Blogger Mobile App

Trying out my new blogger mobile app. I figured it would be fun and easier on the go to just add pictures from my phone. Texting this in however might not be pretty. ;) lol

I talked to some random guy at the gym. Normally people don't talk to you. He said, "You go girl!" as well as a few other things. Really wish I could know my heart rate on the stairs because my heart always feels so fast on there. Lol Of course the day after I talk about heart changes. Haha

I also ran a little today and feel great!!! I walked the first mile and didn't have any hip or back pain so I thought I would go for it. Happy to say I ran the second mile. Felt like I could have gone on but didn't want to push it. Baby steps.

Check out this awesome "Sweet Shoppe". Shauna did amazing. Loved it!!

Heart Improvements

I love it when I notice good health changes along the weight loss journey. Since I have been working out so consistently (almost every day), I have been noticing changes. Heart changes!

When I used to exercise and noticed my heart rate, I would start in the 150s and go up to the 180s. Of course at that point I would slow down because that is high. So now I am working out just as hard or harder and starting out in the 130s and going up to 150s usually. Occasionally I'll see a 160 in there.

I like to motivate myself by trying to work harder than the person next to me. But when I glanced over I just happened to see her heart rate. So, I slowed my speed to match hers and my resistance level lowered to match hers. This was a much skinnier person. Her heart rate was in the 160s/170s and Mine was in the 130s/140s. I was sooo excited about that. That is some serious change. I used to not like to hold on to the heart rate thing much because my heart rate was high usually, even if I wasn't doing too much. What a change.

Weight Loss Update: Things are going GREAT!!! I am consistently losing. I'm at 34 pounds lost now. This fitness app is really helping me. Picturing myself having to add something to my log makes me not want to choose certain things. Making healthier choices and keeping moving every day is my new norm.

I haven't run in a while. I tried once last week because my hip wasn't hurting anymore. (Probably because I wasn't running.) But I tried just for half a mile and all of a sudden my back starts hurting again. UG! If it's not one thing it's another. It was making me limp so I had to start walking and then even walking was hurting too much. Seriously need to call the doctor and make an appointment already. I'm not letting this stop me from working out though. I'm just choosing other workouts to do. NO EXCUSES!! So many of my friends ran in half marathons or full marathons yesterday. ahh really makes me want to run. Can't believe I would ever really say that. I actually like to run and I miss it.

My Fitness Pal

So, with my new rejuvenated enthusiasm to get this weight off I have decided to take a new approach. I've decided to start counting calories. I have been eye balling it in the past and making healthier choices. But I figured that a more structured approach might be just what I need to make the scale move faster.

I joined a site called myfitnesspal. It's a website and app all in one. You can calculate all of the foods you eat and get a read out on the nutrition you are consuming. It's pretty awesome how it shows all of the vitamins and everything you are getting and what you are lacking and still need to get for the day. You can track your exercise there too. Then it calculates and gives you credits for all of the working out you have done so theoretically you could eat more if you worked out. On a day like today when I worked out like crazy, I'm using some of those calories.

Another part of it that I like is that it has an app for my phone. So, while I was in the gym today I was adding all of the things I did right into it. That way I would remember it all. And it's so fast to do it too.

I lost again this week!! Not nearly as much as the first week trying really hard....but still a loss. I'm looking forward to many reports of progress on the scale.

You can add friends on this app to help encourage each other as well. I'm TraciTreasures. Feel free to add me. Still trying to figure it all out.  A bunch of my other names I would pick were taken, so I just chose my blog name (without the s). When I had originally signed up for it I was TracisTreasures, but I deleted that account because when I signed in I didn't use my original start weight for my "now" weight. I was discouraged. I really wanted that ticker! So, I'll be adding the ticker right after this blog. Sadly, I'm back to 30 pounds lost (as apposed to 66). But that's with losing like 5 recently. So, I'll take it. I won't quit. I will slowly lose it all again and then more.

While I was working out yesterday I was telling myself over and over. I'm capable. I can do this. I can get through this. I am worth it. I'm not going to die.

I'm so determined that no one and nothing is going to stop me.

I joined 2 challenges as well. One is with a group from church. It's mainly a goal challenge. Set your own goal and whomever achieves that goal within the allowed time gets put in a drawing for a $50 gift card. Sounds good to me!! The other challenge is kind of a goal challenge too with some online friends. For that challenge I am going to be continuing my workout routine as well as tracking my food and exercise on myfitnesspal as well.

Looking forward to all of this motivation to keep on track.

No Bus For Us

On the way to school today we saw the kids still waiting for the bus (all alone). So a conversation started about why they are not taking the bus to school even though they are far enough away from school to bus in.

I started telling them my story about almost being kidnapped at the bus stop when I was in 1st grade. I realize most people probably don't know this story so I thought I would share. I was with a few other kids at the bus stop waiting for the bus. A car came up to us when the man driving said that our bus had broken down and that he was there to take us to school. (There was already a little girl in the back seat of the car.) So immediately I was like...oh ok...and took a step toward the car. That is when one of the big 5th grader boys stepped in front of me with his arm straight out shouting "NO!" He hovered around us pushing us away from the car to get us further away. It all happened so fast. That's when the bus showed up and the car sped away.

We proceeded to tell the bus driver, as well as several other adults who DIDN'T believe us. Finally we told a noon duty aid who took us seriously and took us to the office. The police were called and a search was on for the people in the car as well as the little girl who was in the car already. They did calls to make sure none of the school buses were actually broken down as well. And eventually called our parents. My mom says it wasn't until 2 something before they were called. Needless to say they couldn't believe it took them so long to call.

