2013 Goals

I just wrote, in moderate detail, about my 2013 photography goals here.  Now to plan out my other goals.

I have several groups of personal goals.

Health/Fitness

1. Run 750 miles this year
2. One run of 20+ miles
3. Do yoga once/week (average)
4. Hit the gym 2x/week (average)
5. Running 3-4 times/week (average)
6. Weight - happy with maintaining to losing up to 10 lbs.  Keep same pant size or go down 1.  No more than that.  But I'd really like to find a good maintenance routine.

The weekly goals are flexible.  Obviously allow myself to get sick.  I've found that it's difficult to run when on vacations.  And there are times when life is so busy I can only get my lunchtime runs in.  But on average, I want to shoot for these frequencies.  

Spiritual

• Spend time in the word and prayer 4x/week.  

• Ideally this should be daily, but let's face it - with two toddlers in the house, it doesn't happen daily.  I have a 4-day schedule that I've made in the past and I'd like to get back to it.

Professionally

1. I'd love to say that my goal is to get a promotion this year, but I don't really have a whole lot of say in that.  And since I've been aiming for a promotion for 3 years, I'm not holding my breath.  But it's on my list of things to strive for.
2. Be more assertive with the two who I work with.  Less wishy-washy in giving them direction and guidance.  Be more straight-forward and to the point.  (These are two people who I am sort of in charge of - unofficially - no title but all the responsibility)
3. Be more independent and creative with finding projects and things to do.  Stop waiting for bossman to come to me and instead find the ideas and initiative to do it myself.
4. Don't be so sensitive when corrected or given negative feedback.  Suck it up and move on.  Learn from it and grow.

Relationally

• Be more sensitive and aware of Josh's wants/needs/desires.
• Be more sensitive and aware of my children's wants/needs/desires
• Make grander attempts to meet new people at church and form new friendships.  To get together with different people.  
• I only know a select few people at church; those I know are older with older children or younger with no children. I want to change that.  I want to get to know more people in the same station of life as me - early to mid 30s with young children.  (I don't have time or ability to go to a MOPS group.)

Around the House

• Clean the bathroom more often
• keep my stuff organized in the bedroom and on my desk
• clean out the garage!
• Pay off 2 credit cards

There are a lot of things here.  Many of these are things that have usually gone unspoken in the past and maybe that's why I didn't get to where I wanted to be in those areas.  This is my second year making a solid running goal.  This one will be tougher to meet than last year's goal.  And that's good.  I need the challenge.  Some of these sounds like New Year's Resolutions - and that's OK.  But they are goals, not resolutions.  To me a resolution is a resolve to change.  I don't want to change; I just want to improve and better myself.

Nikon D3100 14 Megapixel Digital SLR Camera - 25472 (Google Affiliate Ad)

The Holidays

The holidays are nearly over.  Just one more small one to get through.  Thanksgiving was awesome and fun, followed by stomach flu for most of us.  Mixed bag.  Kym was with us for breakfast and we had a dear friend over for dinner.  The food was awesome.  

Dear Friend Katie and Annie

The table settings.  I love using China.

The Turkey

The only time this cookbook ever gets used is on Thanksgiving.  It's well loved.

Pecan Pie - made just for Katie

Annie's birthday was small and intimate.  My birthday was the same.  Just a simple dinner and a quick shopping trip with hubby.  Turning into our tradition for my birthday.  



Christmas weekend was busy and a blur.  Band practice on the 20th and 22nd.  Church on the 23rd.  Church on the 24th.  Then Christmas.  The older two spent Christmas Eve into Christmas morning at their mom's and we had them the afternoon of Christmas.  It was torture for Audrey to sit and wait for HOURS to open presents.

It was awesome to watch the girls open gifts.  Audrey was all about ripping it open as fast as possible to see what was inside.  Annie, however, was more concerned about getting the wrapping paper into the garbage bag.

Our biggest gift this year was time as a family.  Andrew being home the entire month was a real blessing.

New Year's Eve will be a quiet one in our house.  Andrew leaves around 5 am on Jan 1.  There will be no staying up until midnight in our house.

