NYE 2009

Who is amazed that we are mere hours away from 2010? {raises hand}

We passed 2 big milestones in the Pony household this year.

We're Married!

We own a house!!

That said- we've been busy the last year, and it has swooshed by alarmingly. Next year we don't have such major life hurdles to leap, but I'm excited to see what shenanigans we encounter!

New Years resolutions have never worked for me all that well, so this year, my only resolution is to keep working on my 101 in 1001 list and see what comes my way. I've made a bit of progress on the list in the last few days, and it feels good to start crossing things off the list. I won't finish it this year, but I don't think that matters, so long as I keep ticking away at it!

We are planning a quiet evening of wine tastings at a local winery, finished with a glass of champagne (they are open until midnight, so it just barely works). Indeed, we are dull, but we have a deep aversion to shelling out $50/person to go swill the bubbly dregs with numerous party-goers we don't know. Yick. Not that going to a party wouldn't be fun- I just refuse to pay for it!

No matter how you plan to spend your NYE 2009, I hope you have a safe and fun evening and a Happy New Year!


Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.  - Oprah Winfrey

Obsessions

I tend to obsess. Over lots of things. Constantly. Its a personality flaw that I'm working on {not really}.

My current obsession is getting a girly camera bag. You may not know this, but most camera bags are a bit less than glamorous. The bag that I'm using now is a utilitarian Lowepro Slingshot 200. It is really quite fabulous for my current needs, but it isn't... cute... or fashionable... or pretty. {tears}

Of course, the options for meeting the above mentioned titles are few and far between. But it can be had {for a rather magnificent price, for poor-yours-truly}. Feast your eyes on this beauty.

Pardon the drool.

Beautiful leather. Cute little attached wristlet-thingy. Lots of padding. Optional shoulder strap. {Swoon}. This bag does not scream 'TOURIST' or 'PHOTOGRAPHER'. Rather, it whispers 'I have pretty good taste. Look how awesome I am.' Plus, it comes in brown, red, black or white, to match all one's obsessive fashion needs.

The company who makes her is called jill-e, and they have several sizes and colors of beautious bags for the camera-woman in the know (or on the go?) who wants a fashionable AND functional camera bag.

Of course, the bags I want run from $140-$240 {hellllooooo eBay!}, so I won't be rushing out to buy a brand new one anytime soon, but that doesn't stop me from checking them out 4-5 times {8-10} times a week.

But don't call me obsessed. It just isn't nice to name names.

Cure for an obsession: get another one. - Mason Cooley

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, 
wafted the smell of fried taters, cooked by my spouse;


The onions were carmelized in the pan with great care
In hopes that no kitten hair would flutter in there;


The hogs were well nestled in their muddy wallows,
For they knew Holiday ham wasn't a tradition we'd follow;

Ok, I'm out of inspiration. That is a long poem to try to mimic, and I just don't have the energy!

For our Christmas Eve dinner, Mr. Pony and I celebrated with blue cheese hamburgers and oven fried potatoes. Nope, not ham. Not turkey. Not even green bean casserole {Mr. Pony lacks the required gene to enjoy that particular gastronomical delight}. My photo skills failed to yield an attractive burger shot, but I like this one of my phalanx of potatoey goodness.

But whatever you may have {had} for dinner tonight, I hope the stupor of overeating wears off enough so that you can repeat it again tomorrow!

Confusion

I know I've said this before, but photography crap is confusing. Here I am, trying to understand the concepts of setting custom white balance, getting lighting right and finding good composition, and... I can't even get the camera to focus on a piece of paper. *sigh* This is going to take a while.  I know I need to understand the equipment, but I really think I'd rather have the photo-fairy tap me with his wand {I imagine this particular fairy as a British gent in miniature wings and a tiara- don't ask} and make it so I take fabulous photos without any work at all.

Barring that, I guess I'll sit down with my camera manual and the DP Review of my 10D and become as familiar as my non-technical brain will allow. Oh well. At least I have a few cute pictures of the cat!

BTW- it makes a HUGE difference once you realize that you've been shooting EVERYTHING at ISO 800... 200 makes the pictures look much nicer. I think that would be part of this 'understanding your equipment' crap everyone is telling me about. I don't like it when 'everyone' is proved right!

