curiousillusion

[This is part 4 of my year in review posts.  Click for parts 1, 2 and 3.]

October.  October marked the end of my project 365, much to my disappointment.  I really wanted to finish and even now, months later, I still feel guilty that I didn’t get to complete the project.  But I was completely uninspired, taking horrible pictures with the iPhone, so I felt the need to let go of the project.

Sad. But it needed to be done.

And so I did.  I also made the decision to quit going to the gym and I struggled to get back into the swing of things.  I mean, by the end of October I wasn’t taking pictures, I was barely blogging, and I was tired of being overworked and overwhelmed.

In November, to try to get things back in order, I started NaBloPoMo, where you blog every day for a month.  At the end of November I also gave in and made the decision to buy my dSLR, something I had wanted to do for months.  But I had to wait, nervously, for it to get to me.

In December I made 2 big decisions… to do NaBloPoMo again, and to start a new photography project, 24 Days of Christmas.

Day 1. Off to a good start.

It worked out perfectly because, after a week of waiting, I got what I had been waiting for in the mail:

My new Nikon D90.  Love.

Playing with a sparkly branch after work one day.

I even got back into Photoshopping – here I cloned out some cars and played with the colors.

And everything changed.  Now I’ve been back into blogging, after blogging every day for 2 months.  I’m back into taking pictures, as my new camera has opened up so many opportunities… so much so that I think I’m ready to tackle project 365 in 2010.   I feel good.  No boyfriend at all through 2009 but… what can ya do?  I had too much going on anyway, no time for a guy!

So 2009 wasn’t so bad.  But I have high expectations for 2010.  Goals, if you will (since I don’t like the word resolution).  But that’s a whole new blog post. :o)

[This is part 3 of my year in review posts.  Click for parts 1 and 2.]

Sigh.  Summer vacation + living with parents = a complete change.  I had nothing to do and I ended up taking mundane pictures of random objects around the house:

Inspired my Q-tips. Okay, I guess UNinspired is the correct word.

and watching too much TV.

Yes, I watched all 7 seasons.  What?

Oh and I also joined a gym nearby, in an attempt to continue my efforts at getting healthy.

At the end of July I was able to relax because, yay… I got a job lined up for the upcoming school year.  I was able to enjoy the last of my summer with that knowledge, and by going to Oregon for my cousin’s wedding:

Trees everywhere, and beautiful sights. I had an amazing time.

One of the MANY roses at the Rose Garden.

Oregon is absolutely gorgeous.  Definitely a place I considered moving to, if not for the cold!

The day after I came back from Oregon, my summer vacation was over and it was time for work.   Oh and I got my iPhone, and it was love at first sight.  September was a blur of getting used to being back at work and working long hours, everything fell by the wayside – my 365 pics, blogging, everything.  It was a long month, I’m glad it is over!

And thus ends part 3.  Stay tuned for part 4, the end of the year.

[This is part of my year in review series.  For January - March, please click here.]

So April started out with me saying goodbye to my retail job.  It was quite a relief to not have to work SO many jobs and SO many hours a week.  The month also started with me earning a bit of money, and because of the nature of how I *got* that money, it meant I got to buy my first ever purchase at my new favorite store:

I’ve never loved a box so much before.

At the end of the month… I started this blog.  I didn’t know what it was going to be for and if anyone would read it, but I made the leap anyway.  And, thanks to the very generous help of my new favorite person Matt, my blog became what it is today.. and I was able to go self-hosted in May.

May also marked the beginning of my excursions around San Antonio to take pictures on my own.  I got to visit all sorts of places:

The Japanese Tea Gardens.

One of the old Missions in San Antonio.

The Riverwalk opening a new section called Museum Reach.

Then came June. First of all I have to share a picture that I’m proud of:

It took me AGES to get this shot!

But… even better than that… I got to see Coldplay in Concert:

One of the best memories of 2009, by far.

Other things that happened in June:  I started trying to get healthier, by cutting out sodas and going jogging outdoors.  I made trips to the McNay Art Museum, the Tower of the Americas, the Botanical Gardens and the San Antonio Zoo. AND… I got to see Wicked (best.thing.ever.).

It was a busy month because it was also my last month in San Antonio.  I moved back to home to live with the parents for a year.   The second half of 2009 was a complete change from the first half.

Stay tuned for part 3.

What better way to end the year than to look back on what happened in 2009?  As you can tell from the blog title, I’m breaking up the year into quarters.  May not be interesting to anyone other than me, but it IS my blog, after all. :o)

The beginning of the year started out with a little project I had read about called Project 365, taken with the new pink point & shoot camera I had received from my parents for Christmas. A picture a day for a year… at first I was just taking pictures of any old thing, and poorly done too:

Some mailboxes. Blegh.

(I’d show more pics but they really do suck).

But then after around February, I started to try to spice things up:

Look familiar?  This is the icon for my blog. :)

What else happened?  Lol, it’s hard to look back… I didn’t have a blog back then.  I do remember I was working a lot – I taught Kindergarten from 7:30am – 4:00pm and then did after school care from 4:00pm – 6:00pm.  And then, about 12 hours a week, I was working a second job at a retail store (which I was miserable at, and no good at either).

February was my birthday, I turned 27.

Drinks with friends…

It was a fantastic day.  The day after my birthday I ran into some people that I never hoped to see again, firming my resolve to leave San Antonio.  And that same day I rejoined twitter (and I’ve made so many friends through it that I’m glad I did).

Oh yeah, and in March, over spring break, I went to a little place called Australia…

The view from my parent’s apartment.

The beach… ahhh.

Hamilton Island, the view from our hotel.

So beautiful.

I loved it.

I got back from Australia and realized the stress of the retail job wasn’t worth the very little extra money.  I turned in my two weeks notice.

And that’s the first quarter of the year.  Stay tuned for the rest…