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That's right! ????? This challenge began exactly on my 36th birthday! And because I'm a sucker for resolutions, I've often enjoyed making birthday resolutions as well as New Year's resolutions. It's just another way to mark a year, right? So I'm extra in love with a challenge starting on the exact same day ? Most of my birthday resolutions this year have to do with stuff other than what I normally put here, but for the sake of kicking everything off together, I'm going to try my best to put it all here in a way that will make sense with these challenge formats. Quest One: Move! I don't think I've had a proper workout in close to a month now, primarily due to the school year starting back up. I'm working like crazy just to keep my head above water and the World Languages program progressing. In order to not backslide horribly, my goal is to just get 5 workouts in - theoretically and hopefully once a week, but if I end up doing all 5 on the last 5 days, well, okay. I know myself well enough to know that's a real possibility! Also I have another ultrasound coming up on September 29th which might end up restricting my exercise again if all goes well (walking is still okay though). Quest Two: Fuel Well Even more critical than usual when I'm working this many hours! I have a few goals here: Task One: Stick to one Diet Coke a day. I'm mildly grumpy about this, but I've done it every day since Sunday, so I might as well stick to it. It's better for me anyway... Task Two: Stop buying so much breakfast! I've resorted to buying breakfast WAY too often lately, and it's both not good for my health and also stupidly expensive. My goal here is to buy breakfast only 5 times (or less!) during this challenge. Options from home include frozen muffins (I make a big batch and freeze them for later so they're always reasonably fresh), cream of wheat in my giant thermos, egg wraps, and if I'm really desperate, cereal in a bag. I also have a box of instant oatmeal at work as a backup plan. Quest Three: Manage Work This is the giant thorn in my paw right now. I have 4 preps (classes I have to prepare a lesson for daily) as well as an additional advisory-type class that needs infrequent prep work. I am also in charge of my department social media, spearheading the expansion as well as the honors program plans, and run two extracurricular activities including all fundraising, bookkeeping, community events, etc. Task One: Post on the department Instagram at least once a week, ideally highlighting each class at least once during the challenge. Task Two: Complete a rough outline for at least one unit in each course (which are all 7 units in total). Currently, I have: 2 rough units for Spanish 2 - next one barely started outlining 1 rough unit for Spanish 3 - next one has resources gathered but nothing else 1 rough unit for Spanish 4 - next one has resources gathered by nothing else 6 rough units for French 1 - next one barely started outlining 0 rough units for French 2 (the next class to add in the expansion) - no start at all yet Now, do I know that my rough outlines don't translate perfectly to detailed daily plans? Absolutely, no battle plan survives contact with the enemy. But having these done greatly reduces my planning and resource-gathering time when it is "go" time, not to mention they make me look awesome to my boss and my boss' boss! Task Three: Gather information and resources from other districts and Jeff City and present my best argument to my boss about why she should support us implementing DELE certification. Task Four: Implement Hispanic Heritage Month school-wide activity via advisory classes, begin planning and preparing Día de Muertos ofrenda Task Five: Language study of my own: 5 intermediate or advanced Dreaming Spanish videos Japanese practice every other day (I went back to katakana because holy bejesus am I bad at that system) 1 DELF A1 practice test (should be easy as heck, but I haven't used my French extensively in several years so I'm starting low) Quest Four: Make Time to Play Two weekends ago, my husband and I made a pact to take an entire 24 hours off from school work...and then we found ourselves sitting around the kitchen table, staring at each other, talking about how hard it was not to be grading right then and how we weren't really sure what to do with ourselves. However, it is also true that an entire school year at this pace is a surefire recipe for burnout. Task One: cut out all the skirt pieces for my ruffled wrap skirt. Should I get further than that? Yes, but I'm starting slow - here's to hoping a low bar will help me get things done! Task Two: decide on layout for log cabin blocks from completed quilt block swap. I only have 16 though and feel like I'm going to want/need more... Task Three: bum around at least once a week. That means comfy clothes, often some kind of snack or drink, and something not very mentally taxing, even if it's only for 10 minutes. It might often be a YouTube video or TV show, favorite book in English (my favorite living author released a new book back in June and I own it but haven't even opened it yet!), a non-frustrating bit of handsewing or embroidery, could be a fun bit of baking if I'm feeling more energetic, even just daydreaming for a moment - whatever works to get me some mental downtime!

