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Monday, April 28, 2014

Weekly Goals {Week 18}

Hello dear friends! It's that time of week again. Almost seems silly to only have two posts a week and for one of them to always be a goal post but at least I'm consistent with one thing, right? 

It was a pretty easy week because I had to work a lot and we were going to go camping but alas....no camping this weekend. I'm pretty sad about it. But after checking the weather all week I really wasn't looking forward to camping in a tent with a toddler with an overnight low of 32 degrees. We aren't that hardcore. Then the day before our reservation it was supposed to snow 3 inches the night before. Yea....we're not ready for any sort of camping like that.

I killed it on fitness/weight loss goals. I ate a bit terribly this past weekend but I worked out anyways. I'm hoping to reverse the water weight effects over the next two days. I'm looking forward to this week's goals though!



LAST WEEK'S GOALS: 12.5/15

FAMILY/MOTHERHOOD/MARRIAGE
1. Plan camping/weekend outing trip. I did plan. Part of this involved checking the weather which in turn cancelled our trip.
2. At least one date night. Last night! We went out to dinner then played quite a bit of Skylanders together. Lol.
3. Work on patience and taking a "step back" if I need to before I react. Half credit. I wasn't the best at this during the week. It reminds me of some meme I saw before: "Shit! I forgot to be mindful again!" Story of my life. Haha.

PERSONAL
4. Keep up on general cleaning and organization. Get ready the night before. Does "mostly" count? I'm going to say yes.
5. Read a little everyday. Especially something inspiring. :) I've got a couple different books on my nightstand right now. I've read most of them before but they're classic inspiring favorites. I've been reading a teeny bit before bed. (I usually only make it 5-10 minutes before I'm ready for sleep.)
6. Stay positive! In the overall scheme of things: yes. Accomplished.

HEALTH

7. Track all food every day. I get 5/7 on this. The past two days I really haven't been the best. I tracked most of the day but then a terribly delicious meal happened and I gave up tracking that. (I'm talking about you delicious Mexican food and family turkey dinner!)
8. Exercise at least 3x. KILLED IT! I went to Zumba four times and the gym to run/treadmill twice.
9. Wear sunscreen everyday. (It's starting to get hot and sunny! I should have been wearing it the whole time but I'm terrible at it.)  Failure. I wasn't in the sun that much if that counts for something. I only put it on when I was going out and about for something when I knew I'd be outside.
10. Make all FitBit goals everyday (10,000 steps/day, 5 miles/day, 30 Active Minutes/day) Other than the tracking food, this was the hardest goal of the week. Most days I'd make my 10,000 steps but it'd say I still had another 1.5 miles to go. Ugh. There was two days where I really just wanted to sit on the couch but I didn't want to break my streak so I went and did it anyways. So yes. I DID IT.
11. Walk at least 37 miles. Kicked this goal's butt too! Total for the week: 40.11!

CRAFTING/HOBBY/INTERNET

12. Work on crochet project. Check! Although I think next week I may make an inches goal to get a bit more done.
13. Do two assignments for HogwartsIsHere.com First Astronomy and Herbology assignments have been turned in! :)
14. Three blog posts. I'm getting really quite terrible about this.
15. Read and catch up on blog reading list at least every other day. Done!

____________________________________________________



                                 THIS WEEK'S GOALS:

FAMILY/MOTHERHOOD/MARRIAGE:
1. One quality date night.
2. Clean the master bathroom. A very thorough hardcore clean is much needed and I've been putting it off. I'm putting it under "family" because I'm pretty sure everyone will benefit.
3. Find one new activity to do with Luna this week.  

PERSONAL:
4. Read a little bit of something inspiring every day.
5. Plan my days out in advance.
6. More of a to-do list item but it must be done since I am now completely out of birth control (which is making me very fatigued and just "off" in general): Make doctor's appointment so I may have a refill!

HEALTH:
7. Weight lift at least twice.
8. Go to a yoga class.
9. Track food everyday. Even if I "mess up" I need to track it.
10. 8 glasses of water a day! 
11. Log 41 miles this week.

