Christine ™ aka Big Pink Cookie

Four Hour Body friendly and super tasty! (With more clouds for an added bonus!) [Flickr]

Christine ™ — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:14:15 PST

As annoying as driving in the rain was yesterday, I was thankful for seeing this beauty in nature. #redlightphotography #behindthewheel [Flickr]

Christine ™ — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 07:47:40 PST

Goodbye, Old House…

Christine — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 16:58:26 +0000

Eight years ago, Mike & I got engaged on New Year’s Eve, put an offer on a house at the end of January, bought the house in mid-March, moved out of both of our apartments into the house, and got married at the end of May. Seems we aren’t the type to stand still long enough to let moss grow under our feet.

The house we bought back was in Lakewood Forest, in northwest Houston. Ok, technically a Tomball mailing address, but nowhere close to Tomball, and we didn’t get to vote in any city elections (either Tomball or Houston) so I’m still claiming Houston. It is a nice, quiet neighborhood. Older trees, big houses. Great schools, close to where I lived before so that Jason could stay in the same Scout troop and new people at his new school.

It was a good house for us.

But we always wanted to live in the Heights.

So in May of last year, everything aligned, and we bought that house in the Heights that we had always wanted. The house I had always dreamed about, since it is a 1920 Bungalow. With the oppressive heat of last summer already underway, we moved the essentials from the old house to the new (much older) house and put the other one on the market.

Six months later, we finally got an offer at the beginning of January. Just shy of the 8 years since we made an offer on the house ourselves. This past weekend – the actually anniversary of our offer – we had a HUGE garage sale to sell the furniture we had left behind that we didn’t want but staged the house with. Now we’re packing up the items we want to keep, donating the items that we don’t but didn’t sell in the garage sale, and finally getting it all moved out. The closing on the house will be next week. We will finally be back to having just one mortgage. It has been a looooong 6 months.

Being there this weekend and visiting with our old neighbors made me realize how fantastic our old house was. The new owners will have a great neighborhood to be a part of, and I hope they enjoy their time there as much as we have.

Meanwhile, I’ll be figuring out what to do with all that stuff we are moving. Seems a 1300 sq ft house is a LOT smaller than 3000 sq ft. This should be interesting!

In a way, I can’t wait to say goodbye to our old house. In a way, I hate to see it go. We started our marriage there. We enjoyed the company of many friends and family there. It was good to us.

But I can’t deny it – the Heights is where we belong, and I am so glad to be living here at last. It has always felt like home, both within our house and within the neighborhood. Saying goodbye to the first house is bittersweet, but knowing how many amazing times are ahead, I’m looking forward to signing the papers!

(PS – For those of you playing along at home, yes – I went to Imaging USA in New Orleans, ALT Design Summit the next day in Salt Lake City, and then came home to clear out our old house. All within 2 weeks. Whew!)

The Four Hour Body Four Week Update!

Christine — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:56:55 +0000

I can’t WAIT to share photos and stories from last week at ALT with you, but first I figured I needed to share my Four Hour Body update!

Back in December, I had a breaking point. There are many cooler terms for what happened, but the reality was that I broke. Somewhere between my desire to just be able to buy a dress off the rack at Anthropologie and watching “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead” followed up by “Food, Inc.” I ended up deciding that it was time to follow the lead of many other people I knew that had lost 40-60lbs and buy a copy of Four Hour Body.

I won’t lie, it wasn’t easy at first. The first few days are rough, and I consider Day Four to be “hell day” for most people. I don’t know what it is, but I bet it has to do with your body just freaking out because you haven’t been giving it all those starchy carbs for four days. But by Day Three I had noticed that without gluten (wheat), my allergies that I’d been battling for what seemed like forever were pretty much gone. GONE! My inflammation was down too, and since that was a huge, huge goal of mine, it made it easier to stick with it and just plow through.

Which brings us to today. I’ve lost 10.4 lbs, and I’m pretty damn happy about that, especially since I was traveling for 8 days last week! Now I’m moving towards my next goal, to have lost 20 lbs by WPPI in a month! (Which is completely possible in my mind if I stick with it.)

