The One With Resolution #4

Spend more time on Pinterest. Why? Because it makes me happy. WARNING: If you have never visited Pinterest, do not (and I repeat, DO NOT) click on the above link. You have been warned.

The One With Resolution #3

Take more photos. Okay, not even remotely specific enough. So here are my very specific goals for 2012 with regards to photography.

1. Take a few photos every week. I have some cool ones in mind for next week. Here is one of my favorites from last month:

2. Photograph a wedding. I have shied away from this in the past, but I really think I would like to do it. Maybe a two-camera shoot. I love doing engagement photos, and this is the next logical step.

3. Before this year is over, I want a new camera bag. A girlie camera bag. This is my Tyrannosaurus Rex of a bag. I hate it so much. It is hard to open and close. It is ugly. It is an ergonomic nightmare, as it can not ever lay close to the body, fit nicely under my arm, or strap comfortably over the shoulder. It is impossible to carry while actually shooting photos, and so is constantly being left under some tree somewhere, and when I travel by plane, I find myself placing my nice camera body and lenses in an unpadded handbag or backpack not even remotely protective enough for the job. It is 15x9x9 inches, and unless the buckles are fastened, the Velcro is not strong enough to hold the bag closed when I pick up the strap:

 

But here is the bag I have been thinking about: the B Hobo Bag by Kelly Moore. What’s the holdup, you ask? About $170. Ugh. I can’t justify it when there are so many other things to pay for, and I am always the last to get a present. That is how it always is for moms. But I can dream, right? It would make #1 above so much easier if I had an easy bag to grab when I was heading out the door!

I really like the Mustard color, but I don’t think it’s me, exactly. I think the one that really does it for me is the Red, due in no small part to the video on the Kelly Moore website... I can never resist a music video. I defy you to watch this and NOT covet the bag in red...

Kelly Moore Bag Promo Film 2010 from Joshua Smith on Vimeo.

The One With Resolution #2

I’ve been thinking about this one for awhile. Trying to decide. But here we go. Once a week I’m going to give a loaf of bread to someone. I don’t know who (to whom?). But no one doesn’t love homemade bread. Also, my family at home has shrunk, and we don’t go through three loaves as quickly as we used to!

A lot of nice people have done a lot of nice things for me over the past year. I have been in hibernation mode... working a lot and saying “no” a lot more than I usually do. This is going to be a year of saying “yes” as often as I can, and trying to get outside myself a little. So starting tomorrow... a loaf a week. If you know someone who really needs a loaf, feel free to nominate them... there are 51 weeks of bread left in the year.

The One With Resolution #1

I am not a big fan of “New Year’s resolutions.” I am not opposed to goal-setting, but I prefer to do that throughout the year. This year, though, I am going to throw a few out there. One a day... until I just get bored.

So for today:

New Year’s Resolution #1. Take longer showers.

Yes, I know that is not very green of me. Trabuco Canyon Water District does not appreciate it. Al Gore just got a little grumpier, without even knowing why. But I deserve it. At least an extra minute of nice hot water, Spotify music pouring out of my phone, fogging up the mirrors, no one bugging me.

I think this one could stick. And for a little touch of irony, I pulled that little shower illustration off the Alliance for Water Efficiency website. You’re welcome.

The One Where Everyone Was Here

Ethan almost didn’t make it home for Christmas... his flight was scheduled out of Washington, D.C., and all of the flights from there were canceled. So they put him on a flight to Newark, where they parked him on the floor for the night, and the next day he managed to find a flight to LAX. So we only had him for two days... but for those two days, everyone was home. It was crazy and fun, and did I mention crazy? {Click on any of the photos to view them large}

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Random Vacation facts:

On Christmas Eve the kids got ready to bake the sugar cookies by preheating the ovens, where I had two full batches of orange rolls rising in plastic bowls covered by kitchen towels. Need I say more?

Skippy got a tattoo kit in his Christmas stocking (I’m not going to lie... Santa is a little edgy at times) and surprised us by charging all of the young adults who are always hanging out at our house 19 cents per tattoo, and turned a tidy little profit for himself. He now has $28.76 in his money jar.

Everyone entertained themselves by trying to get Jif to walk several steps. He would only perform if the reward offered was electronics, such as a cell phone. I myself have decided not to budge for anything less than a new iPhone. So far it is not working well for me.

Josh got straight A’s his first semester at UCLA Law School, with the exception of a single A-, which has bruised his ego enough that this week I was finally able to beat him at online Scrabble.

Ethan told me over the phone that he had gained 40 pounds since basic training. I didn’t believe him... until he arrived. He fell asleep on the couch in a jet-lag-induced stupor, and it took four boys to carry his Marine body up the stairs without throwing him into a fireman-carry.

Josh and Jessi came over to the dark side, and sacrificed their anti-video-game vows on the altar of Rock Band for X-Box 360. It was at once sad and entertaining.

There are many more random facts... but you have places to go and people to see. I am going to work on my New Year’s resolution. Exercise? you ask... no. I am striving to make the perfect donut. There are so many recipes in the world:)

The One With the Resolution

This is not a New Year’s resolution. Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy a clean slate… a fresh start… January one… just as much as the next person. But this particular resolution has been six years in the making, and if I must put a date on it, it would be November 24th, 2008. So I can’t really call that a New Year’s resolution. This is it: for six years, I have been resolving to make an album. A musical album, consisting of songs I have written. In 2009 it is going to happen.
Santa didn’t leave all my recording equipment and software under the tree, but that is okay. It has been some years since I depended on him to make my dreams come true. I am taking steps to equip my own studio. This album is going to contain no less than nine original Christmas songs (some of which you have already heard here on the blog in their rough form). I am working on new arrangements and writing new songs. I am securing just the right voices, and even a couple of amazing instrumentalists.

There is a part of me that would like to say, if I can just make the CD, then I will have achieved my goal, even if I don’t sell a single one. But that would not be truthful. These recordings are going to be as amazing as I can possibly make them, and I am going to market them in a serious way. That is my resolution. I am throwing my hat into the ring.

As I have begun this process, I have realized certain things about my music. Here is a startling one: every good song I have ever written has simply poured out in about five minutes flat! That is a very humbling realization. To receive that kind of inspiration, I have to be a more worthy person. My scripture study and prayer has to be more earnest…more fervent. It occurs to me that if I am really going to accomplish this daunting task, I have to prepare in a very unique way: I have to keep Christmas for an entire year. The tree has to go. The smallest spark, and mine would go up like Chevy Chase’s tree in “Christmas Vacation.” The reindeer…the Santas… they will all be packed away on January 2nd, just like every other year. But Christmas must stay. How do I go about keeping Christmas? Performing acts of service is part of it. A certain feeling toward others is part of it. I had some ideas, but last night a phone call from a close friend brought it all crystal clear for me. It comes down to one thing: Charity.

I think I may have found a New Year’s Resolution after all. What follows is my personal theme for 2009. It is the 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians. In case you are an auditory learner, I have added one of my favorite hymns. It is just me, on the piano…nothing fancy. I can’t put any songs up for awhile, because I will be working on new arrangements and recordings. But don’t worry, I’ll be making it up to you with a really amazing CD in a few months. So listen...What are you going to do in 2009?

THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE TO THE
CORINTHIANS
CHAPTER 13

1 THOUGH I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
8 Charity never faileth; but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away,
9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as I am known.
13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.