The police honored the boy who saved us. I'm tearing up just thinking about it. Who knows what could have happened if he weren't there?

I was just talking about this with my mom the other day. I learned something I never knew. She said they eventually caught the guy because he tried to do it again.

The bus stop here is literally right down the street from our house. But the bus stop this happened at was right down the street from my child care that I was at in the morning. And the bus stop this happened at was right next door to a fire department. This stuff can happen anywhere. So I will happily drive the 2 miles to the school twice a day.

Moving the Scale

Finally we have some major movement on the scale. I lost 4.4 pounds this week!!! Hallelujah!! I guess cutting back on the Easter candy was the trick. What a concept?! lol So excited to see that scale moving in the right direction. It just motivates me further to keep going to the gym and eating better.

Video for Ellen

Ever since seeing Sophia Grace and Rosie on Ellen Courtney has been asking me if they can make a video to send to Ellen. That way she can go on the show. It seems really important to her so I agreed to video them if they practiced what they were going to do. So they practiced and I videoed and promised to send it to Ellen. I'm putting it on here because it needed a web address to submit it. And I thought it would be safer here than you tube. So, here they are. So cute!
Never mind...it only let me upload on you tube. But here it is anyway.

WACCy Wednesday

haha I thought that would be a fun title since I am writing about the women's retreat that I went on with the wonderful women at WACC (Whittier Area Community Church). We went to the Murrietta Hot Springs for the weekend and had a wonderful time. As you can see from the photo above, it was a beautiful place. I only took this one picture of it. lol Didn't even take my regular camera. Guess I needed a retreat too.

6 people to a room doesn't sound like much fun, but it was. My roomies were my mom, Shauna, Kim, Ekaterina, and Amy. We had such a fun time doing everything together.

The first night we got all checked in (thanked God we weren't the lady who broke her leg) and went to dinner together. It was fun eating all together in the big hall so we could see the other groups who were there too. Then we went over to our big room that we had the opportunity to meet our speaker. She was wonderful. What a natural gift this woman has. While walking back to our rooms and being very tired, we checked out the hot springs for the next day. Don't know if you have ever been to them but boy do they stink. lol Supposedly like sulfur but to me it smelled like rotten eggs. We didn't care. We just knew we had to experience it while we could. So we went back to bed and slept. Every one was so tired.

The next day we started with breakfast together followed by our morning session with the speaker and worship. The theme of the talks was friendship. We learned about  Barbaras, Pamelas, and Tammys. The need for having friends that are Barbaras are friends that are like Barnabus was. There for your friends no matter what. They live life with you and are willing to pick up your mat when you are too sick/tired to do it for yourself. Friends who are Pamelas are friends who are like Paul. A mentor relationship. Someone who has been there before. Someone who can pour into you, as Sherry would say. The third are Tammys. These are friends who are like Timothy. Friends that we can mentor. Someone new to the path you have been on. It was awesome learning all of this.

After that talk we had many different options of workshops we could go to or chose to do nothing at all. ;) I thought it was great that they emphasized that this retreat should be whatever you want it to be. So if you wanted to have activities, there were many to choose from. If you wanted to sleep all day you could do that too. Loved that. We chose to sign up for one workshop and have fun the rest of the day. We went to Anne's workshop on Building Healthy Relationships/Boundaries. Some good reminders about having healthy boundaries and sticking up for yourself really. A hard challenge but worth it.

We then went to lunch and parted ways. Some went to lunch outside the retreat and others went to other workshops, while 4 of us (mom, Shauna, Ekaterina and I) went out shopping after our lunch. There was a mall right down the street. A few of us got mini massages (10 min. shoulder ones). It was worth it. We got back to the retreat and decided to go into the hot springs. WOW, is it hot! And we were supposedly in the cooler one. The natural rocky bottom was so hard to sit in or on. It was amazing that we didn't stink like it afterward. We all still took showers after just in case. ;) Then we all got ready for dinner. After dinner was a wonderful night with worship and the speaker one last time. There were also other mini talks here and there throughout.

After that we had a bonfire with smores and spontaneous baptisms afterward in the hotsprings. The speaker had talked about her church and they did a polar bear baptism for someone who insisted to get baptized right away in natural water (not an inside pool or bath). I think people were inspired by the story and by the Holy Spirit of course. It was wonderful that so many people (7) decided to be baptized.

We actually left right before the baptisms and before the bonfire was over so we could get to our movie in time. We went to see The Hunger Games. The movie didn't end until 1 something. We were pleasantly surprised when the rest of our group was still awake when we got back. They had been relaxing in the hot springs late. The movie was good, but the company was even better.

The next morning we met for our last breakfast there together. I ended up getting an allergic reaction to the bread (manufactured with peanuts I found out). So I spend the rest of the morning in a daze of sleepiness due to the Benadryl. We had a great morning recapping our wonderful weekend. So many women talking about their experiences. I even felt the need to share. I got up to share how wonderful it was to spend some quality time with friends. To be somewhere, where I knew a lot of people, and got so many wonderful hugs from people. I think God knew I needed to be there. To experience the love of friendship this weekend. It was a rather emotional morning. We went to look at the bookstore before we left.

Thankfully my mom had offered to drive me to her house because there was no way I could drive. We were already planning on going to Whittier. I was just going to drive home to get everyone and Scott drive to Whittier. So this way my mom drove me to Whittier and Scott and the kids met us there. We got to hang out with my cousin Nicole while she was down from Washington and her fiance Greg. We had to leave way too soon. We waited quite a while though after taking the Benadryl to leave because I had to drive one car home. The weather going home didn't help. Windy, rainy, foggy, dark.

