Weight loss update

During my hiatus, I've been sticking to my diet and exercise regimen faithfully. Unfortunately, shortly after my last post prior to said hiatus, my weight plateaued. Over a month later, I gradually packed on an extra seven pounds. I didn't know what was causing the weight gain at the time, but no matter how much I exercised and how careful I was with my diet, the scale wouldn't budge in the right direction.

I almost resigned myself, believing that maybe my body was meant to stay in the mid-140s range. Then one day, while I was perusing My Fitness Pal's forums (lurking as usual), I stumbled upon a few threads with members complaining about weight plateaus. Turns out that before mine started, I wasn't netting enough calories - well below my BMR. The Basal Metabolic Rate is the amount of calories you burn if you were to stay in bed all day. That number is the minimum amount of calories you must consume daily in order to survive, otherwise your body goes into "starvation mode" in order to preserve itself. That subsequently leads to the metabolism slowing, thus foiling one's attempt to lose weight.

Going back over a month's worth in entries, I realized that I've been netting less than 1,000 calories a day for, uh, quite a while actually. Oops.

After another month of packing on more calories and netting 1,500-1,800 calories per day (exercise included), I was delighted to see the numbers on my scale finally go down. Granted, the weight loss has been much slower this year compared to last (apparently it's supposed to be a bit more difficult to drop the pounds the thinner you get), but it's still pleasing to find my clothes fit looser these days. Not to mention that I've also been feeling stronger and more healthy. Huzzah!

Below are my measurements as well as my current weight:

5.1.12
Bust: 35" (lose 1")
Waist: 28" (lose 1.5")
Hips: 35.5" (reached goal)
Thigh: 20" (lose 1")
Arm Cir.: 11" (lose 1")

5.15.12
Bust: 35" (lose 1")
Waist: 27.75" (lose 1.25")
Hips: 35.5" (reached goal)
Thigh: 19.5" (lose .5")
Arm Cir.: 11" (lose 1")

9.23.12 (weight 131.8 lbs.)
Bust: 34.5" (lose .5")
Waist: 27" (lose 1")
Hips: 35.5" (reached goal)
Thigh: 19" (reached goal)
Arm Cir.: 10.5" (lose .5")
 

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Up for bids!

Hey guys, I'm currently selling my Tokina 28-105mm lens on Ebay, compatible with Canon EOS digital cameras. I've originally used it on my Canon Digital Kiss X/Rebel XTi/400D - first and only owner. If you guys can spare a minute, can you please pass on the link to others who may be lens shopping? There should be social media buttons at the bottom of this blog post for easy sharing. Thanks!
 

Click the image to view listing.

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Playing catch-up

Okay, I can explain my unannounced absence from the blogging world over the past several months.

SKYRIM.

Sorta. I didn't exactly spend every moment parked in front of the XBox playing the incredibly addicting game, but what time that could have been spent blogging was wasted on killing dragons and raiding dungeons. I started playing said game after Christmas, but it was only very brief (my first character was some Breton mage chick) as I had to hunker down and work on my dreaded taxes. It took me until about a week before the tax deadline that I finished and submitted all of my paperwork, leaving me free to pick up Skyrim once more. This time, I started anew with a female Khajiit warrior-thief (currently level 60). Then Dawnguard came out, followed by Hearthfire. I powered through the former about a week after downloading it and haven't really delved into the latter due to an annoying glitch with the Falkreath house. Oh well. There's still Assassin's Creed III to look forward to.

Skyrim aside, I was invited by the lovely Holly Foy of the band Callanish to sell my Ireland photography prints at the St. Patrick's Day festival. Spent the week prior running on very little sleep while printing out my photos, mounting and packaging them. My partner unfortunately wound up with the flu so I had to work my booth solo. Luckily, I managed to do fine that day. I even got to chat with some of the other wonderful vendors and musicians during downtime.

There's not much else in regards to shop-related news. I mostly worked my screen printing press, producing a variety of t-shirts and very gradually sketching out concept art of Bob Corgman's family. Sorry I haven't been putting out many new designs this year, as I've recently acquired a part-time temp job with the local university as a graphic designer. So far, I'm loving my new job as it's actually more relaxing compared to running an entire business by yourself. Plus, I like my co-workers. :)

Work-stuff aside, I've also been painting my formal living room a nice, pale shade of grey, with the accent wall, interior of front door and built-in shelving in charcoal grey. Most of the effort was concentrated on said built-in shelving as they required a variety of uncomfortable maneuvering to get at the nooks and crannies. I still also have to Mod Podge some asanoha-print paper over the switch plate and outlet covers, and more importantly, furnish the damn room.

