Day #30 Photography Challenge

Self Portrait

This might be my favorite picture of myself ever.  Yay Warrior Dash!

Nerd Crush- Jim Cantore

I love this man.  Just look how excited het gets!

Day #29 Photography Challenge

Black and white.

I'm totally stealing Bebe's idea since I don't have any black and white photos.

He's black and white, and he's a cutie.  So I don't think you'll mind.

I'm a week late with this

But it's still funny.

I have a confession to make.

I haven't gone for a run in a month.

It was horrible.  I had a bad day, and I couldn't go more than a few minutes at a time without having to stop and walk for a bit.  It really got inside my head and made me feel horrible about myself.  Not to mention, I was with George who just happened to be training for his half marathon.  I let myself be jealous, embarrassed and started that horrible self defeating cycle that always seems to happen when I start to "fail" at something.

The thing is, I should know better.  I KNOW I'm capable of running.  I don't think I'm ever going to run a full marathon, but I know perfectly well I'm capable of a 5K.  Maybe not at the moment, but I'm not going to get better/faster if I let one bad run defeat me.

I need to remember this.  It doesn't matter if it's a 14 minute mile with walking breaks or a 6 minute mile.  It's still a freaking mile.  Something I wasn't capable of 6 months ago.  I need to stop thinking of all the things I can't do, and focus on everything I've over come already.

I had some health problems in High School, and at my followup my surgeon told me I'd still be able to walk, but never do anything too intense- certainly no long distance running or power squats.  Well, I did squats and lunges last night at the gym, just to remind myself I could.  Now I'm going to go for a run.  Just to remind myself I can.

Day #28 Photography Challenge

Flowers

My dad sent me these for my 21st birthday.  Roses are my favorite flower, and these are my favorite type.

Day #27 Photography Challenge

From a distance.

I'm a little embarassed to admit that I'm never been to the statue of liberty.  But here she is from a distance.

Blah blah, I eat healthy... ooh doughnuts!

One of my favorite things about fall, aside from the validation of wearing fuzzy socks, is the food.  I love fall flavors.  Cinnamon is one of my all time favorite spices and this season gives me an excuse to use gratuitous amounts of the stuff.

As you know, I was back home two weekends ago.  And as a result, I was able to make my annual Salinger's Orchard run and stock up.  I LOVE this place!  It's a local institution and it's probably good that I don't live closer.  I would spend far too much money there.  As it is, we bought apple butter, honey, two different types of mustard, about 16lbs of apples, cider doughnuts, apple cider, apple crumb pie, a few small pastries- all of which were freshly made or harvested.

They're baked goods are to die for.  Seriously.  I dream about they're apple crumb pie all year.  I'm actually really excited that I was able to buy one in October, because that means I get another one when I'm back in NY for Thanksgiving.  Oooooh yea.  The doughnuts are nothing to sneeze at either.  Right out of the fryer and covered in cinnamon sugar


George and I bought a bunch and devoured them in the parking lot with some fresh cider.  God I love fall.

I don't know if you noticed a few paragraphs up, but I bought about sixteen pounds of apples.  That is A LOT of apples.  I probably should have planned better, but I was excited and got carried away.  So I've spent my week baking.

The apple sauce was so easy to make, and a million times better than anything I've found in stores.  It's just apples, a little sugar, some cinnamon, lemon juice, and water.  Cook on high in a crockpot for about 3 hrs, and presto!  Applesauce.  No blending needed.

I now have more applesauce and apple crisp than I know what to do with.  Luckily I have hungry friends who are willing to take some off of my hands.  Let me know if you're one of them.

Katie gets healthy

I mentioned my attempt at healthy living in my very first post, and then haven't said a thing about it since.  It's something that's become really important to me, and recently been a huge struggle, so this post is probably long overdue.

I've struggled with my weight all of my life.  I was usually the biggest out of my friends, I didn't exercise, and the thought of really participating in sports scared me.  I used to play softball, but seriously, how much exertion does little league require?  I was much happier in the school plays and musicals, pretending to be someone else while forgetting about my own awkwardness.

My senior year of college was my breaking point.  I was miserable in my own skin and hated the person I saw everytime I looked in the mirror.  So I joined Weight Watchers and successfully lost the 34lbs that were making me unhappy.  The problem was, I didn't bother to do it the right way.  I stayed within my points, but I didn't bother paying attention to what I was eating.  My diet consisted of a lot of processed foods and frozen dinners.  I didn't learn anything.  So what happened?  I started gaining it back.  Of course. 

