KatalAnka

She LOVES to lick my toes when I'm lying on my back stretching my legs. SO HELPFUL

Aug. 9 Workout 0/2Stretches 1/7Music 7/7 Aug. 16 Workout 0/2Stretches 1/7Music 7/7 Downside - I totally didn't workout at all and hardly did stretches. Upside - I'm in love with my harp and play it every day. Time to look forward! Starting with the NF flexibility benchmarks, I'm going to measure my flexibility tomorrow with Bastian's help and challenge myself to complete stretches every day for the next 4 weeks so that when I measure myself again, I can see how worth it it is! Thank you to Bastian for always helping me look on the sunny side.

Great work my dear, keep it up :3

The way I see it, if Jayde can lick her own foot and I can't, I need to stretch more.

Report Card Jul 27- Aug 2 Workout 2/2Stretches 5/7Music 7/7You always feel better when you do stretches. Stawp slacking off. DO IT FOR YOUR CAT.

Keeping this challenge post very simple so I actually DO it. Here we go! Fig 1. Inspirational Photo #1 Weekly Goals Workout Tuesday and ThursdayStretch routine every dayPlay music every dayGet to bed by 11 because my cats will wake me up at 7 no matter what time I go to bedReport cards for the week will be every Sunday! Notes to self Remember to listen to music you likePut your yoga mat down for stretchesHave fun!! Fig 2. Inspirational Photo #2, my baby

I found Bastian resting at the crossroads that night, cleaning his sword. "Need someone to take a look at that wound?" I called out, noting the bandages wrapped around his leg. Surprised to see me, he turned and smiled. We shared stories over dinner, both healing in our own ways. We talked of fear, and the darkness it wrought. We talked of love. Of magic. He told me Dark Seb would be back. But next time, he'd have to get through my sword first.

THIS POST WILL NOT CONTAIN SPOILERS!! Finding the Name of the Wind A 6-week challenge put forth by Kat al'Anka Latze "You see, there’s a fundamental connection between seeming and being. We all become what we pretend to be." For my second challenge, I'm taking inspiration from my favourite book series, the Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss. No posts here will contain any spoilers from books 1 or 2, so if you haven't read them don't worry. If anyone wants to talk about Kvothe or artificing or names or anything with me, you are more than welcome to post here or PM me Goals: To come out of this a more confident guitar player, singer, and general musicianTo build lasting muscles and enduranceTo be stronger mentally 1. The Lay of Sir Savien Traliard "It was only about fifteen minutes long, but those fifteen minutes required quick, precise fingering that, if done properly, would set two voices singing out of the lute at once, both a melody and a harmony." The biggest focus of this challenge is my guitar playing, as I'm not concerned with my ability to complete the other goals. I love playing music and these books are a huge inspiration for me to keep up with it. I struggle with practice sessions; my confidence when other people are listening, what to practice, not stressing out when I don't sound as good as I hope to... No longer. One day my fingers will play a song such as this, and grown men will weep at the sound. 30 minute+ guitar practice sessions, 3/weekPractice singing difficult songs, 2/weekAny additional practice sessions count for bonus points at the end of the challenge 2. The Heart of Stone "Ben said a man who truly mastered Heart of Stone could go to his sister’s funeral without ever shedding a tear." Learning the Heart of Stone incorporates two steps - first is to continue my daily yoga sessions which is first a test of discipline, and second, healthy for my body. Second is to meditate on the idea of separating emotions from thoughts - keeping calm while dealing with a difficult subject. I still succumb to being slave to my emotions when a stressful thought fills my head, and to correct this I will consider the value of being able to see such a thing from the outside with a clear mind. Yoga/stretching routine, 7/weekDuring stretching, focus mind on this topic 3. Physical Abilities "Still it was no great feat to make it to the roof of the inn where I collected my boots." Kvothe is constantly climbing up buildings and walking for miles like it's no big deal. I will continue my fitness habits and introduce some exciting & interesting additions. Continue my 2-month+ Pushups/Pullups challenge, 6/week (Every day of the week excepting Tuesday, do 1 more pushup and pullup than I did the session before, in however many sets as necessary. This is my main entrance into fitness right now as I really enjoy it)Supplementary thorough workout, 1/week (Bonus points awarded for any extra sessions)Something out of the ordinary, 1/week (Climb a tree, climb a mountain, sprint at top speed, race my friends, do an exercise I've never tried before, go swimming, etc. Get my knees a little dirty. Bonus points awarded for any extras)Weekly Grading _/3 [WIS +4] Guitar _/2 [CHA +3] Singing _/7 [DEX +3] Yoga _/6 [sTR +2] Push/Pull ups _/1 [sTR +1] Workout _/1 [sTA +2] Interesting workout __ Bonus points (Can be spent on rewards, which I will decide on at some point...)

