happy new year // a look back on 2012

it's almost 2013?! Does anybody know where on earth the time went this year. It literally flew past me and left me surprised in it's wake. I've never had time go so fast. lol

These are all my favorite photos from this past year. And I can't help posting them all again. They are memories and I love them. :)

This is me... excited with what the future holds. Sixteen is just exciting, three are so many possibilities!

I am just a teeny tiny bit sad that this little one is growing up so fast. Sometimes i wish that little ones would just stay little forever. Life is so uncomplicated when you are 10 mos. old. :)

This photo ^ brought my first realization that I can do something with photography. That i can make something beautiful after all.

And this photo made me so excited for days. I felt that it captured what I was seeing exactly, and proved to me that this is something I need to pursue. I needed to be able to do something beautiful. And photography was that thing I needed to do.

And as a "I'm sixteen so lets celebrate by doing something crazy..." I decided to cut my hair off. And I am so happy with the results. (I'm not sure what Thomas thinks about it though. I sent him some photos and he never told me what he thought, so we'll have to see what he says when he sees me in exactly 29 days and a few hours. I can't wait to see him. You can't image how much I've missed my big brother in this past year. Tonight at 10:00 was when I saw him last... yes I'm sentimental... :)

Sunsets have become something that I love to capture. There is something amazing about each one, and I love them. :)

This.is.my.life. 

:) I couldn't resist sharing this one again. He's such a goofball.

Such a big boy now. I don't have any clue where all the time went, people. Seems like he was just a toddler yesterday!

...fall leaves...clouds...blue-sky...sunshine...beauty...

Okay so this one should have been the one to say:

this.is.my.life.

This was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. And I am so proud of myself. :)

The sun setting behind Mt. St. Helens while we climbed Mt. Adams. Brings back memories of cramps... (:p) cold...really cold...and the verse I can do all things though Christ who strengthens me.  I guess that wasn't really applying it as it was meant to be applied, but it made me feel better, 'kay. :)

This was the first real photo shoot I ever did. Isn't it cute?!

This mountain is such a huge thing to me. :) That might sound crazy to most of you, but I am perfectly serious. I love this mountain so much, and the sight of it makes me insanely happy! 

Every photographer needs a photo like the one above. So go find somewhere with trees like this and take a photo like this, because it is such a standard "photographer" photo. totally. :)

Mt. St. Helens. Someday I am going to climb her, and look down into the crater, and be overwhelmed by her beauty.

I love flowering photos.

Pretty...

Ditto...

Ditto ditto...

This is one of my 8 babies. Yes, I did just say that. :)

I love this photo, blurriness and all.

The hair... oh the hair!!

 <3

Cute

Cute

 cuteness... 

yumminess. (Sometime I will share the recipie here, it's so complicated, seriously, it will take forever to write it all down... yah. :)

My puppy... who is now 6.

<3

2013………… somebody tell me that it’s a joke, and it’s not really December 31^st 2012, please!! I am shocked that this year went so fast, and that tonight, in only 1 hrs. and 30 minutes (and seconds) it will be January 1^st 2013. It seems to me (And I found, after reading other posts today, that I am not the only one that feels this) that it should be August still… but here we are. J

    This has been a good year. And trust me; in January I didn’t think I would say that. J I was pretty sure that my life was the pits and everything was just spiraling down from there. J I think I was a little melodramatic in the first six months of this year, and have really only recently  been realizing that life is really an amazing gift and I need to get over my “problems” and enjoy it, but I am so glad that I have finally learned that. J

This year has been full of crazy adventures:

…Climbing Mt. Adams

…Turning sixteen

…Getting my drivers permit

…Learning that photography isn’t just pointing the lens at something and clicking the shutter.

…discovering BBC movies.

…Cutting my hair off chin length

…rediscovering piano, and finding that is stunning

…being tagged on my blog for the first time

…buying a Rebel Kiss DSLR (or T2i as it is better known as here in the states. Kiss is its Korean name. How cool is that?! J)

…canning 450+ jars of preserved food w/my mom this fall

…hiking Eagle Creek, Dog Mountain, and one other place that escapes me at the moment

…finally realizing that I don’t have to be amazing at volleyball to have fun; I can look like a dork and feel awesome at the same time!!! J

…I rediscovered the lost art of Bread making. Actually my mom makes amazing bread, I just discovered the fun of using different recipes and experimenting with deliciousness.

