MEF Photography Blog! » San Francisco-Based Wedding, Family + Portrait Photography

iPhone photo of the view from a hike up Mt. Tam last month with Laurel.

Heeeey, February! Well, a week into it, but still! :D

Considering what I set myself up for, I basically crushed January. Seriously, if you could have tasted my Pho, you would have died—it was that delicious (and based off this recipe if you’re interested in making your own!). I also signed up for a piano class that meets twice a week at a local community college (Nineteen weeks of instruction for $52—so economical!). This is my current skill level, which is to say not super impressive, and yet quite impressive when you know I started from absolutely nothing three weeks ago. :D

One of the things I didn’t finish in January is the book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. And honestly? I would go so far as to say this book is awful. Not in terms of its message—in fact, I think the principles it espouses are sound, for the most part. But the book is so bloated with jargon, adspeak and unnecessary (and not terribly elucidating) anecdotes that it takes me ages to make any progress. But I’m not a quitter, so despite spilling a cup of water on it yesterday, I’ll finish the dang thing. Ishmael, on the other hand, was wonderful and highly recommended. I won’t tell you what it’s about, though; it sounds too weird to be worth it. But it planted a seed in my mind that I haven’t been able to stop mulling over (watering?) since. Worth it.

This month is tax prep, race running and house cleaning. So, here’s my plan…

Goals for February:

• Continue practicing the piano, one hour per day, Mondays through Saturdays
• Get my new brand and website under contract (ugh, finally!)
• Post temporary galleries to this site for the meanwhile
• Read Einstein’s Dreams and finish The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People
• Perfect a minestrone recipe
• Burn archive image DVDs and delete extra copies from my computer
• Make my IRA contribution :)
• Make “Best Of 2012” posts next week
• Run a 10k
• Walk 10,500 steps each day this month
• Go camping!

Completed December Goals:

• Sign up for piano lessons
• Practice piano one hour per day, Mondays through Saturdays
• Do a serious file purge and clean up on my desktop
• Set up financial software and budget tracking
• Finish cleaning and organizing my office
• Write a 2012 business retrospective
• Read Ishmael
• Perfect Veggie Pho
• Write and mail a letter to my great aunt and uncle
• Collect and dissect 15 inspirational web designs (10 good, 5 bad) for my rebrand
• Walk 10k steps each day this month

What are your plans for February? If you need encouragement on any of your goals, I’m happy to lend some positivity—just let me know! :D

A surprise Christmas gift that wrote its own resolution. :)

A week before my half birthday last October, I went out for an afternoon walk with my mom. Despite having come off a hectic two months and the end of my wedding season, I was feeling restless and unaccomplished, and it permeated every corner of my attitude. I’d sunk myself quite deeply into a pit of self pity that touched many aspects, but for that moment, my heart was laser-focused on how poorly I’d been treating myself physically. And, as is often the case, I took the opportunity to talk it out with my mom.

I told her what I’d been thinking about—that my 30th birthday was six months away, and I’d still not attained certain goals for which I’d expected to have found the strength long ago. Foremost was becoming a runner. “I’ve always wanted to run,” I said, “but I’ve given up every time I’ve tried. I just don’t know how to do it.”

The simplicity and hilarity of my mom’s response hit me dead between the eyes, in a way that sometimes only her words can. And she laughed a little before she said, “You put on sneakers, you go outside, and you run.”

I don’t know why that was all I needed to hear, and I don’t think I would have heard it had she said it in any other way. Sometimes I just need to be shown how small the roadblocks I’m building for myself truly are—I don’t know how; It’s too hard; I’ve never succeeded at it before—a perspective I have a bad habit of losing. All of the reasons I was giving for my previous failures were euphemisms for something so basic: I stopped putting one foot in front of the other.

The next morning I sat down, pieced together a training plan and signed up for three races. (Putting on my sneakers, going outside and running is only part of it!) And then I told my husband he was doing it, too. (Sorry, Glen!) At the beginning, my bad attitude plagued me—I’m not good at running; my legs are too short; my hips aren’t built for this—and running for even 90 seconds left me winded and downtrodden. But because I had a clear schedule and an end goal, I stuck to it. We woke up before the sun and we ran a little more each day, and a little longer each week. And on December 16th, we ran our first 5k.

