Obsessiveness Ramble

Photo taken by me.

Last year, I went to yoga about 3-4 times a week and felt absolutely fantastic about myself. I never worried about what I ate (especially since yoga led me to make healthier choices) and if I wanted to eat pizza or chinese or something un-healthy, I wouldn't beat myself up over it. Well, my yoga membership started getting expensive so this past January I made the switch to a local gym in town. It worked out for me because I could work on my cardiovascular health and strength and if I wanted to go to a yoga class, the gym offered those. I've been going to the gym now about 3-4 times a week since January, practiced running and now I would call myself a {beginner} runner. I love the sport! And I feel like a bad ass when strength training. However, I don't feel as good about myself as I did when I was doing yoga. I started becoming very aware of what I put into my body and would feel guilty if John & I would choose pizza over chicken. I recently tried the Bikini Series challenge from the girls of "Tone It Up" and while it may work great for some people, it was not for me. I felt extremely guilty anytime I wouldn't eat what was a part of their nutrition ideas. I cut out toast & white or red potatoes from my idea and I miss my morning toast with peanut butter everyday. Why am I depriving myself of the things I love that aren't even bad for me? So not good. The other day, I thought to myself... I need to document my workouts in order to stay motivated and focused and I love exercise. I also enjoy documenting what I use to fuel my body as this also keeps me motivated. So instagram friends, if you're annoyed of my constant talk of health, I suggest you unfollow me. However, I will NOT deprive myself any longer of the foods I truly love and I will NOT feel guilty for eating pizza every once in a while. I can't believe that I wanted to cut out carbs from my diet like they were a bad thing. I need carbs if I want to be able to run the half marathon in September and it's not like they are making me "fat". I'm not obsessing anymore and I will enjoy my life instead. I will exercise regularly and fuel my body with nutritious (and delicious) foods and I will love myself! I like the mantra of eating great foods 90% of the time and eating not so great foods 10% of the time. I think it's a very realistic way to live healthily. So here's to living a healthy, happy life!

P.S. More fun photos coming soon. I'm starting a photography challenge soon.. more on that later.

What Life is Like Lately

Life continues to be all sorts of "blah" here in Northwestern Ontario.
The snow NEVER ends. I'm looking out my window right now and it's grey and there are no leaves on the trees.. I can't find my photography inspiration. I'm sure there are loads of things I could snap photos of but when you're feeling uninspired, I-Phone photos will have to do.

I'm going to be starting a new feature when the sun starts shining (and I'm feeling more ambitious) where I pick a theme for the week and then I snap photos... so one week could be "coffee" and the next week could be "grass", etc. Stay tuned for that!! Hopefully the sun comes out eventually.

On another note, the photos you see above consists my life lately.
I start everyday off eating some yummy breakfast. I usually eat a massive breakfast in the AM otherwise my whole day is thrown off. Cereal is just one item pictured. I've also been heading to the gym a lot lately and slowly getting back to where I was with running. I hurt my calves so I had to stop for a while but now I'm just taking it slow and I'm able to run 5k in 36 minutes which isn't so bad!

Until next time!

Marathons, Oscars & More

Okay guys, I know this is a photography blog but I've sucked at going out & taking pics lately. Everything is so dreary right now with all the snow and the slush that I just haven't been feeling very inspired. I promise I'll get back to it soon!

In the meantime, I didn't want to leave this little blog of mine full of crickets so I thought I'd talk about some of the things that have been making me excited lately!

First off, the Oscars are tonight and I'm beyond excited! Every year, John & I celebrate with food & contests & drinks! Tonight, we're going to our friends house to combine our traditions as a group! On a side note, I watch the E Red Carpet before every award show, and Jessica Chastain and Jennifer Lawrence look flawless! Not to mention, they starred in two of my favorite nominated movies (Zero Dark Thirty & Silver Linings Playbook-Both so good!)

Secondly, I wanted to talk a bit about the healthy side of my life. Last year, I went to yoga about 3-4 times a week for a year on average. I seriously fell in love with the activity and even considered training to become a yoga teacher. Unfortunately, the classes started to become costly not to mention my cardiovascular health was weakening, so I switched to a normal gym. I've been going since January and have enjoyed running & lifting weights. Something that tends to happen with me when it comes to the gym, is I lose my motivation quickly so I made a decision: to train to run a half marathon come this September. I'm going to run in a 5k first, then a 10k in May then train hard for the half marathon come this September. I'm super nervous but also very excited. Along with my photos, I'm going to post my progress here as well.. I hope you don't mind. It won't be lengthy but it'll just be little tidbits to keep myself motivated.

Photos coming soon, promise! Hope your weekend was great!