Resolutions.

(source)
I feel like my New Year's Resolutions for 2014 are incredibly obvious and easy ones but to give me a reason to keep it up, I figured sharing it with you was as good a way to motivate myself as any...

Although I do often feel as though starting a new year with a list of things to do does feel a little cliché, it still feels like the right way to start - beginning it all with a fresh head and some new goals.

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1. Read More.

This is something I've been doing really well with in recent months, having read three books since August, it's definitely something I don't see why I can't keep up and I would so like to be able to do a few reviews a la Becky Bedbug. I have so many beautiful books that are just taking up space on my bookshelves longing to be read and I have a feeling it's going to feel so good once I get around to it.

2. Save more, spend less.

One that's been on my list for a few years now and I feel that turning 25 in 2014 means it's really about time that I nip it in the bud. I found a great source of saving tips on Pinterest, the 52 Week method is my favourite and seems like a good place to start. 

3. Eat more healthily & exercise a bit...

Feeling like a 'bit of a girl' about this one and it's one I'd love to be able to do privately and come out surprising everyone with how great and self-motivated I am, but it doesn't work like that so this is the year I'd like to have more patience for it. I don't even really want to do it for any particular reason, it would just be swell to have a lot more energy and I'm hoping this would do it.

4. Take back my lunchbreaks.

This is a bit of a tough one. Sitting behind a desk all day is all very well and good and I actually do quite enjoy my job but, and it goes very much hand in hand with 'Resolution #4', I just need more fresh air. It's just another thing that I think might combat day-to-day lethargy.

5. Be better at staying in touch.

I think this year has been a great one for making new friends and seeing old ones, but I still feel like I can do better. If we stay there, we'll have been living in our little flat for two years in April and I feel like I should have had more of my family round or at least been better at extending an invitation. I also want to keep up more with birthday cards, maybe not always presents but definitely always cards - it feels quite grown up but I quite like that.

6. Sort out the 'frame situation'.

Moon and I have so much framed stuff on our walls, and I like that, but we also have quite a few things that are yet to go up. All we'd need to do is rearrange a few things but the main thing stopping us is lack of nice frames for our lovely artwork that's yet to go up. Why's that a problem? Well, because all we need to do is get measuring and go buying, it's quick and simple but we're still putting it off - at least if it gets to this time next year and nothing's been done then I can recognise that we might have a problem.

7. Print more photographs.

I'm not too bad at sharing photographs but I'm terrible at printing them. I know it's something my Gran would like me to do and I've actually got a (huge) folder sitting on my laptop waiting to be printed. This is the year I do it, then I'll have photos to go into albums and up on the wall (if we ever sort out that darn 'frame situation).

So there you have it, what are your New Year's Resolutions? I'm just hoping I've picked things that are nice and realistic, funnily enough, Buzzfeed seems to think so.

Happy 4th January!

And happy new year, etc.

I would apologise for my absence but I've been quite busy, and productive so I won't say anything, except hello!
I have a backlog of photos to share with you. Mainly from NYE, which was actually quite fun, until Moon and I ended up on his sofa at 3:30am watching Glastonbury highlights that we'd already seen. A bit of Ring of Fire always brings people together, but more on that in a future post.

Right now, I'm sat here typing to you because after literally months of promising (really you can check up if you want), I finally got round to uploading and posting my online portfolio. I'm actually quite pleased with it, so thank you Digital Photo Gallery, you are simplistic and just what I wanted.
The only thing I am having slight issues with is that my 'About' page looks odd, but it will do for the time-being as I think I'm overdone on the whole thing after spending the last two days on it.

The New Year was definitely a good excuse to get it over and done with because after having put it off basically since graduating, I'm fairly certain that I needed a reason for a little get up and go. I mean, I dabbled in making one from scratch and if I was honest with myself and really tried, I could probably have breezed through it, but sadly, I have a tendency to be quite lazy and would rather just refresh my social presences all day.

I external-linked to this blog because I've grown far too attached to it to create a new one for the soul purpose of having everything integrated. I also linked to my old Photography Tumblr for my University work for the sheer ease, but also due to the fact that had I not, I would have to list each project in the sidebar (unless someone can tell me otherwise), which would definitely look crap, and the Tumblr isn't too dissimilar to my portfolio anyway, plus no one will actually be leaving the site.

So I'm fairly pleased with it anyway, and feeling a lot more confident in my abilities as a photographer now that I've categorised and ordered everything and it's out there for real people to see. It would be nice to have some feedback on it.

Link: http://www.ruthjohnstonphotography.com

On the job front, there is nothing that exciting, although I'm sure there are people still bleary-eyed from their first day back. I'm going to give everything a bit more time as most of the emails I've sent out were over Christmas so I wasn't expecting an immediate response anyway.
I have got an interview tomorrow though, not sure if it's creative as the description was a bit vague and the title was kind of general, I'm still looking forward to it though, it sounds like it has potential to be interesting.
This is not very 'me' for my first blog of 2012, but I thought you should know that I have a portfolio now and that I've begun the year with an attempt to be less lazy and do the one thing I should have done the previous year.