The photos above and at the end of this post are from a quick selfportrait photoshoot in my kitchen yesterday. I’m 32 years old, and have two sons age 12 and 10. While I’m a relatively content, marginally successful woman today, such has not always been the case (<— understatement). I’m in a warm, sharing sortof mood today. Hopefully the following words of advice will prove helpful to someone in some way.
Everyone make excuses. For any number of things. Making excuses and convincing yourself you can’t do something is usually easier than making personal challenges and tackling them head-on. I’m terribly prone to procrastination myself, and know how annoyed I get with myself when I keep putting things off, for days, weeks, months even, until, in a manic fit, too irritated with myself to take it any more, I spring out of bed one morning and decide “all right missy, today you’re getting this shit done, all of it, no more excuses!” and do my best to tackle all those things I’d been putting off, usually only remembering half of them by then. Whatever. Point is, it’s not a productive way to live one’s life, seeing as you only get one, and have no guarantee whatsoever how many theoretical “tomorrows” we have waiting patiently for us down the road.
Philosophical preamble aside, let me get to the point of todays post.
One of the most common things people make excuses about, and put off until tomorrow, next week, or next year (new years resolutions, anyone?) is the matter of getting fit. And from this point on, I am referring to otherwise healthy people, who are not disabled in any way, and have no true reason for avoiding exercise, other than not feeling like it.
I, personally, will never understand why the majority of people on this planet take their bodies for granted. You get one, it remains with you for life, and when it fails, that’s it. You do not get a replacement. Despite this very obvious fact, many people spend more time and money working on their cars, or collecting things to decorate their homes with, than tending to their own bodies.
Anyway, let me cut to the chase. Fitness should not be a fad, a hobby or a vague idea at the back of ones head. It should be a way of life. Furthermore, it should not be expensive, complicated, daunting or unattainable, and doesn’t have to be.
I suffered from severe depression from age 12-16. (I won’t go into details) Then I decided to start running. Just a spur of the moment decision that changed my life. It helped, a lot. I got into weight-lifting at age 18, and that helped even more. I started reading fitness and bodybuilding magazines, realizing I could control the shape I was in. This is the most important realization i’ve come across: How i looked and felt was all up to me, not a preordained fate I had to accept. And that’s probably something a lot of people don’t realize, or don’t want to think about because it means you have to get up and do something about it.
If you’re still reading, that probably means you’re one of those people who’ve always wanted to do something to change this, but aren’t sure where to start. To make things easier, i’m going to simply point you in a few good directions, because i can’t possibly write down all i’ve learned in the 14 years since I decided to make fitness a #1 priority in my life.
Chinups are awesome. I have a bar at home. If you can't do even one, start by hanging. Then use a chair and try hanging with your arms at 90°. Then try lifting yourself. Be patient. Can't recommend them enough for upper-body strenght and toning. I can now do 10-12 from a dead hang.
Because I constantly seek out new approaches to keep from being bored, I’m always curious about “trends” that pop up and can usually tell after reading the first few lines of a sales-pitch if something is legit, or a bunch of nonsense designed to rob you of your money and time. One of the things I decided to check out in depth was Mike Geary and his “Truth about Six-pack abs” program, (forcing myself first to look past the cheesy title and incredibly corny looking website). Long story short, I bought his ebook, and give it my stamp of approval, even if it does play a little too much on the necessity of having ripped abs in order to appeal to the opposite sex. ( I’m not in any partnership with this man, I just benefited from his stuff, and am therefore mentioning it to others). The book is crammed with necessary and simple information about nutrition and workouts, much of it stuff I already knew, and free of any mention of shortcuts or miracle cures which I know for a fact do not exist.
Now, after buying this ebook, I’ve gotten regular emails with extra tidbits of information, tips and recipes, which is a nice bonus. In one of his newsletters he mentioned another training program that had his stamp of approval, and I decided to check that out. I ended up purchasing the Tactfit Commando program as well, which is largely based on bodyweight exercise alone, which is attractive to me since I want to work out at home sometimes to save time, and love learning new moves that just somehow never occurred to me.
