Tag: activities

365 Days Later

A year ago today, I decided to challenge myself by participating in a Photo A Day Challenge. What started as a test to see if I could snap a new photo over the course of the month became a year long contest between myself, friends and followers. In the beginning, I used pre-made monthly challenges from www.theidearoom.net which served to direct my creativity. I found myself turning my eye away from the easy to get shot, instead looking for the clever. I posted all of my photos to my Instagram account and later, created a Tumblr dedicated only to the challenge.

As the months passed, I created my own monthly challenges, picked up some followers on IG and Twitter as I chronicled my progress with the challenge. Several hashtags were created after I challenged my blog readers to pick up their camera phones and snap along with me. It has been all in good fun and I’m so thankful for the experience that I’ve had.

I have been looking back over the photos I’ve amassed and they tell an interesting story. I can distinctly remember the reasons why I chose certain subjects for certain days. I can tell when I was phoning it in and when I was really trying to stretch myself, stylistically. I’ve grown as an artist, as a photographer, as a visual storyteller.

I’ve been asked if I’d do this challenge again and as of today, right now, the answer is probably not. While this one was great and it pushed me to look for the extraordinary in the ordinary, I’m ready to take on other challenges. There are a variety of 365 projects that I can tackle. I can make them as broad as I did with this past challenge, or specific as only blue colored pieces of clothing on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, street signs on Tuesdays, and food on Thursdays. The possibilities are as far reaching as my own imagination.

I decided to celebrate the conclusion of one challenge with the unveiling of the new home of my blog. Hilary With One L was born on Blogger on November 27, 2007, when I was a newly minted mother of two, looking for an outlet to express my thoughts and feelings on motherhood. My first post was three short paragraphs, followed by a quote from Rita Mae Brown (trying so hard to be so deep). I re-read that post now and just shake my head at how simple it was and how far I’ve come. Close to seven years later, I’ve now got three children, I’ve moved twice, I’ve started a flourishing photography business and have some additional projects in the works. When held up to the photographic catalog of the past 365 days, I’ve made some serious strides.

So, if you’re new, welcome to the new home of Hilary With One L. If you’re a seasoned follower, thanks for sticking around. I’m looking forward to sharing where my next strides take me. . .

 

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IN: ON: February 1, 2014 TAGS: , , , , BY: Hilary
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January Photo Challenge

You guys? ZOMG, you guys!   This is it!  This is the LAST photo-a-day challenge for us.  What started on a whim one February has developed (pun intended) into a daily diary of photo snaps and fun times.  Have you been consistent in taking your pictures every day? Have you had fun with it at least? I know I have.

The first few months, I looked to pre-made photo challenges to try, but by June, I decided that I would create my own challenges.  I did my best to be creative and to inspire others to think outside the box with their photos.  I truly looked forward to my IG newsfeed everyday.

Now that I have these 365 images, what to do? what to do?  I’m leaning heavily towards making a photo book via This Life or Printsagram.  Just my own little souvenir of this adventure.  I do have my tumblr where I have been keeping track of my snaps, but I’d like to have something to hold in my hands and thumb through in the future.

Would I do this again? I liked how it forced me to stop and think about what was going on around me.  I liked how creative I could be when it came to certain words.  I liked how easy it could be when it came to others.  I even liked laughing at myself for all the botched selfies I took trying to get one that was worth posting.

So, here it is. The January Photo A Day Challenge courtesy of Hilary with One L. 

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For those of you unfamiliar with the Photo A Day Challenge, I’ve provided you with a list of prompts or suggestions for each day of the month.  On the designated day, you snap a photo of the suggestion or a photo of your interpretation of the suggestion and post it to Instagram.  You can add a caption to your photo, as well as the hashtag #hilarywithonel so we can keep up with you.  If you input #hilarywithonel in the Instagram search box, you’ll be able to see what others have already posted.

These monthly challenges are part of my greater year long challenge to take one photo a day.  You can follow my progress here: f/365

Don’t beat yourself up if you miss a day. It’s just a fun way to be creative.  No penalties for missed days, and no prize for hitting all the days – well, satisfaction is a prize in and of itself right?

Snap on, my friends, snap on.

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IN: ON: December 31, 2013 TAGS: , , , BY: Hilary
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Week-end Wrap Up & December Photo Challenge

 You guys.  I have thoroughly enjoyed this Thanksgiving holiday.  We went home to my parents house where we celebrated with all kinds of food, family and fun.  On Friday, I bypassed all the shopping madness for sitting around with  my kiddos, reading, watching TV and consuming mass quantities of pie.  My brother and The Hubs took me to the movies where we watched “The Best Man Holiday” in the tiniest theater the cineplex had.  We were practically sharing seats, and when the woman behind us wouldn’t stop talking, I didn’t let the holiday spirit prevent me from shushing her.  Oh, she got indignant about it, but wharves.  I believe her actual words were, “What?! Did she just shush me?! I’mma keep on talking!” and funny enough, after that outburst, she actually shut the hell up.  Nice.

