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Mmm, I love the smell of a new year and new challenges. So shiny and full of promises... This year's resolution - stop bailing on challenges. I've let this first challenge be inspired by Finnish folklore as I'll be moving there in March! Disclaimer, I know nothing about Finnish folklore except what I just read on wikipedia. Dance like Näkki aka Do all the things! Dance to one song every day. Because I love it and this will become a habit. Do all the things! I've signed up for unlimited classes at my studio and I need to take at least 3 pole, hoop, contortion, acro or dance classes/week to make it worthwhile. Shouldn't be too hard as it's going to be so much fun! Classes don't start until the 16th though, so until then I'll have to do my own practices. Wake Antero Vipunen aka Learn all the things! Study Finnish daily for at least 5 accumulated hours/week. Practice programming and/or read relevant work for my new field for 5 hours/week. Don't let Ajatar find me aka Don't crash and burn Take self care seriously. I have a lot do and a lot to learn and a lot of training to look forward to, but January is not an easy month to do all the things in. Daily self care will be vital! Eat enough food! I'm going to get my butt kicked in class and I'll need all the energy I can get. To make things simple I'm just going to track whether I eat a proper dinner every day. So excited about this I'm going to start straight away. Wheeee!

"but I've got a plan... why don't you be the artist and make me out of clay? why don't you be the writer and decide the words I say..." I have to thank Hazard for this theme. When I was flailing around, trying to think of a theme for my next challenge, I remembered a conversation that we had had some time ago and realized… I am an awkward flying girl. In fact, I am an awkward flying girl who is trying to find a new place to live… and possibly attempting to be less awkward in the process. I am literally Kiki. Minus the magic (unfortunately) and the teenage angst (fortunately). So here I am, flying unsteadily into another challenge - and if I can expand my comfort zone a bit as I work on lessening that awkwardness, so much the better. Here we go! MAIN QUEST: In short: begin the process of merging sport and art. I’ve been training in aerial for five months now, and my skills are improving, but I’m not doing my dance background credit when I’m up in the air, either. I need to start moving with intention, adding beauty to the strength I am starting to display. I picked this sport not only to be strong - I picked it because I have always loved to dance. Time to remember my roots and begin, slowly, to create. QUEST 1: fly through the wobbles - (+3 DEX, +3 STA, +2 CHA) My biggest goal this time - and the one upon which all others will build - is to begin the creation of my very first choreographed piece on fabric. I am so excited and simultaneously so nervous about this. For one thing, it’s progress-based. For another, I’m trying to kick Impostor Syndrome in the teeth as I do this. In any case, I’ve picked my song (pssssssst it’s my challenge song) and my goal will be to create and learn at minimum two minutes of choreography by the end of six weeks. If you are all very lucky, you may even get to see the results… A: two minutes complete, B: 1.5 minutes complete, C: 1 minute complete QUEST 2: persevere in adversity - (+1 STR, +1 DEX, +1 WIS) Because I’ll find reasons not to do it, otherwise, I am setting myself a goal to work on one thing I really hate/suck at for at least 15 minutes in every open gym. This can include things like helicopter (ughhhh), single or double knee climbs, and anything else that I suck at. The only way to suck less is to DO IT: A: 15 minutes, B: 10 minutes, C: 5 minutes QUEST 3: up and away - (+3 STR) Straight legs on straddle-ups - my archnemesis. I try, I do, but I can’t do it yet - and I’d quite like to put them into my choreography... That said, I am in the air three days a week this challenge, so I will work on these every time I am on any apparatus, even if it’s just one or two at the beginning/end of class: A: 3 times a week, B: 2 times a week, C: 1 time a week LIFE QUEST: finding my way home - (+1 WIS) This is very amorphous, but stillskies and I are having First Time Home Buying Adventures, and my life goal is to basically do all I can to keep it running smoothly.... in a timely manner if at all possible. I'm not sure the ultimate goal (find a new house, buy it, move in) will be complete this challenge, but it's going to be the honest effort that counts here. The grading isn't SMART at all, but I'll know if I haven't done what needs to be done... and what "needs to be done" can even be giving up and settling back to wait until another time, if that is financially and logically the most reasonable thing to do in a given situation. I'll play this by ear for now. A: did what I could, THERE IS NO TRY, SO THERE IS NO B OR C. The points thus come out like this, assuming I mathed correctly: STR : 4 (A=4, B=3, C=2) DEX : 4 (A=4, B=3, C=2) STA : 3 (A=3, B=2, C=1) CON : 0 WIS : 2 (A=2, B=1, C=.5) CHA : 2 (A=2, B=1, C=.5) I'll be keeping track of daily accomplishments in a gdoc, publicly available HERE. The spreadsheet does all the fancy math for me (I love technology). REWARDS: None this time… trying to save some cash for potential home ownership (if we ever, you know, find a house to buy). If I ace the challenge, though, I am going to take one day COMPLETELY OFF OF HOUSEWORK. There, I said it. Let it be so. Before pictures: Measurements: Neck:12.8" Waist: 26.2" Hips: 36.2" Chest: 35" Thigh: R: 21.5" L: 20.9" Bicep: R: 10.8" L: 10.8" Calf: R: 15.1" L: 14.7" Weight: 139.6lbs BF%: 21 Dress/pants size: 2/4