You’ll notice i mentioned “buying” both of the afore mentioned programs. They were both a lot cheaper than gym memberships and ended up being worthwhile. Still, i know a lot of people won’t buy them. Which brings me to the best fitness-related gem i’ve stumbled across in recent years:
For the second time on this blog i’m going to mention, and recommend Bodyrock.tv. This website was daunting at first. Zuzana (the madly fit and curvaceous woman you’ll see as soon as you click on the link) annoyed the hell out of me with her boobs and her much-too-ripped abs, but i forced myself to watch one video and instantly my preconceptions vanished. I’d also heard that she used to be a porn actress or something, but honestly could not care less. This girl knows what she’s doing, and generously shares, for free, a near endless stream of varying workouts that can be done at home with a minumum of equipment. These workouts kick ass. They really, really do. After a lazy summer of only working out 3-4 times a week max, I decided to get back into gear a couple weeks ago, and have been employing tips I’ve gathered from all three of these sources and focusing them into brutally intense, 20-30 minute workouts in the comfort of my living room. ( Some of the exercises I can’t do (not yet at least) and some I avoid because I damaged my lower-back weightlifting 6 years back and have to be careful not to trigger an attack which can cause me to limp around like an old woman for a few days until it gets better. My point being, don’t let it stop you if you think it looks to hard from the get-go. Just start at your own level and work from there)
Bottom line: You don’t have to spend a fortune on new workout clothes, a gym membership, or face the scary prospect of going into a gym and feeling inadequate (another common excuse I’m sure a lot of people make, which I understand very well). As i mentioned above, I have a chin-up bar installed at home, and own a set of 10kg adjustable dumbells and exercise ball as well. All good stuff to have for variety, but to start you only need yourself.
Anyway, I hope this helps at least some people, since i went to the trouble of sitting here for an hour writing this all down 
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Late july-august here in Iceland has a particular charm for me, which partially makes up for the fact that it’s started getting dark again at night (i’m never really ok with that, its sad even tho it’s easier to get to sleep, but I suppose another summer with bright nights is due next year, i’ll cling to that fact like a comforting blanket)
Anyway, the hillsides and mossy areas close to where I live are awash with berries this time of year. Blueberries and another kind of small, tart black berry , I’ve no idea if it even has a name in english. In icelandic it’s called krækiber (which would be pronounced crikey-bear, i suppose, hehe)
Anyway, it’s the blueberries I’m after, with a nerdy passion. I’d always been under the assumption that there was only one kind of blueberry growing in southern Iceland, rather pale blue in color and growing very close to the ground. My mother kept talking about the blueberries growing up North where she grew up, called “aðalbláber” which translates to “the main blueberry” or as my mom was clearly implying: “the real deal”. Last year I discovered to my great delight that there are in fact TWO KINDS of these more elite blueberries to be found here in the south, along with the more common ones if you know where to look. One kind is dark blue and the other black and shiny, and they grow a bit larger than the other ones. I’m not about to disclose where I pick them though. The common paler blue ones are perfectly fine, taste pretty much the same, they’re just not as fun to pick, somehow.
So far, since mid-July, i’ve filled 4 or 5 one-liter ice-cream boxes with berries, stocking up the freezer so I’ll have enough to last me thru the winter, using them mostly instead of ice-cubes in smoothies. Blueberries are purported to be bursting with antioxidant goodness, so consuming them uncooked in this way has its obvious benefits. They’re quite sour, however, nothing like the giant blueberries found in the U.S., for instance, so it’s tempting to cook them into something sweet. I’ve used them in jam, pie (i’ve tried both blueberry pie and blueberry/apple, which is better) and muffins, and it’s all been delicious. So much more fun baking with berries you pick out in the wild than store-bought stuff.
