About
Hi everyone! My name is Mehnaz and yes, I only wear dresses. This blog began as a way to share my goals about living a happy life and learning how to take great photos of every second of it!
Maybe it was all those years in prep school or wearing sorority chic at Lehigh University, but I woke up one day with the sudden realization – I love dresses and I want to wear them all the time. Vintage. Nouveau. Couture. Off-the-rack. Short. Long. Ethnic. Conservative. Professional. Every dress imaginable. During a long move, I lost one of my favorite dresses and couldn’t find a replacement of it and I thought, “I wish I had a photo of it!” I had never learned to keep a proper diary no matter how hard I tried, but a photo diary, that seemed fun and awesome!
{The two men in my life - my love, John and our baby, Nigel}
MY PHOTO BLOG
My photography training consists of two courses and a large part of it was completed on a manual camera AND with an intense focus on learning how to develop my photos in the darkroom. I stopped when my beautiful Canon was stolen when I came to grad school.
My lovely boyfriend presented me with a Canon DSLR T2i and the heavens opened up (not literally, but there was a golden light).
I want to learn how to take great photos - without having to become a professional photographer. Currently, I own a T2i, a Canon kit lens, and a 18-200mm lens.
MY FITBLR: TINY LEGS, LONG DISTANCES
My food philosophy is simple: food makes me happy - and I want to make other people happy with it!
Food is fuel and needs to be healthy and perfect to let you do what you want - but it’s also culture and tradition, family, friends, memories, and a even a travelogue because we love to travel. (How many times have you bitten into something and been transported to your last vacation?) I saw a lot of “food-fear” on some Tumblr blogs and fear is unacceptable in my book! Food prepared with love, the best ingredients, and carefully thought out from scratch nourishes the body and nourishes the heart - and it doesn’t mean you can’t fit into you skinny jeans!
My fitness background is much more eclectic! I loved cheer, dance, and gymnastics but I didn’t pursue team sports in high school or college. After leaving college and a pre-set meal plan, I really missed the stir-fry station and daily salad bar.
I also LOVE food - I love fine dining and I am suddenly falling in love with learning how to cook everything from scratch. Since I am a “grown-up,” I balance cooking for my “little family” and enjoy learning about healthy cooking.
I track my eats on my blog to show that healthy eating and from scratch cooking is a joy - and discovering a new recipe or a new favorite restaurant always makes me smile!
Thinking about healthy cooking and meal plans, and finding time to work out was an eye-opener! I definitely struggled to maintain a healthy weight, and I had to teach myself how to be healthy on my own while being able to do all the things I loved. I love being inspired by others and I love running and my personal motto is “Tiny Legs, Long Distances” - because I’m only 5’2 but I love long races - I’m training for my fifth half-marathon and my fourth full marathon. You can read about my journey to health and running here!
My Fitblr features my training log where I log my daily workouts, details my running accomplishments, and talks about my favorite hobby, long distance racing.
I am also an aspiring member of the 50 states marathon club.
ABOUT THE BLOGGER
{The greatest food ever - frozen yogurt!}
I was born in Kuwait City, Kuwait and lived there until the Gulf War started. We were vacationing in Newport, Rhode Island when the war started and my parents made the decision to move the family to New York. I lived all over New York and went to York Preparatory School. I then moved a little bit west and spent the best years of my life at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, graduating with a degree in English and American Studies. I came to the University of Chicago for my M.A., but I’m currently trying to figure out what I want to do when I grow up.
I love exploring Chicago with my boyfriend John, and our puppy Nigel.
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If you share the same passions or have questions, just drop me a message through the side bar!
