Just some photos that I have taken...

{A Sunflower from a park down the street-Summer 2008}




{Tulips from Reese & My Mom-"Because you buy flowers for people who are sick, Momma"-I had been struck down with the flu...even after I had a flu shot!}

{Garden of The Gods-October 2008-Our 3 Year Anniversary!}

{Cheyenne Mountain Zoo-October 2008}

A Close-up of a Baby Tiger's Eye-Cheyenne Mountain Zoo}

{Lovely Old Town Arvada-February 2009}

These are just a few of the photos that I have taken with my camera that I purchased this summer from a wonderful locallly-owned camera shop. {If you ever need a new camera, please consider stopping in Englewood Camera, in Littleton, Colorado. They are so helpful and genuinely interested in making sure that you know what you are doing with your new purchase! They even give you a free class with your purchase! Plus, they are local, not a big box chain & their prices are at or lower than the "others." The guy that helped me stayed 15 minutes after they closed to explain everything to me!}

Anyway, it has opened up a whole new world to me...I love my camera! Oh, I have a Canon PowerShot S5 IS....

About that last post...

Did I say that I was going to practice Self-Discipline and post my 2009 Goals? Yes, I believe that I did...and then Life happens. I decided on Sunday afternoon while Reese had "quiet time" that I was going to forgo the ENORMOUS pile of unfolded laundry and get my desk/organization/letter writing center set up. I have a very old desk that once belonged to my grandmother. It is small & doesn't have much storage, but I love it anyway. I really want to refinish it, but that is another post for another day. I looked at the pile of laundry. I looked at the desk. I made the decision to put the laundry down & do something that I needed & wanted to do, but never make the time to do. I do this because all of the daily stuff takes priority.
This desk has been in my storage unit for the last 4.5 years and when I moved into the apartment, I couldn't wait to have a space where I could keep my stuff, have a system for my mail and bills and paper. I have a very difficult time with organizing that type of thing. I have tried, seemingly without much success, many different ways to teach myself how to tame The Dreaded Paper Tiger. Looking back, I may have thought that I had failed, but now I realize that I didn't fail at all. I learned what didn't work for me by trying something new out. I think that when you have a linear brain, paper & organization is second nature. When you are a visual thinker this seems like an insurmountable task, with inevitable failure. With that, a low level of self-confidence and crazy ADD brain, it seems impossible to conquer. So, add in (yes, pun intended!) some Self-Discipline and some fun & you can do what used to intimidate you!

***update*** here are some photos (Before & After)

Before:

{this is actually from July, when we moved in, but you get the idea!}

After!!

{Please notice the artwork that has been taped up on the desk and the wall under the bulletin board...this is Reese's addition to our apartment...she has taped up at least 30 different pictures all over the place...that is a post of its own!}

Hey! How did I get back here?

In the beginning of a new year, you have plans. Plans to make certain changes in your life, changes in the way that you handle things or situations, plans to change things about yourself that maybe you don't like so much. For a few weeks, you seem to be making those changes and slowly, you start to ease up on the intensity of making changes and what happens? You find yourself right back where you started from! I really had plans to use my blog as a tool to chart my growth as I head into my 30th year. I started to feel defeated and down as I realized that I had started to slide back into some of my old habits. But you know I have learned over the past 4 years and 8 months of being a mother? You can't beat yourself up. You start where you left off and keep on going. You do it with a smile, even when you feel like NOT SMILING. I think that sometimes you have to slide backwards in order to gain the momentum to keep on going! So, with that being said...I will be posting my Goals for 2009 this weekend. The Mother of All My Goals (the guiding force) is Self-Discipline...Self-Discipline is required in order to stop picking up-putting away-cleaning-organizing-only-to-do-it-all-over-again-the-very-next-day-and-sometimes-again-five-minutes-later (as anyone who shares a house with a small child understands!!!), and take a few minutes for myself to do those things that I always push aside, but are still very important to do for my spirit. So, wish me luck!