Its the small things

Mr. Pony and I aren't too hard to please. Every day, we find new reasons why our new acquisition is amazing. So convenient. So quiet. So fabulous.

And our lives have been changed.

To be fair- the old one smashed into the counter behind/above it. And only worked if we left a 15lb weight in the bottom. And usually had to be opened with your hands anyway. And slammed shut quite loudly. So this upgrade was much needed, and now that we've made the move, we don't know why we waited so long. Thank you, Target & Simple Human- we love our kitchen even more now.

Hmm... now how about some living room projects *devious smile*

Great things are done by a series of small things brought together. - Vincent Van Gogh

Long time no post!

And so I have finally returned to the blogging world. Life has been exceptionally busy (as I'm sure it has been for anyone else), but I've decided its time to return to the blog-o-sphere. Whats new here?

-I've made a few changes to my 101 in 1001 which I'll post in the new few days. Over the last month, I've made next to no progress on my list and found that several of my goals didn't really matter that much to me, so... I changed them and I'm starting over as of Dec. 1, just to make a clean break of it. I suppose I could procrastinate until New Year's, but then I'd probably never get started.

-I'm obsessing over new ideas in home decor {shocking} and I'm just itching to distract Mr. Pony long enough to spend hundreds of dollars on airy bookcases, delicate knick-knack tables and tidbits of foolishness to decorate said tables. I may have to content myself with daydreaming for now, but one day, victory shall be mine!

-The Pony family is strongly considering adopting a dog from one of the local animal rescues. Mr. P thinks a lab puppy would be super. I'm a bit more... tentative on the puppy-ness of what we adopt. I'm leaning more towards a mature animal that will hopefully be past its puppy chewing phase, etc. After all, we already have the catdog that chews on shoes, wires and small pieces of wooden furniture- isn't that enough?

Nothing major has changed, but important things for me! Upcoming will be some updates to the 'look' of the Pony site, plus *hopefully* more regular additions. Cheers!

The begining is the most important part of the work. - Plato

101 in 1001: The Beginning

Sometimes motivation is a problem for me, so when I found the 101 in 1001 project, I thought 'Why not, maybe it'll help!' I don't know if I'll get through all of these tasks, but I'm gonna do my best- check back for progress!

The Mission:
Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days.

The Criteria:
Tasks must be specific (ie. no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (ie. represent some amount of work on my part).

Why 1001 Days?
Many people have created lists in the past - frequently simple goals such as New Year's resolutions. The key to beating procrastination is to set a deadline that is realistic. 1001 Days (about 2.75 years) is a better period of time than a year, because it allows you several seasons to complete the tasks, which is better for organising and timing some tasks such as overseas trips or outdoor activities.
Start Date: 11/2/2009
End Date: 7/30/2012

Bold - Completed Item

1. Learn French from French in 10 minutes a Day.
2. Learn how to use Ap and Shutter priority settings to get nice pictures.
3. Take a Photoshop course.

4. Private goal
5. Run at least 2x a week every week for the entire 1001 days. {0/143}
6. Talk to Roommateo at least 2x a month. {0/33}
7. Join a book club

8. Learn how to sew well enough to make things for the house.

9. Return my library books on time for these entire 1001 days

10. Read at least 50 new books- rereads and other books on the list don’t count. {0/50}

11. Buy 2 nice lenses for my camera

12. Commit at least 2 hours a week to writing one of my story ideas. {0/143}

13. Pick 1 photo every month to set aside as my photography benchmark so I can look back and see how I’ve progressed. {0/33}

