Cathy Zielske's Blog

Chubby girl running

Let me be the first to readily admit that when I am out there running, clearly I am no gazelle.

And let me also admit that for 6 solid months out of the year, by 'out there,' I really mean 'on my treadmill.'

I started running in January of 2010. I weighed 181 pounds. I could go for about 1 minute at 3.2 miles per hour and then I'd walk it out for four minutes. Then, I repeated the process.

In 2010, by embracing physical activity and cutting out the crap (by way of following the Weight Watcher's Points plan) I dropped 40 pounds, hitting a lean, mean 141. You can see the entire year in scrapbook page form by clicking here.

And then I realized that I was really freaking hungry.

 

I spent 2011 moving back up the scale, trying to find new ways to eat, trying to figure out how I could eat real food in normal quantities and still maintain that girlish figure I so craved.

2011 didn't quite work out the way I'd hoped. From a weight standpoint, I was even steven. I was planted firmly, so to speak, in the mid 150s.

Now in some respects, that's a positive thing. I was eating to live and not just to see how few calories and fat grams I could put into my body. I was learning how junky carb binges translated to feeling like absolute shit less than an hour after they shot down my gullet. I was figuring out what my body needed and how I could go about filling the bill.

I still didn't get any smaller though, and for some reason, that signaled defeat. Somehow, I wasn't quite as good as I was before. Afterall, seeing more chub meant things weren't rolling along as they were before, right?

But during 2011 and right up until present day, one thing has remained constant: I've kept running.

The past Spring has seen more weight climb onto the old bod. At last weigh (yesterday) I was 160.3. It's not for lack of Moving More that is seeing this happen; nope. It's going right back to eating crap and doing things that are not really feeding my body what it needs.

I know this to be true and I really do know what is needed… I'm just not making it happen.

But still, I'm out there, and I'm running.

There is a church with huge plate glass windows in my neighborhood. I pass by it towards the end of my runs on the days I venture outside. When I reach the church, I'm at roughly the 3.5 mile mark of the run. I'm tired, but not spent. I'm moving more slowly but not at a stand still by any means. I usually feel pretty damned good and am often struck by how proud I am of myself that I am out here, doing this, and that I have learned to really embrace and enjoy the running process and everything it offers to me both mentally and physically.

Then I see my reflection in the windows.

There's always a split second of disenchantment; I look awkward in my gait. My butt makes it looks like I'm smuggling two basketballs inside of my run shorts. The awesome, running gazelle woman in my mind evaporates in a puff of smoke as I realize: oh, yeah… this is what I look like when I run.

 

And yet, no matter what the scale says to me and no matter how much junky crap I've given in to, that run is exactly the steady that I've clung to and have so desperately needed these past few years. The run says to me, "It's alright, Cath. Lace up, let's go… get the sweat out, clear your head. Every day is a new chance to get it all right."

I've had a few injuries here and there that have kept me sidelined for a few days off and on, but by and large, the running has remained a constant.

I don't have this whole thing figured out yet, and very likely, I never will.

So maybe I'm up a bit on the chub factor today.

Chubby or not, I'm still out there and I'm still a girl running.

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If you're interested in making changes to your overall health and fitness, Move More, Eat Well is a 12-month online workshop at Big Picture Classes. The focus of this class is to embark on a personal journey that works with your unique lifestyle in helping you to find ways to make the changes you'd like to see on a fitness and health level. Registration is open all year and you can jump in anytime to join the more than 1,550 women and men who've made the decision to try to make changes in their own lives. Move More, Eat Well revolves around a robust community of users who are all creating a scrapbook/journal of their progress. To learn more, click here.

 

 

 

The winner of the photography class from Katrina Kennedy is…

The winner of a spot in Your Kid Captured Through the Lens a workshop from Capture Your 365 and Katrina Kennedy is:

Becky, contact me at czdesign@comcast.net to get hooked up with the class. Thanks everyone, for sharing your favorite photos in words.

Sponsor Giveaway: a photography workshop from Capture Your 365 and Katrina Kennedy

One blog reader will win a spot in Your Kid Captured Through the Lens a workshop from Capture Your 365 and Katrina Kennedy.

ABOUT THE WORKSHOP: Do you love other people's photos and wonder, "how do they get such great photos of their kids?" Are you frustrated with the photos you take of your own kids?

