Project 153

Sometime in the middle of June I had a brilliant idea. I had wanted to start doing a weekly Project365 post and I thought, July marks the mid-point of the year so why not start then? Then July 1st rolled around and left before I realized that I even missed it. The good news was that August 1st would be a Sunday, so it actually turned out to be the perfect time to jump on board. With only 153 days left in the year (can you believe that???), it's my Project153.

So what's Project365 you ask? I'm sad to say that I don't know which brilliant blogger came up with the idea (and I should give credit where credit is due), but I do know it's big amongst scrapbookers. The idea is to take a picture of something you did every single day, whether it be exciting or just an ordinary, mundane thing, to record how you spent your year. I have a couple of blogging friends that do this including Jessica over at the Parsonage Family and my uber-talented friend Jan, who uses it to work on her photography. Jessica does it mainly just to record the daily events (as the project was originally intended) and Jan has taken it one step further and uses it as a way to play around with the different settings on her camera and then record what settings she used for each picture. For us photography geeks, it's a great learning tool and she takes gorgeous pictures- even of the everyday things.

For me, it will be a combination of the two. The photos will pretty much always be of just the simple, everyday ordinary activities in Mauneyland but if I use my nice camera (my Nikon D3000- again for your photography geeks) I vow to shoot in Manual mode and record what settings I used for each picture. I'm going to restrain myself and not edit them before posting so that I can look back as I learn and understand what settings I could've used to make it better, what works and what doesn't. I only use my camera on Manual mode when I'm shooting with a lot of natural light as I don't have a separate flash yet (hint, hint for all those of you already wondering what to get me for Christmas!), so occassionally I will shoot with my Nikon in Automatic mode so that my automatic flash does the work.

So now that I've totally bored you with the details, here are the events of August 1st-7th, 2010:

Sunday, 8/1 - Pool party at the Wolf's house! Thank you to Randy, Shelli, and the gang for a great afternoon! Our beach bum was pretty tired and preferred to hang out on the raft rather than be his usual, active self.

{Sony Cybershot}

Monday, 8/2 - I've been spending a lot (too much) time picking out paint colors these days for two rooms upstairs. I'm usually quite decisive, but lately I have been changing my mind quite a bit.

{Nikon: ISO 800, 38 mm, F/5, 1/50s}

Tuesday, 8/3 - Senor Crankypants was in the house. For some reason, the only thing that kept him content as I ate my lunch was a random bag of Cheezits I found in our pantry (to play with, not to eat!). I have no clue where they came from, but thank heavens they were there. And to think that I don't even like Cheezits!

{Sony Cybershot}

Wednesday, 8/4 - Okay, so I forgot to take a picture on Wednesday. I realized halfway through the week that it's very easy to forget and now I understand why it's a "Project." It's my first week so I feel like you should cut me some slack. I guess it's now my Project152.

Thursday, 8/5 - Some friends at church let us borrow an old walker that they have held onto for their upcoming grandchild. Jake loves it (although he tries to jump in it) and mommy loves that he's entertained while she's cooking.

{Sony Cybershot}

Friday, 8/6 - One of our favorite after-work activities is to watch the "traffic" during "rush hour" go by our house.

{Nikon: ISO 200, 18mm, F/22, 1/2s}

Saturday, 8/7: I peeked in the crib the other day and saw Jake and his stuffed animal playing a game of copycat. And yes, he fell asleep sideways. He almost always does as he likes to roll around and fight sleep before finally giving in.

{Nikon: Automatic Flash Mode}

So that was our week! I guess I better get the camera out and start again since it's Sunday. Let's see how long I can actually keep this weekly post going!