Those pants fit me last summer. I don’t think I’d realized just how far I’ve come until I looked through pictures today.
I reached Lifetime status with Weight Watchers this week. I feel like I could still stand to lose a few (don’t we all?), but I’m proud of my accomplishment and I feel great.
Here are my stats:
Age: 37
Height: 5’6″
Weight: 180 to 136
BMI: 28.2 to 21.1
Size: 14 to 6
Percent weight loss: 21.4%
My advice for anyone on Weight Watchers is to do everything the plan tells you to do. Follow every rule. My weight loss didn’t happen until I stopped resisting the plan, and started embracing it. WW is a solid program that really works.
Danny went on his first hike yesterday! We’ve taken him hiking several times, but this is the first time that we let him walk part of the way. He was downright giddy. I think we have a young outdoorsman in our family!
Mike, Danny, Ally, and I drove to Cunningham Falls State Park in Maryland. After an hour and a half, we arrived eager to see the waterfall, lake, and beach. Then we saw the “no pets” sign at the entrance. My heart sank. Well who needs a park that is so crowded that they don’t want Ally there? We found a deserted trail in nearby Catoctin Mountain Park, and Ally got to run around without disturbing anyone. It was just right.
I saw this high-five last night during Lake Anne Plaza’s live jazz performance. I like living in a place where dogs take kayaks to concerts.
This photo was pure luck. I had my camera pointing in the right direction as the two of them decided to high-five. They didn’t know I was watching, but I’m glad I was. Don’t you love when it works like that?
I’ve been sick for the last week and a half, with a bad cold that has made my chest hurt. Bronchitis, perhaps? I haven’t exercised during that time, and I’ve actually enjoyed the excuse to be lazy and lie on the couch. Yesterday morning I felt much better, so I got up at 6am desperately seeking an excuse not to go out and run. Oh hooray! It was raining! I grabbed a book and some coffee, and read on the couch for a couple hours until Mike and Danny woke up.
This morning I woke up early, feeling good and hoping for rain. Unfortunately it was a beautiful day. I looked at my book and considered scrapping the run and reading on the couch again. I’m really enjoying this book. (It’s ironic that I didn’t want to run because I was too engrossed in the book Born to Run.) But I was healthy, it wasn’t raining, and the heat wave is over. I was out of excuses. Now I needed to work on getting my exercise motivation back.
For me, finding motivation to exercise comes in three steps:
Today Mike and I decided to brave the heat and head to Baltimore’s Inner Harbor to see the National Aquarium. Danny got to see fish, turtles, dolphins, and jellyfish.
I guess we weren’t the only people seeking indoor entertainment today, because the aquarium was packed. We weren’t allowed to use our stroller inside, so Mike carried Dan the whole time. He’s going to be sore tomorrow! But with a few exceptions, Danny was cooperative and seemed to enjoy the day. I was excited to be a tourist for a day. It felt like a mini-vacation.
It’s hot and I’m sick. Like triple-digits-hot, and painful-chest-cold-sick. The weather is expected to get back down into the 80s next week, and I hope I’ll be over my cold by then. In the meanwhile, I want to jump into the lake outside my window and hide from the heat.
At least this sick time has given me a chance to start a project I’ve wanted to do for a while. I launched a new website!
I am happy to announce Reston Daily Photo.
As the name suggests, it’s a photo blog with a daily image of Reston, Virginia. My friend Tamera has been running Colorado Springs Daily Photo for a few years now, and I’ve always wanted to do something similar. Her site is part of the City Daily Photo organization, which I hope to join soon.
If you’d like to contribute images or articles to Reston Daily Photo, please let me know. I think this is going to be fun!
If you have a daily photo blog, link to it here in the comments. 
I have a photo published in OM Yoga Magazine this month. I think it’s my first double-page magazine image!
It’s a photo of Mike Matsumura, a yoga instructor in Colorado Springs. He and his wife Charlotte own the immensely popular Pranava Yoga Center in downtown Colorado Springs. Just a couple days ago they expanded into a huge new studio, and I’m so happy for all their successes. This magazine feature certainly takes place at a great time in Mike’s career!
I took this photo of Mike in the Garden of the Gods at sunset. You can see more from this shoot here. That post also links to their engagement portraits and wedding photos, if you’re curious. I miss shooting the talented and bendy Charlotte and Mike. Congratulations, you love birds with excellent names.
We decided to have what Mike calls a Random Day yesterday. He says some of the best ideas originate from unexpected experiences. We took a lot of random road trips when we lived in Colorado, back before we had a baby and we could just drive into the mountains with no agenda. I love those memories.
We ended up spending our Fourth of July in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia, and then back home at our neighborhood in Reston.
What do you do when it’s 95 degrees, and your power has been out all weekend, and you are fun parents? You take your daughter wine tasting. My parents have had no power ever since Friday night’s huge storm, so they’ve been camping out in our air conditioning.
By Sunday afternoon we got restless, so we decided to brave the heat and go to some Virginia wineries. Mike and Danny stayed home to watch the Euro Cup final, and to nap, respectively. My parents and I headed out I-66 west to The Winery at La Grange, which was decorated with cheery American flags. We sat outside on the shady lawn, sipped some white, and ignored the temperatures. It was just what we all needed.
I got this message recently on Facebook.
Charlotte, I enjoyed your DC run. Can you write about protein bars? I am using shakes in the morning and a bar in the afternoon in between sensible food… Wondered about your thoughts. Your joy in fitness helps me.
I’d be happy to share my thoughts, but first I want to add a disclaimer that I am no expert in medicine or nutrition. I can definitely share what works for me, though.
Here’s my new buddy. I named him Mortimer. He and I sat together for about five minutes this morning at a dock at Lake Newport. Does’t he look like a cartoon character? I couldn’t believe that he let me hold my iPhone a few inches from his face to get this picture.
Sitting there in the morning sunshine with my buddy Mort was blissful, but the rest of my run was tougher. I set out at 7am for my weekend long run, and it was already a hot steam oven. The highs here in the DC area have been around 100 lately, and today’s humidity is especially intense.
We had a brutal storm Friday night, with winds up to 79mph here in Reston. Mike and I are so lucky to have power, because it seems that almost everyone else in the mid-Atlantic is out. My parents are staying with us in our A/C until their power is restored.
Today’s run gave me a chance to see some of the storm damage. If you enjoy looking at blurry iPhone pictures of broken trees, this is your lucky day!