I was so obsessed with the number on the scale that I forgot that skinny isn't always healthy.  There is so much more to being healthy than how much you weight.

At that point, I promised myself that I was going to focus on health, not "skinny".

First off, I quit Weight Watchers.  WW is a fantastic tool, and I know many people that are really successful with that program.  But for me, it was too vague.  I can eat 7 points of junk, or I can eat 7 points of health food, and it still goes into my tracker as 7 points.  There was no accountability for me to use those daily points wisely.  So I decided to use MyFitnessPal to track instead.  That way, I could still keep track of what I was eating, but I could also see the nutritional breakdown, not just a generic point value.

Secondly, I added exercise.  Something that I've always said I wanted to do, but never actually followed through with.  Since April, I've gone from absolutely nothing, to running various 5Ks, one 5 miler, a Warrior Dash, and am working my way through a pretty badass lifting program.

My arms look just like that.  Or not.  But they're getting there.  People always tell you how good exercise makes them feel, but I never believed them.  I have to say it- I was wrong, they were right.

If you've gotten this far, bless you.  I need to get this out and you guys are taking the hit.  This is where those "struggles" I mentioned in my first paragraph are coming in.

Despite eating healthy, exercising, doing this the right way, I'm not losing.  In fact I'm gaining.  A lot. I'm trying not to obsess over numbers, and I'm perfectly OK never being a size 2, but weight loss should be a perk to all this healthy living I'm doing.  And the fact that it's not, is frustrating and concerning.  I've gone to my PCP, a nutritionist, and an endocrinologist- all who've given me a gold star and a pat on the back for my newly developed healthy habits. 

My only ideas at this point is that I need some combination of exercise and diet that I've not yet tried.  It's FRUSTRATING guys.  I bust my butt, and just keep getting further away from that goal.  But I'm going to keep plugging along.  I'm nothing if not stubborn determined.



See?  Determination.  Also, shameless fishing for compliments.



Anyway, thats enough word vomit for today.  Hopefully my next healthy living post will have a better update.

Photography Challenge Days #25 - 26

#25 Something pink

Right after my very first 5K!  Stretching it out while enjoying my complimentary finisher's beer.  One of the perks of running a brewery sponsored race.  I ran with a whole team, and we had these extremely bright shirts so we could find each other easily.  I have to say, it was great motivation to be able to look into the crowd, see your teammates, and have a set location to run towards.


#26 Close up

Murphy is such a little ham.

Photography Challenge Day #22-24

#22 Hands

#23 Sunflare

This picture happened shortly after Day #7 Fruit's picture.  It takes a surprising amount of effort to get squished grapes off your feet.


#24 Animals

Go ahead, Awww if you want to.

Day #21 Photography Challenge

Faceless self-portrait.

White Mountains, October 2008

Day #20 Photography Challenge

Bokeh

I admittedly had no idea what this was.  I guess its using out of focus aspects of a picture to enhance the overall image?  Well, I don't know how to do that.  All my blurriness is accidental.

I think this could qualify.  The blurring wasn't intentional, but I think it works.

Photography Challenge Days #12-19

Blogging fail.  Sorry guys.

I was in NY for a wedding, and there were various complications.  Most notably, Tootsie hurt herself and I was a basket case.  Maybe I'll go into details in another post, but trust me- I was not a pretty sight.

Anyhoo, time to catch up.
#12 Sunset

#13 Yourself with 13 things

Ok, so theres 7, not 13.  And they're not "things" they're men.  Very attractive men.

Cut me some slack!  I went through every picture on my computer and couldn't find any pictures of myself with 13 things.  So I chose this group shot, and hoped you're be too preoccupied by the men of the 2011 NYC firemen's calender to care.  Did it work?

#14 Eyes

Remember this?  I'm happy to report that while they have not yet grown back, they on their way.  Also, I've discovered that eyeliner pencils can do wonders.


#15 Silhouette

Isn't this picture amazing?  This is from my good friends Ray and Ashleigh's wedding, and this was taken by Becca and Mike from Garrone Photography.  They're amazing and I hope I can have them shoot my wedding someday.

#16 Long exposure

No, I did not take this picture either.  I don't even have a camera capable of taking this picture.  This is courtesy of local radio host/amateur photographer Greg Kretschmar.  He's amazing and I wish he would sell his prints!


#17 Technology

My laptop.  It's pretty BA.