For one of the guest bedrooms, I've been planning and bugeting to replace the old carpeting with North American cherry hardwood flooring. Since out-of-town guest visits are few and far in-between, I'll probably turn that room into my office/sewing room since I'm wary of the reliability of my art studio heaters during the harshest period of winter. Not very interesting to mention, but it's part of why I was busy. Even less interesting were the occasional days I spent curled up under the blankets with my laptop playing various shows on Hulu because I didn't feel like doing jack.

That's basically it so far. More posts to come. :)

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Uhh...I'm back.

And I brought cupcakes with me.

Pumpkin cupcakes.

With whipped cream and cinnamon on top.

Here's the link to the recipe. Ignore the Argo brand ingredients and use whatever ya got, of course. The only difference was that I replaced the vegetable oil with 1/2 stick of light butter and 1/2 a banana.

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New Photography Pieces

Much of yesterday and today's "downtime" were spent tinkering around with some older photos I took during my 2008 Ireland trip. Two are finished, not sure if I'm going to bother with the others.

If you notice in my shop, much of my pieces have a dreamy, washed out, lo-fi feel, so I'm trying to keep with the general theme. I don't own an iPhone, nor have I ever used Instagram - all of the effects you see below were made from scratch.

The Irish landscape images were altered using adjustment layers for contrast, saturation, vignetting, and curves. Extra layers were used for overlaying airbrushing (one layer per color), which were then blurred and set in varying modes to achieve the light leaks one would get from old Holga cameras. The black "viewfinder" frame in the first image was actually an original stock pic I took through my Kodak Duaflex II camera, layered over the image.

Thoughts? Critiques? I'll try to get them listed in my photography shop later tonight and will post the links here.

"Drifting Through the Haze"

"Road Tripping Across the Countryside"

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Post-Valentine's Day Post

Hope everyone's Valentine's Day went well. The SO and I agreed that we shouldn't be arsed with getting each other flowers, cards, etc. this time around, so we stayed in all day relaxing. We started the early afternoon (yes, we got to sleep in!) with breakfast in bed of bacon, eggs, and french toast with a bit of honey (my guy took his bread regular toasted).

For dinner, we whipped up some champ w/ sauteed onions and mushroom, and grilled big-ass slabs of steak.

Totally conquered, like a BAWSS.

For dessert, which happened a few hours later due to being too stuffed, I made chocolate-dipped strawberries. They didn't look as presentable as I'd hoped, but they still tasted groin-grabbingly good.

And to cap off the night after a nice massage, a glass of this:


One would think that after omnomming on so much calorie-laden food, an extra couple of pounds would be expected on the scale the following day, but...nope. Lost about .4 lbs and down to my lowest weight so far. :D Go me.

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I haz been featured!

Or rather, Mr. Llwynog, the fancy red fox has been. Many thanks to Rachel W.K.! Also, check out the fantastic prints made by talented Etsy artists.

Click the image to check out the "Foxy Love" blog entry by RWKrafts. To purchase the print, go here.

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Haven't done this in a while...

O look, I actually drew something that's not work-related. I rarely get to kick back with my sketchbook and draw for fun. Recently, I've been playing catch-up with orders and tons of messages that have been unfortunately neglected due to some bug I caught last week. Spent much of my time trying to keep warm either by curling up under tons of blankets or hobbling around the house layered in coats and sweaters like a hobo.

Many apologies to those who had their orders delayed. I did not wish to get my nasty germs all over your items. Hopefully in the future, illness will not rear its ugly head in my household often.

So yup, I was inspired to make a relatively quick/crappy sketch (shown below) after being amused by what the admin said (as quoted in said pic) in a comment on J'zargo's FB page.



Sorry if J'zargo looks wonky here, it's been years since I drew any anthropomorphic-related art. Hopefully the kitty-mage of awesomeness won't go all Palpatine on my arse.

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Kimono Photo Shoot!

Recently, I got my coveted shishi nagoya obi in the mail:

Awww yeeeah!

...and I took some time off to get dolled up in kimono and do a little photo shoot. I wore my red/cream yabane komon with my new obi, accessorized 'em with a navy/white han eri, pale green shibori obiage and dusty red/green obijime. I also wore my white zori with mustard yellow floral print hanao (thong straps of the zori sandals), but those aren't pictured due to the room wasn't big enough to get all of me in frame.

Also, I really need to buy more obi accessories and zori, because I'm severely lacking in those departments.


EDIT: It's been so long since I wore kimono that I forgot to keep the sleeve openings at the back, not leave them at the front. *headdesk* My bad. Will definitely keep that in mind next time.

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100th Fan Giveaway!

Okay, so my last giveaway with the Temple Bar print wasn't successful. Perhaps this Bob Corgman scarf will be more enticing:

You can win the scarf simply by doing this: "Like" my Yay for Fidget Art! FB page.

The 100th person to fan my page eez de winnar.

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