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Sunday, December 22, 2013

Santa isn't about race

In the mist of the news blow out of Santa is white not black, wait what race is he... honestly does it matter... wait I'll get to that.

I attended an event where Santa was present.  Santa told The Night Before Christmas. Then the kids sat on Santa's lap and they told him what they wanted for Christmas. 

Some adults got into the fun. And then Santa asked me if I wanted to sit on his lap. Umm... Dearest Santa I'm Jewish and don't believe in you. 

Santa insisted. So I grabbed Nick. I sat down next to Santa and Nick ended up sitting on top of my lap. And someone took a picture of us with my camera. 

Santa whispered to me "the point of me is to get you to smile" and Santa was right. 

As it is Christmas Eve the hope of Santa is in the air. Smiles are throughout because of that hope. That wish of having a present you wanted. 

It doesn't matter what color Santa is. It is what Santa stands for. Happiness. 

So tonight take a piece of that happiness for you. And when I get on my computer I'll post the pic of Nick and I with Santa. 


Thursday, November 28, 2013

Friday, November 22, 2013

Inspired By

I watch The Today show in the mornings and recently they have been airing mini pieces on who inspires them.

It truly got me thinking. Who inspires me? 

When I thought about it people entered my mind. Then reasons why no they don't truly inspire me came. And well...

It's a really hard question to answer. You need time to think. 


Ansel Adams is was a photographer and a conservationist.  He is best known for his black and white landscapes. 

When I was younger I stumbled upon one of his photographs.  His love for nature and his black and whites made such an impression on me.  Such an impression that when I received my first 35mm camera I had only taken photos with black and white film.

Now when I find myself in what I would define as a perfect situation, I will adjust my camera and let me just say I will get lost in the moment.  I will find the perfection of the situation and using my camera capture images while remembering the beauty of Ansel Adam's pictures. 

My time in Central Park, NYC my whole entire mindset was on his work and how I could properly capture what I was feeling in my heart.  

It is a goal of mine to get a reproduction of one of his pieces. 

While I do not work with as big of a camera that he had.  I do work with what I have. Even though I have strayed off of film work I do have goals to go back.  

If it wasn't for Ansel Adams I would not be in photography at all.  His entire work inspired me and made me strive to become a National Geographic Magazine photographer. And while I have yet to have a photo to submit it is an ultimate goal of mine.

If you are not familiar with Ansel Adams' work please take a time to look.

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Loss of Words

I haven't blogged lately... Take it into account as a loss of words or topic to blog about. Or take it my mind has been else where.

I lack the words to properly express what is going on. I want to. I just can't properly word it.

I'm focusing on myself.  Trying to take care of myself.

And hopefully soon I'll be able to blog.

Monday, October 21, 2013

Counting

I have been calorie counting. Started with the military diet and then calorie counting. I've lost 7lbs so far 😍

I have an app on my phone that I use. I input my age, height, starting weight, and how much I want to lose. Then I need to decide how fast I want to lose it. I picked 2lbs a week. 


I've had this app for a while and have used it before. You add in the food you eat it as you eat it or if you've planned your food you can in put it ahead of time. 

You can add in exercising. Now this lowers your calorie intake so you need to replace it. 

In the past when I've used it it was so I could go to Starbucks and get certain things after the gym. It was a great way for me to get coffee and a scone in the morning and not let those calories really effect me. 

Monday starts the new week so that is why it says 0 calories under budget. I started calorie counting on the last day of the 3 day military diet. 

You can skip days with this app. Over the weekend when I moved I went out to eat. So no I didn't count calories. I just ate what I wanted. 

I'm happy with my progress so far. 

I'm calorie counting because sometimes I can't hit the gym. While I can do exercises at home I do like hitting the gym. Calorie counting with this app allows me to lose weight without exercising. 

So far so good as I'm down 7lbs. I'll keep you updated with my progress. 

Sunday, October 20, 2013

The 3 Day Diet

Looking up some diets to quickly lose some weight I found the 3 day diet. Which can be referred to the Marine Diet.

It states to quickly lose weight. Which basically from what I've read into is water weight. 

When I had my kidney infection I put on some weight. I know this was due to the drugs as I was barely eating during the infection. I was sick and in a lot of pain. 

