[talk: Sick.]

I haven't been sick in a while ... and I'm definitely not a "throwing-up" kind of sick person.  I'm a migraine-y, muscles hurt, every-thing-goes-through-me, kind of a sick person.

So when I get sick, I really feel it.

This past weekend we headed to Harrison Hot Springs for my hubby's annual business meetings.  It's a two-day getaway that we do with the whole family, and something that we really look forward to.  But this year, the first one in the 17 years we've been coming up here (my family has been coming here long before I was even married), I was SICK.  Like, throw a blanket over me and leave me alone, sick.

I hated it.

My hubby was amazing - he let me rest, guilt-free ... and our kids ended up building sand castles at the beach, and swimming in the hot pools.  They had special lunches, and time with their cousins.

And I was in bed.  My body ached ... and my lonely camera ached from it's lack of picture taking too.

The good thing was that although it was a drag - it was a good time (if ever) to be sick.  My hubby and family were there the whole time, and they allowed me to just ... rest.

So.  Not quite the perfect family weekend away, but still very blessed to have had the time that we did.  And our kids had a fantastic time ... 

I woke up this morning, curious as to my weigh-in.  I've been using "my fitness pal" this past week after so many recommendations.  I LOVE it ... it's been helping, a whole lot.  I really had no idea how many calories I had been consuming - mainly because I was just so stinkin' hungry from all the running I've been doing.  Having to count them has been an eye-opener.  And yes, I was sick these past 3 days, so that counts for something too (water loss, which will be gained back for sure). 

But today's weight?  131.4lbs.  Down 5lbs from last Monday.  Literally.  So, some of it was deliberate, hard work.  I did Jillian 3x, ran 10km, did "my fitness pal" for calorie intake ... and then had the bonus of a few days of ick *wink*.

So - I'm going to treat this like a jump-start.  If I continue using MFP and exercising (although, today I'm still pretty weak and think I'll stick to drawing and playing playdough with Katia and Josiah ... ), I just might see the goal of my 120's soon. 

No rush.

For now, I'm praying over our home - that no one else gets the dreaded sickness I had - and am thankful that we're heading to my in-laws for dinner tonight (my Italian mother-in-law knows how to make a mean lasagna ...) so I don't have to worry about what I'm going to make, and crossing off my RHP to-do list.  

Hmm.

Grumbling tummy.  Yuck.

Maybe I'll just sit, sip some tea and cuddle the kids while watching Jungle Junction instead ...

I wish you a great one, and that your home stays healthy! 

[redhandedphotography: Alice and Jayda.]

I literally have no time to be doing this ... eek.

My to-do list is out of control today, and I have so much to cross off before heading out of town with our family for my hubby's business meetings ... packing for all of us, finishing up the banking, reconciling accounts, sending clients photo emails, blogging ... ack.  

But I DID want to send you this link to my latest blogpost ... there are going to be a LOT of them over the next week.  I've done so many shoots, my head is spinning.

And that's a good thing, right :-).

RIGHT!!

Ok ... a preview ...

Go to my RedHanded Photography blog HERE to see the rest ... feel free to leave a comment.   Always feels nice when you do :-) ... 

Have a GREAT one!!

[biggest loser: CalorieKing.]

It's a holiday today ... and here I am blogging *grin*.  

Last week was a good week ... I ran a lot - with running the seawall being a massive highlight - , have been so blessed with a lot of photography work (including a wedding on Saturday, another family shoot today, and a maternity one tomorrow ... phewf!) ... I led worship at our home church yesterday morning, and I so, so enjoy being a part of the music department there ...

The Canucks have been making us proud ... can't WAIT to go to the game tomorrow night on a date with my hubby ... 

And I'm up on the scale.  Like, not just a little bit ... I'm up almost 5lbs this week.  I weighed myself this morning (I have NOT been a slave to the scale as of late, but weighing myself once a week I think is fair ... ) ... and I was 136.2lbs.

What.The.Heck.

A friend said to me last night that I gained 5lbs of muscle with all the running I did *laughing*.  Sorry, MR, you're a good guy - but preeeeetty sure that's not possible.  Pretty sure that I just haven't stopped eating all week.  Working out so much makes me hungry.  Like, crazy hungry.  

At the wedding on Saturday, I met a girl who's a personal trainer.  When my shoot was over, I asked her about my running and the tire around my waist and she looked at me and cocked her head, "... oh, sweetie," she said.  "I'm sorry.  Belly fat ... it's all food."

Boo.

She went on to tell me that even though I'm working out 5x a week, I can't just eat whatever I want.  Well ... I can if I want to maintain ... and she also said that my weight-gain is most likely water retention from my *cough* cycle ... Wow.  She was bang on there.

She told me that if I was serious about getting lean, to cut sugar and count calories.  And do some math - I need carbs for my exercising, but I don't need as much as I probably think I do.  She talked about slow burning foods and eating every 2-3hrs.

I've heard bits and pieces of this - but then she suggested something called "Calorie King".  It's a website that offers a free trial and the option of downloading a $45.00 program to basically be your food/exercise journal.  It does all the math, plus it allows you to input special foods (like protein shakes etc ... ).

I'm thinking this will help me with what I'm actually eating.  You know - you munch on this and munch on that ... and you realllllly don't know what you're consuming.  At least, that's how it is for me.  So we shall see, we shall see ... 

After my photoshoot today, I came home and let my hubby head to the gym while I put on a 50 minute Jillian DVD with my boys (Katia was napping ...).  I love watching them trying to copy the squats and curls.  Got a good sweat on ... my arms are burning hours later.