Christmas Scene

The girls

Annie loves her new toy

Curled up in their "beds" watching our traditional movie - The Polar Express

Boot Camp Graduation

I had the privilege of attending a Marine Corps boot camp graduation last week.  It was a neat experience.  I've always been fascinated by the military, the Marines especially, so to see it up close like this was really cool.  To see the guys do drill and to hear the stories and see the base and training facility was surreal.  And of course it was special to me to see my step-son graduate.  

I've only been a part of his life for 6 years, but I feel so close to him.  It was an honor to be included in this event.  In the last 6 years I've watched him grow and mature.  Joining the Marines was something that I knew would happen.  I think I knew it when I first met him and would watch him look at his father with a glimmer in his eye; wanting so desperately to be just like his dad and to have the same stories as his dad.  It wasn't a surprise to me in the least the day he came home from school and said he was talking with a recruiter.

When he left for boot camp 3 months ago, he left an 18 y/o kid who has been having fun his whole life.  When we saw him on Thursday last week, for the first time in 13 weeks, he was a man.  He matured more in 13 weeks than most men do in 4 years of college.  Things finally clicked.  All those lectures and life lessons that his parents tried to teach him finally made sense.  

When he saw a couple of his friends on Saturday they could tell instantly that he had changed.  He's not the hyper jumpy kid he was over the summer.  he's subdued and quiet.  More reserved.  He is part of an elite club now and they have a different mentality.

I'm so proud to say my step-son is a Marine.  He will make an awesome Marine.  He will make this country proud.

3 generations - Josh's dad served in the Navy during Vietnam and Josh was in the Marines in Desert Storm

Proud Parents (and sister)

Happy Little Sister

Happy Family

Platoon 3254 marching onto the Parade Deck

Platoon 3254

All the Marines (former and current) were asked to stand!

Annie Noelle......

My dearest little Annie Noelle.

Two years old.  I can't believe you've been in my life for 2 years.  In a way, it feels like you were just born and the 2 years flew by.  And yet, it also feels like an eternity because I barely remember not having your beautiful smile to see every day.

You have the best facial expressions.  Your nose scrunches up when you are confused.  Your cheeks are big and round and kissable when you smile.  Your mischievous smile is so cute that I can't help but laugh when you think you're being sneaky.

You told me last night that you're a big girl now.  Yes, dear you are a big girl.

You love to do whatever Audrey is doing.  You so want to be like her.  You want to play the same games and have the same toys.  You eat the same snacks.  You want to wear the same clothes.  Yet you are not afraid to assert your independence on her.  To tell her "no" and make sure she knows that you are your own person.

You love to cuddle with mommy and daddy and Kymi.  You crave the interaction with other people.  But you know how to sit down and play by yourself.  To look through the books and point out all the animals and other things you know in the pictures.  You can sit and color by yourself without needing help.  

You are an observer.  You watch someone do something over and over again and then you try it and you can do it too.  You sit at Daddy's drums and do exactly what he does.  You watch the big kids reads books and then you read books to all of us the same way.  You stand up "on stage" and sing your heart out.  You love Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

You are a spitfire.  When you want something, you make sure we know.  When you don't want something you make sure we know.  There is no talking you down when you have your mind set on something.  Your Gramma Janet laughed at me when I explained this to her.  She just loves that you are just like me.  

You just love to "steal" your mom and dad's I-Fream (ice cream) and pah-corn (popcorn).  You love your horbread (cornbread).  Your favorite fruit is bananas.  You eat ketchup by the spoonful and ignore the hot gog (hot dog) on your plate.

Happy Birthday baby girl.  Many blessings for a wonderful year full of learning, growing, exploring and loving.

Mommy and Me

Me and the girls at Point Cabrillo Lighthouse.  YAY Vacation!!!
Hosted by Krystyn at Really, Are You Serious?

New Dresses and the Park

A good friend made matching dresses for the girls. It was a super easy dress to make. And they are seriously cute. Being unseasonably warm around 80*, I let them wear the summer dresses today and we ventured out to the park. 

I wanted to practice using my wide angle lens some and maybe practice some motion photos where the background is blurred and the subject is in focus. I failed miserably, so you won't see any of those. But what you will see is two super cute little girls in matching dresses. :)

I love the look on her face here.

Audrey insisted on pushing Annie on the swing.

