goodbye, o-nine... hello, twenty-ten! {a year in pictures}

my favorite photo of 2009 is below,

but first...

with just minutes left to spare in this year,
i just finished the monumental task of uploading
many of my 2009 photos to my flickr site.
{the words "my flickr site" above is a link,
as are all the purple words in this post.}

i made this set mostly so i could create a set
of all my favorite photos from this blog in '09.
but then i realized it was
too hard to pick favorites,
so i added all the ones i consider "good"
or the ones that really catch my eye or move me
...whether good or not.


i'll provide a link at the end of this post,
should you want to go peruse the set.
but first i want to say something
about this here blog
{which saw it's first full year over 2009 }.

from my first post in '09
to this, my last post of this year,
it's been a wild ride!

and i've enjoyed sharing
every part of it with you.
you've watched me lose a job,
grow concerned about money,
and then find work again.

you've looked at a lot of my photos
and read a lot of my thoughts.
you've given me lots of good ideas
and great feedback.

you've become my friends and photography peers.
and i've cherished every minute of it.
thank you.

i sort of did a similar post last year,
so i thought i would keep up the tradition
{only this one will be a bit shorter }...

here are three of your top favorite posts of 2009
{based on feedback/comments received }:
where are you right now?
a bowl of cherries...
miraculous

those were definitely among my favorites, too.
but here are a few more of my personal favorites:
what is this cord...?
conversation with a tree
i haven't seen this day before
{the first two were written by me,
the third is lyrics to one of my favorite songs.}
and this was one of my favorite wordless posts:
get-away

as i said a few posts back,
you all have been one of
the best parts of my 2009!
not only have i discovered
how much i love photography
in this past year,
but i have also discovered
how much i love blogging
and making true friends through our blogs.

i wish you all the happiest
of new years this 2010.
i look forward to meeting new people
here in blogland,
and i hope to become even closer
to the friends i've already made.
i wish you all a very blessed new year!

and now for my favorite photo from 2009.

{i wrote a little more about it here on flickr.}

to see the rest of the collection
of my favorite shots of '09,
you can visit my flickr faves set.
there are close to 365 in the set
{yes, i took a lot of pictures this year },
so i like to think of it as about one photo a day
{even though that's not how
i took all of them -- one per day }.
if you are interested in seeing
the way i have developed
over the past year in my photography,
feel free to take a look there.

anyway, i hope i've brought you as much
color and joy over this past year
as you've brought to me.
thanks for everything!

happy HAPPY HAPPY NEW year!

i wish

this christmas,
i wish
for regret to turn to acceptance,
for pain to turn to healing,
for need to turn to abundance,
for tears to turn to laughter,
for weariness to turn to rest,
for void to turn to fulfillment,
for heartache to turn to ecstasy,
for forgetting to turn to remembering,
for offended to turn to forgiveness,
for doubt to turn to belief,
for loneliness to turn to friendship,
for pride to turn to humility,
for weakness to turn to strength,
for dryness to turn to quenched,
for questions to turn to answers,
for dreams to turn to reality,
for barren to turn to fruitful,
for uncertainty to turn to confidence,
for mistakes to turn to lessons,
for despair to turn to hope,
for disappointment to turn to surprise,
for sickness to turn to well,
for disbelief to turn to faith,
for exhaustion to turn to endurance,
for fear to turn to courage,
for cold to turn to warmth,
for skepticism to turn to trust,
for disrespect to turn to honor,
for directionless to turn to vision,
for tempestuous to turn to calm,
for noise to turn to quiet,
for impatience to turn to patience,
for shame to turn to unashamed,
and
for sorrow to turn to joy...

...in my life,
in yours,
and in the lives of everyone i know
and even those i don't know.

merry christmas.

just thought i would pop in to say a quick hello

less than five days until we head for wisconsin
for what will hopefully be a white christmas
with my husband's family.
i'm nowhere near ready...
still so much to do.
i hope this day finds you rested
and ready for the holidays.
i'll stop back once more
before christmas eve or day
to send my warmest wishes.
meanwhile, enjoy these twinkly shots
from the festively lit
historic downtown near my house.

blessings,
~georgia

happy birthday, ethereal

it started as an idea and dream
just over a year ago.
but it launched
with the first post
exactly one year ago today.

it's not amazing or groundbreaking photography.
but it's moments caught
from two photography lovers.
and it's only going to get better.
i guarantee it.

i'm so glad she and i started this space.
twenty-two posts later,
we have no plans for quitting.
only for continuing...
at whatever pace life allows.

this was...
my favorite post so far.
my second favorite post so far.
my third favorite post so far.
but that's just my opinion.
go see them all to decide for yourself.

maybe in this second year
we'll get it together
and finally do our first interview.
hopefully.

thanks to those of you who visit
and follow
and comment.
you've made it worth it
to put it all out there!
we really do enjoy it
and we will always love the ethereal
in moments captured.

