June´s 2014 summary in numbers

For June 2014´s update and goals check in I´m doing {My month in numbers}. It is a project taking place at Julie Kirk´s blog  where you sum up your month with numbers. Here are some inspirational instructions on how to go about it. This is my 26th consecutive participation.

I´m keeping 115 photos for the month. Here are my favourites from each day. Click on the mosaic to see it bigger.

I followed 18/30 of the #photoprompts for June plus 5 Plan B takes:  Find July´s prompts here! For daily reminders of the #photoprompts Like my Facebook Page here or Follow me on Twitter here.

News of the month:
Edwina, that´s my car, got to her 40000th km on June 1st. I kept an eye on the dial so I could park and take the picture.

Tati participated in an UN project at the National Congress for her school as part of a three team group, one of the teams got a prize for their work. Congrats kids!

Daniel was in Germany representing our school. He learnt how to take selfies because I asked him to. :D <3 p="">

Our son bought his first dot com domain. :)

"On line" goals:
In June my Paula - Buenos Aires Facebook page grew by 143 followers. Somebody must have been promoting my page as I got 100 new Likes in a 24 hours period. I´m hoping for the 800 followers milestone next. *I even have my celebration sign ready* The goal for 2014 is 1000. My Twitter account for which I didn´t set goals is growing too. 206 persons are following @PBAtweets.

Plus I wrote 4 Wednesdays posts:
+ My month in Numbers with May´s data
+ The reasons why a handmade calendar is so awesome by iHanna  
+ My work style
+ Quinn McDonald´s latest book Inner Hero, arrived in a box An autographed copy for me. :)

I got 1 award this month: the 2014 Influencers Award

I also got invited to be part of the board of the International Bloggers Association. I will be in charge of our G+ community which you can join here. It is brand new, come and make your voice heard.

I was invited to cohost linky parties:
+ 4 Saturday Media
+ 4 G+ Mondays

My "hobbies" goals for this year include:
60 layouts (0 so far), 12 fiction books ( 1 in June, 5 total), 6 non fiction ( 0 for June, 3 in total ) and 6 rereadings (1 began in Jan but I got going again this month).

My "go out" goals for 2014:
From the 6 new places to eat: 0 this month, that is 2 total  ,  1 craft fairs in June ( 6 total),0 animé exhibitions (2 out of 2 total Yay! ) and  from the 3 new Museums the count is still at 1 art exhibit in Jan.

This is me with Yasmin from Puchinis

Goal´s check in for March '14

For March 2014´s update I´m doing {My month in numbers}. It is a project taking place at Julie Kirk´s blog  where you sum up your month with numbers. Here are some inspirational instructions on how to go about it.

I´m keeping 130 photos for the month. Here are my favourites from each day. Click on the mosaic to see it bigger.

I expected not taking a picture a day being less stressful but I feel bad about not taking all the pics for my own prompts! Need to work on that. Here are April´s prompts. Come and play!
Here are the 22 of 31 I followed the #photoprompts for:

"On line" goals:
Last month my Paula - Buenos Aires Facebook page grew by 20 followers. In March they were ... 40. Doubled the number! Plus, that made me reach the 500 followers milestone. *celebration* The goal for 2014 is 1000+
I did not have guests this month but I have 2 lined up for April.

My "hobbies" goals for this year include: 60 layouts (0 so far), 12 fiction books ( 1 in March, 2 total), 6 non fiction ( 0 for March, 3 in total ) and 6 rereadings (1 began in Jan).

My "go out" goals for 2014. From the 6 new places to eat: 1 this month  ,  0 craft fair in March ( 2 total), 1 animé exhibitions (1 out of 2 total) and  from the 3 new Museums the count is still at 1 art exhibit in Jan.

My girl (second from left) her two friends and some cosplayers at the animé convention

Dining out for my mil´s birthday

On other news, our son passed his entrance exams and is now ONE university student! Yay!
There were 2 birthday parties.

My bil´s birthday party

There were several doctor´s appointments for the kids´annual check ups.

