Day 1 (Yesterday, technically)

So... I wasn't able to get these pictures up yesterday, but I DID take them yesterday.

As I was thinking about what I wanted to take a picture of, I started thinking of things I'm thankful for. And yes, I'm thankful for my young adult fiction. :) I like to be able to snuggle up with a blanket and just read something enjoyable--not something I have to focus all my energies on reading. And yes. I know three of them are by the same author, and no, these are not the only young adult fiction books I have read or own. They were just easily accessible. :)

Next up: The partially-full glass of Brick Oven Root Beer. First off, if you haven't had it, it is divine. So yes, I'm thankful for it, but that is not actually the reason it became one of my shots. As I mentioned a couple posts ago, I'm trying to reach a target weight and in order to do so I've been more careful about what I eat--particularly what are commonly called "empty calories." Unfortunately for me, soda falls in this category. 

For anyone who is curious, 8 fluid ounces of Brick Oven Root Beer has 130 calories. Not a huge amount until you consider how easy it is to down way more than 8 oz and it does absolutely nothing to keep you full!

HOWEVER.

I digress.

Yesterday I had done particularly well managing my food intake, so I decided to reward myself with a treat. Not wanting to overindulge, I only filled my glass up an inch or so. And then I laughed to myself because it looked like when people in the movies only put an inch of liquor in their cups. 

And because I think I'm SO funny, I took a picture of it. :)

 

And that completes Day 1. 

Confession.

Sometimes I don't put pants on my little girl. Because I like to see these:

Does that make me a bad mom??

Goals.

So, I'm entirely opposed to New Years resolutions. Why?

Because it's cliche. And I'm just silly that way.

Ironically, though, the lesson my young women received the week before New Year's was on goal setting. It was a great lesson and got me all fired up to make a goal and really follow through with it. I was so excited about it that I didn't realize it was just a couple days before the holiday! BAH! I had told Kirby about the lesson, and he requested that I summarize it for our Family Home Evening.

So we made some goals. And they so happened to fall right around New Years. Don't judge. :)

That being said, we now have 9 copies of our goals, ways to achieve the goals, and rewards posted strategically all over our apartment. I'm looking at one right now above our computers.

There's another on the bathroom mirror.

Above the kitchen sink.

There are a couple strategically hung from the ceiling where we walk often. As in, hanging down so they barely brush our heads.

etc.
etc.
etc.

One of my goals (which I was hesitant to make) involved weight loss. Why was I hesitant?

Because it's cliche. :)

But also--I've never tried to lose weight before. I have had goals regarding fitness and such, but never any that involved a target weight. So I was scared. Scared that I will fail because I don't know how!

My goal is to get down to how much I weighed in high school (160, for anyone who is wondering...).

Side note: I find it so ironic how much my body image changes. In high school I was happy with my body, but recognized that I weighed more than other girls. I am tall. I am curvy. Deep down I wished I weighed a bit less, but I was athletic and felt good physically, so I never cared enough to take action. Now, looking back, I'm thinking--Was I crazy!? I LOOKED GOOD! :) I wonder if twenty years from now I will be thinking the same thing about my body now. Probably. And that is one thing that helps me keep my body image in check.

Have I made progress towards my goal? No. Not really. My mini goals to help me achieve my target weight involve me walking briskly at least 1/2 an hour each day, and doing pilates at least 3 times a week. Shortly after making our goals, Kirby got a cold, and then I got a cold... and our motivation and drive was shot. But last week I walked Monday-Thursday (Friday was nasty weather wise, so my mom and I opted out) and did Pilates three times! And this week I walked yesterday and today, and I did Pilates yesterday. SO... I'm back on track! I can already tell a difference in the way my body feels and looks, but I haven't seen any significant weight loss. I keep telling myself that it takes time, but I get so impatient! I'm sure this is why so many people's weight loss goals fail! We all want instant results!

That being said, a friend of mine posted a status on Facebook asking for suggestions regarding weight loss, and a lot of the girls that responded said that exercise wasn't enough. That the only way to really lose weight was by cutting calories.