CRAFTING/HOBBY/INTERNET:

12. Catch up on blogs at least every other day.
13. Update HP classes on HPC.
14. Submit projects for HPC.
15. Submit at least one assignment for HogwartsIsHere.
16. Take more pictures. 
17. Edit at least some PL photos.
18. Do at least 4 inches of crochet blanket.

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Zumba: A First Timer's Impression

Pic from: Zumba Wikipedia Page

Well folks, I did it: I went to my first Zumba class last night. I'm only like a couple years late on the trend. I may have been turned off the odd 90's clothing (Can someone explain that to me?) and the whole dancing in public aspect of it but but I'm broadening my horizons and attempting to get fit/lose weight. I actually like dancing (in a erratic jumping around in my living room while no one is home type way) so I was intrigued to give it a try.

Here are my thoughts on how the class went:
  • I didn't know they didn't teach you the steps...you just kind of have to watch and figure it out. This wasn't so bad though. I managed to do most of it except 1-2 moves in which I couldn't do whatsoever. 
  • I liked how the lights were dimmed. I don't think I would have nearly liked the class as much if they were bright.
  • The music was fun. Some of it was popular songs that were remixed to match the Zumba tone of things.
  • The hour went by REALLY fast. I couldn't believe it went by so fast.
  • Not everyone was young and fit. I really liked this aspect. I was a little worried at first, but there was a girl much larger than me breakin' in down. She absolutely rocked. I could not have kept up her level of intensity for that long and she totally danced like no one was watching. She was also barefoot which was interesting. There was also an old lady next to me who wasn't as intense which made me feel better as well because I if I felt like I needed a little break I wouldn't be the slowest person in the class. (I know, I know...it's not a contest to be the thinnest or most fit...we're all there for the same goal...blah blah blah. I really just don't want to embarrass myself and be the lamest person there. Yea, I said it and I don't care.)
  • As you know, I'm calculating my steps every day and I did like 6500 in one hour. Freaking awesome!
  • It was a lot of fun!
Pic from: Here

My tips for beginners on their first class:
  • Bring water!
  • Bring a towel! You will sweat!
  • Try to get a spot toward the back if you're reserved like I am. I was right by the wall and it was nice to keep my water and towel right behind me alongside the wall to grab between songs.
  • Look around. I watched the instructor pretty much the whole time in the beginning. I was catching on to the moves alright but then a girl showed up late and was in front of me and it was much easier to follow her than the instructor. The instructor did alot of salsa mini step type steps and moved her hips alot. While it looks good for her and all, it made everything look a lot more complicated. I watched the girl in front of me who seemed to know all the moves and she did them much more cleanly than the instructor. Much easier for me to follow. (I just hope she didn't notice and think I was weird for staring at her the whole time. Haha.)
  • Come to class a couple minutes early and talk to people. I asked the girl next to me when I showed up if she'd ever done Zumba before and it was actually her first class too. It made me feel much more comfortable knowing I wasn't the only one who didn't have a clue what was going on.
I'm definitely going to go again. Tonight in fact!  Such a great fun way to burn calories I think I'll be adding it to my fitness arsenal.

What activities do you like to do to keep active?

- Mrs. 246

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Weekly Goals {Week 17}

Hello, hello! I've been a bad blogger again and haven't been blogging as much (and today's post is late). I'm really going to try harder to post more this week. (Even if it means staying up all night to pre-write some posts!) I'd say the success of this week was my health! I joined a gym. I got all my steps in every day. I tracked my food everyday. And I lost five pounds. 

Other highlights of this week included Hogwarts Is Here, which I'm super pumped about. I think I'll discuss my HP love further in depth in another post, but let me tell you...big things are happening! Lol. 

I also worked a lot this past week. And PMS'd. So there were some ups and downs and much fatigue, but I've quite glad I've got this upcoming weekend off.

Beautiful Luna

“If you raise your children to feel that they can accomplish any goal or task they decide upon, you will have succeeded as a parent and you will have given your children the greatest of all blessings.” Brian Tracy
LAST WEEK' S GOALS:  12/17 met!
 
