Lana Del Rey

Lana Del Rey. I had been familiar with her name, but last fall I actually looked up one of her videos after hearing "Blue Jeans" on the show Misfits (awesome show btw). I really liked the song & thought it would be something my sister would be interesting in, so I found the double album cd & gave it to her for Christmas. I have a feeling she's only listened to it the one time, but I have been listening to it a ton. I'm obsessed with this album (Born To Die). Every song is so good, and I feel like that rarely happens. Lyrics get stuck in my head. The subject matter is kind of romantic, tragic, trashy, and drug infested, but I see it as a persona instead of a bio. I suppose if she's really out there getting her crystal meth on, that's unfortunate. It took me a couple listens, but it's a passionate album. I haven't listened to the album Paradise as much, but it's growing on me as well. I've heard her songs on a few commercials. I'm bummed I didn't get into her earlier since she's played LA a few times. She reminds me of someone straight out of a David Lynch movie.






http://www.lanadelrey.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/LanaDelRey

T Minus 6 Weeks

I am a bridesmaid. The wedding is in 6 weeks. I have once again actively got excited & thought - yeah! I'm going to get in shape for this wedding. The bride was even gracious enough to hook us up with some free Pilates Reformer classes. I've gone twice. Last spring. First time - I overextended myself, pulled a muscle and waited a couple weeks to go back. The next time I managed to get myself to go alone & it was HARD. So exhausting. Since then every excuse comes out..... it takes a half hour to get there in decent traffic; I'm working and don't want to go after - all understandable, valid reasons but really - I have had so much free time to go & it's basically free. I think the thought of driving across town for exercise is killing me. I have a hard time getting motivated. I want to get in shape, I need the exercise, but it's just so hard to get in the mindset of actually doing it. Having a work out buddy would probably work wonders for me.

Last year I did manage to lose over 10 lbs. It was really great. I was inching up to 150 and it may not be obvious to everyone, but I really could feel it - mostly all around the waist. I felt like I was sitting in a tire. That phrase spare tire really is, sadly, accurate. I think I hit 135 at one point just before the holidays & I got so excited. I could start to fit into my tee shirts again. I have to contribute that weight loss to just eating better portions & cutting out more junk. Then came the holidays. Back up to 145. Terrible feeling. I felt like the entire year it took me to lose weight was for nothing. But luckily, once I got back from visiting family & into my normal life, the weight has come down a bit. It's still lingering around 140, but at least it's not pushing 150 again.

So, with 6 weeks to go before I have to wear that bridesmaid dress (which is very tight in the waist) I am going to force myself to exercise. Not my favorite thing to do. Today I started with doing arm exercises w/ weights. There is a good series of free, short, 2-3 minute exercises on Hulu (look up Resolution Solution). I could feel it & I got a little tired, but it's a step forward. I was going hiking quite a bit last year & I'd like to continue doing that when I can. At least wandering around outside feels like fun. I'm going to attempt to go to Pilates twice a week until the wedding. I swear, if that class was closer to my house I would have been going a lot more. And hopefully I'll start taking a lot more casual walks. I would love to take walks around my neighborhood, but I always feel weird walking by myself. I think I have slight social anxiety. I used to get all worked up about walking down to the library. I don't get it. I'm trying to put myself into the mentality of being more active & hopefully that will translate into actually being more active.

Favorites 2012

Blogging has not been a real interest lately. I'm going to attempt to write more often. I think if nothing else, it's a good way to exercise my thoughts. So here I present my favorite photos I took last year. I think I'm really loosening up on what qualifies as a favorite shot as some of these aren't the best. I am still actively taking film shots as well, but they are fewer & farther between. I still have a roll to develop from last year. I did manage to buy a film scanner last fall, so I'm hoping it pays off.