14. Learn to use all the fancy make-up I purchased for the wedding

15. Inspire at least 2 people to make their own 101 in 1001 lists. {1/2}

16. Participate in a project from sh1ft.org at least 3 times (http://sh1ft.org/projects/)

17. Bake at least 2x a month. {0/33}

18. Clean my desk off every week. {0/143}

19. Get Copper to Training level dressage.

20. Cook dinner for Mr. Pony at least 30 times. {0/30}

21. Learn to make 5 tasty cocktails (excluding those I already know). {0/5}

22. Create at least 5 DIY tutorials for my blog. {0/5}

23. Design & build bookshelves for home.

24. Check craigslist, flea markets and 2^nd hand shops for things before buying in a store.

25. Avoid Wal-Mart at all costs.

26. Say thank-you more.

27. Make the bedroom into a haven, not a sleep-hole.

28. Get bangs cut.

29. Attend a local theater production.

30. Take my camera out on 10.10.10 and 11.11.11 and do a "Day in the Life" segment. {0/2}

31. Learn more about wine.

32. Go to at least 5 wine tastings. {0/5}

33. Call my brother at least 1x a month for no real reason. {0/33}

34. Call my aunt at least 1x a month for no real reason. {0/33}

35. Learn to be less defensive.

35. Travel outside of the U.S.

36. Visit one fabulous U.S. location.

37. Send at least 5 small presents for absolutely no reason. {0/5}

38. Get rid of music I don’t listen to anymore.

39. Find 10 new artists/songs that make me smile or work out better.

40. Relax with a bubble bath, some wine and a good book 1x a month. {0/33}

41. Read 5 books from the ‘Banned Books’ List. http://www.banned-books.com/bblist.html {0/5}

42. Find 5 things about Central Nowhere that make me happy to live here. {0/5}

43. Get 20 followers on blog (have 3 now, so need 17 more). {0/17}

44. Spend at least 2 nights a month completely away from the computer, and vacations don’t count. {0/66}

45. Make a skirt that I would want to wear in public.

46. Find at least 2 reasons a month to get all dressed up and go out.

47. Private goal.

48. Read all published books by Diana Gabaldon.

49. Read at least 5 non-fiction books. {0/5}

50. Identify all the historical and factual errors in The DaVinci Code.

51. Listen to more classical music.

52. Pony ride at least 2x per week.

53. Photograph at least one dinner per week.

54. Make a list of weekly goals and actually finish all of them.

55. Make at least 2 blog posts a week- 1 should actually have ‘real’ content.

56. Private goal.

57. Get one more beautiful picture of Lyric.

58. Become a real Pony Clubber again (knowledge and care skills at least).

59. Finish the wedding photo book.

60. Do a trash the dress session.

61. Sew at least once a month. {0/33}

62. Get art up on all the walls.

63. Find a perfect LBD and heels combo.

64. Make a purse for daily use.

65. Take riding lessons again.

66. Wander campus and take pictures.

67. Put away laundry the day it is washed, not later in the week.

68. Take a picture for each letter of the alphabet. {0/26}

69. Make the guestroom actually inviting (headboard, etc).

70. Keep the animals all up to date on shots/health care stuff.

71. Buy a quality piece of clothing on each vacation.

72. Create a more useful desk/craft/writing space.

73. Take a photography class.

74. Paint my fingernails bi-monthly.

75. Private Goal

76. Reread and buy all the Harry Potter books in hardcover. {0/7}

77. Go visit Roommateo at least once.

78. Buy one quality piece of art on each vacation instead of lots of cheap ones.

79. Plant and garden around the front of the house.

80. Complete the 100 snapshot challenge. (http://community.livejournal.com/100_snapshots/profile)

81. Put up crown molding around the house.

82. Show at training level dressage or beginner novice eventing.

83. Do something special each New Year’s Eve.{0/3}

84. Clean the litterbox once a week. {0/143}

85. Update resume & CV and keep updated.

86. Make 4 pillow covers for throw pillows. {0/4}

87. Turn back patio into an outdoor retreat.

88. Visit 5 cities I’ve never been to. {0/5}

89. Keep an inspiration notebook w/ quotes, pictures and ideas that inspire me.

90. Organize & clear out all photos on the computer.

91. Go to a real concert (singer, orchestra, whatever).

92. Spend 30 minutes/week looking at the news.

93. Get an 8% raise in 2010 and 2011. {0/2}

94. Get a professional massage (at least 30 minutes).

95. Put pictures that make me smile in several spots at home & work to improve my day.

96. Watch the sun rise without being up for work 5 times (photography optional). {0/5}

97. Take a course on becoming a better manager.

98. Stay off of Facebook for one consecutive week.

99. Write a short story and submit it for publication somewhere.

100. Donate $2 to the local animal shelter for each incomplete task at the end of 1001 days.

101. Make a new 101 in 1001 for the next go around!

'Nothing builds self-esteem and self-confidence like accomplishment.' - Thomas Carlyle