No cavities! Yay!

What about you? Still on track? Lost a bit of focus? Went absolutely off the original plan? Get back on the saddle. Start again where you are with what you have. :)

Goals check in for Feb ´14

Time to summarize my month in numbers for the My month in numbers feature by Julie Kirk.  Here are some inspirational instructions on how to go about it. 

I´m keeping 90 pictures for the month. Here are my 25 favourites. Click on the mosaic to see it bigger.

I finished working on the 365 prompts for 2014 and reshuffled the lot to make a monthly voyage of discovery out of them. If you want daily inspiration on what to photograph, go to my Paula - Buenos Aires Facebook page, which by the way grew by 20 followers in February. Sweet.

I had two guests this month at the blog. I interviewed Quinn McDonald onher new book and how to deal with our Inner Critic and Lisa Beaulieu on her art project with colourful Fimo angels left to be found.
My "hobbies" goals for this year include: 60 layouts (0 so far), 12 fiction books ( 1 in Feb, 2 total), 6 non fiction ( 0 for Feb, 3 in total ) and 6 rereadings (1 began in Jan).

I´m currently reading this one

Not much progress in my "go out" goals for 2014. From the 6 new places to eat still 0 new, 1 craft fair in Feb (1 in Jan so 2 total), 0 animé exhibitions till Feb but already 1 in March! and  from the 3 new Museums the count is still at 1 art exhibit in Jan. We did go to an antiques fair though:

So, what did happen this month?

My son was 18 the same day I was ... some more years. ;)

Our girl and her bestest friends (yea, I know it is just best but this girls are more than that ;) ) had a chocolate picnic for Valentine´s Day.

And after three wonderful months it was back to school time for them.

Uniform ready the night before

What about you? Still on track? Lost a bit of focus? Went absolutely off the original plan? Get back on the saddle. Start again where you are with what you have. :)

New creative project: the final product

In January I showed you a practical way to organize the first stages of a new creative process with a calendar and sticky notes. Here´s the next step.

I was working on a year long photography prompts project. I wanted to see the whole twelve months at a glance to be able to balance the prompts and see there were no repetitions.

At this point I considered different approaches: random prompts vs. themed prompts was no contest. I´m soooooo structured that themes pleased me more than random prompts thrown at the pages.

Next: themes by month? It had charm but with an international group of participants we didn´t have the same national days and events. Not even the same seasons! Btw: the first original "Life on the Go" group that I started for Art Every Day Month in November liked it so much that it is still alive! That group is now closed to new members, but you can still participate following the prompts on my Paula - Buenos Aires page.

Ok, so groups of 12 related prompts, on the same day each month. The first creative part was over. On to the nitty gritty.

Write, write, write, think, ask, have tea, brainstorm, write some more.

Once I got all the 30 groups of 12 prompts they still looked a bit all over the place. And I had this idea. Divide the themes into bigger themes. In this case: personal, home, outdoors and classic prompts (verbs, descriptions, songs, events, that kind). Write one theme on each colour coded sticky note and put the colours together.

As it is a very personal voyage of self discovery I started each month with the personal prompts, followed by the home and finally going out into the big world.

Time to write each prompt where needed. Take the first group and put one on each month, following the theme flow. Same with the second and on until the 31st (shorter as not all months have 31 days).

The last step is to write it all on a Word document and ask my kids to teach me how to make a PDF out of it so I can share it with you!

Three weeks in the Patagonia Jan 14 summary in numbers

Time flies when you are having fun! How did you do with your goals and intentions on the first month of 2014? After a bit of a misshap at the end of January when we came back home from our Patagonian summer holidays it seems it was not as bad as it looked and I am somewhat back on track. :D

Sooo where am I standing? My goals sheet is much more linear and tidy than 2013´s. Same concept, less lines, all colour coded, one side for on line goals, another one for home/family goals. *sigh of relief at the sight of codes in lines instead of doodles* ;)

2013´s goals

 One of the projects that I brought to an end in its former form was my Creative Every Day challenge  led by Leah Piken Kolidas. I´ve taking at least a picture a day for the whole year for the past four ones and presenting a weekly update.  The update will now take a montly form, right in time to summarize it in numbers for the My month in numbers feature by Julie Kirk.  Here are some inspirational instructions on how to go about it. Yep, two-in-one, I´ve been known to multitask that way before. :D

I´m keeping 485 of the holiday pictures taken this month with my Sony Cyber-shot and my Samsung S4. Neither Daniel nor Tati have handed med their iPod pics yet! *taps foot and looks around waiting* I also have 19 non hols pictures.

