Puppy Searching

My husband is definitely a dog person. He loves them and they always seem to be naturally drawn to him. I never had a dog growing up, but I always wanted a cute furry one. Well now that we have been married for over a year, the search has begun for a new addition to our little family. No, we do not plan on having children any time soon. We have both said since we started dating that although we love kids and plan on having them one day, we want to be married for a while and be more established in our careers before we start worrying about diapers and preschools.

So here is our dog dilemma- Ethan is obsessed with the idea of getting a pug and I have always wanted a dachshund. I love all small dogs but for some reason I just can't get my mind off of those cute little old-man looking dogs! I feel like I may lose this time though. Ethan has taken to looking up pictures of pug puppies whenever we are together at home and i have to say- they are pretty darn cute.

I guess we will just have to see what we can find. Either way I know that it will still be at least a couple of months before I am ready to fully take on the responsibility. One major decision that we have agreed on is the name for our puppy- Dr. Archibald Morris. Archie for short :) (We are both big E.R. fans and we love the idea of naming a dog after a surgeon) Wish us luck in our search!

Healthy Snacking

I'm back from Vegas! we had such a wonderful time- we renewed our vows, gambled a lot and drank plenty of margaritas. I gained 5 pounds while we were on our trip but I managed to lose that extra weight the week we got home. Now I am focusing on losing my last 7 pounds to make it an even 30! My most recent accomplishment has been cutting out on mindless snacking. For some reason it's hard for me to stay out of the kitchen in between meals so I have been coming up with some snacks that won't completely ruin my efforts-

*celery with low fat cream cheese
*rice cakes with Better N'Peanut Butter
*individual string cheese
*frozen strawberries
*banana blended with 1 cup of low fat chocolate milk to make a shake
*light yogurt
*coffee or other hot drinks (they curb the urge to eat more)
*Blow Pops- can't eat anything else when you're chewing gum!

These are just some of the things that have worked for me :)

New Goals

I have decided to become a runner. Well, I guess right now I have decided to become a jogger who needs to take a walking break every half mile, but I am working to become a runner! I have done pretty well with my weight loss but it seems that my body has hit a plateau at -19.6 pounds. I simply can not get the scale to budge from this number! My original weight loss goal was to lose 30 pounds by my first wedding anniversary, but seeing as that date is in 4 days, I don't think I can quite accomplish it.

I'm not discouraged in the slightest though! For the first time in my life I have lost weight and kept it off for a considerable amount of time, I have been exercising regularly, and I have tracked my food consistently since I started Weight Watchers on January 1st of this year. Yes, I would have liked to be another 10 pounds lighter right now, but that doesn't mean that I'm going to give up- I simply need to extend my deadline :)

One of my new goals is to train for a 5K run coming up in September. It's called Color Me Rad and I will be running it with my little sister in Indianapolis. Knowing that I have someone else counting on me to be ready for this race is definitely a good motivator. I have never been a big fan of running or any kind of exercise, but I have found that forcing myself to go for a jog in the 90 degree weather makes me feel like I'm working toward my goal and I always feel good when I come home sweaty and disgusting.

Wish me luck as I train for the race! And if you want to check it out for yourself, the link can be found here: Color Me Rad 5K

Motivational Tunes

I have never liked exercise. I don't run, I don't enjoy being competitive and I am one of the least coordinated people you will ever meet. However, since I have been trying to lose weight I've come to the conclusion that I need to get motivated to get up and MOVE! I'm finding ways to exercise that I actually enjoy now- zumba, going for long walks in my neighborhood, etc.

So here is my playlist that keeps me going when I don't want to make myself leave the house-
"The Party Song" by Emery
"Shake It Off" by Florence + the Machine
"Revolver" by Madonna (featuring Lil Wayne)
"Life Is Beautiful" by Sixx AM
"Under Pressure" by David Bowie and Freddie Mercury
"The Feel Good Drag" by Anberlin
"Only" by Nine Inch Nails

In a couple of weeks my husband and I will be sealing up our wedding time capsule and I decided it would be fun to make a cd of all the songs that we love together/he loves but I hate/I love but he hates. Some of these will definitely be on that list!

I have finally started serious work on getting my photography career on a roll! This past weekend my family celebrated my younger sister's birthday in Columbus and she also graciously allowed me to pretend she was a high school senior and follow her around with my camera. I am so happy with how the pics turned out!

My new goal is to get as much practice as I possibly can between now and this coming August (when I should be starting work with a wedding photography company). I want to be completely comfortable and come up with some more interesting and fun poses. I already have had a great response to my work and I really think I'm going to be pretty good at this once I have a little more experience :)

I created a Facebook page for my independent photography which you can access here:
Furlong Photography on Facebook

Or you can visit my personal website here:
Elisabeth Furlong Photography

Thanks for the support!

The Little Things

My work schedule has been kind of wacky lately, with my boss scheduling me to close five days last week and then doing a complete 360 and only scheduling me three shifts TOTAL this week. It's frustrating but it has given me a chance to get a lot done. I've been practicing with my new camera and working on some projects around the house so at least this free time has not been a total waste.

I've been making a lot of plans for Ethan and I in the coming weeks- I'm tired of being a hermit and we've decided that we really need to take advantage of where we live this spring. We're SO CLOSE to so many things but we usually end up watching movies we get from Netflix because we're too lazy to get out of the house after work. Not anymore though! I've been making a list of all the things I want to do and it's my goal to get at least 75% of them done by the time the summer is over. Here's a sample of my list:
* visit my little sister in her new town once she gets moved in
* go to a Cincinnati Reds game
* visit the zoo
* have my niece and nephew (M & K) come to stay with us for an overnight (I'm not sure if I'm quite ready for the other younger set to come stay with us yet, so we'll see how it goes with the older kids first)
* participate in a 5k walk for charity (we usually do one every year in the fall, so this might not be one of our top priorities)

I have some other ideas but I'll have to narrow them down to a final list. Part of my inspiration to get out and do more things comes from a blog I've been reading about a little girl who suffers from SMA. Her parents have created this blog as a "bucket list" of things they want to accomplish before their little girl is forced to leave them and it is just awe-inspiring. The blog is titled "Avery's Bucket List" and I encourage everyone to read it- it will really inspire you to do the things you want before it's too late. Warning: this blog makes me teary-eyed on a regular basis.

Woah!!

I can not believe that I didn't post anything for the entire month of March! I guess that just goes to show how busy we have been lately. I'll just put a few highlights for now, but will DEFINITELY start updating more often.

*I have finally purchased my first "professional" camera. Ethan and I have been discussing it forever and since we had a little surplus money these past few weeks we decided that we should just go ahead and buy it. I've been having fun playing around with it and taking pictures of ridiculous things, but I'm ready to start practicing on people now. I have some "photo shoots" set up with some of my friends and family so I just need to get going!
*I am still working on my weight-loss goals. I'm holding steady at 18 pounds gone and I have renewed my motivation this week to get to that 30 pound goal! I have begun working out again and I have to say it really helps me to re-focus and work toward my healthier me.
*This weekend Ethan and I are heading to the Keeneland horse races in Kentucky. I have never been to a horse race before and I am really looking forward to it. We are taking a bus down with a bunch of E's friends and then going out to dinner afterward so it should be an amazing day! I just need to remember to get some pictures while Ethan and I are dressed up :)

That's all I can think of for right now so until next time!