So.  I'm ready for some BBQ hamburgers tonight ... I've been watching everything I've eaten today - and I got some room to enjoy a yummy supper, according to what I'm "allowed" to consume.

:-).

Organization always excites me ... 

Ok.  

Must go ... 

Have a great one!!

[talk: Catching Up.]

You can tell the sun's been out ... I haven't been blogging.

You can tell the sun's been out ... because everyone has now decided they need to get their pics taken *laughing* ... 

In 9 days, I will have had 5 photoshoots plus two weddings.  So.  7 photoshoots.  That's insane. Really ... I'm staying on top of things - but man, I'm going cross eyed with images and sorting and editing and burning and labelling and invoicing and delivering.

I love it :-).

Aside from work being insane - life has been really great around here.  I ran the seawall (a total highlight of my week), the kids and I have been bike riding and trampoline jumping ... we've been BBQing and going for family walks to Coldstone.  My hubby took the boys to the driving range, I had a worship practice for Sunday morning - which is something that really breathes life in me - ... it's been a really excellent week.

Oh.  I weighed myself this morning (for the first time in 5 days).

It was up.

I didn't care.

I've done a lot of exercising this week, a lot of yummy, healthy eating ... the numbers can stuff it.

*grin*

The sunshine really does just make everything better ... 

Oh ... I have the most CRAZY story on my RedHanded Photography blog.  You gotta go and check out "Engagement: Mat and Angela" ... 

Ok ... BIG Canucks game on tonight ... a wedding shoot tomorrow ... leading worship Sunday morning ... so I'm looking forward to a family day on Monday!!  Here's to keepin' this weather around!

Have a great one!

[running: What I Learned Today.]

I hate feeling like a liar.  I mean, I didn't know ... I wasn't trying to be dishonest ... I just didn't know.  Truly.

What am I talking about?  My runs ... my distances ... my times.

UGH.

So ... here's what happened.

As you well know, I have an app on my IPhone called "runmeter".  It was a $4.99 app and I have LOVED using it.  It gave me a ton of info, documented my stats, GPSed my routes ... But then - after using it for almost a year *duh* - I started noticing small things.  Like if an email came through while I was running - and I didn't dismiss it - it messed up the time stat.  Or sometimes the GPS would cut out ... and I would run the same exact route, and it was less - or more distance than the last time I ran it.

So ... my hubby bought me the Nike chip for Mother's Day and I slipped it into my bright orange Nikes, started up the app on my IPhone and was done.  Or so I thought.

I couldn't believe how much of a better runner I was *grin*.  I took off 6 minutes on my 5km.  The 10km I was running was now 12km and so on ... How wonderful to think that I was actually doing MORE than I thought ... it was obvious that the IPhone app was a joke.

Beh.  Here's the thing ... when it seems too good to be true - it probably is *wink*.

So after posting a pic of my latest run and it's stats, a friend of mine commented asked if I had calibrated my chip. 

Cali-what?

I read the article she had posted ... she said how much she knew I loved accuracy *boy, does she know me well* - and thought that I would want to make sure the chip was doing what it was supposed to.

Well.  That depends ... *grin*.  Is it gonna burst my bubble?  Ignorance is bliss, you know *wink*.  

I wasn't sure how to calibrate ... I've run a few times, tried to calibrate - only to realize that when they say, "how far did you actually run" and to enter the info in - I didn't know the answer.  I mean, that's why I HAVE the silly chip, no?  I want IT to tell me, not me to tell IT *rolling my eyes*.

Instead, I did my homework.  I went to google maps and went through all of my regular routes to see what their actual distances are.  And the short routes were almost exact, but the longer routes got more and more out-of-whack.

What does all this mean?

It means that I haven't run as far or as fast as I have thought.  It's frustrating - in the same way one would be frustrated if they thought they were only 2lbs from their goal weight, only to find that the scale was actually 7lbs off ... And honestly?  It's a bit embarrassing - because the exhilaration I was feeling - it was false.

So ... today I ran the google-maped route of 5km, ran it with the chip, calibrated - and now, hopefully, all of my runs will be accurate.

Beh.

A small glitch, but a glitch, none-the-less.

The truth is, when it said that I ran 5km in 25min last week - I was rather stunned.  Today - after calibrating - I ran 5km in 00:29:32.  And honestly?  All I have EVER really wanted was to do it in under 30min.  And I did.  So I need to be proud of myself for that ... taking off 5min from my 5km run over the last 4 months is a big accomplishment for me.  And I'm not done ... I can still try to increase my speed.

And the 17km that I ran?  Well ... I can't be 100% accurate on that, but I'm GUESSING it was closer to 15km, based on my google map measurements.  So.  15km.  Not too shabby ... and honestly?  I can do 17km next time, right?

We'll see *grin*.

So ... I learned a lot about fancy schmancy watches and chips and iPhone apps and reality.  I learned that I need to make sure I know what I'm doing, before I start - and especially if I'm going to share it with others.

And again ... if it sounds too good to be true, if it makes you so much better than you actually thought ... you should get a second opinion - unless you're like me and think living in a bubble is actually fun *grin*.

Tomorrow?  I'm heading to the seawall to run 10km with a friend ... the sun will be out, and I am so excited ... but nervous about running with someone.  She and I are both pretty competitive.   I think I might just not time this run - and let myself enjoy it, instead of attack it.  We'll see ... maybe not.  I'm much more of an "attack it" kinda person *wink* ... 

AND ... there's another post on my RedHanded Photography blog HERE ... a little preview ... 

Have a great one!