Sara Faith Photography

So I Cheated

2012-05-30T11:19:00.001-07:00

Days off are hard for me to control myself. And yesterday, time and Pinterest were my enemies. Usually I gain a lot of fitness and healthy living motivation from my favorite time-wasting website, but yesterday I just wanted to bake and the chocolate cheesecake cupcakes I had recently pinned were calling my name. But that's over with...sometimes you're allowed cheat days. The important thing to remember is to get back on track, pick yourself up off the couch, and get motivated again. So here's the stats today...

Current weight: 184.7

Stay tuned tonight for some photos of what I use for motivation and what 184.7 pounds looks like on my body.

Stay healthy, my friends.

Let's Try This Again...

2012-05-29T11:43:00.001-07:00

December 30, 2011 I posted about looking and feeling great in 2012. That was true...for about a month...and then the rain came and I started to hibernate indoors with lots of food to keep me company. Actually it hasn't really been all that bad...but one too many cheat days and here I am again hardly having lost any weight in the first 5 months of 2012. So with summer weather here, I'm recommitting to a healthy lifestyle. This time around though, I'm in it for not only the shredded pounds but also for the health benefits. I don't want to just be skinny, I want to be strong and earn back the athletic body I once took for granted.

With all of that said, here's the plan:
-Lose 2 pounds per week minimum (I started this goal a while ago and I'm already behind)
-Reach 150lbs by the end of summer (August 18th to be exact)
-Be able to run and swim farther with each workout
-Maintain a mostly vegan and gluten free diet (this goal came about by watching the documentary Forks Over Knives...you should all watch it...amazing information that will change the way you think about food)

And here are my stats so far:
-Current weight: 185
-Heaviest weight to date: 193 (this is where I'll be counting down from to give me motivation to NEVER be that weight again)

I'll also try to add photos and my food diary along the way for those of you tracking with me!

I'll be seeing you guys soon!!! Happy healthy living!!!

DIY Room Makeover

2012-01-20T19:16:00.000-08:00

I've spent my days off this week doing what I LOVE to do!!! DIY!!! I converted our biggest spare bedroom into a "walk-in closet"/beauty studio...what I'm calling every girl's dream haha. The room is not completely finished and there are so many DIY details that I'm going to share later on but I was so excited to write about it that I couldn't wait. Here is the before...nasty green and brown...not my style at all.

The crazy animal in the photo is my cat Teal...she has an obsession with vents...weirdest cat ever. Anyway, the easiest way to transform a room is to paint and that's what I did. I went polar opposite of the green and brown and chose a dark grey which I love! I wanted a neutral color so all of my decorations, makeup, clothes, etc would pop against the walls. I also chose to paint the ceiling which you can barely see in the photos but it is the same color as the walls. For the trim I used bright white for a nice contrast to the grey. I LOVED the way it turned out! Here it is before anything was in the room:

It took two coats of Valspar paint to cover the green which was almost a whole gallon. I let the paint dry overnight so that it wouldn't be tacky when I was hanging decorations and putting up my vanity. After a day of decorating and organization, here's what my semi-finished room looks like!

Vanity on the left, makeup organization to the right of that...

Right side of the room with table for filming YouTube videos, office work, etc...DIY jewelry organization on the wall, my new Audrey canvas (garage sale STEAL), and bookshelf to display my favorite things!!! I will go into more detail soon and show my closet organization as well...that's a huge task so I've still got a lot of work to do. Ladies, if you ever want to play with makeup/hair...let me know...I've got a whole room for it now haha...

PINK and sparkles,

Sara

Music Monday

2012-01-02T21:41:00.000-08:00

It's my first ever Music Monday!!! I'm going to let you guys know what I think is the best in music and share my playlists, all-time favorite albums, and best artists. This past month, I've been sooooo obsessed with Coldplay's new album Mylo Xyloto Their song "Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall" is seriously one of the most amazing songs I've ever heard. If you haven't heard it, listen to it NOW!!! It makes me so happy. Anyways guys I really hope you listen and love it too!

Sara

Looking & Feeling Great In 2012

2011-12-30T23:11:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year again...we're all making our resolutions, waiting until the clock strikes midnight to jump back on the bandwagon (or off, depending on your resolution), hoping this time we'll stick with our plans past January 1. And it wouldn't be New Year's if I wasn't doing the same. For 2012, I'm ready to take my youthful body back to its college years and shed my "newlywed weight". My goal is to be down to where I was in college by summertime, and down to my ultimate goal weight (if there ever is such a thing) by this time next year.

This will be no small undertaking...the details of which I will outline come January 1, but I'm hoping you'll join me. I'm going to go completely vulnerable on you guys (another resolution to be more honest and open) and give you the bare facts and feelings. I'll post my weight, what I've eaten, when I want a few extra cupcakes, and all of the grouchiness in between...so be prepared. If you're brave enough, I hope you'll comment with your progress, and if no one actually reads this, well at least I have the illusion that someone is holding me accountable. I'm looking forward to baring my soul (and probably my flabby abs) with all of you!

I'm hoping you all had a wonderful, amazing Christmas and have a great New Year's Eve because come Sunday, I'll be blogging from my elliptical!

Love and sparkles,
Sara

P.S. Eat your last goodies tomorrow! This is what I'll be shoving in my face to celebrate!

Empty Fears

2011-12-16T17:52:00.001-08:00

DISCLAIMER: This is not a happy-go-lucky blog. In fact, it's somewhat depressing but full of honesty and it ends in hope.

