I didn’t want to do it, but I did it – I had some head shots taken.

I’ve been planning on doing it, but not now. Not after a busy summer of traveling, followed by months of illness, followed by more travel, and house buying…all of which included lots of unhealthy eating and very little exercising. I’m at the heaviest that I’ve been in a long time, and everything about me feels icky.

I can’t wait to get our TV moved and the living room cleared out so I can start with the workouts again! And when we finally get all of the kitchen supplies moved in, I’ll be able to cook (NOT Hamburger Helper). I’m really looking forward to it.

I wanted to wait a year (or at least a few months) before I got any photos taken. I’m not talking about dropping four sizes, but maybe just long enough for the pants to be a little looser. I had plans for this.

But then we moved, and now my business cards are obsolete (I even had to change my email address a few months ago, so the only thing of value on them is my phone number). I asked a lot of people for samples of their cards, and about 75% of the cards included head shots (the others had pictures from novel covers). That was one motivator.

The other? After months of asking authors to send me their pictures for my blog, I finally had an author as ME for a photo so he could advertise the interview on HIS blog. It didn’t take me long to realize that I didn’t have a decent picture without my hubby or niece in it, or without me doing something silly (I have some great shots of me…clipping coupons, doing dishes, etc.).

So I sucked it up, pulled out the checkbook, and paid someone to take pictures of me when I feel the least attractive. While it wasn’t the most fun I’ve had all week, I learned a two important things:

– If you’re in the same boat, splurge to have your hair/make-up done. My friend is a stylist, so she made me pretty.
– Pay to have it done professionally. They can crop the pictures and focus on the good stuff.

While I’ve had better-looking days, between the combination of those two ladies, the photos don’t look half bad. I know if I had just had a friend take pictures of me after my minimal-style efforts, I would have felt miserable with the results. As it stands, though, I did purchase three different shots, so I have some options when sending them out.

Another surprise bonus – I got to chat with the photographer who is inviting me to her professionals networking group, then I was able to recommend some authors to her, and maybe in twelve months I’ll be able to hire her to take pictures again…of a slimmer me.

I’ll have those pictures next week, so I figured I should put one up here. It made me wonder – have I posted a picture of myself here before? If not…what do you think I look like?? 🙂