Got home safe from the retreat finally like at about 8 or so at night. What a wonderful retreat with my friends and family. But it was so nice to be back home. I missed those kiddos and my hubby.

More to come....

Just thought I would come on here real quick so I don't get out of the blog habit for too long again. ;) I have a few ideas for blog entries I will be doing soon just need a few minutes to do it and today is not that day. All of my photos are on the other computer too. The computer we just got back from being fixed.

The girls had soccer games today. Note to self: Everyone must be slathered in sunscreen. Not just a little. Slathered! And don't just bring the umbrella in the car. Actually take it with you. lol Even if it's a Wind Warning kind of day. More on that later. I had sunscreen on and still got burnt.

Tomorrow is my mom's birthday. Happy birthday, Mom!! Excited to go to Whittier. However, we are doing our taxes that day too. Hate doing them. Always makes me nervous for some reason. All of the receipts are all in excel and it's all printed out ready to go.

The girls have spring break this week. They couldn't be more excited about it. I think they are the most excited to be visiting their old school. The schools have different spring breaks so their old teachers encouraged us to bring them in to visit their classrooms. Courtney has been making cards for each person in her class telling them how much she misses them all.  I'm looking forward to seeing all of those little faces seeing her again. Her face as she sees all of her friends again. And her teacher's face watching it all. The joy will be abounding. I sooo look forward to Skyler going back to her classroom too. She is also very excited to see everyone. I can't wait for her to see her old friends again and to feel like a super special kid for a day. Scott also has Monday and Tuesday off to join us.

Monday Scott has his nuclear stress test. Assuming it actually happens. Last time it was scheduled we had a call the day before saying it wasn't approved. Ug. Talk about hassles. So, let's hope it happens since the doctor wants it to happen.

Looking forward to all this week has to offer. Wait...let's see if Scott has put any pictures on this computer. ;)

A cute pic of the girls at Red Robin with some of their best friends, Jenna and Alyssa. I believe this was when we were celebrating Alyssa's birthday.

Resurfacing

So, I'm resurfacing in the blogger world. I have been thinking about blogging for a while, but never sat down to actually write anything. Since the kids are getting a long for a few minutes, I thought I would jump right in. It feels like forever since I have blogged and quite a lot has gone on in my life.

We moved. Quite the ordeal. I have lived most of my life in Whittier and have moved away from home. We now live in Victorville, CA. Which, really isn't that far away. It's usually about an hour and 15 minutes to get here. We have been back to Whittier almost every weekend since. Or at least it seems that way. Between birthday parties for the girls back in Whittier so their friends (and ours)  and family could come, outings for church, more birthdays, etc. We even came back once to get a dog. (More about that later.)

This move has been really hard on me. Not to take away from any of the friendships I have started now that we are here. It just doesn't feel like home here and I'm not sure it ever will. Eventually we would like to be back in Whittier. So I see this as a chance to trust God's direction in our lives. Trust that He has a plan in all of this and that maybe it's people like Gen and Tim we were supposed to meet. Or Jenny and Jeff who invited us into their home for bible study. Or maybe we will some how impact something here or have lasting friendships from here that we weren't going to have had we not moved here.

This is really hard to write about because it hits me hard how much I miss everyone. I miss hanging out with my besties. Going to Savers or Panera with Danielle and Candice. Hanging out with Kim and Amy. Running or scrapping with Shauna. And all of the above and more with all of my friends and family. I miss being able to run over to either my parents or in laws house to hang out. I know my girls miss that too.

Speaking of the girls, it has been so hard seeing them in the school that they are in. Yes, we checked it out before hand. Checked them all out but couldn't get in to any of the charter schools we wanted because they were all full. They were excelling in their school in Whittier that had higher standards of learning compared to here. Don't get me wrong, they are doing great here too, but they could be doing more. Thankfully we just had a conference with both teachers and they are doing amazing in their classes. So glad to talk to both and get a feeling like they might challenge them both more. Even if I'm doing some of it at home. We will be trying to change schools for next fall. Hopefully we can get in. But for now, I think it will be fine where they are at. I'm learning to go with it in some areas and challenge what isn't being done in other areas.

I really should take this time to say how blessed we really are. My husband has a job!! That in itself is just such an awesome thing. We are living in a rented house that is amazingly huge that we are getting spoiled in. 3 bathrooms compared to 1 is the most amazing thing. We are starting to make a few friends slowly and have unpacked everything we are going to unpack. (There are tons of boxes in the garage that will stay that way unless needed.) We really are blessed. I just really wish we could be back to our life and a more local to Whittier job for my honey. We'll work on that. ;) He's such a hard worker and I am so proud of him.

In the meantime I am a traveling photographer. Kind of was one before, but more so now. I have only done some shots here of my girls (that I haven't edited yet). But still keep getting work near the Whittier area, which I love. It allows me to be able to go back and visit some people while I make some money for my family and provide a wonderful service for families, as well as have fun taking the pictures. I am constantly wanting to learn more about photography. This is partially why I pin a million pins about photography on my board on pinterest. Because I never know which pin will be linked to the most amazing advice I will ever get. And sometimes I check out the websites, realize it's crap and go back and delete the pin. Ug. I love looking at it all. It's so inspiring. Not loving their terms of use though. May have to re-think some of the things I re-pin.

So, I mentioned we got a dog! Finally!! The girls cheer for her every time they see her. It's so adorable how they just love on her. Her name is Princess. She's a small little black dog. Looks like a Chitoxi (Taco Terrior...lol), which is a mix of Chihuahua and Toy Fox Terrior. Not 100% on it though. Possibly a Puggle like Petsmart thought. But the Chitoxi ones look more like her.

