S'more Please!

Nothing better than gathering around a campfire with some s'more sticks! Besides the sweet company of family & friends, my favorite part is that it's perfectly acceptable to repeatedly attempt to roast & consume many, many marshmallows. The great thing about being in the dark & everyone having their own goal, is that... no one knows I've eaten 12 marshmallows!

 

Fear Not...Anything!

Last week I was asked to photograph (my primary career) a skate competition (held today).  I had lots of excuses why I didn't have time this weekend, but in the end, I love sports & being outside, so I decided to do it.

And once again, A GOOD CHOICE!  It was a blast, the people were awesome, friendly, happy, competitive, & there was good music & food.

But the main thing that made it above my expectation was seeing a friend who exclaimed how her daughter had been experimenting with baking a lot this summer & trying sweet recipes with healthier ingredients.  WHICH IS SO ME!

She got me excited again to finish writing this book I'm nearly done with.  After editing it 4 times, I started to think that it wasn't so special, that all this information is already out there & that I shouldn't publish it.  So after this blog, I'm going to challenge my fear of publishing a book & hopefully you'll see it offered on Amazon Kindle or iTunes in a few weeks.

Rich & Blue & Chocolaty

I'm currently writing a book "How to Have a Healthy Sweet Tooth," & this seems like a perfect example.  Today's creation was due to my chocolate bar melting yesterday & me putting it in the fridge.  Then I bought blueberries at the store, separately.  When seeing them side by side my heart pitter pattered... mmm...quick & rich & chocolaty.  Rich in antioxidents that is!  My perfect bowl of 1/2 of Trader Joe's Swiss 72% dark chocolate bar broken in pieces & fresh blueberries, sent me skipping to the office to write this blog.  It's a good thing I ate up the blueberries because I'd want more of this "lunch bowl!"

Techo Beats

I love techno music.  A stable, monotonous, continuous beat, escalating to a higher level of interest, peaking with great intensity & passion, then coming back down to a more mainstream, acceptable pace.   I seem to be going along in my day to day activities, when the feeling of passion inevitably arises for something - could be a new trick on the trampoline, a new idea to pursue or a new recipe & I run with it...feeling intensely excited & bopping around with great vigor.  After fulfilling my interests & experiencing the rush of breathtaking feelings, I settle back to a normal pace. 

Techno music induces skipping & hopping, leaping & bounding during my run....and making other people smile when they pass me feels good too!

Red Rock Bash

What a perfect day, visiting Las Vegas, to drive out to Red Rock Canyon near Lake Mead.

After hiking for an hour, I lost my footing on a rock & my leg came to a serious halt on a pinnacle of sandstone.  My shin was slashed down to the muscle.  A deep little 2 inch slit that would make us turn back.

No summit, but a blood-dripping hike back down & an new adventure in applying liquid rubber bandage to seal the "larger than recommended" gap with accompanying butterfly stitches, all for sale at the nearest Rite Aid.

Come on mom, keep jumping!

I jump on my trampoline 3-5 x a week with my kids.  As they jump around, I try to jump hard without stopping for 1 full minute, 5 different times.  It's hard!  My kids just keep jumping & jumping & jumping & flipping & it drives me to keep up with them because they are so happy!
 
Jumping definitely helped my endurance & pain tolerance of burning quads when I competed on Wipeout.  (I was able to make a few leaps with confidence after jumping over & under my kids all the time!)

I have to stop & rest every minute...but hearing them say "mom keep jumping with us!" is music to my soul.  Jumping, looking at them jumping, all of us smiling at each other jumping inside this protective net wall around the trampoline.  This is my heaven.

I "Got Sugar" today in a different way ~ sweet, pure love from my kids!

Minute to Win it

Yesterday I got up at 5am (straightened my hair, tried on 4 different outfits & walked the dogs) & drove to Studio City for my 11am audition for "Minute to Win It" Game Show.  I was excited, nervous, sticky with perspiration, felt jittery but pumped & my brain was like a washing machine of ideas on how to "sell myself" to the casting company.  NONE OF WHICH came out of my mouth when they were filming my audition.  I couldn't believe I forgot to tell them I was an event photographer!!!  They asked me about my home town & why No. Cal. was better than So. Cal. (which distracted me & was not what I had planned for my 1 minute of character development.)  Then my 36 cup pyramid crashed partway & I didn't take them down in a "minute to win it!"

I had glimpses of how much fun I was having ("feeling" things I don't normally feel... giddiness, anticipation, butterflies...)  Then the desire to be chosen & the fear of not being entertaining enough overtook those fun feelings.  But still, this is why I was auditioning, to really feel alive!

3/4 of the way through the audition I was not chosen & told to go "enjoy the rest of my day."  I hadn't eaten all day so I quickly found a Taco Bell to fill my sorrows with 3 crunchy fresco tacos!  If anything, this audition kicked my sweet tooth & it's day 1 of no sugar or high fructose corn syrup (I'm not counting 2 glasses of red wine for dinner).