Talking about pictures: last year I led "Life on the Go" for Art Every Day Month in November. It was project which had daily picture prompts with a cool group of people from all over the world, sharing their view on daily life. From the seasonal fruit to the buses, from the breakfast table for six to the take away for one, from their knitting to their moving boxes, from the birthday cake decorated with Angry Birds to the books on their side table. Life. Glorious, ordinary life. We became a merry band of sisters and kept the project alive for another month and then another and yet another. 

Here are my takes on the prompts for January. If you want the ones for February join my Paula - Buenos Aires page! Remember to mark it as "Get notifications" for them to show up on your feeds every day. :)

Missed the one on the 29th!

My "go out" goals for 2014 are 6 new places to eat, 2 craft fairs, 2 animé exhibitions and 3 new Museums. Not counting Bariloche´s although we did visit a lovely craft fair and an art exhibit.

A few of the stands of the Feria de las Picadas

My "hobbies" goals include: 60 layouts (0 in Jan), 12 fiction books (0 in Jan), 6 non fiction (3 for Jan! ) and 6 rereadings (1 began in Jan).

February plans:

Participate in "29 Faces" February´s edition. This is a fun project that takes place twice a year, in February and September. Whenever I make the time for it I see improvement in my drawing. Wanna join? Click here!

New creative project: the process

This is where I´ve been working on a new 365 project, with one of the best Patagonian views. The Ruca Carel cabin in Cerro Catedral, a very small village up the mountain near San Carlos de Bariloche, Río Negro Province, Patagonia Argentina.

This is how I roll aka "the process".

Step 1: gather my planning materials. A4 sheets of ruled paper, coloured pens, sticky notes, ruler, scissors.

Step 2: choose my colours for goals and tasks. Design the monthly templates.

Remember to keep the water intake running! Pretty cups help a relaxing atmosphere for work. ;)

Step 3: get the calendar to plan dates for daily tasks.

Step 4: get each month´s template displayed.

Step 5: cut sticky notes to size.

Step 6: write daily tasks on sticky notes and start playing with placements.

In case you are wondering what the project is about: I´m leading a cell phone photography project with daily prompts. You can already find the prompts at my Facebook page "Paula - Buenos Aires". Start whenever you want and play for a year. Or maybe a just for a month. You always have your phone with you, start snapping!

Read the second part on how to plan a project by clicking here: The next step.

Dec 13 summary / Jan 14 plans

Are you going to join a take-a-picture-a-day project this year? If you are looking for inspiration Like my page Daily Life on the Go for daily photography prompts!

I will be keeping 2504 pictures for 2013, not including the cds the school provided with Tatiana´s school trip to Tandil or Matias´s graduation ceremony (over 400 of them).

Mati on the right as a National Flag Escort

In December I missed 6 days of pictures. I´m discovering more phone camera features though and will be writing some tutorials this year. 

24 people visited us, some more than once. I loooooooove having the back garden full of teen laughter and music.

My word for 2014 is "Prosper" and I´m planning on ways to use it as my compass.
I will dedicate January to plan what I´ll bring to you, including 365 photography prompts. I want my blog and Facebook page to prosper, to be full of life, to be useful in a joyful way.

You´ll know about some of my projects right away and some will be revealed along 2014.

This year I want to lead again and also to have a team. As I worked for Jamie Ridler, with Ginny and Shelley I rediscovered the momentum that a group may gather and how far we could reach with our combined skills and efforts.

How many ideas I have? Lost count!