I am a fearful person...most of us are trained to be that way from birth. Don't cross the street, it's dangerous; we're in a war, we could be attacked at any time. We learn to fear things outside of our control first and then start attributing the same emotions toward the things we can change. At least that's the case with me.

I let fear cripple me sometimes...in fact, I do a lot of times. My fears like to thrive on my rejections and they feast on that source of pain until they reach bone and really start doing some damage.

I feel rejected all the time. Girls, you aren't the only ones haha. I don't know anyone who hasn't felt rejected at one point or another, but I choose to carry mine with me (a choice I seem to make subconsciously and can't consciously get rid of). When I was very young, I was given up for adoption and throughout my childhood it never seemed to matter to me...I never knew my birth parents or really cared for that matter. In adulthood though, I've felt as if those years of indifference have caught up to me and left me broken and full of rejection fears.

Mentally, I know that this fear is illogical and downright stupid but emotionally it feels like the most sane thought in the world.

And that's where I'm at now; a little bit stuck with no idea how to move forward, and a lot bit scared that I would fail no matter which way I choose to go.

But as promised, there's a happy ending. I don't want to be in fear all the time. I want to face myself head on and get over it. I want to be the girl in the movie that doesn't have a care in the world...the sun always shines, my hair's always shiny, and my husband buys me all the Hello Kitty stuff I want (ok maybe I added that last one and it's way over-exaggerated but I've made my point).

So, here's where you come in. I can't do this alone and neither can you. If you're in a similar situation and you're sick and tired of being a slave in your own body, come on an adventure with me. Let's see what happens when we face one fear a day, just one. I want to hear your progress and your stories just as much as I want to share mine. Please, please, PLEASE comment me, tweet me (@sarafaithphotog), whatever you have to do. I'm inspired. Hopefully I can be an inspiration to you.

My inspiration today: "True Love" by Angels & Airwaves

Happy fear-facing!
Sara

Like A Kid On Christmas

2011-12-15T23:31:00.000-08:00

I love the holidays. There's something about this time of year that makes me nostalgic for things from my childhood. Today has been full of Christmas nostalgia...fire burning in the fireplace, Christmas lights and decorations, wrapping and unwrapping gifts (I can't ever wait for my hubby to open his presents on Christmas...so he gets them early), and family.

I got Chris this work vest he's been dying for and filled it with all sorts of fun stuff...I kinda went crazy with his gifts this year haha.

I'm keeping the Christmas trend going tonight by watching Rudolf as I blog :) I LOVE this movie!!! And even better, I have it taped (yes kids, taped off the TV) circa 1987 with all the commercials in between...it doesn't get any better than this. You haven't seen awesome till you've seen 35mm camera ads and old school M&M commercials. I've never seen so many mullets. I could watch this every day of December.

How cute is Rudolf? I want to hear all about your holiday traditions...comment me and maybe I'll add them to our traditions list :) Chewy is all ready for Christmas with his Santa outfit which he hates...I make him wear it though because he just looks so darn cute!!!

I hope you all are enjoying Christmas shopping and gift-giving...someone attend a white elephant party for me!!! I love those! Tomorrow I'll be blogging to you from Idaho...stay tuned!

Love, The Christmas Obsessed

Winter DIY & All Things That Inspire

2011-12-13T23:13:00.000-08:00

It must be something about the cold weather and Christmas that put me in a DIY mood. We have gone DIY crazy these past few weeks at our house. Everything from a garage renovation to custom Christmas gifts, we've done it!!! I've had the most fun making photo gifts for my family...I always try to throw some photos into my Christmas projects in some way or another...I just love photography so much I can't help it! This year, I made a photo book for my mom full of photos of my sister and I "through the years"...I know she's gonna love it, mom's always love gifts involving their kids. I'm hoping she doesn't decide to read this blog and spoil the surprise...cross your fingers for me! Shutterfly makes it so easy to make these...here's a screen grab of one of the pages I created...

Cute, right!? I'm so excited to give it to her!

The hubby has been hard at work doing DIY as well...his latest project has been renovating our garage which started out as a dusty, spider-invested, freezing cold (no insulation) storage space for our boxes...soon to be a bright white, clean photo/video studio!!! I wish you could sense my excitement about this fully...but you'll just have to trust that I'll be talking about my "photo studio" quite a bit once it's finished. Here's what it looks like mid-way through the daunting process...

It's crazy how much work it takes for a project like that!!!

I've also been meaning to show you guys my most prized DIY project which is our dining room table that started out less-than-impressive and is now something I LOVE!!! I promise you there will be a blog this week about it. Thanks for being so patient with me and my lazy, forgetful blogging ways...I'll be more consistent, I promise!

Love and all the best, Sara.

Blink 182!!!

2011-10-04T14:03:00.000-07:00

You can't NOT get excited about Blink 182! I saw them two nights ago live and they were amaze! Can't get passed it still. Check out my crappy phone vids...you'll almost feel like you were there ;). Also, I have decided that once I turn 23 next month, this will be my theme song for the entire year.

Sara Faith

Rainy Day To-Do's

2011-10-04T14:02:00.000-07:00

It's a rare rainy day here in Redding which is perfect for my productivity. I have a massive to-do list to accomplish and between being forced to stay inside and rain preventing me from completing half of my to-do's (no car washing or lawn mowing today!) I might actually get something done today. I'm working extremely hard to get this blog up and running for you guys. All my hair, makeup, and DIY videos will soon be in one place (other than YouTube)...and I might throw in some randoms just to keep things interesting. Subscribe and check back often to find out what I'm up to! Love you guys!

Sara Faith