Saturday brought some sisterly relations with one of my young sorors. It was great to sit around just talking about our respective collegiate experiences.  I squeezed in a manicure and got both Mo and Co’s hair washed, conditioned and twisted before The Hubs and I went to a wedding for one of his frat brothers.  The wedding brought several college friends together, and confirmed for me that we are at a stage in our lives where we are not the kids any more, but not quite the grownups.  We’re straddling this line of adulthood.  Our parents have moved up a row, so to speak, now that the majority of our grandparents are passing.  That means, my generation is filling in that vacated row.  Not sure how I feel about that.  The Hubs turned to me while we were sitting listening to the prelude music at the wedding and commented on how, this is an instance where we’re at a wedding where we don’t know anyone aside from the bride and groom.  Considering we went to 10 weddings in the two years after college graduation, that’s something.  When we did connect with some other buddies at the reception, we clung to them like grim death.  Well, let’s just say, it was nice to sit and talk with folks we already knew rather  make small talk with “How do you know the bride/groom?” type table mates.  It could have gone either way, and I don’t doubt we’d have had a good time in either case.

So, that brings me to today.  December 1st.  Kind of fitting the first day of the month, the end of the Thanksgiving week-end, and the beginning of the next holiday starts on the first.  It’s a clean slate, and I like that.  I have completely wrung the fun out of Thanksgiving. I’ve eaten, drank, haven’t exercised, stayed up late, fed my kids junk food while their hands fused to their iTouches and their eyes glazed over from the steady stream of My Little Pony Equestria Girls.  It’s been awesome.  And now, I’m hitching up my pants (which surprisingly still fit) and looking to getting the Christmas season underway.

It’s December, and do you know what that means?!

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Two more months. . .two more months and we will have successfully completed the 365 day, 12 month photo challenge.  I know, I’m a little premature in the celebrations, but why not get excited about this penultimate event and the fact that I used the word “penultimate” properly.  Whoo-hooo!

For those of you unfamiliar with the Photo A Day Challenge, I’ve provided you with a list of prompts or suggestions for each day of the month.  On the designated day, you snap a photo of the suggestion or a photo of your interpretation of the suggestion and post it to Instagram.  You can add a caption to your photo, as well as the hashtag #hilarywithonel so we can keep up with you.  If you input #hilarywithonel in the Instagram search box, you’ll be able to see what others have already posted.

These monthly challenges are part of my greater year long challenge to take one photo a day.  You can follow my progress here: f/365

Don’t beat yourself up if you miss a day. It’s just a fun way to be creative.  No penalties for missed days, and no prize for hitting all the days – well, satisfaction is a prize in and of itself right?

Snap on, my friends, snap on.

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IN: ON: December 1, 2013 TAGS: , , , , BY: Hilary
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November Photo Challenge

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For those of you unfamiliar with the Photo A Day Challenge, I’ve provided you with a list of prompts or suggestions for each day of the month.  On the designated day, you snap a photo of the suggestion or a photo of your interpretation of the suggestion and post it to Instagram.  You can add a caption to your photo, as well as the hashtag #hilarywithonel so we can keep up with you.  If you input #hilarywithonel in the Instagram search box, you’ll be able to see what others have already posted.

These monthly challenges are part of my greater year long challenge to take one photo a day.  You can follow my progress here: f/365

Don’t beat yourself up if you miss a day. It’s just a fun way to be creative.  No penalties for missed days, and no prize for hitting all the days – well, satisfaction is a prize in and of itself right?

Snap on, my friends, snap on.

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IN: ON: October 31, 2013 TAGS: , , , , , BY: Hilary
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October Photo Challenge

Guess what? Including this month, five more months of challenges and I’ll have done it for a whole year! I’m not breaking my arm patting myself on the back — not yet anyway — but I’m kind of excited.  I’m thinking about what I’m going to do with these images.

Maybe I’ll make a calendar.

Maybe I’ll print out my favorites and hang them in the house.

Maybe I’ll make a coffee-table book called “Hilary Snaps” and fill it with 365 images of photo challenges.

Maybe I’ll do absolutely nothing except revel in the fact that I set a goal and completed it.  I’ll make t-shirt for that.

Whatever the case may be, I’m excited and I really want to get people to participate.  My hashtag (#hilarywithonel) is really being used — I’m claiming some real estate out in the social media megaverse!

For those of you unfamiliar with the Photo A Day Challenge, I’ve provided you with a list of prompts or suggestions for each day of the month.  On the designated day, you snap a photo of the suggestion or a photo of your interpretation of the suggestion and post it to Instagram.  You can add a caption to your photo, as well as the hashtag #hilarywithonel so we can keep up with you.  If you input #hilarywithonel in the Instagram search box, you’ll be able to see what others have already posted.