Might be my favorite photo of her.  <3

I love this photo - but was super bummed that she's blurry.  Sigh......  

Her shoe fell off and she had to fix it.  Notice her pink toenails???

walking to the park

walking to the park

My Joshua

See this man right here to the left?  The goofy guy trying to juggle?  The one with the bald head?  Mouth wide open?  Oh .. and a ton of tattoos!?!?!?  

I love him.  He's pretty awesome.  And guess what - he loves me too.  :)

He is goofy.  He's super goofy.  That's part of his charm.  And part of what makes him a good dad.  He's also caring.  He genuinely cares for people and hurts when they hurt and laughs when they laugh.  And he's a godly man.  He loves God and is training his children up to love God too.

Today is our 4th anniversary.  Not many years.  But that's OK.  Cause ya gotta get through the single digits before you hit the double digits.  Someday we'll hit 40 or 50.  I'd love to hit 60, but don't know that we'll be around that long.  

I love you Joshua.  Happy Anniversary.

Audrey Goofy

Audrey loves to pose for the camera, which is good since I love to take pictures. Here she is being mildly goofy lying in bed. I love the color cast these have, even though it's not realistic at all. 

I love the light coming from the lamp out of the picture.  It adds some depth and almost drama to the photo.

 

I was playing around with different focal lengths and understanding how they change the perspective of the subject and surroundings by more than just bringing the subject closer.

Mommy and Me Monday

Went away for the weekend with the family to my MIL's house. it was a great little weekend away. I helped my niece take photos of lines for her photography class, we went for a long run (set a distance PR of 14 miles), and we just enjoyed each other's company.


Annie got a new toy that she enjoyed playing with. Josh snapped a photo of the two of us playing with the toy.



We also got a family photo taken.



The rest of the photos from the weekend can be found in my flickr set here.... http://www.flickr.com/photos/biochemtine/sets/72157631668954317/with/8044542156/

Hosted by Krystyn at Really, Are You Serious?

Happiest Little Girl in Church

Saturday night, a good friend of ours released a full length worship album.  To celebrate, she held a concert at church.  Audrey LOVES her music and knows a lot of the songs.  Her favorite song is a techno song inspired by Lady Gaga (if you can imagine a worship song inspired by her....).

For the last song, Devoted, Audrey ran up to the front of the church to dance and see better.  She was invited up on stage and got to sing and dance with her.  She was so happy and excited.  I was so happy for her that I cried.

An Audrey Funny

Over labor day weekend we went to my mother in-law's. Their little town has a large Paul Bunyan Days festival over Labor Day weekend. One of the events is a tricycle race followed by a kiddie parade. The kids dress in costume appropriate for the theme and make little floats out of bicycles and wagons.

While we were waiting for the parade to start, Audrey looked at me all concerned and said, "But mom? Where's the kitties?"

Gone .....

This past weekend, Josh, the girls and I went out of town to visit his mom for Paul Bunyon Days.  Andrew and Kymberly were spending the weekend with their mom.  It was Andrew's last weekend at his mom's house before leaving for boot camp.  Not 30 seconds after we had finished our conversation with Josh's mom about when boot camp graduation would be, we got a phone call from Andrew.  He and his buddy were being called up early.  They were to report at the recruiter's office on Monday at 11 am.

We high-tailed it out of there, wanting to be home with Andrew for his last weekend.  We thought we had another week, but the Marine Corps had other ideas.

Sunday morning we went to church as a family.  Andrew's mom joined him for the morning as well.  It was a nice time of worship.  And Pastor M. called us up to the front to pray for Andrew as he goes on his journey.

Sunday afternoon Andrew came over and hung out with us in a quiet house.  He played legos with his sisters.  He got last words of wisdom from his dad.  Then we all went together to his mom's house for a nice family dinner.  In 4 years, it's the first time both families got together for a meal.  Sure, we've had constituents together and been at large celebrations together, but this is the only time we've had a meal, just the 10 of us.  It was a nice dinner.  There were no tears.  Just chatting and fun and goofiness.  The girls enjoyed being chased around the kitchen and proved that kids can only have fun if they are screaming.

Then Monday the dreaded event happened.  We drove Andrew to the recruiter's office.  We gave hugs.  We cried.  We encouraged.  We loved.  We cried.  I took lots of pictures.  

