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I felt withdrawn.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.



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...

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!







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?

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.

Good bye 2012, Hello 2013!

Sadly, my 366 project is over!  Can you believe it?!  2012 - GONE!  Well, almost...
I know I had all these grand ideas for my 366 project and even though I didn't do a "Theme Week" or whatever else I had set out to do, my photos have proven that the Photo-A-Day thing can be fun!  It's also my equivalent to a Gratitude Jar.
What's that, you ask?  I've been seeing some posts on Tumblr and Pinterest about making a Gratitude Jar on January 1st.  Basically, you write one nice thing that happened to you everyday (or for that month) and then on December 31st, you read them all and express your gratitude for such a wonderful year.  Not bad.  I thought about how nice that would be and then I realized that my 366 project was already doing that for me!
So to honour that, I'll post my 5 favorite photo(s) from each month from my 366 photos.  This might be a tough one...

Photos after the jump!

Holidays 2012!

Merry Christmas everyone!  And if you don't celebrate Christmas, Happy Holidays!  I hope you're all spending some quality time with your families and I hope Santa brought you everything on your list!
Here's a little photo post for the holidays!



As we all know, December 21, 2012 was a very anticipated day.  For some, it was the fabled Mayan Apocalypse.  For others, it was the start of the actual Age of Aquarius.  I, along with W and B celebrated it as our Day of Decadence.  I started off the day with some quiet meditation and sage burning and then met up with W and B for some wonderful French food and finished out by burning our own cleasning fire.



For our traditional Puerto Rican Christmas dinner at my Mom's, we celebrated with Pernil (delicious pork), arroz con gondules (rice with pigeon peas), Vegan biscuits (that I made from scratch) and flan!  Yum!

I also said to myself that I wouldn't take photos of my Christmas presents because that seems a little like showing off - to me but it doesn't bother me if others do it - but I couldn't help but snap a pic of the last gift my old man got me!



Two Supernatural-themed shirts and Dean's necklace! OMG!!  I love them!  We've been such Supernatural nerds the last few months and I think I might be borderline obsessed.  Just check my SPN tags on my Tumblr... (The last photo was just to fill out the Diptic frame and an excuse to Google the Winchesters)

I hope you all are having a magical Holiday season and if I don't post anything within the next few days, have a very HAPPY NEW YEAR!!  See you in 2013!

Good friends and schlocky schweaters

This weekend, our awesome friends (and cutest couple ever) Jen and Nick hosted a Schlocky Schweater Christmas Party which was lots of fun!

Here I was thinking that no one else would have my look but, wouldn't you know it, two other girls showed up with the same sweater vest! Oh well. At least I brought a back up outfit!




Gotta love those Holiday / house warming parties! It was so great seeing Jen and Nick! They're, honestly, the sweetest couple ever.  I was so happy that Jen found a guy to treat her like a princess and Nick is the perfect gentleman.  They're perfect for each other!  I love them so much I wish they didn't live so far away (the drive to their place was just barely under an hour) and I know Jen has an erratic schedule since she still works at the jewelry channel where we reconnected.  It turned out that Jen's ex was "friends" with some of my friends and we crossed paths a few time in high school without even knowing it!  Small world!  That's why I'm so thankful Jen found Nick.  He's wonderful and I love spending time with them.  I wish we could do it more!
We did that thing we always do - we promised to get together more often but you know what?  I want to make good on that promise this time.  After seeing some of the old Movie Night gang, I got really nostalgic and I'm hoping we can get together like we used to!  I love my friends!