I realize the blog has been a bit slow lately, and I’m sad to say it will continue to be slow for awhile longer.  I’m not one for sharing too much personal stuff, but figured I’d start here:

About 2 and a half weeks ago I had pretty major surgery.  It was something I had been planning for a long time….like 8 months.  Being the short 5 foot none that I am, I was always having really bad back pain especially when I had a wedding or portrait session.  So after years of talking about it, I finally took the plunge and opted for a breast reduction.  I had to wait 8 months until my schedule was clear and I had 6 weeks to recover.  It pained me to turn down wedding inquiries and other business during this 6 week period.    But the plan is to heal properly and then all my work should be much more enjoyable!

It’s amazing because during a time like this in my life, I really discovered who my true friends are and who I can count on.  I had the surgery over in Jacksonville and stayed with my mom for a week and my best buddy came over to check on me and called a bunch.  A couple friends even texted me at 6:30am as I was waiting to get wheeled back for surgery – Ryan was with me and helped me text them back.    It was a really scary time, but I knew the end result would be for the best.  The first week actually wasn’t that bad – I couldn’t move like I was used to, but with a husband and mom like I have, my every need was covered.  Ryan went out and acted like my personal shopper – he bought me a bunch of new clothes (including a pink polka dotted Juicy Couture tracksuit that I’ve been LIVING in!), any medical stuff I needed, and possibly the most exciting thing ever….the ENTIRE series of Ally McBeal on DVD!

I’ve been searching for it for years but they only had like 4 episodes available for $30, or the entire series for $400 from some sketchy store on Amazon.  But he found it at Target!  I guess someone finally realized this was a serious oversight and now it’s readily available.  I’ve been watching the whole thing from the beginning and enjoying every second!  (it’s taking me back to my freshman year at UCF which is when I first started watching the show)  There’s actually quite a few episodes I’ve never even seen!  And they have the best guest stars….Lucy Liu, Portia de Rossi (who join the cast permanently), Jon Bon Jovi, Hayden Panettiere, John Ritter, Taye Diggs, Anne Heche, Bruce Willis….and my favorite, Robert Downey Jr.  **sigh**

Another lovely item that I’ve been enjoying is this little jar:

I first had Nutella in Italy 8 years ago, and now that it’s gracing American grocery aisles I had to buy a jar!  It goes perfectly on some cinnamon raisin toast.  And in case you’re wondering, it’s way more like chocolate than hazelnut….

A big thank you to my patient clients through this process.  I got almost all of my wedding albums finished and delivered from spring which was a HUGE relief!  And for those of you still waiting on stuff, I’m slowly working on it.    I’ve got a busy social calendar coming up, between 2 weddings of close friends, Ryan running a half marathon at Disney, my mom’s 60th birthday, Ryan’s birthday….I better rest up!

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I realize it’s not Thursday, but I wanted to wait until today to write this post!  I embarked on a rather crazy journey this week – if we’re Facebook friends you probably already know what I’m talking about – and there was a lot of interest on Facebook so I figured I’d write a more detailed story here for those who were interested.  Sorry if this is just mindless babble to the rest of you!

After a few weeks of not feeling so great, I decided I wanted to do something kind of drastic to kickstart a journey to better health.  I honestly don’t know where the idea to do a juice detox came from, but I mentioned it on Facebook and a lot of people jumped in with their insight.  So I bought a book, a juicer from Craigslist and a lot of vegetables (all in one day) and got started on Tuesday!  I’ll give a brief description of each day – if you have more questions feel free to leave a comment and I’ll answer them.  But for now I’ll try to keep it brief.

MONDAY – I bought a great book called “Juicing, Fasting & Detoxing for Life” by Cherie Calbom.  I quickly decided I wanted to try a 3 day juice fast and grocery shopped according to the recipes she had for such a program.  They included lots of cucumbers, celery, romaine lettuce, lemons, ginger root, green apple and carrots.

You have to ease yourself into a fast like this, so Monday I had butternut squash soup for lunch with raw carrots and celery, and then went to a Japanese hibachi grill with Ryan and had the salad, soup and veggies from the grill.  It was hard to resist the chicken and fried rice….soooo hard.  But I had to stay away from meat, so I didn’t have any.  I came home and tried the juicer for the first time and made a “midnight snack”, which wasn’t really like a snack at all.  I went ahead and prepped 2 more juice servings for my first two meals the next day.

TUESDAY – Let the juicing begin!  I quickly learned that despite liking carrots in whole form, I do NOT like carrot juice.  But that’s the main juice in almost each recipe so I had to get used to it.  I was supposed to have 6 different servings of juice each day but could only stomach about 3.  Plus the juicer is a huge mess and I didn’t feel like cleaning up after it twice a day.  Tuesday night I had to go to a training meeting with Ryan’s company for the graduations I’ll be shooting this spring.  It’s at the University Center Club at FSU and there’s always yummy appetizers to munch on, so I sat and drank some hot tea while everyone else ate the yummy stuff.  That was probably the hardest part for me.  I’m a foodie!!