FAMILY/MOTHERHOOD/MARRIAGE
1. Do something nice for Mr. 246. It may be silly, but I took one for the team and folded the laundry. Both Mr. 246 and I hate folding laundry. Our laundry piled up and we had about 5 clean loads. Umm...yea. I sat down, turned on Long Island Medium and went to town. Lol. I'd say he appreciates it. :)
2. Take Luna for a walk every day. I didn't keep exact track of this but I'm going to say yes. I'm pretty sure we did. But I know for sure there were 2-3 days when we went on at least two walks.
3. Cook dinner at least two times.  I don't think I did this. I know I cooked once, but I'm not sure if I cooked twice. I worked all weekend and I can't remember last week. Lol.
4. Replant seedlings with Luna. I replanted what was left of the seedlings. I had to move them to the shade and the snails went to town. I don't know why I bother with seedlings. The snails think it's their personal feast.

PERSONAL
5. Take a bubblebath sometime this week. :) Yep!
6. Take a guilt free nap. Yep!
7. Continue to read Awakening to the Sacred. Yep!

HEALTH
8. Do knee exercises at least once. Uh, nope.
9. No fast food. I had In-N-Out and I don't regret it. I fit it within my calorie budget and it was delicious!
10. Work out at least twice. Check! I even joined the gym! Woo!
11. Wear sunscreen everyday. (It's starting to get hot and sunny! I should have been wearing it the whole time but I'm terrible at it.) Yes! Go me!
12. Make 10,000 steps goal every day. I killed it! My average steps for this past week was 12,337/day. I made it a point to get at least 10,000 steps, 5 miles, 30 active minutes every single day.
13. Walk at least 30 miles. 37.47 miles!

CRAFTING/HOBBY/INTERNET
14. Work on crochet project. Yep! Although I need to do a lot more.
15. Print out pictures for PL. I'm getting quite behind on PL. I'll probably still be behind on this week.
16. Three blog posts. Another fail.
17. Send out SIL birthday project. (Only two weeks late. Lol.) Finally!! It is officially sent out!
____________________________________________________



THIS WEEK'S GOALS:

FAMILY/MOTHERHOOD/MARRIAGE
1. Plan camping/weekend outing trip.
2. At least one date night.
3. Work on patience and taking a "step back" if I need to before I react.

PERSONAL
4. Keep up on general cleaning and organization. Get ready the night before.
5. Read a little everyday. Especially something inspiring. :)
6. Stay positive!

HEALTH

7. Track all food every day.
8. Exercise at least 3x.
9. Wear sunscreen everyday. (It's starting to get hot and sunny! I should have been wearing it the whole time but I'm terrible at it.)
10. Make all FitBit goals everyday (10,000 steps/day, 5 miles/day, 30 Active Minutes/day)
11. Walk at least 37 miles.

CRAFTING/HOBBY/INTERNET

12. Work on crochet project.
13. Do two assignments for HogwartsIsHere.com
14. Three blog posts.
15. Read and catch up on blog reading list at least every other day.

Fifteen goals is kind of light for this week but I've got to work a couple days and we're going to Yosemite for camping Saturday (cross your fingers that it doesn't rain!). I think this week is doable. We shall see!

- Mrs. 246

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Yosemite in April

Yosemite Panorama


I got my nature fill this past Saturday. Friday night we got all packed up so we could leave early(ish) Saturday morning. We even turned Luna's car seat to forward facing for the occasion. (They say you're supposed to wait until they're two but she's almost there. Happy early birthday, Luna. Lol.) She actually threw up in the car when we were half way there. This child never throws up so I'm thinking the views might have affected her a bit. The Comfort Inn we pulled over near was nice enough to donate a towel to us for Luna to sit on. (Note to mommy self: pack car with paper towels and some sort of cleaner for next trip.)

Tacos In Mariposa


By the time we reached Mariposa (a cute little foothill town), Luna was feeling much better. We had  to stop in Mariposa because there's always a taco truck at one of their parks and Mr. 246 was determined to have some taco truck. Lol.

Morning Nap


It was about that point Luna took a really early morning nap. Hey there little sleepy Bean.

