1. I think this #40bagsin40days thing will be quite good for me. Neel and I are generally pretty ruthless about clutter, but as I said sometime earlier, it has been weighing on me. That clanking, heavy-petticoated Victorian skirt, you know. So #40bagsin40days is the brainchild of Ann Marie at White House Black Shutters. It's her Lent. MJ of Pars Caeli tipped me off, and I'm so glad she inspired me. I'm all about intention, and with clutter, sometimes intention is just the thing I need.

2. I think my scrappy little hometown seems to be coming into its own these days. Neel and I took advantage of our childless weeknights to try out several of the new restaurants in town, and they're really cropping up all over. We hit up Norfolk Pendulum, above, for lunch Thursday. Norfolk Pendulum is a butcher/sandwich shop selling locally sourced meats, cheeses, eggs as well as oils and salts and breads. Its exposed brick walls and roughly-hewn floors perfectly proclaim the vibe of rustic and cool. This is a place that celebrates meat of all sorts and treats it sacredly. That's a pretty good thing.

We tried a couple of other new restaurants in town, and I'll save them for another day, but recently an olive bar and a new produce shop have both opened up. These two things I am eager to check out. You guys hear me talk all the time about how restless I am, yearning to go. This place doesn't feel fun. It doesn't feel like a place anyone would want to visit. But you know what? When I look around me, we have a lot going on.

3. I think, tucked in the back of my brain, are thoughts I never thought I'd have. I had a conversation with a friend a few days back, wondering if blogging was dead. Dead? Hmmm. Well, part of me hopes not since I'm signed up to teach a class next term! (wink) What I do wonder, is has my relationship to blogging changed? Why do I do it? I started blogging to record my family's life and to have a place to process ideas and thoughts. It became a forum for photography, and at its deepest level I'm here because of the relationships I've developed. Of course. I was never doing this to brand myself or make money. I get the most ridiculous clearly-you-didn't-even-LOOK-at-my-blog--before-you pitched-me emails (I'm sure you all do.), that I barely glance at before hitting DELETE.

So why am I here? And more importantly, should I stay? My life is changing and my family is changing, but I would miss chronicling it. I would miss having it chronicled. Equally importantly, I would miss you. But lacking real direction, and sometimes getting caught up in the pettiness of it (and knowing that's not a place I want to be), I wonder. But enough about me!

4. I think we've had a great first few weeks of our Ditch Your Gear class. We discussed composition last week and sent our students out to study leading lines, the rule of thirds and my favorite, negative space. This week we'll play with some editing apps. I sometimes wonder about teaching a class like this online, but I'm not quite sure how to go about it. And when I dream my big dream I have a studio where we teach all sorts of classes and Annie comes to design it for me.

5. I think I can't believe how quickly we've come to the end (sort of) of the General Assembly Session. Cal's time there, sadly, is done, but there still seems to be some wrangling over the budget. Cal would, I think, gladly volunteer to stick around and help out! We go up today to watch the Mock Session where the Senators act as Pages and Cal presides over the Senate as Lt. Governor and tomorrow morning he graduates. I have so much to say about all of this, and you can expect a full recap soon. Cal has promised to write us a post as well. He has so many great stories! All I'll say now is that I couldn't be prouder of my boy. Really, really.