Hello, I’m Tami and this is my first challenge! Over the past couple of years I’ve been consistently adding on the pounds. Currently, I weigh 25 pounds over my ‘normal weight.’ I lack motivation to do anything. Usually start off great with most things and lose steam mid-way! This time I am really going to try to accomplish something (six week challenge) with results (losing 5 pounds)! I like the idea of ‘accountability’ and hoping this will help me stay on track and focus on what I want to achieve. Main Quest To lose 10 lbs by the end of the six week challenge. My Plan to do this is: Do the Beginners Body Workout (Mon-Wed-Friday) Do 15-30 mins yoga (Tue-Thu) Swim or Surf (Sat & Sun) Practice hooping daily 10-15 minutesSide Quests: Side quest #1: Track what I eat – keep a food log, starting with the six week challenge Side quest #2: Learn how to hoop. I’ve always wanted to learn to hoop and finally got around to buying one yesterday! Motivation I’m finally tired of feeling tired & being lazy I want to look & feel good, get strong, fit and more active!

While I'm sure most people here are pumped and ready to get back into the swing of things...I'm not. I have 3 days of challenge and then I'm off to sun, sand and relaxation in JAMAICA! I'm extremely excited, this is my first hot holiday, and the start to a very travel-exciting 15 months. (January 2015 - Jamaica, Sept 2015 Camp NF!!!, March 2016 -Europe!!) So it's really hard to set challenge goals when the first 2 weeks will kinda be a wash. The other thing that's tough for me is because I'm a fitness instructor, I start up a bunch of my classes in the end of January, and from now until the end of April, my schedule is a bit crazy. So I'm setting out some small goals to try to ease into the new year of challenges (PS. I'll hoping to hit the end of February challenge hard, and be ready for it!) Main Quest - Be a badass who looks killer in a bikini and can do a pull-up (aka, the ultimate in badassery) For those who don't know - I love practicing aerial hoop/lyra and in March, I'll be taking another step towards teaching it! The super cool upside is that I get all the free practice time I want, and 50% off classes at my studio! Yay! So my goals are also to do things that will help me in hoop - the pull up for sure, and also flexibility and mobility is another pretty big goal for me. Goals 1) Drink 3L of water/day - with my trip coming up, it's hard to set a food goal, and I'll have to see how things are when I get back. With that in mind, staying hydrated is definitely a step I can take towards keeping my body in check, so water it is. I find this hard at the best of times, but especially in the winter. While on vacation, this is a bit harder, so the general goal is to stay hydrated, and not be hung over. lol 2) Stretch/fascia rolling daily - I'm really needing to work on my flexibility for hoop and and also focus on self-care a lot more. I really believe in the whole holistic aspect of health and fitness, and with what I've been reading about fascia is just fascinating (yup, I just did that), and so I need to a) finish reading The Role Model (about half way now) and continue to roll, ideally daily. For this, I really plan to instagram daily either a stretch sequence, or rolling, or something related to it for accountability. If you're all instagrammy, follow me and cheer me on @jbean86 AAAAAaaaand 2 goals is going to be it for the physical side. My 2015 mantra is the idea of "doing more with