Friday, January 25, 2013

That's not a shelf. That's not a shelf at all...

At work, I've been waiting for a shelf to come in from the fine folks at Ikea for about a month now.  We tried to pick it up at the actual store downtown but they didn't have the right color, they didn't have the right size, the containers someone else wanted for me weren't the right colors and it was an all around disaster, apparently.  So, the executive decision was made to order it online.
I was waiting and waiting for this thing to come in because my office is still in shambles because that shelf is the LAST piece.  Why is it such a pain?!
Then, a box was delivered to my office with the announcement of: "You shelf is finally here!"
Awesome!!  Too bad it was delivered as I was leaving for the day.  No worries, I'd just assemble it in the morning, right?  Totally.

**SPOILER ALERT: It wasn't my shelf AT ALL.

Untitled Untitled

I kept thinking, "Why is this box a little smaller than the shelf I wanted?" Because it wasn't a shelf at all - it was a damn anatomy skeleton.  What to do...what to do...I know - put it at the desk of the actual person who ordered it (and freak out the rest of my coworkers in the process)

The new guy did not last long...
Aptly titled: "The new guy did not last long..."

Long story short - my shelf is STILL not here (Thanks Ikea!) but we did make a new friend!

Have a good weekend everyone!

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Cheat Day!

Okay, so this weight loss thing is going pretty well.  I haven't fallen off the wagon or anything - I've been staying the course!  We've been eating healthy at home and pretty much everywhere we go.  I've been exercising like a crazy person and I've let go of the whole weight gain thing that had bummed me out last weekend.  My old man declared we needed some proper food and, man oh man, what a choice!
We used to visit Bone Garden Cantina every Saturday but lately, there started being a wait.  And the atmosphere had gotten really crappy.  Why?  Parents and their kids.  Damn.  We were to the point where we were like, "Bone Garden is OVER".



But we can't! We love BG so much! So today we made it a point to get there right when they opened and it was bliss.  There were no kids in sight and there was no terrible wait!  Hooray!  What a way to kick off Cheat Day!  And, oh, what a cheat day it was!

Deliciousness

I skimped on the margarita (because I'm def getting one tonight) and indulged in some pork goodness!  And when we got home, I decided why not try making a mocha.  *Shrug*  Why not?

Warming Shaved chocolate Chocolate milk Press Pouring Trying something new

Yum! Not as good as the one I had at Rev Coffee yesterday morning (which was PHENOMENAL) but it was pretty darn good.  I hope the rest of the weekend continues to be this fun!

Have a lovely weekend!

Monday, January 14, 2013

Weight Loss Goals - Challenge Accepted!

In my last post, I talked about my resolution to lose weight.  Why is it so important to me?
Well, a few years ago, my Dad took me out to a nice lunch and proceeded to tell me that he would help me find a weight loss program to be on while he was away in Iraq.  It sounds mean and I took it the wrong way, as I would, and even though we worked it out and I ended up on a diet program that didn't really work for me, mentally and emotionally, I did it for 3 months before deciding to stop it.
It was taking an emotional toll on me.  I know that sounds like an excuse or something but it really did take a toll on me.  I was hungry all the time and I wasn't exactly advertising that I was on a diet at work because I feared extreme judgement from my coworkers.  They can't be that cruel - but they do make jokes about 114lbs being "huge".  Ouch.
I felt withdrawn.  It was almost like I was grounded.  I felt like a bad kid constantly being in trouble and it was awful.  Yes, I was losing weight but I felt miserable emotionally.  I hated feeling that way and after pleading with my Dad in very emotional emails, we cancelled it.
There were a few upsides to it, though.  I learned how to eat healthier and I thought I was making better choices.  I also learned what I like and don't like as far as cooking goes.
But I was still gaining weight.

A few weeks ago, I had a dream.  I dreamt that I received a wedding invitation to a wedding in Montana.  There was a note inside from the bride-to-be telling me to get down to a size 10 by March.  How specific.  And you would think that I would be upset by this in the dream and waking up but, surprisingly, I was very calm.  In the dream, I achieved my goal by getting down to a size 8 - what what! - and everyone was impressed.  When I woke up, I had a very Barney Stinson moment



And I proceeded to tell my friend (and coworker) my goal - just for the sake of getting out into the Universe.  I'm hoping that even though I'm feeling discouraged because of my weight GAIN, I don't lose momentum.  In fact, I have made another deal with myself - which will remain secret because it's very personal - and I'm hoping I can make good on it very, very soon.

