A Bunch of Pics for Now

Hey guys!
   I've been taking it upon myself to embark on various home improvement projects while I'm gainfully unemployed, so that I don't feel quite as useless. The other day I re-organized the kitchen by taking everything out of every cabinet, scrubbing the cabinets clean, throwing out everything that was expired (my mother SERIOUSLY had 3 cans of YAMS that expired in...wait for it...1997), putting everything back in a way that actually makes sense (i.e., coffee/tea cabinet, spices shelf, pasta/rice shelf, etc.). It took all day but I was pretty proud of myself and the kitchen looks like a million times cleaner and nicer because I threw out so much that it made room for stuff that was just cluttering on the counter.
  Anyway, the next project was for me to re-paint my room (nothing crazy, just white-it's just that the old coat was so old it hadn't been done since my 13th birthday, so it was like dirty and not even white anymore) and drilling hooks into the back of my door. I know I was suppose to post some recipes and a bunch of my workout/fitness info, but a lot of my stuff I packed up and moved into my Dad's office while i've been painting so nothing got ruined. But, the good news is that I finished today, so I'll be moving the stuff back into my room tomorrow and will be sure to post then. For now though, I do have some pics already on my lap-top and some of my little project that I just thought I'd post until I can get out the knitty-gritty stuff tomorrow.

OK so this is basically how I was storing my purses before. Sadly, this is not even a 1/4 of them. I have a problem. So, this is what I came up with:

 Which, I must say, was not as easy as it looks. Those six little hooks took me about 3 hours to get drilled into the door in the right spots, measured evenly. In fact, I originally tried to do it by hand with a screwdriver...which was definitely not happening. So I got to take a trip to the Home Depot and buy my very own adorable little power drill:

 I'm very proud of her. She made the job much easier. Close up of the handiwork:

 Oh yeah, baby! So here's how the purse situation is now:

Not too shabby, if I do say so myself. Of course, each of the big purses have like 6 little purses inside of them, or else the 6 hooks would never work. But I think it's better than the floor, where I could hardly walk.

So now for some body shots. These are a little different than how I usually do them, and I apologize for the really weird lighting effect. I was trying to to full-body, so instead of using the bathroom where the mirror only comes up to my hips, I used the wall mirrors in the kitchen, but we have this huge sliding glass door there where the natural light comes in and it made it kind of difficult with the shadows and stuff. But the idea is to show that even though I'm pretty much the same weight, I've noticed a difference in my muscle tone from the changes I've made that I wanted to show you.

 

Full Body Shot, Front

Starting to see some more definition in my abs/stomach

 

Full Body, Side

I've noticed less dimpling/cellulite in my thighs

Calf 

My legs are where I've noticed the biggest difference. I've never been able to see my calf muscle like this before. 

So here I took a close up of my stomach so you could see that I'm starting to get a little bit of definition in the ab area, although it's kinda freaking me out that it looks like its only on one side, lol. I'll be like that weird guy from "Lady in the Water." 

Here's a close up of my arms, which are the part of my body that I absolutely hate the most. They are way too big, so I am trying so hard to tone them up. But even after only a short time I'm starting to see a difference. I can actually see where the muscle is now instead of nothing but flab, but definitely needs a ton more work. 

 I know this one is a little weird, but all I'm trying to show here is how much my upper thighs have smoothed out. Unfortunately they haven't gotten significantly smaller or anything yet or crazy toned like I hope they will eventually, but I usually have such bad dimpling, cellulite, and stretch marks there. I mean, they arent gone or anything, but they have become a lot less noticeable.

 

And of course the normal collar bone shot. I think it looks exactly the same, which is ok with me-as long as it doesn't get WORSE, right? 

OK, I'm off now. I'm meeting a friend for coffee in the morning at Starbucks, so I'll be sure to bring my laptop, camera cord, and my recipe journal so that when she leaves I can put up the info I promised.

LM