The year of unemployment was not nice to my waist line. So I need to re-loose some of the weight I lost. That's so hard for me to admit, but I'm finally saying it. So far since the new year I have gone up and down to a total of 3 pounds lost so far. Not that great, but something I guess. It seems like every time I go gung ho on the weight loss I either get really sick and can't exercise or hurt myself when I go running or something and can't move for a few days. It's like really?? Granted, the eating right should be enough, but it just hasn't happened yet. I need to get real and kick myself in the butt. I have started doing all different kinds of exercises to help. From Turbo Kick Boxing, running, walking, elliptical, rowing, strength training, stair machine, etc. I started training for a 8K race (but didn't end up racing). I trained for it and got to the 5 miles twice, but ended up hurting my hip. Not sure how since it was pretty gradual increase of miles. So, I'm going to lay off the running for now since even walking and a little jogging still hurts it. I'll stick with the other stuff for now. That's hard for me because I know in running once you stop you have to build back up to it all again. Just when I was at 5 miles. Ah oh well. Health of my hip first. And that way I won't have my hip holding me back from exercising. I want to stop sabotaging myself. I want to get me back. I want to be healthy. I WILL do this. I will never give up.

Moving??

Scary thought!!! But good reason. Scott got a job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He accepted a job offer in Victorville. If you don't know this area, that means it's about an hour and 15 minutes to drive to without traffic. You have to go through the Cajon Pass to get there...so it's one of those places that if weather isn't good, you can't go through the pass. I'm assuming there are ways to take the long way around. So, in the meantime, Scott is going to start working there on Oct. 24th and commute until we actually move there. That is unless another better offer comes first. He had an awesome interview with Chevron of all places (his previous employer). This refinery is the one in Bakersfield though, so that would be even further away. Through yet another pass (Tajon Pass..aka the Grapevine) So, if he got that one, we would have to move there. Either job (Victorville or Bakersfield) we would have to move for. The one in Victorville doesn't pay enough for us not to move. Victorville cost of living is way lower than here so we could rent a huge house out there for way less than we have a mortgage for here. Same with Bakersfield. But Bakersfield there is no way he could commute to. Just too far away. And on another note, there is a slight possibility we wouldn't have to move at all. Scott got an email yesterday from a company who wants to talk to him and they are only in Monrovia (way easier to commute to). So, in the meantime we need to pack with the assumption that the for sure job is happening (Victorville). I'm so sad for the kids moving from their schools, teachers, friends, family and all. (Especially since it's during the school year.) But really, Victorville isn't that far away. When I think of all of the hundreds of places Scott applied to all over the country, this is pretty close. It's not Hawaii or Washington DC. No 5 hour plane flight needed. :)

I am getting sad about it though. Our house is going on the market. And it just saddens me to think of other people wanting our house and getting it. We have to try to sell anyway to avoid foreclosure (since we haven't been able to pay the mortage for several months). It would be way better to get someone to buy it as a short sell than to have a forclosure or deed in lieu of foreclosure on our record. (Both are bad for your credit.) But then again so is not paying your mortgage for several months. It was inevitable though. We managed to pay it several months after unemployment somehow and then the funds just weren't there.

Scott's unemployment checks just ended. Well technically he still has one $29 check still coming. lol Isn't that so like God? Having him get a job offer right when the unemployment is ending. So amazing. We are so thankful for a job!!! If it didn't happen we were both thinking of taking any job out there (like Target or Costco or wherever) just to have money to eat and all.

Unfortunately, the job in Victorville doesn't do relocation. So we have to pay for our own costs to get out there. Boo! It seems like most do cover it, so to get like the one that doesn't is a little strange. Oh well. It's a job.

We keep hearing about the schools over there being bad. Please stop telling us this. We have heard it from so many people now. Guess they have a reputation out there. HOWEVER, once you actually look into the school systems over there, there are several schools that are California Distinguished schools (just like over here) and some are even National Blue Ribbon schools (which is better than the schools over here). Guess we just have a heart for our own school systems. We will also be calling the Sherrifs to see which neighborhoods are bad and which are better to live in as well as actually going there to look at some rentals.

There is just so much to think about. First order of business is my business birthday bash this weekend. I'm doing a little party for previous clients and future ones that have signed up for a session as well as some family. So excited about that. So, I have to keep the house looking fall for that. Then after that we can seriously start packing. In the meantime Scott and I will be going like mad people cleaning up our room and the garage and all of that to make the house look better to sell. Seriously need to paint the trim also. Lots to do, so much to think about.

And just the thought of having to keep the house looking perfect for anytime people want to call to come look at the house. ahhh A serious yard sale will be in order.

10 on Tuesday

 Wow, it's been a while since I have done one of these.

1. Please pray for my hubby. He has 3 different interviews today with Disney. This would seriously be a dream job to him to go back to Disney. (Only in the corporate side.) He is just so excited to even have the opportunity to interview with them.

2. Speaking of not having a job. At some point this month the bank will be calling about our house. We will have 4 options. (2 if he has a job and 2 if he doesn't). We are really down to the wire on this one. I am so stressed out about the potential of losing our house. Who would have ever thought he would be unemployed so long? Not for a lack of trying though. He is constantly applying to jobs. It's just so stressful thinking of losing our home and what that will mean for us and the kids and all of that. We did hear recently about housing being able to go 1 year without paying the mortgage (when unemployed) and then having to deal with that. Right now it's at 6 months and August is our 6th month. And on top of that, Scott's unemployment checks will end in October. Please God, let him get this job so that we don't have to worry about either thing any longer.