…I have improved with my writing skills(!!!) a lot this past year (if I do say so myself.)

So, those might not be considered crazy adventures, but those were the highlights of my year. J  And these photos are my favorites from this year. J

So, I will try to do a New Year’s post tomorrow, full of resolutions and all that, but tonight I have some other things to do… and this post is getting too long anyway.

     Dear 2012,

          You were an interesting year, I must admit. You were full of surprises and fun, and crazy adventures that I wouldn’t have missed for the world. Thanks for coming. I know I’ll never see you again, and even though that makes me just a little sad, I am very exciting about welcoming in 2013. So farewell, I salute you. J

     Love,

          The sixteen-year-old-photographer-in-bare-feet

So here’s to the future, lovelies! Have a lovely new year!

xo,

103 in 2013

I have seen this idea around on different blogs, and have decided that it sounds like a lot of fun. So here’s my list of 103 things I want to do/ learn/accomplish in 2013. J

103 in 2013 

1.    Start writing and finish a novel.

2.    Meet someone whose blog I follow

3.    Find the big dipper entirely on my own.

4.    Learn the entire Canon in D on the piano.

5.     Attend to a play

6.     Make another ‘50’s style swing dress.

7.     Make a ruffle fabric maxi skirt

8.    Finish reading the Anne Shirley series.

9.     Watch Les Miserables

10.   Meet a friend for coffee

11.   Have a photo-shoot Multnomah Falls

12.   Make a denim skirt

13.   Refashion an ugly thrift store find into something really cute

14.   Start exercising 3-4 times a week

15.   Keep a list of every single book I read. (This is so hard!)

16.   Memorize one verse a week.

17.   Make an inspiration board for my wall.

18.   Organize my blog posts better.

19.    Bungee Jump

20.   Save $1000 dollars

21.   Get my license

22.   Learn to actually hit the target when I shoot guns.

23.   Give a girlfriend a gift for no reason other than to say “I love you.”

24.   Learn to do hairstyles on my sisters.

25.   Sew my little sisters matching dresses.

26.   Get patio do a photo shoot.

27.   Sew a pretty dress for myself

28.   journal more frequently

29.   Learn to accessorize more with my outfits.

30.   Host a summer {evening} tea party for my friends.

31.   Learn to Swing dance.

32.  Buy some really wild earrings {that I like} and wear them 

33.   Make gluten free bread that is really delicious.

34.   Make it a week without cheating on my diet.

35.   Have a friend over spontaneously and make dinner together. J

36.   Buy a pair of heels. (Not too high, just heels.)

37.   Go on some hikes.

38.   Do a 40 followers giveaway on life’s melody

39.   Have someone guest post on life’s melody

40.  Learn how to take a photo of a sun flare. J

41.   Learn to pose people for photos.

42.   Get contacts.

43.   Take my brother to Starbucks.

44.   Make my mom a skirt.

45.   Learn to arrange flowers.

46.   Teach my little siblings a craft.

47.   Go skiing with Thomas.

48.   Comment on every blog I follow         

49.   Go to the beach.

50.   Eat at 2 different restaurants with friends. {and order something different than we normally get.}

51.   Finish watching the Love Comes Softly series with Hannah Elise

52.   Teach Luke a song on the piano besides Mary had a little Lamb. He’s got that one down to a science!

53.   Go swimming somewhere and not be grossed out with the water. (like a clean stream or something.)

54.   Bake cookies at 10:00 at night just because.

55.    Make an omelet at midnight, while watching a movie.

56.   Dance in a rain shower.

57.   Cliff jump again.           

58.   Buy something for my mom just because.

59.   Learn to swing dance. (Linde hop!! J)

60.   Teach my yellow lab, Sunny, to roll over.

61.   Start writing 1000 words a day

62.   Sing a song completely through every day for a week. {Doesn't have to be the same song, just a song.

63.   Do a post of quotes that I love.

64.   Take at least ten photos a day for a month.

65.   Do a book review on my blog.

66.   Sing a song backwards, just for the fun of it.

67.   Read a book aloud to my little sisters.

68.   Do a 30 day challenge on my blog.

69.   Host a cookie exchange

70.   Make matching skirts with a friend, and then wear them somewhere together.

71.   Watch a “big kid” movie with my 14-year-old- brother.

72.   Buy a bubble necklace.

