I started a daily photograph challenge this month and here are some of my photos from this activity. They aren’t the best as I’ve already been stumped on some of the challenges, but I wanted to show you some of my favorites. I thought Friday Favorites by  Jenn would be a good way to share these photos with you.

Feb 1st Your View:

Feb 2nd Words

Feb 3rd Hands

Want to join me for the challenge? It’s not too late pull out your camera and catch up today!

This is a new meme I’m going to try out doing. I am trying to take more photographs this year. I was thinking about doing a 365 project, but with working and getting life back together I think it would be too stressful. I saw Jenn’s new meme and I liked this idea much better, basically you share your favorite photos of the week every Friday.

This is a new meme I’m going to try out doing. I am trying to take more photographs this year. I was thinking about doing a 365 project, but with working and getting life back together I think it would be too stressful. I saw Jenn’s new meme and I liked this idea much better, basically you share your favorite photos of the week every Friday.

The time has flown and a year has passed by so very quickly. I wanted to stop and take the time to share with you the last year in review at Pepper Scraps. I hope you will stroll down memory lane with me or find some good reads that you may have missed the first time around.

January

• I start Project 52: Self Portraits with Lynda from DigitalWoe.com. I made it almost halfway to my goal. This year I may choose to do another Project 52.
• I vowed to defeat my weight issues last January. I have lost 60lbs this year, I hope to loose another 50lbs this year.
• Zarek learned how to crawl out of his crib. Today we will be converting his crib to a “big boy bed”.

February

• CommentHour was created by me and Jenny. I’m not sure what will happen with #commenthour this year, I have to think long and hard about it’s future.
• I received my acceptance letter for my weight loss surgery!
• I shared a photo of me and the hubby on Project 52. Not the best photo, but when you consider it is one of very few it’s pretty nice to have it.

March

• I tried doing March Vlogging Madness with Jendi at SimpleVloggingTips.com. I made it through about 10 videos, but it seems as if life had gotten in the way. I will be trying to do another 30 day vlogging challenge this year!
• I participated in the Ultimate Blogging Party. I was a little disappointed in the event this year 2010 was a lot more fun it seemed.
• My sleep study revealed I have severe sleep apnea. This year I hope to get another test done to see if my sleep apnea is better after my weightloss.
• I shared my typical day of a working mom. My hope to stop working out of the house is being delayed as we try and work on our goal this year to become debt free.

April

• I shared my imperfect life with a photo of me and my messy house.
• I had my first weigh-in required by my insurance for weight loss surgery.
• Zarek turned 2 this year and I wrote him a letter to tell him how much he means to me.

May

• I wrote a post all about how to slowly invest in your web design. If you are on a budget but would like to learn how you still might be able to update your website you should read this post!
• I shared about the 7 major elements of blog design. Are you re-evaluating your blog for the new year? Use this post as a guide at the different key elements you want to look over.
• In Beauty vs Budget I compared a website or blog to buying a house, which would you rather own: a travel trailer, a  mobile home, a pre-built home, or a custom home?

June

• I started a new version of A Craft A Day where each craft was related to a letter of the week. We have made it halfway through the alphabet and I hope to finish the rest of the alphabet this year.
• I drove up to Seattle to attend Bloggy Boot Camp and got my first speeding ticket.
• #commenthour went live all on it’s own with it’s own hashtag, twitter account, and website!
• I shared how you can create an amazing about page in 5 easy steps.

July

• I hit a plateau in my weight loss and struggled to keep my motivation. I finally made it through my plateau to only hit another this December. I hope to just keep going and keep on losing.
• I talked about 15 ways you can clean up your sidebars in a post called How Much is Too Much? Which had a few people question my thinking but I promise your blogroll is doing less for you than you realize.
• I introduced you to my newest toy my Iconia Tablet and started a series about some of my favorite Android apps available at the Marketplace.
• If you are struggling with creating an editorial calendar or getting people to read your posts you should run back and read my post about How to Use a Magazine for Easy Headlines.

August

• I had my first guest blogger on PepperScraps and her post was a huge hit, if you missed it you have to go back!
• I offered my first freebie for kids and moms looking to get active with their kids. I have a video showing off my boys using the printable activity cards and if you want you can still like Pepper Scraps on Facebook and get them free!
• As summer came to end I felt my blogging motivation dwindling and saw many of my blogging friends struggling so I shared one of my favorite posts on how to beat Blogging Burn Out.
• I started a new series all about bloggers you should follow.  I really enjoyed sharing some of the great people I have met through blogging and I hope to share more this year!
• One of my last posts of August I took the time to thank some of my favorite blogging buddies, but also encouraged others to thank someone special in their lives also.

