2009 365 project wrap up

I did it!

I can't believe it is over! The year looks so short when it is smooshed into a collage, doesn't it? Actually, when I look back on the posts, it seems to have gone by pretty quickly too. (and the winter seems shorter, which doesn't seem possible) I really thought that maybe I would forget to do it a few days here and there, but I didn't. It totally became second nature to look at everything as if it was a photo opportunity...and as I mentioned a couple weeks back, it really made me practice and get better at composing, shooting and editing. Since I got my SLR back in Feb, I really owe this project a lot of gratitude for learning how to use that thing as well. As they say, practice makes perfect.

Which brings me to 2010. I am not up for another 365 project. I need a break from the daily grind (...but I could definitely see myself doing it again in 2011!) And so I decided to take on different project - one that could arguably be harder than the 365 actually. (that's coming up in a separate post.)

So that's it! Below are 15 of my favorite images in no particular order and some stats from the year.

279 were taken in Madison

• 156 of those were taken at our home
• 25 at my place of work
• 20 downtown

37 were taken in Milwaukee

• 13 of those at my parents' house

10 were taken in Green Bay

6 were taken in Chicago (or the greater Chicago area)

24 of posts were taken in a store

19 of food
23 in or of a restaurant
80 of objects
16 of nature

Top 5 people who made appearances:

Jon - 37 appearances

Me - 34

Cooper 15

Tom 12

Meghan 9

12.31.09

And there she is. The last picture of this project! I went to Party City in hopes of finding those 2010 glasses so we could have a fun picture, but they didn't have any. boooo. Oh well. This picture was taken exactly at midnight - or maybe 11:59. We aren't much a pair that gets into the New Year revelry, so we went to dinner and watched (500) Days of Summer (which was awesome). Happy New Year! 2009 recap coming up...

12.30.09

My mom came up yesterday for the day. You see, we looooove Dexter in our family, but my parents' got rid of their premium channels and my mom wasn't able to watch this season. Travesty! I think she would get extra annoyed/jealous/anxious when Gina and I would talk about it and how good it was.

There was an easy solution though. She had a long Christmas break, so she took one day to come to our apartment and watch the entire 4th season on demand. We thought it would probably take her 2 days, but she was a trooper and finished it all in 1. I think it was a mixture of the episodes only really being about 45 mins long and not being able to stop watching when it was so good! It worked out well too because we were at work all day and she had work to do, so she could multitask.

Have any of you started watching it yet?? I think it is about time. Just think, you could watch all 4 seasons in just 4 days! :)

12.29.09

One thing I will miss about the mall during the Christmas season: See's Candy! I bet you just think this is just another chocolate/candy shop and might as well be Fanny Farmer or Buddy Squirrel, but you would be wrong! These suckers from See's are so freaking good! They actually give them out as free samples, so every time I would go to the mall, I would lurk around the kiosk until they would offer me one. :) Every time I would act surprised and thankful also...ha! If they only knew! St. Nick brought us a whole bag of them too, so I will be able to enjoy them for a little while longer still, even thought he kiosk is now gone.

And not only are they delicious, I think they are a great long lasting, low calorie dessert! If you are watching your weight, but craving chocolate, these only have 80 calories, taste super rich (almost like a hot chocolate in a sucker form) and take a long time to finish because they are so big. They have 3 other flavors too...the butterscotch is good, but the caffe latte and vanilla are not so much my cup of tea.

Make yourself a mental note to have one of these next Christmas.

12.28.09

Another one turns the big 2-9. Only one more year in your 20's, Meghan! Live it up! I stopped by her birthday lunch to wish her a happy bday. Wouldn't you know this was one of the few times I didn't have either of my cameras with me though. That hardly ever happened this year surprisingly. Thankfully Emily had hers and I was able to get my pic of the day. Whew! Close one!

12.27.09

On Sunday night, I headed to Milwaukee for our friend Christmas celebration. It was sort of thrown together at the last minute this year, so we didn't really know who to expect or what kind of treats everyone was bringing. The good news is only 1 person wasn't able to make it! We had a small gift exchange where everyone brought a $10ish gift of one of our favorite things. It was such a great idea! Not only were there some great items in the mix, it made shopping for the gift a lot easier. I brought 2 pairs of Commando underwear (actually a $60 value, but I got them on sale for $5 each! woohoo! Love that brand and that price!) I got 2 bars of soap from Lush, which I love! There was some bronzer, some lip conditioner, and a Bruegger's GC in the mix too. I think we are going to make this theme annual!

