Saturday, December 31, 2011

One Little Word 2012 - Knowledge

During the last week of the year many bloggers and scrapbookers look over the last year and choose a word for the next year that will summarize what they want to accomplish in the new year.  Ali Edwards  is one person who has been doing this since 2007 and even has a class on it that is offered through Big Picture Classes.  For several years now I think I am going to do it and then never really follow through.  I have decided that 2012 is the year for me to pick a word and stick with it.  At first I thought I would pick JOY as 2011 was severely lacking in joy but after thinking about it some more I decided that it was not the right word for me.  I decided that what would bring me joy is knowledge.  Knowledge is power and a wonderful asset.  Peter F. Drucker said
"Knowledge has to be improved, challenged, and increased constantly, or it vanishes."
I truly believe this so in 2012 I am going on a quest to learn many things that I have wanted to know.  

How you may ask...well here is a list of things I want to learn and my very rough idea of how I will go about it.  Warning:  this is a very long post without any photos so you may want to grab a cup of hot cocoa, get comfortable and let me know what you think. 

Photography
  • I want to learn how to photograph better at night.  This was something I started to learn about until the fire stopped me in my tracks.  I will be taking Kent Weakley's Night Photography eClass starting February 10, 2012.  Won't you join me?
  • I want to learn about Lightroom 3.  I purchased LR3 in November but I have heard several times that to get the most out of LR3 you must set it up correctly from the beginning or you will make it much harder on yourself so I will be replacing my external hard drive and one of the wonderful woman I met at a workshop in October has offered to get me up and running. 
  • I want to improve my overall photography.  Of course the best way to do this is practice, practice practice.  Unfortunately the events of this year had me not picking up my camera that much so in 2012 I want to participate in  P52 which is a photo a week and in 2012 Darcy over at Life with My 3 Boybarians will be hosting a linky party to show your photos.  The issue for me is there will be themes and I am not sure how well I will do with that but I will try.  I am hoping that Ashley Sisk will continue to host Scavenger Hunt Sundays so that I may participate in some more. 
  • One of my big struggles with photography is lighting so I am hoping to learn more about lighting in 2012.  I also want to learn about food photography and one of my Christmas presents from my in-laws was Plate to Pixel:  Digital Food Photography and Styling by Helene Dujardin so I am excited to dive into it and see what I can learn.
Household

  • I would love to build these Ten Dollar Ledges from over at Ana White's blog.   These would be perfect to hold my rubber stamps.  Unfortunately,  we lost most of our tools in the fire that took our house.  I am hoping to get the tools and make these in 2012.
  • Another fabulous project from over at Ana White's is this farmhouse bed.  I really, really want to make two of these.  One for our bedroom and the other for our guest room.  If you know me you know that my father and both of my brothers could whip these up in no time flat.  However, they live in other states and due to my mother's ill health can not come and help and I am not skilled like them at all.  So again I am hoping to get the tools and the KNOWLEDGE to make these.
  • As we just moved back into our rebuilt house the week of Thanksgiving we still have nothing on the walls or windows.  My friend Melissa is making our living room curtains and I am hoping she is going to teach me how to make curtains for the rest of the house.  Again KNOWLEDGE or lack of knowledge is keeping me from doing this and KNOWLEDGE can allow me to make them.
  • I have always wanted to make bread from scratch and I want this to be the year to do it.  Let's make it happen!
    Well this post is getting very long and if you are still hanging in I really appreciate it.  I will continue to add on to my list in the coming year.  Thank you for checking out my blog and supporting me in this year of many trials.  I am very happy to see 2011 end and to start a new year fresh.   Happy New Years everyone!

    Updated to add a link to My Heart Art where Geri is having a linky party for you to add your word of 2012.

    4 comments:

    1. Lizzy, I love your word for 2012. You can never go wrong seeking more knowledge. I hope you accomplish everything on your list!

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    2. I love your word glad to see you going in on the p52 too. Can't wait to see that far bed and shelves

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    3. Knowledge is always a good thing to have. I love gaining new skills. What surprises me is how learning one thing always leads to new questions and at least 3 MORE things I want to learn too! Good luck in the coming year!

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    4. Knowledge is such a great goal for 2012! Looks like you've got some great goals for yourself this year. :)

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