And that, I guess, is that.

Well, here we are.  This is the conclusion of my 2012 Project 365.  A whole year of taking a picture each and every day….  Or at least it was almost a year.  As you might have already realized, I picked a year with 366 days in it to do Project 365.  D’oh!  But whatever. 


Now that the project is complete, I feel nothing but relief.  Blessed, sigh-worthy, hot fudge covered relief!!!!  People keep asking me if I will do Project 365 again this year.  The answer to that is a big, fat, burly HELL NO.  Nah, I already have another photography project that I want—nay, need—to tackle this year, and that is putting my photo albums together….  because I’m four years behind on it! 


FOUR. 


YEARS. 


The last time I completed a photo album was in 2009, when Scope and I first met!  Yeah.  Wrap your mind around that fact for a minute.  You know all the stuff that has happened (and been photographed) since 2009, right?  Our wedding, our San Francisco honeymoon, our move to Chicago, our cross-country road trip, our week at the lake in Ohio, our trip to Disneyland, and a million other things. 


Oy. 


I can’t believe I’m four years behind on the albums.  Nope, just can’t.  I used to be so religious about it, so structured, so freakin’ awesome.  Anytime someone was like, “hey, how did your Halloween costumes turn out last year?”  I would be like, “well, here’s the photo album of it, containing 200 pictures of everything from all different angles and all in chronological order and wittily captioned and shit.  Enjoy!” 


But now?  Now I spend my days living in mortal terror that someone will come over one day and want to see photos from our wedding, and I’ll either have to admit I don’t have my act together or I’ll have to start talking about how knocked up Kim Kardashian looks in a desperate effort to change the subject.  And talking about Kim Kardashian gives me hives, so clearly, it will just be better for everyone if I spend more time managing the photos I’ve already amassed, and less time generating more photos to throw onto the pile of neglect.  So be it.


Are you ready for the very last pictures of Project 365?  Yeah, me too.  Here they are….


Day 354 (2012-12-19) ~  It was almost Christmas, but on the night of the 19th, the sky definitely looked like it was Halloween!





Day 355 (2012-12-20) ~  It looks kind of like a chalkboard, doesn't it?  But, nope.  It's snow.  This is what the first snowflakes of the season looked like swirling in the wind and trailing across the night sky.





Day 356 (2012-12-21) ~  This is Wednesday and the stop motion clay puppet she made for her "Alice In High School Land" anti-bullying video for Walgreen's Expressions contest.  We found out on the 21st that she won the top prize in her category!  We are SO EXCITED!  I am so proud of her!





Here is the full-length un-cut video Wednesday made for the contest with clay on our dining table. 




Isn’t that AWESOME??????


Day 357 (2012-12-22) ~  For Scope's birthday, we had dinner at Bob Chinn's Crab House. 





Day 358 (2012-12-23) ~  Every year since we got married, Scope sneaks a new ornament onto my Christmas tree without telling me.  I’m wise to his shenanigans now though and, this year, I could tell that he had done it just by the look on his face.  One look at his guilty expression and I blurted out, “did you sneak an ornament onto my tree?!”  He could hardly believe it!  Ha ha!  But anyway….  This year he got me Sully and Boo from Monsters Inc (my favorite Pixar movie).  Awww.  I love it!





Day 359 (2012-12-24) ~  Wednesday and I made gingerbread—okay, fine, graham cracker—houses on Christmas Eve.  This is my gingerbread dog house.  I just couldn't resist when I saw those cute Scottie dog shortbread cookies in the store!





Day 360 (2012-12-25) ~  For Christmas "Santa" got me a remote control for my Sony DSLR.  Ooooooh, what a fun toy!!  This was the first shot I tried with it.





Day 361 (2012-12-26) ~  Cool!  So, it turns out that Guy Fieri and his show Diners, Drive-In's and Dives did a show at one of our favorite local restaurants, Chicago Brahaus.  We haven't seen the episode on Food Network yet, but I can't wait!





Day 362 (2012-12-27) ~  Grrr.  Our internet went out the morning of the 26th and AT&T repeatedly dropped the customer service ball and wouldn't come by to fix it.  (Long story, but we were without internet for five days.)  (Stupid AT&T.)  On the 27th, Wednesday and I went to the bakery next door to siphon off their wi-fi and eat yummy cookies.  As far as I see it, cookies are a fair price to pay for an internet connection.





