Thursday, October 13, 2011

31 Days / day 15 - the tale of the hurdle jump (and FOLK winners)



I look forward to every Friday night. This is the evening I drop my son off at basketball for 2 hours while I slip away with my laptop to Starbucks.

It's my time to catch my breath, flick on the monitor and just take it all in at my own pace. I hear nothing. I just quietly sip my pumpkin spiced latte (reduced to 3 pumps in a grande) and enjoy the moment of... nothingness.

Being that Friday means so much to me, it shouldn't come as any surprise when I big time pouted last week. I was all set up with my fluffy coffee by my side, went to flick on the laptop and... nothing. A 4 month old laptop and I got nothin'. No...... NOOOOO!

I didn't prepare for that so I read a paragraph of an awful newspaper, (the kind you start your fireplace with) then spun my chair around to face outside, sank in the cushy wingbacked chair and... rested. With a pout. :)

So today, when I went into work, I had a big plan. I brought the laptop into the mac store prior. I was smart you see... they were gonna flick a switch then I could magically bring it home with me right away. Didn't happen. I shuffled out of there sad I'd be without my date, the laptop on another Friday night.

I thought for a moment about calling the school to have my son bring his home. But remembered they were on a field trip and... meh... whatever. I decided I'd bring in my camera  and play instead.

And then wouldn't you know it... my boy comes home with the LAPTOP. No way... he never does this.  He wanted me to look at something on it. It could have been a raging tornado in the middle of the night in Timbuktu, but in my mind I just landed on a hot beach in HAWAII! YES!!

Got to Starbucks and the place was FULL. One itty bitty hard chair in the middle of everyone else.  I sighed but decided to make the best of it. As I went to sit down at center stage...


... my cushy bench opened up. Ohhh baby. A 4 seater all to myself! Yes, I am THAT girl that will hog the 4 seater bench on a Friday night. (I just don't look up...)


Computer was acting funky so I set it to fix while I picked up my camera and snapped some shots on manual. FAILURE.

Well, I worked those dials until I went from total blackouts to blazing snowstorms....


... to gungy green darkness to...



... the best it really could possibly be, considering the place was so poorly lit. With no scribbly instructions by my side. 

Oh my word... 
I amaze me.

While it appeared like I was sitting there all by my lonesome as quiet as can be, inside I was dancing! Laptop, my favorite seat, and best of all, manual without a manual!

And all it took was a kind soul to encourage me to TRY.

Well, try and STOP me NOW! :)

Homework

1. Admit what your hurdle is.
2. Smarten up and fix it!
3. Amaze yourself and wonder why you took so long.

Please share your hurdle with us and why you don't go after it. 
I guarantee... you aren't alone.



All 31 Day posts to date are HERE.

Visit Day One for each listing HERE.



And our two very lucky winners of the FOLK 1 year subscriptions are:

Congrats you lucky ducks! I'll be emailing you shortly!


You still have one more day (Oct 15) to purchase the Christmas issue online HERE.


at

14 comments:

  1. ann albaOctober 15, 2011 at 1:20 AM

    Congrats to the winners,
    Donna Love this wee home away from home.wonderful ideas views on life kudos to you.
    Not much of a hurdle jumper week ankles and all that.
    The only hurdle I want & will jump in every year Since December 2000 I celebrate being 1 more year BC free.
    Check your (.)(.)'s
    Ann/alba.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Tammy DemoreuilleOctober 15, 2011 at 1:58 AM

    Love this!! I admire your persistance. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. SueBeeOctober 15, 2011 at 4:53 AM

    I read your encouraging words and think I can do it... Had a surprise Bday party for a friend last night. Took the fancy camera! Never even picked it up, used the faithful Canon Sureshot.
    I'm so embarrassed to tell you. I will do this, I promise!

    ReplyDelete
  4. LMMOctober 15, 2011 at 7:39 AM

    I would like to create, design, and sell. One hurdle is the "business side" of things. It's not my strong suit. The selling mySELF thing is also not my thing. The accounting, not a strength!! And then there's all of the stuff I have that I'm not using that's in my way. I guess the organizing issue needs to be addressed first -- and maybe I can sell some things and make a little start-up cash-ola. And think about who I could ... er ... ask for help? [gulp]

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anita @ GoingALittleCoastalOctober 15, 2011 at 7:40 AM

    Inside shots are the hardest for me. The lighting is hard and I hate the graininess when I up the ISO too high. But you are doing great by just shooting, shooting and shooting again. The only way to learn is how I look at it. And I have plenty of crappy shot to prove it! I'm going to work on taking inside shots and using a white board to help bounce some light around. I need to catalog some vintage finds for an Etsy :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Linda/patchworkOctober 15, 2011 at 8:06 AM

    Practice, practice, practice. That's what my mother used to say. Egads! Could she have been right?...lol
    Loving this series.

    ReplyDelete
  7. jinxxxygirlOctober 15, 2011 at 8:08 AM

    My hurdle is turning my artwork into quality prints. My printer does an okaaay job if i print it on photo paper. I tried having some note cards with my art on it printed at Office Depot and they turned out worse than what my printer would do. I don't know where to go from here or who to ask......And i'm afraid that any option i find will cost more of an initial investment than i can afford............sigh........

    ReplyDelete
  8. Kathryn Ferguson GriffinOctober 15, 2011 at 3:10 PM

    Loved this post! I'm working on shooting in Manual mode. Practice, practice, practice. Toodles, Kathryn @TheDedicatedHouse

    ReplyDelete
  9. Jan@southernjunkin'October 15, 2011 at 4:19 PM

    Oh you made me laugh as I could place myself in similar circumstances! The hubby says I hollar for him each time the laptop refuses to work for me!! I'm working on manual focus...

    ReplyDelete
  10. ElsieOctober 15, 2011 at 4:39 PM

    Congrats to winner!!! Loved your post, you have the worst time with computers. I thought I was the only one with that problem. Your bench looked very comfy.

    ReplyDelete
  11. UnknownOctober 16, 2011 at 1:48 PM

    Hurdles - sometimes it is just having too much on my plate - family things, crafty things, and cleaning that needs to happen. Plus the fact that I am still in the process of finding organization that works for my household and myself.

    ReplyDelete
  12. tarrahOctober 17, 2011 at 6:43 AM

    Just one hurdle? Eww, I have a few more than one. Getting our business bigger and better, and building a shop for us too....again, only ONE hurdle?! :(

    ReplyDelete
  13. Stay Sew CreativeOctober 17, 2011 at 8:50 AM

    My biggest hurdle? I think I spend more time researching and thinking about something, rather than just jumping in and doing it.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Lori R.October 18, 2011 at 10:59 AM

    I have the same hurdle to produce quality photos in manual mode and the second hurdle is to begin writing a blog. Many ideas swirling around but I don't think I have the time right now to dedicate to it.

    ReplyDelete

I love your comments and read every one of these! For more interactive feedback from me, I'd love it if you'd join my FJI Facebook page where communication is always current and incredibly fun! Thank-you!