WEDNESDAY – I was so done with juicing at home.  Which is sad since I had only done it twice!  So Ryan drove me out to New Leaf Market which is a fabulous place with lots of locally grown veggies and a great deli with lots of nutritious goodies.  I reallllly wanted some spinach lasagna!  But, they DO also have a juice bar so it was nice to talk to the girl there and get her opinion on a new combo.  I discovered the celery was really making things taste yucky, so she whipped up a concoction of carrot, beet, swiss chard and lemon.  I was able to drink almost the entire 16 oz. glass – not too bad!  Then I went to buy some new veggies and try some more recipes in the book.  I was amazed at how helpful and knowledgeable everyone at New Leaf was – they all juice at home so they knew what tasted good!  Strange as it sounds, my favorite combo of the week (which I made at home that night) was cucumber, green apple, fennel (has this light licorice taste, yum), ginger root and fresh mint!  My tastebuds were so relieved to have something decent.

On this day we also took the bikes out to St. Marks trail and rode 8 miles.  This wasn’t the brightest of ideas.  I couldn’t have made it much more than 8,  I started to feel a little faint at the end!  Before the ride I drank a pre-juiced bottle called Berry Veggie Machine (from the brand “Naked”) that I got at New Leaf.  It tasted great because it had a bit of fruit in there.  The book said berries were ok in moderation, but I was still a little nervous to eat them.  I quickly got over caring because it tasted great. 

THURSDAY – I woke up and hopped on the scale, and to my amazement I had lost 7 pounds!  In 3 days!!  That felt great and was just the push I needed to get me through the last day.  I had prepped 2 juices the night before and drank those for breakfast and a really late lunch.  Things were tasting a little better, but I avoided eating all together sometimes because I didn’t like the taste.  But surprisingly I never felt truly hungry.  It just goes to show what you can really survive on – I don’t think I can use the phrase “I’m starving” again!  I met my friend Jenn at Lake Ella and we walked our dogs for about 1.5 miles, then I came home, drank hot tea the rest of the night, and went to bed happy knowing I could eat something solid in the morning!

FRIDAY – I made it!  I woke up feeling more energized than normal, and headed straight to the kitchen for the half a green apple in the fridge.  I hadn’t CHEWED anything for 3 days!  You don’t realize how weird that is until you start chewing something after that time.  That apple was delicious, and I also just had a little bowl of butternut squash soup.  The other thing you forget to appreciate is having HOT food!  That hot soup tasted amazing!

RANDOM TIDBITS OF INFORMATION & “THE PLAN”

I thought I’d write out a few things I learned during the week.  A lot of them are things I read in my book:

~ During your normal day life (not when you’re doing a fast), you shouldn’t combine carbs and protein in the same meal.  Your body can’t digest them both properly at the same time which usually leaves you with a tummy ache.  Kind of squashes the typical “steak and potatoes” mentality that we have.

~ If you decide to fast for more than a day, you need to slowly ease in and out of it.  Don’t have a “last supper” and gorge yourself before you start a fast.  Same rules for coming out of it.  (that’s why today I’m eating raw veggies, fruit, and soup)

~ 50-60% of your diet should be “raw” vegetables.  This seems kind of hard to me, but I do like a lot of raw stuff already.  A salad is a great example, and add cucumber, tomato, carrot, beet, anything else you can think of.  But skip the cheese and croutons, and dress it in oil and vinegar.  I’m going to have a HARD time with this one.  I looove dressing and sauces in large quantities which has probably attributed to my bad health over the years.  But I love balsamic vinegar, so I think I’ll just mix that with extra virgin olive oil and I should be fine.  It won’t have all the goodies that a vinaigrette does, but I’ll survive.

~ Dairy is not good for you.  I’m going to struggle with this one too.  We’ve been told all our lives that milk and milk products are good and provide calcium.  But they also cause phlegm to build up in your system which is not good at all.  As I thought of all the wonderful dairy products I enjoy I kind of had a heartache at the thought of giving it up.  I don’t think I’ll be able to do it completely, but will work on MODERATION.

~ The theory behind a juice fast is that it allows your body to release toxins since it’s not working on digesting whole foods.  Your body stores toxins in fat cells to keep them away from your internal organs, hence all the fat that builds up.  So while you’re juicing your body has the chance to expel all the yucky stuff it’s been storing, but it releases itself in ways that aren’t so pleasant.  For me (sorry if this is gross), I got a few lovely zits, a horrible ulcer in my mouth, heacaches and a nasty backache.  But at least I knew my body was working hard for me.

~ Those toxins are also the cause of cellulite and this is supposed to be a great way to break it up.  I can honestly say I noticed a difference in the tone and feel of my legs during this week.  Between the biking and juicing I feel stronger and less lumpy!