Day 363 (2012-12-28) ~  Driving in the snow the night of the 28th, on our way to Indiana for a wedding, the snow was zooming past the car in the dark and it looked just like we were going into warp speed.





Day 364 (2012-12-29) ~  At a gorgeous Christmas-themed wedding reception on the 29th, the tables were decorated with red glass balls and ribbons.  The whole thing was lovely!





Day 365 (2012-12-30) ~  So.  I guess this is how Project 365 ended.  This was picture number 365.  I thought I had one more day at the time, but I forgot there were 366 days this year, not 365, so my project ended a day earlier than I was expecting.  I had thought I would end the project in a fitting way—maybe I would take a bow or something, I dunno, but I guess instead it ends with a brick wall and vicious-looking icicles.  And that is that.  Oh well. 





Thanks to everyone who followed along.  I hope you enjoyed the journey!  Up next for the blog, I think I might finally whip out some of those 1970’s pictures I dug up at my mom’s house over the summer which I promised I’d share with you.  Wanna see me as a three year old with a red mini ‘fro?!  You know you do.  It’s coming soon….






© Coracabana

And so it begins…. (Again.)

I attempted Project 365 once a couple years ago, but I heartlessly abandoned it when life got too chaotic to care about taking a picture every day. This year I am trying it again—only differently.

I am adjusting the rules a little bit, making it more user-friendly. This time, if I screw it up and forget to take a picture for a day or two will the whole project be dead to me and ditched like a dirty diaper because it’s hopelessly ruined? Heck no! This time if life gets in the way and I forget to do a photo—*light bulb moment*—I’ll just take two the next day.

(I don’t know why I didn’t think of that last time—duh.)

(And, please, I’ve already had to bend the rules twice in the last 19 days, so I think I can say with confidence that making it user-friendly is a nifty plan.)

(Clearly.)

(Ahem.)

And, hey, it’s not like the Project 365 Fairies are going to go postal if I contort the rules a wee little bit, right? I mean, really, I’m pretty sure they have bigger things to worry about…. like the fact that there are 366 days this year, not 365. (D’oh!)

Anyway, here is what I have accomplished in this year’s Project 365 so far.


DAY 1 (2012-01-01) ~ Visiting Seattle for the holidays. I had forgotten how thick the moss is out there. The trees all looked like Oscar the Grouch!




DAY 2 (2012-01-02) ~ My friend Callista's uber-cute dog.




DAY 3 (2012-01-03) ~ I found this on a wall near the Pike Place Market in Seattle. Bizarre. I have no words.




DAY 4 (2012-01-04) ~ Okay. Fine. I cheated, okay? I forgot to take a picture on January 4 because I was busy with family stuff (Bad Cora! Bad!) So, I'm posting a second picture from January 3 to make up for it. It's the Gum Wall in Seattle.




DAY 5 (2012-01-05) ~ Taking a walk around Gene Coulon Park in Renton, WA.




DAY 6 (2012-01-06) ~ Again, call me a cheater. I was too busy to do a picture on Januray 6 (read: family stuff) so I'm posting a second picture from the 5th in its place. This was taken on my walk around Gene Coulon Park in Renton, WA.




DAY 7 (2012-01-07) ~ Flying home to Chicago. This was the view of Washington from above. Soooooooooo beautiful!




DAY 8 (2012-01-08) ~ A strange, wavy building in Chicago.




DAY 9 (2012-01-09) ~ The sunrise at Welles Park in Chicago.




DAY 10 (2012-01-10) ~ Mmmmmmmmm.




DAY 11 (2012-01-11) ~ My first bokeh attempt using Christmas tree lights. I'm not sure if it qualifies as good bokeh or not, but I kind of like it.




DAY 12 (2012-01-12) ~ Winter has FINALLY arrived in Chicago!




DAY 13 (2012-01-13) ~ A snowy day in the garden.




DAY 14 (2012-01-14) ~ Snow, snow, snow.




DAY 15 (2012-01-15) ~ Another bokeh attempt with Christmas tree lights.




DAY 16 (2012-01-16) ~ An adorable little birdhouse in the snow.




DAY 17 (2012-01-17) ~ My precious.




DAY 18 (2012-01-18) ~ Painting with an LED flashlight.




DAY 19 (2012-01-19) ~ What it looks like when you combine oil, water and food coloring all in one bowl. CooOOooOOool!




