Friday 5 [Wenatchee photography + design]

1. We visited DJ's brother and his wife in beautiful Carnation, WA for Shade's 21st birthday. They have a beautiful home on 5 acres of very "pacific northwest" property. So much green you can't believe there IS that much green in one place. I took a quick walk before we left for home and this is one of the images I love from that. A beautiful tree reaching for the tiny patch of blue, as seen in a puddle reflection. I love reflection shots. They're magic.
2. Took the above photo with my new little walking around baby, the Nikon P7100. A point and shoot, but with some definite pro benes (RAW files, decent response time.) A late Christmas present to me. It's not pocketsize really, but pretty small and easy to throw in a purse. I have it with me always.
3. Found, and fell in love with, NOOSA yoghurt. Absolutely the BEST yoghurt I've ever had. It's called "Australian" (I guess, as opposed to Greek?) and it has a velvety smoothness I can't adequately describe. This was a product that purely led me to try it by it's beautiful design and marketing. Obviously I am a sucker for good design and this does not disappoint. The bad news is, I have discovered I do much better, health-wise, on a mostly Paleo lifestyle (diet) and so all dairy is out. I might work some of this back in after awhile, but for now, I can not believe the difference in how I feel after cutting out all dairy, grains and sugar. Like superman good. I am the girl who got sick with every bug that comes in the house, and since I've been exercising and eating clean (mostly clean) I've had 1 cold (that was really short-lived and not very bad) and nothing else that has run through family or friends has gotten to me. It could be coincidence, but I don't think so. More on this later. But I digress. If you love yoghurt, this is a MUST TRY.
4. I blew past 35 lbs shortly after 30, but never posted it. Since then, however, I have been bouncing between there and 40 lbs for a couple weeks so can't claim that one yet. I will get there. The clean eating is helping and I have restructured my workouts a bit. Less is more style. Quality over quantity. I realized it's not realistic of me to think I will spend 400+ minutes doing cardio every week for the rest of my life. I'm working in some high intensity intervals and will see how that goes.
5. Are you one of the 80 bazillion people who have downloaded Draw Something in the last couple weeks? I am. It's a fun drawing game/app, like Pictionary, you play against others online (via tablet or smartphone.) Pretty fun and much better for your creativity brain than Angry Birds. Or so I'm guessing, since I haven't played Angry Birds...

Friday 5 [Wenatchee graphic design]

1. My husband's cousin, Robert, passed away recently. They were very close and he will be missed terribly by his family and the many, many people he helped while studying theology and counseling in college.
2. Another beautiful baby enters the world. I shot her sister when she was born 3 years ago also. Can't believe how fast time goes. Welcome baby Ally.
3. Just a reminder I have a few sets of free printables for Valentines Day. They can be found in an earlier post here.
4. 30 lbs. kicked to the curb. Not "almost 30" or "close to 30" but thirty actual pounds gone. I still have a long way to go, but the other non-scale-related benefits have been huge too. Smaller clothes, significantly lower resting heart rate, never winded, more energy, less stress...I could go on and on. It's enough to keep me going.
5. Getty images recently contacted me to sell some of my photos as stock art on their site. I'm excited to be included in what feels like the cool kids' club and hope to have many photos represented there eventually.

Friday 5 [Wenatchee photography + design]

