Sweaty Sunday - 12 miles

Today I ran 12 miles through Hyde Park, Oakley, Madisonville, Mariemont, and O’Bryonsville. It was a hilly tour!


I started and ended in the Kroger parking lot.
Yes, shoppers were staring as I jumped up and down.
This is only the second time this year I’ve run an established, metered route. Usually, I just run for time, giving myself 10 minutes per mile on short runs and 11 minutes per mile on long runs. (My goal for the marathon is 11 minute miles.) Today, I came out at 10:30 per mile. Pretty good!

I do not run a steady pace, and that’s ok with me. I slow down on the hills and speed up on the declines. When a particularly good song pops up on my ipod’s shuffle, my stride lengthens and my tempo increases. Sometimes, I just relax and take it easy for a bit. The variation in pace keeps me motivated.

I have three goals for the marathon:
1. Finish
2. Run 11 minute miles
3. Feel good when I’m done

I’m told #3 will be the most difficult, but I'll try my best to give you a post-26.2-mile jump!


Photos by Beefy Muchacho

Trend Monster

Is a furry vest with tweedy shorts one trend too many? Maybe, but playing it safe is so boring.


Vest, Daisy Fuentes (swapped). Sweater, Charlotte Russe. Shorts, The Limited. Lace tights, Apostrophe. Green tights, We Love Colors. Boots, Matisse. Necklace, self-made. Bag, H&M (it’s the camera bag).


Photos by Beefy Muchacho

P.S. More about the doily necklace.

Knitted Tube

I never thought “knitted tube” would be on my list of winter wardrobe staples, but I’m quickly discovering that it is both a warm and versatile option.


Cardigan, Energie (thrifted). Blouse, J Crew. Skirt, gift. Tights, We Love Colors. Boots, Rampage. Earrings, vintage. Owl pendant/brooch, thrifted.



Out of doors: Hat, Nine West. Scarf, Walgreen's. Coat, Guess. Bag, Nicole Lee. Boots, Matisse.


I’ve worn it at my natural waist (as a skirt), above the bust (as a dress), and just under the bust (as a high-waisted skirt).


How would you wear a knitted tube?

Fearless

I put this outfit together, looked in the mirror, and wondered if it was a little “much.” Then I thought about B Jones and her fearless style and decided it suited me just fine.


Blouse, Japan. Sweater, Joli Tricot. Skirt, Thailand. Booties, Steve Madden Girl. Necklace, Macy’s. Bracelets, Girl Props.

The Set - Mustard Hallway

When I tire of the India Room’s purple wall, I head for the Mustard Hallway.


When I bought the house, all the walls were plain white. I wanted to paint the hall a warm, golden color (as in the inspiration photo to the left), but my first attempt came out as pumpkin puke:


The wall décor was also a disaster. I loved the idea of a “mask gallery,” but the passage simply isn’t wide enough to accommodate the bulky masks and a grown adult. The masks were constantly knocked askew.


I tried tried again with Golden Cricket paint and polished silver platters and I’m quite pleased with the new décor.


The mustard yellow wall is a great contrast to my outfits, but all that reflected yellow light is a challenge. While it gives my skin a golden glow, it also skews the colors of my clothing. The yellow aura bothered one reader so much that she wrote to tell me so. I stubbornly continued to pose here, but soon learned to set the white balance to incandescent +3 to correct for all that yellow. (Photoshop “auto levels” also helps….if there is some true white and true black in the image.)

When I take my photo against the yellow wall, I position my camera and tripod in the bathroom. Glamorous, right?


To light the photos, I turn on all the fixtures in the bathroom, the hallway light, the dining room light, and the light in the India Room. Still, I have to pump up the exposure compensation because the camera takes its light read from the white woodwork in the bathroom, not the darker subject in the doorway. I set the exposure compensation between +.3 and +1.0 and use an ISO of 800. (The camera is in "P" or Program mode.)

The Mustard Hallway, through the blog years...

Here’s the pumpkin puke:

I used the flash back in the pumpkin days.
After painting the hallway Golden Cricket, and discontinuing use of the flash, I often looked a little jaundiced:


Taking a digital photography class through Communiversity changed my life…and my photos:


Hello, white balance!
Finally, I stopped cropping my photos to odd sizes and adopted a standard 2 x 3 ratio. As a result, you now see the bathroom woodwork at the edges of my photos, but I don’t care:


Next month: The Sunroom!