And that is what I have so far. Now that we are all caught up, I (hopefully!) will be posting my Project 365 pictures on a more regular basis in smaller posts. I will be using different cameras and trying different things. Some will be good, some won’t, but I hope you enjoy the journey with me.

© Coracabana

Like a bewildered, cranky groundhog being yanked from its den, I am emerging from The Holidaze. Hi, how ya doin’?

Alrighty, let’s just jump right in here. Our Christmases were fantastic, yet mind-bogglingly busy and time-sucking. Frankly, I’m still disoriented and wandering ditzily around in a blind, stupid stupor from it all. I’m going to assume you are too.

And, yes, I said Christmases.

Christmas #1 was spent with Scope’s parents in Kewanee, IL, where we channeled our inner Guy Fieri and played Minute To Win It (Scope’s sister’s idea) and, among other impossible hijinks, attempted to migrate Oreo’s from our foreheads into our mouths using only our facial muscles.



(Not easy, people. Not. Easy.)

(That’s Scope’s sister and nephew pictured above, by the way. *snicker*)

Christmas #2 was just the three of us in our home in Chicago, where my hubby gave me a fragment of Voldemort’s soul (aka a horcrux locket) that I had been eyeing for many a moon (wheeeeeeeeeeeeee!!) and Santa visited and noshed himself into an uncomfortable food coma on all the candy-ified cookies we baked for him.



And Christmas #3 was with my family back in Seattle, where we visited the Pike Place Market, left our grody mark on the Gum Wall, hung out with Callista, and celebrated New Year’s Eve AND Christmas all in one night. *whew!*




Of course, Fernando Von Bakonstein was with us the entire time and he enjoyed himself, having lunch with Wednesday and my nephew….



….and having a mondo throw down with Simon from The Chipmunks….



….and hobnobbing with other porcine folk he met in the Pike Place Market….



….and slurping hot chocolate at Seattle’s Best Coffee….



….and, most especially, making faces with Wednesday at poor Scope as he slept on the flight back home.



(Tee hee hee.)

So far 2012 has been little more than a blur, honestly. (It’s the 19th already?! Really?!) I went whole hog and made several resolutions, instead of just one, which I intend to keep this year. My resolutions?:

1. To Eat Healthier Foods. So far so good on that effort! In fact, in the past 19 days I have not only tolerated oatmeal every morning (which I have utterly loathed my entire existence) but I have actually grown to love the stuff. I know! Me liking mushy slop?! No way! But—taa-daa!—it’s happened.

2. To Build Muscle Mass. I have been trying and failing to lose weight since moving to Chicago a year and a half ago. After beating myself up over it all this time, I finally realized what the problem probably is: loss of muscle mass. Back in Seattle I was a nanny, hoisting hefty kids around every day. Sure, it was murder on my back, but it was great for my rear! So, this year, I vow to get strong again. In fact, I filled a suitcase full of hardback books which I have been working out with and toting around almost daily. *whew!* A stronger Cora is in the making! (And hopefully a stronger Cora will fit back into all of Nanny Cora’s cute, teeny former clothes. *fingers crossed*)

3. To Speak The Truth And Not Sugar Coat Things In A Misguided Effort To Try To Keep The Jerks Of The World Calm. This doormat is done playing nicely now. *pounding my fist into my hand*

4. To Take A Picture Each And Every Day In My Second Attempt At Project 365. You may recall I attempted Project 365 back in 2009/2010, but I abandoned it because life got too crazy what with my tonsillectomy, the wedding, and the cross-country move. With everything that was going on, taking a daily picture just fell right off of my list of priorities. I kind of regret that though. I wish I had kept the project up because I would love to have photos documenting my old Seattle house going from bustling home to bare rooms filled with packing boxes, but the sad fact is that I didn’t do it. I felt like I didn’t have time to take a picture every day. (But, really, how much time would it have taken?) Of course, there will be days I screw up and forget to do a picture, inevitably, but when that happens this time I won’t just drop the whole project and walk away, I’ll just take two pictures the next day to even it all out. (See? Thinking!) So far it’s been going splendiferously! I will be posting the project’s pictures here starting with my next post. I hope you guys enjoy seeing them as much as I’m loving taking them.

5. To Get My Bloggy Groove Back And Blog More Often. I figure Project 365 will help with that, right? :-)

So, anyway, Happy New Year!



Up next: Project 365. Stay tuned!

