Living Juicy

In 2007 I posted 1140 photos to my flickr stream. I’ve been going through my archives as an exercise in my yearly re-cap. At the end of each year I look back over the previous 12 months and put together a list of things I’ve learned or done. I’ve found that blogging and journaling has helped me keep track of the days and gives me a picture of what I’ve done that year. This year is the first year where I did the same with photos.

When I think about the year, I think this one–2007–was kind of bleh, not bad mind you, but nothing really stands out to me. It’s really kind of flown by. However as I look through my photos and read my archives I recall that I actually did have an active year. Each monthly recap is accompanied by the most viewed photo that I took for that month.

January 2007, I posted 43 photos; the majority of them were taken during my trip home to Texas. Because I was traveling for the beginning part of the month I never really got around to doing a recap last year. And my private journal only has one entry from the month. I read three books in January:
- Henry and June
- Tender is the Night
- The Stolen Child

February 2007, I posted 196 photos. Chris and I traveled to Montana to watch his brother compete in a semi-professional MMA fight and I got a lot of great shots. I also got a chance to do a lot of painting. Again, I was very quiet blog wise and only made about 4 posts. I read two books in February:
- Grandmother’s Secrets, a history of belly dance
- Into the Forest

March 2007, I posted 27 photos. I started posting more, but mostly gleaned links from the internet. Again, I was quiet. I have feeling I was blue part of February and March as most of my personal entries are about growth and change. I read three books in March:
- Tam Lin
- Steppenwolf
- Give Us A Kiss

April 2007, I only posted 18 photos. This process is showing me how quiet I was this year, which is why it must seem so bleh. It seems that I just hardly wrote anything all year. And the beginning of the year I seem quite sober in my private journal. I read two books in April:
- Waking the Moon
- Things Fall Apart

May 2007, I posted 215 photos. I traveled to Roanoke, Va to see my cousin Laura wed. I took a lot of photos at her wedding and I painted a portrait for her gift. I learned a lot about my some of my deceased relatives from my grandfather and his brother on the trip. It was wonderful to hear these stories and to be there to celebrate Laura’s wedding. I read two books in May:
- Watership Down
- Magical Thinking

June 2007, I posted 7 photos. I started training with a personal trainer in June and it really seems like I started to wake up. I posted much more and seem more excited in my personal journal. I started to write more creatively and build a system for my creativity. I think this is the month my year started to turn around and I pulled out of the gloom of winter. I didn’t read any books in June but listened to The Eye of The World on audio book.

July 2007, I posted 81 photos. I turned 31 years old. This month I spent a lot more time outdoors. We visited Meerkerk Gardens and we went camping. I also went down to see belly dancing at the Med-festival in Seattle. My posting became more regular and think this is a result of getting out of the house more. I also realized that I had re-learned a few lessons I learned in my twenties and felt stronger and more positive than I had in the Winter. I read one book and listened to another audio book:
- A Natural History Of Love
- The Great Hunt (audio book)

August 2007 I posted 265 photos. I decided to journal everything I ate; it was fun and torture at the same time. I went camping in Western Washington with a bunch of wild women, and I got to dance in desert under the light of the moon. I felt alive and rejuvenated. I felt inspired and motivated. The retreat opened my eyes and dusted off my heart. I read three books in August:
- Stranger in a Strange Land
- The Space Between Us
- The Monkey Wrench Gang

September 2007, I posted 33 photos. Chris had his birthday and we traveled to Texas to visit my family. We got to see Henry Rollins at a speaking engagement and it was freaking wonderful. I went fishing with my step-father while he was in town and celebrate my mother’s birthday as well. And I got to see my Dad’s new motorcycle. I read one book in September called Flight.

October 2007, I posted 52 photos. It started to get cold and raining again. Chris and I attended the wedding of his good friends. And his mother visited us and we got to show her around our island. I went to a Tribal Hafla and got to spend time with my belly dancing buddies. I also decided to participate in Nanowrimo again. I read one book in October called The Road.

November 2007, I posted 9 photos. I took a sword workshop and learned how to balance a sharp object on my head while dancing at the same time. I wrote and wrote and hit a wall and thought and thought. Then I did everything else I could possibly do to avoid writing (such is the way). I decided to spend the month of December in Texas to visit my family for a bit longer than the usual week long trip. Luckily my friend and co-worker decided to help me drive down just for the heck of it (yes, after four days and almost 3,000 miles I can still call her a friend). I posted quite a bit and read a bunch the books:
- Innocent Erendira
- Even Cowgirls Get the Blues
- Diary

December 2007, I posted 194 photos. A lot of them were old photos I found in my grandmother cabinet. I’ve spent quite a busy month from cheer leading with Payten to belly dance with mom to hanging with my brother it has been a very busy month. I’ve not completed reading a single book in December, I’ve just been to busy. However I have started The Way of the Pilgrim, and Pillars of the Earth.

I’ll be in Texas few more weeks then Chris is flying down to help me drive back. It has been a strange year, it seems I struggled a lot this year to keep my chin up and I think I succeed. I’m hoping 2008 will show some of the fruits of my labor as I continue my journey.

Happy New Year. Here’s to 2008. Cheers!