Dear Camera, I really do love you...

I have no idea what is going on with me. I have barely touched my camera lately. I'm something like 3 weeks behind on my 52 weeks project, have a bunch of photo's to take for school, and life in general is passing me by, but yet... nothing.

I did start on my "photo essay" and I'm about half way done. I wanted my essay to be about me, but I'm finding that my life is really boring! Okay, so I already knew that, but still it kind of stinks to see how boring it really is in photographs.

Here's what I have so far...

This is the first thing I see every morning.

After the Ducklings are dropped off at school, it's time to exercise/run. I have to have my music so the iPhone has to go with me!

My go to snack after working out.

Of course, the mounds of laundry...

This is the after school scene... shoes and backpacks just taken off and left where there don't belong (although, I was happy that the Littlest Duckling had actually hung up her backpack where she was supposed too).

Yep... that's all I have. Nothing exciting. This is where my life is right now though. I'm just plugging along, doing the same things day in and day out and I'm feeling it. My creativity is gone and I do *not* like it. Sigh...

Okay, enough of the whining. What do you think of the photo essay pictures so far?

Dear Martha Stewart...

A few weeks ago, the Mister and I had the (very) rare chance to go on a date. We ended up at Barnes & Noble (cause, you know, we are wild and crazy like that) and while the Mister was looking at books I ventured over to the magazine. Now, I love me decorating magazine! If I was rich, had a nanny, and a maid, then no doubt my house would look like something out of a magazine. Sigh... here are some of the things I'd love to have in my house!

An entry way big enough for something like this:

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A wall color other than white... and maybe these words too:

Yummy built in bookshelves for all of our books (sadly we had to donate a lot of our books before this last move because they are so heavy... my poor Mister, he was so upset):

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A real laundry room (rather than in plain sight in the kitchen):

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And so much more...

Here's the problem though, 95% of what was is in the magazines are idea's that I'd never be able to use. See, I live on base so the house belongs to the Army and there are more restrictions than a typical apartment rental. So here I am, stuck with white walls, a floor plan that changes with every move, and fluctuating square footage.

Don't get me wrong, I've made do. I have pictures galore up on the walls, we bought a deep olive colored couch to help bring in some color, we have bought into the space bag gimmick (they are actually really good until your cat bites them and pokes a hole), and I dream of the house I will some day get to decorate freely.

I think it'd be *really* awesome to have some magazine articles (or even a whole publication one month) full of idea's for us Military families! Martha, are you interested??

It's been a long journey to here...

Get ready, this is going to be long!

You see those pictures? Yes... that's me Aug/Sept 2007. I was unhappy, I hated my body (no fat acceptance for this girl), and my self-esteem was at an all time low. I couldn't even walk up the stairs in our house without feeling breathless. The one thing that kept me from falling into a complete despair was Mr Parsons. He never once said that I was anything less than beautiful. Gosh, I really love that man ♥ Okay, back to the story at hand...

At the start of 2008 my Mother-In-Law decided that she was going to diet and loose weight so I said that I'd do it with her. Not long afterwards I signed up for D.C.'s Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 5K. I had 6 months to be able to walk 3 miles and that was a lot for a person who hadn't exercised in *years*.

Race day came and wow... just wow.

Because of these 3 people

I did it!!

Sure it took a long time, but did you see how many people there were? It didn't normally take me that long to walk 3 miles. That's not the point. I did it! Me, a girl who hated exercise and hadn't done anything physical in years!

After that I was so determined to keep going and to push myself. Yeah, that lasted the rest of the year and then the excuses started coming. It's too cold to take the Littlest Duckling out in the stroller, I'm tired, I have too much to do. You know how it is. It was easy too because I had lost 40lbs and was pretty happy about that. So, a year went by and 10lbs came back.

Then, out of the blue, one morning my beautiful First Duckling came into my room in tears because she didn't like her body and none of the other girls in her class had the same body shape as her... She was just shy of 8 years old. *tear* As a mom, I was crushed. She should not be feeling this way at 7, 8, or ever! I didn't want that for her so she and I talked. We would help each other and get healthy together. I didn't (and still don't) want her to focus on body size or being skinny, I want her to be healthy and happy! And you know what, we did cut back on the sweets and started eating more fruits and veggies, but I wanted to set a good example. I didn't want to be one of those Mom's who complain about their size, talk about other people and their "bad" eating habits, but then do nothing about themselves. You know how they are and might even know some yourself. Well, it wasn't long before the meltdown that I had noticed my friend Angel posting on Facebook about how she was starting the Couch to 5K program (you can check it out here) and was loving it. I talked to the Mister about it and asked if he thought it was something I could do? Of course, in true Mister style, he said that he knew I could do anything I decided to do and would support me 100%.

I decided to go for it. That first day was the hardest thing I had ever done (after giving birth)! The first day is alternating 60 seconds of jogging and 90 seconds of walking for a total of 20 minutes. Sure, it sounded easy, but I was never a runner and hadn't really exercised (walked) in a while. The Mister was with me that first day and I believe 100% that I would have quit had he not been out there running (ie. very slowly jogging for him) next to me, encouraging me the.whole.entire.twenty.minutes! In the end, it took me longer than the 9wks, but I'm completely okay with that. I finished and didn't quit (and even managed to get my cousin Lori to start C25K too)!!

That was Nov 6, 2010, it was a long road to that day, but check out my (almost) after pictures...

I'm not going to lie, running is still a struggle for me, but I am sticking to it this time! My First Duckling is so proud of me and tells people all the time that I ran a 5K ♥ She is asking about when she can go to the gym with me, playing more outside, and making better choices about her food. And me... well, I feel better about myself than I have in a long time, I enjoy shopping for clothes again, and have even started to step outside of my box and wear things I would have never dreamed I could!

If you've made it this far... thanks for reading and I hope you leave feeling encouraged! ♥

PS. A big huge THANK YOU to my Mister and Angel for all the strength and encouragement you've given me!

Hmmm, what to talk about...

See, here's the problem with blogging.  I don't really know what to talk about?  I mean, really, who wants to hear about my trip to the gym every day?  Probably not many people other than my good friend Angel, but then again she already knows what I did (yep, I sent a bragging text to her this morning). 

I'll start with a little background about me... I'm an Army Brat turned Army Wife.  I've been married for 13yrs and have two beautiful girls that I will lovingly refer to as my Ducklings.  The First Duckling is 9 and the Littlest Duckling is almost 6.  I *love* all things photography and when I grow up I want to be a professional.  Hmmmm, let's see... I have 9 tattoo's, but still come across as the good girl (an image I just cannot shake), I like to craft, to scrapbook, and hate to clean even though it's part of my job description.

At the beginning of the year, I started a few different photo projects.  The big one is what I'm calling 52wks of Me!  It's basically a self-portrait once a week for the year.  It's been hard so far.  I don't really feel comfortable in front of the camera, but this should help!  The other project is my 4 people ~ 12 pictures.  I am taking a family picture once a month for this year.  Nothing fancy (our Feb picture was taken on top of a picnic table in play clothes), but it'll show how everyone has changed over the year. 

So, in other words... you'll be seeing these types of pictures plus random outfit pictures, hearing me talk about the gym and my running, my Ducklings, and random blah blah blahing!

Hope you'll stick around!  :O)

Well, hello there

My plan is to come back later and really start...

See you later! ♥