Category Archives: photos

A couple photography tips

What a gloomy day today. I was expecting snow when I got up, but it was just a few flurries.

Definitely a day for a warm breakfast and hot coffee!

Banana bread breakfast pudding with strawberry jam. The last jar of strawberry jam. I’ll be making more of that for sure!

I did some work and then took advantage of the fact that it wasn’t snowing yet to get in some exercise and walked to the bank to deposit my paycheck. That’s a reward – walk and get paid! I wish that could happen every day. Not to mention I was listening to Styx Paradise Theater. I love that entire album. Classic rock all the way!

Here is a picture taking tip for you. I am certainly not a pro and I need a lot of help on my pictures, but I am learning. First, the number 1 rule of food photography is no flash – ever! It makes pictures look washed out. The other is to bounce light off the subject from the opposite side. Case in point is my lunch. I used indirect natural light at my kitchen counter for this, which is my favorite, but there is quite a shadow in this first picture.

I just held up a piece of white cardboard on the right side just out of frame to bounce some of the natural light and it made the shadow much less.

(I actually might move that cardboard farther away as it reflected almost too much.) Pretty neat trick, though! I don’t have any fancy editing software like Photoshop or Lightroom, so I have to make do. Now I just need to save up and get the DSLR camera that I want.

The weather turned uglier in the afternoon, which made it perfect for latte time.

So glad it is Friday. I have been doing awesome with the snacking – or not snacking, really. Guess I got it out of my system… for now…

Dinner was in classic Finding Radiance style.

I never get tired of chicken. Not sure why, but I could eat it every day. Which I think I did pretty much all week

Now it’s weekend time! I have 2 goals for this weekend. One is to get in my chest/back/core workout done at the gym and the other is no snacking on chocolate or other stuff! I can have fruit or a protein snack that is planned in, but no nibbling stuff. That is going to be tough on the weekend, but I know I can do it.

Even though the weather is sloppy, John and I headed out for some coffee to start the weekend:

It’s decaf, party animal that I am. I love bringing my netbook to Starbucks. Free Wifi and Pinterest! Woo Hoo!

Normal so far

Happy MLK day.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
– Martin Luther King, Jr.

source – google images.

I finally heard about my labs. Of course, the phone call came while I was in the shower this morning 🙄 . They left a message that it was normal, but I called back to get the actual numbers. Since I am paying full price on these labs tests, I want every single number in my hot little hands! I have the copies now as well. I am normal in all categories. Not even low-normal, but normal-normal. I spent a lot of the weekend reading up on the thyroid and I thought for sure with symptoms that I have that there would be the diagnosis of that, but at least blood test wise, it appears fine. A lot of perimenopausal symptoms – yay….not.

No anemia. No diabetes either (yippee!!). So, that now leaves going to the eye doctor and see what they say. That appointment is on Tuesday. Hope *they* have an answer for me. I don’t like walking around with red eyes. They don’t bother me, thank goodness. They just look funny.

Also, for those that didn’t see on Facebook, the photographer that did the photo shoot for the First For Women article posted some of the shoot pics on her blog. You can see them here

Funny how just the way you stand or the outfit you have on can made a difference. I was not comfortable in the gold top, although other people liked it and you can tell. I swear I look heavier in that top even wearing the same pants LOL! The other 2 outfits I loved and it shows! Flared pants are a short curvy woman’s best friend!!

My eats were really not exciting today. I ate well, which felt good to get focused again. I did do some stress eating as I mentioned before, plus football snacks!

Dinner was good, though, and came out with a yummy looking shot.

The chicken is topped with Laughing Cow and hot sauce in an attempt to get warm. Didn’t work for long, though.

John and I decided to brave the cold and go out for wi-fi time. We both have our computers here LOL!

Yeah, I brought my own grapes. This is the new Blonde roast from Starbucks. I will give it a thumbs up. It doesn’t have the charred taste that their other blends have, which is quite nice. Gives it much more depth of flavor.

I hope I can make it to the gym tomorrow. We have snow expected tonight and a messy commute, so will see. Hopefully an answer for my eyes as well.

Smile for the camera!

Today was the last super busy/out of the ordinary thing for a little while. I had a photo shoot for an article coming out in a magazine in December. I won’t mention the magazine right now, although some of you do know that were on FB.

This actually stemmed from a contact through my blog back in February. I had a phone interview and sent them pictures. Then I never heard back, so I assumed they weren’t going to use my story. Then a couple weeks ago I was contacted again that they *did* want to run my story and wanted to set up an photo shoot by October 4th. Cue panic! I was thinking all kinds of strange thoughts like “Crash diet!” and “I am not at goal, I feel like a fraud“, “People are going to look at the pictures and think I need to lose more weight“. I even thought about buying Spanx LOL!

Breathe, Lori. Just breathe.

Just when you think you are doing well on the journey of self acceptance and you get flown into a tizzy. Last week was the coordination of a hair stylist/makeup artist, the photographer, and the clothing stylist. They were going to dress me, which also freaked me out. I really didn’t need to worry.

I had spoken on the phone to Nichole (the clothing stylist) and I kept telling her to err on the side of big for clothing. What is wrong with me?? I was so worried that if she brought my sizes, they would somehow not fit. Like the clothing I own is mislabeled or something. Poor John. He had to listen to my insecurities.

Anyway, everyone arrived at my house on Monday. Isn’t that nice? I didn’t have to go anywhere! Nichole did a great job with picking out clothes and I had several outfits to choose from. The clothing came from White House/Black Market and New York & Company and one dress from Macy’s.

I had hair and makeup done. Diane was very professional and fast with the makeup.

I do have to say that hair and makeup are my least favorite part of these. Can you tell?

All photos are done by John and not the official ones, which I wish I could see!!

This dress was nixed by the editor when we sent sample shots today. I didn’t like the gathers, but others seemed to like it. The hem was quite the problem (again, shortie). It was tacked up here.

Everyone loved this top but me. This picture and the one above are me before hair and makeup.

It’s actually a bit sparkly and very festive, but I wasn’t crazy about the fit or the color. Watch this top will be the one the editors like LOL! If you can’t tell, we had to do a little fake Christmas decorating for the December issue.

This was one of my favorites. Note the white circle thing is a lighting prop brought by the photographer. This sweater is purple, although this shot doesn’t show it as well.

I had tried a skirt on, but totally fell in love the the pants and wouldn’t take them off. Fit and Flare Short (and still a bit long…) $88. They were comfortable and made my booty look good. I actually could have put on the smaller size, but I thought they would be too tight. The stylist didn’t think so, but I just couldn’t do it (silly me).

Embracing my curves!

Love the color of the blazer. $118. It is a deep purple, or plum as it is called on the website.

Everyone made me feel very, very comfortable for the shoot, so I was thankful for that. Sometimes you forget how far you have come when you have lived with the loss for a while. And I should never forget that! I am never going to be a size 4 and I love my curves! (and so does John – although he didn’t care for the makeup )

I’ll let everyone know when the article comes out. I wonder which outfit they will like?

I may have to get a pair of those pants. Can bargain hunter me find them for less than $88? We shall see.

And in keeping with the last 2 Octobers – I will be posting a pink picture every day and ask you to click on the link below to help fund mammograms for those in need!

Here is today’s shot:

And ladies – Diane said to *not* buy the expensive mascara (after I commented that I bought the cheap stuff). Most mascara is made by only a few companies and just packaged differently. So there you go – money saving tip!