PoppyFields


Driving near the park there were fields of poppies everywhere! The above picture isn't the greatest, but it's the best I could do with my little point-and-shoot while driving in super bright sunshine. So many of the hills just had almost completely orange sides. It was awesome! I've never been early enough in the year to see that.

First Views


Driving into the park is always nuts. You almost break your neck looking from one view to another. It's just so awesome. We actually ended up buying a 12 month pass (which I'm super excited about). If we go at least one more time it was worth the deal.

Good Morning Bean


Once we were in the park, Luna woke up. I think instinctively she knew awesomeness was going on. The above picture is when we told her to "smile," lol. What a silly face.

First Views (2)


Hey Bridalviel Falls! I see you up there!

Upper Yosemite Falls through Car Window


Hey Upper Yosemite Falls! I see you too! I know it's prime waterfall time because of the snow melt but I was a little worried there wouldn't really be any since we've been in a drought but I have a feeling there may not be too many waterfalls later this summer.

Upper Yosemite Falls Family Shot


We had an early lunch at the car before setting out, then it was off to the Lower Yosemite Falls trail. We picked this one for Luna because it's short, there's a pretty waterfall, and there are huge boulders that Mr. 246 loves to climb. Lol.

Lower Yosemite Falls Family Shot


Here we are in front of Lower Yosemite Falls. There's a bridge that crosses the river so you get a pretty unobstructed view. In past years there has been so much water if you stand on the bridge you will get soaked from the spray but this year you only felt a teeny tiny bit of spray when the wind blew really hard.

Lower Yosemite Falls


Above is another view of the falls. If you can see where the arrow is pointing...that's a person. (If you look super close you can see lots of people.) That gives you some sort of scale of just how huge this waterfall is. Amazing, isn't it?

Luna Looks at Waterfall


Luna wanted to go "smimming!" and it scared me how willing she would have been to go swimming in that water. Haha. Ahh, to be a reckless almost two year old.

Rock Climbing


There was obligatory rock climbing on the hike back. Luna thought rock climbing meant daddy holds her and she just walks up the side of rocks. It was pretty funny. She went as high as Ryan could lift her and she still wanted to walk higher. Haha.

Hopper


Once she got the hang of it, Luna wanted to climb on everything. She found that slanted rock above and instantly decided it was a slide and would sit at the top of it and scoot her butt down saying "weeee!" as she did it.

Now and Then


The last time I was in Yosemite I was 8 months pregnant. I knew I probably wouldn't go that year once Luna was born so I was determined to go before she was born. As we were walking back to the trail head I remembered taking a picture in this spot and even though I didn't get the exact spot it was pretty cool to take a picture in the same-ish spot as last time. Once with me be pregnant, and then again with Luna herself.

There were more pictures throughout the day, most of it scenery. Truth be told once we got our "official" hike done with I didn't take as many pictures. This was my 6th trip to Yosemite and Mr. 246's 7th and since we were doing trails and areas we'd already been I didn't feel as inclined to take a lot of pictures. I think the next couple of times we'll venture out more but since it was Luna's first time. We wanted to go places that we knew would be easy and fun (and not stressful and scary) to take Luna too.

I was on a Yosemite kick yesterday after I had gotten home and I decided to see if maybe there was a random campsite available (they're pretty much booked solid already for the whole summer by this time of year) and there was!!! I won the lottery and we will be spending a night camping in the Yosemite Valley two weeks from now! Yay!!!!!! It'll be Luna's first camping trip so I'm really excited. (And a little nervous. There's two streams/rivers surrounding the particular camp ground we're staying in. Am I allowed to put my child on a leash? Can I be that parent?)

I even got a field guide at the gift shop and had fun looking up some trees. I think next time we'll go I'm going to spend a while trying to identify things. I always wanted to be that person who goes hiking and says, "See that plant? That's a blah blah blah. It only grows the last two weeks of this month at an elevation of between 2500 and 4500 feet. You can tell it's a blah blah blah because there are clusters of 3 leaves that grow together and the branches grow in multiples of 5. Native American's used to use this plant for..." and so on. Haha. I don't think I'll ever be that good but it's fun to do when you're looking at stuff and try to figure out what it is.