GREAT challenge, feeling very inspired... -- I think you've done a great job choosing your goals, and I can't wait to read your journal entries I'll be with ya for Mt. Fin, let's wait til a cooler day though! LOL!

HOLY SHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now that is cosplay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Stretches: 4/6 C+ Workout: 2/2 A Paleo: 5/5 A 15m Guitar: 4/3 A+ Overall grade Week 6: A And with that, it's over. Been pretty exhausted and busy this last week but still (barely) managed to kick out 2 workouts and all my guitar practice. Stretches suffered a bit this week and I don't even remember why, LOL. My log says I didn't do any until Thursday. Wtf! Challenge was a huge success for the most part!!!

Thanks a lot. In retrospect sticking with 2/4 new habits is better than totally throwing the whole thing! I always love a good stranger-conversation experience. They're like little magical stories within the overarching plot of my life.

On the upside, accidental workout? Hahahaha. My old roommate had his tire pop half way to work, and then upon repairing it, popped it AGAIN a few days later... ugh!!

Stretches: 3/6 C Workout: 2/2 A Paleo: 5/5 A 15m Guitar: 2/3 C+ Overall grade Week 5: C+ Not too proud of this last week - I had a lot of chances to do my stretches and I didn't (Lame!), and I was feeling particularly down regarding my guitar playing, until yesterday when I found myself in a conversation on the bus with a local singer/songwriter. I spoke to her about my struggles with learning and sticking with it, and she said it took her some 60 years to finally do it! She told me that because of arthritis in her hands, she couldn't do barre chords at all, and so she stuck with the chords she could play (A, D, G...). That was a powerful moment for me because I realized nothing physical was stopping me from playing, just my own mind against itself... Now that I feel like my workouts are pretty embedded in my weekly routine, next challenge will be strongly focused around my guitar playing. This next week I'll be setting up for this by making self-lesson plans and digging time out of my schedule. Hurrah! Congratulations to everyone who made it this far! As for the 30x30 challenge, I can't say I've succeeded EVERY day, but I've been making a concious effert in a few specific places (eating meals outside, going out on the back deck when I first wake up, reading outside, etc) which is more than I can say about last month, anyway!

Hey, now you're back on track though and will have some awesome photos to prove it was worth it. Week 5 was really rough for me, oh gawd, and I have MUCH less reasons to explain mine... I don't even want to post my report card, LOL.

Stretches: 5/6 B Workout: 2/2 A Paleo: 5/5 A 15m Guitar: 2/3 (short) C Overall grade Week 4: B Okay, as predicted, school starting up at the beginning of this week set me off-kilter a bit. Still got in my 2 workouts which is my biggest goal, but my guitar practicing suffered a lot. As long as I stay at B or above for the next 2 weeks I'm considering this challenge a huge success though!!

Ooooh that's fabulous So glad to hear!!!

Two fantastic 30x30 (Get out in Nature Challenge) days to report. Last night my boyfriend helped convince me to go outside for midnight yoga + stargazing even though it was kinda cold, I was PMSing like crazy and was dealing with major cramps. It was lots of fun and an awesome experience, my first really memorable 30x30 day. Then today in the morning, we went for a forest run (2 laps, maybe about 20 mins of running, way more than I've done in the last year!) and then did yoga outdoors again at this awesome field on the river. I felt like I really understood what the 30x30 challenge is about the last two days. They were really special!!! In other news, school just started up and I'm feeling stressed about schedules changing, bus trips taking a lot of time, booking too many things at once etc. Hoping to become stronger and better at dealing with this ASAP. I figure stress management is a skill you can build just like muscles.

I'd say that means the challenge is serving it's purpose then hahaha -- I've had a few similar days ("Oh my god, I have to practice guitar before everyone goes to sleep, today's the last day!" "I had a PB+J yesterday so I have to make eggs for breakfast today!") The middle weeks are theoretically hard because you don't have "just started" excitement or "finish strong" excitement... this is a test of how we perform in situations lacking motivation. Keep up the good work and let's kick butt this week.

Today I succumbed to the tyranny of the peanut butter and jam sandwich, my worst nemesis.

Thank you!! I love morning walks, too. There's something special about the way the sun feels when it first comes up. I'm hoping to do yoga outside too!! Sounds so fun! I hope you start up again

YOU'RE AWESOME!!!!!!! Thanks for being a huge inspiration in my life. Glad we can help eachother level up I might have to finally whip out the slow cooker to help with #3...

Stretches: 5/6 B Workout: 2/2 A Paleo: 6/5 A+ 15m Guitar: 3/3 A Overall grade Week 3: A Monthly Grading for May: 30x30 (3/30) Week 3 is over, which means I'm level one now!!! COOL!!!!!