This was such a long exercise, and life kept interfering, that I'm very late with my results. So, before the week is over, here are my results: 1: Brainstorm about physical objects, write a list of 25 items. Circle the top 5.

I had a really hard time finding 25 objects that I liked. While I'm certainly not an immaterial girl, I caught myself writing down places rather than things. Scratch the spice market in Yerevan. Scratch the Grotto on Saipan. Scratch Nagorno-Karabakh. Scratch the brass bazaar in Istanbul. Things. Things!!

So, while the objects below certainly are things I like, I am much more drawn to places. That makes perfect sense in my life as an Expat. I may have mentioned to my husband once or twice how I'm getting a bit tired of moving around all the time, of the uncertainty that is our life, of the never knowing what the next month will bring. But the truth is, if I were to settle down permanently, I'd be getting itchy feet again pretty quickly.

1. Moleskin note books.

I adore notebooks and I love Moleskins more than all the rest. And really, my Moleskin address book will never run out of battery or crash on me!

Source: moleskine.com via Claudia on Pinterest

2. Bowls

What's not to love? I like bowls more than any other kind of ceramics and I own dozens of them - striped, vintage, modern, bought in a Parisian market, bought on the local crafts fair, handmade, machine-made, with flower patterns - as long as it is a bowl, I'm happy. One day, I will have a cabinet full of bowls just like this:

Source: curateandlove.blogspot.com via Claudia on Pinterest

3. Letterpress

What kind of letterpress? Any kind, really. I love the texture, the feel, the look of it. It's beautiful and luxurious.

Source: bellafigura.com via Claudia on Pinterest

4. Books

That one speaks for itself, I suppose.

Source: iwastesomuchtime.com via Claudia on Pinterest

5. Hammocks

I mean, really. There's just no way not to love hammocks. Especially strung between a plum and an apple tree, in the summer, in my backyard... Ah. Bliss. (Although I would also take the house pictured below with all those hammock. I'm not choosy.)

Source: hausandhome.blogspot.com via Claudia on Pinterest

2. Create color palettes for winter, spring, summer, and fall. Write about the moods each season evokes in you. Here is something funny about me: I like all the seasons. What I like is the change, the constant moving from spring to summer to fall to winter. There is always the promise of something new just around the corner. I think I could not live in a place that has no seasons. I would just wither away. (All palettes are from Design Seeds.)

Winter:

My winter palette definitely includes a nice evergreen and lot of whites and browns, and bright reds. I know, that's fairly traditional, isn't it?

Winter for me is all about cold outside and warmth inside (hence, the fireplace), about hearty food (stews), about family and coziness. I love winter.

Spring:

Spring colors for me are fresh, bright, vibrant. The greens have lots of yellow in it, and there are pinks and lilacs and blues. Flower colors! Spring for me is all about freshness, about rain showers and new plant shoots. It feels hopeful, light and bright coming out of the winter darkness. It's happiness and full of energy.

Summer:

Summers are all about blue - the blue of the sea, of the swimming pool, of the lake. And a splash of bright yellow -- even though I don't like yellow at all, in the summer, it has its definite place. What's a beach without yellow? Summers mean relaxation, enjoyment, contentment, happiness. Ironically enough, summer feels cool to me. The cool of the shadows, the cool of the water, the cool of the house after the heat outside. Summers have pools in them, and hammocks strung under the trees, busy bees and long days.

Fall:

Harvest time! Canning ripe fruit, shelling walnuts, baking fresh plum cake. Time to prepare for the winter and take in the last glorious sunshine. This season has my most favorite light: the golden sunshine of September and October. I got married in October on a sunny, warm fall day. The next day was foggy and gloomy and perfect in its own right. I really like that about fall.

3. Describe the ideal weather for your ideal photo shoot.

My ideal weather would be a sunny day with lots of white puffy clouds, two hours before sunset. It's the change from a sunny day into that relaxed long summer evening feeling, a magical hour with magical light. Ideally, it would be on the beach. Aah.

4. Pick some music that goes well with the pictures you'd like to make.

Something happy and fun: Connect the Dots, by Rabbit. Or something by Mozart.

5. Make a comparison of your style to food:

Source: marthastewart.com via Lauren on Pinterest

A summer fruit salad - fresh and sweet and uncomplicated. And how ironic that this image that jumped out to me on Pinterest would come from Martha Stewart! I like her crisp and uncluttered images a lot, so that's a fit.

Result: Being able to verbalize the essence of the images you want to make. This helps you to have a clear vision of the style that is uniquely yours.

Um, yeah. That's where this blog post got stuck weeks and weeks ago. But now I know! My images are bright, fresh, uncluttered, airy.

This exercise took long (weeks!) but it was very valuable to me. I think I finally can pin down my style! Yay!

As always, do check out my photog friends and their take on this exercise:

Binkies + Noseprints Abbey Road Designs GSG Photography Elaine Janet What Eyes See Daily DC Group -- the results of those members without a blog are posted here