Three miles never felt so glorious. :)

Our training continues for our upcoming 10k in February and Half Marathon for my birthday in May.

Stepping back, 2012 was both wonderful and terrible, as full years are wont to be. I started and ended strong in many respects, but let myself languish in the middle because I quit setting regular goals for my time. Day to day, I got done what I needed to, but in greater efforts I treaded water for a lack of direction. I stopped putting one foot in front of the other. And I don’t think I was alone.

As I flipped the calendar for an albeit metaphorical fresh start, I went back and read what I wrote at the beginning of last year. I inspired myself to try again, and having reached my 5k goal in December, I approach this year with the following overall feeling:

Our fallibility knows no bounds. Neither does our capability.

So with that, I’d like to share my plans for 2013.

Goals for 2013

• Continue to grow, nurture and strengthen my personal relationships
• Create a personal financial budget that includes clearer goals for retirement savings and paying off our home early
• Complete one major house remodeling project (I see three on our horizon this year—garage, roof, siding—but home plans often veer off course)
• Finish the rebranding of my business (which will encompass a lot of big changes)
• Implement better systems for organization (financials, files, paperwork, mail)
• Run at least 800 miles, including a 10k and half marathon
• Design and print our wedding album
• Continue to buy local and organic foods and experiment more with vegan and raw recipes
• Choose a travel destination and book tickets (if it’s budgetable, of course)
• Read 12 business and 12 personal books
• Live by a more regimented schedule, including setting aside specific times for: Reading, journaling, exercising, working, blogging, cleaning, etc. (a holdover from last year that I continue to struggle with)
• (This is vague, but…) Be more open and sharing
• Learn to read music and play 15 songs on the piano
• Learn basic metal smithing and stone setting
• Move more (10-12k steps per day, all year—this is tough when your job involves mostly sitting at a computer. Hey, FitBit!)
• Teach a beginning photography workshop
• Get back to posting monthly goal blogs

Goals for December:

• Sign up for piano lessons
• Practice piano one hour per day, Mondays through Saturdays
• Do a serious file purge and clean up on my desktop
• Set up financial software and budget tracking
• Finish cleaning and organizing my office
• Write a 2012 business retrospective
• Read Ishmael and The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People
• Perfect Veggie Pho
• Write and mail a letter to my great aunt and uncle
• Collect and dissect 15 inspirational web designs (10 good, 5 bad) for my rebrand
• Walk 10k steps each day this month

My sneakers are on and I’m ready to go. How about you: What are you planning to do this year? Want to do it with me?

Howdy, friends and Merry Christmas (a few days early, I know!). It’s been pretty quiet around here this past month, which is a welcome change of pace for me. And though I wish I could tell you I’ve been spending my days eating bonbons with a warm cat in my lap, that hasn’t been (entirely!) the case. ;)

Say hello to our Christmas tree—our first since we started dating 5 years ago. It came with a wild animal AND a cricket in it, Christmas Vacation style (not joking). Thankfully it didn’t attack anyone’s face, but the whole thing spent a night in the backyard until the intermittent squeaking ceased. Also we had no ornaments, so I made them all: Clear glass balls filled with shredded paper, tiny silver bells, sparkling gold ribbon, white feathers, puffballs, glitter. That chair is under (next to?) the tree because Glen and I finally bit the bullet and bought six of them for our dining room. A gift to ourselves, if you will. :)

December has seen me working on a lot of personal projects that have spent far too much time on the back burner. In some cases, over a year! Little by little, parts of our home are becoming presentable. Plus I’ve been working very hard to finally get my life (read: paperwork) organized—a task which is embarrassing in its monumentality and does not necessarily warrant its own blog post. Unless you’re into that sort of thing, I guess. Although, a before and after of my office would be pretty satisfying, considering the pathetic state in which it started. I would make Martha Stewart alternately cry and beam with pride. ;)

My studio (by which, you understand, I mean my disaster of a home office) will be closed from today until January 2nd, during which time I plan on turning off all of my electronic devices and relaxing in the welcoming arms of my family.

But honestly, I have no purpose for anything I’m typing, except to say Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! May your last days of 2012 be marvelous. Relish in your loved ones and leisure time; reflect on all the luck, joy and beauty that came to you this year and all that awaits you in the next; rejoice in the glory of your happinesses and the lessons of your sorrows.

And don’t forget the bonbons. ;)

Until next year!