Sneak peeks are up on the new site/blog. Please come on over and if you're subscriber here, I'd love it if you'd put me in your reader or subscriber over there. And don't forget to leave some comments while you're there.... Thanks!
The Howland Family
Happy Father's Day!
Neglect, that's certainly what this blog has been suffering from, that's for sure. I don't really know why I stopped updating it. Well, yes I do and that's the good part.
I stopped because I've thought for a long time that I need to change my focus and morph this forum into a better blog that's more photography oriented and better suited to what I'm doing right now. My photography business has really picked up, and thanks to the encouragement of a bunch of friends and some talented creative professionals, I'm ready to make that leap.
So it's my pleasure to announce that in early June, I will be leaving this blog behind and moving to a new site that will serve as both my photography blog and online portfolio. I've been working on it behind the scenes for a few weeks now and I'm really liking how it's looking so far.
In other big news, I started a new job at AI Software in March, as their project manager and social media specialist. We build websites for other businesses and provide social media management. I train clients on how to maintain their websites, do site changes and population, and do all the social media campaigns. It's such a fun job. I tell people that I get paid to play on Facebook all day. That's not entirely true, but it kind of is to a degree.
So since I'm now an official Social Media Maven, I figure that I should get my own act together in that respect and starting this week, I'm doing that. If you're not already following me on Twitter (and why would you since I rarely update it!), you can find me here and I promise to keep it updated and hopefully fun.
Lots has been going on around these parts since I quit posting and when I roll out my new blog, I hope you'll follow me there and catch up on all the latest and greatest!
Finally, since no blog entry is complete without a photo, I think I'll post this one. I recently got an iPhone and have been trying to learn how to take creative pics with it using Instagram. Here is one from Mirror Lake at Eden Park.
Speaking of Instagram, if you'd like to follow my fumbling efforts and failures over there regarding my iPhone camera, you can find me on Instagram at bahogan.
See you soon with exciting new updates!
It's been a long time since I've given you an update of any kind, never mind an update on how my weight loss efforts are going. I don't expect you to remember, but on the first Monday of January, I re-committed myself to finally getting this extra lard off of my ass for the last time. Failing was not going to be an option this time...so that means that complacency wasn't an option either.
I was pretty good at giving monthly updates for quite a while, but then I slacked off. I didn't slack off my weight loss efforts, but I was so focused on my new job of losing weight and getting back into shape, that blogging kind of fell off the radar. I have also been putting a serious effort into learning how to play golf this summer as well, and you know what a time hog that can be.
Anyhow, things are going well. As of last Wednesday, I am down 38 pounds. My Pandora weight loss bracelet now has seven charms on it. The bracelet and charm #1 were for my first ten pounds. Every five pounds after that have earned another charm. The sparkly charm is for being half way to goal. My last charm was the golf bag.
I'm not going to lie, it's been a roller coaster. The first 20 pounds came off quickly. The last 18, not so much. It took me nearly three months to earn my 35 pound charm. I haven'tt really done anything differently than I was doing earlier, but the longer you go, the slower it comes off. There just doesn't seem to be a lot of rhyme or reason to it with me. I never know what I'm going to get...unless I overdo the drinks and snacks during the week and then I definitely know what I'm going to get.
So here it is.
My bracelet is getting heavier. I'm getting lighter. That's the way it's supposed to be. Hopefully by the time school starts again in a few weeks, I can add #8.
Wow, it's been nearly a month since I've updated. I guess I've been spending a lot more time sweating than web surfing. That's a good thing. I'll report on my progress in that department later in the week. I also have an update and some pics to share from meeting Ree Drummond, The Pioneer Woman, a week or so ago.
But even though I've been letting so much slide by, I can't let the Oscars slide by without my two cents on the red carpet fashion, now could I? No, no, absolutely not. It's a tradition, just like Elton John throwing a party, or Oprah binging on mac and cheese.
I have to admit that I saw very few fashion disasters last night. There are usually a good handful of shock-value freaks out there, but not last night. In fact, I had a lot of trouble picking my favorites because there were so many.
Let's go for my losers first (because they're always the most fun!).
Of course, it wouldn't be an Oscar show without the perennial fashion freak, Helena Bonham Carter. I know that she wants to be known for her acting and not her fashion, but her consistant over-the-top, cartoonish freak fashion ends up being exactly what overshadows her acting abilities. So when she says it's all about the acting and not the fashion for her, I call bullshit!
Missing this year was fellow fashion freak, Tilda Swinton. I was kind of disappointed, as she's always good for a laugh. Sharon Stone actually decided to dress appropriately this year, which I'm sure was a bummer for the straight men out there.
Let's move on to Florence Welch. When she performed, her gown was gorgeous and really complemented her hair. This one? It looks like she and her stylist had to beat up Nellie Olson from Little House on the Prarie for the dress. Could that color be any more wretched? Baby poop colored ruffles. No, I think not.