#18 Your shoes

Not the one's I'm wearing now (because I'm actually in fuzzy socks), but I wore these this past weekend!


#19 Something orange

Fall in the White Mountains is amazing.

Day #11 Photography Challenge

Something blue

The only thing that could top my Bermuda vacation- the cruise down Alaska's coast that I took summer of '04 with my family.  There was about 20 of us in total and it was a reunion of sorts.  The picture is of my cousin Kelly and I on a shore excursion in Juneau.  We took a helicopter ride to the ice fields and took a picture at the top.  The ice was so blue!  I typically have to point out our very faint shadows before people will believe that this picture is not photoshopped.

Day #10 Photography Challenge

Childhood memory

I was in Select Choir when I was in middle school.  You had to audition, although I don't know if they actually denied anyone.  We worked out butts off for the entire year, and then competed at Hershey park come spring.  This particular year, we *rocked* our selection, placed either first or second (I can't remember) out of 30 something schools and both my friend Andrew and I won Judges Choice awards for our solos.

It's one of my best adolescent memories.

Side note- I hope Andrew never sees this, because he WILL kill me for posting this picture.

Photography Challenge Day #8 and 9

#8- A bad habit

I'd have to say that my biggest bad habit is biting my nails.  But since I don't have a picture of that, I'll go with margaritas.

I like tequila.

#9- Someone you love

There are so many ways I could go with this.  I've been blessed with amazing family and friends who I love very much.  But since this is a photography challenge, I'll go with my favorite picture of someone that I love. 

My dad.  Here he is at my cousin's wedding doing his very best Godfather impersonation.

Day #7 Photography Challenge

Fruit.

This one was kind of hard.  I didn't want to just snap a picture of my fruit bowl, so I scoured my computer.  I guess fruit doesn't capture my interest all that much, because the only picture that's passable is this one:

This is at a local winery, and that's my friend Julie and I squishing grapes with our feet.  That counts, right?

Day #6 Photography Challenge

From a low angle.

Summer 2010, Bermuda.

This was such an amazing vacation.  We cruised to Bermuda, enjoyed the island for a whole 3 days, and then cruised back.  One day, we did a catamaran cruise/snorkel excursion, and this was my view while laying on the cargo net "deck".  The entire day was just perfection.

Day #5 Photography Challenge

From a high angle.

Yankee game!

See?  This is at the old stadium, taken from our seats in the very last row alllll the way at the top.  These tickets made me understand why they're called the nosebleed seats

Despite that, we had a fantastic time and the seat actually worked to our benefit.  The day was a crazy scorcher, and since we were so high up we actually stayed in the shade for the whole game

Seriously?!

So.  Remember a few post back, where I spoke about a good friends upcoming wedding?  And how I want/need to look really good?  Well.  Guess what I did this morning?

Notice that bald spot on my right eyelid?  I ripped out my freakin eyelashes!  I was curling them and my hand slipped on the grip.  Abracadabra- no more eyelashes!  I may have screamed.  I'm really happy the upstairs neighbor isn't home, because I'm sure he would assume I was being murdered.

Now I've had my freakout, and have been calmed by my wonderful friends who are so much wiser than I.  I'm going to take a trip to Ulta for a crash course in falsies.  And apparently a new pair of tweezers and magnifying mirror.  Because that picture is making me second guess my eyebrows too.

Day #4 Photography Challenge

Something Green:

That's a Matt Nathanson ticket signed by the man himself.  See that?  He ♥'s me!

I'm actually going to see him TWICE on Saturday!  One is an acoustic set and meet and greet during the day, and the other is the main concert that night at the House of Blues.

It's been a couple of years since I've last seen him and I am beyond excited.  And I'm going with some of my favorite people in the entire world, so it's going to be even better.  Prepare to be bombarded with pictures and lots of gushing come Sunday.

Bonus picture-  Just 'cause we're cute together.

30 Day Photography Challenge

I'm still trying to find my voice with this whole blog things, so in the meantime I'm going to attempt to win you over with some pictures.  Enter the 30 Day Photography Challenge!

Thanks to Bebe and Meagan for the idea!

I'm a little late getting started, so this is me playing catch-up.

Day #1 Self Portrait:

I'm currently in PJs, messy hair, and no makeup.  So here's a self portrait from last summer.  I know.  We're super BA.



Day #2 What you wore today

Well, technically yesterday was Day #2 and I didn't think to take a picture.  But this is almost identical to what I wore

Day #3 Clouds

And now we're up to date.