Where Has the Time Gone?

I have to admit, I completely forgot that this blog existed.
Completely. Forgot.

It's amazing what a year will do, and how much one changes. Since my last post in August of 2012, I have completely transformed my life. I started running, got fit, gained a voice, and got a kick-ass new job. I finally got back to my second home, the Coliseum. The A's kicked ass this year and I reunited with some super awesome friends.

Cooper is 2.5 years old, although he has the mind of a 6 year old and the sass of a teenager. He is such a smart, joyful little man and I feel lucky every time I look at him.

I can't wait to get back to writing and sharing my bizarre life with you all again.

Al

First Words

I cuss a lot. I mean, seriously, a lot. I have the mouth of a drunk sailor and don't even realize how foul my mouth is sometimes. 

This presents a problem when your child is spitting out a new word every day. Our new words this last week have been "poo poo", "keyboard", "Batman", "chicken", "kitty", "robot", "belly" and a few more. I would like to make sure he doesn't add "fuck" or "shit" to his vocabulary. 

So, I'm starting a cuss jar. A good, old fashioned cuss jar. Every time I cuss in front of Cooper, I am going to put a dollar into the cuss jar and at the end of every month, it goes to Grandpa Joe to put into Coop's college fund. I have self control, but sometimes just forget that Cooper is a baby. Sometimes he just seems like a little buddy, and I have to remember that 1) he's my child   2) I need to cool it.

I'm curious to see how much money is in the cuss jar by Friday (It's Saturday).

Time to Upgrade

A lot has happened since I last blogged. Cooper turned one. Shoot, now he's almost 18 months. I still can barely believe he's walking and he's starting to spit out new words every day. After 4.5 years of misery, I finally left the boat yard and found a new job, with a great (and fun) company. I was excited when I started, but now I realize it's pretty much the perfect job for me. I am not only learning a lot about the industry, I am able to use all of the skills I've been collecting to make things more efficient in the business and it feels damn good. And I get to take photos of our jobs sites, which is effing awesome. I finally got a bike. When I'm not in a ton of pain, I try to get out and ride a loop out on Bay Farm Island. It feels so good and I get to listen to my new music during this time. I'm seriously looking for riding buddies and am having a hard time finding them. I lost 22 lbs! The Paleo diet works, and now that I've lost the weight, I'm back to eating whatever I want, in moderation, of course. I'm at pre-pregnancy weight and it's staying off (give or take a pound or two that fluctuates back and forth)!

And now, I am enjoying the little bit of Summer that I have free. I just finished another Summer semester yesterday and have a little free time, about a month of no homework or lectures. I'd like to say that I'm going to be doing a lot during this time, but honesty, I'm probably going to sit on my ass. I have been in a lot of pain patly and haven't been feeling like doing much when I have free time. I am going to try to get a couple hikes in, a baseball game or two (GO A's!) and spend some more time with Bucko. My poor dog has been completely neglected since I found out we were breeding. Bucko has been utterly amazing and patient, and we are lucky to have such a sweet doggie.

The awesome thing about having photography be a part of my job is that I get to use my camera more and practice shooting. It's actually motivating me to shoot on my free time. I got a few shots in this weekend of my Dad's house, and I was really excited about editing them. I know they're just house shots, but I am really stoked about them. More HERE

I have decided to upgrade to a full-frame camera soon. It's an exciting thing, even if it's a little scary to spend so much on something. I feel like an idiot spending over $3,000 on a camera body (thats not including lenses, people), but I am trying to justify it as well. My current camera has paid for itself with the jobs I've gotten with it and if I actually put more effort into booking shoots, I can pay off the new camera quickly. And dammit, I'm good. I enjoy taking photos and it's the only hobby that I've actually stuck with, for years and years. I have to remember to allow myself to buy things that make me happy, if it's something that I will actually use. Isn't it beautiful? It's really a dream, and it feels good to finally have gotten to a place where I can afford to buy myself something so amazing.

Alright. Time for bed. Hopefully I will dream about the Nikon D800.

Face-lift.

After ten hours at work and two in the books, I am amazed that I am up this late. I gave this blog it's much needed face-lift and have just enough energy left to put on my pajamas.

With my current Summer inter-session ending in 5 days, I am looking forward to the time I will have to write more. It's amazing how little time I have, and I wish so badly that I had more time to enjoy things I used to enjoy. I miss photo walks, editing photos (that aren't work related), reading, cross stitching and crocheting, and blogging. Hopefully I will find a way to balance it all out soon enough. I started a new job last month (which I will touch upon when I am not falling asleep. This is a big deal.) and am finally starting to catch up. Hopefully, that will mean less time in the office and more time at home doing things I love. Eventually I would like to work four days a week. We'll see how that goes.

