A fresh take on the future.

 I've been wanting to make one of these lists for a while now, (they were all the rage a few years ago).  I'm late to get on the bandwagon as usual.  The beginning of a new year feels like the time to get organized, regroup, plan for the year ahead.  I thought 2009 went pretty well for the most part, but now I want to refine.  Take what I do and do it better.  Be more efficient, be more creative, be more effective, be more aware, be more organized, BE.  DO. LIVE.  

And I want to communicate more and better.  So say hello!

Here's how the list works.  You come up with 101 goals that you want to accomplish in 1001 days - it can be grand and difficult or something simple.  The biggest rule is NO WAFFLING OR BEING WISHY WASHY.  Things have to be clearly worded.  Vague-ness = being chicken.  That's something else I want to do for 2010 - take a page out of Jean Luc Picard's captain's log and boldly go where no one has gone before.   Will I accomplish all of these goals?  I dunno, some of them are pretty far reaching - but like dreams - looking up keeps you headed in the right direction. 

1 0 1   in   1 0 0 1

Start Date:  January 6th 2010

End Date:  September 12th 2012

1. Shoot a destination wedding   completed 4/30/10
   
2. Open a studio space where I can sit down with my clients
3. Have my car detailed and keep it that way for a month
4. Plan a girl’s weekend away and take the trip with my friends
5. Learn and incorporate lightroom into my workflow
6. Take one absolutely fantastic group picture
7. Walk at least one mile per day for a month
8. Get some kind of affordable health insurance
9. Make apple butter from scratch and learn to can it
10. Buy a house
11. Update my website to show product examples
12. Do some kind of photo spread for GSUSA
13. Host a dinner party
14. Send a secret to PostSecret
15. Go to a Steeler Game at Heinz Field
16. Start a retirement plan
17. Attend a Halloween Costume Party
18. Fly
19. Take a ballroom dancing class
20. Get down to my goal weight
21. Participate in Race for the Cure
22. Visit the Pittsburgh zoo and new aquarium    completed 5/25/10
    
23. Plant a tree
24. Go antiquing and buy something for my dream house
25. Plan a surprise birthday party
26. Do a photo shoot for an animal shelter
27. Get my passport
28. Re-do the 1997 road trip
29. Shower and wash my hair in a rainstorm
30. Back-up ALL the 2009 photos in external hard drive completed 3/31/10 
31. Make a quilt
32. Register to vote and follow through
33. Photo essay on “Camps”
34. Show some work in a gallery
35. Attend WPPI annual convention
36. Spend a weekend at a Bed & Breakfast
37. Take my Dad to the Boundary Waters
38. Photograph the Amish
39. Pay off my student loan
40. Have photos done of myself that I LOVE
41. Save something from extinction
42. Get published in a magazine (with my name on my work this time)
43. Teach a workshop
44. Snorkel in the Caribbean
45. Take a bath (since we’ve only had a shower all my life)
46. Advertise for 1 month on a billboard over a major highway
47. Dance all night at a wedding where I am not the photographer
48. Spend an afternoon on a sailboat
49. Send out anniversary cards to my wedding clients
50. Play laser tag with 2 or more friends
51. Visit Dunton Hot Springs, Telluride, Colorado or Paws Up Resort, Montana
    
52. Carry out a random act of kindness for a group of deserving people
53. Streamline album design process
54. Win a photo contest
55. Start entering photo contests
56. Audition for survivor
57. Take a totally spontaneous weekend trip
58. Seriously look into laser vision correction
59. Update the layout of my blog     completed 4/6/10
60. Set up kick-ass home office in a new house
61. Buy a new used car
62. Shoot images every month for the calendar
63. Finish my best friend’s wedding album
64. Photograph a bald eagle
65. Host a campfire cookout night
66. Participate in the polar bear swim
67. Take 30,000 photos in a year
68. Print and frame personal photos for new house
69. Visit Alaska
70. Go to yoga class once a week for two months in a row
71. Set-up and implement a customer satisfaction survey
72. Visit a National Park
73. Blog everyday for a month
74. Cook a whole thanksgiving dinner myself
75. Get a fancy camera strap  completed 3/11/10
    
76. Buy a video camera and learn to use it
77. Start hosting PhotoEscape and get people to show up
78. Plant a garden
79. Spend a day at a theme park
80. Go to a drive in movie three times completed 7/2010
    
81. Start recycling
82. Go snow tubing
83. Go tubing on the river
84. Compile recipes
85. Send out photo xmas cards for my business
86. Offer wedding photography away free to a give-away winner
87. Find out my credit score
88. Go camping with Jon
89. Get a dog
90. Get an eye exam  completed 3/11/10
    
91. Personal goal  completed 1/25/10
    
92. Visit the Baltimore relatives
93. Get some photos published in PA publication
94. Camp in a YURT   completed 5/14/10
    
95. Go fishing  completed 4/24-25/10
    
96. Get my kayak out at least 5 times every season
97. Take more photos of Sean and I
98. Take more personal photos of family and friends and I
99. Put a face to my name on my website   completed 2/5/10
    
100. Go on one planned “date night” per month for a year
101. Update all written materials, contracts, print portfolio, etc.

 And now, because everything is better with pictures - here's some shots from this past summer's fireworks night at Saltsburg Canal Days.  That's the old grist mill on the right and the vendors were set up along the old canal walkway.