KellyT

This is going to be a somewhat girly, somewhat private issue post so boys...consider yourselves warned.  LOL

I'm sure I've mentioned my god-awful monthly cycles more than once over here.  They're short, for starters (anywhere from 18-21 days), and they're horrible.  I have the worst PMS, and the cramps put me out of commission for at least a day or two even though I usually suffer from them for the better part of a week.

Every doctor I've ever seen has told me the same thing...there's nothing I can do except eat better and exercise.  I would always roll my eyes because that just wasn't happening (at the time), so I'd choke down the maximum amount of Advil I could take every three weeks.

Well, I finally had my annual checkup after three years of not seeing a doctor.  And I love this guy.  First, he's super sweet but also no nonsense about health.  He's the one who said I need to give him 30 minutes of cardio at least three times a week.  And you know what?  I have.  More on that later.

I was afraid to tell him about my ridiculous PMS and cycles because, well, he's a man...and he can't relate.  LOL  But you know what?  He absolutely listened and asked questions and responded with a real SOLUTION.  I think it's easier to talk to a male doctor than a female doctor who has never experienced any of my woes.  Not once did he act like he thought I was making things up or exaggerating things.  He was very sympathetic and wanted to help me not have to suffer every few weeks.  lol

So he suggested the NuvaRing.  I have not been on any kind of birth control probably since college because I cannot for the life of me remember to take a damn pill every single day.  lol  Plus I was worried about the side effects, etc. so I just gave up on it.  But my doctor thought the NuvaRing would be perfect for me and suggested I give it a try.  So I did.

And this last cycle is the first time in my life that I did not have to take any kind of pain reliever to make it through the day.  My cycles have stretched out to the "normal" 28 days, and I cannot begin to tell you what a relief it was to not want to crawl into bed and cry for a full day because I was so miserable.  I used to take 800mgs of Advil every 6 hours just to help me function.  That's how bad my cramps used to be.  Child birth was a walk in the park compared to what I have to deal with every month!  :D  I felt a little crampy for a day or so but it was fine.  And I didn't need to take anything to help with the pain.

Amazing.

I don't know if it's completely related to the NuvaRing, though.  I have started walking, so the exercise might be helping, too.  It certainly can't hurt, right?  :)  This is such a huge lifestyle change for me...I have never been active.  Never played sports, never worked out regularly, etc.  So this new routine has taken a lot of discipline on my part, but I'm so glad I'm sticking with it.  I feel better, and I think I've lost around 10lbs total.  I met my first weight loss goal of sorts, and now I'm just trying to get in shape.  I like Kevin Spacey's line from American Beauty:  "I want to look good naked!"  :D

I thought adding any kind of exercise routine would be harder than changing my diet.  I am a junk food addict, and I tend to snack throughout the day.  And eat the kids' leftovers.  LOL  But walking is my quiet time and I look forward to it.  Eating salads and skipping the chips and ice cream has been much tougher than I thought.  Especially with two kiddos...and it being summertime.  But I'm doing it.  And I feel so much better for it.

Anyway, I realize this is a random update.  :D  But not taking Advil during one of my cycles is just huge.  So I had to share.  :)

The changing seasons always activates that inner desire to purge things from my life.  I realize spring is almost over, but we've had some seriously crazy weather here in Atlanta the last month or two.  So my brain and body don't realize that summer is just a few weeks away.  LOL

I have accumulated so much clutter over the years.  I never really considered myself a pack rat, but after having kids I've gotten really, really lazy about getting rid of old clothes.  And, more importantly, old toys.  Our basement is full of Kieran's old toys because I just can't find the time to sit down there and sort them out.

But I got twitchy this past weekend, so I spent some time rearranging and cleaning out the basement.  Yes, I know this is quite shocking to those of you who know me.  Mostly because I hate going down in the basement since it's unfinished and inhabited by oodles of creepy crawlies.  :D

My other motivation to sort through the crap down there was to once again try to find my two missing strobes.  They are not at the studio, and I've contacted my location session clients who don't have them.  I knew they didn't but I had to ask.  I'm really upset about them missing, and I think it's mostly because there's a chance I put them somewhere and just can't remember.  Getting old sucks.  :(

My cleaning spree did not result in the finding of my strobes, but I did throw away two huge garbage bags full of toys.  LOL  And boy did it feel good!  I also decided to move all my business stuff down to the basement to get it out of the play room (which is actually our formal living room).  I thought the kids and I could peacefully co-exist in there, but they mess with my stuff, etc.  And having all my crap up there just encourages me to clutter up the dining room table.  So the shelves, packing materials, promo materials, etc. all went down to the dungeon. 

