Friday.
I can’t believe that it’s already Friday!
Not only that, it’s the last Friday in April!
Friday Faves.
Most of my week has been checking off boxes…but they have made me feel productive so they also qualify for my Friday Faves.
Over the weekend, I became more deliberate in my efforts to get my photos backed up to an external hard drive. I need the space on my laptop and I needed to feel comfortable about deleting the photos stored on my camera.
I still quite a way to go, but I made substantial headway.
Humor.
They say that laughter is the best medicine.
I was trying to film a story for Instagram and Miss Sunshine kept waiting until I’d start recording and then ask me random questions.
It was quite hilarious.
Finally, I told her that I was going to post the one where she’d deepened her voice and said something random. She quickly deleted that one from my phone.
Then, I thought perhaps she’d head to the kitchen to eat her food, but she still photobombed me. I could see her from the corner of my eye, but thought I’d be able to maintain my composure.
I didn’t.
This one did get posted to my Instagram story. Followed by my original intent of asking people what they found the hardest to give up on a vegan diet.
Vegan.
I have been following a mostly vegan diet for almost 3 weeks. We did make a conscious decision to eat vegetarian on Sunday because we needed to have a family meeting about summer plans.
Finding a restaurant that everyone likes is hard enough. We opted for Mellow Mushroom, which is a pizza place. The hubby and I got their Veg Out pizza and it was sooo good.
I am aware that Mellow Mushroom offers vegan cheese. However, I haven’t tried vegan cheese before and I notoriously choose items when dining out that turn out to be repulsive. Just ask my family about that time in Paris when the pasta dish I ordered came with a raw egg cracked on top. I ate around it and then waited to finish what was left on the other 4 plates!
I do plan to eat all types of food when I travel to the UK in two weeks. Given the fact that it may indeed bother my stomach, there will be days here and there leading up to it where I will add in things I’ve cut out to see if they bother my digestive system.
If you’re curious about the picture of the vegan lunch I made one day, it’s Toasted Flax Ezekiel Bread, Roasted Garlic Hummus, Cucumber, Tomato, Shredded Carrots, Alfalfa Sprouts, and a bit of Red Onion.
The hubby finds that eating vegan agrees very well with him. I still haven’t found the proper ratios (or maybe vitamins and minerals) for my body. I think it shifted my hormones and I had a few days recently where I wanted to take a nap (but didn’t) in the afternoon. Occasionally, I also feel what I call a hollowness (for lack of a better explanation). Not necessarily hungry, but sort of.
Trains, Planes, and Automobiles.
We’ll be using all of those when my mom and I travel to the UK.
Yep. You read that right.
My mom and I decided to rent a car for our day on the Isle of Lewis. There is public transportation, but with only having a day, the timetable left us fairly restricted. My mom is going to be the driver while I navigate. Eek!
I also booked the remainder of our trains, so there is only some to and from the airport in Inverness stuff left to deal with, but buses and taxis are both available.
Packing.
I think that I’m going to bring my tripod with me on this trip, which is another reason why my suitcase needs to be packed lightly. The tripod only weighs a little over five pounds, so it should be fine.
One of my thoughts behind packing leggings….which I haven’t shopped for yet…was minimizing space.
I learn a little more about packing each time I travel though, and while I love to look cute in a city, I much more prefer staying dry…warm…packing lightly… than I care about making a fashion statement.
Challenge.
I made the announcement for my May Challenge. The fact that I will be traveling for a portion of it helped with the direction that it’ll take.
Accident Prone.
The response to my poll on my Instagram story was 100% Yes.
Not only did I drop something heavy on my big toe over the weekend, but I had a major mishap on Wednesday.
While talking on the phone with my mom about what sightseeing we should do in London, I proceeded to walk down the stairs from my office (need a visual of the stairs, they are in my Photowall review post).
You know where this is going, don’t you?
I proceeded to slide down about three or four stairs. In trying to catch myself with my left hand, I wrenched my back and jammed my shoulder. I still landed on the tailbone and right sits bone. I’m sure I scared my mother as I yelled (maybe cursed a little) and then took deep breaths to pretend like I could breathe out the hurt.
Most of the back and shoulder pain left the next day. However, there is a monstrous purple bruise on my bottom that is still sore enough that I bypassed Pilates today because I can’t imagine doing roll-ups and some other moves up on to it.
Last year I was asked to take a photo of Miss Sunshine’s middle school soccer team. They have professional photos taken, but it’s usually still wintery and they wanted a warmer weather photo of the team to give as part of the coach’s gifts. I also took a photo of the girls’ cleats which I shared in this post.
This year, I was asked again to take a team photo and agreed.
I will tell you that these types of shoots make my anxiety climb…and climb. Yes, I am doing it as a favor, but I am still hoping to meet somebody’s expectations. I am a people pleaser by nature. I don’t like people to be disappointed in me. So the team shoot already makes me nervous. I photograph landscapes (some of which I shared on Tuesday and Thursday . Their eyes don’t blink. They rarely move unless the wind blows.
Lighting and angles of humans are not my strong points.
Individual Photos.
I had heard a rumor that I was going to be asked to take individual photos. This made me feel even more pressured. I will reiterate that this is pressure I put on myself. The people I interact with I’ve known for years and are great.
I had around a 20-minute timeline to shoot a team photo and then take individuals of 24 girls. This meant there wasn’t time to check my work and see if the photos came out as I went along. I imported them this morning. It does appear that I have a group shot were all 24 girls and the coaches have their eyes open (the first thing I look for), but I’ll need to look at them more closely. Same with the individuals. In review, I noticed two of the girls weren’t in line for individuals, but I know them and can take them later if they want them. Still, I know the photos aren’t professional grade and looking back I wish I’d changed the f/stop, but time was short, I needed to get through them all, and I didn’t think about it.
The one of Miss Sunshine is just a quick edit that I did for this post. I don’t know if it’s the final product.
Here’s to hoping the parents like them.
8th Grade Recognition.
At the final home game, the 8th-grade girls are recognized before the game. Along the fence surrounding the fields, they attach a giant cardboard soccer ball that has the name and jersey number of each girl. During the ceremony, the eighth-grade girls step forward from the team and then each one is named and presented with a rose from their coaches.
This isn’t the final product of this photo either. I just don’t share too many faces of teens that aren’t mine.
Both of her brothers had the day off from work so they were able to come to her game. I think she’d have like to have scored a goal, but she had a clean assist and some nice shots on goal.
Summer Plans.
I mentioned in my post on Wednesday that I need to see some of my people. Miss Sunshine and I are in the early stages of planning an extended trip to Florida (mainly Naples) over the summer. I’ll let you know more about that as I begin to have more concrete plans.
I hope that you have a beautiful weekend and a fabulous week ahead.
We have warm days ahead and I couldn’t be happier.
Let your light shine!
Amy