365 Photo Challenge: Days 12 - 15

Okay these pictures are definitely more interesting than the last lot. At least I think that they are. I did things during these days!

May 10, 2013 - Day 12



I went to a comedy show in Rimbey in support of Breast Cancer. The girl with me is my friend Crystal. She's pretty damned awesome and said I could put this pic up on my blog for my 365 photo project. It was a great show BTW. I laughed hard. 

May 11, 2013 - Day 13



I had such a hard time choosing a photo for this day! Crystal and I went for a drive through Jasper and came back to Red Deer via the David Thompson Highway. We saw sheep, deer and even a grizzly. We also stopped at the Athabasca Glacier in the Columbia Icefields. Crystal was tired so she had a nap as I hiked up to the glacier on my own. The wind was blowing hard from behind me, so don't mind the look on my face. I made it though. Go me! 

May 12, 2013 - Day 14



This was Mother's Day and I did call my mom. I also took a moment to visit the cemetery where my great grandmother is buried. I am proudly a second generation Canadian and my great grandparents came in 1927 with their young children in tow to try and make something of this dusty prairie land. It didn't exactly work out that way, but that is a story for another day.

May 13, 2013 - Day 15



The flowers are blooming! Looky at all the purty flowers!

365 Photos - Day 8 - 11

I'm quite proud of myself for staying on this this time. I might actually finish the challenge this time, but let's not get ahead of myself. Here is a few more pictures for you all. Nothing too interesting happened during these days, but not every day can be an exciting adventure!

May 6, 2013 - Day 8



Got a new haircut. Wasn't sure about the bangs, but I do like the short. Short is good. Short is nice. I can do short.

May 7, 2013 - Day 9



Bath day for my Navy baby. Despite being 6 years old and a show dog that has experienced many, many groomings in her life, she still acts as though it is the worst possible thing anyone could ever do to her. .

May 8, 2013 - Day 10



Okay, so the new cut wasn't as easy as I thought. Until I got the hang of it I spent every morning picture messaging my best friend so that she could tell me if I got my hair to look right. Very, very stressful. However, I am happy to report that I seem to have the hang of the haircut now. However, no matter what others say, I am never doing shorter bangs again. I just can't hack them.

May 9, 2013 - Day 11



This is my desk. This is what I look at every weekday for about 8 hours. Yeah, it's a little cluttered, but if I have to sit here everyday I want it to be *my* space. Heck, there are even things that you can't see in this picture. Like the photos and the vase of jellyballs (don't ask). And of course my phone, paper tray, printer and pencil holder.

365 Photos - Day 4 - 7

I'm still keeping up on the taking of pictures, just not so much on the shrinking and uploading of images! lol. Here we go, days 4 to 7

May 2, 2013 - Day 4



It was the first nice day of the year. The sun shining, the birds singing and so I went to have lunch in city hall park. As you can see the world is just starting to finally turn green.

May 3, 2013 - Day 5



This is my dog Naven. We went for a little jaunt in the dog park this evening. I love going to the dog park and just walking around for a bit in the late evening.

May 4, 2013 - Day 6



Shopping and drinking. That was what this day was all about. It was games night with the boys and I really shouldn't have started drinking before we started playing DrunkQuest (which is totally awesome).

May 5, 2013 - Day 7



It was really, really, really hot this day. I sort of just died on my bed and stared up at the ceiling fan so that is the picture that you get. My ceiling fan. Exciting isn't it. And you thought a picture a day would be boring.

The Shopping Cart

Perhaps you'll laugh, perhaps you'll agree or maybe you'll just think I'm slipping a little. Either way, this is my rant inspired by a shopping cart.

Yesterday I went to Wal*Mart to buy some hand wraps for boxing. I was parked two spots over from the cart return. Upon leaving the store with my small purchase (okay I ended up grabbing one or two other things in the process). In the time I had been in the store someone had parked beside me - only one spot over from the cart return.

As I got in and started my car I noticed a middle aged woman placing the few things that she had bought from her shopping cart into the car. I decided to just wait a bit before pulling out - not really sure why. I watched as she walked into the empty spot right beside the cart return and left her now empty shopping cart in the empty spot.

I wanted to scream. I'm not joking. I could feel my blood pressure rising and, not wanting to be known as the crazy cart lady, I pulled out and left without saying anything. I wanted to, oh how I wanted to. And what I wanted to say was this:

It's five extra steps to the cart return that you are abandoning your shopping cart next to. Why? Is it that you have so little respect for your surroundings, for the property of other people that you would rather just abandon your cart where it can get blown around by the wind and block a parking spot?