While down there I thought about setting up a shooting space for me.  I used to shoot down in the basement all the time.  But in order to do that I kind of need my lights.  So I'm back to square one yet again.  Meh.

There's still an entire room full of toys to sort through, but I'm finally finding the motivation to do it.  The kids can play upstairs unsupervised for some amount of time, so I might actually be able to get it done this time.  The clutter is seriously starting to drive me batty, and even though I don't have to look at it just knowing it's down there is enough to send me over the edge.  :D

Summer vacation officially started today, so (of course) Kieran woke up early this morning with a tummy bug.  He's thrown up a few times now, but he seems to be doing a little better.  My poor little guy.  :(

And Kaelin decided to totally wipe out in the foyer late yesterday.  I'm not sure how on earth she did it, but she went face first into a little table I have there...and she crashed into a few wrought-iron candlesticks I have.  She was so upset that SHE threw up.  It's how she reacts to any kind of injury.  Her left cheek is pretty bruised, but she actually held an ice pack on it so there's no swelling.  That right there is the clearest example I can provide that shows how different she is from her brother.  LOL  He would never let me put ice on any of his boo boos let alone actually hold it on there himself.

And I jinxed myself because Kieran's in the bathroom throwing up again.  :(

[For Andi. :) ]

Courtesy of Michael Chiarello.  These ribs are delicious!

Babyback Ribs with Espresso Barbecue Sauce

Cook time:  2hrs 30 min
Yield:  4 to 6 servings

Wow.

I know I've gone long stretches without posting to Vox, but it's been almost a month.  I feel so out of touch with everyone over here!  I have so much to catch up on.

My recap from the last month or so...

1.  Kaelin turned three.  Holy crap.  I cannot believe she's three already.
2.  Kaelin did not qualify for continued speech services.  I know this is a good thing since she's improved so much, but I still think she needs some assistance so we'll keep taking her to her speech therapist outside the program.
3.  Kieran didn't get into the TAG program.  He just barely missed the entrance scores.  :(
4.  I've been traveling like a mad woman but am home for an extended stay.
5.  I have missed cooking so I'm making up for lost time.  :)
6.  Work is crazy.
7.  Life is crazy.

There.  You're caught up.  :D

If money didn't matter, what job would you most like to have?
Submitted by Rainbird.

The one I currently have.  :)

I am so behind on blogging it's not even funny.  Not even remotely funny.

*heavy sigh*

The weather has taken a turn for the better around here, and for that I am incredibly grateful.  February and March tend to be my least favorite months of the year because of the dreary weather we have here in Atlanta.  So I welcome the warmer temps, the slight increase in humidity, and the sunshine with open arms.

Yet it still rained the day I had this shoot.  :D

A photographer friend of mine asked me to join him on a bridal fashion shoot for Perfect Wedding Guide (a local bridal print and web directory).  The shoot was at the King Plow Arts Center in downtown Atlanta, and the purpose was to get promo shots of wedding dresses and bridal bouquets.  We had three female models, one male model, and a team of hair and makeup artists.  It was insane.  lol

The space was incredible, though.  The women from PWG wanted something edgy this time around, and from what they said it was a departure from their typical shoot.  I was a little nervous going into the shoot because edgy just isn't really a word I'd use to describe anything about me...including my photographic style.  But I was excited to break out of my box and try something new.

Jeremy and I sort of split up so we could divide the dresses and the space to move things along more quickly.  That means the full responsibility of these shots FALLS ON ME.  :D  The location, the angle, the lighting, the pose...it was all on me to direct it all.  And anyone who knows me knows how much I dislike directing my subjects.  lol  For that reason alone it was a phenomenal experience for me. 

And here are the results.  :)

Wings

2 comments

Bride

PWG Shoot

PWG Shoot

PWG Shoot

PWG Shoot

PWG Shoot

Bride

PWG Shoot

PWG Shoot

PWG Shoot

I spent most of the day working with this last model (obviously), and I'm ok with that since I loved her look.  After we left I could not shut off my brain, though...kept thinking of things I should have shot or tried.  But I'm pretty much that way after EVERY shoot.  LOL  All in all I'm really happy with the way things turned out, but good lord was I stressed out about it all!  It's the first time Jeremy and I have worked together, and this is the first time I've worked with PWG.  I always feel like it's an interview of sorts, and I just wanted to do well.  There's always room for improvement, but I also think I learned a lot from this shoot.  And that's what it's all about.  :)

Plus it was kind of fun to shoot something other than expectant moms and newborn babies for a change.  ;)

Last night was my son's Scout Banquet.  It's an end-of-year thing with the primary focus being the bridging over of the Webelos to Boy Scouts.  It's such a big deal to the kids, and it was kind of cool to be there for it all.