© Coracabana

Don’t stop believing

Yep.  Here’s ANOTHER update on 2012’s Project 365….


Day 323 (2012-11-18) ~   This particular day (Nov 18th) was the 8th anniversary of my beating death and beginning the process of re-learning how to walk again.  (Y’all remember that whole blood clot in the spinal cord mess.)  Somehow this shot seemed fitting for the anniversary of the start of that journey, I think.  :-)





Day 324 (2012-11-19) ~  Another picture I took in the local community garden. I liked how these puff-ball plants looked in black and white.  (Oppsie.  This pic was really taken on the 18th, not the 19th.)





Day 325 (2012-11-20) ~  Ready…. set…. go!  Scope, Wednesday, and I were all packed and ready for our Thanksgiving trip to Disneyland.  This was the night of November 20th and our suitcases were all lined up against the kitchen wall because at 2:30 the next morning we had to get up and bolt out the door to get to the airport in time.





Day 326 (2012-11-21) ~  This was taken our first night in Disneyland.  We had never seen Sleeping Beauty's Castle all decked out for the holidays before.  It was so gorgeous!   This shot also seems fitting because by the point this was taken, we had been awake and on the run almost 24 hours!  *yawn*  Sleeping Beauty, indeed.





Day 327 (2012-11-22) ~  This was taken our second day in Disneyland.  While walking down Main Street USA, Mickey (literally!) ran right by us.  I was SO loving his Christmas sweater!  (Hee hee.)





Day 328 (2012-11-23) ~  This was taken our third day in Disneyland.  It is Jack Skellington laughing down at us from the ceiling inside the Stretching Room in the Haunted Mansion Holiday ride.  This was, by far, Wednesday’s favorite ride!





Day 329 (2012-11-24) ~  This was taken our—*sniffle*—last day in Disneyland.  It’s the outside of the Haunted Mansion Holiday.





Day 330 (2012-11-25) ~  The morning we flew back to Chicago from LAX, it was very, very foggy in LA.  But a minute or so after take off, we burst up through the fog below to find sunny blue skies all around us.  I kind of like this shot because of the shadow of our plane on the carpet of clouds just below us.  That's not something you see every day.





Day 331 (2012-11-26) ~  Okay, so I messed up my days a bit after our DL trip.  In my defense, I took over 3000 pics in DL (yes, really) and I had a LOT of editing to do in a hurry (because Snapfish had a promo where all 4x6 prints were only a penny each!  Ohhhhhh, what simultaneously fortuitous and cruel timing!)  I was so busy editing and deciding which pics were print-worthy, I really wasn't motivated to take my 365 Project seriously (nor to add more pictures onto the pile!) for awhile there.  So, this was taken on the 30th, not the 26th.  It's a Christmas-y park I often walk through near our house.





Day 332 (2012-11-27) ~  Uh-uh.  I know.  I couldn't believe it either.  Sitting in a tree outside a local high school the morning of the 27th, there was an owl, just watching all the arriving students walking by.  (It must have been looking for Harry Potter.)  Only two of the kids (my daughter and her friend) seemed to notice.  All the other kids (Muggles!) there were oblivious to the watchful owl.  It was hard to get a decent shot of the owl because it was high up in the tree, branches were in the way, and I only had my point and shoot camera with me—plus, I was afraid to get too close and risk scaring the owl away.  But, all in all, I don't think the shot ended up too shabby, considering.





Day 333 (2012-11-28) ~  On an early morning walk through a local park, I was struck by how pretty the blue sky was with all the trees in silhouette.  And then I noticed all the squirrel nests perched in the trees.  It's quite a bustling squirrel city we've got going on there!  (Pic really taken on the 30th, not the 28th.  Sorry, I was still recovering from the Disneyland trip!)





Day 334 (2012-11-29) ~  Absolutely no thought nor effort went into this shot.  Clearly.  I just realized I had messed up several days on my Project 365 and just snapped random shots on the run on my way to the train station one night.  Blah.  This was really taken on the 30th, not the 29th.





Day 335 (2012-11-30) ~  Yeah.  It's a fake spider lurking in the corner, mid-way up the wall.  Poor Scope wasn't feeling very well for a few days after we got back from our trip....  But once he pulled this stunt to try to freak out Wednesday and me, well, that's when we knew he was on the mend!





The rest of Project 365 is coming soon!






© Coracabana