People wonder why kids seem to have so little respect for the world. It's those little things, those unthinking examples that people like you represent. Sure, it's just a cart in Wal*Mart parking lot - go ahead and think that if you want, but then you're still a part of the problem. It is the problem that it's better to take the easy route. It's easier to not think than be considerate.

I was raised that you put things back where they belong, that you clean up after yourself, that you do not litter because to do the opposite shows a lack of respect for the environment and for others. They are small, tiny little gestures, but they mean so much. And our children are watching us. Watching and learning how not show these little courtesies.

And we wonder why kids are the way they are. It's not the big solutions we need to start with. It's the little ones. Those gestures of respect and courtesy that should be an unthinking part of our lives, but these are things that seem to have been forgotten.

So tell me lady, where is your respect? Where is your courtesy? What sort of example are you really setting for everyone else out there, for those who look up to you. Think about it because it starts with the little things.

And the thing is, I really do believe this. It maybe rant-y, but it's those little things that I was raised to do and sometimes I screw up and forget, but it's amazing how big those little things can be.

Revive 365! - Day 1, 2, 3

So as promised I have been keeping up with the 365 and I hope I make it through the entire year this time as I won't really have time to fit it in before my time is up to complete this goal. I started on my birthday this year. So you get the miracle of my life between 32 and 33.

April 29, 2013 - Day 1



These are the gluten free cupcakes that my boss made for me for my birthday. We always do cakes and such to celebrate birthdays at work. This is what we had for mine and they were delicious.

April 30, 2013 - Day 2



And this was my cat in the morning who decided that sleeping in my ItWorks box was the best place to be. She looked really happy in it. Does any one know exactly what the deal is with cats and boxes?

May 1, 2013 - Day 3



And right after my birthday I ended up getting sick. So I stayed home from work this day and my cat stayed with me. Stretched out on my arm. The dog was there too, but she was closer by my feet and harder to take a picture of!

Run Girl, Run!

Just as a side note, I am still taking pictures for the 365 photo project, but I haven't had time to size them all down for posting (and I've been having some server issues where I store my images!)

Okay, got that out of the way. I've got a few real announcements to make.

For years I have contemplated joining the Canadian Armed Forces Reserves. In fact, I had a plan to join as soon as I finished paying off my debts. I figured that would give me enough time to get into a decent enough shape as well so I can pass the physical testing for joining. Well, I jumped the gun and sent in my application a late last week. It's quite the process, so I've got time to amp up my training so I can be ready.

So, I went for my first run today since the injury to my leg. I was surprised that my cardio was no where near as bad as I thought it was. While my time on my 2.5k run wasn't a good time (18:53) it wasn't horrible either. I kept my pace throughout the entire length and I know my lungs had the capacity to push harder even if I wasn't ready to push harder in the muscle department.

It felt good to run again and I can't want to get myself on a schedule and reach that running goal so I can pass my test. I have to get my time to under 14:55 to pass. That and the chest strength for push-ups are my weak areas. It's gonna be tough. I'm not going to lie to myself about this, but it'll be worth it.

Bare bones honest

I'm going to get very real with you all right now. Anybody who reads this blog on a semi-regular basis will know that I have put a considerable amount of time and effort into losing weight. In fact, I've lost over 50 lbs on my own now.

If you don't know about my journey then read the posts under the weight loss tag. It's all there.

Losing that much weight on your own is something that anyone can be proud of. Should be proud of. And I am. Except I had a moment today where my journey made me cry tears of sad instead of tears of happy.

I went shopping this afternoon. Now that nice weather has finally arrived to the prairies I have found myself with a very limited wardrobe. Nothing fits or or fits very loosely. So I tried a few things on.

It was awesome to try on smaller sizes, but even though the clothes fit properly they didn't look good on me. And finally I found myself just staring at my body in the full length mirror.

At that moment I didn't see how far I've come. All I saw was how much further I still had to go. I saw all the loose skin that made my body so ugly to me.

I didn't buy any of the pretty shirts. Not one. And when I was alone in my truck driving back home the tears came.

Yes, what I had seen had been depressing. And I was angry with myself for losing my perspective on things.

I'm fine now, but for that time I could have easily have thrown in the towel. I've had other, smaller moments where I could see how the moment could easily discourage someone. This was the first time I had actually felt discouraged.

I have to say I didn't care for the experience. However, it does serve one purpose. Now that I've been there I will be more aware of it next time. I will be prepared.