September

• I posted about my thoughts about getting Invisaligns and why I was considering this great product. I’m still thinking about this as I get my dental work finished and am continuing my quest for healthier living.
• I shared a little more about one of my favorite blogger Darren Rowse and how you can learn more about blogging from him.

October

• I got invited to an awesome little party by Kristin from Our Ordinary Life that was sponsored by Diaper Genie and had tons of fun. I’m hoping to do more fun things like this this year and to learn more about different products and product sponsorship. I may even do a series on how to be a sponsored blogger.
• I really nailed down a great system for creating an amazing editorial calendar and I shared my secrets with you!

November

• November 2nd I had lap band surgery! I shared with you all the steps that led up to my surgery the day after surgery.
• I didn’t write much in November due to my recovery but I did share a very detailed account of my surgery day, including my ride to the surgery room with my hilarious anesthesiologist.

December

• My recovery was harder than I thought after surgery, it wasn’t the pain but the exhaustion that got me. Do to this there was only one post in December.

Now onto a new year with Pepper Scraps. I hope you will join me in all the adventures I share here. I hope that I can share more about blogging, more about crafting with your kids, more about how to lose weight and become healthy, and who knows where this adventure shall lead us.

I’m addicted to my android devices! I have a Samsung phone which I won’t name because it’s not my favorite and I’m waiting for a new one to come on the market to replace it. But I also have an Acer Iconia Tablet that I adore.

I’m constantly downloading apps and playing with them and I thought I would share some of my favorites. After starting writing this post I realized I was going to need to make this a series! In this first post I will be giving you a list of must have android apps.

Advance Task Killer

When I first got my phone I really needed this little guy. But doing some research for this article I found out that I don’t need him anymore and he may be hurting my phone and tab. I was chatting with some people on google+ and got some great information on this:

“… don’t use them on ANY android OS 2.2 or up, you can on Android 1.5 and earlier … I mean, you can use them on 2.2 and up but it’ll just argue with Android’s built-in task manager and could drain battery even faster.” – Randall Hanley

Amazon App Store

Amazon App Store is great because they offer a free app every day. Some days are okay apps, but I have actually gotten a few apps that I almost bought. You do have to follow special instructions to download this app to your phone as it is not available in the market. Learn how to get started.

Or download it via QR code:

Barcode Scanner

On of the greatest things I love about smartphones is that you can use it to scan barcodes. This is great for shopping and price comparisons it’s also great when you see a QR code and want to find out more about it. Or even download apps like the one above!

Ringtone Maker

I’m a true geek I love customizing my phone and one of the first things I do! I liked ringtone maker because it had some great variety and I was able to snip the part of the song I wanted for the ringtone.

FxCamera or Little Photo or Vignette

I’m torn between these photo editors. If you like the photos you see people posting from instagram these are the closest options for editors to make similar photos from an android phone. Have you used one of these are a combination of them? Which is your favorite?

Pandora

I’m not a huge music person, but even I like Pandora. I think one of the reasons I like it the most is that I can turn it on, choose the genre I’m in the mood for and get some great music. I have found some new music and bands that I would not have found otherwise. So for me I like Pandora.

 Conclusion

I will be sharing more apps that I use on my phone and tablet including preschool/kid apps, organization apps, blogging apps, and more. I hope you will join me as we talk about some of the great apps.

What is your favorite android app? What kind of app have you been looking for?

I was browsing DigitalWoe.com and was reading about lynda doing Project 52. I was ready to jump in, so I contact lovely Lynda and we are going to challenge each other to take 52 self portraits this year. Are you up to the challenge? I am.

This week I took some of my first photos of myself in months. I played with some editing in Photoshop (for the first time) and I’m pretty happy with the outcome!

Now you may be hesitating thinking that you hate photos of yourself but stop right there and read my post about Looking Beyond the Photo. I have more than enough excuses why to not do this (one being gaining 50 lbs this year) but I have one (okay two) reason to do it, my boys.

Lynda will be putting up the linky later today with this weeks challenge!

Zaney & Me – Two Year Ago