obsessed...

for the past nine months, i have been trying to teach myself photoshop. this is not an easy thing to figure out on your own.  in an effort to learn stuff faster, i started poking around the internet. i followed blogs, read 'recipes'... and i experimented.  endlessly.

this week, it became an O B S E S S I O N.

being that i am on vacation, i wanted to go to cape cod but that didn't happen. i didn't read a book or take a walk, or go for a ride, or go shopping, or even watch HGTV.  nope.  didn't do much of anything, except experiment with photoshop.   i got up at 530am and went to bed at 11pm.  with my computer on my lap.

i am exhausted but i learned a lot.  and mostly from kim klassen.  her website and blog, along with the people that post there, have not only been a great resource for learning, but also a huge source of inspiration.  and because of how much i already learned there, i decided to take a photoshop class from kim klassen cafe.  a real class.  i already signed up, i paid and i committed.   i am scared (commit?? eeeek!) but more than that,  i am really excited!

now i have to figure out how to retain what i learn... not only on photoshop but on blogger, too.  i have to start over, re-learn, every time i use it.  i need a hard drive accessory thing for my brain, with a folder for how-to's...

meantime, i am posting some experiments... hopefully, i can remember some of how i created them :)

a safe little hidey-hole...

each year, i take the week between Christmas and New Year's off from work.  its time for a rest after the craziness at work and the stress to have (and deliver) a wonderful holiday at home.   i usually spend hours - or days - putzing, reading, snacking, resting...

and i reflect.   on the year behind me, along with the year in front of me...
i SO look forward to this one week because it is all mine.  joey is at work, so i don't feel like i need to chat, explain, eat a meal...nothing.   i can do whatever.   i LOVE it :)  

and the best part of this week is that, in my mind, it is a FREE week.  it's not part of 2011, nor is it part of 2012.   it's a safe little hidey-hole.    an in-between week that has no goal from 2011 to live up to, no dream for 2012 to push thru, no p r e s s u r e from either the inside out, or the outside in.   the only thing i really want to have accomplished at the end of the week is to gain a little bit of self-awareness.  

this year, i decided to look forward first.  where do i want to be at the end of 2012?  what do i want to put into this coming year, what do i want to get out this coming year?  

last year, i needed to see way into the future, i needed to take action towards retiring.  so we bought the house at cape cod.  huge deal for us, HUGE.  and, now that we did it and can look back, it feels right.  phew...

this year, what? 
this year, i need to move forward.  i think, besides the house, 2011 was a year of replaying things that worked for me other years. . .

• i did photo hunt word of the day in 2010, and different versions of it in 2011.  all fun but not as impactful as the original to me.  
• i did events at work that had worked other years, tweaked them for 2011, all fun but not with the success i was hoping for, or had seen in the past. 
• i went for rides, i gardened, i connected with friends on facebook...all good stuff but not the same level of fulfillment anymore. 

eek.  what was wrong???
i felt confused a good part of the year.  makes me kinda sad when i look back,  i was a little bit lost.  but, as i look back from this little hidey-hole of my in-between week,  i think it was all as it should be.  i think it was a time to take sideward steps.  i hung on to 'stuff' this past year, and i think that was ok.   i kept learning and refining, tweaking along the way. 

but maybe its now time to let go...
letting go is never easy for me, and i'm not sure what i need to let go OF yet, but i am feeling some twinges of something new poking at me, in a good way.  i am also feeling the start of a new outlook for the new year...
not yet ready to put it in words, but for the first day of my favorite week, i've got a happy smile and a light heart and that's really all i need today :)