Weight Loss! Carved Bead, ACEO Painting & More!

Oh my, it's update time! I've been trying to post on my journal for 2 days and couldn't get the log in to work. FINALLY!

I've now lost 20 pounds! Woohoo! Doin' the happy dance! I have 15 more to go to my goal weight. I celebrated my 20 pound decrease in size by investing in a weight bench and barbell with weights. It's time to start some strength training. And I'm now jogging a little bit on my morning walk to keep things moving along. It's so HOT here...very HUMID. Even just walking I break a sweat.

I got a great deal on my weight bench from Hibbet Sports. Ended up with a Linex 6262 for only $99! It was on sale and the last one they had, so an extra bonus is that it was already put together. HOORAY! Did my first weight lifting routine yesterday and am taking a break today to let my muscles rest. I can certainly feel I did something, especially in the upper body, where I really need to build up some strength.

One of my friends on the jewelry designers list set up a challenge...we had to use an inspiration photo from her Holland photo gallery and create something based on the inspiration photo in some way. We also have to use the color orange. So I decided I would make a carved art bead. Here's what I came up with:

Want to buy it? Click on it! LOL I'm going to be making carved beads and sculptures, and my partner AJ is going to be making the miniature paintings we are selling on the site. AJ made an ACEO (art cards, editions and originals) this weekend. Or I should say she finished it this weekend. ACEO's are a certain size - 2 1/2" x 3 1/2", and it's a way for people to collect original art for reasonable prices. She made a really cool painting titled: Summer Day Snooze. Here's a photo of it:

(yeah, you can click on it to buy it too! :))

She made it using my technique in my new ebook - Create Miniature Carved Paintings. Needless to say, we are having a ball, and the joy of creating miniatures is they don't take up too much room in your house! :)

Tonight I'm grilling steak and having fresh seafood salad. (the recipe is in my archives) Feel free to "stop in" and have a bite to eat. The ribeyes look VERY tempting. I'm going to go get them seasoned now and get them on the grill. And.......chocolate pie for dessert! (how can you resist??) No, I won't blow my diet. I've been counting my calories today and making sure I have room in my day for these delicacies.

Off to season the steaks....:)