How about Celine? I don't know why, but this just looks so 1970's Jane Fonda to me. Me no likey. She looks old to me here (but compared to her husband, she looks eternally young!). I have to give the chick props, however, she had twins just five months ago. Who are we kidding. Any woman who willingly gives birth to twins in her late 40's deserves props (and a lot of Xanax or Grey Goose...wait, that's her husband).
Anette Bening. I used to love her, but as she's gotten older she's got that "F-You, I married Warren Beatty and I don't give a crap anymore" look. I admire that attitude to some degree, but at the Golden Globes she was a scary hot mess and last night was not much better. I swear I've seen this dress on clearance at JCPenney.
Scarlett. If I had just split with Ryan Reynolds, I would probably crawl in bed and never get up for two months as well. The dress is okay (doesn't do that bangin' body much justice), but pick up a hair brush. I hope you picked up a toothbrush.
And Giuliana. Girl, I think you're really great and the Chrisian Siriano dress is really cool, but you look horrid. I swear she is so skinny that she looks like she's got a terminal disease. Her shoulders/collar bones/arms look like she just flew in to LA from Starvation City. She should ditch the Jersey Shore tan too. GTL.
Over on the opposite end of the starvation spectrum, Thanksgiving comes to mind...dressed and OVERSTUFFED. Pass the mac and cheese, if there is any left. Shannon said that her hair looked like an ungroomed standard poodle.
Now for some highlights. Like I said, I had a tough time choosing my faves becase there were so many. Let's start with my favorite of the night...Halle Berry. For years I've been saying that she is the most beautiful woman in the world, hands down, and she can look smashing in anything. She may have bad luck with men, but it's obvious that she's got it going on with her stylist.
I really loved all the soft colors with sparkle last night.... How cute is Haylee Steinfeld? She's only 14. That dress is every girl's dream, isn't it? She was so poised and charming too.
My other faves of the night. Anne Hathaway had someting like 1000 gowns on last night and they were all fabulous. She's another one of those chicks that could make a Kroger bag look chic. Sandra Bullock's dress was gorgeous, but something about her bothered me last night. She looked old, or sad, or something. I know it's been a rough year for her. I wish her the best. Anyhow, here are some more of my favorites from last night, including Camilla Alves, Matthew McConnehey's girlfriend's dress. Bow chicka wow WOW! He's pretty good too.
I admit that I was underwhelmed by Nicole Kidman (who I always think is amazing), Amy Adams, and Natalie Portman. I really didn't like Gweneth Paltrow's dress at all, but it's probably because I really don't like her. She can choke on a celery stick for all I care. The guys all looked fantastic, with the exception of Christian Bale, who I think was getting ready to audition for a remake of Jeramiah Johnson, or the Abomadable Snowman. I was disappointed to not see Brangelina, George Clooney (but he's here instead!), Cameron Diaz, and Katy Perry.
Who were your pics and pans?
Well, it's been about 28 days since I updated, give or take a few.
In those 28 days, I haven't done much of the following:
So what does this mean? It means that I've not been sitting around, I've been moving.... and moving a lot.
January did kick off "The Great Family Room Makeover of 2011" that seemed to be a natural progression from "The Great Kitchen Pick Me Up of November 2010", but that's a post for another day.
Basically I decided somewhere towards the end of December that I was just freaking tired of being overweight and out of shape. I was pretty darned fit when I was doing my taekwondo training, but since being retired for a year and having to battle some nerve problems in my lower back, I felt like my body had transformed itself into very a large pile of Silly Putty. Really, the only difference between my body between my knees and my shoulders and Silly Putty is that my body doesn't bounce and you can't make a print of the Sunday comics if you press my flab into the newspaper. I've just had enough. I not diabetic, but it runs in the family and I do NOT want to go there. I'm sick of looking awful, feeling awful, and frankly, I'm completely sick and tired of ugly fat chick fashion.
So with motivation and a bit of inspiration from fellow scrapper and blogger, Cathy Zielske, I decided to just basically eat less and move more. I started back with Weight Watchers. That was four weeks ago today, January 3rd, 28 days ago.
On January 3rd, I kicked off my move more efforts by trying to do a kickboxing video at home. I thought I would die within the first five minutes. I had to switch over to do something targeted more for the fat instead of the fit. That was a real kick in the shorts for me, Miss Badass Black Belt. I used to be pretty hard core, and now a hard core is just something that was once a pleasant memory and I feared that I was destined for the Richard Simmons set if I didn't change my ways. But I managed to move my body for an hour and work up a sweat. Progress, even with baby steps. The next day, I hopped on our elliptical machine and could barely make it 15 minutes on level one. The third day, I went to the gym to check it out, and went to a Zumba class later in the day and brought Shannon. I didn't die, and we both thought it was fun. I figure if the lady who looks 90 years old could get through it, then so could I. On day four, I joined the gym with my Christmas money and I was off to the races. That was a GREAT move.