1. My talented and ambitious friend, Tara Pollard Pakosta, issued herself a bit of a challenge for 2012. She wants to run/walk/elliptical (ie: MOVE) 1,000 miles during the year. When I saw her Facebook post, I did a little math to see if I thought it sounded doable. It’s about 2.7 miles per day for 366 days (remember 2012 is a leap year,) so I am doing the challenge as well. I started a day late (didn’t see her post until Jan. 2) so went extra long to catch up and even pass what I need for this week. I’m a champ coming out of the gate but 44 years of history have taught me sustaining just about anything is difficult, so this will be a trial. I think I can do it, I’ve been logging miles almost every day for 8 months already, so it’s not a resolution, just a continuation of good habits hopefully made even better.
2. I’m heading to Austin, TX next week for a photoshoot with the lovely Zavala family. I’ve always wanted to visit Austin, have heard it’s a cool little/big city with a lot of character, so am excited to see if that’s true. (photo via http://www.aroundtownaustin.com/.)
3. Love when I get to practice something I'm interested in and I have a willing model. Usually my kids are tired of being my models, but I have one interested in everything fashion and modeling so she's an easy sell. I just gotta' ask (and sometimes buy a new outfit...) I wanted to shoot what is called "highkey" -- a very light, bright style, so we found a way to do it on the cheap: two white sheets, one clipped to our patio overhang and one on the ground. All that beautiful soft winter light bouncing everywhere!
4. I don’t believe in making resolutions for the new year. I think when you decide you want to change something, you should just do it. To quote William James: “To change one’s life: Start immediately. Do it flamboyantly. No exceptions.” It is a coincidence that I came across the One Hundred Pushups program at the beginning of the year. I have always loved pushups. I could never do one, until starting to work out, and I quickly discovered I love them. They make you feel like a badass. I want to be able to do 100. In a row. This app is the perfect incremental training coach, so I am on board!
5. Daily Mile is a great, easy-to-use website for logging your miles and workouts. It has charts and reports and statistics galore. Fun ones too: like how many donuts your last workout burned, or how many gallons of gas you've saved with your mileage. It's the little things that help keep it fun. Check it out and stay motivated.

Friday 5 [Wenatchee photography + design]

1. Not sure how I stumbled upon Ben Davis’ site: Ben Does Life, but I’m sure glad I did. Three years ago, Ben, aged 22, was sad and very overweight. His grandmother asked him a simple question, “How are you doing, Ben,” but he knew the undertone was so much more. She was worried about him and it became a personal call to action. That night he started his blog, gave his grandma the address in a Christmas card and seemingly, never looked back. He immediately began running. At 360+ lbs, he barely managed to go 8 minutes. But he never stopped and did more and more each day. 11 months later he had shed 120+ lbs, run countless 5K’s, 10K’s and even a full marathon. It started a movement, basically, called the Do Life Movement and is a very inspirational read. He’s funny and personable and REAL and has been a great source of “it’s possible!”
2. One of the very first pieces of art I ever bought is this piece “A Deer Wearing Gym Socks” by artist Charmaine Olivia. It’s BIG and I have yet to get it framed. Maybe that will be next on the list. I LOVE it so much! (It seems the artist has removed this piece for sale, but she has many other equally awesome pieces! I also love Headache and Bears in Her Hair.)
3. I LOVE small, modern, open houses. I don’t need a lot of space, I just need the space to be well thought out and utilized. When I retire I want three of these, or something similar. One each on a Pacific Ocean beach, in the mountains of Idaho or Montana and a gorgeous Southwest area, like Santa Fe. A girl can dream, right? This particular one is in Massachusetts.
4. Just finished The Last Werewolf by Glen Duncan. I’m not much into giving reviews, they’re always so subjective, but I liked it. If you’re offended by the C word (used, mostly, anatomically) you might not.
5. The Couch to 5K program seems to be a doable 9+week program intended to get non-runners up and running, to accomplish a 5k race (3.1 miles.) I am a non-runner, literally NEVER running, with the exception of the forced mile in 9^th grade PE where I grudgingly slogged through the best I could. I don’t want to “be” a runner, exactly, but I think it would be really good for me to set a goal to do something I have previously thought impossible and that scares me. So I’m doing it. Today is day 2. Just knowing day 1, earlier this week, didn’t kill me, kinda’ makes me excited that day 2 won’t either.

ETA: It didn’t kill me, but despite being the exact same workout as day 1, it was harder – both physically and mentally. Because of that, I feel even more proud of myself. Also, I feel equally more disgusted. On paper, it’s not even a hard workout so it shames me to know it’s so hard for me.