Week 1-Resolution

This New Year of 2013, my goal is health related. i.e. diet & exercise.  After smoking for nearly 40 years, I quit 3 1/2 years ago and managed to gain some excess pounds.  Last year I had both hips replaced and went through a very long recovery period.  Today I feel it's time to get active again and shed some of those extra pounds I really don't like having around my waist line.  So, my first resolution is:  "Eat My Veggies"  I never liked vegetables of any kind, but I found that as I got older, my diet changed and so did my taste buds.  I began to enjoy the taste of veggies and salads.  I still don't eat cucumbers or tomatoes, but maybe some day.

My 2nd resolution on my list would be exercise. I did have a gym membership before my surgeries, but it was very difficult and I could use only a few of the machines.  The pool was too cold and the sauna room too hot.  So I cancelled my membership and invested in some weight equipment for an in-home gym.  Good intentions of course, but I struggled to motivate myself to use the workout DVD's, the treadmill and my favorite, the weight-pulley type machine that let's me do about 25 different toning exercises.  (I really do love this machine!)  Motivation is going to be my struggle this year as well-but I have made some progress.



I love to walk around outside and so my 3rd resolution is make a list of places I can go to take photos every day.  Places that require me to walk some distance, like a mile or more.  Last year, my favorite place was my local park and I took photos of one tree every month to watch it's progress throughout the seasons.  This tree was a symbol of myself.  Changing, growing stronger everyday, healing and being at peace with myself.  Today, I still walk in this park, but added a new found love.  Wheeler Farm-a state park that is open year round and is a real working farm with animals of various kinds.  Very photogenic.  My goal is to take photos that would be different than what I would take if I was being a typical tourist.  No quick snapshots this year.

You may see this tree again in the near future as it is a project of mine to continue photographing it throughout this year as well.  It motivates me, so I will share it often.  This was taken last spring using a fisheye lens.  No altering was done to this.  Pretty cool.
I hope you will come and join me over at: DigitalMontageStudio for a year of photo prompts and a place to share your images with other like minded people.  Every week I will post a new word to help inspire you as well as myself, to get up and get out to grab some interesting photos of life!