Here’s a recipe for blueberry muffins I use, it’s from Joy of Cooking (my bible in the kitchen, hands down the most informative and inclusive cookbook I’ve ever come across) The pictures are added as extra incentive to do as I say and try them
mix together in a large bowl:
280 g flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Blend in a smaller bowl:
2 eggs
250 ml milk/ buttermilk/ sourcream/ cream or a mix of any of these
130 g sugar or brown sugar
60-115 g melted butter or oil (the more fat you use, the longer they stay moist)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Combine the dry and wet ingredients, by hand, don’t overmix. The batter is not supposed to be smooth.
Fold in:
180 g fresh blueberries
sprinkle with cinnamon sugar before baking (about 12-15 minutes at 180°C).
Enjoy.
In closing: The picture at the top of this post shows the makings of 4-berry jam that I made with my son the other day. In addition to blueberries, and the afore mentioned “krækiber”, we used red- and blackcurrants from my parents yard, equal parts of each kind. Used no recipe. 1600g berries to 1200g sugar, boiled for an hour or so, half of the mixture sieved to get out some of the seeds and skins, and then everything pureed, and poured into sterilized jars ( i just boiled them one by one for a couple minutes).
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The past two months I’ve been working on this newest series of photos, which is the online exhibit for August on the website of The Nevica Project, where I’m one of the featured artists.
The original idea was just to make the photo above, because I happened to have a large glass-shaped vase from Ikea, and figured it would be neat to bake an oversized slice of cake to go with it. I asked my brother to make me a giant fork to complete the illusion. (I also had the top sawed off the glass so it would have the same proportions as a typical drinking glass) Many have already seen this picture on Flickr, and surprisingly many of them thought the glass, cake and fork were photoshopped. (something people assume about a lot of photos of mine that aren’t faked at all) .
Anyway, after making this first image in May, I decided to create this series, a tongue-in-cheek reflection on how those of us fortunate enough to live in privileged parts of the world have far more food (and other commodities) than we need, or can indeed consume. I’m particularly pleased with my young models, who manage to convey perfectly with their somewhat bored and unimpressed expressions how we tend to take our good fortune for granted.
As with the first picture, nothing is faked, and a great deal of trial and error went into making the food in giant proportions.
For the fun of it, here are a few pictures from “behind the scenes” , just for the hell of it:
The burger reduced from photo-prop to substantial meal for three, with quite a bit left over.
my older son assiting me with the cheerios preparation..
I made fresh pasta dough, from which I hand rolled extra wide strips of "tagliatelle", as well as extra big lasagne sheets...
.. and in fact assembled a huge portion of lasagne, TWICE. sadly both times it shrank too much in the oven to look impressive enough to use for the series.
Again, be sure to check out the exhibit to see the images larger. Limited edition prints are available.
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October 18th 2008 I went for a drive to Kleifarvatn lake (not for the first time and not for the last) in desperate need of some inspiration. Taking a road I hadn’t driven down before, I came across an empty shed. It was in such a state of disarray, I figured it couldn’t possibly be in use. I also saw a great deal of potential in it, and after cleaning up most of the mess and pushing the moldy couch to one side, I happily decided to return as soon as possible and get to work transforming it into something more interesting than this:
"i don't know honey. It's looks a bit drafty.."
before leaving, I shot both a sweater photo, and a doll photo. At the time, i was completely immersed in my doll series, and never left home without at least 2 dolls in the car.
I returned 2 days later armed with plastic sheeting, electricians tape, a hammer and some nails, and contentedly set to work covering the windows, with a warm autumn sun looking in on me. In my head, i had visions of making many different scenarious in this space, painting it in many different colors perhaps, for an intricate series, sure to blow everyones mind..
"this is gonna be so awesome!" she thought to herself..
