30 Day Photo Challenge – Update 1

Hello friends. So I’m here with my first update of the 30 day photo challenge. You can follow along on Instagram using #shannonsshenanigans30dayphoto. Here’s what I captured during the first 10 days:

Day 1 – Self Portrait 1/16/13. Forgive me, it was 6:45AM and I about to head out the door to work.

Day 2 – Someone I love 1/17/13. It’s Eddie. He’s the best (and although he hates when I take his picture, he went along with it – and he’s studly)

Day 3 – Where I live 1/18/13. Good old Washington Township. I thought about taking a picture of my house, but everyone seems to know where this water tower is. I thought this was much cooler than my house.

Day 4 – Family Pets 1/19/13. Here’s Mario & Mia. Cue the collective “awwwww.” I love my furbabies.

Day 5 – Best Friends 1/20/13. I actually snapped this pic about 2 years ago, but I love it. We’re the three best friends that anyone can have. I love these girls – they are like sisters to me!

Day 6 – Childhood Memory 1/21/13. I grew up down the street from Piskers Bakery. I was the queen of buying day old stuff. It was just as good as fresh and it was always 1/2 off. (See Eddie, even I can be frugal)!

Day 7 – Nature 1/22/13. It snowed the night before, so here’s the rose-bush I planted last fall all covered up in the snow.

Day 8 – Transportation 1/23/13. Here’s my ride, a 2012 Nissan Rogue or “Ro” as I lovingly call her.

Day 9 – Something I love 1/24/13. Getting pedicures. Check out my awesome pedi-sox (great for winter). In case you’re wondering, the color is called “Russian Navy” by OPI

Day 10 – Night 1/25/13. It was cold and snowy. Even though I generally hate the snow, this actually looks pretty (and most of it has melted away already).

30 Day Photo Challenge

I’ve always been interested in photography, and I’ve spent a fair amount of time searching it on pinterest. I found a 30 day photo challenge, so I figured why not, as it’s #18 on my 101 in 1001 list. Here’s my list of what I hope to accomplish in the next 30 days – starting today:

Day 1 – Self Portrait
Day 2 – Someone I love
Day 3 – Where I live
Day 4 – Family Pet
Day 5 – Best Friend
Day 6 – Childhood Memory
Day 7 – Nature
Day 8 – Transportation
Day 9 – Something I love
Day 10 – Night
Day 11 – Favorite Dessert
Day 12 – In My Closet
Day 13 – My Front Door
Day 14 – Books
Day 15 – Where I Sleep
Day 16 – Hands
Day 17 – Favorite Food
Day 18 – Clouds
Day 19 – Shoes
Day 20 – Mailbox Love
Day 21 – Whatever I want
Day 22 – Daily Routine
Day 23 – Drink
Day 24 – A Smile
Day 25 – Eyes
Day 26 – Blast from the past
Day 27 – Messy Hair
Day 28 – Morning
Day 29 – Gratitude
Day 30 – Me, 30 Days later

I’ll use instagram to post pics, and follow up with a blog after every 10 days. Should be interesting to see how this turns out. Hope you all join in on the fun!

101 in 1001 Update 2

Greetings Friends. Remember how back in August 2012 I did part one of my 101 in 1001 update? Well, I decided to finally get off my lazy arse and do part two (please forgive the excessive British phrases/sayings – I’ve been watching a lot of Love Actually – my poor babes has had to listen to me say “bloody” “rubbish” and “arse” a whole lot). I have just about 6 months to finish as much of this as possible, so here goes:

#25 Get a Family Photo at Christmas – epic fail. I’ve only had 3 Christmases to do this. Since there isn’t another Christmas between now and the end of my 101 in 1001 project, I guess I’m SOL

#26 Write a Letter for Eddie to Open on our 10 Year Anniversary – Complete; back when we went to Boston, I gave Eddie a nice long letter celebrating the last 10 years of wedded bliss. Here’s a look at my nifty origami, but sorry,not spilling the oh-so-mushy-deets of this letter

#40 Go see Miami/Notre Dame game in Chicago – Complete; back in October, Eddie and I took a trip to the Windy City to see this “neutral site” game (and I say “neutral” because this was essentially a home game for the Irish). Miami got a shellacking, I froze my arse off, but we still had a blast. Here’s a pic from the game:

#47 Run Ben Franklin Bridge Challenge – Complete; I almost didn’t do this race, but my pal Jess with the Road Runners Club in Woodbury (RRCW) talked me into this. I barely made it as there were less than 300 spots left before the race was filled to capacity. Here’s a pic of my finishers medal

