OCTOBER!!

It’s October 1st which starts my favorite time of year!  The holidays: October is all about fall and Halloween, November is more fall and Thanksgiving, that leads into December for Christmas which lasts the whole month and up to New Years!  The. Best. Time. Of. Year.

So to celebrate while I’m still residing in a country with one season (okay maybe two: Rainy and Less Rainy) I had two of my favorite fall snacks to bring with me to work today – Pumpkin Seeds and Candy Corn.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I really bought the candy corn to make Dan try it; I think Australians are really missing out on the whole Halloween, endless candy phenomenon and I needed to see if I could love Dan for all eternity.  Sigh of relief, I can, he loved the candy corn but can’t eat a lot of it which means I get to eat a lot of it – he’s my perfect man!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Source

I also celebrated the new month and new season by doing 6k on the treadmill before work!  I have finally decided it’s worth my while to build my mileage slowly back up and so the running embargo has ceased. And since I get bored and  lose my will to live now even before I hit 5k, it’s clear to me that my patience and brain endurance need to be pushed. So I made myself get the 5k in that I consider now to be my base.  Then I got a drink of water and decided that pounding out a fast 1k was smart. Next run, 7k.  You’d think I’d need to stretch my physicality but it’s not that, I just get impatient and want to stop so forcing an extra, quick, kilometer when I want to be done is exactly what I need right now.

Okay, you probably want a vacation post or two.  I’m going to write one now! I hope your October has started off well!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is me enjoying my vacation. I used to never lay out (I’m impatient, like an A.D.D. chipmunk) and I would never have imagined taking pictures in my bikini lying down WITH A BEER IN HAND, but hey, we grow up and figure out that sometimes pictures don’t have to be the most flattering to be the ones you love. Some pictures can be of you having fun because that’s what you want to remember, “fat-arm” and “flattened-buttcheek/thigh” be damned! (don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about. all girls know to bevel, put their hand on their hips and keep the chin down)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Case in point, this is me with what one ex coined my unflattering “chuckle-house” face (not unkindly though, just honestly).  yeah baby, I’m working those cheeks! But I love this picture! Adore it. And I was so happy (this was on an elephant in Thailand with Dan!)

So my advice for anyone editing their photos and confronting that feeling that I have dealt with so much – the I hate how I look unless I’m sucking in, twisting to the left, beveling, looking down and flexing my arms feelings- start a habit of focusing on what you’re doing in the picture.  Remember why you took the pic (girls night out! vacation with your man! first long run of the season!) and do your best to start embracing all the different things you experience in life and what that looks like in pictures.  Start disconnecting with the physical specifics and start connecting with the over all picture.  This is what I look like half naked in the water with my thighs showing when I’m not wearing heels OR what I look like emerging from swimming in the INDIAN OCEAN!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is me having an unflattering but fun time in a wagon while hanging out with my family on a rare visit last year.  That wagon was a blast 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and just for your viewing pleasure, the original “chuckle-house” photo! In my defense I’m not the only one with chuckle face…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last but not least this is me doing my best Dolly Parton impression. Okay, the truth is, I’ve never been embarrassed of this picture. I just wanted an excuse to show it. If I could sing “9 to 5” for you right now while wearing that wig I’d be in hog heaven….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But, you get my drift.  I hated my legs in the bikini pictures, my face in most pictures (felt like I have a gigantic fat face) my arms… I digress. But if I look at the whole thing I love these pictures! I’m smiling in all of them, ear to ear. In fact my happiest pictures are my least photogenic.

What do you think? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

this is one of my favorite unflattering pictures of myself with one of my best friends – I promise I’m not a drag queen but really the eyeshadow was necessary…

ps. do you like candy corn? I feel like its a love or hate kind of thing.  and when asked to describe the taste I couldn’t, but the Aussie’s immediately thought it tasted like caramel.  They’re probably right I just think of the taste as “candy corn” 🙂