3. MOPS is starting back up on September 22nd!! I'm excited about that. Planning time is under way. I love MOPS and am excited to be getting calls from new moms who want to join us. I hope they actually do. This will be my last year Coordinating MOPS. Originally it was because Skyler would be in kindergarten this year so I would be graduating at the end of the year (and out of MOPS). But we decided to expand our MOPS group to moms of 1st graders. We were going to expand to all of elementary, but we didn't want to put too much on our leadership team who was already on overload. So, we just expanded it one grade to include more moms. (Especially since there is currently no program at our church specifically for elementary school moms.) Maybe next year they could expand it to all of elementary. Or maybe not. Who knows? So, Amy (a fellow member of the steering team) and I will be done after this year but still in MOPS the year after. We can help them but won't be leading it. Hopefully this will make an easier transition so we can answer questions and be there for support.

4. My girls love this VBS (vacation bible school) they are going to right now. It's at Shepherd of the Hills and the theme is "PandaMania". The kids have rave reviews about it. Our church's was last week and they loved that one too. Courtney especially loved "Discovery Days". She picked the casting call (drama class) and water world (water games/play class). I was so excited for her to experience it because I remember doing it when I was her age.

5. Our whole family is trying to be healthier. So you're all on notice. No more pizza runs or letting my kids have 2 servings of ice cream when they're at your house. We are going to try to not reward with food either. We are going to try to be very active and have healthy eating combine with that. This will be interesting considering we are camping this weekend.

6. Yeah...camping is this weekend!! Usually we go to Shaver Lake. But the parental figures decided to do Lake of the Springs instead. Boo!!! It's never better than Shaver when we pick a different place (even if it's free). Let's do Shaver next year. lol Let's remember Bass Lake..lol My family knows what this means.  (1 ambulance ride and 2 trips to the hospital and 2 kidney stones later.)

7. This last year has not been good on my waist line. I have been giving myself too much slack in the eating department and trying to work it off only to stay the same or gain. This is going to change. I want my workouts to be decreasing the number on the scale not evening out what I already did that day. Now that I'm not in a challenge right now I just know I need to do this for me. No other reasons than that. No more excuses.

8. I often wonder why my "friends" don't "like" my photography page. I have more friends on facebook than people who "like" my page. (And some of my fans or people who like it I don't know.) I mean really, it's not like it really matters. I know not everyone will actually like it. Not everyone's work is going to appeal to everyone. Just thought my friends would do me a favor. Supposedly the more likes you have the further up on searches you are. So, it would help the business. I'm not worried about it though. It is what it is. People will like it or not. And my business does not hang on the balance of how many likes I have. Some people I have even invited a couple times. The thing about this is that Facebook doesn't tell you who ignored it or who just hasn't looked at the request that is sitting there in their requests. So, I don't know if you simply want to not have anything to do with it or if you just haven't looked at it. (However, the people who frequent facebook I'm assuming either don't know where their requests are or are ignoring it. boo) The really only reason this matters is when I'm posting pictures. I want to gain more interest so I was posting them on my personal page (simply to reach more people and so their friends can be tagged and make comments). But I would think it would drive more to my business page if I only put them there. That way if friends and family would like to comment on them they have to like the page first. This doesn't always work though because people just look and choose not to comment/like. Then you have no idea if people like what you just posted or not. Just my ramblings of the issues with using facebook to try to gage more interest for your business.

9.  I filed my first e-file for taxes for my business to the BOE (Board of Equalization) for the state of CA. It was easier than I thought it would be. Especially since I just had to have all of my numbers ready and wasn't sure which ones I would need. Getting ready for it was more than actually doing it. Glad that's over. I only have to do that fiscal yearly so I'm glad I won't have to do it til next July.

10. If we have funds I'm going to throw a business 1 year birthday party in October. My photography business started last October so I thought it would be fun to throw a 1 year "birthday" party. I'm thinking of inviting all of my past clients and anyone interested in the future. I'm thinking of holding a model search and taking pics of those interested. And I would take pics of everyone who came and give them those pics. And am thinking about doing a photo contest on my facebook page. I just need to figure out the details and get-er-done. So much fun just thinking about it all. :)

Boy, I guess I had a lot to say today.

Serve Weekend 2011

Our church started doing serve weekend several years ago and each year has been so special and a fun experience. There are no church services and everyone goes out in the community to do service projects. Various members of the community, code violation homes, homeless shelters, salvation army, food banks, school projects, etc. Over 100 from our church. Now a bunch of other churches are doing their own serve weekend in our community. It was so awesome this year that we all were doing it on the same weekend. Volunteers everywhere. :) Love it!

This was our first project of the weekend. Mulberry Elementary Fun Fair for the whole school district. We were the WACC booth. Telling all of the kids and parents about our awesome kids programs and handing out fliers for them.

This was on Sunday. These were the projects that I was assigned to be the photographer. That was my second project. It was fun taking pictures of everything they were cleaning at the Whittier Community Center. This is the whole group up on stage.

Concert for a Cello...This was a fun concert to go to. It was to raise funds for this kid who is going to high school and would love to have his own Cello. He played for us as well. We all bought dinners to help support. There was a raffle and bake sale for it too. It was a fun night out.

This was a project done by another church near the Whittier Community Center. It was at Joe Miller Field. They were painting all of the bleachers for the softball field.

This is at Scott's Sunday project at Come To Him Ministries. They were installing vanities, medicine cabinets, hardware, electrical, etc. at the resident's homes.