I can't wait to go on more day trips this summer. As much as I don't like the immediate area we live in, I love the fact that there are so many amazing places you can go for just a day or two. We're very lucky. :)

Has anyone else been someplace neat lately? Where do you plan on going this summer?

-Mrs. 246










Monday, April 14, 2014

Weekly Goals {Week 16}

I kept pretty busy this week. Luna was lovely all week. I worked twice. We went to Yosemite. I was productive most days. I ate well most days. I was active most days. My mood was good most days. I'd say, all in all, a damn good week. I'm going to thank the outdoors for this bout of good spirits. Too bad I have to work this upcoming weekend and can't go play again. Oh well.

Week 16 Goal Quote
LAST WEEK' S GOALS:  13.5/16 met!


FAMILY/MOTHERHOOD/MARRIAGE
1. Plan and go on a family outing. Yes! We went to Yosemite!!
2. Plan Luna and I's days together the night before for maximum awesomeness. I did really well at this except for one day, Friday. I'll call it a win! When you have a toddler, planning out some activities (no matter how small) really helps break up the day.
3. One date night (most likely drinks and board games) with Mr. 246. I didn't have drinks but we did play Skylanders together. Mr. 246 found the game for sale and it was really fun. Too bad I was exhausted from work and went to sleep early. (Sometimes you just can't help it!)
4. Cook dinner at least three times. I did it! I made Crock Pot Chicken Chili, Santa Fe Turkey Stuffed Peppers, and tilapia.


PERSONAL
5. Continue to read The Art of Happiness. Done! Although I started reading Awakening to the Sacred for about the 4th time. (It's just so good!! It's in my top 5 favorite books, for sure.)
6. Take a bubblebath sometime this week. :) Done! And it was lovely. I think I may even do it again this week!

HEALTH
8. Walk at least 25 miles. 35.22 miles! We walked over 10 miles just at Yosemite alone. That was with 5 hours of driving. Pretty good! 
9. Do knee exercises at least twice. Half points. I did them once!
10. No fast food. Success! We did go to Chili's once because I got a gift card but that was it. :)
11. Work out at least twice. I went to the gym on Thursday and I'm counting Saturday in Yosemite as one big, long workout. Lol.
12. Wear sunscreen everyday. (It's starting to get hot and sunny! I should have been wearing it the whole time but I'm terrible at it.) Half points! I think I wore sunscreen most days but I can't exactly remember and I'm going to guess I at least forgot once.
13. Drink at least 7 glasses of water each day. (I'm not aiming for eight. They're big glasses and I drink other things too.) Yes! The first week I don't make tracking food a goal I end up tracking my food most days. Lol. I tracked water too and I was surprised that I drink 8 glasses pretty much anyways. Occasionally I'll need encouragement but for the most part I drink water pretty well.

CRAFTING/HOBBY/INTERNET

14. Finish on SIL birthday present AND send it out. Half points. It's done, just not sent out.
15. Work on crochet project. Made a little progress. I work on crochet while I watch TV and I didn't watch too much TV this week.
16. Print out pictures for PL. I didn't do this. It was a pretty busy week and I have a ton of pictures to go through. It seemed daunting everytime I thought about it. Lol.
  
_________________________________________________________



THIS WEEK'S GOALS:

FAMILY/MOTHERHOOD/MARRIAGE
1. Do something nice for Mr. 246.
2. Take Luna for a walk every day.
3. Cook dinner at least two times. 
4. Replant seedlings with Luna.


PERSONAL

5. Take a bubblebath sometime this week. :)
6. Take a guilt free nap.
7. Continue to read Awakening to the Sacred.

HEALTH

8. Do knee exercises at least once.
9. No fast food.
10. Work out at least twice.
11. Wear sunscreen everyday. (It's starting to get hot and sunny! I should have been wearing it the whole time but I'm terrible at it.)
12. Make 10,000 steps goal every day.
13. Walk at least 30 miles.

CRAFTING/HOBBY/INTERNET

14. Work on crochet project.
15. Print out pictures for PL.
16. Three blog posts.
17. Send out SIL birthday project. (Only two weeks late. Lol.)