Tomorrow we leave for Cloverdale to visit my Dad and Step-mom.


Pictures to follow!

I found it! I found it!

After an involuntary hiatus, I am back. When I set this blog up I had the password auto-stored in my computer and never had to sign in.

Without thinking, I accidentally cleared all of the browser history and cookies and stored passwords. Needless to say, I was no longer signed in. This creates a problem when you've never written down your username and password. After a couple months of searching for the login email address, I found it. And here I am, ready to write and share my most interesting encounters.

But first, I think this blog needs a face-lift. The dark red is a little depressing, don't you think?

I will work on that tomorrow.

It's good to be back.

Motivation

I feel like I'm not very motivated to do anything that I used to love doing. I don't feel like doing my favorite crafts, it's too cold to exercise outdoors, I don't have any desire to edit photos...

I'm exhausted by the end of the day and feel like sitting on my ass with a fresh bottle of wine. But that's probably because between working full time, going to school, being a mommy of an 8 month old who is crawling everywhere and being totally sleep deprived, I'm fucking frazzled. Not just frazzled, FUCKING FRAZZLED.

On top of being fucking frazzled, I'm not a self-motivator. Especially when my plate is this full. I have to do group exercise at the gym or work out with a buddy if I'm going to work out at all. Even group exercise is not enough motivation for me these days. I love spin. I'm finally allowed to spin now after my foot surgery. Have I gone lately? Nope. I keep telling myself I'm going to walk Alameda beach both ways. Have I? Nope. I keep planning on buying canvas to paint, going to the antique fair to buy goods and start my online business, and making an effort to update my blog more. Nope, nope and nope.

So? I am now looking for fellow lazy-asses. Let's motivate each other. Come on, let's go walk Alameda beach this weekend. Ready?

I'm serious.

Confessions of a Picky Eater

I'm a picky eater.

I feel like there should be a support group for this syndrome.

It's not like picky eaters choose to be picky. In fact, I'm ashamed of it. It's not easy going somewhere when someone has cooked you a meal and picking out the mushrooms you can't stomach or the raw tomatoes that your host took the time to cut up all pretty. It's either pick them out or gag in front of the cook, risking insulting them even further. It's also not easy to go out to dinner and only have one thing on the menu sound remotely appetizing to you. I don't need all that extra hoopla on my food. I don't need a prosciutto reduction or a shaved fennel garnish nestled in a wasabi aioli that touches my already over-seasoned main course. I love the Bay Area and the East Bay has a wonderful selection of delicious restaurants that could give a foodie wet dreams.

But sometimes simple is good. Some of us are comfortable with simple. My Step-Mother is one of THEE very best cooks I know and everything she makes has very basic, whole ingredients. Asparagus soup. Crab salad in endive cups. Parmasean stuffed zucchini. Everything she makes has simple ingredients that I have 1) heard of 2) can pronounce.

Recently I have even been dipping my toes into uncharted food territory, stepping outside my comfort zone to try new things. But what the hell is wrong with good-old-fashioned salt and pepper? The pickiness started when I was a kid. My family is from the Mid-West are a meat and potatoes kinda family. Super simple meals adorn the table every night. Green beans. Mashed potatoes. Pork chops from the grill. Corn. Mac and Cheese. An occasional pizza casserole. But you get the idea.

On top of that simple food background, I had a very scary food allergy experience a few years back. I ate a meal I used to frequently consume (a burrito from my favorite joint) and broke out in very scary NFL-regulation-football-sized hives that covered my body from head to toe. To this day, I still don't know what caused it or what sort of cross-contamination occurred when preparing my super simple burrito that landed me in the emergency room. I am severely allergic to kiwi and borderline allergic to mango and pineapple. If I ask you what is in your salad dressing or marinade, it's not personal. I'm not testing your culinary abilities and I'm sure what you've prepared is amazing. I'm just a paranoid-ass (borderline OCD) girl who had a few bad food experiences and would rather watch her son graduate than die of anaphylaxis. Is that unreasonable? I don't think so. To me, it's realistic.

So between the legit food allergy scares and the uncontrollable gag reflex, I am a self-admitted hot mess when it comes to food options.

Forgive me. I assure you, I have many other fine qualities that will make up for this unfortunate quality of mine.