The J-Bird Project: 2013

Hello there to one and all and all and one!

It has been a while since my last post, so I wanted to write about my new venture. As of last Tuesday, I have been engaged in an epic battle of wits and sweat. After all, sweat is fat crying! Six ladies have gathered to compete in a weigh-loss challenge for the next eight weeks - obviously I am one of those ladies. I had to weigh myself in front of another human being and let me tell you... it wasn't pretty. The flood of reality had hit me like a ton of bricks. Yes, Jessica, you have gained a lot of weight.

Even though it was a hard number to face, I feel I have done swimming well over this last week. I have tracked my calorie in-take and gotten my ass in gear. I know it is only the first week, but I feel fabulous and I hope to continue the trend. Oh, did I mention there's a cash prize at the end of this? The winner (well, I guess biggest loser) gets a cool $300! Motivation!! However, I really want to do this as a first step in the direction of a new life. The past few years have been difficult with my mind and body taking a beating. More than ever, I feel that this could be just what I need to finally push myself out of the rut.

In the wake of the challenge, I have signed up for several walks and 5Ks. I am set to do the Kiss Me Dirty mud run (a 5K in mud) later this month. I am proud to be a member of the Muddy Melvins team, but I am terrified that I am going to make a fool of myself. I have never even ran a 5K - let alone doing a 5K obstacle course in mud. WTSF was I thinking?! If you see another post from me, it means I survived! I have also signed up to do the Color Me Rad 5K at the end of September. This one looks like some serious fun and I think I could have a handle on myself by then. Finally, I have signed up for the Heart walk in September. My work has teamed up with the American Heart Association to sponsor the event. I'm really excited for each event and hope I can keep my spirits up!

It's funny that it is only one week into this challenge/new adventure and I already feel different. I have this wonderful sense of accomplishment and new perspective on how I really want my life to be. For so long, I wallowed in the thoughts that my life is shit and there was no way to get out of it. There is!! Change your attitude! The ever cheesy quote: If you think you can't - you're probably right. Anywho, I wanted to share my new attitude with the void.... Hopefully, I still feel this good after our Tuesday weigh-in... I'll let you know! :-)

Hi all!

So, I have recently gotten into photography and I bought myself a fancy digital SLR camera. I'm in love with the camera and I am eager to learn more about taking great pictures! I'm really excited, because my dad has the same camera as I do so we can learn together. Anyway, my sister and I went to the Tulip Festival this year at Thanksgiving Point and I got to try out my new camera. I took some pictures of my niece and nephews, and pictures of the beautiful flowers. I'm going to enter one of my photos in the Thanksgiving Point photo contest - pretty excited! So, below are some of my favorite pictures I took that day.