I have drank about 8-10 cokes a week for a while. In 2011 I stopped drinking cokes for a few months & lost about 15 pounds from changing nothing else but drinking no coke. I want to cut cokes out for at last the whole 3 months of June, July, & August. I will stick with water, milk, and occasional sweet tea.

I used to drink a lot of pepsi Max every day but decided to migrate to a caffeine free version to aid my anxiety. As far as I see it, if it's sugar free, caffeine free and helps to curb my craving for something sweet, it can't be all bad. Am I wrong? Some people seem very against anything with artificial sweetners so I was wondering what the general consensus was here.

As I looked back at my life, I realized that I had never really put in effort. Not just toward fitness, but toward anything. I had spent 24 years coasting through life on my cleverness. But not anymore. Not after what happened yesterday. I was sitting in my comfortable home in the village when I saw smoke rising in the distance. There was way too much smoke to be just a campfire. I started running. Forest fires are terrible things if they get out of hand, and it was up to everyone to do their part to prevent them. Unfortunately, I was terribly out of shape and was panting and had to slow down to a walk before long. I swore at myself. "If this is bad, it's your fault. If you could run further you might have been able to stop it." I hadn't even seen what was going on yet and already I was blaming myself. So I forced myself on as fast as I could, jogging when possible and walking when I was too tired. Once I covered the ground I saw that there seemed to be some kind of fight going on. A group of all kinds were fighting against a dragon. Despite their numbers, they kept being driven back. But no matter how many times they fell down they kept getting up. Some of them had grievous wounds and I was amazed at their perseverance. After I stood and stared for a while one of them noticed me. "We could use a little help, you know," the stranger said, with the slightest smile on his face, as if this were just another day. At this point I realized that I knew nothing that could help them. Faced with a life or death situation, I realized that my quick wit had absolutely no value. Filled with embarrassment that I was of no use whatsoever, I hung my head. I think the stranger knew what that meant, because he went back to fighting the dragon. Shortly after this, the beast was slain. Knowing basic first aid I tried to help tend to the wounded. I was amazed that despite the fact that I had done nothing to help these people seemed to accept and encourage me. After a short time the stranger approached me. "I'm so--" I started, but the stranger cut me off. "There's no need to apologize. Everyone starts somewhere. Just promise me one thing." "What's that?" "The next time you find us, come prepared." I nodded, and he walked away. The people were all leaving, most of their own accord. The ones who were having trouble were being supported by others. I was a truly inspiring site. When I got back to my village I learned that those were the fabled guilds. I had always thought that they were separate and that there was great competition between them but I learned that when it was necessary they would work together flawlessly, putting any and all animosity aside for the greater good. So today when I woke up, I started to develop a plan. A plan to get into shape. A plan to be able to both cover distance quickly and have the strength to fight afterward. Eventually I would pick which guild I wanted to join, but for now I just had to get started. But I had learned from others' mistakes: I knew I had to start slowly. So here, written down, is my plan. MAIN GOAL: Run a Tough Mudder A friend of mine is trying to convince me to sign up for one in September. I'll decide at the end of this challenge if I want to sign up for that one or wait a while before trying one. I'd also like to lose fat and gain muscle, but that will come with the training. The first thing to do is to stop poisoning myself. Diet Goal: Drink Less Soda Week 1,2: <=4 sodas/week Week 3,4: <= 3 sodas/week Week 5,6: <= 2 sodas/week The second thing I need to do is learn how to cover any distance. Fitness Goal: Ride My Bike Week 1: Ride my bike one-way (to or from work) once Week 2: Ride round-trip once Week 3,4: Ride round-trip once, and one-way once Week 5,6: Ride round-trip twice The third thing I need to do is gain speed, so I can cover the distance quicker. Fitness Goal: Sprint Week 1: Beep test Week 2,3: Sprint workout once Week 4,5: Sprint workout twice Week 6: Sprint workout twice + beep test Grading for all goals is the same: A for all 6 weeks on target B for 5 weeks on target C for 4 weeks on target Starting Stats (as of 4/16/14) Height: 5'7" Weight: 156.6 lbs. Neck: 15.125" Chest: 39.875" Waist: 34.5" Bicep: 12" Thigh: 21.5" As I looked over my plan, it seemed like it could work. Next time, I'll be ready.