~gigi and georgie {ethereal-two }

~eSe~

dearest
ese,
december
12th
has
brought
us
many
things.
wonderful
snowfalls.
frank
sinatra.
but
by
far,
the
best
thing
it's
ever
brought
was
you.
a
gift
from
God
above.
i
love
you
beyond
words.
i'm
more
than
blessed
to
call
you
friend.
happy
happy
happy
birthday!
we're
so
looking
forward
to
spending
your
birthday
with
you
guys.
~georgie

a little letter from me

dear friends,

i'm going to get some things in order. actually, i had already started -- many of my resolutions came early this season. i think blogging and photography might be keeping me from accomplishing some of those very important things.

i'll pop in from time to time -- to say merry christmas and such. but i think i've got to focus more strongly on about five areas of my life. so please excuse my absence. i truly love all of you, my cherished readers and friends. thanks for being one of the best parts of my 2009.

love,
georgia

some summer fare to chase the winter blues and a request for your help

sorry for the long post, but i could use your feedback, so i'd truly appreciate any who will read {especially the second half } and respond.

i made a caprese salad for dinner tonight and last night. it doesn't matter what time of year it is... i always absolutely enjoy the flavors in the combination of tomatoes, mozzarella and basil with some olive oil and balsamic vinegar. i know this is usually more in season for summer, but thanks to trader joe's grocery stores, i can have it even in the middle of winter.

and it's the perfect treat that also meets my new standard of trying to eat more raw foods. i've always heard how good it is to have as much raw food in the diet as one can. and i try to adhere to this as much as i can. but in my fight with this cough, i've put on the boxing gloves of good health to try to combat it. i just started taking vitamins again, too. {oh, and for all my second moms out there that have been worried about me and telling me to go to the doc, i made an appointment for tomorrow morning. aren't you proud of me?}

anyway, i decided to take some pics of my salad, 'cause not only do these taste delish, but they always look so pretty! the colors are almost too lovely to eat. while i was shooting the salad, b. walked into the kitchen and the following conversation took place.

him...
"silly, don't you know you're supposed to
eat your food, not take pictures of it?"

me...
"any true photographer
knows that's just not true."

him...
"any photographer except a starving one."

haha! he's a wise one. or is it, wise guy?

~~~

okay... now on to asking for your help. does anyone else use firefox for their internet browser? if so, is your browser showing what mine is when i view the post from two days ago... the one titled "i set my camera down"? for some strange reason, there is a big grey rectangle in the bottom left area of the top photo of that post. it's not in the image -- i double checked. and it's weird, 'cause if i click on the post title so that only that post is showing, the image is fine. but when it is viewed with all the other posts, it's got that funny box.

i don't like that, because the top photo is one of my favorite in the group. i tried everything imaginable to get rid of it, but to no avail. what's also weird is that if i look at my page in safari browser, it looks fine. but i did look on a friend's computer today who also uses firefox, and it was bad there, too. this makes me think it's a firefox issue, and not my computer. so if you use firefox, let me know what you see. or if you have a blogger blog, let me know if you've ever had weirdness like this on yours and what you did about it. pleeeeeeeasey??

and i have one more request for your feedback. while looking to see if the box showed up on my friend's monitor, i also noticed something else that i had been somewhat worried might be the case. i saw how faded and washed out all of my photos look. this was a new monitor that is calibrated correctly, so i know it wasn't just their setup. my monitor is very old and faded, but also very dim. {i have the brightness turned up as high as it will go.} so when i open my photos in photoshop, everything looks way too dark, and i end up lightening all my photos as a result. and the weird thing is that photoshop causes my photos to look even darker than when they are uploaded to my blog. so i am compensating even more heavily to accommodate. well, tonight i discovered my fear to be true. kind of gives new meaning to my blog name, "it's just how i see things".... a lot different from you all, apparently. {unless you have an old dark monitor, too.}

so... please tell me. {i won't be offended. just be honest, 'cause this will help me for the future.} are my photos too light and washed out? if so, i'm moving that new computer to the top of santa's list! i would just ask for a new monitor, but the mac i want is a monitor-included model. buying a new screen for my current computer would be a waste if i get the computer i am holding out for. help. please help!

i's back

what did you do?

i actually started this post last thursday, which is when i actually joined the Y {as in M.C.A.}. but i was not physically or mentally feeling all that up to blogging, so it comes a bit late.

i figured it's high-time to get back to the gym and work out regularly. i was a member with b. at another fitness center, but it is not conveniently located for my new work location and hours, so i found i was not going and thus, paying for my membership was a waste. it was a must to make this move. i needed to get moving again, for so many reasons... my physical shape, my energy level, to boost my spirits, to get my mind off some things. but the biggest motivator was this persistent dry {and sometimes painful } cough.

i've not said much about it lately, but it still lingers, and as it has been over a month now, i'm growing concerned. i thought maybe working out would get things moving and loosen things up. thursday night, all i did was walk briskly on the treadmill for 20 minutes, and toward the end, i began to taste blood {which i assumed was coming up from my lungs, because they also hurt after this mild exertion }. so now i'm at the point of admitting, "okay... it's time to go to the doctor."

now i just have to find one. we were told we could not return to our former physician's office, because we were unable to keep up with the payments {which have since been paid, but they said we can never go back, even once we pay them }. good thing this isn't a one-doctor town. i don't want to mess around with this anymore. have any of you had something like this? thoughts and suggestions are welcome.

on another note. i've been blessed and amazed for over a year now, at the friends i've made and encouragement i've received from blogging. countless are the comments and e-mails i've received from readers who've become friends that i truly cherish. so i want to say thank you now. especially for some recent ways you have reached out. like in the comments on the post below. and beyond our blogs in forms of notes and gifts mailed and e-mails sent... elizabeth, ginny, elk, jaime and char. these all came at a time when i needed the encouragement most. thank you.

so, enough about me. i really do want to know... what did you get to do today?

i set my camera down...

missing him too much,
wanting them too badly,
feeling too ill.

but then i realized,
that's not me.
and i thought of my dad
who set his trumpet down many times,
but even when life was hard
{and it often was },
he always picked it back up.
because he was a trumpet player.
not for his living.
but for his passion.

and so i picked it up again.

untitled

trapped mainly by wanting things to
be exactly as they are,
only better

~story people