In the past month, I’ve heard every excuse under the sun from other people. You all realize that *I* have been using those same excuses for about 10 years now, right? Yeah, they are bunk. Stop it. You guys are always tell me things like, “I could give up (one item), but I could NEVER give up (another item)!!!” (Fill in the blank with flour, rice, potatoes or sugar.) Look, I loooooooove things made with flour. Matter of fact, my mouth is watering just typing that sentence. A good biscuit? I’m all over it. How about some well made tortillas? Divine! But the fact is, eating flour, sugar, rice or potatoes raises your blood sugar, causing your insulin to spike, causing you to get FAT. So if you don’t want to be fat, try giving them up. 30 days. It isn’t going to kill you, I promise. It is just 30 days – you can do anything for 30 days! But STOP giving me excuses for why you couldn’t. And don’t tell me that you can’t do it if you haven’t TRIED to do it.

Carbohydrates from starchy foods are what are making you fat. It is that plain & simple. Cut them and you’ll lose weight.

Things I have learned throughout this in no particular order:

After Day Four (aka HELL DAY), my normal cravings for carbs stopped. Feed your body enough meat, vegetables & beans and it will stop craving starchy carbs, the cheap whores of food.

If – and only if – I haven’t eaten enough or it has been too long, I then crave carbs. A few cashews or almonds stops the craving, and eating makes it go away completely.

Any time I eat gluten, I wake up congested the next morning. Have issues with allergies or inflammation? Try it.

Speaking of inflammation, did you know that Type II Diabetes and High Blood Pressure are both related to inflammation?

I stop losing weight when I eat cheese. Every time. Skipping cheese from now on.

I also seem to stall when I eat fruit. I have been doing one “binge day” a week (I prefer to call it a free day) and I save potatoes, fruit and cheese for that one day a week.

I can lose weight while I travel if I have control of my own meals.

I can stay steady at my weight loss while I travel when I don’t get to choose my own meals.

Gluten-free options are still full of starchy-carbs. (Cheap whores!) Ok on that binge day, but not ok the other six days of the week.

Binge days make me gain a pound normally, but ultimately I lose even more by the end of the week following. Plus they keep away the mentality of dieting sucks.

Veggies are my friend. I especially love a good spinach salad.

I’ve tried new foods and it didn’t kill me. People! This is a big deal for me!!!

If I “listen” to my body and eat as much as I want of meat, beans & vegetables, I will eat enough.

The biggest thing I’ve learned? I CAN DO THIS.

At least three times in the past seven years I’ve tried to lose weight on a rather big scale. My goal was to lose 5lb a month – 1.2lb a week – and keep it off. It is all documented here on the blog. Every single time, I was miserable. Dieting in the modern meaning of the word SUCKS. I’m NOT on a diet. I am eating to lose weight. But I plan to keep eating this way for a loooooooong time after I’ve lost the weight. Because it doesn’t make me miserable and cranky. Who knew?!? A diet that won’t make you miserable!

It brings it all back to what diet is supposed to mean – what you eat. Your dietary needs. Not the four letter word that diet has become!

I’ve bought new jeans because my old ones don’t fit. The belly fat that has been plaguing me for years is melting away. All I have done is changed what I’m eating. Meats, beans (legumes) and leafy green vegetables. Lately I wake up craving meat or a salad. My how things can change in four weeks!

10.4 lbs. I can hardly believe it. I don’t think I ever got past losing 10-15 lbs in all the times I’ve tried to diet in the past few years, and it was always an uphill battle to get there. Try this. It works!

Oh, the Irony!

Christine — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 03:32:13 +0000

I’ve been doing the Four Hour Body, slow carb, no white foods, whatever you want to call it diet for four weeks now, and sharing the adventures with you here.

Yeah, that blog name of BigPinkCookie is pretty freakin’ ironic right about now, isn’t it?!?!!!

But it is just going to have to stay that way. I guess I’ll dedicate it to the BigPinkCookie that I won’t be eating any time soon. Because after my revelations at ALT last week, there is NO WAY I’m adding another blog to my life!

Off to wrap up editing from ALT and some other recent shoots! I’ll be sharing my 4 week results and my ALT round up in the next day or two!

Coming Home Again…

Christine — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 05:16:20 +0000

It has been a whirlwind 8 days around here. First 3+ days in New Orleans for Imaging USA 2012. Then after only 12 hours home in Houston, I was off again to Salt Lake City for 3+ days at the ALT Design Summit, which was packed full of learning, revelations, and FUN.

