Acknowledging the amazingness of this week!

This last week has been very busy and when I finally had time to sit down and let my mind wander I realised it's been a pretty awesome week! So I'm going to acknowledge it and make a note of the highlights.

Weight Loss

I celebrated reaching my 50lb weight loss goal. A big acheivement that fills me with a sense of pride. I actually did it! After years of resisting losing weight I am now 50lbs slimmer!

Running

I ran my LONGEST run! SIX miles! PLUS a 3 mile walk. I did the run in 64 minutes which was a nice surprise too. My best friend (ever in the whole wide world hehee) is coming to stay at the end of this month so I am planning to do my first 7 miler with her then.

Wedding Photography

I did my second wedding photography shoot of the year! It went really well. I did a lot of planning for it, story boarding and checked out the venues before hand. My planning paid off as did my timings (being where I was meant to be at the right time!). The newly weds were great and I can only wish future wedding photography clients are as ace!

I'm looking forward to editing the pics and can't wait for the couple to see them.

On the subject of wedding photography, I had another enquiry this week about a booking for next year! Usually with other photography, bookings might be made a month in advance but usually with a lot less notice. I guess with wedddings I'm going to have to get used to planning much further in advance!

4am Project

The 4am Project event last Sunday went amazingly well! A great turn out, lots of fab feedback and it made all the preparation worth while.

Speaking Engagements

Talking of the 4am Project, I'm going to be speaking about it at a Red Eye event on 14th May in Liverpool called the National Photography Symposium. Are you going? Come and say hello! I'll be there from the Friday evening until late Saturday afternoon.

I also had another request to speak at a photography festival. I'm just waiting to get some more details about that one first, but it's always nice to be asked!

MORE on the 4am Project!

I received approaches from two companies (one from the UK, one from the USA) showing an interest in the 4am Project. It's very early days and maybe nothing will come of it, but it's great that companies are showing an interest. Whatever comes out of it (if anything - keeping my feet on the ground!), I've got to make sure that if a company gets involved it's got to be the right fit for the project and I won't be rushing into anything or making hasty decisions.

Meme'd!

Kathryn Ashcroft meme'd me and said some nice things on her blog about me too! Like most people, meme's don't hold much interest to me, but I've had a quick scan of the questions and I think they'll fit in nicely with this 'a bit more....' blog. I might do it in a video form, but it probably won't be for a few weeks yet.

Chilling with friends

I had a lovely night with my friends Sas and Marty and other friends at their Chilli night! I played games with the kids and then we all did karaoke (and I NEVER do karaoke). Thankfully I don't think anyone audio boo'd it. Thanks for a great night guys! I'll be round again soon!

Burning Man

Friends Fiona Cullinan and Pete Ashton invited me to their Burning Man party. Pete had been busy cutting down trees and was burning them and a party built up around that!

"We're also inviting people to bring an effigy to burn. This can be a representation of a person, institution or idea that you'd like you remove from your life. You can make a detailed doll or just scribble on a piece of paper. It's all about the catharsis"

Cool!

I nearly didn't make it after doing 9 miles on my feet earlier in the day and was wiped out in the afternoon, but managed to get a second wind.

With the invitation to burn something, I cut out '50lbs' and 'NO'. Of course the 50lbs represents the weight I have lost and I wanted to say goodbye to it! The NO was to represent negativity (N) and saying NO to negativity and negative people. I don't want any negativity in my life (who does) and I'm lucky I'm surrounded by a great group of friends. I don't have much negativity in my life (as it's banned!) but just to make sure, I wanted to burn it too!

Thank you to my friend Sas for taking the pics!

So April ended and May started on a high! I can't wait to see what the rest of this month brings!

Oh, I know! I'm partaking in Birmingham's Pecha Kucha night on 18th May. I've been meaning to take part for ages now, so I'm pleased to have finally set a date. I think I'm going to be talking about heart ache! haha. Hopefully it won't be as depressing as it sounds! See you there?

And to top the month of May off, as I mentioned before, my best friend is coming to stay! To say I can't wait to see her is an understatement. I am soooo excited. I know we are going to have a ton of fun and silliness all weekend! Also, she hasn't seen me since I've lost weight, so she is going to get a big surprise.

Right, I'm going to chill for the rest of the day. I had a shock when I looked at my diary for this month and realised I haven't got one free day in it, except for Sunday Me Days where I don't make any plans. I'm going to need those days this month especially.

Okay, here's to a cracking May!