I never think of myself as having hobbies. I'm not particularly crafty. I'm not a fabulous baker. I don't enjoy jewelry making and other activities that many of my good friends seem to love. However, it occurred to me this past week-end, as I sat very late into the night happily working on a certain project that had no particular relevance, that I do, indeed, have a hobby. What I love to do is arrange pictures of my family into various media, namely, blurb books and i-movies. Who knew?
So, the blurb book thing is just, plain fun. Basically, I download my entire family blog (a year at a time) into this booksmart software. I can edit it, add other photos, arrange it however I want, add text, and then it gets made into a hard-cover book. My kids love looking through these, as does my husband. Friends are always really fond of them as well, especially when I tell them how easy they are to make. I've made three of them so far and am almost finished with the fourth. It's really, really fun and is a great way to record and re-live important family events!
The other thing I've recently discovered is i-movie (yes, I know, I'm way behind the times!). There are templates on i-movie which make it incredibly easy for someone who is not super tech-savvy to still make a great photo movie. I just drag the photos in, put it to great music, and Voila! I recently made an i-movie of some of our favorite vacation memories, but you could make it for anything or anyone. I love how powerful the pictures become when set to just the right music. The one I made of our kids is set to a combo of "Sweet Child of Mine" by Guns n' Roses and "Three Little Birds" by Bob Marley. Gotta love that!
I've realized that the key to a hobby is that it's low-stress. A hobby actually relaxes you, gives something back to you, and is 100% fun in the process. Yes, I have other "projects" I'm working on, but I can't say that those are purely relaxing or fun---there are expectations associated with them. A hobby is just something there---ready to be worked on whenever you feel like it, and no hard feelings or guilt when you need to leave it alone for awhile. I was glad to discover this basic fact: Hobbies are good, and everyone should have one:)
How do you define a hobby, and what are some of yours?
So, the blurb book thing is just, plain fun. Basically, I download my entire family blog (a year at a time) into this booksmart software. I can edit it, add other photos, arrange it however I want, add text, and then it gets made into a hard-cover book. My kids love looking through these, as does my husband. Friends are always really fond of them as well, especially when I tell them how easy they are to make. I've made three of them so far and am almost finished with the fourth. It's really, really fun and is a great way to record and re-live important family events!
The other thing I've recently discovered is i-movie (yes, I know, I'm way behind the times!). There are templates on i-movie which make it incredibly easy for someone who is not super tech-savvy to still make a great photo movie. I just drag the photos in, put it to great music, and Voila! I recently made an i-movie of some of our favorite vacation memories, but you could make it for anything or anyone. I love how powerful the pictures become when set to just the right music. The one I made of our kids is set to a combo of "Sweet Child of Mine" by Guns n' Roses and "Three Little Birds" by Bob Marley. Gotta love that!
I've realized that the key to a hobby is that it's low-stress. A hobby actually relaxes you, gives something back to you, and is 100% fun in the process. Yes, I have other "projects" I'm working on, but I can't say that those are purely relaxing or fun---there are expectations associated with them. A hobby is just something there---ready to be worked on whenever you feel like it, and no hard feelings or guilt when you need to leave it alone for awhile. I was glad to discover this basic fact: Hobbies are good, and everyone should have one:)
How do you define a hobby, and what are some of yours?
