arcknitect

Back in the saddle... We bought a canoe. Woot! My husband and I are leaving our little man with my parents for a long weekend in May and going on a paddle trip with some friends. It will be the first time in a looooong time that we will be out on the water together. In the past we have borrowed a canoe from a friend, but now that we live in a more rural area with plenty of lakes and streams it was time to get our own. I'm so excited! Found one used on craigslist that ticks all the boxes, including being able to have the little guy in the middle once he gets older. Now to finalize when we are going to EMS/REI to try on baby carrier packs and plan some hikes.....

I'm so glad this challenge starts AFTER this past weekend. We had the service for my MIL in NYC and were completely out of any routines. My poor little guy was totally out of wack with his sleep schedule and as a result no one slept well. All the coffee! Back to just my morning coffee today. Oh! We did buy a canoe. Woot! My husband and I are leaving our little man with my parents for a long weekend in May and going on a paddle trip with some friends. It will be the first time in a looooong time that we will be out on the water together. In the past we have borrowed a canoe from a friend, but now that we live in a more rural area with plenty of lakes and streams it was time to get our own. I'm so excited! Found one used on craigslist that ticks all the boxes, including being able to have the little guy in the middle once he gets older. Now to finalize when we are going to EMS/REI to try on baby carrier packs and plan some hikes.....

Thanks! I keep trying to do it, and have determined that TV tends to stand in the way of getting a lot of things done that I really want to do. To that end, I need/want to get my beehives completely painted by this weekend (you know, before the bees arrive) and after clearing out my MIL's apartment (she was a borderline hoarder) it has lit a serious fire to get my house & especially the office in order. With no TV I can chip away at it over the next week or so on top of making yoga easier to fit in.

Well, made it to kickboxing last night and have managed to stay away from my afternoon cup of coffee so far. Now to add in yoga (and probably read rather than watch TV, when I get into a program I end up going up to bed too late for yoga).

Hello! My last challenge attempt was in January and, well it was quite a roller coaster of a few months family-wise so it didn't work out. We unfortunately lost my mother in law at the end of March and have been working to get things in order. One big focus is on restarting a healthier lifestyle, especially with the warm weather around the corner. My goals for this challenge: Increase my water consumption Remove one cup of coffee from my routine (down to 2 from 3) Do yoga every night before bed to help me relax Attend kickboxing once a week That's enough for this round. Trying to set myself up for success and be able to have time for all the estate stuff going on: Get Grandmother-in-law's house on the market by end of May Finish clearing out mother-in-law's NYC apartment also by end of May Boy am I looking forward to Memorial Day. Maybe I can convince hubby to go for a hike.....

Thank you for all of the support. She made it through her surgery and we have a few pokers in the fire to try to find any more options, but she is stable right now at least. Hubby came home Saturday night and we spent Sunday taking down our Christmas tree (yes, finally) and doing grocery shopping. If there is one thing I am big on maintaining right now its meal prep. I have officially been tracking for 60 days now, which is pretty awesome. Oh, and on a more positive note it was my son's first time in the shopping cart. Previously I wore him in a baby carrier every time. Not my initial goal, but I have managed to get in a few workouts this week during my lunch hour and actually pushed myself to obtain some sore muscles. When I was going to the gym before I couldn’t tell the next day, so I knew I wasn’t doing enough. Love the idea of the fitness marshal videos. He chooses such catchy songs! I wonder if my son would find it amusing watching my attempts to follow along. J He loves it when I sing Disney show tunes to him and dance along while making dinner. Dinner and a show for him! Just take one day at a time, right?

Apparently this isn't going to be my month. This past weekend we found out that my mother-in-law, who has been fighting cancer for the past three years, is losing her battle. All treatments have stopped working and she is scheduled for surgery tomorrow that is kind of a Hail Mary. Really hoping it goes well, but the waiting game stinks. It's obviously thrown life into a tailspin as my husband is staying with his mom until we know more. We were all up there this past weekend to see her and so there is no food in the house, I'm essentially a single parent for the week, and have been having a hard time getting myself to focus on doing yoga, workouts, etc. Bleh. The good news is I'm feeling up for the gym today, and tomorrow is my work from home day so I can hit the gym then too. Need to get better about bedtime and evening yoga. Anybody have tricks they can suggest? So far I just think I need to have the willpower not to get sucked into Netflix and doing other things.

