So. I'm sitting here with a delicious Diet Coke, updating you all on my blog. And I'm doing it from the beautiful Riu Cancun hotel.
I've never done the All-Inclusive thing before, and let me tell you... it's awesome. Awesome and wonderful, and awful. Margarita, Pina Colada, Blue Ocean, Stawberry Daquiri. Tequila, tequila, tequila. You guys, there is a liquor dispenser in our ROOM. A full bottle each of rum, whiskey, vodka and tequila. And a fridge full of mixers. Everything is included, 24 hours, and it's awesome. But I can tell you, there's no way I can "stop" this week. I'm fully planning to come back to Milwaukee with an extra five or ten pounds on me.
It's a good thing I have three different bathing suits with me. I have my "fat girl" bathing suit... the one that'll basically fall off of me if I were to go down a water slide or something... the bathing suit my Mom lent me which is a vintagey kind of halter/marilyn type of suit, and my "hot" suit I just got a few months ago.
Somehow, I'm wearing the white size 12's I bought from Old Navy. They were too tight for me a few weeks ago and they're fitting today, so I don't know what that's all about. I feel like I've been drinking SO MUCH SUGAR.
Anyhoo! I'm here through the 20th, so I just thought I'd throw you guys an update about that. I thought you might want to know why you might not be hearing from me for over a week. Then I realized that happens even when I'm NOT in Cancun. I do apologize again for the lack of updates and posts. Things have been mad crazy with the studio and lots of shoots.
Speaking of, here's the latest one. I did a promotional shoot for some fellow photographers. For me, that's one of the greatest compliments I can get. If another photographer wants me to do their promo images... that's rad!
I'm sorry I haven't been able to update y'all since TMI Thursday. Vacation'll do that to ya.
I wanted to share some photos with you guys from the trip so far! I'll start with this one... since some of you noticed on Thursday that yes, my boyfriend's name is Dan, and my brother's name is Daniel. Here's a photo of them together (boyfriend on the left, brother on the right):
Denver got about 2 feet of snow in the Metro area, and the mountains got almost 4 feet! Here are some promised snow photos:
Dan caught this huge ladybug attacking my head while I was reading:
I love my brother, even though he tries to ruin every photo by being inappropriate:
I was lame and didn't play cards at my friend Wes' housewarming party last night, but I took some pictures of everyone else!
Diet-wise, I'm doing okay. We went out for Mongolian, and it was awesome! Of course fish, shrimp, veggies, tofu... all good for you. What's in the peanut sauce and thai sauce, I don't even want to know. Sugar, sugar, sugar.
Oh. OH. I have to share this video with you guys. This was Thursday night, and we were playing Spades at my brother's condo. (Favorite card game, ever!) -- The guy on the left is my brother's best friend Nich. My brother is on the right, and the guy in the middle is Dan (my boyfriend.) My brother and his friend Nich did a handshake without practicing and they freaked out, apparently thinking they read each other's minds. They then told me they wanted to do it over and over, 'cause it was the coolest thing ever. I don't know about that, but I know my brother's hyper laugh makes me laugh every time!
So, the other thing I meant to blog about was Paranormal Activity! If you don't want spoilers, then you should just skip this part, 'cause I'm gonna talk about it.
I thought the movie was pretty sweet. I personally have a fixation/obsession/love for all things paranormal. I love watching the shows or hearing stories from folks who have had, or think they've had encounters with some kind of ghost or spirit or something. So this movie was a naturally good choice for me. Dan tricked me and told me that this movie was supposedly made up of real footage. That definitely gave me a better "in" to the movie because, though I was a bit skeptical, I kinda-sorta thought it was real. I guess that's why people compare it to the Blair Witch project. (I haven't seen that one, but I suppose I need to now.)
I loved the voyeuristic aspect of the movie. Some people thought it was kind of slow, but I didn't. I liked it, and every single time they went to the night footage, I was on the edge of my seat, looking all around the room trying to see shadows move or something. I wanted to see things happen.
