Welcome to 2017!

It looks like my last post was almost exactly one year ago. How did that happen? Has a full year passed already, right from underneath my nose?

Early in January, I was presented with a challenging situation at my place of work, which more or less consumed my life for six months. Finally the situation was "relieved," however I have continued to live in the pre-June consumption mind-set and routine. Well, I'm ready to pull myself out of it. I've taken time to think about my goals these first couple days of January, and put down on paper the different things that I want. What I want to accomplish, what kinds of habits I'd like to make, or beak. How do I want to live and what do I enjoy doing?

I started by putting all of these different thoughts onto a large piece of scrap paper in pencil. This helped make it feel less permanent, and more like sketching... paper I could throw away and pencil in case I'd like to erase or change my mind. To start, I just jotted it all down without worrying about how many there were, or if they were reasonable.

The second step was to then review all of these different ideas and narrow the focus. Of course I couldn't accomplish them all, so I took a practical look at which of them I most wanted to accomplish sooner rather than later, and why. After reviewing my top priorities, I was able to come up with specific goals (some habitual, some larger scale accomplishments), and create an action plan for how to achieve them. I'm also putting into effect some new tools in order to track my progress which, for a notebook junkie like me, makes the process fun.

Enter: Hobonichi Techo

Front of Hobonichi without cover

Daily pages of Hobonichi

I use daily pages for to do lists, quotes of inspiration, drawings, pasting items from travels, anything and everything.

Monthly pages of Hobonichi

I use this page for looking back at the month and the meetings or accomplishments I'd like to remember. I have a tendency to forget the awesome things I've done, and use this page to keep tabs on myself. Tim Ferriss has recommended a "jar of awesome" so I'll start with a "journal of awesome" this year.

At a glance monthly pages of Hobonichi 2017

I use this page for daily habits I'd like to form.




I'd also like to re-read The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. I think it will be a helpful reminder about how to form habits, especially at this time of year when many people will forget all of their resolutions before even the end of January.

My 2017 New Year's Resolutions include:

1) Plan and execute our wedding before the end of 2017
2) Find a new place to live (not renting) before the end of 2017
3) Visit one new foreign country before the end of 2017
4) Complete 20~25 books by December 31, 2017 (approximately one book every two weeks)
5) Wake up by 6:30 am daily
6) Write down three things for which I am grateful every day (daily gratitude)
7) Exercise twice per week
8) Blog once per week

Not only do I plan to keep these resolutions in my Hobonichi and use the book to help me track my progress, but I will also post these goals somewhere in my house so that I will see them daily.

And to help bring some more art and creativity into my life, here are a few of my new images. You can expect to see a bit more macro this year as I attempt to learn how to use my new lens. I hope you enjoy them!

What are your goals this year?

All the best,
Lana

Disclaimers:
All photographs are my personal work. Please do not reuse them without permission or appropriate credits.

All links to Amazon products are affiliate links. If purchased through my blog, I will receive a small commission of sale. Thank you for your understanding, and for helping me build by online business!

Early Fall - Nature and Flowers

Here are a few of my recent photos from my adventures this fall. Some have asked what I use to take photographs. I bought a used Canon EOS Rebel T2i DSLR (rather older model) from an electronics shop in NYC called B & H. I still only have one lens and can't take all of the different kinds of photos I'd like, but it's a great start. It has enough control for manual shots if you're trying to learn, but also has a fine auto setting for the less experiences photographer like myself.

Having started photography on a completely manual Canon, I also try to take the photo I want straight out of the camera, without any post editing tools. Eventually I'd also like to learn how to use a program like photoshop, since there really is a lot more that you can do with it... but in the meantime I'll just stick with manual options and the trusty-old iPhoto that came with my computer.

I'm finding that I like macro shots more than anything, especially of nature. I'm not great at photographing people, perhaps because I get shy when I have to wait and keep the camera pointed at them for a long time in order to get the right angle, face, lighting, etc. For animals and flowers, it doesn't really matter how long you sit there. I also really like getting close shots of things that we don't always get to see, such as the spider underneath the flower (featured below). I had trouble focusing this one since the flower was swaying with the breeze, but I was quite happy with how it turned out.

I hope you enjoy them!

-Lana

All photographs are my personal work. Please do not reuse them without permission or appropriate credits.

"Home to New Yorkers"

"Flower and Friend"

"Three Ladies - We Are and We Are Not"

"Untitled"

"Untitled" - Fontanella Tea Garden in Mdina, Malta

"Peace Be With You"

"Halo"

"Red and Purple Peppers"

"The Weeping Willow"

"RamJam"

"Couples's's' Stone"

"Feeder"

Recent Trips around NYC

 Welcome to the World's Fair

 Who are those goofballs?

 And that one?

 Moseying around The Cloisters

Columns from from Medieval Europe

 My favorite place was the herb garden

SLR Play day 8

"The world in color"

LRK © 2013

You must receive written permission from LRK before using any original photography from this site.

SLR Play day 7

"Founded on York"

LRK © 2013

You must receive written permission from LRK before using any original photography from this site.

SLR Play day 6

"The simple things"

LRK © 2013

You must receive written permission from LRK before using any original photography from this site.

SLR Play day 5

"What do you mean you don't have food?"

LRK © 2013

You must receive written permission from LRK before using any original photography from this site.

SLR Play day 4

"Some like it hot"

SLR Play day 3

"Serenity"

LRK © 2013

You must receive written permission from LRK before using any original photography from this site.

SLR Play day 2

"Finding the joy in life"

LRK © 2013

You must receive written permission from LRK before using any original photography from this site.

SLR Play day 1

This week I will not have enough time to post any written entries, but I wanted to share something with you even while I was unavailable.

I've been considering my next large purchase, and have given great thought to getting an SLR camera. I love photography, and used to have a real camera back when I was in high school. The shutter broke (and film became too expensive to develop), and I never replaced it. Now that I'm getting back into photography, maybe it's time?

Last week I was able to spend some time taking photos with a borrowed digital SLR, and will post one shot each day of this week. Hope you like them!

~L

"Watching over me"

LRK © 2013

You must receive written permission from LRK before using any original photography from this site.

Picture of the Day

"P.S. 130"

Picture of the Day

"...and what?"

Picture of the Day

"And just as quickly..."

Picture of the Day

"The Real Flame at 454"

Monday, 9/3/12 - Activities after school

Here are some pictures from a cooking lesson that I took after classes one day in Peru. Yes, the date from this entry was September 3rd of last year. This ended up being my favorite dish of the region!