Winter Wonderland Warriors--Week 5

 

Week Five {January 31, 2011}:

1. What have you done this past week to help you achieve your goals? I focused more on toning than cardio this week. I didn't want to push myself too hard right away and hurt my foot again so I worked on my upper body mostly this week, and every day did a little bit more cardio on my foot. I alternated between working on my Accounting course one day and sewing quilts the next day. And one day I took my camera out and experimented with a few different techniques. Liquid calories are still getting to me, but I think reducing them is starting to become more of a habit.


2. January is coming to an end! How do you think you did in the month of January? Review time! I wasn't quite as successful as I had planned to be in January but all in all a pretty good start to the year. I don't feel too bad about January, I see it more as a warm-up or practice run for February!


3. Do you feel like your motivation is tapering off now that a month has passed, or are you just as motivated as the beginning of the challenge? I don't feel like my motivation has tapered off at all, if anything I am more focused and ready to keep at it. I'm feeling good.


4. Who/what inspires you to keep going? A HUGE inspiration has been reading all the awesome girls that are also doing the WWW challenge and seeing how they've conquered some of their goals or perhaps how they're learning to overcome and push past some of their obstacles.


5. Fun Question of the Week: What is the first thing you think of/do in the morning? the first thing I do is grab my cell from my dresser and check the time and if I have any new texts or emails. And usually my cat Lucy is sleeping on me or laying on my shoulder purring so I give him (yes, Lucy is a boy....) some attention and try to get up before our two dogs hear me and get out of their crates.

Running Playlist

I`ve been working through the C25K and came to the realization that my running play list needs some help. I went through my ipod and deleted all the songs and started from scratch. But I don`t have all that many great songs. I prefer to have very energetic, high bpms (beats per minute) songs.
Here`s my play list as is:

• If I Had You-- Adam Lambert


• According To You-- Orianthi


• The Riddle (You and I)--Five for Fighting (a slow one for the walking times)


• Tick Tock--Ke$ha


• Love Story Meets Viva La Vida--Jon Schmidt (another slowish one)


• Fireworks--Katy Perry


• California Girls--Katy Perry


• Hot N' Cold-- Katy Perry


• Cross My Heart--Marianas Trench


• Dynamite--Taio Cruz


• Poker Face--Lady Gaga


• Funhouse--Pink


• Sexy Chick--David Guetta


• Starstrukk--3OH!3


• Take it Off--Ke$ha


• We R Who We R--Ke$ha


• Bad Romance--Lady Gaga


• Battlefield--Jordin Sparks


• Good Girls Go Bad--Cobra Starship


• Does Your Mother Know--Benny Anderson (Mama Mia Soundtrack)

The last one is one of my guilty pleasures... I cannot work out and not play that song at least twice. Kudjo (one of my dogs) and I have a dance party to it either after the work-out or in between the treadmill and elliptical... seriously. Stop judging. Go download that song right now. And try to rock out to it at the end of a good run. I dare you. Then come back here and help me convince other people of it's awesomeness.

Ok so I know the list is kind of random and missing out on so many good songs that I really should have. So help a girl out eh? What songs do I need to add??

Wee Bit of Me

I've seen this around for a few months on several blogs so I thought it'd be fun to try it out!

{one} how tall are you?

I'm 5'4 and a 1/2 have to add that 1/2 in so my brother is not that much taller than me ;)

{two} besides bills, what do you spend most of your money on?

hmmm hobby things like material or paint. Or lately we try to spend it on a date every two weeks.

{three} what are your three favorite websites?

I just recently discovered damn you auto correct which is hilarious!! etsy and twitter .

{four} what brand of tennis shoes do you prefer?

New balance has been working well so far for me. But I'm open to suggestions.

{five} what food can you absolutely not stand to eat?

any kind of sea food. I CANNOT handle the texture or smell!

{six} How many pairs of jeans do you own?

right now only three. but I'm waiting to buy more till they can be in a smaller size!  yay!

{seven} if you could have any job, what would it be?

a professional photographer who gets to travel around and take amazing pictures of gorgeous things!

{eight} have you ever ridden in an ambulance?

yes, 5 years ago but it was in the front seat. Mr. J got hit by a car when he was jaywalking crossing the street.

{nine} how many pillows do you sleep with?

so I'm a little strange on this part, I must have gotten this from my dad because he does it too apparently. But I usually sleep with one but often under one as well. Keeps the light and some noise out.
{ten} on a scale of 1-5, how organized are you?

3.5 it depends on what. Some things I am like a 7 but other things probably would be classified as an organized mess.

