New hobby and resolutions

Happy Belated New Year!   Life is good, work is good, and adding a new hobby and resolutions this year.   This year I vowed to read a minimum of 10 pages a night, refrain from buying any new bags or purses, and to get out of my photo rut.  Ok, we can throw in the losing weight part too...

So far, I'm pretty successful this year on the reading challenge. I got a head start to build momentum. Since the middle of December I have read 9 books and on my 10th:
Before he kills
Creatures of Appetite
Trophies
Where we went wrong
The Silent Child
The Good Daughter
Outcry
Summer of Night
A Winter Haunting
A Good Marriage (current)

I decided to buy a Kindle Fire HD 10 and a Kindle Paperwhite. I bought the paperwhite because I found my tablet was heavy and cumbersome to carry around.  These have become great motivators.  Book size doesn't matter, and I don't have to find a home for a book I'm not going to re-read. Kindle versions are often cheaper than their paperback and hard cover counterparts, my husband has Prime reading on his account I can use, and the library lends out e-books as well.  All these are incentives to keep plugging along.

Also, something exciting, some friends and I have started a book club. I couldn't find a local one, at least not with the genre I'm interested it.  My friends also read thrillers and mysteries as well.  I wanted some accountability to read at least one book a month this year. 

I LOVE purses and camera bags.  Before the end of the year a close friend of mine went to Dillard's with me and helped pick up a gorgeous new purse. I went with The Sak brand and got a cute backpack/messenger combo. Gorgeous. I did see another that I was in love with, but the size was too big. 

Due to internet ads popping up everywhere that bag popped up....in a smaller size. I grabbed the link and told my husband, who had already gotten me a canvas shoulder/sling bag for Christmas, that I wanted this purse for my birthday, and he GOT IT! 

So, I decided to get rid of all purses except the Saks and the canvas bag. I promised to stick to these three bags all year long. I also took an extra step and said I would not be buying any camera bags either.

Saying all this, I do have a cute Kindle tote bag on my wish list that would be perfect for a work bag...

Corriander Seeds. I did not submit this one, but this is from when I was shooting for my Shutterstock portfolio.

I have been in a photography rut!!!! I was going out nearly every Saturday morning, and sometimes afternoon to shoot wildlife. Which is great, and I'm not going to stop, however, I wasn't shooting much of anything else.  A fellow photographer I know, who happens to be amazing, she has a couple of books out with her work (Debra Rothenberg), shared her experience with Shutterstock. I have several images just sitting on hard drives and decided "why not?".

I accidentally submitted one image instead of the allowable ten to get qualified.  Well, they took it. So I have been thinking and searching of what to shoot and how. I feel like the creative fog is about to lift.

As far as the weight loss goal...I'm waiting until February before I show up at the gym. The January crowd should thin out a little by then.

I'm another year older, and I have goals. I wonder how many I'll reach.