1/4

As I was working on my 365-photo project, I realized we are now roughly through the first 1/4 of this year. That just seems crazy to me. So, I thought it was a good time to benchmark myself and how I am doing in reaching my New Year's resolutions. Yeah, I know most of the time they are out the window by now, but I've done a pretty darn good job of keeping mine going.

Let's talk about this 365-day photography project that is kicking my rear. It has been so much harder for me than I really thought it would be. I have been in a major creative rut and really haven't had much desire to get out the big girl camera. So, it seems the majority of my recent pictures have been taken with my cell phone. Which, in a way, has been a huge lesson in forcing myself to work on composition. I can't do as much with the settings on my phone (however I did find an app that will let me focus and set exposure separately, pretty exciting stuff) so I attempt to do more creative composition. Notice I said attempt. Some days, its still 10:00pm when I realize I haven't taken a picture and I force my dogs to do something crazy and I take any old picture and call it a day. I am really hoping that now that the weather is getting nicer I will get out of the creative rut and take some nicer pictures. But, for now I am proud that I have taken a picture every single day and so I can call it a success so far.

The other goal I had for the year was the weight loss goal. Well, I can proudly say I have met this goal. I finished the 30 Day Shred and eased back into Insanity and it kicked my rear for 60 days. It was a fantastic workout but I can honestly say I am glad to be finished with it. It became really monotonous at the end and I was tired of doing to same moves day after day, 6 days a week. However it pushed me when I needed it and gave me results. I started running again this week and even pushing Mason in the jogging stroller I have a faster pace than I did this time last year running by myself. I restarted Couch 2 5k at week 4, but it was too easy so I jumped to week 5. I am hoping to finally be able to run a sub-30 minute 5k and run a solid 4 mile race July 4th. 

So, between all of my workouts and calorie reduction, I have managed to lose a total of 24 pounds since Thanksgiving. That's a few pounds over my original goal and I am completely stoked. The downside is, most of my clothes are now too big and my limited budget hasn't allowed me to buy much to replace them. But, I guess it is a good problem to have and I'll take it. BUT, the most aggravating thing I'm dealing with at this point is the bridesmaid dress I have to wear in June is still a pain in my side,  literally. It will zip but it is totally not pretty on top and I can barely breathe and its now 2 sizes bigger than what I wear in regular clothes. My stupid rib cage seems to be wider than most and makes wearing any dress with a zipper a huge problem. I usually avoid dresses for this reason, but this is not a dress I can avoid. Soooo, I have decided to keep going on the weight loss and go for a few more pounds. I have until the middle of May before I need to get my dress altered so hopefully I can look a little more presentable in it or throw in the towel and have it let out on top. I am really kind of over the whole serious calorie restriction, 6 days a week of working out mode I've been in the for the past 5 months, but then I remember how hard I've worked for that long and realize 1 more month isn't that huge of a deal. 

So, I think I can call the first quarter of the year successful as far as my resolutions go. My next challenges are to maintain the weight loss, maybe lose a few more pounds, and keep my motivation up to keep working on my 365 project. I think I can, I think I can needs to be my mantra for now.