less". Experiences trump stuff, less is more, etc. As part of that I'm trying to purge my house, use up what I have, buy a minimum amount of stuff. This is really inspired by me wanting to move across the country in 2 years. I figure if I start downsizing now, I'll be happier, but also ready to move when the time comes. And who knows, it may been sooner than 2 years, and if the right opportunities come up, I want to be ready. Well...readier. lol Life Goals 1) Clean and purge my house. As part of this, I also want to finish up projects that have been started, including decorating my condo. I want a nice place to live in, but also when it comes time to sell it, I want to have a showing-ready place. Basically, I'm a grown up (without kids) and there's no reason I can't have a nice looking place. lol To make this more trackable, I want to set aside (minimum) an hour per week (with the exception of week 2) to make an effort to do something towards this goal. 2-ish) I've been toying with the idea of journaling again. I did it as a hard hat challenge a while back and by the end of it, I really liked it. Maybe I'll try to add this when I get back from holidays. There you have it folks. Simple, but do-able. Tracking: 1) Water 1/7 0/7 0/7 0/7 0/7 0/7 2) Stretching 1/7 0/7 0/7 0/7 0/7 0/7 3) Cleaning 0/1 0/1 0/1 0/1 0/1 0/1

Chapter 1 - From Humble Beginnings. Right I have been on this forum a few weeks, and finally it has come time to complete a 6 week challenge! Life Goal: To become healthier and happier, through body, mind and soul. Main Quest: Lose 12lbs this 6 week challenge. To reach this goal I will: Body weight work-out (been doing the angry birds work out) x 3 times a week.[sTR 5]Cardio exercise days in between (30 mins of; a run/walk, swimming, or hoola-hooping -yes, that counts!)[DEX 3, STA 2]Stick to my paleo diet (been on it 2/3 weeks, and it's been going pretty well)[CON 4, STA 1]Side quest: 3x5mins drawings everyday (concentrating on architecture) This is too help me further my drawing skills, helpful seeing as I'm studying animation and illustration, but is inspired my this page- Pixelovley, great for anyone who wants to level up artistically [WIS 5] (33 days in total) Motivation: I want to be the best I can be! I'm bored of being lazy, fobbing things of with daft excuses; I happy and grateful to be where I am today, and want to make the most of every second I'm here! (Wow, that sounds super cheesy!) Character: Viking [Adventurer To-Be] STR - 0 DEX - 0 STA - 0 CON - 0 WIS - 0 CHA - 0 Update Day 1 -cardio CHECK -paleo CHECK -drawing NADA Day 2 -BWworkout CHECK -paleo NADA -drawing CHECK Day 3 -Cardio CHECK -paleo NADA -drawing NADA

Why just hold each other accountable when we can share dance-offs? This is an accountabilibuddy group for those of us that have dancing as a goal, dance for workout, or whatever. We're talking all kinds of dance here - crazy-dances while you're home alone, competitive dancing, hoop-dance, pole dance: You name it, we want it! I want to dance-off! What do I have to do? Nothin'! Well - almost. Sign up on the accountabilibuddy spreadsheet, introduce yourself here, and off we go! Please do: Share your favourite dance-songs Challenge your buddies to dance to certain songs If you want - post videos of your best/worst/craziest dance moves! Post many many crazy dance gifs Have fun! Dance more! Share the joy! This group is open to everyone! No matter if you're in a guild, or just found NF, jump in, have fun and pop that booty!