I really wanted to lose this weight. And also a friend needed to lose 5 lbs. So together we started the 3 Day Diet. 

Day 1


Day 1 started off not so well. I hadn't gone to the store to get the things needed yet. I made chip beef gravy for breakfast. Because of this I skipped lunch just had 1 cracker and some carrots. The cracker lol was to make sure they weren't stale. For dinner followed it to the T, except I skipped the ice cream. I'm lactose intolerant and didn't want the ice cream. 

I weighed myself before dinner. 


Day 2

Day 2 I didn't truly wake up hungry. Normally I just have a cup of coffee. But I woke up and ate what was for breakfast. But ate a full banana. I also added in a cup of coffee with milk and sugar. I calorie counted the milk and sugar and it was only an additional 107 calories. Had lunch around two. I'm not a yoke person so skipped the yoke. 

Again weighed myself before dinner. 

Day 3

Day 3 again not a breakfast person. It was weird to have cheese for breakfast but it goes with the crackers. Again drank water all day. 

Overall
I'm not a water person. I tend to drink ginger ale. So it was hard for me to only drink water. But did become easier for me. 

I would like to add it is easier for me to eat less. So as the days pass and you decrease your calories it wasn't a problem for me. But due to my religion I fast certain days. So it wasn't a problem for me. I can tell you my friend who did this with me was cranky. But it comes down to mind over matter. 

When I was researching this I found this a great way to kick off a healthier lifestyle. It states to do this diet. Then eat normally for 4 days, then you can do it again. 

I don't recommend to go back to junk food eating. But watch what you eat. 

I decided to calorie count to lose weight by December. About 2lbs a week. If you exercise you can eat more to replace those calories you lost. 

Overall I lost 5 lbs and my friend lost almost 7lbs. 

I did change what I ate and how much I are after this quick diet. But I wanted to diet without exercising because some days I can't make it to the gym. And lately the weather had been raining and walks are out. 

Before anyone goes into a diet I will say it is mind over matter and you should talk to your doctor. I'm not a professional and can only tell you my experience. 

I did cheat on this diet. I had a cake pop the first night and a ginger ale. It was a hard day lol. I had the coffee the next morning with milk and sugar. But with calorie counting I knew it wouldn't be bad. I recommended to my friend apples. As apples have a low calorie count. But I stress in drinking water.  Don't go all day with just eating this. Eat as well. 

I will say over the weekend I did splurge a little. But didn't gain weight. I've been calorie counting ;) I've found that is the way to go. 

On the days I can hit the gym I eat more. I replace those calories that I lost. 

What I've found amazing is that an apple will fill me and the low calorie count it has. I've reduced the sugar in my coffee and that has lowered calories. 

It's a great start to a healthier life. 

Sunday, October 13, 2013

PG Texting

I was getting frustrated trying to text. 

As anyone knows with an iPhone it doesn't like to cuss. It changes words to others like duck. 

A friend was watching me and saw me backspacing after it did it. They said "your iPhone is like having a Christian kid next to you telling you to stop". 

Yup. A strict Christian child shaking it's head at me at the equivalent to duck... Sigh. 

Then I thought. What if I didn't correct it. Would my friends know what I was saying? "Can you ducking believe it?"

Yes the phone learned after a while. Had to teach it to cuss. That butch wasn't a word I was looking for nor was duck. 

Ok, ok maybe I shouldn't loving call one of my friends a B word but ya know what it's done so lovingly. 

What if I'm cussing in response to telling a story of what words flew out of my mouth when I hurt my shoulder the other day. 

Ok I agree it is nice the iPhone doesn't come out of the gates with bad verbiage. Oh I had to explain that word to someone the other day...

I'm still on the hunt for a case. Oh boy it's hard. I fumble phones and need a good case. 

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Annapolis

Well Hello Annapolis, I've missed you. 

It was a beautiful day in Annapolis. I stayed the night and in the morning had decided I was moving onto that blue boat above. 

Ok not really, I wish. 


Arrived that night and went to an Irish Pub. This sign cracked me up. 


Then of course the next day I had to go to The Federal House. I enjoyed a bite to eat and their beer cheese with pretzel. Yumm. 

The Federal House is a must visit for me when I'm in Annnapolis. I always eat here. 

I had a blast and hope to visit again. It was lovely staying there. 