This is Kieran's first year of Scouts, so he was a little uninterested in the ceremony.  But they did such an amazing job with the whole thing.  It was a medieval theme, and wow they put a lot of work into the decorations and detail!  Some of the den leaders really got into it, too.  Good for them.  :)

They also held a cake competition with different categories.  This was our first year attending, and Kieran really wanted to enter a cake so I figured why not?  Only my retarded brain thought all the different categories still had to use the medieval theme when apparently that was not the case.  Ah well...now I know.  :)

We decided to enter in the medieval theme category, so Kieran and I baked a castle cake with a giant rice krispy dragon on top.  It was the first time I ever tried anything like this, and I have to say I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out.  I even used fondant accents, but Kieran just wanted to play with it like it was PlayDough.  :D

Here's our cake:

Our Cake

1 comment

Detail

I'm sorry to say our cake didn't win, though.  And I knew it wouldn't as soon as I saw the Scout bring in this monstrosity.  The name is Camelot.

Camelot

The cake was obscene!  :D  It had two moats made from jello, a big draw bridge, and lots of little knight action figures.  It should have won based on size alone.  LOL 

There were lots of really creative cakes, but I wasn't able to get a picture of each of them.  One cake actually had a real catapult!  Here are the ones I was able to photograph:

Kieran and I had a blast making our cake, and it was so much fun I might actually bake the kids' birthday cakes this year.  We'll see.  ;)

It's not secret that I love Anne Ruthmann.  I love her photographic style, for starters, and she is one of the most giving and helpful people I've come across online.  She's always willing to answer questions, share information, and just generally help others out.  Despite the fact that she's insanely busy with her successful photography career.

I saw her "25 Things" post on Facebook this morning, and #20 really struck a chord with me:

"If we the people had to provide healthcare for everyone in our own community, we would start caring more about what makes people sick in the first place. We would care more about the quality of our air, the dumping of chemicals into our water supply, the management of waste and recycling, as well as the quality of the foods that we eat in order to help prevent people from getting sick."

Ann tries very hard to promote a green lifestyle by setting her own example, so I know these issues are very dear to her heart.  It's also a topic that's come up in conversation with friends and family recently given various news headlines about tragedies occurring as family medical bills skyrocket. 

I just thought her comment was worded very well, and even though it points out the obvious it's also very profound.  Imagine actually trying to fix the underlying cause for something rather than just treat the symptoms.  How novel.

"You are like a lightning rod today, attracting electrical storms wherever you go. And if the thunder doesn't wake you from your detached reverie, the flash of light will not only open your eyes, but it will also reveal everything within your range of vision. Wherever your thoughts are aimed, your mind locks into that path. So pay careful attention to your current direction and make adjustments when needed."

That about sums it up, doesn't it?

And it's raining.

Completely addicted to these things.

1.  Love Remains the Same - Gavin Rossdale
2.  That's What You Get - Paramore
3.  Viva la Vida - Coldplay
4.  Look After You - The Fray
5.  Bottle It Up - Sara Bareilles
6.  S.O.S. - Jonas Brothers (a fluke...I have the kids' music on my iPod, I swear!)
7.  I Will Possess Your Heart - Death Cab for Cutie
8.  Dreaming With a Broken Heart - John Mayer
9.  Calling You - Blue October
10.  Crash Into Me - Dave Matthews Band
11.  She Will Be Loved - Maroon 5
12.  Closing Time - Semisonic
13.  If I Had Eyes - Jack Johnson
14.  Bright Lights - Matchbox Twenty
15.  So What - P!nk
16.  Curshcrushcrush - Paramore
17.  Free Fallin' (Live) - John Mayer
18.  Love Song - Sara Bareilles
19.  All At Once - The Fray
20.  Never Let You Go - Third Eye Blind
21.  Leave Out All the Rest - Twilight soundtrack
22.  I Want You to Want Me - Cheap Trick
23.  Walking in Memphis - Marc Cohn
24.  Rocket Man - Elton John
25.  First Date - Blink 182

Not exactly the cheeriest playlist, but it's still a good one.  Some of the artist selections are pretty random, but that's the fun behind it all.