When things started to get really weird, I was definitely shocked. (ie: the sheet being puffed up over her body, when she'd stand up and stare at the bed for a few hours straight, etc) -- During those parts I was mouthing over and over to myself, "What the fuck! What the fuck!" It was just WEIRD and crazy.
I totally enjoyed the whole movie, except for the ending. (Isn't the ending ALWAYS what we have problems with?) I thought it was totally cheesy, particularly when she looked up into the camera at the end. And her whereabouts are unknown? Lame. I saw the alternate ending on YouTube, and it was a little better, and I felt it fit with the rest of the movie more, but it was also lame. I think they should have extended the last scene out longer with more of an off-camera struggle. I think they could have had something better. They both should have died. Dan said the house should have burned down, but the problem with that idea is that the footage wouldn't have survived.
So! I'm curious to know all y'all's thoughts on it. It's actually one I'd watch again... but I think the thrill would be gone, knowing what all happens. What did YOU guys think of it? Any other scary movies you'd recommend?
It's definitely a new thing for me. But it means saying "no" to my Mom's pasta, even though she made it and hoped I'd have some.
It means eating dinner before going to a Birthday party last night, and just drinking a TON of water so I wouldnt' snack on all the amazing looking goodies there.
I'm down to 193.6 as of this morning! FLIBBERDEEJIBBIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Guys, that marks over 30 pounds since December, and 20 of those pounds since July 8th!!! YEAH!!
And I get one of these bad boys, which I love getting SO much... (thank you Scale Junkie!)
On another note... it's my 27th birthday, and I'm very much looking forward to spending the day with friends and family, and having a fun evening with everyone tonight. Plus, I might go see Sinbad at Comedy Works (he's one of my very favorite live comedians!)
I thought I'd share some photos to let y'all know what I've been up to in Grand Junction! I'm visiting my awesome Aunt and Uncle, and my Cousin and his wife! :)~
The whole crew:
Me, my Aunt and Kiesha:
Me with my Aunt and Uncle:
Sugar free popsicles are my favorite!
But they do funny things to my BRAIN!.....
Auntie, Me, Travis and Rach:
We're a couple-a goofballs:
I'm a wild and crazy gal...
So yeah, I don't have anything really important to say but share some photos with y'all.
I'm covered in bug bites. I have no idea where I was around a ton of mosquitos or red ants or biting microscopic midgets, but I'm covered in miserable, itchy bites. It's worse than when I went camping, you guys. I don't know how this happened.
I'm going to have to go get a giant bottle of clear nail polish. (the "venom" in mosquito bites itches because it interacts with oxygen, so if you seal off the bite with clear nail polish, it won't itch anymore.)
On a side note, I'm down to 196.4 today. That means I've lost roughly 3 pounds over the last 10 days. That feels like a small loss to me, though 10 days is one week plus 3 days. So.. I don't know. I guess I'm just getting used to the faster weight loss and if it slows down I start to freak out. :/~
Oh! And being down to 196.4 means that I only have 5.4 pounds left to lose until I'm no longer OBESE, but am only "OVERWEIGHT." (I'm 5'7")
I'm heading to Grand Junction in a few hours to see my Aunt and Uncle until Friday. They do have internet access, but I'm not sure how much I'll be blogging. It's a very "back to nature" type of retreat for me, so you might not hear from me for a few days unless something happens and I NEED to tell you all. My Uncle is a crazy good cook though, so that might happen. He's told me he will be working up a great low fat fish dish for me, so I hope he does that and does NOT make his famous crepes or anything else like that.
How do you like my flying shirt? I like to wear this to the airport. I am not sure if they like it or not, but I've yet to have anyone ask me to turn it inside out. Tee-hee!