~ Yesterday a few people mentioned that my senses might be heightened.  I’m glad I didn’t hear that at the beginning because I may have subconsciously tricked myself.  But I thought back to the last few days and I had several times where my sense of smell was just overpowering everything else.  We walked into a burrito place and I almost felt like I had EATEN a burrito even though I was just smelling it.  We also sat on a back porch last night at a favorite place and a cigar club was meeting and puffing away.  That was less fun than the burritos. 

So, I’m going to try to give myself a few rules to live by:

~ Stop combining carbs and animal protein at meals.  That means no more sandwiches, pasta with chicken, pork tenderloin on the grill with yellow rice, etc.  I’m going to make a list of good combos that I can do at home and at our favorite restaurants.  I don’t think I’ll feel deprived doing this, I just need to think ahead and choose two things I love to eat instead of the combination of 3.  I’m already plotting a trip to Hopkins Eatery for my favorite grilled portobello sandwich.  No animal protein in that!  (but that grilled portobello tastes like steak….yummo)

~ Limit my dairy intake

~ Eat a lot more raw veggies.  Salads, snacks, etc.  I looove grilled veggies too, but the nutrients start to cook out of them as they’re heated.  Oh well….I’ll still gonna eat a bunch of those too. 

~ Exercise!

Let me know if you have any questions and hopefully I can answer them!  This was definitely an adventure I’m glad that I took.  I’ve got a lot of great things going on this year and a healthy lifestyle and body needs to be among them.  How many of you are going to give juicing a try?  Good luck!

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I bet most of you remember when you got your very first bike, am I right?  I remember mine, it had little pink tassles on the handlebars and a cute bell that I rang everywhere I went.  Then as I grew I got a bigger bike, and somewhere between childhood and adulthood that bike got lost in the shuffle.  I eventually got a hand-me-down bike that my stepdad bought at a garage sale and put a big cushy seat on.  This however, did NOT make that bike comfortable to ride.

The other thing that changes from childhood to adulthood is the ability to eat whatever you want and stay a nice trim size.  AM I RIGHT??  I was always a swimmer when I was younger – I learned very early on that I didn’t like to be hot, and actually passed out from overheating a few times.  I’m a total wuss, especially when it comes to exercise.  So as an adult swimming is still fine, but it’s kind of an ordeal to pack your swim bag, go to the pool, do your workout, shower, change, deal with the wet suit and towel, and go get fast food for dinner because you feel silly going anywhere else with wet hair and smelling like you doused yourself in “Eau de Chlorine”.  It was easier when you were little – I’m so excited to have Rylie back on the local swim team this spring and she really seems to love it.

So my struggle lately was to find some form of exercise I enjoyed.  Walking/running is horrible for me.  I’ve got a long list of feet problems and was actually told by my podiatrist that walking should not be a main form of exercise.  So we bought a bike rack and took my garage sale bike down to St. Marks Trail a few weekends ago.  It felt great to glide along with the wind in my face keeping me nice and cool, and not hurting my feet at all!  But the problem was this bike was way too big for me.  If I had to stop abruptly I couldn’t just put my feet on the ground because the bar was too high.  Not very safe.  So we rode 8 miles and I knew it had potential, but I needed a new bike.

We explored several Wal-Marts and I would have gotten a particular bike if they’d had it in stock, but when does Wal-Mart ever have anything in stock that you need?  So just for kicks we went to a pro bike shop in town to get fitted and see what my options were.  Long story short (well, I guess it’s already a long story), I walked out with a gorgeous new bike last Saturday!  Ryan helped me buy it, he knew I wasn’t motivated to do any riding on the bike I currently had and wanted me to enjoy it.  I’ve been jokingly calling my new bike “The Midget” because it’s built for shorties in every way.  Not only is it short to the ground (the frame is an XS, which is cool that they come in sizes like that), but it’s short from the seat to the handlebars so I don’t have to lean way far forward.  Because people with short legs generally have a short torso!  Makes sense!  We went back to the trail and rode 10 miles and I felt great.  I wish my neighborhood was a little flatter, but it’s full of hills so I’ve gone out a few times this week and worked up a huge sweat going up and down all the streets.  So far I can only last about 4 miles of that craziness, but I’m hoping I’ll build up some endurance.

I might eventually post a picture of me on my actual bike, but I didn’t get that done this week.  But I still thought you’d like to see my beautiful new bike!  The salesman was really nice and made the comment that, “Most people get bikes as children on special occasions like their birthday or Christmas.  But it’s great when you’re adult and you’re buying one because you need it and it fits you perfectly.”  So here’s to feeling like a kid again this week!  I know I’m enjoying it!  Who wants to start a little bike club?  I think my friend Terri is already in, who else? 

It’s a Giant Sedona ST style

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