nothing

It’s about time for an update. I’ve been sporadically posting about my health and fitness. You can read details here:

Letting Go; Not Giving Up - http://runjenhrun.blogspot.com/2011/08/letting-go-not-giving-up.html

A Waiting Game - http://runjenhrun.blogspot.com/2011/08/waiting-game.html

Test Tomorrow - http://runjenhrun.blogspot.com/2011/09/test-tomorrow.html

But for those who want it in a nutshell…

I lost tons of weight training for half marathons and eating healthy. Then after about 2 years I stopped losing weight, even though I had about 25 to lose to be “fit” and 40 to lose to be “thin”. I starting seeing a nutritionist and still couldn’t lose the weight. Started different workout regimes and still couldn’t lose weight. So I decided to get blood work done. BOOM you’re all caught up.

After seeing specialists and getting multiple blood/urine tests, the results came back negative. On everything. Nothing is wrong with me.

Nothing.

The good news is…nothing is wrong with me.

The bad news is…nothing is wrong with me, so the lack of weight loss cannot be blamed on anything else but my own self.

That’s frustrating as hell.

Seriously.

It sucks.

So my plan A stopped working, plan B and C never really worked. Plan D fell through. I have no idea what else to do.

I refuse to believe that I’m going to be 25-35 lbs overweight for the rest of my life. How is that fair?

I’m thinking about yoga. Anyone have any good weight loss results with yoga? Anything I might be missing?

Not Quite Wordless Wednesday

All photos from my phone.

We are going to Arizona this weekend for the ASU homecoming game and what was SUPPOSED to be the Suns home opener.  Damn strike...

On our way to Germany for our honeymoon, we had a layover in Jersey.  Saw this store.  Thought it was hilarious.  Didn't know "America" has an exclamation point!

Winston's favorite spot.

Zona, a few weeks after we adopted her. She still doesn't understand the "No dogs in the kitchen while mom is cooking" concept... 

Currently on the "hopefully by summer" wish list...I want this camera so badly!

52WPC

I’m going to try something. I might fail epically at it, but it’s something I’ve wanted to try for a while. I’m going to try a 52 Week Photo Challenge. I feel like the word challenge is used very appropriately here, because this will be a challenge. Taking photos comes naturally to me. I take at least one photo every day. Maybe with my phone, point and shoot, or my DSLR, but I take photos all – the – time. This is going to be a challenge, because there are topics for each week. And I’d like to keep it creative and make myself take a new photo for each topic.  No cheating.  Can't use a photo I took in the past.  I didn’t want to wait for the New Year, so I have it starting the first week of November. I will post a photo by Saturday of each week both here and on Flickr.

I researched a bunch of challenges and found a few I liked. I combined their topics, deleted the ones I didn’t like, added a few I thought should be added and randomly sorted them and assigned a “due date”(with exception of: love, spring, summer, fall, and winter – those are strategically placed.)

If you’d like to join me, by all means, use the topics. If you do join me, let me know! I’d love to post a link to your blog so people can enjoy them too! http://runjenhrun.blogspot.com/p/52wpc.html

11/5 - Colorful
11/12 - Half
11/19 - Peaceful
11/26 - Relection
12/3 - Simple
12/10 - Rural
12/17 - Pink
12/24 - Alter Ego
12/31 - Joy
1/7 - Winter
1/14 - Person
1/21 - Purple
1/28 - Self
2/4 - Shoe
2/11 - Sign
2/18 - Shadow
2/25 - Down Low
3/3 - Curves
3/10 - Cloud
3/17 - Fly
3/24 - Spring
3/31 - Green
4/7 - Nature
4/14 - New
4/21 - Red
4/28 - Love
5/5 - Black
5/12 - Beauty
5/19 - Yellow
5/29 - Vibrant
6/2 - Urban
6/9 - Water
6/16 - Orange
6/23 - Surprise
6/30 - Tracks
7/7 - Technology
7/14 - Summer
7/21 - Small
7/28 - Old
8/4 - Happiness
8/11 - Book
8/18 - Blue
8/25 - Stile
9/1 - Health
9/8 - Macro
9/15 - Open
9/22 - White
9/29 - Game
10/6 - Sweet
10/13 - Fall
10/20 - Up High
10/27 - Texture 

So Not Ready

If you follow me on Twitter, then you know we recently adopted another dog.  We named her Zona.  She's a rottweiler that was formerly used as a breeder but will be living the rest of her days in our home as a member of our family!  She is such a sweetheart (honestly, she is one of the sweetest dogs I've ever come across).  In fact, if she wasn't such a docile sweetie, we would not have been able to keep her, because Winston (our other adopted dog of 5 years) is a little neurotic...he needs a sweet, submissive, calm dog to balance him out.  They really are a perfect pair.  She brings out a fun playful side of him that we don't see often (because he has a friend to play with) and he is helping to show her the ropes of being an indoor dog and member of a family! 