So here's my question.
What do you think??? What has worked for you???

You know what the funny thing is? The point of this post was in no way to discuss my weight loss goal. But there you have it. I'm calling out for your help!

The actual point of my post was to tell you of a NEW goal I'm making as of today. I am going to take at least one picture every day. I want to stretch myself. I love taking pictures of Emily (obviously), so I'm going to try and photograph other stuff.

Pictures of our apartment.

Little details.

Outside stuff.

It should be fun. I'm going to try to post one each day!

Day 1 starts tomorrow. Wish me luck!

The Hybrid

What do you get when you mix two of the most HILARIOUS people EVER!?

The funniest baby of all time, of course!



These are her "Pope" pictures...

Yup. She adores her daddy.


"Go cougars!!"
In all seriousness, she does this all the time when she smiles or laughs...


This is her with her scepter... On her throne...


Just darling. Plain ol' darling!


BWUUUT?

GooseEggs

So.

I have this giant mysterious goose egg on my right hand, right about where the fleshy muscle between the thumb and forefinger are. Weird. And it hurts like crazy.

Not as bad as when I got up at 4 to feed Emily, though.

The craziest part? I have no idea how I did it.

None.

I vaguely remember noticing that part of my hand was achy last night, and feeling it to try and figure out why, and then getting distracted by something. The only problem, though, is that I can't remember when it was, which means I could have been dreaming about it. I sleep talk occasionally, and those are usually the dreams I can remember and in my dreams I'm usually doing something very every-day ish, so it feels super real.

So it's just annoyting mostly. Yes--I know I just wrote "annoyting". Sounds funny, though, so I'm keeping it. It feels funny to type, and do anything that involves gripping.

Hum. Oh well. The mystery continues...

BOOO I say...

The bad news--hard drive crashed Friday night (I would say exploded, but since my sister's computer literally exploded once--yeah. sparks and all--I don't feel it would be fair to use the word). I may have cried a little.

The super bad news--I hadn't backed up any of my personal pictures since the summertime. Oh yeah. Did I mention I had a baby in November??? Do you remember that "may have" crying mentioned earlier? This was why it "may have" happened.

The good news that makes the super bad news a little less bad--I had posted most of my favorites on either my blog or facebook, so I was able to retrieve at least those.

The not good or bad news--We don't know if we will be able to retrieve any information off my drive. Time will tell, I guess.

The bad news that is sort of good news--I also lost all my music. Turns out you can transfer your iTunes purchases, though, as long as they are on your iPod. So most of the music I've bought online I have recovered. Also--This way I don't have to go through all my music and delete the songs I never listen to, or are substandard (which I was already trying to do--I believe I got to the J's...) Now I just have to rebuild my library by ripping (again) all my CDs from high school and college, and selecting only the songs that I absolutely love. Brilliant.

The good news--All my business photo files were backed up. But, I was about halfway done editing a wedding, and those weren't backed up, which means I have to start all over on those. Bummer. But not the end of the world.

The really good news--We replaced my failed 320 gig hard drive with a 1 terabyte drive. BooYah. I have almost 900 gigs of free space right now. :)

Oh yeah. And we finally invested in a backup system we've been meaning to get for a year or so now. Whoops. :)

Better late than never???

Happy Birthday Emily!

So this one time I dreamed up all sorts of darling poses to put my baby girl in. I searched for the perfect props, waddling around JoAnn's fairly often during the last month or so of my pregnancy. But the truth is--it takes a lot of effort to set up poses with newborns, PLUS the studio is now shared space with a crib and changing table. So.... The lights usually live in the closet, and usually by the time I get them set up, Emily's mood has changed and is no longer available for pictures. So studio shots haven't really happened. I kept beating myself up over this, so I finally decided to just keep my 5D out in the living room and take more candid shots. Easier. Plus they feel more real to me. So here are her two month birthday pictures! :)













Are you intimidated? I was. :)


Blurry, yes, but darling all the same. :)






The end of the tutu-ing. And yes. She's crying. But I love it.