The big lightbulb moment for me came when I was asked if I wanted to be a photographer who blogged, or a blogger who is a photographer. I have so long been frustrated by feeling this big divide in my life. Feeling like I just abandoned this site 5 years ago when I started photographing weddings. It was never my intention, but that was how it played out. I want that to change. I want to write here again like I used to do.

So I will. I will be a blogger that is a photographer again. And saying that makes my heart sing! I left ALT full of creative juices (and a TON of notes in my moleskine) and just wanting to MAKE things again. I forgot how beautiful that feels.

Mother Nature cooperated with my plans, and I got some amazing photographs while on my flight home! The one above was taken as I flew from Salt Lake City down to Phoenix for the first leg of my flight today. The sky was completely full of clouds, making this crisp white line. As soon as I saw it, I saw this photograph in my mind. It brings me joy. [Taken with my iPhone, posted to Instagram with no filters.]

How was your weekend? I hope it was as fabulous as mine! I can’t wait to share more about ALT!

Up in the air over a cloud-filled sky, SLC to PHX via @SouthwestAir #nofilter [Flickr]

Christine ™ — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 19:13:42 PST

Christine ™ posted a photo:

Four Hour Body – What I’ve Been Eating…

Christine — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 03:50:23 +0000

I’m a picky eater. I have been for YEARS. So starting off on the Four Hour Body / Slow Carb adventure was a bit intimidating for me. Mainly because one of the things you are supposed to eat is beans. EW!! Beans! I hate beans!!!

Then I had to get real with myself. While I truly despise green beans, and I have given them a chance 2-3 times within the past 5 years, I haven’t tried most other beans since I was a kid. Many beans I had never tried at all. Saying you don’t like something seems to buy you time if you just have no desire to try it at all.

Ok, maybe I would like a lot more stuff if I was willing to try it.

But I have a really sensitive palate, textures sometimes gross me out, and if anything smells “weird” to me, I won’t taste it. It has to pass the smell test to even make it into my mouth.

Side note: don’t ever make fun of a picky eater, or try to convince them to try something they don’t like. They have their reasons. Being a picky eater sometimes really sucks. Being harassed about it sucks even more. Unless they are one of those whiny picky eaters – which I am not – then all bets are off. Whining earns you the right to be picked on in my book.

3 weeks now — no “fast” carbs. No sugar, flour, rice, or potatoes. No high fructose corn syrup. No “white” foods. (Cauliflower doesn’t count as a “white” food. FYI.)

I’ve lost 7 pounds. More importantly, I’ve survived. And I’ve tried new things. Things that for years I declared “I don’t like”. One perk of my dietary habits is that I don’t mind eating the same thing every day. Doesn’t phase me at all. So for now, that is what I’m doing. Breakfast & lunch, same thing. Daily. That means I don’t have to think about what I want to eat. Mike cooks dinner, and some days I stick to a pretty small list of things I like. Other days I branch out more.

Breakfast: Huge glass of ICE cold water. Wakes you up FAST! 2 eggs, scrambled, with a little ham added.
Lunch: BIG BIG BIG spinach salad. I make it in a mixing bowl. I sometimes add turkey and/or ham. A sprinkle of sunflower seeds for a bonus crunch. 2 Tbsps of Newman’s Own Garlic & Parmesan salad dressing. (My only food item that has a little sugar.) Chop it all up with two knives with the dressing already on so it is spread all the way through.

Those foods on my “no” list above? Honestly, the only find myself craving them is when I let myself get too hungry. If I don’t pay attention to the clock and I suddenly find myself craving bread, I know I’ve gone too far.

Tonight for dinner I had a little salami and a piece of string cheese. I’m not supposed to eat dairy (4 Hour Body), but even more so I try not to because it is one of my “domino” foods. Domino foods are those things that if I eat a little, I normally eat a lot. I love cheese. But tonight I had one piece. Then I had:

- 1/2 can of Chickpeas (aka Garbanzo Beans): rinsed & drained, Mike taught me to put 1-1.5 Tbsp of extra-virgin olive oil in a skillet, then add the chickpeas. Cover with a lid so they don’t pop out of the pan, roll them around every so often so they don’t stick. Cook until browned & toasty looking. Sprinkle kosher salt over them to taste. We added some chopped garlic to them tonight towards the end, and some kale chips that we crushed & sprinkled over the top.

