Core story. What central story is at the core of you, and how do you share it with the world? (Bonus: Consider your reflections from this month. Look through them to discover a thread you may not have noticed until today.)

From Reverb10 I’ve discovered that I’m obsessed with my house. And with achieving any goal I set for myself. And that even if I never achieve another goal I set for myself, I am deliriously happy with my life.

Thanks for hanging in there with me during my Reverb10 posts. Here is to an amazing year ahead!

Big news. I have finally gotten over my fear of the manual settings on my camera. The world of photography is before me, I am a convert from the auto settings! I seriously feel like I’ve discovered a whole new world. And it all came from a tutorial on Centsational Girl’s blog about better photos using natural light. Wow.

Automatic setting

Automatic with flash- ack!

Holy crap, manual mode!

Got light, now shutter speed?

And done!

The realization has been made that my camera, that I’ve not liked up until today, is actually an awesome camera- I just needed to play with the settings! And I’m totally putting Photoshop on my Wish List…

Gift. This month, gifts and gift-giving can seem inescapable. What’s the most memorable gift, tangible or emotional, you received this year?

This year, I received the gift of a second chance. After college, I majorly screwed up my finances and my chances of ever owning a home. My parents gave us a boost we didn’t deserve, and FICO was kind to me. I got a second chance with our house, and I will never forget it.

Everyone has something that (they say) they’ll never ever do.

And what do you know, I’m telling you what I think about that over at Our Mommyhood today!

Defining moment. Describe a defining moment or series of events that has affected your life this year.

The realization that I really can do whatever it is I want to go. The only limitation I have in my life is me.

Achieve. What’s the thing you most want to achieve next year? How do you imagine you’ll feel when you get it? Free? Happy? Complete? Blissful? Write that feeling down. Then, brainstorm 10 things you can do, or 10 new thoughts you can think, in order to experience that feeling today.

I want to make progress in getting my degree. The feeling when I get done with school? The feeling I had the first day of winter break from school this year- elation!

The ten things I can do to experience that feeling? Well as a matter of fact, I have ten semesters of school left to go. Each one of them is a step towards feeling the elation, and as hard as they may be, each one I start makes my heart skip just a bit. I’m getting closer!

Ordinary joy. Our most profound joy is often experienced during ordinary moments. What was one of your most joyful ordinary moments this year?

Walking into our new home! Our closing was set for 8:30, but Marmot and I were ready to leave by 7:45. We sat on the steps of our rental house and talked about how amazing bright and sunny the day was (it was cloudy). We talked about how the whole world just seemed happier that day (really it was just us). And even though buying a house was a small transaction in the world of real estate, being handed the keys and stepping across the door of our new house gave us joy that rivaled even our wedding day.

Soul food. What did you eat this year that you will never forget? What went into your mouth & touched your soul?

Last winter, my Dad and I pulled out Gramma’s spaghetti sauce recipe. We hadn’t attempted making it since she passed away in 2006, but it was time to try it again. And it. was. amazing. The type of food where you take a bite, close your eyes, and it takes you back to a specific place and time. For me its back to sitting at my Gramma’s dining room table (that now resides in my dining room), drinking milk out of a brown mug that I’m sipping tea out of as I write this, and eating her spaghetti with a meatball that seemed to be about the size of my head. Gramma asking Leonard to say grace, and Leonard saying “GRACE.” And the hilarity of seeing my Dad ordered around (and even saying yes ma’am) to this tiny little woman. All of this from one bite of Gramma’s spaghetti, the recipe of which I have here.

The Christmas cards are going out in shifts, with the third wave going out on Monday…but the real question is, if you get a Christmas card after Christmas, do you think they forgot about you or are just behind??

Photo – a present to yourself. Sift through all the photos of you from the past year. Choose one that best captures you; either who you are, or who you strive to be. Find the shot of you that is worth a thousand words. Share the image, who shot it, where, and what it best reveals about you.

Ginger, Honey, Nelly & Apple

This is my favorite picture from 2010. My sisters and I got together to do pictures for Queen B. for Mother’s Day. We ended up in the park across the street from our rental house, Marmot brought his camera and acted as our photographer, and we somehow ended up standing in the fountain doing stupid poses. This picture captures my sisters and I, as we are.