Weight Loss Update

I haven't really been very public with this as I'm kind of a private person, but I've really made a lot of progress and I feel like a whole new person.

I did Jillian Michael's body revolution over the summer and I had great results with that.  Since then I've been focusing on Zumba, which is amazing.  I am totally in love with it and I'm seeing (and feeling) great results from it.

I've lost a total of 36.6 pounds from my highest and I've got nowhere to go but down.  Life is so good on this journey!

I want to share my weight chart from 2012 (daily weigh ins).  There are natural fluctuations and some weeks that weren't as great overall, but the chart tells the big picture and when I got serious in May.

Summer

Body revolution complete!

Today is my last day of body revolution.  I extended it through four months instead of the suggested three and I don't regret going at my own pace.

I've lost 28.2 pounds and I feel like a whole new person.

My next plan is to do the 30 day shred during September and then likely to start body revolution over again in October to take me through the end of the year.

Loving the new me!

New bikes too!

Pat had been wanting a mountain bike for a while so he bought one at the beginning of the month. Over time I started to think it would be something I'd enjoy too. So we bought one for me too. His is nice and mine is kind of entry level, but I am happy with it. We've been doing a lot of riding together! This has been such a fun summer with all of our new adventures.

New kayaks!

I've wanted a kayak since 2004. This weekend we finally bought them!

Cloud Biscuits

Quite a few years ago I remember going through my Grandmother's recipes and noticing she had a lot of recipes for biscuits.  They were largely the same, with some slight variations.  I remember we made a few different recipes to find the one we liked the best.  Although it has been years, I still know that we thought the cloud biscuits were top notch.

For Father's Day this weekend we decided to have a cookout and I wanted to make some strawberry shortcake.  My favorite strawberry shortcake is on biscuits with real whipped cream.  So I searched the internet for cloud biscuits.  While I don't know if this is the exact recipe Gram had, I do know that this recipe was fabulous and will be my 'go-to' recipe for biscuits.

Source:  food.com

2 cups flour

1/2 cup shortening

2/3 cup milk

1 egg

4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon sugar

Directions:

1. 1  Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. 2  Mix dry ingredients.
3. 3  Cut in shorting with a pastry blender or a couple butter knives.
4. 4  Stir in milk and egg.
5. 5  Knead with flour until doughy (not so sticky).
6. 6  Roll out 3/4 to 1 inch and cut with biscuit cutter.
7. 7  Place close together on an ungreased cookie sheet.
8. 8  Bake for 10-15 minutes until the tops begin to brown.
9. 9  (check the bottoms to make sure they're cooked through).

This made 9 biscuits and they were fabulous.  Here's a crappy cell picture to prove it!

35 by 35

It's no secret that I love lists.  I'm still working on my 101 things to do list in 1001 days (although I certainly won't finish them all by the due date).  But I thought I'd make a new list...a shorter list with a shorter time frame.

So I'm thinking 35 things by the time I'm 35.  

That just happens to be 365 days away.

Any suggestions?  I'd love some input!

This post is totally cheating...

I just wanted to keep my goal of posting at least twice a month!

So in order to have some type of substance I'll let you in on a secret... I think I've found something I can stick with for exercise. I've started Body Revolution and this week I'll be moving onto phase 2. I actually find myself looking forward to the workouts! This is new and exciting!

I have been a blog slacker!

I have been trying to be good about posting a few times a month, but I think my summer brain has set in because I can't focus!

My photography class finished a couple of weeks ago and I miss it.  I'm definitely glad to have my nights back, but I miss the structure of a class.  I decided not to take any classes this summer, but I might look into another one for the fall semester.  

A few weeks ago we bought a boat!  It's an older one and we didn't spend a ton on it, but it goes great!  We figured for our first boat we'd buy something relatively inexpensive to see how much we actually did use it and give us a good feel for what we may want in the future.

Here she is!  No name for it yet, any suggestions?

And here's a picture of the Sandbar on Sebago over the weekend.  I think everyone else is in summer mode too!

Quick share of some recent pics

For my photography class we had to shoot some street photography:

I loved these guys playing chess in Times Square at about 11:30pm.

I also think these guys playing hackey sack at Old Orchard Beach were great.

New lens

I've been wanting a new lens for a while now since everyone I talk to loves their prime lenses.  I have been debating about which one, but finally settled on the 35mm f/1.8.



I am VERY excited about working with this lens!

This week's assignment for class is portraits (both formal and informal).  I'm kind of dreading it because I don't think I'll have many willing subjects.  Maybe I can snag Quinn for some shots.  Babies are always willing subjects!

Landscape Assignment

Here are a few from a recent assignment:
We got up with the sunrise, unfortunately it was cloudy.