- A small portion of the lentil “meatballs” from the recipe at Sprouted Kitchen, with Mike’s own pesto sauce. He didn’t have any basil on hand, so he made a pesto out of parsley, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice & salt. YUM! Bonus? It got me past my texture issue fear of eating the lentils, because instead the texture was like meatballs!

- Sauteed Spinach with a balsamic reduction. Mike puts a little olive oil in a skillet and once heated sautes garlic for about 30 seconds in it. Then add a mound of rinsed fresh spinach and a pinch of salt. Stir once & cover. Check every couple of minutes for the spinach to be wilted (about 4-5 minutes). Add a splash of balsamic, uncover the skillet, and let that cook down. Serve.

If you had told me a month ago that my dinner was going to consist of chickpeas, lentil “meatballs”, pesto, and spinach, I would have told you that you were CRAZYPANTS!!! I did like spinach before, but not anything else on that list. Tonight? It was all amazing & scrumptious!

I’m not dieting. I’m planning out a future post about my rant about that word. But a diet these days is a temporary thing. No, this isn’t something that I can just stop. This has to be a complete change. But it is ok – I’ve hit that point. The point of no return. My friend Brett wrote about his “elephant moment” and I can relate. I’m so grateful for all of the friends & family I have cheering me on and supporting me right now. I want to say I couldn’t do it without you – but I am pretty damned determined. So while I could do it without all the support, it wouldn’t be quite as easy.

I guess a picky eater can learn to like new things…

PS – that whole gluten thing? I ate part of a piece of wedding cake on Saturday (it is a job requirement *grin*) and I ate homemade pizza Saturday night. Sunday morning? I woke up congested, and feeling like I was hit by a truck. Lesson learned! I need to really limit my gluten!

Learning to Love Veggies…

Christine — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 06:11:05 +0000

I’m afraid to write this post. I feel like every time I share something big like this, I immediately sink myself and fail. I’m hoping that if I admit that up front this time, I won’t do it to myself. *fingers crossed*

My mom has talked a lot over the past year about how she has been dieting & losing weight, and the biggest change? Low (slow) carbs, cutting out bread & pasta, and cutting out high-fructose corn syrup. No “diet” – just making changes. I was inspired, but with our move & everything else, I made some changes to my diet but didn’t dive too deep. I knew she was losing weight, but it wasn’t until she wore a sweater on her birthday a few weeks ago that I know fit her completely different a year ago that I saw how much weight she had lost! Go Mom!

A few days after her birthday, while I was out Christmas shopping, I stopped in Anthropologie – but I didn’t bother looking at the clothes. I knew they didn’t carry my size, and that made me sad, frustrated, angry – a whole range of emotions. I feel that way all the time when I shop. Even though a huge portion of the women in America are technically Plus Size, plus size clothing is so hit or miss still. (Come on designers! Catch up with the needs!) Right then, as I stood in the store, I set a goal for myself that a year from now I want to be able to walk in there and buy a dress off the rack. I’m adding it to my Life List even.

Then I watched “Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead” last Tuesday. Talk about motivational! Oh my goodness! It is on Netflix, and if you want a swift kick to make you want to diet, watch it. Follow it up with “Food, Inc.” like I did, and it will cause a big shift if you’re like me. I’m fortunate that we already go to Revival Market for most of our meat, and I know they could probably tell me exactly where every piece comes from, plus they butcher things in-house. YAY!

As soon as I finished watching those movies, I decided to run with the motivation. So what if it was just days before Christmas??? I decided then and there, that very day, that it was time to change my diet.

By last Thursday, I was off of drinking caffeine. (Fountain Coke is my weakness!) I’ve cut way, way back on the “bad whites” – flour, rice, potatoes. I’ve nearly eliminated flour & therefore gluten as well. I’ve cut back on dairy, because I love cheese a bit too much. My goal is to consume 50% of the volume of what I eat as vegetables. The rest of my diet from meats, fruit and the occasional nut.

I may get to the point of going with the Four Hour Body diet – I know so many people that have been very successful on it. The Crazy Sexy Diet book has also been mentioned many times. I have even considered juicing for 30 days just to really kick start everything, or at least doing a 5 day juicing fast. We’ll see. Ultimately, I know that in order to make it stick, I have to modify it and make it my own.

Diets never succeed. They might help get you started, but they are NOT sustainable. Life changes, and improving your eating habits overall? That will stick!