What a fun weekend we had serving our community. And I think it's important to say that while it's fun to post about it and show all of the cool things we did, that's totally not the point. We really are just being the hands and feet of God. Showing love to the people in our community in a tangible way. Not for us to get the credit. I hope God alone can get the credit.

Blogging

I keep thinking about all of the different blog posts I want to do and never get around to doing it. So I'm going to write a little while I'm thinking about it. Nothing special, no topic, just writing. I keep saying to myself that I will blog after that next project is over. Then I will have more time. Then the next project comes that takes over my world and I don't have much time anymore (again).

Life has been fun. We have been consumed by softball. In a good way. Scott is the manager of the girls' team and I am one of the coaches. The Ladybugs are so adorable. It's T-Ball still, but half way into the season they started doing coach pitching to try to hit it that way. They have been doing great. I can't believe the season is almost over. I am not, however looking forward to play offs. Didn't they learn anything from last year? Last year we had play offs for the first time in T-ball. What are they thinking? First of all, there better be an umpire this year. Last year it was a disaster with coaches making their own rules because the coaches were supposed to be the umpires. That totally doesn't work. So, there is one more season game (on April 30th) and then play offs, closing ceremonies, one more fundraiser for our team party, and our team party left to go. Seems like a lot, but it will probably all be within the next 2 weeks or so.

Photography is going great. I photographed 2 weddings now. The second was on a cruise to Mexico. That makes me officially an international destination photographer. hehe :) However, when you are a photographer not only for a wedding, but for a whole cruise, you come home with a TON of photos. I'm still editing them all. :) I am excited to be learning my new photo editing program as well as some actions that I just started using. It's so fun to play around with the pictures. Now once I'm done with these I can work on some of mine. ;)

I have been sick for a long time. I was sick for at least about 2 weeks (on and off) before the cruise. Then I was well for the cruise. Then the day after we got back (3/29) I started this sickness. So, that's over 3 weeks ago now. Thankfully the sinus infection/cold part is pretty much gone now. But I'm still dealing with the Vertigo. I finally went to the doctor last Friday because I looked at my medication label to find that if I had these symptoms I should stop taking it and call a doctor. Oh great...just what I needed. Turns out I was having at least part of my problem was a reaction to the medication (Mucinex D). So I got on new decongestants and stopped taking that med. The Vertigo, however, is still around. It's WAY better than it was for sure. Yesterday was so much better than any day since having it. I even took a walk and it wasn't that bad. (My leg and back were killing me, but I wasn't that dizzy.) Then last night had to sit a few times after feeling the motion again. So, it's getting much better, but I'm still dealing with it.

Due to dealing with the Vertigo, I haven't been able to exercise. The last really good workout I had was the day I got sick this time 3/29. Since then I have only been able to take 2 walks. I'm taking it slow and am planning to slowly increase my workouts to get back to where I was. Weight wise and strength/endurance wise.

I decided to stop doing the weigh loss challenges at my house. It became too much and I'm over it. Tired of the constant calls to have a different weigh in time and sitting here all day weighing in people. And coming home to weigh someone in and having them be late or not show up. I love getting to know everyone and encouraging everyone. But that I can still help do through facebook. The new Biggest Loser Challenge will be hosted by Marlo. She's the woman who won this last challenge. It starts the first Tuesday in May. I believe that's the 3rd. I can get you the info if you are interested. She's adding a men group on if she gets enough men to sign up. (Two separate challenges.)

I'm so thankful that my husband is who he is. He has been such a huge supporter and has helped an encouraged me along the way no matter what I am personally going through. He is still looking for a job. He had a second interview with the Gas Co. but they still haven't called him back. They did say they hadn't made a decision yet. So, I guess that's good. I'm hoping they are deciding to make a second position and this is why they are taking so long to get back to him.

Ok, time to move on to more editing and house cleaning after.

Happy Birthday!

Thursday was my birthday. At one point it hit me that I was a year older. Boo! My birthday was quite a mix of emotions. We had a MOPS Meet Your Table Day. That's where we all get together at the playground and meet the new people who will be at our tables. Scott came suddenly with a plate full of breakfast burritos with candles on top. YUM!! Then Jasmine (chef extraordinaire) brought out a brownie cake platter. What a wonderful surprise. I really was overwhelmed with joy. The fact that they would all conspire to something so incredibly thoughtful for me was amazing. I have the best friends and hubby ever. I even got a couple presents and several cards.

Then my day took a weird turn. I had to go to a funeral. Well, we opted to wait to go until after we got Courtney from school so we could all go. It was in Riverside so it was quite the drive. We missed the graveside part. I was thankful of that since I didn't really want to do that part or have the girls there for that part. So, we were with the family gathering afterward. I'm thankful that it wasn't a big downer. It was actually just a nice gathering with our family on my mom's side for my great aunt's memorial.

Then we headed home but had planned to go out for my birthday for dinner. We knew we had a long drive ahead so we just stopped by McDonalds to let the kids get out some energy before the drive. We played all kinds of fun car games on the way home.

Then I stayed up until just after midnight finishing MOPS folders for the mentor mom brunch the next day. We just came up with the idea on my birthday (to do the folders) and I decided to just go for it and do it. It took a lot of time, but it was worth it. They all really appreciated having the folders with all of that information.

Yesterday (Friday) my parents took me out to dinner (with our family and my aunt) for my birthday. Tonight we are going over to my in laws for a birthday dinner at their house. And tomorrow we are having some family over for superbowl/birthday gathering. :) Quite the fun birthday days, indeed.

