Blogging-X!

Well last night I decided that I wanted to work out with Ron doing P90X (I have missed a couple days), and I did it, and I didn't have a hard time at all keeping up with the workout (apparently last night's workout was one of the "easy" ones). I think I could get in incredible shape if I go through most of these workouts with him. Anyone can do it, it's just a matter of how well you do it, and I am hanging with it better than I expected. I don't feel any injuries or strains, but I get my heart rate up for an hour or more and the "muscle confusion" approach is great because it keeps you from overdoing it on any one part of your body. Last night was "Kenpo-X" (they put an "X" at the end of everything), which is a high-intensity cardiovascular workout packed with lots of punching and kicking combinations to improve balance, endurance, flexibility, and coordination. I think it is considered a kind of martial art. I also think my years of dance gave me an edge, because I seemed to be able to balance and control my kicks quite well. Anyway, I am not going to beat myself up if I miss a workout here and there, but it would be great if I can stick with it. Ron wanted to do this for his health and fitness and he has not missed a workout, and I know he will continue with it. He even said that now he is looking forward to the workouts, so I think his body is beginning to adjust, wanting that activity each day. After 1 week he already has more ab definition and feels like he is standing straighter. He even bought a pull-up bar (so now he doesn't have to hang on a door header!) and a yoga mat (this program incorporates just about every type of exercise you've ever heard of)!

I still managed to get a lot done yesterday, got some album designing done, kept the house pretty picked up, and even threw in a 2 hour (!) coffee meetup with another photographer who lives close by. So, I am feeling fairly good about all that. Now... if only today can be as productive!

New and Improved

Today I updated my Mindy Leigh Photography Blog. I think it looks a lot better. My old one was all hand-made in the Blogger code, and I felt like it was seriously lacking. Then we got an email informing us that Blogger no longer supported files through FTP (?), so I knew it was time to make a change. There are still lots of adjustments I want to make... I am pondering a new logo / brand this year, and general elements like fonts and background texture will probably be switched up. I currently just modified some of the defaults to match the aqua in my existing logo. I love some of the new features this blog has, which will allow me to embed slideshows and mini galleries very easily, it includes a contact form, thumbnailed archives, and scrolling comments. Just the act of uploading images is simplified so much (I was amazed), even with storing them in our hosting server, I am literally skipping 3 or 4 steps I used to go through every time I'd upload a photo! Sigh. So nice.

The URL is the same: http://www.mindyleigh.com/blog - something I was intent on having, and Ron got everything all set up for me. Since I wanted to import everything from my old blog (photos, text, even comments), it wasn't totally simple and quick - but he figured it out :). However if you are subscribing with an RSS feed, you might need to make an update!

So, that's how much of this morning was spent...

Oh, unrelated note: we have made it through 2 sessions of P90X. Kind of crazy. No, I am not doing all of the workouts, but about 75% or so, which I am really proud of! Ron wanted to challenge himself, and he is doing great... I am going through as much of it as I possibly can, which keeps him motivated and will help me get in great shape (hopefully) by summer! It isn't as "bad" as we feared. It's tough, but the workouts move along quickly.

Have a great weekend!

Real Life Photoshop

I ran across this today and thought it was pretty clever...

borrowed from the Luxecetera Blog

Title Track

My blog is named "A Day in the Life".... kind of cliche, but I'm sticking with it. Anyway, a couple weekends ago I felt like I hadn't spent enough time taking snapshots of our own kids, and decided to document the stuff that goes on around here; a day in the life of our little family. The date happened to be the morning of SuperBowl Sunday - February 7 - and we were skipping church. It was kind of a fun little project and I hope to try it again sometime in the near future. Check it out HERE.

Cinnamon!

This was Henry's face after he fed himself his apple-cinnamon flavored Quaker Oatmeal. The web takes out some of the redness, but you can still see the area where the cinnamon apparently burned his skin. It is already back to normal (10-15 minutes later) after some cool water and baby lotion. He didn't seem bothered by it, but he looked like a clown for a little while!

One In a Billion...

Or more accurately, a billion trillion. At least. But this was one lucky little flake that landed on our window while I was waiting with my camera. It was intact (not all are), and I had about a second before it melted away forever, only to become part of the water cycle again. I had posted a few more on FB (see sidebar), but I wanted to put one here too.