Some people have asked me what it means. Well, there are lots of people who throw great big huge hissy fits when professional photographers want to photograph places like, oh, say... train stations or amusement parks. There are whacked out security guards who will try to demand that you hand over your film, memory cards, or even your camera (which is all illegal, and they can kiss my ever round ass.) -- So this shirt is my way of reminding folks that photography is art. It's expression. Are you gonna run up to a sketch artist drawing a beautiful rendition of Grand Central Station and demand his pad and pencil? I doubt it. Buttholes.
I'm currently at the airport in Milwaukee, waiting to hop on a plane to the Mile High City (Denver.) -- I'll be home for 9 days, and it's the first time I felt like the trip home is coming a little sooner than I want it to. With us just having moved into our new place and so much to do at my studio, I feel like I'm skipping out on a bunch of work that I need to get done. But, it'll be awesome to see friends and family. And I brought along my Zumba DVD's, so I'm going to make my Mom do some with me! :)~
I had not one, but TWO pieces of it last night. I'm in Denver for my Dad's birthday, and I tried to do the respectable, small sliver of cake last night. Nope. Had two of 'em.
At least I made my delicious veggie lasagna with my Mom last night. Well, half veggie for my brother and I, and half sausage slab for my Parents. With some garlic infused bread, it was yummo. I'm glad I only had a big salad for lunch yesterday. Did I eat breakfast? Nope.
So! Vacation really does tend to mess with my eating. Oh, and Fat Bridesmaid has complained that she hasn't been at the gym in 3 days. Yeah, I travel so much that it happens to me ALL the time. I seriously stop working out all the time. Then I go back to Zumba-ing and it kicks my ass.
I can say one thing for sure though. I LOVE my parent's scale. It's at LEAST 5 lbs lighter than mine, I think. I haven't weighed myself nekkid in several days. I'll probably end up doing that when I get home.
I also need to do some seriously LIGHT eating toward the end of my vacation. I'm planning on going RAW again, hopefully Saturday through Monday. I'd love to lose another 2-3 lbs by the time I get home, but we'll see if I can do it. I certainly don't think I can fast while on vacation (I don't have that much willpower.) And I also don't know if I can go Diet Coke free again while on vacation.
Why is it that "VACATION" makes everything seem so much harder? I have no idea. It just instantly makes me feel like... LAZY CELEBRATION GIRL.
Oh yeah. I don't understand how my friend Jesse survives on 5 hours of sleep a night. I got 4 or 5 hours last night because I stayed up late reading my Mom's old writings from her 20's (Umm, have I mentioned she's a ridiculously talented, inspiring, amazing writer?), and I got woken up at about 8am by all these contractors coming over to my parent's house to work on the backyard (new back porch, etc.) I'm SO grumpy right now, pouring coffee down my gullet, and I can't imagine going on this little sleep every night. I'm seriously an 8-10-12 hours of sleep kind of girl. I don't know how I'll ever have kids.
How much sleep do YOU get a night? How much do you need? Are you a waking zombie? I feel like one right now.
I need to go have another cup of coffee and some watermelon. :)
So, today I took a trolley tour of San Diego, which is the best value ever - you can stop and get off the trolley at various places and then come back and catch the next one on the half hour to continue the tour.
I focused a lot on my film photography today so I don't have a whole lot of digital images to share, but I took a few. :)
I just woke up and I'm gonna get ready to leave pretty quickly here. I am excited for the day, I've decided to take the Old Town Trolley Tour, and get off around the museums and visit the Museum of Photographic Arts!
I'm sure there is no photography allowed in there, but I'll post some photos of the outside and any other cool things I see on the tour tonight.
In the mean time, a few more pics of me by Dan (Pixel Perfect):
Today I walked around for about 2.5 hours. I'm considering that exercise, people!
I walked down to a place called Nelson's Camera Supply and bought a battery for my Mamiya and eight rolls of film. I successfully loaded my first b/w roll and snapped a few off of my balcony today. I'm really, really, really excited to be shooting film again, and the fact that it's medium format makes me want to pee a little with happiness.
Here are two more shots of me from other photographers yesterday:
