My inches are shifting too! Yay!

So last night I'm thinking, "My weight is shifting, so, why aren't the inches?!"
And then my hubby found my measurements from 2010 on his old iphone! My measurements were pretty much the same when I joined SW in October 2011.
Here's what I have lost so far:
Bust 2 inches
Torso 2 inches
Waist 2.5 inches
Hips 4 inches
Thighs 3 inches
... That's a whopping 13.5 inches!!!

8.22 miles cycled on an exercise bike today.



Also completed...
Shoulder press x30
Lat pull down x30
Hip Adduction x30
Hip Abduction x30
Seated Leg Press x30

Wow! What a busy weekend!

Now, I normally dread the weekends. I'm not sure why. It's certainly not because my children are at home because, in the Summer holidays, I am much the same. All week I am fine but as soon as Saturday arrives I am miserable!
Just recently though, my weekends have been amazing :D
Could it be my weight loss and fitness lifting my moods? Maybe.
Whatever it is, it's a wonderful feeling and I want it to stay :D

I made playdough for my children to play with ...



... we took 5 of our children for their usual Saturday trip to McDonald's for lunch, and then I spent the afternoon watching our 3 youngest paint the castles they have created out of Cardoard and Papier-mâché.

Our Son took his castle to school last week, but, one of the other children broke it. So, we brought it home, repaired it and then our 2 youngest painted it.



Our 12 year old daughter had to create a castle for her History homework. It's ready to take in to school now :o)



Our youngest daughter's homework was to create a home for Frogs or Fairies. So, we decided to create a fantasy fairy castle ...



... complete with fairy :o)



Monday morning - After the school run, I paid a visit to the Gym.
I set the treadmill for Cascades and managed to jog for 12 minutes solid today, on the lower inclines. Yay!



Also completed 2x15 leg press, 4x15 hip adductions.

I have a lot of positive days now :o)

10th March

Look what I made!
This is my prototype. Very time consuming to make and pretty costly.
IF I can find the time and money to make some more, these will be for miscarried babies (16-20 weeks). Precious little angels.
Everything is too big for them and they are often handed to the parents in blue tissue or a metal hospital dish. So sad :'(
These will be donated and will not be for sale.



This week has been another active week for me, cycling my 2 youngest children to school on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday.

Then on Friday ... Treadmill 35 minutes. I even managed to jog for 9 minutes solid at one point!
I've now lost over 2 stone in 2 years.
1 stone 4lb ( 18lb ) of that has been lost since October 2011 on the Slimming World, 'extra easy' healthy eating plan ... Yay!





Plus 10 minutes of leg press and hip adduction exercises ... back home to eat a Pear, a quarter of a Cantaloupe Melon and a cup of Nettle and Fennel tea ... today is a good day :D

Sweet 16!

My twin daughters turned 16 on February 23rd, so, I held a party for them today.
I've taken pictures of all these girls both past and present, and oh my goodness, they have all grown up to be stunning young ladies ... where does the time go?!
We had so much fun today :o)

28th February - Today is a good day :D

Lighter in body weight, lower BMI and body fat, lighter on my feet, left hip no longer hurts, heartburn eliminated. I've gone from walking being an effort, to walking is easy and, from not being able to jog at all, to jogging is getting easier. I even managed to jog for 6 minutes solid at one point ... wow! Today is a good day :D



... and then I caught my 16 year old daughter wearing a pair of MY jogging bottoms!!! That's what I get for losing weight I guess lol.

I'm running a competition for my "local" FaceBook fans <3
Why don't you come on over and join us :o)
Alison Greenwood Photography

17th February

I had way too much fun today :o)

Happy Valentines Day

I was so lucky today!
I got to shoot the cutest couple ... my Niece and her boyfriend <3

10th February

This is my friend, Dot.



She once told me, "I NEVER take a good picture."
(Oh boy! How many times have I heard that?)

So, I took a quick snap of her, before Christmas ... and she loved it!
She loved it so much, that she asked me if I could take some pictues of her with her daughter!

I had so much fun yesterday :o)

Thank you so much Dot, for allowing me show you how I see you.
To show you just how beautiful you are!

Love you <3

7th February

8:58am - Frosted tips on the leaves at the school today. So beautiful.



I have had so much fun recently, meeting new people and having the pleasure of taking their pictures.

