Resolution Number Seven: Explore

via Shaun Sundholm

My (Our) seventh and final resolution! Thanks for coming along with me on this little resolution journey, I've really enjoyed all your comments and insights, and of course getting to know you all a little better.

Oh, how I love to explore. Waiting at the airport or train station is probably one of my all time favourite feelings, the anticipation of knowing I will soon be some place new. In saying that, I constantly seem to find myself flip flopping between wanting to settle down and buy a house right now, and planning our next trip abroad (I'm also well aware that part of my love for both these things is the planning itself. You'd think this would also mean I was organised. Sadly, this is not the case). I'm sure I give Richard whiplash at times with how quickly I'm onto the next thing, haha.

Like I mentioned in my previous resolution post, we're likely going to leave Vancouver for New Zealand at some point, and I would hate to leave Canada only having seen a small part of BC and only one other province. New Zealand is so far away, I really want to make the most of North American while I'm here! It is really easy to get caught up in all the fantastic places around the world to visit, but there is a wealth of places to get lost in this country, province and city, and I plan to take full advantage of them this year!

Some ideas we have brewing are...

- Ok, so this has moved past the idea stage. We're off to Salt Spring Is. this Thursday for Richard's birthday and a wee mini-break. I cannot wait! We're staying in a little beachside cottage with a fire place and everything.

- A holiday in the mountains in Spring with some of our besties (that always looks like beasties to me).

- After being inspired by Elizabeth's trip and incredible photos, we're hoping to spend a few weeks or so WWOOFing around Ontario and Quebec at the end of the summer-ish. I've wanted to WWOOF for awhile now, and venture out east to Toronto and Montreal, so perhaps we can do it all at once!

- Become a tourist in my own city. This is something I've often thought about, but never made time for. It's so easy to fall into familiar patterns of places to stroll and hang out (and part of me really loves that) but the idea of exploring Vancouver and going on little day-cations really appeals to me, especially after reading this post. What a lovely idea!

Any plans to explore, be it near or far, in the works for you all this year?

Resolution Number Six: Thoughtful Consumption

This is a resolution that I've been working on for awhile, and I feel like I'm mostly pretty good at, but still something I know I could use a reminder about every now and then. Now, Richard and I aren't exactly rolling in money so in a way this is a bit of a necessity, but I'm as guilty as anyone else of getting into the I WANT mode, most especially when browsing around online. As wonderful as this online crafty/design-y community is, I'll admit that I can often fall into the trap of being jealous of what I see everyone else has. Studio tours that are both inspiration and causes for manic ebay sessions trying to find the same amazing Eames chair (that of course I know I completely cannot afford!), or lusting after an amazing yarn stash. It is such a gross feeling, that jealous feeling. Especially when I actually have a lot of lovely things in my home and I know that it would be really easy to stay in the 'want' mode and never actually get out of it. Yuck.

So, I guess I'm talking about a change in mindset really. To learn to be happy with the things I have, and to take a really good look at those things to see if they are all things I actually need. We're most likely going to leave Vancouver at some stage to venture back to New Zealand for a bit, so as much I would love to buy amazing furniture, the money is probably better saved than spent. Or, to stop going to Value Village and buying every little knick knack that I see (of course I will still buy some, I can't help it) but wait a little bit so that I can buy that one really fantastic vintage piece that perhaps cost a little more but that I will love forever.

Some other areas both Richard and I are hoping to consume more thoughtfully are;

- De-clutter and live with a mindset of potentially have to move on, and set up house elsewhere.

- Eat locally grown food as exclusively as possible (I don't actually need pineapples)

- Adopt a completely vegan diet and lifestyle. We're both vegetarian, and have pretty much already been doing this for awhile, but have both come to a point where we want it to be more of a conscious thing.

- Research where the food we eat comes from, to make sure that it is in line with that that is ethically important to us.

- As mentioned in my previous post, make more of my own clothes.

- Buy local and handmade, as much as possible (this will exclude books and music I imagine, and some clothing because local plus size/sizes above a 12 or 14 boutiques pretty much don't exist. But that's another post).

Ha, I hope I dont sound too much like a kill joy with some of these goals. Im starting them knowing that I'm not going to be able to keep them perfectly all the time, but that if I can work on changing the way I view how I consume then that is what is most important to me for now.

I'd love to know your thoughts on this. Anyone in the same boat?

Resolution Number Four: Photos

When I left high school, I went pretty much straight into a Media Arts degree in Journalism with a heavy photography minor (there wasn't actual minors, I was just taking all photography electives) as I had already mapped out my career path of cutting edge photojournalist (National Geographic and/or Rolling Stone here I come! Two magazines I would have no interest working for now, ha. Oh, 18yr old self). I really loved the photography aspect, and the writing aspect...but soon came to a realisation that as a journalist you don't go straight onto writing feature articles and opinion eds, or travelling to war zones and the like. Not that I felt working my way up was beneath me, not at all, but I'm actually a really shy person so the idea of having to go up to people and shoot questions at them for sound bites absolutely terrified me. Perhaps something I should have thought of beforehand? Ha, oh well.

Anyway, photography has continued to be one of my favourite things to do, but I feel like over the years I've gotten a little lazy with it. Or like reading, this past year I have struggled to make the amount time for it that I would like. Adele has this great post up over at her blog, all about comfort zones (she also designs and sells super sweet paper goods over here, worth checking out!) in respect to being self employed, that I totally identified with! I could also see how some of the excuses she talked about translated over into my photography and being creative in general. I'm constantly thinking about how the equipment I have isn't good enough (we have a crappy point and shoot digital, with a cracked screen that has a giant black spot on it), or how especially this last year I didn't have the time, or how expensive shooting film can become, etc, etc. But I forget the most important things like how much joy I get from doing it. How much I loved working in the darkroom so that I would stay in there for hours and not be able to see when I walked out into the sun. How thrilling it was to pick up a printed film, and that I would wait until I found a spot to sit down to look through them all. Were all my worries and insecurities (because lets call them what the are) really worth missing out on all that?

So, when Anabela mentioned she was taking part in 365 (a photo a day, for 365 days), and that it wasn't the one where you had to do a self portrait every day* (eep!) I decided to jump in and join her. Those up there are some of the shots from this week, and I have been really loving it. It makes me take my camera out of my bag, even when I'm busy, and document my life. I'm trying not to over think it, and just capture everyday moments (I can save my over thinking for my more serious photographic endeavours, ha). There are so many other great people taking part in it, too. Some that I already knew, and some that I've met since (Hello Jen!), and it is a really beautiful way to follow what they are up to, and what they see.

Would you like to take part? Maybe you have a photo that you've taken from each day since the 1st, or maybe you just want to start as of today. I'd love to know if you do so I can follow along!