the Mississippi
• Getting back in the swing of things at work
• Struggling with allergies
• DeChristmatizing my apartment

2011, The Last Day

New Year's Eve doesn't fit in the previous week, so I'm posting it by itself. After spending an absolutely gorgeous morning washing and vacuuming our cars and packing my car as much as was possible ahead of time, we all got dressed and attempted to take some family photos, since we were having too much fun to remember to take any on Christmas Eve. After a few pics in front of the rather bare Christmas tree (it was only lights, no ornaments), we drove over to Starr's Mill, one of my favorite spots in Fayetteville, for some outside pics. Since they recently painted the building, the pics turned out so bright and colorful. I was quite pleased! Mom and Dad treated us to a really nice dinner at a local German restaurant - yay, schnitzel! - and then we went home to play games and relax until the ball dropped at midnight. It was a lovely way to end out the year 2011.