Vital Juice Cleanse - Day 2

I'm hungry.

My stomach is not growling and I am not experiencing physical hunger pangs so it is possible that I am not actually hungry and that I just think I am hungry because I haven't eaten any solid food in over 24 hours. After all, I am an eater. I love cooking and I enjoy trying new foods so this liquid only diet is mentally hard for me. Thank god I only have to do it for 3 days. I don't think I could last much longer than that no matter what the results were. On the upside, I haven't experienced any of the side effects that the internet warned me about and I woke up this morning not feeling groggy for the first time in.... well, I can't even remember a time when I didn't feel groggy after being jarred awake by the alarm clock. The side effects I was the most worried about were increased body odor and bad breath because that is just gross, but I smell and feel fine so on to day 3 we go!

Vital Juice Cleanse/Bikini Body Challenge - Day 1

I have been wanting to try a cleanse for a couple of years now and couldn't find one that seemed feasible or seemed to even teeter on the brink of healthy. The most common cleanse people know about is the Lemonade Master Cleanse, its the diet Beyoncé did to lose weight for Dreamgirls. Almost every person on the internet that has tried it swears by it and loves it, but I just can't wrap my head around the idea of not eating and not exercising for 30 days. I've done the math associated with this cleanse and if followed with exact measurements you should be consuming ~1200 calories a day. It seems to me that you can lose weight eating 1200 calories of anything for 30 days, but I am not a dietician so what do I know?

I am not doing this as a crash diet, I am doing it to flush my system with a bunch of good nutrients and minerals in an attempt to jump start a real diet program. I'll be honest. For the past few months I have been lazy. I have been eating poorly and not working out on a regular basis and I have gotten fat. It pains me to revisit this post from August because I am now up an additional 10 pounds. TEN. My clothes don't fit. Ugh!

I have no idea if what I am doing will have any added health benefits that changing up my regular diet wouldn't, but everything I have read about raw food and juicing claims that you will have an increased energy and better sleep. I do know that there is a very pretty array of mason jars in my fridge and the workout schedule that accompanies the juice cleanse looks great. I haven't done weights in awhile so I am looking forward to being sore over the next 6 weeks and see what kind of results this gives me.

If anyone is interested in joining me in this challenge, the cleanse can be found here and the workout plan can be downloaded here. Happy juicing!

Digital Photography 101

Eight years ago I graduated with a technical diploma in Film & Television from Orange Coast College. For a community college, OCC has a superior film program boasting a state-of-the-art TV studio that is sure to rival many of the more expensive art schools in the southern California area. I bring up the fact that I graduated eight years because eight years feels like yesterday (to me). However; in the day and age of advancing digital arts, I may as well have studied film, television, and photography in the Roaring 20's. I assembled my first film by cutting and taping it back together using a flatbed editor, and I used a linear editing system (VCR to VCR) to piece together my video projects. It's hard to believe this was state-of-the-art technology eight years ago, huh? This sounds like film school from the 40's and 60's not the early 2000's.

More recently, there have been increasing opportunities for me to put my film and television background to use with some projects at work. My department recently invested in a fancy pants digital SLR camera and agreed to send me to a photography class so that I could learn how to use it.  This camera is seriously amazing, it takes such beautiful photographs; however, it also comes equipped with a serious learning curve. The most frustrating part is that I know how to fix problem images, I just do not know how to tell the camera to do it. If a photo comes out too dark, I know I have to up the ISO or increase the aperture. I know if a photo comes out blurry, I need a faster shutter speed or more light. Yet, for every good photograph I take, I have taken about 20 bad ones and adjusted the settings numerous times. I know it is just a matter of practice and that eventually I will get used to it, but I wish I could take photos like this every time:

or this:

or this:

The photograph of the jellyfish was taken in almost complete darkness. The only light was the light from the tank and it is not Photoshopped at all. I wish my everyday digital camera were as nice as this one. Do you think is is possible for technology to advance to that level quickly? I'll have to check back on this post in another 8 years :)