I was in such a good mood, I stopped to take this photo before leaving:
The same evening, a snowstorm hit (of course). Not surprisingly, the Icelandic wind made a joke of my makeshift plastic window-covers. When i returned the next day, (just managing to not get stuck in the snow) meaning to get to work with step two -painting the walls- I found one of the sheets in shreds. The other was completely intact, but happened to be flapping from a fence a good distance from the shed.
this is what it looks like when Icelandic weather dares you to continue with a silly project..
Inside, things weren’t very encouraging either:
yay..
Having sensed this would happen, i refused to give up. I had also (just in case) brought with me a bunch of narrow strips of wood. Gritting my teeth, I spent one of the most annoying hours of my life fighting the fierce wind to get the stupid plastic back into place, this time nailing the wooden strips over it, so it wouldn’t just rip right out from the nails again. Having finally shut out most of the wind and cold again, I did my best to paint half the shed a rather unattractive peach-pink shade (the only left-over paint i could find in my parents garage) , which would have been easier had the walls been dry..
ugh..
I then went home, not really caring if the weather would crash the party again or not..
It continued to snow.. I was afraid to return, but on October 26th, I set out with a group of large white branches I had previously used for another series of photos, and my younger son tagging along. When we reached the turn-off for the road to the shed, the car promptly sunk into a foot of snow, and refused to go any further. Even more unfortunately, it also refused to go back onto the main road. Now, before I even had a chance to think about panicking, i saw a pair of headlights coming at us from the direction of the shed, and it turned out to be a much larger truck, driven by a pair of helpful scouts (no joke). They not only got my car un-stuck, they also drove me, my kid, the branches and camera gear all the way up to the shed (about 3 km) . I of course left my hammer in the car. But, being helpful scouts, they loaned me one ( scouts honor). The weather was calm and pleasant, so I told them we’d just walk back, and thanked them for saving my project. (the probably drove off thinking i was insane, and wouldn’t have been too far off)
The plastic hadn’t held this time around either, ( I found some comfort tho, in the fact that i’d nailed it so well into place, that this time the top of the original window frame on the left fell down, plastic still clinging). Deciding to just accept that the weather would be a part of this project from now on, I arranged the branches in the middle of the floor, and nailed them into place..
Then i arranged a large white sheet with a hole in the middle, around the trees, nailing it to the walls. I wasn’t really sure why, but it seemed like a good idea at the time..
oct. 26th 2008
Then we hiked back to the car, my son only complaining a little bit when i refused to carry his 9-year-old self along with my tripod and camera bag.
I then visited the shed on a regular basis, documenting how the weather shaped and changed the set-up:
November 4th, 2008
November 9th, 2008.
Finally, on January 10, 2009, I returned to shoot a self-portrait in the ravaged remains of my first-ever installation piece.
after editing, this was my favorite outcome from that shoot:
I told myself my mission was accomplished, but being the hopeless perfectionist i am, doubt soon set in. Finally admitting to myself that I wasn’t satisfied, I returned on March 11th. Again, the road was impassable (this time due to thawing and deep mud), so I had to walk. I reshot the scene, and was far more pleased with the result this time around:
Even getting a pretty good outtake:
Last time i drove up to this area, the shed had been torn, and my branches nowhere to be seen, making me even more grateful that I had the sense to document this process.
Stay tuned for more behind-the-scenes posts from other projects in coming weeks..
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i prefer..
hummus to pesto
weightlifting to yoga
dancing to singing
night to day
drinking to smoking
cooking to cleaning
books to movies
the macabre to comedy
the beatles to the stones
fiction to reality
country to city
beer to wine
wide-angle to telephoto
quiet to loud
watermelon to bananas
subtle to obvious
sarcasm to slapstick
a really long kiss to a really short fuck
Dalí to Pollock
long hair to short
showers to baths
the ocean to mountains
fall over spring
black to white
the 80’s to the interneties
knitting to sewing
hip-hop to indie
spontaneity over planning
hard work to short-cuts
falling asleep to waking up
creating to waiting
but that’s just me.
no contest really
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