Amanda's Thoughts on the Gym...

a) Whoever said getting to the gym is half the battle, LIED. For me, it's more like 85% of the battle. Most times, after I get to the gym, I'm golden. However, I can think of about 56 things I need to do before going to gym, including, my favorite, sitting on my behind. So getting home and getting changed without getting distracted is a major hurdle for me.

2) If you have time to check your phone and text during workouts, you're not doing it right.

iii) If I take care of my body, amazingly enough, it stops craving junk food and only wants the good things. I just have to remember on my off days not to give in and stick with eating right. And by right, I don't mean no carbs or count calories. Well, I am aware of my calories, but I'm trying to eat real food. I am trying to limit my fried food intake to two meals a week, which seems like a lot, but is still a big cut back for me. If I buy prepared foods, I make sure I can recognize the first five ingredients. Seems like a simple rule, but you'd be surprised at how many foods this rules out.

It seems as if this week has been a good week so far, granted it's only Wednesday. Perhaps, it's the turning point. We'll see!

Quick Update...

I photographed a wedding last month. I was super stressed because I've been in 8 weddings, maybe 9...I lost count a couple of years ago...and I KNOW how important it is to catch those "little moments" that happen. I felt like I had to be "on" for almost 16 hours that day. It wasn't physically tough, but mentally, I was not tired but FATIGUED! So I've been trying to edit them and some of the shots didn't come out as great as I saw them in my head so I've been pretty bummed about it. Which makes me put off editing even LONGER. It's been over a month and I haven't sent the bride anything yet. If I was her, I would have emailed, called, texted, sent a carrier pigeon, started smoke signals...and that would just be the beginning, but I haven't heard a peep from her, which makes me procrastination even worse. The more I look at my pictures, the more dissatisfied I am with them and it just goes on.

BUT TODAY, I was at a golf tournament for work and decided to pull out my camera to try and snag some action shots. Well heck yeah, what do you know but I got some pretty stinking good ones! AND I'm supposed to drop them off tomorrow at the Apartment Association so they can go in their magazine! How exciting is that? So I guess it just goes to show, never give up because you never know when you turn the corner where your rainbow will be! (I hope that makes sense to you, it does to me.)

Monthly Update...

I feel like progress is coming in my life. Here's what happened in the past 30 or so days. I've lost 9 pounds as of today!!! Hooray!!! When the scale read the number this morning, I felt like jumping off of it, running through the apartment and screaming "What's up!" but I thought the neighbors might be a little frightened, so I just did a silent dance to celebrate. :)

I took a mental health day today and it worked wonders. I slept in, then went and ate the best shrimp on the earth (seriously, no joke, if you want to know where it is, let me know, but i would hate to publish it on the internet and then i can no longer get a table at my favorite place) and then sat at the beach. Literally, sat.at.the.beach all afternoon. I had planned to edit some pictures from a wedding I shot last month, but the sun was so bright that even in the shade I couldn't check out the right colors. So I piddled on facebook, caught up on some work, read a few magazines, played in the water, listened to some music, really, I just did whatever I felt like I needed to do at that moment. I was so happy this evening. It was the first time in a long time I haven't been so incredibly stressed out that I felt I couldn't control things. Now I am editing the pictures I had planned to do and then going to sleep shortly. Tomorrow's a new day and even though it involves work, I'm going to love it! :)