#48 Run ½ Marathon – Complete; after I finished the Broad Street Run in May, I was on an extreme runners high and registered for the Rock N Roll Philadelphia ½ Marathon. I had a blast, but I have to admit I didn’t train nearly as well as I could have for it. I won’t exactly rule out another ½ marathon, but I will say that if I decide to do this again, I will plan for an early spring or late fall race. Here’s my medal:

#49 Paint the half bathroom – complete. For some unknown reason, I decided to tackle the half bathroom and the family room. I had been complaining for ages that I hated the color (an electric blue) and wanted to soften it up. In the process, we also removed the old medicine cabinet and put up a new mirror and replaced the light fixture. I’m in the process of looking for artwork, but this is already a huge upgrade. If you look at the photo on the left, you can see the remnants of the blue, and here’s the new room on the right & below, all prettied up (I still need to add some artwork – feel free to give me some suggestions)

#55 Eat Lobster – complete; when we were in Boston for our anniversary weekend, I was convinced I had to have lobster. So we went to The Barking Crab (recommended by a Facebook friend). Given my aversion to messy foods, I opted for the Lobster Roll (lobster meat on a hot dog bun). Perfect. Maybe one time I will give in and get messy and eat a Lobster the way you are supposed to.

#58 Get involved in a community activity – Complete. Back in March 2012, the Woodbury Heights Fire House (WHFD) burned down. Members of the RRCW decided to create a 5k run and donate all the proceeds to the WHFD rebuilding fund. I was proud to be a member and able to give back to the community (even though I don’t live in Woodbury Heights). Looking forward to the 2013 event!!

#84 Upgrade Remaining Ikea Living Room Furniture – Complete; when we bought our home in 2004, we went from an 1100 square foot condo to a near 2000 square foot home. We needed furniture to furnish all the rooms, so we opted for some Ikea pieces. After a while, we decided that we wanted to upgrade to more “adult like” furniture. Don’t get me wrong, Ikea was great for when we moved in, but most stuff isn’t actual wood and after a while some of the stuff started to look cheap (well, at least what we had). So thanks to Mr. Craig and his list, we sold what we had in the living room, and bought new tables/TV stand. It’s fabulous and I love, love, love it!!

#85 Clean out iTunes Library – complete; back in February 2012, I had to clean up the iTunes Library. My sister so generously gave me access to her iTunes several years ago. There was a lot of randomness (including my niece Dana’s former obsession with High School Musical) – so I had some clean-up to do. I went from nearly 3000 songs down to 2500 (including what I’ve purchased and/or uploaded from my own CD collection). I also cleaned up my playlists and gave every song a genre (the few that didn’t have any).

#91 Renew wedding vows in NYC and have dinner at Carmines – FAIL; considering we spent our anniversary this year in Boston, we didn’t get to NYC. Although I would love to do this someday, I had a great time with the babes in Boston, so I don’t regret this failure.

#95 Read a book series – complete; back in May 2012 I totally jumped the Fifty Shades of Grey bandwagon. I read all three books within 2 weeks. I’m dying to see the movie – anyone know how much longer until this comes out?????

So as of the end of 2012, I have completed 40 tasks, have 10 in process, and failed 3. I’m hoping over the next six months I can at least get to 75% completion – a girl can hope, right? Lots to do in so little time. But I should be back next month with an update. Woo hoo! Have any of you taken on any projects lately? Do share, I’d love to hear about it!

2013 Resolution

Holy cripes, how did it become 2013 already???? 2012 was such a great year for me and it was hard to let go, but all good things must come to an end, eh? After seeing lots of Facebook posts on resolutions, I was inspired to get back into them. In late 2010, I posted a “resolution” for 2011 (more like a rant), but I’ve worked hard at some of it. So as a follow-up to that post, here’s what I have in store for 2013:

1. Work on time management.
2. Jump back on the blog-wagon
3. Spend more quality time with Eddie.
4. Work on saying “No”

Naturally, I’m with everyone else who would like to lose weight/improve health, control spending, organize every aspect of my life, etc, but those four are my top contenders. In thinking about each of these four resolutions, I found an underlying theme. I spread myself too thin, take on too much, and worry about other people’s wants/needs/expectations that I don’t leave time for myself. I need to focus better on me and my family (Eddie & the fur-babies) and everything else will fall into place. Ultimately, this will make me happy, and as I often say, life is too short to be anything but happy! To all of you out there in the world, I wish you nothing but success/happiness on your own endeavors for 2013!!! Make it the best year yet!