It is that time of year. Yes. it is time for the “end of the year reflect on the past year” blog post.

Up front, I have to say that 2014 was just so excellently good. I honestly can’t think of a bad thing from this past year. It was good in so many ways. Here is a list of some of my favorite moments and things that happened.

Favoritest Things

1. WPPD in AMS.  Raf and I traveled  to Amsterdam to meet up with internet friends to play pinhole. How much awesome can a person fit into one sentence? Honestly. Traveling to Amsterdam was one thing, but meeting up with friends that you have only previously known online and who are just as passionate about something that you are is really beyond wonderful. I am very much looking forward to more international meetups on WPPD in years to come!
2. #devclub. I began developing black and white film at home!
3. #Tinydarkroom I also created the tiniest darkroom in the spare bathroom and have been able to make prints! In my own house! (Note to self, write a blog post about this). Both of these things have been things I’d been longing to do for a long time and it finally happened.
4. Run the marathon to the very last mile. Rafael ran his first marathon! And he did it in Sandals. AND he was 6th place in the men’s division, 7th place overall. I can’t even begin to tell you how proud I am. When he crossed the finish line I teared up. He has inspired me to run a couple of half marathons next year (eep!).
5. Gimmicky weight loss.Another really great thing about this year is that I lost weight.  that last stubborn bit that I’ve been fighting for a long time. I lost it in kind of a gimmicky way but it seemed to work for me  and I have been able to keep it off. I have some more weight to lose before I totally reach my goal. I will write more about this in future blog posts.
6. Find The Others. I connected locally with some pinhole photographers and it’s been really awesome! Donna and Gretchen and I have been meeting up for a pinhole adventure once a month and I have learned so much, AND  have had a lot of fun, as well. Win/win.
7. Moar Pinhole. I am participating in some really great pinhole photography projects. The first one is the Next Best Thing Pinhole project, organized by Herschel of Square Peg Pinhole and the Pinhole Podcast. The other project is The Great Transatlantic Pinhole Filmswap Project, organized by me! I am really looking forward to seeing how both of these projects play out in the coming year.
8. Sit down and shut up.  I am now a card carrying Buddhist. Literally. I went through  the Jukai ceremony and have the paperwork to prove it! 🙂

Lessons Learned

I learned a lot about myself this past year. I think part of why I haven’t blogged as much this year is because I did so much self-reflection, and wasn’t sure if I felt like writing about it. I am still not sure if I want to. It’s weird. I have realized that maybe uttering every single thought inside my head isn’t always the best thing. That maybe it’s good to take a step back and look at things, examine them, before jumping in with an opinion on it.

This past year I spread myself too thin. I took on too much. I have too many blogs. I am realizing that less is more. I decided to cut out the blog portion of my photography website and use it as a portfolio site. I am not going to participate in 52 rolls again next year. I am not going to add to my camera collection. I would like to focus in on a few things. I will write  more about this later.

In the new year I will post about some of the goals and things that I want to accomplish. Until then, I hope you all have a wonderful and safe New Years Eve! I will be back this year with one more post, my One Second Everyday video. So stay tuned!