Which brings me to today.   I'm not typically an emotional person.  It takes quite a bit to make me cry.  I did cry when we left him in the hands of the recruiters.  But it passed pretty quickly.  I've been the strong one in all this.  Ready to see Andrew continue on his way and mature and grow and gain direction in his life.  Knowing that this is what's best for him.  As his step-mom, I'm not as connected as Josh and Andrew's mom.  I've felt more pain in the last 24 hours than I realized I would.  I think about what Andrew is going through and my heart hurts.  My stomach gets knots.  And then sitting down for a few hours to edit 200+ photos of us saying good-bye to him.  And it hurts even more.  If I'm this sad and heart broken over him being gone, I can only imagine how his mom and dad and sister feel.

About 20 minutes ago we finally got the phone call we've been waiting 24 hours for.  That "Recruit Roosa has arrived safely in MCRD" and we'll hear from him via USPS in a couple weeks.  A COUPLE WEEKS!?!?!?!  I have to wait that long to hear from him?  That long until I can get his address to send him a letter?  I've already written one letter.  I'm sure I have another couple ready to write too.  His first mail from us will likely be several letters in one large envelope.

I'm excited for who he will become.  I'm excited to see his transformation.  I'm pleased that he has direction and a future.  The Marines will be good for him, and he'll be good for the Marines.

2 days down, only 12 weeks and 5 days to go.

 

Date Weekend

Josh and I cashed in all our past and future favors with a very dear friend to watch the girls for a weekend. We dropped them off on Friday after work and met them at church on Sunday morning. So we had about 36 hours to do whatever we wanted on OUR schedule. Grocery shop alone. Eat a quiet and leisurely dinner. Sleep without fear of being woken in 2 hours. Sleep IN. Just imagine the possibilities.

Saturday morning we slept in and then went to brunch. We enjoyed mimosas and high fatty food.


Then we hopped on BART and went into the city to just explore. We got off BART and just went down a street that looked interesting. We went to Union Square to see all the best shopping. Wandered around Williams-Sonoma, went into a friend's favorite store Lululemon. I'd never been there and hear such great things about them that I had to check them out.


We saw China Town so we wandered in that direction. Then ended up in Little Italy where we had a Cannolo (yes - cannolo - cannoli is plural and cannolo is singular). Then saw the signs to get to Coit Tower, so we went up that way. Then back down to Little Italy we saw Lombard street (the world's crooked-est street). We walked up Lombard street and then found ourselves in Russian Hill. Found a cute little "mini-park" that literally was a slab of cement, some flowers and a couple benches on an old house lot. We wandered around some more, found the Cable Car Museum and looked in there.

Then meandered and ended up at Fisherman's Wharf. We took a tour of the S.S. Jeremiah O'Brien, a Liberty Ship from WWII. Then headed over to Pier 39 for some dinner. We both saw some things we'd never seen before and ended up walking about 10 miles - up and down the big hills. It was a lot of fun, and something we'd love to do again, but in a different part of the city.

I just took my small point-and-shoot camera. There were times I wish I had my SLR so I could get a better view or adjust my exposure or really be artistic with my composition, but for the most part I'm glad all I had was my P&S. Made it a lot easier to carry it around.

Here are a few photos of our day (if you click on any of the photos, they should take you to my flickr page where you can view all of them).

Mimosas with breakfast

The only chinese looking building we saw in Chinatown.  I think it was a medical clinic.

Church in Little Italy.

View of the Bay Bridge from Coit Tower

Top of Lombard Street looking down

Sneaking a kiss while I'm trying to snap a photo in Russian Hill's Mini Park

A time I wished I had my SLR.  The texture of these buildings was neat.  And the colors and brickwork and chipped paint.  They were really cool looking and this photo doesn't do them justice.

The pullies in the cable car museum.

Another time my SLR would've been nice.  Again ... lots of texture and neat colors in the museum.

The stairs into the USS Jeremiah O'Brien

Through a porthole looking out

One piston of the engine.  Video footage of this ship's pistons was used in James Cameron's The Titanic.

Just for fun

The Anchor

Are you sick yet?

Thought this was pretty cool