Join Katrina Kennedy to capture your kids through the lens. You’ll explore techniques to take your kids’ photos with less frustration and better results. You’ll also get the advice of six guest photographers who happen to be moms with infants, toddlers, adolescents, teens, and grown children! (Oh, and one grand  ma!)
In six lessons, you'll explore:
• Techniques to avoid the cheesy grin
• Capturing beautiful candid moments
• Changing your perspective for more interesting photos
• Capturing photos from behind
• Using props for better photos AND cooperation
• Things to focus on when cooperation is LOW

The price of this class is $60.

CLASS SPECIAL: Register by Friday, April 27 to save $10 off your registration!

TO ENTER: Leave me a comment and tell me what your favorite photo of your child is. It can be any child, any age in any era. I'll choose a winner on Sunday night.

Comments are now closed. Check back to see if you're a winnner.

Project Life, Week Sixteen + a video tutorial

OBSERVATIONS: Last week seemed like a week where not very much happened until I went back through my notes and photos. I love when I realize that hey, stuff really did happen and if I hadn't thought to jot it down in the moment, or snap a quick photo, well, it would have been lost to time and memory.

I also decided to get really Photohop-y with my pictures this week, adding overlays, wrapping text and creating bleeding headlines to top some of my shots. What can I say? Some days just need more Photoshop. This week, I'm including a short video tutorial to show you how to do one little technique. More on that below. First, let's look at the pages.

Of course I had to include a brief summary of the Cole-Kony story, saved via Tiny Template. And I layered in some text onto a shot of some blooming lilacs, as well as dropped an overlay onto a self portait of me working.

More text on photos, and the tip I'm going to share is how to do this:

I loved this shot of Aidan's backpack, as she headed off to school, and just wanted to drop some journaling onto the photo before printing. Creating a ghosted background for journaling is simple. Want proof? Here's a quick video that shows you how I did it.

How to create a ghosted journal block overlay from Cathy Zielske on Vimeo.

To watch a higher quality and larger video, simply click on the link directly below the video to watch at Vimeo.

Here are a few more images from the week.

On this photo, I simply created a text box that extended into the salad image, and hit return every time I got close to the image to create this custom wrap effect.

I just released a new Check Card set called "The Kid Life Edition." The cards in this set could be really fun for covering all aspects of kid life in a check box format. Included in the set are sheets of printable PDFs in black ink for those of you who do not have Photoshop at your disposal.

I recorded a video about working with this style of card. You can find that by clicking here.

And that, friends, is all she wrote on Project Life for Week Sixteen.

SUPPLIES:

InLinkz.com

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Project Life, created by Becky Higgins, is a flexible, easy-to-use, highly customizable way to save your memories in a fun, stress-free way. Learn more about getting started with Project Life by clicking here.

 

 

 

 

Mistaken identity

Last Saturday Cole wanted to go for a bike ride around the lake near our house.

The route is roughly 4 miles and you should know that I've only recently decided that it's okay for my 12-year-old son to tackle it on his own. And by recently, I mean on Saturday.

Now I'm no Helicopter Mom but let's just say that yes, I do have a protective bone or two in my 46-year-old body and yes, I have been known to worry more than a well-adjusted adult might be wont to. So despite my gut level reservations, I simply responded with, "Okay buddy, be careful at the street crossings!"

It's just so different from when I grew up. When I was 12, I would hop on my bike in the morning and take off exploring through the woods by my childhood home without a care in the world. Actually that's not true. I did grow up with an irrational fear of being kidnapped but that would make sense because I grew up in the 1970s and it always seemed like some horrific story would surface often enough to keep you on your toes and remind you that being buried alive in a box wasn't completely out of the realm of possibility.

But this story isn't about me, surprisingly, it's really about a case of mistaken identity.

A little backstory: Cole was really affected by the Kony 2012 media blitz and viral campaign. Most of you have probably heard of Kony and that is an example of what savvy internet use can get you: noticed. Cole was so moved by the story of the Invisible Children and the atrocities, he wanted to participate in the Kony campaign's "Cover the Night" event on April 20, where people would go out and post flyers in every city across the globe, again with the goal of raising awareness for the Kony campaign.

But you see, Dan and I had tickets to see a show; Aidan doesn't drive yet and had plans to go to a concert; and Cole, well, he was sent over to his cousin Luke's house so he didn't really have an opportunity to get out there and support a cause he personally believes in.

And that was that.

