Hey, y’all!

I’ve decided to try to be better about blogging here, even if I don’t have something photo-related to talk about. I’m following the advice that Becker gave on a [b] school episode (which I just caught up on this weekend during an hour-long stint on the elliptical machine at the gym!), where he pointed out that our blogs aren’t JUST to showcase our photography work. One of the huge advantages of a blog is that you get to know who we are as people. That’s so much more important when your field—photography—is so much about building relationships and connecting to others. So, I’m taking that advice and I’m going to try to blog more regularly, even if all I have to blog about is my life!

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I had an AMAZING breakfast yesterday with Jonathon at The Blue Dog Kitchen. Violet turned me on to the place last June, but I haven’t had an opportunity to go back. Jonathon’s birthday was Thursday (yep, he’s one of the unlucky to be born on V-day!), so we went to brunch to celebrate. If you live in Seattle, definitely check out the Blue Dog Kitchen. I had a sundried tomato and basil frittata with cheese, and it was just heavenly. I was especially excited that, unlike most restaurants, the portion sizes were totally reasonable. I am so tired of restaurants loading up a plate with about two and a half times more food than is necessary, so it was wonderful to go to a place that makes excellent food in good portions. I suspect I’ll be going back there soon to try some of the other delicious-sounding items on their menu soon.

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So, I mentioned above that I was catching up on the [b] school videocasts at the gym this weekend…that’s because I’m back on the horse with regards to getting healthy. I’m finally really excited to be on this path, and I want to share what got me excited. Holly told me about The Daily Plate, and my health goals haven’t ever seemed so reachable! The site lets you say what your weight loss goals are, and will tell you how many calories you may consume in order to lose the weight you’d like to lose. I’m going to use myself as an example to show you what the site does…I’ll be brave here and tell you specifically what my goals are because I have nothing to hide!

My goal: I want to lose 130lbs.

• I told the site I’d like to lose 2 lbs./week.
• The site tells me that I can consume 2,107/day to reach my 2 lbs./week goal, and that I can expect to reach my goal of weighing 140lbs. by May, 2009. (That may seem a long way off to you, but to me it sounds really amazing!)
• I type in what I’m eating (it even lets me enter my own recipes!), and the site calculates the nutritional info for me.
• I type in what my average activity level is (not much, since I have a desk job that keeps me in front of the computer all day!), and that’s how it calculates my target calorie consumption.

I signed up for a Gold membership so that I could use some of the special tools that will let me watch my progress as I continue to lose. I find that really helpful and motivating. If any of you would like to join me on The Daily Plate, you can search for my username—mollybennett—and add me as a friend. Let’s support each other in our path toward living healthier. You can also check in over at Bobbi + Mike’s Blog, because they’re doing a weight-loss program, too, and have a great little community going in the comments.

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I have decided to devote a large part of my 2008 summer schedule to second-shooting for Dani Weiss Photography. She invited me to be her second this season, and I am thrilled for the opportunity. Dani has been a friend of mine for a long time, and I’ve been a fan of her work since I moved to Seattle. One of her fine art pieces even hangs in my bathroom! With more than 20 years of industry experience under her belt, I know I will learn a lot from her this summer. One of the challenging things about being mostly self-taught is that many of the technical details of photography have slipped through my fingers. I’ve spent the last few years honing my “eye” and capturing the emotion of my clients. I can’t wait to see what I’ll be able to do when I fill in some of the gaps in my technical know-how!

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What about you? How was your weekend? If you’re in Seattle, are you enjoying this sunshine we’ve been getting? It makes me want to crank up my favorite house CD and drive around in my new wheels…

These are my favorite 100 photos of 2007. That I took, anyway.

They’re not really in a particular order. That was far more complex than I could fathom creating! Enjoy.