Perhaps. What I like is how flexible it is, but sometimes it's hard to remember to refer to things like task lists. For items that I want to keep records of, and weekly planning it works nicely. I've found that ToDoist and Trello work well for me for task management and lists, but my budget spread will be super helpful moving forward and all my meal plans are listed in the BJ. Hope this helps, it's all in trying things until you find what system works for you. For me that ended up being a hybrid of paper and electronic.

Well, Day 1 back at the gym! Was proud of myself for going to the free weights instead of the machines. After a few months of NF workouts I'm definitly more comfortable there then figuring out how to work new machines, plus it's just a better workout. Checking what weights I'm comfortable with and started with the ones below. Planning to up it later in the week. Now to figure out how to use Fitocracy! Goblet squats 25lb 12x3 Overhead press 2 10lbs 12x3 Deadlift 2 20lb 12x3 Seated leg press 75lb 20reps 160 12x3

Hello! I'm looking for recommendations for a hiking pack designed as a baby carrier. We will be doing more outdoor activities in the spring with my son (who will be 1 in March) and would love to get one with a sun/rain cover to bring him with us on adventures. I am 5'2" and my husband is 6'6" so it needs to be pretty flexible. TIA!!!

I'm certainly looking forward to a more consistent schedule, though I can't complain too much. He takes his morning naps really well and wake up and goes to bed quite consistently. Poor thing is working on 3 teeth and starting to learn to crawl and feed himself. Bound to be some changes and some missed afternoon naps!

Thanks! Yea, it's a ton of fun. The instructor is great and changes it up a lot too. When I get more comfortable there is a Level 2 class, but I'm a-ok with Level 1 for now! lol.

Thanks for checking in! Well, things have gone a bit sideways. My husband has been sick for the last 2 weeks and it's taking a major toll on my progress. I’m so exhausted after not being able to split baby duties at all (somehow LO has not gotten ill. Want to keep it that way). Fingers crossed that his new meds help and kick this plague's butt. So far so good, since he woke up this morning feeling better. I managed to get sick myself, had shark week, and we had a bad ice day here in PA and I almost got into a car accident. Managed to pull something in my neck to boot. Whew. Glad last week is over. The upside is I can come back at it now and kick some butt, downside being that I definitely went to bed at 10pm at the earliest, treated myself to wine and chocolate a few evenings, and didn’t follow through with my yoga. Now the good news, I did make every meal except one dinner and stayed under with my calories, minus one glass of wine, so that’s becoming a more ingrained habit. My budget has been set and I created a BJ spread for it to track every month’s spending (I use Mint for day to day tracking). Also looked at companies nearby that I want to keep my eye on. I recognized that I am just not going to get up early to workout. I will leave the house early, but not workout at home so I signed up for my gym membership to go at lunchtime and exercise. I was doing this routine successfully for awhile before one project had crazy deadlines and have been walking at lunch every day for the past few weeks, so no reason not to up my game. I joined Planet Fitness with the Black membership since there is a location near my house as well as the office. Having a blast at kickboxing. Skipped last week since that was the day of the car incident, but looking forward to class this week. Got my gloves and all set for action. Also going to try setting my fitbit alarm for 9pm so I start getting ready for bed earlier (currently set for 9:30).

Fellow Whovian you say? Hello there! Nice to meet you.

Happy New Year! 2017 for me will be a year of regrouping and resetting life in every way (career, fitness, and finances). For more info on me and my quests: intro, battle log, and character are in my signature. In a nutshell I found NF quite a while ago but only joined the Academy in May of 2016 after having my first child. My goal is to get myself in a better space for when we start working towards #2 in the next few years. To that end I’ve broken out the following goals for this round: 1) Keep food under 2,000 calories a day. Goal is 1,500, but after tracking all last month it’s clear that I have a hard time with under 2,000 especially if I forget snacks or lunch. 2) Go to bed 10 minutes earlier each week Week 1 - 10:00 Week 2 – 9:50 Week 3 – 9:40 Week 4 – 9:30 3) Complete 10 minutes of Yoga everyday Able to do this at 9pm once my LO goes to sleep. Hopefully it will also help me with my periodic insomnia 4) Go to kickboxing once a week Got a Groupon before the holidays for 10 classes. First one was a huge success and I want to continue attending a class a week, even if it eventually change from kickboxing to something else. I hate being out late since I work and only get the evenings with my LO, so this is huge since it will be devoted to fitness rather than another type of social gathering. Other Areas: 5) Update resume First step in a new path. Need to set aside a specific time to do this since it easily goes by the wayside. Need to be mindful of becoming too content. 6) Set a budget I update our budget on a yearly basis, so it’s time for the 2017 refresh.