But on Saturday morning he headed out for his ride and while he was gone, I had to drive Aidan to a rehearsal for an upcoming production of Bye Bye Birdie. As we set off down the main drag by my house, I saw Cole in the distance, heading back towards home, awkwardly biking and holding a bunch of red flyers in his hand. We passed him and waved and I noticed flyers on every street light pole that all said the same thing:

My heart swelled in my chest, full on Grinch-style, as I turned the corner to see more and more of these red flyers blanketing every street light along the road we were driving.

I got teary-eyed at the thought of my son, unbeknownst to me, heading out after the fact to put up his home-made Kony flyers to help spread the word in our little Como Park neighborhood.

I was ridiculously proud to be his Mom.

 

I returned home, walked into the house and just wrapped my arms around him, giving him a big hug and that's when he told me: "Oh, Mom… I wasn't putting them up… I was just putting them back on the poles, the ones that had blown off. I was just out for my ride and saw all these flyers all around the lake."

But you know what? I'm still ridiculously proud. Whether it's my kid or your kid or some kid I'll never know, the fact that they are filled with enough passion and motivation and belief to get out there and try to make a difference… well, that's the best of what this young generation—heck, any generation—can offer. The hope and belief and conviction that they can make a difference.

True, there is some controversy around the campaign and the organization and Lord knows if you Google it even a fraction, you can get eyefuls from both sides.

I'm just proud of witnessing the idea that people can make a difference—and specifically kids can make a difference—whether they're out there plastering the world with flyers for their cause, or simply re-taping them to the pole.

 

 

Layout Share: Diagram—Work Life

I'm guessing a lot of you out there work.

And before we start engaging in any debates over what qualifies for "work," let's just clear it up: whether your digs are an office cubicle with chatty co-workers or the laundry room with clinging little ones, what you do in a day is work. Agreed?

I've documented my work before, but I took some self-portraits of myself working last week (for use in Project Life) and I thought: Hey, I should make a page about this. And so I did.

It started with a photo and the idea of making a diagram.

So many days look just like this. Same clothes. Same mug of tea. Same lighting. It's funny, but I have a work trip planned next month and I realized: Sweet Jesus! I have to wear different outfits on consecutive days!

The horror!

Anyhoo… I decided to take my slightly cheeky diagram and turn it into a layout that looks like this:

Here's what it looked like once it was all printed and assembled:

It turned into a simple tribute to my work and my gratitude for being able to do what I do for as long as I have.

JOURNALING READS: In 1999, I walked away from corporate design in America to stay at home with my newborn baby boy. Back then, it was the issue of whether or not we could live on $12,000 a year less. Nearly my entire salary would have gone for day care and downtown parking. Although I did go back to corporate while working for Simple Scrapbooks, I did it from here, my little office cocoon, where so many of my hours are spent. I work here, I make money here, I listen to music here, I connect here, I create here and sometimes I even cry here. I never ever take for granted this opportunity and I try to be grateful for it, even on those months where the income isn’t good and the jobs aren’t fun and the stress is high. Though my work is not who I am, it certainly is part of the definition.

DESIGN NOTES: This page features font harmony (the use of a single font for title and journaling), repetition (the brown color from the headline to the read-in to the date at the end), common margin spacing in and around all of the elements and a slightly asymmetrical balance within a symmetrical framework.

TECHNICAL NOTES: I create the entire page using InDesign. I love InDesign's Line tool and the Stroke options for putting all sorts of different arrowheads on the lines. Each one of the little captions in the photo is a separate text box overlayed onto the photo. I designed the whole page, then copied the photos onto a new InDesign doc, and sent those to print onto photo paper. Then I printed the original page, minus the photos, onto white Bazzil cardstock. The final step was to trim the photos and adhere. Hybrid scrapbooking at its simplest.

Have you documented your work at any time during your memory keeping years? If yes, do share. If not, tell me why you haven't. And above all, consider doing it again.

SUPPLIES:

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Project Life, Week Fifteen + a free download for you

OBSERVATIONS: I have to tell you something that I've been doing and it's something I haven't done very often during the past few years: I sit with my album (my Project Life album, specifically) and I page through it every few weeks and just smile and think, "Damn. I'm so glad I'm going this."

It's such a cool vehicle to chronicle every day life. The fact that I've never done a Project 365 or something of this ilk with any consistency makes me really happy that I'm sticking to this. Indeed.