Where have I been?

I need to get two posts in this week in order to stick with my at least twice a month blogging goal.  I don't know why I bother, but I feel like I need to keep it up!

A quick update.  My photography class is so much fun.  I've learned so much and I love the assignments we have because it gives me something to focus on.  This week we are supposed to start self portraits and I haven't been able to take one yet.  I've got to take 10 or so by tomorrow so I need to figure out some poses and angles!

I actually like it so much I'm considering getting an additional degree in Art (Liberal Studies, Art Concentration) from SMCC.  I'm not totally convinced yet, but most of the general education requirements are covered by the classes I took for my Bachelor's degree so I'd only have to take the core art classes.  I just keep thinking that while I'm able to take classes for such a huge discount due to Pat's job it might be worth it.  Education is a good thing!

Here are a few pictures I've taken lately.  Some of these were for random assignments (pattern, texture, color, light, shutter speed, aperture etc.) so they might not make sense, but these are a few I like.

Feb = no fast food

Win!

I made it the whole month without falling into the fast food trap.  I don't really miss it.  I do miss the convenience of it, but not the food itself.  I guess that says something.  Even though my month is over I won't go back to eating fast food as often as I was.  Sadly it didn't help me lose any weight, but I'm sure it will over time.

Current challenge - no soda.  It's been a week so far and I'm doing pretty good.  I do really miss soda though, I won't lie.  I only ever drank diet, but I did some reading about how that's not good for you.  So, it's crystal light for me for now on and maybe eventually going to just straight up water.  We'll see.  I drink the crystal light iced tea constantly at work (to the tune of well over 120oz a day of it) so I'm not sure I could give that up.  Oh, and I have my one cup of coffee in the morning.  Gotta have the caffeine fix.

Happy leap year! :)

Divergent by Veronica Roth

I've never been very good at writing book reviews.  I know what I like and dislike, but I rarely can verbalize why I like something (or dislike something).  

I read this book for part of an online book club I try to participate in.  When I saw this book was selected I had absolutely no idea what it was about so I started it with no preconceived notions.  In fact, I didn't even know it was a young adult book (which I typically love).

This book kept me enthralled all weekend long.  I passed up other activities because I wanted to sit and read this book all afternoon yesterday.  I finished it this morning before I left for work.  

I really, really loved it.  In fact, I may turn around and reread it again right away.

The only disappointing thing?  That I just found out it's part of a trilogy and part two isn't released until May and part three isn't coming out until next year!

February = No fast food month

One of my 101 goals was to give up fast food for a month.  I'm also trying to be healthier so this seems like a good time to knock out this goal.

For me, this is going to mean any type of food I can get from my car or any type of food that is 'hot and ready' upon walking in.  This will also include coffee stops in the morning (although those have almost been eliminated now that we have the Keurig).

So, here's to February!  Hopefully this will just be a jumping off point to some long term, necessary, changes.

Close up

Photo 366 fail

Well, it was bound to happen.  I forgot to take a picture yesterday.

I guess I'm glad it happened on day 30 instead of day 360!  I'm going to continue taking pictures and posting them, even if I don't have the perfect year!

New iPad case

29/366

Zaftigs

28/366

Kitty prints

27/366

Bowdoin college

26/366

Homework

There's a lot of that going on in our house these days.

50 degrees!

24/366

Self portrait

23/366

Icicles in Freeport

22/366

Sleepy kitty

21/366

Love Crystal Light Iced Tea

I seriously buy 12+ containers of this stuff at a time.  I'm obsessed.

In some effort to be more interesting with my daily pictures I'm going to start taking pictures of things/products I love in my daily life.

Favorite nail polish

19/366

Stryker

18/366

Snowflake

17/366

Pat made muffins

He should stay home more often!
16/366

Paw

15/366

Dinner

14/366

New tv from my parents

13/366

Arm rest

12/366

New bomber hat

11/366

10 on the 10th

On the 10th of each month I'm going to try to take a picture each hour for 10 hours and post them.  A little snapshot into my (boring) life.

Here we go:

A cup of coffee in my UMaine mug.

The beautiful shells I keep on my windowsill from my trip to Nantucket this summer.

My office.



The book for my photography class was delivered.



I went out on my lunch hour and got a cute Valentine's Day wreath.



A frozen meal for lunch.



The heater under my desk keeping me warm.



My phone that seems permanently glued to my ear.



The calendar that stares me down every day.



Finally leaving work for the day.



Not a very exciting day at all.  While at work it was actually hard to find things to take pictures of.  Next month the 10th falls on a Friday and it's right before Valentine's Day.  Maybe I'll have to think up some type of a theme to make this a little more interesting for the reader.