March Photo a Day: Before / After

So I know that I owe you March 11-19, but let's just say the iPad ate my blogpost. No, really, it did. I'm still angry about it. I had this great post of photos to share and it posted fine. But then I saw a typo and couldn't help myself. I logged into blogger and whammo --- all content from the post was gone.

That being said, I'm so excited about this photo. Confession: this was taken on Saturday, but I made the collage today (on my iPad :))

The top two "before" photos were taken from our drive our here in September. That's me around 138ish pounds. Ugh. That sucked to type out. My weight went down a bit and then went up in December. I think it was around the 138 mark, but I honestly stopped weighing myself.

Since the last week in December, I've been working out pretty consistently. Leading up to the bar exam, it was 6 days a week. Mostly the stair machine and sometimes a P57 DVD. The last 2 weeks, however, I've started going to The Bar Method, which is very very similar to P57 (sorry no links -- haven't figured that part out in the app yet).

I'm happy to report that yesterday, I put on pants that were starting to get tight (despite being a size up from my normal size) and I needed a belt to hold them up! Seriously, they were about TWO INCHES too big! And today, I weighted myself -- I've lost 12 lbs. since my last official weigh-in. I'm somewhat regretting not having a better before picture, but I'm really good a avoiding cameras and/or "wearing it well". I think you can tell the difference in my face the most.

So, sorry this is a braggy post but I'm just so gosh darn excited! It's great to finally see some real results. I'm well on my way toward accomplishing #6 on my 30 Before 30.

365 Project: My Week in Photos

March 4:  Bedside

My nightly routine: Earplugs, carmex, water bottle (no glasses of water for us -- cats tend to knock them over, which makes for an unpleasant wake up), and 3 books to choose from (not that I've read any books besides bar books recently).

March 5:  A Smile

I feel creepy taking photos of people besides E and me, and I'm self conscience of my smile so... photo of a wedding photo on my desk it is. Btw, my first day back at work was awesome minus the fact that I got a TON of work and ended up working late and not working out all week. Hence no blogposts since last Wednesday!

March 6:  5PM

The cherry trees outside my window are blooming and look amazing. Such a pleasant thing to greet me on my first week back at work.  One of my partners mentioned on Tuesday about getting me moved to the wing with my group (I'm in a different wing), but I don't want to leave my cute little office (and have everyone know my comings and goings). I always get my work done; people don't need to know what time I leave.

March 7:  Something You Wore

I decided to get a little crazy and wear both this giraffe necklace AND a leopard belt and flats.  It was a safari-theme kind of day. Also, the giraffe is taken in front of a CCH binder containing federal securities laws. That's just how he rolls.

March 8:  Window

On Thursday, I took the train into San Francisco to see my cousin, Kim, who was visiting from NYC. We went to an awesome restaurant/ wine bar (Marlowe). What I particularly loved about it was that it was across the street from the train station, which meant that I didn't have to brave rush hour traffic to get to dinner in the city AND I didn't have to try to find a cab in Soma (SoMa?), which looked like a rather sketchy area. At any rate, I love this picture because it has a lot going on—both the sights you can see through the window (notice how it looks like I have a bus phone cover) and the reflection of the inside of the train (my hands with a highlighter because I did work on the train and the coats in the side bin).
Side note: It is an absolute travesty that this train in SILICON VALLEY does not have free wifi. Just sayin'.

March 9:  Red

Tomatoes are red... This one is a stretch, but my lunch looked so pretty! Expect a blog post on Wednesday about this recipe. It's definitely being added to our menu rotation.

March 10:  Loud

Again with the earplugs.  To be honest, there were several things I could have taken a photo of this Saturday.  However, they would have been creepy.  Runners up: Zumba class at my gym (seriously, they need to shut the door to the class—it echoes everywhere). Costco in general, or our dishwasher.  Seriously, we have the loudest dishwasher ever.  We end up having to double the tv volume if we are watching tv in the living room and/or shout at the other person if they are in the kitchen while it's running. We have a small place. So this is shocking.  At any rate, I picked ear plugs for this day because I do wear earplugs every night, which I have been doing since 2005. (Don't worry. I've asked my doctor and this is fine).  Erik snores sometimes, we have cats, and I'm VERY sensitive to sounds. In fact, I don't think I ever got a good night's sleep in NYC.  I kept waiting to acclimate and it never happened. Fortunately, since we live in the 'burbs now, most nights are quiet and the planes from SJC don't start running until 6am (same for the commuter trains) so I sleep much better in California.  Probably also has to do with the fact I upgraded to better earplugs.  Seriously, these things are the best ear plugs I've tried (and believe me, over 6.5 years, I've tried a ton).

Quick announcement: I've had some computer problems over the weekend (and late last week) in addition to being slammed at work (too soon!). So, I'm a bit behind on posts.  I'm hoping to remedy that tomorrow, but I didn't want you to think that I was slacking off! Expect me to be back on track with my weekly schedule if not this week then next.

March Photo a Day: Your Neighborhood

After thinking about it, I've decided to consolidate my photos of the day on a weekly basis and post every Sunday. So, in addition to my scheduled posts MWF, there will be these Sunday posts summing up my week in photos (from Sunday–Saturday).

So, since I've already posted daily for this past week, this post will only consist of Saturday's (my neighborhood).

After helping some friends with hanging a few chandeliers (us ladies "supervised"), Erik and I ran some errands and then went for a walk around our neighborhood. We went to the park and threw a frisbee around. This was something I hadn't done in almost 10 years (I'm completely serious). Unfortunately, I both pulled a bicep (don't ask) and broke about 4 nails. Fail.

At any rate, we enjoyed walking through the part of our neighborhood with standalone homes rather than town homes and apartments (where we live right now). We "shopped" for the type of home we want and creepily took photos of exemplars. Productive walk overall.

March Photo a Day: Fruit

Fruit

For a snack today, I made one of my favorite side dishes: Sautéed brussels sprouts. I put a little olive oil in a pan (1-2 tsp.) on medium-high heat (like a 6 or 7). While the oil is heating up, I cut the bottom of the brussels sprouts off, cut it in half laterally and then thinly slice it. I sauté it in the oil for maybe 7 minutes until it is tender and gets a little browned. I season with another dash of olive oil, salt, pepper and the juice from 1/4 lemon (and maybe a little more since I have a bit of a sour palette).

The finished product:

Delicious.

365 Project/March Photo a Day: Up

So, as I've mentioned before, I LOVED the February photo a day. It was fun having a little task to do every day and to be able to share my daily life with you guys (especially while being cooped up at home studying).  Side note: I'm open to feedback if you all hate seeing the photo every day (like maybe posting on a weekly basis).

Again I consulted Pinterest and found a March idea board from the same blogger for February.

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I'm also thinking of starting a "365 Project". Basically, you make it a goal to take a photo a day for an entire year and then put it into its own album. So, let's get started -- March 1:

Up
The "up" elevator button at the hotel E and I stayed at to celebrate (and to not have to drive all the way home from dinner)!