These monthly challenges are part of my greater year long challenge to take one photo a day.  You can follow my progress here: f/365

Don’t beat yourself up if you miss a day. It’s just a fun way to be creative.  No penalties for missed days, and no prize for hitting all the days – well, satisfaction is a prize in and of itself right?

Snap on, my friends, snap on. 

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IN: ON: September 30, 2013 TAGS: , , , , , BY: Hilary
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The Homestretch

I am drawing upon some previously unknown reserves to finagle a few minutes to sit down and cough this up.  We are in the homestretch!

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Summer vacation is just about done and we made it.  It’s not like it was a huge obstacle to overcome, but I was a little uncertain at the beginning of June when the weeks and week stretched ahead of us, shimmering with tentative plans and chlorine.

Interestingly enough, the girls are ready to go back to school this year.  We had a good run with our activities and playdates.  We have spent so much time at the library, the girls have taken to re-shelving books when they’re done making their selections. 

This week, I started the unwelcome task of putting the wee ones to bed at a reasonable time, only to wake them up when the day just starts to break.  I can’t fathom trying to hit the ground running next Monday on the first day of school (well, I can fathom it, but I’ll be out of town and won’t get to experience it) without having had a few warm-up drills.  The orientations that the girls have this week have served nicely as a raison d’etre to get up and at ’em the past few days.  On top of the that, Mo is turning 8 on Friday and is practically vibrating with excitement.  No, not practically .. . is.  She is vibrating with excited.  Back to school shopping done! New first day of school outfit ready! Orientation! Birthday! It’s a wonder she hasn’t combusted from it all.

As for me, I’m quietly putting things in a suitcase as I prepare to make my escape departure for a long week-end in Las Vegas with my sorors.  *ahem* I mean, my saw-rahhhhhhhhhhs!  This trip has been in the works for a while, plus the fact that I get to have some quality time with seven of my sisters?! No kids? No spouses? No kidding, it’s about to go down! 

My parents and the Hubs are acting like I’m coming up for parole. “Just hang on for a few more days,” has been the constant refrain whenever I start to get the look.  You know, this one. . .

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Oh, I give the stinkeye like it’s my side hustle.  It’s a wonder my face hasn’t frozen like that.  But, I digress.  I’m looking at my planner to see what all must be done between now and the time I throw my bag into the waiting taxi.  Quite simply, a crap-ton. I’m not worried about it, though.  Your girl here is a list maker and a planner.  It’s all handled.  And come the first day of school, I’ll flip my “Summer Vacation 2013” folder inside out, take a Sharpie to it to write “Summer Vacation 2014” and gear up for the next go ’round.

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IN: ON: August 21, 2013 TAGS: , , , BY: Hilary
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Homestretch

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Thirty-three days.
One month and two days
4 weeks and 5 days. 792 hours.
47,520 minutes.
2,851,200 seconds.

All of our scheduled activities are behind us.  The remainder of summer stretches in front of us, a distance speck on the horizon that comes closer with every passing day.  I can clearly recall the beginning of summer lumbering toward me like a bristling, tusked wildebeest.  Now, here I am, with the better part of the summer behind me, wondering where it all went.

There were camps. There were visits to the grandparents.  There were those two weeks of recuperation from tenolysis surgery where I ended up doing less convalescing and more running interference between the children.  There was the week to myself while the girls were away, followed by several days of foolishness with my brother.

We had swim team. We had play dates. We went shopping.  We went to the library. We went to the fountains at the mall.  I wrote. They colored.  The TV was on and the gaming system put to use.  I followed my own advice and said “yes” to the things that were fun, that I would really enjoy doing with the kids and “no” to the things that would require more of me than I was willing to give.

I want our summers to be spent at the beach, dashing to and from the surf, our noses peeeling, our bodies a chestnut brown and smelling of sunscreen and sunshine.  I realize that sometimes it can’t always be that way, so you make the best of what you have and plan for the future.

Ultimately, summer is not about how much you can cram into your days so when the first day of school comes around, you can crow about how busy you’ve been.  There’s no prize for filling up your summer with camps and activities, unless you count fatigue.  I don’t.  There were days and I’m sure there will be a few more, when I reconsidered my stance on having the girls go to camps.  Then there were other days when the planets aligned, and I was more patient.  The girls responded in kind and that made for wonderful times.

My oldest spent the better part of the summer asking me what comes next, what comes next, what comes next.  Finally, I told her that it was frustrating for me to be harangued like that.  I explained that sometimes, I didn’t know, or sometimes I’d rather not say for fear of the wrath of disappointment that could follow.  I don’t know what comes next between now and the first day of school.  Probably more of what we’ve been doing — library, pool, visiting family and such.  Maybe we’ll go to the zoo or Maymont.  Maybe we’ll play with some friends at the playground.  Maybe we’ll all take naps (yeah, right!).  I’m not worried about it, though.  The next day will come and we’ll keep on going strong all the way through to the end of the season.

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IN: ON: July 24, 2013 TAGS: , , BY: Hilary
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