Seventeen goals this week. My predictions on what will be the hardest: 10,000 step goal, PL pictures. The easiest: nap time!

- Mrs. 246

Friday, April 11, 2014

Nature! Big Trees! Yosemite tomorrow!

Big Trees
"Accidents in the mountains are less common than in the lowlands, and these mountain mansions are decent, delightful, even divine, places to die in, compared with the doleful chambers of civilization. Few places in this world are more dangerous than home. Fear not, therefore, to try the mountain-passes. They will kill care, save you from deadly apathy, set you free, and call forth every faculty into vigorous, enthusiastic action. Even the sick should try these so-called dangerous passes, because for every unfortunate they kill, they cure a thousand." - John Muir
Ever since spring has come I've been full steam into getting active and craving some nature. Last weekend we went to Calaveras Big Trees State Park which I love because it's a close-ish drive and so neat to see such enormous trees. Just look at the top picture...that's me standing on a fallen tree! Look how huge it is! (For reference, I am 5'6".)

Big Trees 2


We were surprised that the recent rains meant snow even at that elevation (approx 4000 ft) and there were still some small patches of snow on the ground during our hike even though it was 70 degrees out.

Big Trees 3


The park even has a "warming hut" near the trail heads where they have a fire inside in the middle of the room and they offer you warm drinks to warm up after your hikes. This weekend was the last weekend they had it open and it was pretty neat but almost a bit silly because it wasn't cold out. I did find out, though, that they have snowshoes for rent in the winter so you can wear snow shoes to go hike the trails. Maybe we'll have to do that sometime!

Big Trees 4


Why am I reminiscing about last weekend's trip this Friday night? Because I am getting pumped up! The car is packed and we are going to Yosemite tomorrow!!! I haven't been since I was eight months pregnant. (I got quite a few looks hiking about, lol.) Yosemite very well may be one of my favorite places on the entire earth. I feel so amazing about life when I am there. It really is the best getaway from life. It is the kind of place that "resets" you and refreshes you. The quote at the beginning of this post is from the second chapter of Meditations of John Muir (which I actually picked up at Yosemite two trips ago). When I first read this passage, I immediately stopped reading and just re-read it again and again because it spoke to me. (I'm not doing any "dangerous passes" but I never fail to feel "cured" and my apathy killed.) John Muir's writings repeatedly liken the beauty and greatness of the Sierra's to being it's own religion and it's they only temple you'd need. So, as some people are freshened each week by going to church, I am reset and refreshed by going back into nature.

I will be sure to take lots of pictures and I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! I'll leave you with just one more passage:


"So abundant and novel are the objects of interest in a pure wilderness that unless you are pursuing special studies it matters little where you go, or how often to the same place. Wherever you chance to be always seems at the moment of all places the best; and you feel that there can be no happiness in this world or in any other for those who may not be happy here." - John Muir
- Mrs. 246

Monday, April 7, 2014

Weekly Goals {Week 15}

Ahhh Monday! I welcome you today, Monday, for you will be giving me a second chance. I didn't do so well on my goals this week. At least, not as good as I would have liked.

You know how I started running and I was super motivated? There's been an interruption to my progress. Last week I ran four times. The last time I ran it was raining so I decided I would go use the treadmill at the apartment gym. It turns out that it was a terrible idea. I injured both my knees by running on the treadmill. Since I am just beginning to run, my body is already in a "delicate" state. After much research I found that sometimes people run differently on a treadmill than out in the real world and sometimes that difference is no good. In my case, it was no good.

I'm really down about the whole thing. I was doing so well. I did run one day this past week, thinking (absurdly) that maybe, just maybe, running in the real world would cancel out running on the treadmill. Well, you can probably guess how that went.

I know, I know. Running was one goal. Therefore I should have been okay and just one goal down but that isn't the case. It threw off my whole week in all aspects. Starting to run gave me motivation to do a lot of other things and it really just messed me up.

