Crayola Photo Challenge- Mahogany

During my trip to NYC, I got the opportunity to spend time with my niece Lila. We had the day to explore, watch DVDs, play with toys and eat some food, while her sister Julia was at school. It was a really special day where we got to know one another and spend quality time together. I always love spending time with my nieces. They're so much fun and have the greatest personalities.

Lila recently got glasses and this girl rocks them so hardcore! When I saw the perfect mahogany frames, I knew I had my match!

From Crayola Photo Challenge- Mahogany

This sweet little smile only tells part of the story of Lila. She's such an unpredictable and funny girl who keeps you on your toes not knowing what she could possibly be up to next. She's sweet and cuddly yet completely hums to her own frequency and has her own plan for just about everything she does.

We had a wonderful, special and fun-filled day together and this picture captures just one of our more sweet moments. After each photo I took of Lila she immediately said "Can I see?" and then made sure I turned the camera over so she could inspect my work. What a difference from when I grew up!

Taken on May 17th, 2011 in Springfield, NJ at breakfast time!

More mahogany.

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Crayola Photo Challenge- Magenta

Me Mum is in town and we've been exploring here and there. During her annual Memorial Day (week long) trip we try and fit in an overnight. This time we stayed at a really beautiful hotel in Pasadena called the Langham Huntington. I highly recommend this place if you're looking for an overnight splurge in the lap of luxury. We felt super relaxed and as ABC said, "I like to live the high life. I could get used to this."

We stepped out of the lap of luxury yesterday to visit the Huntington Library (which includes an art gallery and botanical gardens). There were so many different colors of flowers to choose from. And while I don't want to do too many of the same subject (right Cyrena?), I couldn't resist these beautiful magenta roses.

From Crayola Photo Challenge- Magenta

Taken in the rose gardens of the Huntington Library on Monday, May 30th, in Pasadena, CA.

For more magenta that didn't quite make the cut, click here.

I plan on going back when I have more time to really explore all there is to see and photograph at the Huntington. I never have enough time and would love to have a day to lazily walk about and see what I can capture. As usual, we were running late, cut it way too close and only had about 50 minutes during this past visit to the Huntington. But all three of us (me, twin and mum) had our cameras out and tested all the different settings and features to see what we could do. We did a lot in 50 minutes!

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Crayola Photo Challenge- Lavender

From Crayola Photo Challenge- Lavender

I recently spent a week in my favorite city to hate, New York. I despite NYC for so many reasons, but I love it because it's where most of my family is. Including my beautiful nieces.

I wanted desperately to use this picture of my niece Julia, but when I put the color swatch up to it, the color fell a little short. But outta the corner of my eye I saw the placemat and there is my lavender!

This picture was taken a couple of weeks ago at Julia's dining room table in New Jersey. Right before I drove her to school while she enjoyed three different kinds of cereal for breakfast.

The lavender challenge was an interesting one. You'll see from some of the other pictures I took here, that I thought lavender was more purply than pinky.

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Crayola Photo Challenge- Jungle Green

Yesterday's trip to the farmer's market was a success as I finally captured a photograph worthy of Jungle Green. This photo was a little tricky to get. I tried trash cans, garbage trucks, Christmas lights, t-shirts, fences...but ultimately landed on this:

From Crayola Photo Challenge- Jungle Green

Taken at the Santa Monica Farmer's Market yesterday.

What I love about this photo so much is that it has three different colors of green competing for attention. And among them, the jungle green is so perfectly clear!

For more jungle green, click here.

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Crayola Colors- Green

Green took me from the Santa Monica Pier to the Santa Monica Farmer's Market and even to Grand Central Market in Downtown Los Angeles.

Even though I really wanted this photo to be the one, I ultimately landed on the one below for closest color match

From Crayola Photo Challenge- Green

Taken last Saturday on the Santa Monica Pier outside the Carousel Building.

For the rest of green, check them out here.

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Weight Watchers- 15 week update

Having been doing Weight Watchers for 15 weeks now, I am happy to share that I am 33.6lbs lighter than when I first started. And it continues to feel great.

The past week was a challenging one for me- and it showed up on the scale with a 1.6lb gain. After being sick for more than two weeks, and not eating much the week of 4/23/2011, I had a hard time recovering this past week. Kicked off by easter and then easter candy on sale and then still not feeling hot...all combined made it a challenging week where I wasn't making the smartest food choices. I gave into cravings, despite long conversations with myself about what I should vs. shouldn't eat, and dipped into most of my activity points.

This isn't how I want to be working the program. And it certainly is not how I'm going to get to my goal weight.

But, I'm looking at this in the big picture. And I'm really happy with the fact that I've lost as much weight as I have already. I'm impressed that I'm still going to spin class three times a week and doing weight training for an hour a week as well.

I've gotten a little lazy in the past few weeks on the food front and falling into some less than ideal patterns that I recognize I need to break. I need to get back to trying new recipes, cooking more at home, writing down my food as soon as I eat it and not going soft on the weekends by using it as an opportunity to eat all my anytime points and make up for it during the week.

I'm still going strong and I'm still moving full steam ahead. I'm grateful to be back to nearly 100% healthwise so that I have nothing getting in my own way and can just keep my eyes focused on the goal and keep moving toward it.

I understand that sometimes I will wander. And I have to be okay with that. When I looked at how I strayed last week, I had to remind myself that it was nothing compared to the kind of damage I'm used to doing. I'm sure I used to be able to gain 1.6lbs in a day without even trying. In fact, I could easily gain triple that in a week if I really did blow off any weight loss attempts. So while it's not ideal, it's another sign that I'm being present and aware and not ruining all my hard work.

Also...

I've gone down three pant sizes and I shopped for a dress (I think it's the first time I've bought a dress that I actually plan on wearing since Meghan's wedding in 2006) that I love!

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