blogging plans for 2015 // watching our highlights reel

I've been thinking about my little hobby, this here blog, and all the words and images within.

What to do with it in 2015?

In 2012 it all began with Project 366 (a photo a day for a year!)
In 2013 and 2014 I did Project 52 (a weekly portrait of each of my family members).

2015?

I have to admit after two years I am a wee bit tired of the weekly portraits. Especially after the challenge of trying to capture my hubby each week, lol. Hard when he ever so inconveniently has a full time  job ;) I'd often get to the end of the week and realise I didn't have a portrait of a family member then quickly have to rustle one up. So, I think I'm ready to set aside that particular project this year (though I am considering doing Project 365 again next year, just for old times sake?! We shall see. Am I crazy??).

Although I am a planner (very much so!!) I think I am ready to shake off the blogging shackles and just see what unfolds this year. Though I am a little nervous I will slack off on photo taking (or at least organising/editing), I am also keen to have less structure. After three years of intensive photography, I am pleased to say I have actually learnt a little bit along the way. But (surprisingly?!) I am also keen to put the camera down a little bit more. I often leave the house without it these days, preferring to enjoy family outings without the need to record them (my soft spot has always been capturing the tiny sweet everyday moments of home life anyway). But even those home-life moments, I sometimes prefer to just savour in my heart rather than through my lens. But then... ain't it great to have those photographic memories. Mmmm, much torn, very balance, etc etc ;)

I am also getting a hankering to just write more - on topics close to my heart, and just generally about family life. Which, after all the photo editing, I am often too short on time and energy to do. So we shall see??

My vague plan is to post a 'Weekly Highlights Reel'...or ahem, maybe sometimes a Fortnightly Reel ;) Just downloading my favourite photos of the week, whatever I happen to capture. Less of Lily - now she is getting older I feel like she needs a little less blog-time. Less of dear Mark, 'cos it's hard to capture the guy while he is at work, let's be honest ;) Less structure, more freely captured moments as the photography-spirit moves me. I hope to keep regular postings as the end result is so very precious to me, but also welcome a little less (self imposed) structure and posting pressure. This year already has a lot going on it, so I feel like this plan is best for right now.

And why am I calling it the Highlights Reel? Mostly because of this quote...

This little blog of mine is a positive space. It's where my sentimentality and nostalgia get to unleash. It's where I dig up moments of joy and reflect on their blessing. It's where I tap tap tap away at nights when all the children are tucked up in bed, peacefully sleeping (at long last?!). I commented to a friend the other day that it probably wouldn't be such a sweet little blog if I was trying to write it 30 minutes before dinner time when Mark is working late!!! ;) Ha! But I would hate for anyone to think our life is all sunshine and roses. It sure ain't. We have struggles, challenges, mess, heartbreaks, cranky parents and wild children. But it's not what I want to focus on here, and for my children's privacy, I don't really want to get into the nitty gritty of my kid's challenging days (or let's be honest, mine either!) to be recorded for all eternity on the interwebz. This blog is my little happy place and perhaps a place for you to enjoy reading too. Just please don't read it thinking our life is all cute and cosy moments. No. But here is where I collate the treasured moments, the ones that make me smile even through the hum-drum, painful, challenging and exhausted times. Perhaps it brings you a speck of happy too? No matter what life throws at us, we can always find moments of joy, of thankfulness, of peace. This I know now more than ever, and I thank God for it.

So, this is our highlights reel. Proceed, assuming real life is also going on behind the scenes ;)

Thanks for reading, my lovelies xx