Getting Good At Stuff - Taking Pictures

I'm not generally great at learning skills.  I don't have patience and I tend to get really frustrated really fast.  So when it comes to learning to properly use my Nikon D5100, I've decided to take it a couple functions at a time so I don't get bored and overwhelmed.  (I sound like a toddler don't I?)  Today, I focused on the ISO and F-stop functions.  AND I actually left my house!  Shoooock!  Since I've been unemployed, I don't leave the house by myself ever because I don't have a car and there isn't really anything to do within walking distance of our apartment (and I'm kind of lazy, yes?).  Today, I grabbed my camera and actually left the apartment to walk around and take some pictures.  I shot all of these in P mode.  I forget what that means, but it's what a photo blogger said to do haha.  I messed with the ISO/F-stop settings depending on what I was shooting (close-ups versus far away, etc)  I've got a lot of work to do, but I think these turned out pretty good for someone with the short attention span I have!

I absolutely love this tree.  It looks like it's made from ripped up paper.

I love the Maryland flag, I'm a new Marylander, but I can't get enough of it.

Brick wall outside my apartment...it kind of looks like cake...yum.

Looking down my street.  This picture hasn't had the saturation edited at all.  It's really that gorgeous here.

Getting Good At Stuff - Being Happy

I have a tendency to be kind of a pessimist.

I have been known to non-ironically say "Everything is the worst."

Which my husband finds hilarious because he doesn't think anything is the worst.

But it can be hard for me to be happy.

I struggle with depression and jealousy and darkness.

So now that I'm focusing on getting good at things, one of those things will be being happy.

Happy with what I have, happy with who I am, just happy.

One of the ways I'm working on getting good at that is signing up for this site Happify.

It's a site that uses daily activities to get you to focus on the important things in your life and to be happy with what you have.

To find happiness in your everyday.

It's cheesy.

And I'm loving it.

(And no, this isn't a sponsored post, I just really love this dang site)

One of the first assignments we did was to walk around your home and savor what you have.  To look at physical items you own and see the value in them based on who gave them to you or the memories they evoke rather than price or quality.

I chose three items in our home and wrote down why I love them for those reasons and it helped me to focus on being happy with what I already have.

I chose the prints framed above our dining room table that my dad bought for us in Paris and the poster my mom bought during our wedding weekend in Lodi.

These things aren't the most expensive or desirable pieces in our home, but they make me so happy because they were given to me by people who love and support me.

It's a really nice way to look at your things and be happy with what you already have.

If any of you want to join and haven't gotten an invite, go here!

Getting Good At Stuff - Working Out

So things have been trucking along here with working out.

My little extra daily workout is getting easier which is nice although my burpees are pretty embarrassing.

While at the gym on Saturday, Mike and I started talking about how just lifting weights with him wasn't cutting it.

I need to add exercises to cut through my fat rather than just building muscle like he does.

Especially on my badonk and thighs.

(Badonk sounds less abrasive than ass, yes?)

Lo and behold, when I got home from the gym that day, I had an offer waiting in my inbox to join Revolt and blog about it.

Revolt is an exercise and diet plan put together by this awesome woman who was sick of gaining and losing the weight after having her four kids and ending up "skinny fat" something I've always struggled with too (the skinny fat not the kids)

So she started kicking her own ass,  got super hot, and eventually got licensed and now has created this awesome program.

It's a pretty great program because it's all doable at home, no gym membership needed, it's realistic, and it's affordable.

I start Monday.

Urp.

I'm nervous.

But it should be great and I'm going to blog about it once a week on here to hold myself accountable and tell you guys how the program works.

**I will admit that since this is happening super short notice for me, I'm starting the diet a week off.  My sister comes Thursday and our plans all revolve around restaurants so...yeah.

But the workouts start tomorrow as scheduled.

Get ready to hear some whining and check out Revolt if you're interested in starting your own uprising!

Getting Good At Stuff - Working Out

The first thing I decided to get good at (or TRY to get good at) is working out.

I have never liked to work out.

I'm pretty awkward and lazy and short.

But since we moved to Maryland, I've become Mike's gym buddy and while I bitch and complain every second until we get to the gym, once we're there I've realized I kind of like it.

But regardles of our new workout routine, I've still put on five pounds since the move.

I could blame winter.

Or unemployment.

Or whatever.

But really, I have no excuse.

So I decided to try to get good at working out.

My first step was to pick a quick and easy routine I could do every day before I hop in the shower.

I'm home alone anyways so I don't need to worry about embarassing myself and it's an extra way to burn some calories and build some muscle outside of my workouts with Mike.

I picked this one:

{via}

My burpees are embarrassing and my superman is awkward as hell, but I sucked way less at this than I thought I would.

It took about 20 minutes, it got my heart pumping, and it made me excited for when it wouldn't hurt like hell anymore.

In order to get good at working out, I also needed to find a way to get back into running.

Since we moved here, it's been so windy and cold outside, our runs have really suffered and I HATE running on the treadmill.

So to combat the boredom, but still get some good cardio in, yesterday I started us doing this on the treadmill at the gym before we moved on to weights:

{via}

I knocked the speeds down by one for myself because I'm slow and 8.0 might have killed me.

I think I'll up it back up though and just see how I do because doing 3.0 was kind of boring for 5 minutes straight.

This was awesome and made the time fly by.

I was worried Mike would be bored with it since he's in such better shape then me, but afterwards he was drenched in sweat and said he burnt about 400 calories (I forgot to check my calories dang it).

I'm going to focus on doing these two new additions along with my daily weight lifting until I'm good at them and can up the intensity and weight.

For extra motivation  I put up my daily routine on the mirror at home and, well, talking about it on here is pretty motivating!

Getting Good At Stuff

I figured out one of my problems that has been plaguing me since I became unemployed and since I've been having issues with this blog.

I don't have a thing.

The blogs I love and the people that inspire me all usually have a thing.

Nat is an amazing writer and mother of the cutest kid on the planet.

Apollina has her amazing cakes.

Andrea  has her letterpress.

Cotton & Curls refabs old clothes with her awesome sewing skills.

And there are tons more amazing blogger girls out there with varying things.

(That sounds dirty)

But I don't have a thing.

In blogging or in life.

I'm funny.

I'm short.

I can sing okay.

I can write okay.

I can do the Elaine dance like nobody's business.

But none of those things are really a thing.

You know?

So while I'm unemployed and home alone all day.

Instead of continuing to be a whiner.

I decided to try my hand at stuff.

Any stuff.

Random stuff.

So my new project is Getting Good At Stuff.

My first Getting Good At Stuff post will be tomorrow.

Anyone that wants to join, put a link to your blog posts about Getting Good At Stuff in the comments sections of my posts.

And anyone with suggestions of what I should get good at, let me know!

(I'm already really good at eating cheese, so don't suggest that one)