Meanwhile, on the weight loss front. I have been doing well. The first week of the challenge I lost 7 pounds. Then .4 the next week. lol I had lost 3 pounds before my birthday and have since gained it back. I'm hoping to get some more of that back off before weigh in on Monday. :)

Happy New Year

It's been a while. Christmas and New Years have gone and here I sit heavier than before they came. BOO!! Just means I have to work even harder.

Things I need to work on:

-Not undoing all of the work in the gym for food.
-Being more careful when going out to dinner.
-Eating way more vegetables
-Drinking more water
-Working out more often (getting back into that habit)
-Limiting my chocolate
-Not eating crap that will just make me sick
-Losing weight BEFORE the next challenge starts.

Etc...

I'm working on the 365 photos this year. One each day. I have a feeling most will be on my phone since we are out and about so much. So, not the best quality or anything but I will be posting them on my facebook page. I have been wanting to do that since I first heard it and thought the new year was perfect to start. I think it's funny that my husband is doing it too. So we can only count pictures we take. :) Or at least that's what I'm doing. He's already stolen a picture. lol

Photography is going really well. I just booked my first wedding!! So exciting!! It's my sister-in-law's sister who is getting married on a cruise in March. Pretty sure I'm doing my first event too in February. A high school reunion. Sounds fun! It's all so new so it makes me nervous. But I know once I'm doing it, it will be a blast and turn out great.

My little Skyler turns 5 next week. That is so hard to believe. She is getting so old. She starts kindergarten this fall too. She has started reading and I am so proud of her. We are doing a smaller party for her this year. We only invited a few of Skyler's friends (and their families) and our family. We are so incredibly thankful to be having a party at all. 

Courtney will turn 7 next month. AHHH!! She is going to be having a birthday sleepover. Oh help us! I can only imagine several 7 year old girls running around the house. She is amazing at school. She brought home a library chapter book and read the whole thing in 1 hour.

Skyler and Courtney are starting softball soon. This will be Skyler's first season and Courtney's second. This is probably the only year they could be on the same team so we are excited that Skyler finally said she would play. We just wanted her to try it out to see if she likes it. She loves doing it at home so we thought she would like it. Skyler did such an amazing job at soccer. She loves soccer.

I am the sole Coordinator for our MOPS group this semester. (Last semester I was Co-Coordinator with Danielle) So far it's going really well. Our team is amazing!! January (and August) is such a hectic month for MOPS. So many details to get lined up.

The Biggest Loser Challenge starts back up on the 17th. I could not start it before Skyler's birthday party. Too much craziness. And way too much to do before then. This will probably be the last one I run (with people coming over to my house to weigh in). I could see running more with people not coming over, but it's just so much having to be home all of the time during those weigh ins and all of that. It would be nice to just show up to a weigh in instead.

Anyway, that's my little update. I hope to get on here more often.

Scott has a job interview this week with "Varin". It's Wednesday at 10:30am. Oh it would be wonderful if he could get this job. Then we could have some larger sense of peace during this Christmas season.

We have been having a great time celebrating advent. That's like the anticipation or preparation for Christmas. We choose to do an advent calendar and have different things to do together as a family every day. It could be small like writing letters to each other or large like going to Disneyland for the day. We still have current passes so that would be free fun. It's an exciting tradition and my kids get very excited every day to see what we are doing. One of my favorite days so far was making cards, crafts, and presents for Suzen (our World Vision child). They created some awesome crafts and made her bracelets. Then we will send it all to her. Then we cleared out a toy box and set aside some toys to give to the Goodwill, some nicer ones to send to Suzen, and some to throw away. The kids didn't see me do that part. lol

We have been very blessed this Christmas. So many friends, family, and our church surrounding us with love and support. So much so that I am overwhelmed with love. It fills me with joy.

10 on Tuesday

1. Skyler had her first solo audition today. I guess Courtney's agent likes her too. They called me today wondering if she was available for an audition. They were looking for a blonde curly haired little girl. She had to dress in 1950's attire and this is what we came up with. We were trying to think away from the poodle skirt idea. She looked so adorable!! I found those glasses (lenses popped out) and scarf at Savers (thrift store). Everything else we already had. Cutie pie! This audition was for a Charter Satellite national network commercial.

2. Skyler did a great job. She had to recite a line that we memorized while we waited. She answered questions and seemed very proud of herself. I know I was. There were several little blonde curly haired girls there. (IMO Sky's hair was the curliest and cutest. hehe) I'm not biased at all. lol

3. FYI: I don't know how other people feel when I talk about stuff like this and if they are assuming she will get it. I just assume that it's just for fun and good experience. If I thought every time they would get the part, I would be very disappointed. This one at least has a very quick turn around for filming. So we would know fairly quickly if she did or didn't get it.

Kaiser??

4. Scott got his last check today from his job. It's a little scary. He has a good prospect that we are hoping and praying will come through. The last guy who interviewed Scott at Kaiser (and told him they were going with someone internal) called him telling him about a new job opportunity. That's a good sign that the guy was thinking about him. It would be a contractor position (not technically working for Kaiser) and no medical benefits. But it could lead to him getting hired officially for Kaiser down the road. The person he knows who works there got hired the same way and was hired on in 3 months. Scott actually started Chevron that way also, and was an employee in one year. It would be awesome. Especially if he can get hired and start getting paid before we run out of money. Ya, that would be great.

5. Major project going on this week for the soccer team. I need to acquire 4 more paint cans for the project.

6. The Biggest Loser Challenge is coming down to the last 4 weeks. I am doing horribly in comparison to the others. It almost feels like a waste. I need to seriously step it up with the exercise again this week. That worked really well last week when I lost 3.2. (Besides the fact that I gained 1 this week. Too much Halloween candy.)