That's why I'm glad for today....a redemption day. I can make fresh goals and start again! Here's to Week 15!
Kevin Ngo Quote

LAST WEEK' S GOALS:  10.74/18 met :(

FAMILY/MOTHERHOOD/MARRIAGE (4/4)
1. Plan and go on a family outing. DONE x 3!!! We went to a Children's Museum, the fair, and went hiking in Big Trees State Park. (All this weekend! Whew...we were busy!)
2. Do a craft of some sort with Lunabean. I never got around to actually planning a specified craft but we did do some coloring and stickers and both storytime and the Children's Museum.
3.One date night (most likely drinks and board games) with Mr. 246.
4. Cook dinner at least twice. I'm going to say yes on this one. I kept a running tally in my head but I can't remember what I cooked. Does it still count? Haha.


PERSONAL (1.84/3)
5. Schedule week and update planner. Yes, I did this after making my weekly goals last week. :)
6. Read new Oprah magazine (one of my favorite de-stressing activities.) Nope. Didn't do this, but I did finish the book I was reading (Lost Lake) and started a new one (The Art of Happiness.) Can we call it half credit?
7. Write in my journal at least 3 days this week. Third credit for this one? I only did it one day.

HEALTH (0.9/5)
8. Walk at least 30 miles. Fail. Only 26 miles. Definitely going to blame this on the knee injury. :(
9. Complete C25K Week 2. Fail. Knee injury. I tried to walk a good bit but I didn't want to push it. I want to give myself the time I need to heal. I did run the first day, and it felt good...until later that night.
10. No fast food. Fail. New Popeye's Chicken opened right by our apartment and we wanted to celebrate Opening Weekend! (So did the rest of the town, apparently. It was packed.)
11. Track food at least 3 days this week. (I use MyFitnessPal. My name is Whistlefishy. Add me!). I tracked two days this week. Does that give me 2/3 points? I say yes. My goals, my rules.
12. Lose 1.5 lbs. (Gasp! Now I have to make it happen. I've declared it on the internet. Lol.) Hahaha...no. There's always next week!

CRAFTING/HOBBY/INTERNET (4/6)
13. Catch up with HP boards. Yes! Done and there's a new Harry Potter Craft Swap if anyone is interested!
14. Work on SIL birthday present AND send it out. Half credit! It's half done! I couldn't finish because I ran out of supplies.
15. Finish 1/3 of new crochet project. I'm giving myself credit for this one even though I didn't quite make the quota. I was planning on buying some more yarn on Tuesday (when Joann's gets a new shipment) and when I went, they didn't get any in! I had to order it from Amazon and didn't get the yarn until this past Friday, but even though that's the case I'm still proud of how much progress I've made for only working on it this weekend.
16. Finish last week's PL and complete this week's PL. It's probably getting old but this one's another half credit. I finished last week's but I didn't do this past week. Oh well, life happens.
17. Work on creating blogging schedule. Done! I did this when I made up my schedule in my planner. (That doesn't mean that I will follow it though, lol.)
18. Create something with my new Silhouette Sketch Pens. Still haven't broken these out of the case yet. One day I'll get around to it. (I really want to play with them I just haven't had the chance!)
  
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THIS WEEK'S GOALS:

FAMILY/MOTHERHOOD/MARRIAGE
1. Plan and go on a family outing.
2. Plan Luna and I's days together the night before for maximum awesomeness.
3. One date night (most likely drinks and board games) with Mr. 246.
4. Cook dinner at least three times.


PERSONAL
5. Continue to read The Art of Happiness.
6. Take a bubblebath sometime this week. :)

HEALTH
8. Walk at least 25 miles.
9. Do knee exercises at least twice.
10. No fast food.
11. Work out at least twice.
12. Wear sunscreen everyday. (It's starting to get hot and sunny! I should have been wearing it the whole time but I'm terrible at it.)
13. Drink at least 7 glasses of water each day. (I'm not aiming for eight. They're big glasses and I drink other things too.)

CRAFTING/HOBBY/INTERNET

14. Finish on SIL birthday present AND send it out.
15. Work on crochet project.
16. Print out pictures for PL.

Sixteen goals this week. After this past week's defeat I made some goals easier to boost myself up some. We shall see!
 How do you get back on track after a setback?


- Mrs. 246

Friday, April 4, 2014

{This Moment #9}

A Friday ritual inspired by SouleMama. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment to pause, savour, and remember.


