Right Wing Mom

Starting over. YET again. I hate that I am always starting over.

Sometimes the thought creeps into my head: “Why bother? It’s not like you are going to stick with it… you always quit”

I hate that voice.

The “voice” of defeat.

SHUT UP!

Cliche as it sounds… I’ll never know unless I try.

So….. here I am again. Not really trying anything new on the workout front, Jillian is still kicking my butt.

The nutrition front will be a RADICAL change.

The last month or so, my diet has been so bad. Just nutritionally void and icky.

I stumbled across the Paleo diet and it looked PERFECT for me.

I have some major , major issues with starches and sugar and I’ve realized in the last 2 months or so, that I also am having some issues with milk - major cravings

So… I did some digging and some research and Marc and I have decided to jump right on in.

The Paleo diet, also called the Caveman diet is supposed to take you back to the way our “caveman” ancestors ate. Well, let’s start off by changing the name…. considering I’m not really in the evolution group - Marc and I have decided to call it the “Post-Flood” diet

Here are the basics. First off the No’s - No bread, grains, sugar, dairy, legums and tubers

Thats a lot of no foods. Bread, rice, pasta, sugar, corn, potatoes, beans, peanuts, milk, yogurt and cheese.

Yikes.

But - plenty of protein, veggies, fruits and nuts!

Breaking it down… its eating as clean and natural as you can.

There are a few reasons for going to what some may consider, extreme.

First, of course…. is weight loss. I want to lose weight. Plain and simple.

Secondly and more importantly, is health. Following this diet will allow my body to detox and heal its self. Let’s face it… I’m 37 and as much as I want to say “I don’t fell 37″ the truth is… I kind of do. I’m tired. I’m achy. I’m bloated. I’m sore.

My body is just not working optimally. That is pretty darn pathetic.

Marc and I have committed to doing this for 3 months. We will be traveling in October and want to be at our best.

It will be interesting and challenging.

I will keep updating here and let you know how it’s going and what, if any changes I am experiencing.

Please feel free to ask any questions!

Two posts in a week? Could I be back? Hmmm…..

Of course, both of the posts are about I Heart Faces! Sorry - but I’m having fun!

Fridays on I Heart Faces are Fix-It-Fridays. They post a picture that could use a little tweaking and leave it up to the reader to edit the photo as they see fit. This is great photo editing practice!

I use Aperture, which is the Mac photo editing software. I do have Photoshop also, but I find that Aperture takes so little time to get great results! I almost feel like I’m “cheating!” Plus, in all honesty… I haven’t figured out Photoshop all that much. I’m a busy girl and I can pop down for just a few minutes and edit a ton of photos with Aperture. One day, I’m sure, Photoshop and I will become good friends. But, until then… Aperture does EVERYTHING I need!

So, without further ado….

Here is this weeks original photo:

Twinkies! I love babies… I REALLY love twin babies. That could have something to do with having a pair of them myself… but I digress.

Cute photo, but could use some tweaking. Here’s what I had in mind:

I was really happy with the way it turned out! What do you think?

Here is my “recipe”

**First I cropped the photo to place more focus on the babies faces.

**Changed the “White Balance” to “Daylight” which slightly warmed their skin tones

**Used “Skin Softening” at a “Softness” of .17 and a “Strength” of 1

**Used “Retouch” on the baby girl’s chest to remove the red blotchy area

**Applied “Vignette - Gamma” with an “Intensity” of .5 and a “Radius” of 1.75

**Applied “Polarize” on the black background area at a “Softness” of .5 and “Strength” of .6

**Used “Dodge” at a “Softness” of 1 and “Strength” of 1 on both of the babies faces

I love photography - always have. But… even with some military training (Thanks USMC) I have never felt very confident with my photos.

Thankfully I have a wonderful and supportive hubby that likes to feed me ego and push me out of my comfort zone!

I have been experimenting a bit and with inspiration from both Haley and Andrea I’m going out on a limb!

Have you ever checked out I Heart Faces? If not… get your booty on over there! It is a wonderful site full of awesomeness!

I have been visiting the site for probably 18 months now and am constantly amazed at the wonderful photos!

So… I now present:

My first I Heart faces photo entry!

This weeks theme is YELLOW.

My sassy little Emma showing off her new shades.

Check out more awesome yellow themed photos here: I Heart faces