Worst Monday of the Year!

Even though I don't have anything major to do today (can't get new eyeshadow until tomorrow), it's just so dreary without any holidays to look forward to. The holiday season is such a blowout for me with Thanksgiving kicking it off, my birthday, Christmas and New Year's that January just feels like such a letdown. The bowl season is almost over, football Sundays are over (for the Bears at least) and it's still a long way til baseball and the beginning of spring and loosening of winter's lock on my soul. This time of the year is anti-inspiring for me.

I don't really "do" the whole New Year's resolution thing but you probably already know that, seriously, who starts Weight Watchers for the first time in their life right before Christmas (btw, I had a major fail of two weeks starting with Christmas Eve and ending with McDonald's last night). But I do have some things that I would like to accomplish this year and I think of my goals as more of a running list rather than resolutions that I'll probably break.

-obviously, keep working on my struggle with non-nutritious foods
-try some new fitness classes and not being so lazy about going to the gym even though it's a long cold walk
-cooking classes at Williams-Sonoma
-registry and the myriad of other wedding things I need to get done
-find a half marathon to run in 2010
-get over my freakish "fear" of the indoor pool at the YMCA and start swimming

I put fear in quotation marks because it's not that I am literally afraid of the pool, I just usually have residual childhood fear issues when it comes to getting familiar with a new pool. I used to be deathly afraid of pool drains and I still carry some of that with me until I get to know a pool. Plus, there is something slightly creepy about indoor pools or maybe I've just seen too many weird pool scenes in movies.

Plus, I have the Avon Walk and I really need to get on the fundraising bandwagon with that and all of my furlough goals to accomplish. At least I have some things to accomplish that will help me get through dreary January and February.

Photography Obsessions

So four days in and I'm workin' on those furlough goals, baby!


I signed up for my first-ever photography class, which is kind of understandable since I spent the entire morning yesterday salivating over photography blogs for the wedding. We're using a Chicago-based photographer named Steve Koo for our engagement session downtown and in Millenium Park. If you are interested in photography blogs and with "wedding porn" in general, here's Steve's blog- http://stevekoophotography.com/wordpress/ -I absolutely adore his work, if our stuff turns out half as amazing as this I'll be satisfied:

These pictures were all taken in a less than mile radius from Adam's office, which will be our home base for outfit changes during our session. I need help though!! I'm desperately searching for a maroon dress for some of the pictures. If you've been shopping and seen a cute one (preferably a little more on the casual side) please let me know.

Anyway, back to the photo class. I'm actually a little bit intimidated about going. If I were to take more classes and get serious about this photography school, I'd have to get a Digital SLR camera (aka... hundreds and hundreds of dollars). The guy who runs the school says he knows the best places, best ways and best prices for SLR cameras but I'm still kind of freaked out. In a perfect world, I'd learn how to take awesome pictures with a pocket-sized regular digital camera so we'll see if this place is a fit for me or not. I'm afraid the instructor will laugh at my many-years-old-Kodak-EasyShare-hand-me-down-from-Dad-5.0 megapixel embarassment of a camera in the midst of tons of professional equipment. But I signed up and in about 10 days, I'll be there in all my glory hoping to learn just as much about cameras as photography. The school I'm going to is nice in that they offer this Basic Camera class that I'm taking for free. Then, if I ultimately deside to sign up for the eight week Photo I program, the first class is also free. I appreciate the time they allow for you to decide if you are a good fit. I'll report back and let you know how it all shakes down.