Polaroids of Oceanside & Goals for 2017

California

California

California

California

California

California

California

California

California

California

California


happy new year!

Hi-hi friends, and happy 2017 to you all! I’ll refrain from providing much of an intro, as I’d prefer to ‘get right into’ my resolutions for this beautiful new year of ours. Let’s begin, shall we?

1) French!

Learning French has become a great passion of mine, and this year I am challenging myself to only read novels in French, to read more French blogs, and to find many more opportunities to practice speaking the language in my daily life. I would love to consider myself fluent by the end of 2017.

2) Transforming Lace & Lilacs into a near-completely bilingual blog.

This has been a goal of mine for a long while, but I haven’t been particularly successful with it thus far. I realize that virtually all the lovely readers who stumble upon this site are anglophones, but I need to push myself to practice writing in French for me, myself, and I. ‘Tis the plan from now on! My posts may not be quite as frequent, but I’m hoping my ability to write quickly in French (as well as my ability to manage self-doubt when it comes to speaking in a foreign language) will improve.

3) Job/internship

This goal is an especially important one. Though I haven’t yet the faintest idea as to what said job or internship will be, I absolutely must help out my parents a ‘lil bit to thank them for everything – the opportunities, my education – they’ve given me.

4) Photo projects

I have a few new, tentative photography projects in the works at the moment… we’ll see where they go.

5) Blog projects

I have several ideas for projects to both continue and begin on Lace & Lilacs in 2017… currently I’m thinking of *maybe* reviving the L&L Podcast with a new spin (think: interviews with creatives), and I’ve also been contemplating as to whether or not I should maybe film some videos which teach photography skills (this could potentially branch out into an online photo school, of sorts, would might perhaps be a source of income for me). Anyways, expect to see many more outfits, ‘postcards’ posts, etc. this year.

6) 101 in 1001

And I’ll be continuing to cross item after item off this list, as well! I’ve completed 71 out of 101 tasks/goals/thingies thus far, and am still over a year away from the ‘finish’ date. Yay me! I got this. 😉

And that’s all for today, friends! My poor French version of this text can be found below… I sound like a five year old. But I did it, so hurrah!

Sending lots of love,

Abby ♥

‱ ‱ ‱

bonne année !

Salut, mes amis, et bonne annĂ©e Ă  vous !  Il n’y a pas une introduction aujourd’hui, parce que j’ai beaucoup de rĂ©solutions Ă  partir avec vous. Nous pouvons commencer maintenant, oui ? (Les mots en gras sont en anglais, parce que je ne connais pas les traductions.)

1) mon français !

Je suis en train de apprendre la langue française depuis deux ans et je vais lire des romans seulement en français cette annĂ©e. Aussi, je vais lire plus de blogs en français, et j’espĂšre que je peux trouver beaucoup de opportunities à parler français Ă  Paris. Je voudrais ĂȘtre couramment Ă  la fin de l’annĂ©e.

2) un blog bilingue

Je pense que tous les gens qui lire ce blog sont anglophones, mais j’ai besoin de la pratique avec le français donc… je vais Ă©crire tous mes articles en les deux langues. Je vais faire beaucoup des erreurs… c’est embarrassant mais c’est pas grave. Pardon en avance !

3) un emploi (ou travail ? Je ne sais pas…)

C’est un objectif trĂšs important, parce que je dois aider mes parents. Ils ont me donnĂ© une vie trop, trop belle et je suis reconnaissant.

4) des projets (de? des?) photos

J’ai quelques projets de(?) photos organisĂ© pour 2017 et je vais travailler beaucoup cette annĂ©e.

5) des projets pour le blog

J’ai quelques idĂ©es pour des projets sur le blog. Peut-ĂȘtre je vais relancer le Lace & Lilacs Podcast avec un nouveau sujet (des conversations avec des artistes?) et je peux lancer un Ă©cole de photographie sur l’internet quand j’ai du temps (en l’Ă©tĂ©, je pense ?).  Peut-ĂȘtre je dois faire ça en 2018. Je ne sais pas maintenant. Je vais partir des tenues et tous mes voyages sur le blog, aussi, comme toujours.