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Welcome Home

With great joy I welcomed back an iPhone into my life. 

Recently I got an iPhone 5C in green. My first choices were the pink or green. I ended up getting a 16GB phone because I have a 32GB iPad so don't need that much room. 

I decided against the iPhone 5S or iPhone 5. The last iPhone I had was the 4S. And when the iPhone 5 came out I was unsure of it. 

Because I went to the store I didn't ask about the 5 because they had the 5S and 5C out. 

I played with both. But ended up with the 5C because of the color. 

This phone is so much lighter than the 4S I was used to. I've had every Apple phone except the 5. And yes each time they do get lighter and more tech savvy. 

The guy I am dating did try to talk me into a Samsung Galaxy phone. But true to my heart I am an Apple girl. 

I've had a Mac since starting college. 

I'm glad to have my own phone and not be borrowing one. And especially glad to be an Apple user again. 

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Sunshine in a Cloud of Rain

It started as a typical day for me. And by the end of the day I had wished it ended in a typical day.
I had planned on going to the gym and I dragged someone with me. Woke up the angry dragon from a nap, seriously would have rather battled a dragon than wake up this friend again. Or as I said next time cattle prod.

I had been putting off going to the gym. But I needed to as I have been experiencing some shoulder pain so need to work my shoulder out.

I'm a 1 mile on the elliptical the lifting weights type of a girl. This day I went 1.6 miles before heading to lift weights cause I was with someone... And this is why I prefer the gym alone. After the third weight stationed I was abandoned.

I did five pull ups which I was VERY excited. I didn't use as much help as the first time I did a pull up. But I'm working on doing a pull up on my own. Five after doing 30 reps of 5 different machines that do upper body. So yes I was excited!

I had planned all day to make hamburgers. Hamburgers with caramelized onions. Oh you know the kind with whiskey and brown sugar ooh yes those kind of caramelized onions.

I had enough for 2. So my workout buddy and myself would have hamburgers.

Long story short one yummy hamburger was made and the other ended up on the floor. I cried.

Don't mess with my food!! This is a type of girl I am. If you go to take food off my plate you might come back with a fork in your hand... My food!!!

I ended up in a crumpled mess in the kitchen. I wanted to cry, yes that is how serious it was, but my body wouldn't let me.

My workout buddy left and returned with a strawberry soda float, hamburger, and fries from a local drive in.

There was my sunshine in the cloud of rain. All it took was a soda float. Yup I'm that simple.

Now if the rest of the week could go well...  

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Expectation VS Reality

As I sat down and took a glorious sip of a Salted Carmel Mocha I had hoped the power of Starbucks could lift the weight off my shoulders.

I had set myself up in a little nook and began updating my iPad. Responding to emails as I enjoyed my coffee.

I expected the downloads to occur quickly.  In reality it took over an hour and a half!! The new operating system decided to download on it's on, not asking me as I knew I didnt have the time.

I had only allotted an hour at Starbucks.  It was enough time for me to finish a cup of coffee, check the things online I needed to check, and update apps on my iPad.

As the time ticketed on I began to kiss away the other things I needed to do. A friend had lent me their car so I could do x, y, and z and here I was stuck on y. Oh yes I completed x before Starbucks.

I've been having issues lately with expectation versus reality.

This is not 100% my fault but I could do things to help the process. While things are not always in my control,  I can help them along.

Ok, take a deep breath :)

It will be ok

Friday, January 18, 2013

Almost there

I can't wait for the day I can say 'we are unpacked'.

Almost there.

Little by little each room is coming along.

We don't have wifi or cable yet. Priorities are putting our place together first.

Something popped up as. Surprise. I'll blog about it later.

Monday, January 14, 2013

Moved in but not unpacked

We have officially moved into our new place. Unpacking is a different story.

Our second day here I hung some pictures. Just to make it feel like home. Among the boxes that home feeling can get lost.

Here is what I am thinking. Would any lovely bloggers out there be willing to donate some items to my readers as a home warming gift??

Yes I am thinking of having a home warming party and giving away items to my readers. But with the chaos going on would need some lovely bloggers to volunteer to giveaway items.

Email me milesbehindme@gmail.com if you are interested. Or comment on this post with your email address.

I will be posting pictures soon. After the unpacking is done lol.