Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Not on The List....


        After a few months of contemplation I got my second tattoo on Friday! I wanted to get a bird to represent Matthew 6:25-26. I was looking online and found Artista Blog as well as this lovely little sketch. It was exactly what I had in mind! 

       I went to Cannibal Graphics and Curtis did an awesome job. It even hurt a lot less than my 1st tattoo. 

       I called my ultra-religious, conservative, anti-tattoo mom and let her and my dad know that I had gotten a tattoo and got the expected response. She heard the word "tattoo" and pretty much stopped listening, only expressing how she didn't get why I would want another one and questioning how many more I was going to get - This was the response I expected. Then I got a call from her today... and at the end of the conversation she brought up the tattoo. She wanted to make sure that I knew that she wasn't mad at me for getting the tattoo (I did), but that she just didn't understand tattoos. I was finally able to explain why I got the tattoo and to my surprise, she understood and liked the meaning behind it. Definitely didn't expect that. 

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

#8 - Wear a miniskirt/dress & feel fabulous in it!

          Like most women, there are things about my body that I am not fond of. I wouldn't call myself "fat", but my body type would definitely fall into the "curvy" category. My weight has always been an issue with me. I've been on countless fad diets: The Cabbage Soup Diet, Boiled Egg Diet, South Beach, Atkins. Open up my medicine drawer and there are almost-full bottles of diet pills, purchased in the hopes of a quick fix, but cast away after 2 or 3 days of using them. I could never get used to the jittery feeling or the guilt of taking the easy way out rather than doing what I knew would work: cutting back calories and exercise. 
         But here's the thing that frustrates me - I eat healthy. My meals consist of steamed veggies, grilled chicken or fish, and salads. I don't drink soft drinks - only 2% milk and water. I don't snack on junk food and never really have. I have had these eating habits my whole life and I don't see how I can eat less calories without just living on celery and water. 
         I have a pretty active job - I'm not sitting at a desk all day - so when I come home from working all day, the last thing I want to do is go work out. Plus I have a hard time motivating myself when I work out alone. In college it was easy to work out, there was a gym on campus and there was always someone around that would want to work out together. Now that I live with 2 roommate with different work schedules, it's harder to coordinate work outs. 
  I love fashion and shopping, but I am fed up with not being able to feel comfortable or look good in certain clothes. My legs are my biggest problem area and although I made a personal breakthrough this summer by wearing shorts in public (and not just around the house), I am still not to the point where I am willing to wear super cute short dresses and skirts. I am ready for a change.         
         I'm crossing my fingers... with this gym membership I just got, who knows, by Spring I might be posting a pic of me in a new mini dress... 

         

Saturday, October 18, 2008

#27 - Take a Picture a Day for 1 year.

Sad Day/Happy Day all rolled in one.

#27 on the List was to take one picture every day for 1 year. My thought process on this was to document different points of view I had for 1 year of my life. I also thought it would make a fun coffee table book by the year's end. 

Happy Day: I bought a new computer this weekend. (Background story - My laptop was stolen at a house party I hosted 2 years ago. For the past year I have been using my work laptop for personal use.) I was super excited & spent about 3 days uploading all my CDs. Then it was time to transfer all my photos. This is where the Sad Day comes in. For some reason (I think it was certain restrictions my employer put on the laptop), I was unable to copy all my photos from one laptop to the next. Then when I tried to just email them all to myself, none of the pics showed up. In the process of it all, the files had all been corrupted and I lost all my pics. :( 

I am going to start #27 over on my 25th birthday in December. I am actively going to search out photo opportunities rather than just using some random picture that I took at work during the day. I don't want to look back over the year and see 85 photos of roof shingles. My life is so much more than my job. So much more than climbing on roofs everyday. My photos will reflect that.