Sunday, January 8, 2017

Project 365: January 1-7

I'm still not committing to a Project 365 where I take a photograph every day for the entire year, but so far so good.  And it certainly helps to put together a blog post for the week, even if it is just a reposting of what I already have shared on Instagram.  But on the blog I'm fine with including some of the additional images I didn't share on IG.  My 365 may not continue to always be images of us - I might include landscapes or macro or other subjects, but I really do love seeing how we change and grow over time so ideally a majority of my images will help document our lives, including the everyday moments that matter.  

My first pic of the New Year was of new routines and healthy habits with the girls brushing and flossing their teeth.  We are actually really good about brushing daily but flossing is something we struggle with so it's a work in progress.  Despite the bathroom lighting, I'm in love with this image and the documentary style of capturing the girls in candid, real moments.  I can already tell this is one I will cherish in years to come.  


We took the girls to see the movie "Sing" on Paul's last day of vacation and Rose took it to heart.  She got dressed up in one of her favorite dress up skirts with the little plastic heels that she can barely squeeze her feet into anymore and performed "Jingle Bells" on the "stage" (our front landing) for Paul.  I was in the kitchen doing dishes listening to her when I decided to grab my camera and grab a shot while she wasn't looking at me.  I love her curly ponytail and the wisps around her face that still refuse to grow out.


We have had a lot of rain (for us) lately and needed to get out of the house since all three of us were going stir-crazy after a week of dad being home with us almost every day.  So we braved the wet and headed to Costco.  Afterwards the girls helped me unload the minivan, which is one of their favorite jobs.


Another soaking wet day kept us inside.  I have been thinking about self-portraits since it is one of the prompts for a Project 52 photography challenge I am contemplating.  And two other challenges I have been looking at called for reflections and "mess" as the prompts this week so this satisfied all three.  Not that it is the best picture or anything, but it is definitely true that our guest bedroom is messier than any other room in the house.  It's the place where I throw stuff so I don't have to look at it.  I set up my photography boards on top of the ironing board and do almost all of my food photography in there since it has the best lighting in the house.  Paul also has a desk and monitor set up in there for the days when he is working from home.  I have plans to clean it up and attempt to keep it tidier.


We went outside for a little bit to jump in puddles but it didn't last long.  It was just so, so dark all day!


Thursday was actually a beautiful day but I had already mentioned the possibility of going to the Children's Discovery Museum in San Jose to Clara and she was adamant that we go.  Really, the only the she wanted was the chance to paint her face in the face painting room.  Maybe we will have to incorporate this into her birthday party as an activity or something.  She was so careful with her paint and knew she wanted cherries on one cheek, a flower on the other, and a sun on her forehead.  Rose was also very careful with her paint, but she didn't want it left on long.





The other feature at the museum that is always a big hit is the water area.  This is just one section of it and the girls have fun watching the plastic balls swirl around the vortexes, roll down ramps or shoot through tubes.




On Friday we hung out at home again, cleaning and catching up on stuff.  The girls were playing so well together in the afternoon (not always the case but I'm so grateful for the good days when it happens), so I took the opportunity to hang a blanket and towel up to cover most of the window in my bedroom to practice the Inverse Square Law of lighting while doing a self-portrait.  I brought a chair in and Clara stood on it to model for me while I was grabbing focus with the camera on the tripod before I moved the chair away to practice on myself.




Saturday was so cold and blustery with rain coming on and off all day long.  But when there was a decent break in the weather in the afternoon, I knew I needed to get all of us out of the house so we went on a walk.  Honestly, Clara doesn't like riding her scooter much.  She hasn't figured out the balance on it like she did on the littler scooter that Rose is riding, and consequently she complained the entire walk.  Rose actually led almost the whole way and I think that made Clara extra annoyed.  I have got to get her out practicing on her scooter and bike more this year.




Paul and I went to the temple for date night on Thursday, which was so nice.  Whenever we go to the temple on weeknights, I always get a babysitter and meet Paul at one of the BART stations down in San Leandro so that we can make the 7:00 p.m. temple session.  Then we invariably forget to pick up Paul's car from the BART station on the way back home.

So far, so good on all of my other New Year's resolutions.  We are now on Day 8 of Whole 30 and I think both of us are feeling really good.  It actually isn't too difficult of an adjustment for us this time around since, aside from the sweets and breads that we indulgent much to often, we don't have a really hard time with the other requirements of a Whole 30.  I know it gets harder as it goes on though and we start to feel bored with the routine of it though, so I'm trying out some new recipes along with mixing in old favorites and staples that I can photograph for the food blog - things that we eat regardless of whether we are doing Whole 30 or not.

I think we are all looking forward to school starting back up tomorrow.  Clara has actually been begging to go back to Kindergarten since about 2 days after Christmas break started.  I'm so glad that she loves school and has even been counting down "how many more sleeps" until she gets to go back to Kindergarten.

And that was our week!

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