7. I'm loving that Conan is back on the air. He's cool. When he had that live feed from the stairwell of the offices we were glued to it. They kept coming back doing hilarious things. (We of course had to keep coming back to see what else was going on.) Bring on Coco!!

8. I had my first destination photo shoot this last weekend. My high school friend, Jessica and her family treated us to a wonderful hotel room in Santa Maria. We had so much fun doing the shoots and hanging out with the family. We even did a photo shoot in the rain. (Don't worry. Scott was holding an umbrella over my camera.) I was the driest of them all. :) We ended up going to the beach on the way home and took some photos of the girls. They were so cute. Not matching at all, but still adorable. (They picked their outfits for the day.) hehe Who knew we would end up doing our own photo shoot. Hundreds of pictures were taken over the weekend!

9. I need to get new ZED cards printed for both girls. I have the photos, but need a printer. It's a huge postcard type and very thick. Anyone know a good printer for ZED cards?

10. I did the 30 Day Shred Level 2 yesterday and, of course, Jillian kicked my butt. Almost literally. My butt is killing me from all of those lunges. lol I thought I had been sitting down editing too long then remembered my butt kicking workout.

While I'm at it

So, while I'm at it, I thought I would ask everyone to go over to my photography blog and follow it. (click the link) Help a friend out! :) Love ya guys!

Long time no post

Hey everyone! It has been quite a while since I posted on my blog. Things are going well.

I am keeping up with the weight loss. The challenge is going well. We are in week 7 now. I am stepping it up by exercising a whole lot more. It's working. It is a miracle that I'm weighing the same right now as Monday though because of the influx of masses of candy over here. I am thankful that my favs are gone. No longer does the candy bowl call my name. (Ok, ok....not as much.)

The photography is going great. I'm continuing to constantly learn new things. Trying new things out and wishing I had better equipment to help in that endeavor. It will happen. :) I'm so excited that I'm doing my first destination photo shoot this weekend!!!!! That's right! One of my friends is paying for us to stay in Santa Maria for the night in a hotel so that I can do her photo shoot. I am so excited. I am loving this process of learning. Wishing I could learn more faster. :) I love finding new locations and seeing the beauty in all of the things around us and how wonderful pictures would look all over the place. It's definitely a learning experience. I'm already cringing at some of the early editing things I tried because I have already improved getting a similar look (but better) on a pic. But some of the first ones have yielded some of my favs as well, so I can't complain. I ordered business cards and cards for free photo sessions to give out for raffles and stuff like that. I'm excited to donate a photo session to our MOPS raffle and our Christmas Presence raffle as well. I am loving this business and so excited that I got out of my comfort zone of imagining the dream and just starting living the dream.

Something exciting happened on Monday. My family was called for an audition for a national commercial for Ford Explorer. They were picked after submitting photos to come to the audition. Courtney, Skyler, my mom, and my in laws were all part of the audition. They wanted real grandparents with their real grandchildren for the commercial. The grandparents were excited and nervous at the thought of it, but went anyway. :)

Here are a few of the kids from Halloween.

Sleeping Beauty

 Ariel

Lots of Updates

Wow, it feels like forever since I have been on this blog. Everything is going great with my photography business and I have been very busy. Traci Steinman Photography is officially up and running and I am so excited to have my first paying photo shoot this weekend!!! The link is to my new business website (blog). I'm still trying to figure out the tabbing section at the top though, so it's not quite all done, but getting there. (If anyone knows how to make the "pages" gadget work like tabs, let me know.) Feel free to come over and "follow me". I also started a facebook page for my business, so you can come like it over there too. The link to the facebook page is in the link above on the blog.

I just did new headshots for Courtney yesterday too so those will go up pretty soon. I also took pictures of both of the girls as well. I had talked to her agent yesterday originally about her Coogan Account, but ended up talking to her about her not being called for auditions. Long story short, she needs new pictures. I just saved us hundreds of dollars (literally) doing them myself.

Speaking of her Coogan Account...oh B of A. How I loath you. She has had her account with them since we started her in her acting school she was in a while ago. I had originally set up the account in the bank branch. It was set up wrong so I went back and asked to have the manager do it. So, they assured me everything was now set up correctly. Then we get statements showing them deducting fees from her account. HELLO! This is a BLOCKED TRUST Account. No one should be able to take any money from it until she is 18. And why the heck would I have her agents deposit the money in the account when it will all just go to the bank. I seriously never would have started this whole process if she wasn't going to eventually get all of her money. So, I have talked to a few agents now on the phone who every time assure me that everything is taken care of and that there will be no more fees until yesterday. This is the first lady to tell me that there is a $300 daily minimum balance for these accounts and I would keep getting fees until there was $300 in there. Thankfully at least they reversed most of the fees but now we still have the same problem down the road. So, we are shopping around for a new bank or credit union that does not have fees. It's looking like the AFTRA-SAG one might be the way to go since they are the experts on this. Oh how I would love for all of this to be taken care of once and for all.

The Biggest Loser Challenge just had our 4th week weigh in and I'm doing ok. Still losing, so that's great. I'm still in 10th (but no ties this time). I have some major work to do. I have been running and going to the gym and doing DVDs lately so I am getting more into the swing of it. But now that I am so busy it's getting harder to fit in the workouts. I will prevail!!

Scott is still looking for a job. He had a phone interview last week so we are waiting to hear back this week about that. We are hoping it can be based out of Pasadena instead of Oakland. Two people told him that they thought it would be able to, but we don't want to get our hopes up too high that he even will get the job. It's for Kaiser so that would mean switching insurances and everything too. But it would all be worth it for the security of a new job. Keep praying.