Hey all! I'm back after getting married and shooting canons for four months! However, the summer took it's toll on me physically and mentally. It was a rough one with all sorts of stress and backstage drama and I developed some unhealthy habits that I need to get rid of, so this challenge is all about fixing those things. Main Challege: Get back on track! -This challenge isn't about any major goals, changes, or anything of the like for me. It's all about evaluation, making small changes, and moving forward. I'm at a point in my life, career, and health where I need to focus and re-evaluate. Goal 1: No Soda -I'm not a huge fan of soda and honestly don't like the taste that much. But, in the summer when I live without air conditioning, I drink a lot of it for caffeine and sugar to get through my shows at night. Basically, Dr. Pepper and I have become too good of friends the past few weeks. This is an absolute. I will drink no soda during the course of this challenge, no exceptions. I've gone years doing this before, so I know it's totally doable, I just need to have a little bit of willpower. Goal 2: Get outside and move -I just spent all summer living in the woods, doing an active job, and spending a lot of time outside. Now that I'm back in a city apartment, it's incredibly easy to spend all of my time inside or at work. So, for this challenge, I'm committing to spending at least 3 hours outside moving each week. This can be broken up in any amount (if I go for a 3 hour long hike one day, it counts. If I go for 6 30 minute walks, it also counts). This is all about forming the habit of going outside and moving instead of spending all my off time on my couch and computer. Goal 3: One Paleo meal a day -I was in a situation this summer where I didn't have very much money due to having to pay rent on my apartment in DC for the majority of it. Because of this, I ended up back on a pasta-heavy diet due to food costs. To help get back on track with healthy eating, I'm committing to 1 Paleo meal each day. It doesn't matter which meal or how big it is (for example, I had a banana for breakfast today and, because I'm moving back into my apartment and won't have time to go shopping until tomorrow, that may be what counts today. It's not ideal, but it's a start), as long as it's paleo. Life side quest: I'm at a place where I'm waiting to hear about a job that would be full-time and year-round, which is a huge change for me. Whether I get it or not, I'm at a point in my career where I need to sit down and evaluate what I want out of my work and what my goals are. So, sometime during this challenge, I'm going to sit down and think about where I want to be in 5 years, what I want to actually do with my life, and a few basic career goals (that go beyond my current "never work retail again"). So, that's this challenge. All of this is completely doable, it's just a matter of getting it done. It's all about the little changes that will eventually lead to a happy, healthier me, instead of doing too much at once (which is always my problem across the board).

My last challenge was less successful that I had hoped. Most likely because my previous goals were not specific enough. This time around I'm going to make my goals SMART and focus on being a kick ass ranger. Goals: 1. It's Paleo, Not Faileo Last few months I've been trying (and failing) to eat clean. I'm about 60-70% paleo right now. I don't eat grains, soy or dairy products, but I enjoy my sweets and booze a little too much. Here's my plan to give up the crap and replace it with stuff that I should be eating. Week 1: Give up soda and replace with water Week 2: Stop grabbing fast food and make my lunches at home instead Week 3: Cut out alcohol (goodbye red wine) and replace with either club soda or water Week 4: Replace sugar and artificial sweeteners with natural sweeteners such as honey Weeks 5 & 6: Continue to eat clean and monitor the results 2. Mighty Morphin Programmin Time (Wait, what? I know it's cheesy, but I couldn't help it.) Currently enrolled in a free Ruby On Rails class through EdX. In order to complete the class, I need to get my but in gear. For the next six weeks, I'm going to devote atleast 15 minutes per day on coursework. I'm going to reserve 15 minutes of my lunch hour to this so I know that it will get done. 3. Focus on Inches, Not Weight My third, and final, goal is to lose atleast one inch from my waist. This is going to be accomplished by focusing on my diet in goal #1 and working out 5 times a week. 3 days will be devoted to bodyweight exercises provided by BodeeFit. 2 days will be yoga and pilates. Starting Stats: Height: 5'8" Weight: 185 Waist size: 40"