Once again, I was having too much fun chatting, that I didn't get any pics during the thick of the party. This was after mostly everyone had gone and Maureen was showing us a bridesmaid dress she is wearing for Rachel's wedding. I kind of love the lighting you get from a laptop...and I LOVE Meghan's xmas decor this year.

12.26.09

This is the second time this year that garbage on the side of the street was worthy of a pic of the day. The first is one of my fave pics of the year.

12.25.09

Coop and Mom in their Christmas outfits! We had a pretty low key christmas this year actually. Instead of driving all over the state making it to every Christmas celebration, we took our time getting ready on Christmas morning, and then made our way back to Madison and celebrated with Jon's family. It was niiiice.

12.24.09

Christmas Eve is always celebrated at my parents' house with the whole family on my mom's side. I really wish I had a better Christmas-y picture, but I guess I was just having too much fun partying and didn't really take many good pics.

We changed things up this year and played a little family trivia game that my cousin, aunt and sister put together. (That's what this picture is all about) It was so fun and we all had a lot of laughs reminiscing.

12.23.09

Here are all our gifts, wrapped so pretty under the tree. I really wish I didn't finish my shopping on the 23rd so I could have enjoyed looking at the presents for a longer time!

This was wrapping paper I bought last year actually and had a TON left over. I like that it doesn't scream, "Christmas!". I found a sheet of felt letter stickers on clearance at Archiver's, so I decided to make the little tags out of them. I used my fiskars extra large circle punch to make the circles. (I bought that thing for a wedding project, but have used it so many times! A great purchase) I think they turned out so cute! I am also pretty sure I am one of the few people I know who appreciate the art of a nicely wrapped present...

12.22.09

It took me a few years to come around to the skinny jean trend, but now I am the proud owner of not 1, but 3 (!!!) pairs! Who am I? I just couldn't deny how well my boots fit over these jeans any longer, so I jumped right in head first...and I LOVE them. The verdict is still out on whether I am gutsy enough to wear them sans boots...because lets be honest - skinny is really just a cute name for tapered.

12.21.09

So, a couple months ago I would be what you would have called a casual Beyonce fan...but then I caught this special called I Am...Yours that was on Thanksgiving and I am semi-obsessed. I didn't delete it off our dvr and have watched it at least 5 times since. Basically, I love it and love her. Then last Saturday while listening to Beyonce radio on Pandora, I heard an eerily familiar live version of Hello. I rushed over the computer and realized that a cd/dvd exists of the concert! It was the best news of the day and I made sure to go to my local Best Buy that same day to buy it. It now plays on repeat in my car.

12.20.09

Doing a little photo editing

12.19.09

Meghan, Tom and I went to the Governor's mansion on Saturday to check out the decorations. (They have it open to the public a few Saturdays out of the year, I think). The decor was kind of lacking, but the mansion was gorgeous...obvi. We also met the First Lady and acted like fools taking dumb pictures like this one. ha!

From there, we shopped all over town, until we dropped. I should clarify. I big Meg & Tom adieu around 9pm and I continued to shop until midnight. MIDNIGHT, people! That is how late both Target and Old Navy were open.

12.18.09

Forever 21 has mostly hits, but also a few of misses.

Meghan tried to tell me this wasn't that bad. Are you serious??!

12.17.09

Here is our xmas '09 xmas card! It was a little less creative than past years, but I still liked it. i sort of ripped off a design I saw on Minted that I really liked. I decided I could design it myself and not have to pay $2 (or whatever obscene amount it is) per card. It turned out pretty good I think! I made some fun front and back labels for our envelopes too. Making the labels is really half the fun for me. Isn't it fun when you get a letter in the mail though and the envelope is just as pretty as what is inside it? I think so! Most people probably don't even notice though and I waste too much time doing it, but oh well. It makes me happy :)

12.16.09

Are you in there, little Dexter?

:)

12.15.09

Last Tuesday we had our work Christmas pot luck and white elephant exchange. I was asked to take a pic of the whole group, which is how I got this shot. Otherwise it might have been a little weird for me to bust out a camera at a work luncheon, wouldn't it? I'll answer that - yes, it would be. Anyway, I am not a huge fan of pot lucks - something about a bunch of crock pots and food from a bunch of different places kind of grosses me out.

12.14.09

I had a request from a reader (Meghan. again. Geez, get your own blog, lady) to post a pic of our tree. So here she is! It might be a little anti-climactic, sorry. It is a little sparse this year.

12.13.09

On the heels of my last post re: Nancy & Tyler's FHP, I just HAD to give some props to these adorable favors Nancy had for everyone. She ordered these stickers from Tiny Prints and had chocolate covered pretzels and peppermint oreos for everyone to talk home. I mean really, top notch job, Nancy.