I bring up the fact that she's a sweetheart, because she's not the brightest crayon in the box.  Sweet - yes, smart - not so much.  That might sound mean, but it's kinda true.  If she were a person you'd say "It's a good thing you're pretty." ;)

She is just a reminder that we are so not ready to have human babies.  Not only are two large dogs (Zona is 60lbs and Winston is 75lbs) a lot of work, but she gets into everything.   

On Wednesday we caught her eating glass.  Yes, glass.  Not grass...GLASS!  We broke a bottle on our tile floor over the weekend.  When glass shatters it travels...far!  I thought I got it all after mopping and sweeping, but she managed to find a rather large piece and proceeded to chew on the piece until we took it from her.  Thankfully she didn't cut herself...but glass?  Really?

Thursday afternoon she walked through the screen door...twice.  The first time she ran straight into it after I opened the glass door (thank goodness she waited until I opened that one), then ran right through it.  The next time she poked her head through the bottom corner until the wheels came off the track then proceeded to walk through it until the entire door fell off...again.

Then later that night, she managed to get herself all tangled up in speaker wires.  I'm not even sure how she did that.  They are wrapped around the base of the speaker and tucked under the sofa so there are no lose wires.  I think she gets into things just to see if we'll notice.  

I'm pretty sure if I brought a kid into the ER for chewing glass, splitting his head open on a door, or strangling himself on wires I'd be taken out of the running for "mom of the year award".  So, for now, it's a pleasant reminder to enjoy this stage of our lives for at least a few more years, because I'm so not ready for the next stage.

Winston (left) and Zona (right)

Holiday Photos

It just wanted to make a quick post about holiday photos. If you are looking to get your family photos done in time for holiday or New Year’s cards…NOW is the time to do it! I have a few more weekends left open:

November 6, 11, or 12
December 10 or 11

I am based in Austin, Texas but have been known to travel a little for photo sessions! I am currently having a special on my rates:

Mini Lifestyle Session – $85
Ideal for individuals, head shots, and senior photos. Limited to 1 or 2 people.
Session includes:

• 30 minute session in a natural light location 
• Pre photo shoot consultation via phone, email, or in person 
• Hours of custom photo editing 
• A disc of all the edited photos with the digital rights to print

Full Lifestyle Session – $150
Ideal for families, couples, newborns, and children.
Session includes:

• 60 minute session in a natural light location 
• Pre photo shoot consultation via phone, email, or in person 
• Hours of custom photo editing 
• A disc of all the edited photos with the digital rights to print

Prices listed are for photo sessions in the Austin, Texas area. I am available for hire outside the Austin area; additional fees may apply for travel.

Contact me if you’re interested! jenniferstampsphotography [at] gmail [dot] com.

© Jennifer Stamps Photography

jenniferstampsphotography.com

Wordless Wednesday

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things I love: new lens

A few weeks ago I bought this bad boy; I'm in love with it.

My brand new Canon 50m F/1.4 lens! 

weekend in dallas

My husband and I went up to Dallas this past weekend for the Texas/Oklahoma games (yikes!). If you're a fan or even semi pay attention to college football, you know that it was bad, like really bad. Not much of a game, more like a punishment, but I digress... 

While we were there, we made plans to see our good friends and have a photo shoot. The original plan was to go to a pumpkin patch or park to take photos, but due to the insane amount of rain, our plans changed slightly.  We met up with my friend (her poor husband was sick, so he didn't join us), her son, and her mom for some fun indoor photos!

For more photos, visit the post on my portfolio.

© Jennifer Stamps Photography

jenniferstampsphotography.com

newport beach

For those who know me, know that I love to travel! This past weekend, my husband and I made a quick trip (and I mean seriously quick) to Los Angeles. I grew up in Southern California, so it’s always nice to go back. While we were there for the 2 days, we managed to make a pit stop at Newport Beach. Of course, I pulled out the camera. It was such a beautiful day. I think it was something like 80 or 85 which is perfect to me (still triple digits in Austin!). 

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View more photos from my LA trip: http://jenniferstampsphotography.com/2011/10/03/newport-beach/

© Jennifer Stamps Photography

jenniferstampsphotography.com