Grip the Mat Bendy Brunch: Cuteness at 600F!

Unless you've been under a rock recently (or just haven't read my blog in the past year), you know that I do a lot of freelance photography for the awesome yoga event start up Grip the Mat.

I'm not going to harp on all the wonderful work I've done for them (you can scroll through my archives if you want to hear more about that), but I did want to share a few new images I have from another GTM event I worked at this spring at 600 F in Chinatown.

This was the first time I've ever shot an event for GTM where there was a cute little kid (co-founder Christy's nephew) participating in the yoga as well.

Needless to say, the shots were magical. Or at least, I thought so!

Spright Updates on Working Out in the Heat & Summertime Fun

90 degree heat? Check. Watermelon overflowing at the grocery story? Check. Feeling like you live in an oven? Double check.

It's official: the dog days of summer are in full swing here in Washington, D.C. Lucky me.

In all seriousness though, this summer has gone by in a blur. Between traveling to Canada to visit family, visiting with friends, traveling to weddings, its so hard to believe there's only a few more true weeks of summer left before my graduate school classes begin at Georgetown. Sigh.

At least this summer has been very productive for me in terms of Spright.com & USO work -- that's at good thing right?

I'm not going to spoil all the wonderful things I have in the books for you to enjoy on Spright over the next few months (trust me, I have a TON of things coming!), but I will say that one of my stories -- about working out in the heat -- hit the site last week and I couldn't be happier.

I loved that I was able to reach out to my alma mater's own Dr. Todd Miller for advice in writing this story. He really helped me understand all the interesting ways the body adapts to temperature changes without making me feel like I needed to re-take my freshman biology class.

Anyway, here's a little snippet for you to enjoy:

Exercising outside in the summer months can feel a little like self-inflicted torture, especially for those first few workouts. Your face gets red. Your skin gets sweaty. Your breathing gets increasingly labored as you push yourself to finish your final set. Even recovery can seem to be more difficult than it would in cooler months.

However, after a few consecutive days of exercising in the heat, you’ll probably start to notice that dealing with stifling outdoor temperatures while you work out isn’t as difficult for your body as it was a week or two ago — all thanks to process called temperature acclimation. Simply stated, temperature acclimation is an adaptive bodily process the body undergoes to become more tolerant of working, exercising, and living in the heat.

I wanted to learn more about what goes on inside the body during the temperature acclimation process, so I  reached out to Dr. Todd Miller, an associate professor of exercise science at the George Washington University, to talk more about how the body adapts to working out in the heat. Here are the major takeaways from what I found out...

Read more here!

Stay tuned for more fun things to come!

Stories on stories on stories for the USO

It's been a while since I've been out on a video shoot for the USO, which consequently means I've been spending a lot more time writing blog posts, feature stories and vignettes for the organization over the past few months.

Between writing about USO supporters and entertainers who were nominated for industry awards this year, to traveling through time for the USO's 74th birthday, to interviewing a mom who's son made the ultimate sacrifice, I've had some really interesting stories to follow over the past few months.

I think one of the most powerful stories I worked on, however, was the story about a recent USO President's Award winner, Shannon Huffman. During her shift at the USO center in Germany, Shannon took a series of actions to save a potentially suicidal service member from taking his life -- something that really resonated with me and shows what the USO is all about.

See, people seem to think the USO is just an organization that provides food and respite to service members around the world, when, in fact, we do so much more. See, the USO is there from the moment a troop enters boot camp to the moment he hangs up his boots. We're there for wounded and recovering soldiers, their caretakers and even veterans looking to land a civilian job. The USO is always by thier side -- and I'm so proud to work for them.

Anyway. Now that you know how much I love working for the USO, here's a full list of what I've been up to:

• ‘I Can See Him Here’: Mother Finds A Moment of Solace Through Visit to USO After Son’s Death
  
• USO Entertainers Shine at Academy Awards
  
• ‘He Came to Us’: USO Staffer in Germany Takes Action to Save the Life of Despondent Soldier
  
• Celebrate Valentine’s Day With These Five Huggable USO Moments
  
• USO Tour Veterans and Supporters Have a Big Night at the Grammys
  
• Photos Through the Decades: Celebrating the USO’s 74th Birthday
  
• USO Tour Veterans Katy Perry and Idina Menzel Set To Take the Stage at Super Bowl XLIX
  
• Bringing the Big Game to the Troops: USO Centers Around the World Prep for Super Bowl XLIX Festivities
  
• USO Veterans Rake in the Awards Nominations and Wins
  
• Jiffy Lube Franchises Join Forces to Raise over $19,000 for USO Delaware
  
• USO2GO Kits Lift the Spirits of Troops in Liberia

A final shoot for DC's United Women in Business

As some of you may or may not know, for the past year, I've been volunteering my time and talent serving as United Women In Business (UWIB)'s DC Vice President of Digital Media -- cool right?

It's been an awesome year of event planning, photographing, website development and networking, but, like all good things, my time with UWIB has come to an end as I shift my focus toward my new role as assistant editor at Fiterazzi Magazine and my job at the USO.

I'll admit, it was quite bittersweet attending my last UWIB event as a board member at the Advisory Board company last month -- the wonder atmosphere of female empowerment, entrepreneurship and friendship just made me want to clone myself so I could stay on the board forever!

Plus, the topic for January's event -- Women in Tech -- was so interesting! The panelest were extremely engaging and inspiring -- what great last event to photograph for such an amazing organization.

While coporate-style events are never the most interesting to shoot, in the past year, thanks to UWIB's events, I've really been able to practice my business-event photography skills and have improved quite a bit.

In fact, I've gotten quite a few gigs from my work at UWIB -- I never would have guessed that would ever happen!