73.   Smile at myself every morning as I put on makeup, for a month. J

74.   Make a memory jar.

75.   Make a cheesecake.

76.   Learn some different hairstyles to do with my now chin length hair.

77.   Have a tea party with my little sisters.

78.   Get better at volleyball.

79.   Learn to do the waterfall braid.

80.  Learn to do the fishtail braid.

81.   Perfect the French braid. J

82.    Buy a cute hat. {Fedora type…J}

83.   Wear said cute hat in public

84.   Print some of my photos.

85.   Take cookies to an elderly widow.

86.   Have my photo taken, so I finally have some photos of me that I like.

87.   Buy more cd’s so that I don’t listen to the same couple cd’s over and over. J like I do.

88.   Take a picture of a friend {without them knowing it} and frame it and give it to them. J

89.   Get a part time job somewhere.

90.   Buy something for an amazing deal at a thrift store that I LOVE.

91.   Learn more about my camera’s settings.

92.   Read a book aloud to my little brothers.

93.   Watch more Jimmy Stewart movies.

94.   Go through my closet and get rid of the things I won’t ever wear.

95.   Do more housecleaning jobs.

96.   Buy something off Etsy.

97.   Babysit for someone other than my mom. J

98.   Read Emma.

99.   Have a BBC sleepover with some of my friends.

100.   Buy more old/antique books to add to my collection

101.   Hike Eagle creek again.

102.    Read several more Charles Dickens books.

103.   See a shooting star.

This is my list of "things I want to do" in 2013, and I am going to try really hard to do all of

them. That way it will seem like I'm being really productive.... :) Some of these are silly (55, 

56, 62... :) and others are things I have really really wanted to do for a while now, and it would 

seem likely that I just might be able to accomplish them in the up coming year. I am so 

excited about this new year. The possibly are endless!! :)

What are you looking forward to most in this New Year?

xo,

of self-portraits, birthday cakes, and gingerbread

This was the almond poppy seed cake I had for my birthday. This cake is seriously the best ever. I’ll have to post the recipe some time, because if you haven’t tasted it, you just haven’t lived!! J

 No, he isn't sick, he’s tired. We went for a walk a couple weeks ago, (even though it was only like 30 degrees out there.) and we bundled him up so much, I guess, he was just so comfortable he decided to sleep.J Isn't the hat adorable?

This is my hair. Before I cut it. J You can’t really see how long it is, but it was about mid back, length.

This is my hair now, after I cut it. And I love it, people. It’s so fun and different, and I was so ready for something different with my hair. (And yes, these were taken in the mirror in my bathroom. 'Cause I'm cool like that. :)

There, you can see how long it was. And don’t bother counting the candles. All you need to know is that I feel old now. J

This kid is so cute. And he is slightly scared of me, but after I read him and the rest of the little boys stories for a while the last time they were here, I think he likes me now. :) Aren't his eyes amazing?! :)

Gingerbread, with a whole ton of delicious whip cream on top. Gingerbread has been my “go to holiday food” this Christmas season, as my mom has been on a major health kick for awhile, and she only allows healthy desserts. J So I needed something that made me think Christmas, but didn't taste that healthy. This is what I came up with, and I am in love. J

I made this apron for a girl I did the gift exchange with a few months ago. Cute, yes? I won’t be making myself one, however, because the ruffles make me look six months pregnant. And that’s not something I’d like to look. J

Piano keys. Need I say more?!

Geez, this post has lots of photos of me, but I guess that’s okay, as I don’t post photos of myself ever, and it’s almost Christmas, so I can do anything I want, right… right.

I always have extra photos that just don't fit into a post, and so, eventually, they usually all end up in a random post, without much of a title, but has all the photos that really make up my life, the way it really is. I guess that's why I usually enjoy other people's random posts so much, because they seem a bit more real, more them. So that's what this post is, my random everyday life, in photos. :)    

     Which do you prefer random posts that really have no point in site, or regular posts that people do on specific topics on specific days? :)

xo,

Becca Anne