6) 101 en? ou dans? 1001

Je vais continuer avec cette liste, aussi ! J’avais terminer 71/101 dĂ©jĂ . J’ai juste trente left !

Bisous de Californie,

Abby ♥


(For personal reference, but you’re welcome to read if you’d like)
French questions raised from writing this post:

  1. Vocabulary word: ‘opportunities’.
  2. Commas: how often should I be using them? What are the rules?
  3. Couramment: did I use this word correctly?
  4. Ils ont me donné: is this correct?
  5. Projets de photos ou projets des photos?
  6. For #4: to say ‘and I’m going to work a lot on them this year’, where would I insert the ‘them’? Would it be ‘les’? Je vais les travailler?
  7. 101 in 101 – does ‘in’ = en ou dans?
  8. How would I say ‘left’ as in ‘I have this many left’, ‘I have just thirty left’ or ‘I left that with her’ or ‘All I have left to do is…’

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14 comments on “Polaroids of Oceanside & Goals for 2017”

  1. Love these polaroids, the oceans are so soothing! I think turning L&L into a bilingual blog is a fab idea, and such a great way to expand your French! Cheers to 2017.. can’t wait to see all that you have planned! 🙂

  2. OK YES about the photography video/ course thing. I’ve been trying to learn a thing or two about photography and instructional videos have been so helpful for me because I had literally no idea how to begin with my camera. These polaroids are so nice, also! Adorable.
    Julia || juliainbluhm.com

  3. Love that idea of an online photography school!

    Read as much as you can in French and I’m sure you’ll make awesome progress! I think French is one of the toughest language to learn, so if you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask, I’ll be happy to help 🙂

    • Aww, thank you so much, LĂ©a! I know you’re crazy busy, but if you ever have the time to have coffee and chat in French that would be lovely, and I’d be happy to help you with something in return? Though I don’t know what, hahah, I would say photos but yours are already so beautiful. <3

  4. Great goals this year. Wishing you success! Love the Oceanside photos as well. I’ve been studying more French lately since we will be in France for about two and a half weeks. I can understand more now and have improved my listening comprehension. I’m just focusing more on listening and reading lately since I don’t want to find myself speaking to someone and then they talk back and end up not understanding a word. Scary!

    Looking forward to the podcast or videos about photography!

    Ron | Nearby Wanderer

  5. If you need help with French, I’d be happy to help! I feel like I might go overboard on corrections though…. Continue vos efforts en français! Je me sens que si vous rĂ©ussissez Ă  faire ce que vous proposez, vous allez beaucoup amĂ©liorer votre français! Vous avez dĂ©jĂ  un bon vocabulaire, sauf que le grammaire n’est pas toujours aussi bon… 😉 “opportunities” est tout simplement “opportunitĂ©s”! L’utilisation de “couramment” ici ne fait pas beaucoup de sens, je dirais plutĂŽt “j’aimerais me considĂ©rer comme bilingue Ă  la fin de l’annĂ©e”. On dirait aussi “ils m’ont donnĂ©” en non pas “ils ont me donnĂ©”. I can answer your other questions too, but this is already a little long. 🙂

    xo
    Audrey

    • Oh, Audrey, merci beaucoup ! I am so grateful for your help and this comment – please, please correct me whenever you see a mistake (and there will be many of them, especially with grammar :/ ), it would mean so much to me and would truly help me improve! <3 xo

  6. Many of my friends who are trying to learn a new language will switch the language of their phone and laptop to whatever language they’re studying! I’m so excited to see how you grow your blog to be nearly bilingual 🙂 It’s a huge task, but I know that you can do it!! Happy 2017 & good luck with your goals! -Audrey | Brunch at Audrey’s

    • Haha, way ahead of you on that one, girl. 😉 I switched my phone last February and my laptop last June…. and I totally regretted not doing either sooner. If your friends have any other tips to share I would LOVE to hear them!
      It’s going to be a crazy difficult task, but I’ve worked way too hard on French at this point to even consider giving up! Good luck with your goals for this year, too! <3

  7. I love these goals! and the pics are so charming and sweet <3