The Final Installment.

I know I promised to share some how-to photography links for today, but this girl is one pooped-out, worn-out lady right now so I have decided to save that part of the post for tomorrow.

And the reason I am one pooped-out lady would be because of one little reason…starting a new website is a lot of work. I knew it’d be a lot of work and I am totally okay with that just because I believe passionately in the value of sharing ideas and learning from each other. I also don’t mind the work right now because it’s so much fun as well! I honestly love every part of it…but it takes up hours and hours of time. Right now I’m running on approximately 4 hours of sleep per night for over a week now. Six hours of sleep per night? I can handle that. Four hours of sleep per night makes mama a grumpy bear indeed…and gives her a massive all-day headache.

So, instead of finding all of my favorite photography links this afternoon, Weston and I laid on the couch and “watched cartoons together.” We don’t do this very often, but some days just call for laziness and yesterday was one of those day. I’m hoping and praying right now that I’m not the only mom who has done this! “Watching cartoons together” consisted of Weston watching cartoons, and then telling me about his favorite parts of the cartoon while I would grunt “Huh?!” and then go back to snoozing a bit. He then told me “Mommy, this is my favoritest day ever!”

Things will settle down soon though and I’m glad for that. The website will be up and running and it will move into a specific, day-to-day routine. I will then be able to spend my time meeting more new people who are passionate about the hobby that I love so much. And I am so looking forward to being inspired by their work. Those two reasons alone are why I am excited about I ♥ Faces. It gives me chills to think of the fun we are going to have over there!

And, without further ado, here is the last installment of my review of the photography blog I had last year…”My Year In Photos 2008.”

November:

Halloween was finished and I began to edit all of the photos I had taken. I totally rocked the kid’s costumes this year! 🙂

Weston and I went to our small community center to vote. And I then spent the day in a melancholy funk when I realized that he would never be able to go voting with me again. My baby will be heading off to kindergarten next year.

I included this one just so I can say what a disappointing evening Ohio experienced on Monday night. Ugh!

“The Three Amigos” (my youngest son and his two cousins) had a fun photo shoot at the park. I took the “magical path” photo of them on the same day as this one.

I took this capture of Weslea on the day of our first snow. This photo melts my heart.

I went on my first “Photography Drive” with my friends from church. What an amazing, wonderful learning experience that was!

And Ohio became a very, very cold place to be.

December:

I loved this windblown look that Weslea was sporting one day.

I experienced one of the highlights of the year when Debbie (from Blog Around The World) asked me to write a post about my community for her to feature on her blog. I met so many wonderful blogging friends that day.

I “borrowed” my sister’s 50mm 1.4 lens and “forgot” to give it back to her for a few days…or maybe weeks. It was love at first photo.

While I was “borrowing” her lens, I bribed the kids to sit nicely for Christmas card photos.

And then I never printed the photos or sent out my cards. {sigh}

Our family went on a Christmas Lantern Tour that was a completely beautiful experience. (Beautiful for everyone…except Weston that is. He proclaimed over and over again how “This is not fun mom! You said this would be fun, but it’s not! It’s boring!”) It was not an event that ranked up there as fun on the four-year-list of “Awesome Things To Do.”

I did a quick photo shoot of my neighbor girl and her friend before they attended their 8th Grade Dance. They were so beautiful and excited about the upcoming event.

I went on a second “Photography Drive” with my friends from church. I opened this photo in Photoshop and looooooooved it. I don’t know if it’s because everything is gloomy and gray in Ohio right now, but this photo and it’s vibrant color just struck my eye.

Remember the funky photos from my flappity, flappin, flappy eyeball post? This photo was taken on that same day.

And this one was taken that same day as well. It was a good photography day for me!

My youngest brother asked his girlfriend to marry him on Christmas evening. She said…“yes!”

We celebrated a peaceful Christmas together here at The Arthur Clan.

And ended the year with a fun, silly photo!

If you are planning to start a “Year In Photos” blog of your own, will you please let me know? I would love to try to follow along as you begin your own photography journey this year.

You can find my new year in photos blog at theArthurClan Photos.