If you participate in "This Moment," please feel free to leave a link in the comments. I'd love to check yours out! 

-Mrs. 246

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Take a Peek: Project Life March 2014

So, I haven't shared any of my Project Life pages since about....November. I took pictures of what I had finished for March 2014 this morning (I haven't done last week yet) and I wanted to share my layouts and ramble about Project Life in general...

MAR 2014 PL (1)

I like to focus on getting good everyday pictures in my layouts. Pictures of things that show what we're doing or just a bit of everyday life. I love when people use really nice artistic photos in their PL but I know myself and I know in the future, many years from now, I'm not going to want artistic shots. I'm going to want pictures of my life and my family doing ordinary things.

MAR 2014 PL (2)

Lots of my pictures are cell phone pictures. I greatly prefer pictures taken with a camera but some busy weeks a majority of my pictures are cell phone pics. You have to carry around a lot of stuff sometimes when you have a toddler. I don't always wanna carry a camera too but I'm always going to have my phone on me.

MAR 2014 PL (3)

My layouts are very mish-mash. I use whatever I want but I do place pictures in chronological order. I do divide the pages up by months, but not necessarily "Week" layouts like a lot of Project Life-ers do. I would think that it would be to constraining for me personally. I already spend too much time of this form of scrapbooking that is marketed to be "easy and quick." Haha.

MAR 2014 PL (4)

If you see in the picture below (and above) there's a "Week 12" card. This is the first time I've made one of those. I think I might start including them. Just because I don't make week layouts doesn't necessarily mean I can include week cards.

MAR 2014 PL (5)


Sometimes I have a ton of pictures. (Like from my bike ride!) The best way for me to fit them all in is to make collages. I do have Photoshop and I even took a class in college, but I'll admit....I do my photo editing in PicMonkey. It's easy, it's fast. I know where things are and how to do them. It's my goal to one day learn to us PS properly but I'm not going to put that pressure on myself. Years from now I won't care what photo program I used...just the fact that I have lots of photos to look at. :)

MAR 2014 PL (6)


It's hard to see in some pictures, but I put the date on every picture. If one ever falls out I'll know where it goes, but truthfully, I'm excited to look back and know exactly what day that picture was taken.

MAR 2014 PL (7)


I went a bit crazy with some word stickers on this page. I didn't really care for the page. I thought it needed some brightening up...it has a lot of dark plain-ish pictures. Stickers...can't go wrong with stickers.

MAR 2014 PL (8)


Often I look through other blogger's pages of their fancy PL pages and I sometimes have a hint of competition. ("Gosh, I need to use more embellishments!" "I need to journal more" "I need to color coordinate and buy specified sets!") Then I remind myself that's just not going to work for me. I've always been a "throw it all together, learn as I go" crafter. I also like to pretend that my style is sometimes that of The Burrow in Harry Potter. Nice, homey, comfortable...but not necessarily as nice and fancy as other people's styles. Not that mine is any "less," just different. :)

MAR 2014 PL (9)


For example, like above, I could have re-written the whole card because I messed up writing but I tell myself that years from now it won't really matter. I want my things to look like I made them. Like a human made them.


MAR 2014 PL (10)

Occasionally, I'll use inserts for a special occasion. We went horseback riding through the vineyards a week or so ago. We had an awesome time. Every time I started taking "selfies" on my horse I just started cracking up to myself. It seems like such an odd thing to do. But hey, I wanted a picture of me on a horse dammit.

MAR 2014 PL (11)


These last couple pictures the sun didn't want to cooperate with my photographing Project Life anymore so sorry for the glare. (Photographing Project Life is one of the hardest things to do, I swear. Does anyone else have this issue? I've read articles and tried their tips...it's just never that awesome. Except for taking all the pictures out and meticulously laying them in the same spots on top of the page protectors for photos, but let's be real...ain't nobody got time for that. Well, some people might, but I sure don't.)


So, there you go! Most of March's Project Life and a bunch of me rambling in between. I hope you enjoyed it.

Has anyone else finished some Project Life pages recently? Feel free to leave you links in the comments. I'd love to check them out!

-Mrs. 246