This is Colette. She is a stunning young lady and a singer with a beautiful voice.
Here's her site ... Singing



She also has the most adorable little girl who LOVES being in front of a camera! Yay!



And yesterday, I had the pleasure of capturing a beautiful, fun couple. I could tell just by looking at them how in love they were <3





It's people like Colette and her daughter, and Jaqueline and her hubby, who make my job so enjoyable.

Whatever you are doing today, and whoever you are with, I hope you are all having a wonderful day <3

5th February

8:58am - why, oh why, do my children have to wake me up so early on a Sunday? Oh well, I got my morning shot for today. Unlike many places in the UK, no snow for us, but we do have plenty of fog this morning.

4th February

11:51am - I'm not feeling very creative lately, so, more food I'm afraid lol.

3rd February

11:53am - Preparing Ravioli for my lunch, I got my shot just in time today :)

2nd February

It was a cold and frosty morning this morning. I couldn't go anywhere until my windscreen had cleared, so, I decided to take my, "Year of mornings," picture. The frost looked so beautiful.

February already!

1st February

Love that it's not a perfect bunch ♥

I'm not very good am I? lol

Well, this year of morning stuff is proving to be a problem for me. I spend all morning running around and completely forget to take my morning picture!

Oh well, here are a few shots, not necassarily taken in the morning, that I have managed to take over the past month.

17th January - what a beautiful morning sky <3



19th January - Took a quick snap of my home-made packaging before delivering a clients CD of pictures to her :o) She loved the packaging so much she's keeping it :D



20th January

Our knitting group received a package at the Library today, containing a booklet and a certificate, as a thank you for knitting some dolls :o)



26th January - 08:25am



26th January - A proud Mummy moment for me. I took one of my daughters to a recording studio. What a beautiful voice she has <3

Bex - Hallelujah

29th January - Ok so not technically taken in the morning, but, I am loving the fact that this seems to be turning into a daily diary for me :o) Here's a shot taken of one of my, many, beautiful daughters

A Year of Mornings

A friend of mine, Debbi, started blogging about her, "Year of Mornings," this year. So, I decided to join her in her quest, all be it a little later than she started hers.
Here's the link to her blog
Swirly Girl

Now, I'm not going to promise to take a picture every single morning, as I never know what every new day will bring, plus I have a terrible memory, so I may forget to take a picture lol.

Here's what I have so far ...

9th January

Our baby girl's "Dress up as someone famous" day at school.



14th January

I woke up this morning to find this! lol
One of my daughters had been doddling last night before she went to bed.



... and while sitting in the library with my 2 youngest children, I noticed how beautiful the windows looked.



16th January

It's funny when I think about it ... most people see children playing in the playground. I see the light, and the silhouettes and shadows of children playing in the playground :o)

It's been a good year

Well, it's been a year since I posted last. I can't believe how fast that has gone!

In that year I became a member of, "The Royal Photographic Society," where I had the chance to go for my Licentiateship Distinction.
I never realised that working on a panel of 10 images would be such hard work! I mean, after all, I have millions of pictures on my computer surely it's going to be easy?!
Having to make all 10 coherent was more difficult than I had imagined! I felt I would never be able to do it!
I lost a lot of sleep over that and I was so nervous about the whole process, I decided to knit my Grandson a cardigan. I know, that sounds strange, but, because it was a fairly complex pattern I had to concentrate so hard, that it helped to take my mind off my panel :o)
My panel was judged on July 7th and I passed! Yay! I am now officially know as Alison Greenwood LRPS :o)
I hope you like my panel as much as the judges at, "The Royal Photographic Society," did.



Following that, our local Photographic Society had it's annual Photoshow. I entered, of course, with a number of images and gained 1st place, in Slides, People & Portraits category, with "Once Upon a Time"



2nd place, in Slides, People & Portraits Category, with "Radiant"



3rd place, in Slides, People & Portraits Category, with "Fill the Frame"



and 2nd place, in Prints, People & Portraits Category, with "Blow Dry"



And finally, at the end of August, we went to visit my family. Taking the cardigan I knitted for my Grandson with me, I managed to get a picture of him wearing it ... yay! Of all the things to get him to say, to get a natural smile out of him, his Daddy told him to say, "Aubergine," lol. Too funny!
He's such a sweetie.



Until next time ...