Since that first week, I have been working out consistently six out of seven days/week. I've been doing different things every day so I don't get bored, including snow shoveling. I've also gotten to like watching Dexter episodes while on the ARC trainer or elliptical machine at the gym. I won't let myself quit before the episode is over (about 55 minutes) and I only let myself watch it while working out. Thanks to the iPad, wi-fi, and Netflix streaming for letting me Dexter-out at the gym!
If you want to know how much you can improve in a month, I'll tell you. Last Friday, I was on the elliptical at the gym for 90 minutes at a level 5 resistance and a 6 incline. That's coming a LONG WAY from where I was on week one. Today I took a new class. I had a clue at the difficulty when the people walking in to take the class all looked like Olympic athletes and fitness models. Yikes. I'm not going to lie, that class is one of the hardest things I've ever done in 65 mintues. It kicked my ass. It was as hard as any taekwondo workout or P90X DVD that I had ever done and then some. But I kept telling myself that I can do ANYTHING for an hour. And I did do it. I finished it all and I didn't wimp out on anything. I was the only one at the end of the class who looked like they had just come out of the pool. I'm quite proud of myself.
As for my weight, I'm normally what I consider a slow loser, losing about a half to one pound/week. In 28 days, according to my scale this morning, I'm down 14.5 pounds. In my wildest dreams, I wouldn't have expected to be where I'm at in four weeks. If the improvement in my fitness level isn't motivating enough, the weight loss sure is!
When I started in January, I took a bit of my Christmas money (in addition to joining the gym) and told myself that when I lost 10 pounds, I'd buy myself a Pandora bracelet and a starter charm, and then every five pounds that I lost after that I'd buy a new charm. I'm almost ready for charm #2! I like wearing it to remind myself of how well I'm doing and that I'm worth the investment. My first charm is a clock, because this road takes time.
So that's the scoop. I"m excited to think about where I'll be in another 28 days. That's Monday, February 28th, and I promise that I'll post again with my status and hopefully more charms on my bracelet!
They say that silence is golden but I have to wonder. Around this blog, there is nothing but the sound of crickets.
I have readers, but lately it seems that I have no writers, and it makes me scratch my head a bit. Even my little ditty about Other People's Parenting got basically no response. That surprised me, it really did. I got royally burned earlier in 2010 for supposedly opening my mouth too much on this blog, and it's made me much more cautious. It's the big reason why I haven't expressed my opinions as much here, or just spoken in my normal "voice" about whatever crossed my mind, like I used to do.
Is it time to pack it in and move on? Have blogs become passe? You tell me. Or I suppose you could just nod in silence, but if you do, I'll never know.
I wish I was one of the popular gals like The Pioneer Woman and could give away a Kitchen Aid Mixer or a new Nikon D7000 (complete with Ashton Kutcher) for your replies. Alas, I'm not.
Wah.
Actually, I'm really not just whining. I've been pondering a move to convert this blog to a new one that's more photography-oriented and can better showcase my creative work. But I'll be honest. If there's no interest, then it's probably not worth my while. I can't decide.
* * *
Happy Cyber Monday. Are you snagging any deals today? I don't think I am. I'm pretty much D-O-N-E done with my Christmas shopping. That's a joyous feeling!
This year has pretty much been a turkey for us. Actually, we love turkey. Turkeys get a bad rap. But this year hasn't been rosy, no matter how you look at it. On the flip side, bad times always give us the opportunity to take stock in our lives and count our blessings, and our blessings are many.
I am grateful for so much and I try every day to not take anything for granted. Life sure has a way of putting things into perspective, doesn't it?
I hope that this Thanksgiving, you have many blessings in your life to be thankful for. And for my friends and loved ones who are dealing with grief during this holiday season, may you know peace of mind and know that I am thinking of you. I care, and please let me know if I can help.
Happy Thanksgiving everybody!
Man, why is it that some days can start out so well and then end up on the downslide?
Yesterday was one of those days. Great choir mass, spectacular weather, golf date with Andy and friends, fun at Hahana Beach watching the Bengals game while S practiced volleyball outside with her teammates.
It was a glorious day!
Then the Bengals lost, and it was ugly.
Then we figured out that our hot tub is dead.
When figuring out that the hot tub was dead, we noticed that our hot water tank needs replacing ASAP. Like DO NOT PASS GO, CALL THE PLUMBER IMMEDIATELY AND GIVE HIM YOUR $200.... AND THEN DO IT AGAIN, AND THEN DO IT AGAIN, AND THEN DO IT AGAIN. Rinse, lather, repeat (if your hot water tank works). I actually didn't sleep much last night because I was worried that my hot water tank was going to blow the house to smithereens (what are smithereens?).
Then Shannon got some sad news from a friend.
The Reds got swept.
And finally, I've got a sore throat. You know, the kind that is telling you that the next week or so of your life is going to be quite unfortunate and the timing couldn't be worse.
Rollercoaster.
For the record, this isn't me, but it's how I felt yesterday.
Do not try this at home.
Today's going to be a good, good day. Like I tell Shannon, put a smile on and fake it if you have to. Hopefully I won't have to.
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