The whole reason I’m writing this post is so I can look back later and remind myself of why I started doing this, and how after a week of just drinking water and eating lots of veggies, I woke up this morning craving carrots! Not a bready starchy “goodness” full of empty calories, but carrots! And a BIG glass of water, not a Coke. That is already a HUGE change from a week ago!

Interesting side note – I’ve battled being congested for most of the month of December, and nothing seemed to help. Then I started this dietary change, cut out most of my gluten consumption, and viola! NO CONGESTION!!! Coincidence? I don’t think so.

I made it through Christmas without too much of an issue – I did sample a few sweets here & there, but any time I did I kept it minimal – and I ended up 2lbs down from where I was a week ago when I started. I’ll take that!

The Rain is Falling…

Christine — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 07:15:31 +0000

2011 has been the craziest year as far as the weather goes. Record highs in Houston, months with no rain at all, a major drought. Just crazy.

Now I find it is absolutely fascinating to watch how Houstonians respond to hearing rain outside. It is magical! It seems like no one wants to complain about it though, just so we don’t jinx it.

Also interesting is how different rain sounds in our 90+ year old Heights bungalow. It somehow feels more intimate. Like it is just a few inches away. I love it!

I should probably sleep, but I’m enjoying this so much.

It has me thinking about other things in life. When you’re deprived of something for a long time, does it completely change your perspective of it? When will rain feel normal again?

The Start of My Life List…

Christine — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 03:38:45 +0000

I’ve been thinking of creating a life list for some time now. I first came across Mighty Girl’s Mighty Life List awhile back, and it got me thinking. But I wasn’t ready yet. Then I met style bloger Pam at Mom 2.0, and as I’ve worked with her on some style shoots for her blog we made plans for me to document some of her life list achievements as well. For example, one of her goals was to find the perfect pair of cowboy boots – aren’t they fantastic?!

A life list isn’t quite the same as a bucket list. A bucket list is all about the things you want to do before you die, which is just depressing. A life list is all about creating the life you want to live. I think it ties in perfectly to this quote:

“If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there.”
– George Harrison

So for months it has been on my mind, but never enough to write things down. Not until tonight. Tonight I was watching Netflix and came across a National Geographic special on the Appalachian Trail. I had no idea about its history, traveling from Georgia to Maine, crossing 14 states. The whole thing fascinated me. And then I realized that I have the very first item for my list.

I want to hike a portion of the Appalachian Trail.

Now that I’ve started it, I wonder what I should add next?!?!!!

What about you? Do you have a Life List? What is on yours?

We Heart Massage!

Christine — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 04:01:08 +0000

For years, I’ve had a ton of issues with my right shoulder. Probably somewhere between swim team, swimming butterfly, or waiting tables, I messed it up. Then back in 2009 while in Belize to photograph a wedding, I tripped on a boat dock and strained my right knee and left hamstring, which the orthopedic doctor’s I’ve seen can’t figure out a way to fix. This summer after our move to the Heights, I decided it was time to start visiting Angie DeSilva at We Heart Massage on White Oak and … well, I wonder why I waited so long!

She is SO AWESOME. Now instead of constant pain, she has massaged it all away with her therapeutic massage work. Ok, mostly all away – and whenever it hurts again, she is able to quickly fix it for me! Now I schedule massages for every Monday after a wedding weekend so that she can whip me right back into shape!

During one of my visits this summer I took photographs of We Heart Massage & her massage room – it is such an oasis of calm, I just had to share. I just LOVE this place!

If you’re looking for a massage therapist in Houston, be sure to check her out! If you book your appointment on Massage First – the first of the month for any time that month, you can get a session for $45! (*Special restrictions apply, so read all the details.) You can book online or over the phone. Whatever you do, get in there fast – her calendar fills up!

FTC Disclaimer disclosure: I was not compensated in any way for this post. I just love We Heart Massage!

30 Days to Talk Back…

Christine — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 20:33:37 +0000

I’ve blogged here for over 11 years now, and I’ve finally given in — I can’t take moderating the spam any more. I finally, after all this time, activated the feature in WordPress to close comments on posts more than 30 days old.

This makes me a little sad for a strange reason. It means that the whole community that randomly formed around my “Itch Relief…” post back in 2004 can no longer add comments to the post. 1,336 comments, which is by far my most commented on post to date.

Damn spammers. Have to spoil all the fun.