Things I Haven’t Mentioned

I know I’ve been really absent on here and my Weight Loss Wednesday posts are always late (or absent).  The reason?

Did you know ice cream trucks are real? I don’t remember ever seeing one as a kid (maybe my mom will disagree), but there’s one that comes through our neighborhood in the summers. Miss C got her first bomb pop last Friday.

I’ve been taking a photography class on Wednesday nights for the last 7 weeks.  Last Wednesday was our last class and while I’m glad to have my Wednesday evenings back, I am so sad it’s almost over.  I have learned SO much and would never have captured that image.  Or this one:

This needs to be cropped, but I’m currently using it as my Facebook banner, so it’s perfect (and I’m linking from FB because I’m out of storage on WordPress). This was made by giving a sugared up child a sparkler (thanks, Tina)  and leaving my camera shutter open for 6 seconds.  Do not attempt this without a tripod (thanks, Rick)!

Anyways, I’m working on a portfolio now, starting with a maternity shoot in a few weeks.  I’m also looking for some families that have a lot of patience because my dogs are sick of having the camera shoved in their faces.  My baby is so on to me that she crawls straight towards the lens and grabs it.  I don’t know that this is going anywhere, but it would be nice to have more confidence since I do get occasional requests to shoot portraits.  And for the record, most of my pictures on this blog are shot in about 2 seconds on my iPhone.  I promise they aren’t my best work.

Who would be asking me to take pictures?  That’s another thing I’ve mentioned, but not really talked about.  I took a job with our church as the media coordinator.  Basically, I’m the head nerd and do all the website maintenance, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, etc.  In order to fix up the web site, I need new pictures, thus I’ve been walking around with a camera attached to my head for the last month.  I’m really enjoying the job, but it doesn’t pay much, so I’m doing it on top of my contract job that I’ve had for about 10 months.  I’m proud of my work, but I will not be linking to it here for privacy reasons.

One more thing I’ve been up to lately:

There isn’t really a study guide, so I guess I’m just supposed to memorize all of it?

I’ve been debating sitting for the Certified Personal Trainer (CPT) exam since I graduated last year, but I had (legitimate) concerns about my own fitness level and size.  After losing 30 pounds and talking with people (employees, not just the dude on the treadmill next to me) at my gym, I decided there’s no time like the present.  ACSM was the certification most recommended by people who actually hire trainers at gyms I like, so I went with that one, although NASM was a very close second.  ACSM and the American Cancer Society also offer a certificate in training cancer patients, which I’d really like to pursue once I have the required experience (my dissertation was on the cardiovascular effects of cancer cachexia and I’m in the process of publishing a paper on the subject).  The nice thing about being a CPT is I can work part-time or only evenings and weekends, which helps me avoid childcare issues.  Also, I already have the knowledge base for a lot of the biology and exercise testing.  I have decided to take the 3 day workshop in August when it’s in Cincinnati.

Anyways, we also went to Pennsylvania for Memorial Day, I ran a 5K with my father-in-law on Saturday, and I succeeded in my BYNGO blackout.  I’m planning to actually get my weight loss Wednesday post up on time (with my final BYNGO recap) and then post my race recap on Friday, so stay tuned!