T & S Christian

Catching up in pictures

James and I went on vacation and now I am looking forward to getting back started with my photography. Goal is to have at least 1 photo shoot per month to post here on my blog. Until I get my first shoot here are some pictures from Hawaii!

At the botanical gardens on the North Shore.

At the black sand beach on the Big Island and a garden we were at.

At a garden on the Big Island and here is the view from the balcony of my friends condo the first morning.

Amanda gave us Leis as we got there and here are Green Turtles sunbathing on the North Shore

In front of Waimea falls and on the Black Sand beach

Not sure what crater this is but it is still steaming from an explosion in Feburary and Rainbow Falls.

Hanging at the beach and waiting for our Luau

They have these awesome trees called Banyan trees. The largest one is in Maui and fills an entire city block!

Hobby

James has a new hobby! That is one of the things that I posted about a long time ago(click here to see.) I am so excited that he has finally found something that he can do that is fun and productive! James is getting into guitar pedal making! His first pedal is a mute pedal that will allow him to mute his computer while up on stage. I am so excited for him! Here is a picture from the phone. I will soon get a better one!

Update

It has been over 2 months since my last blog post. I have never been good at keeping things up to date. I figure that this can be an update over the last few months and I can start fresh after that.

My last post was about the Standard Process Cleanse. Since the beginning of that cleanse I have lost 17.2 pounds. James and I have also been doing P90X doubles. The double part of P90X that we have been doing has been running. We are training for a 10K. We have no race planned because we are finishing the training when there are no races in the area. It will still be Triathlon season. After doing the 10K training we will see about doing a 1/2 marathon during the winter sometime. Doing running and P90X has been exciting but very time consuming. I feel so much better when I am working out but sometimes the workouts are very overwhelming. I love P90X. I must say that although we have tried to do P90X on multiple occasions I still cannot ever get close to doing a pull-up.

I was promoted at Apple and I am enjoying the job. I am learning something new every single day that I am there. I am looking forward trying to learn UNIX so that I can be more proficient in Terminal and begin to learn even more about the operating system.

James began traveling for the summer so I have had a lot of time by myself at home. To take up that time we have started to read the Harry Potter series. Currently I am on the Order of the Phonenix. The next book is the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince which comes out on July 15, 2009. I am hoping to get through that book before I see it in theater. The later books are not as similar to the movies as the first in the series. The books have been much better as they almost always are.

I am also reading the The Shack again with the community group/house church that we have been attending when my schedule allows. I love this book! It explains things in such different terms sometimes. I recommend this book to everyone!

I am hoping to get back into the photography scene again as well. I have let that slip through the cracks with working and working out. Let me know if you are interested in setting up some time for pictures and practice!

Cleanse

On April 10, 2009 my husband and I started the Standard Process Purification Cleanse as recommended by our chiropractor Dr. Ryan Osborne. It is a 21 day cleanse to rid your body of toxins. When it comes to eating we have never really been that healthy and rarely if ever bought organic food. All that began to slowly change in October of 2007. I was at my heaviest weight and decided to do something about it. I began training for a Sprint Tri and was successful at finishing. Since then we have become much more active. I have participated in one other sprint tri, 5K, and gone through the P90X. We are looking forward to either a 10K or 1/2 marathon in the fall. Our diet was slowly changing during this process but never really enough. This cleanse has had us soley on fruits, vegetables, and their shakes for the past 9 days. All foods, or at least most, have been organic. What a change! I felt pretty crummy the first few days but I am now reaping the benefits! I have more energy, sleeping much better, and most of all I have seen 7.2lbs. in weight loss!
I have learned a lot about myself in this process so far. I am going through a transition right now at work which is causing me a little bit of stress due to the unknowns. I have found out that during stressful situations or just a bad day I am such an emotional eater. I had a hard time on those days fight away the cravings. I made it through those days and know better for the next time to not to go to the food because it is not going to make my day any less stressful or make me feel better. I have been very addicted to carbs and sugar. I have done well without sodas and can probably keep not having those, but the bread and candy I am struggling with. I love those two things. Obviously to much!
Vegetable do not have to taste bad! We have been trying many new recipes and have loved all but one. We are planning to continue having them once we are off the cleanse. They say that it takes 21 days to create a habit and that is how long this cleanse is. I am hoping that we are creating good eating/cooking habits. In all the time that we have been working out we have never truly focused on the diet and been able to keep to it. Now we have a few tools my hope is to complete P90X again with our new eating habits and watch the pounds melt away to show all the muscle that we have built and are building!

Family

These three items were all given to me by family. The gold heart necklace was given to me when I was two by my Grandandy Elbert DeLozier, who is my Mom's grandfather. My Mom has one exactly like this. When I was talking with my Mom she told me that she thinks her mom, so my Grandmother, has one as well. My Grandandy apparently gave them his girls. The ring was given to me by, my Dad's mom, Granny. The ring was her mothers. In my bathroom at home I have pictures of the three of us all about the same age, I was a senior in high school. The earrings belonged to my Aunt Lenora. She was married to my Mom's brother. She died in 1993, I think, of a heart attack. My uncle gave these to me after her death. The only other real diamonds I have other than my wedding rings. All these items were given in love. I often forget about these items because I safely store them away so I don't lose them. I did however where the ring on my wedding day as my something blue.

My Two Favorites

My favorite person in my favorite place to hang out.