Onward and upward!

2013 Resolutions...The Weight Game

We are well into 2013 and - SURPRISE - one of my resolutions is to lose weight (like most people at the beginning of each new year).
I've tried diets and exercising and all that and I really enjoy the Lose It app but I haven't seen any results.
So what's different this time?  The old man is joining me and we are super serious about getting this weight loss thing going.
And there's already a problem.  I hate - HATE - measuring food out but I'm doing it like a good kid and eve though it makes me cringe, I am portioning out EVERYTHING.  Believe me when I say my measuring spoons and cups are getting a major workout.  LOL.  I kid.
But seriously - I'm measuring out every single thing I put in my mouth.  I've gotten over that Dragon Lady stage of being hungry all the time and I've now come to accept the hunger pangs until my body readjusts but I've GAINED weight since I started losing it!
I was on a slow and steady losing streak all last week (which was our first full week) and then I weighed myself last night and, to my surprise, I'm almost back to the weight I STARTED at.  Bummer.
I've even doing the things I hate.  Along with measuring every freaking thing, I'm looking at fitspo blogs for motivation, following fitspo people on Tumblr AND Instagram and cooking more with recipes from Hungry Girl and Skinnytaste.  I'm even running (with my Nike+ GPS app) - and I HATE running. I'm freakin' running at my old high school track - which I avoided like the plague when I was a student there.

I used to avoid the track when I went to high school here. Never thought I'd ever choose to run it on my own Announcer booth

The first two are both from Saturday. I ran the track a few times and then ran the stairs for about 10 minutes and cooled off with one full lap around. I was getting ready to leave when my iPod played a few songs that I was like, "Awww hell naw - I HAVE to run to this!" and then I ran a couple more laps. 
 The second track is from yesterday. Not as many laps on the stairs but I went ALL OUT on those steps!  I was a sweaty mess afterwards that I walked the rest of the time we were there.

So that got me thinking - what if the weight gain is purely muscle? After all, on my two track running days (Saturday and Sunday), I ran the stadium steps too, so...why not, right?  It only makes sense.  And my legs feel like cannons!  They haven't felt this solid since I was weight training ages ago.  Why did I stop?  Because of a lower back injury that still hurts me.  I've consulted with the fitness folks at work about it and they all say the same thing: Katzi, you're just too top-heavy.  I don't expect my coworkers to feel the pains of a large-breasted woman...but they're usually pretty nice about it and I've cooled off on the weights.

But now I'm like: What do I do???  I don't need to get discouraged.  On my Saturday early morning TV watching, I saw a bunch of infomercials for Tapout XT or whatever and diet pill after diet pill but the one that stuck out the most for me was the NV commercial with Tami Roman.



I don't watch Basketball Wives or anything but I enjoy this commercial because even though she kept popping out and interrupting this fake conversation



She does say something helpful: "Tell her the first two weeks of weight loss can be the hardest."  Okay - something helpful to keep me on track...But how much longer can I take?!  I think once I get settled in, I'll be able to get it together and maybe, just maybe, start seeing results.  After all, the first two weeks are the hardest, right?  And I'm on day 13.  Oh dear...  Maybe she meant the first month???

Why is my weight loss a big deal?  I will share those two reasons soon...

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Weekend Experiment: Water drops

I took my obsession with The Borgias opening and shot some footage that I *hopefully* can use for my freelance project I'm working on.  Check it out!



Water drop experiment

Experiments Drop Drip

I know it's not quite the same but I love how the colored water glides in so sweetly.  Hopefully my client will like it and I can incorporate some of it in the final piece.  If not, I'll be sad but not all is lost!  I'm sure I can find other ways to use it!

How was your weekend?

Friday, January 4, 2013

2013 Design Inspiration

Yeah, so it's the first of the year and guess what?  Time for new inspiration!
With Avid in my face and 3D-capable After Effects, it seems like there's NO stopping me, right?  Well, I've hit a few walls (which you can read about here) and I was feeling a little discouraged BUT - I didn't fret.  I just let my brain rest.  And in that resting time, I was going to start watching The Borgias on my iPad.

I didn't get very far.  Why?  Because the opening title sequence was totally wonderful!  It had elements from the True Blood opener that felt familiar but it also reminded me of the ink bleed from my ultimate favorite end title sequence EVER - Sherlock Holmes.  Granted, The Borgias sequence is unique on its own and I had to find out the design studio behind it.