This week was pretty mellow, in short, as the card says: nothing too crazy. I like those weeks. I like them an awful lot, actually. Here are my pages for Week 15:

This week was purposefully kept stripped down. I opted out on using stickers on my photos and instead just dropped some text onto a select few. Because I print all of my photos for Project Life at home, it's simple for me to drop some text onto the photos.

And if you're wondering how I set everything up to print at home, it's simple. I have stocked up both on photo paper and ink and honestly, I feel like it balances out financially. Yes, it would be cheaper to send out my photos to Shutterfly, but the thing I like and need in this project is immediacy. Sunday is my day to print photos, write out my weekly card and assemble everything. Speaking of the weekly report…

I've been using this card for weeks now and it comes from this set, Frame Journalers 1. The set contains a series of cards, and I had a request from a blog reader to create an extra card that said, "month in review" and I figured, why not make that a freebie download today? The frame titles are created and then rasterized into uneditable art. The reason I have to do it that way is to be able to use my favorite font and have it read on all of your computers. So, if you'd like a free "month in review" frame journaler, click on the link below to download the zipped file. Note: this file will only read in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements.

Download CZ_MonthInReview

Now where was I?

And another week is on the books!

SUPPLIES:

InLinkz.com

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Project Life, created by Becky Higgins, is a flexible, easy-to-use, highly customizable way to save your memories in a fun, stress-free way. Learn more about getting started with Project Life by clicking here.

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There is still time to save at the Designer Digitals Paper Pack and Template sale, going on now through Saturday morning at 6 a.m. EST. All of my templates are on sale for 30% off. Find my collection here.

When you need a little pick me up

The last 30 days have seen my efforts to Move More and Eat Well fall somewhat flat. And by "flat" I mean the Eating Well part has included copious amounts of sugar and other white foods, and the Move More part has been plagued with ticky tack little injuries. Back pain here, calf pain there…you know how it goes. Yo! I'm 46 y'all. No one said it would all be smooth sailing.

I guess you can't do NOTHING physical and just smoke for 25  years and expect your body to happily reward you.

That said, I realized the other day whilst pounding it out on the dreadmill that I'm sure grateful for music while I try to get my Moving More back on track. I thought I'd share some of the songs that for whatever reason, when they magically appear in my shuffle mix, I magically believe I can run another mile. Or two.

 

I know it's old, and maybe a bit dated, but there is a driving baseline that just propels me forward. Chris Robinson rocks it out. And I will admit to you something I'm really embarrassed that I never knew: this is a cover of an Otis Redding song. What?

 

Another song that I love to run to is "Too Funky". I love George Michael. I did then. I do now. I used to imagine, back in 1984, that he could be my boyfriend. Ah, the folly of my youth. George, you will always be Whamtastic to me.

 

I realize at first glance, you might think, "What? How is this a song that gets you going?" But you're going to have to stick it on a mix and see for yourself. Granted, this version is a bit stripped down, but the song itself makes me instantly feel about 32 pounds lighter. And I love the idea that I'm doing something "fantastic" like, well, running. Plus, I have always had an insane crush on Ed. His guitar playing is sublime. I'm sad that Ed and Steven are no longer together in the group.

 

You cannot stop running if this comes on. You just can't. Not possible. Nope. Not happening. Plus, when I hear Dave Grohl's little breathy voice, I melt. It's true. I would hump his leg. (NOTE: That line is not for the children.)

 

I realize my cool factor just dropped a few notches in the eyes of some, but for some reason, if this song comes on at the end of the run, it gives me a boost. Plus, I like to sing as I go... come out, come out, come out, Virginia don't make me wait…

So now it's your turn: what song will get you up off the couch and moving, or if you're already out there, what song powers you through?

Don't worry, it can't be as embarrassing as Billy Joel.

 

 

And the winner of the spot in  Spring Training 2012, starting one week from today is…

That's right! Elizabeth, who simply wrote, "Chicken Butt!" might as well get those leg warmers out and ready to roll. Email me at czdesign@comcast.net and I'll hook you up, Elizabeth.

And to those of you who are still interested, check out the site to learn more about   Spring Training 2012.

The winner of the simplify 101 workshop is…

The winner of the spot in simplify 101's Organize Your Kitchen: A Quick + Simple VIDEO Workshop is:

Ale, contact me at czdesign@comcast.net to claim your spot in this workshop!