Winter Wonderland Warriors~Week 4

Inspiration picture

 

[caption id="attachment_209" align="aligncenter" width="553" caption="shoes back on... ready to go"][/caption]

 

 

Week Four:

1. What have you done this past week to help you achieve your goals? So exercise was a fail... but I have a really good excuse. It'll sound familiar. My foot was swollen all week! Today is the first day it hasn't been and it returned back to normal non-purple color! So I stayed off it all last week and this week I'm ready to go. I'll take it easy to start with but the plan is to exercise exercise exercise. I failed at water and coffee and liquid calories! I was weak!! I have thing where I don't drink coffee days I exercise (almost always) so vice versa... I didn't exercise I drank coffee, and wine, and Strawberry Freckles This week will be a different story... or my name isn't Jen... oh wait.  But I did work really hard on my correspondence course and finished two sections/exams, I finished sewing the border onto a quilt I'm "learning" how to make, and I read a bunch in this great photography basics book that Mr. J bought me. So week wasn't a complete bust!


2. How are you feeling about the goals you set for yourself?Overwhelmed? Too easy? Just right? I'm not feeling too bad about my goals. Still motivated and excited. I know it's not going to be perfect and easy all the time to complete them. But I'm willing to give it my all and that's all I can do.
   


3. Do you prefer to exercise inside or outside? Both. I *cough* enjoyed *cough cough* hiking and biking last summer. But until I feel more in shape and confident I am content to work out inside in the privacy of my basement.
   


4. Are you a self-starter or do you need a little push? Once again both. Some things I come up with and start on my own. But at moments when my self-confidence is wavering... then I need a little push.
   


5. Fun Question of the Week: Why did you decide to start a blog? I love to write. As I mentioned a few weeks ago... I have a family blog where Mr J and I post boring updates for our parents about the mundane aspects of our live. Then I have this one. I wanted this blog to be somewhere I felt safe to write honestly without concern of offending or hurting my family with my thoughts or having their opinions on various things. It's supposed to be  a reflection of who I actually am.

A Good Read

A goal I've had for the past year or so has been to read more books. Be it fiction or biographies. I especially like the latter. I LOVE reading things about people's lives from their perspectives and why they made the various choices that they did, and how it in turn influenced the path their live went on. This is probably also part of the reason why I enjoy reading people's blogs.

Anyways, I have a really hard time purchasing books. I HATE being disappointed by a book reading it for 5 or 6 chapters and finding it so drawn out and boring. I feel like it was a waste of my time and a huge let down. So for that reason I take FOREVER to pick a book to read. Like months and months. But I usually then, love the books I purchase and read them in a two day span. I can't seem to put a book down once I read it, even if it means staying up all night and trying to function the next day on barely any sleep.

For the past month and a bit I've been periodically reading the comments and summary for this one book. By all accounts it sounded like a really good read and it was a biography. But it was a historical/war based book; not my typical genre. After much deliberation (and mocking of my tendencies from Mr. J) I decided to give it a try and purchase it. I downloaded it onto Kindle on my iphone and off I went. Two days later after not much sleep or social life... I finished it.

 

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This book was really good. I seriously could not put it down. Something about it made me want to keep reading to make sure he made it out ok. It's about this guy named Louie who was an exceptional runner, breaking records all the time. He enlists during World War II and flies in a bomber. Their plane goes down over an ocean and he and two other members of the crew float for 47 days on a raft. They eventually get captured and imprisoned in Japanese POW camps. It was fascinating to read about their time there and how they overcome everything they endured. It made me think about all the lives that were lost and people injured for their country's sake during World War I and II. Anyways, that's as political as I get... if you are looking for a good biography to read, I recommend you give this one a try!

Winter Wonderland Warriors~Week 3

 

So Week Two didn't go quite as planned. Monday evening I slipped on a wet bathroom floor and injured my foot. So the exercise goals didn't quite happen as I wanted. But I did alright in the rest!  Here's this weeks questions...

Week Three:

1. What have you done this past week to help you achieve your goals?I try to make it a habit to think about and remind myself of the goals I've set through out the day. As well as my family is aware of them and that helps me stay more accountable and motivated.


2. Do you find that your motivation/mood changes in the winter? If so, what do you do to help/avoid it? I find it's way too inviting to curl up under a blanket on the couch and sip my coffee with baileys while indulging in a rom-com or working my way through a tv series. (drop dead diva anyone?!?!)  I have to remind myself that I have to do more than just set goals and accomplish them when it's nicer out. It's more of  a lifestyle change.


3. Do you have any advice for your fellow challengers on staying on task? Don't feel discouraged if you have off days or slip ups. Be encouraged my your accomplishments and keep at it!


4. What day{s} of the week/month do you find it difficult to stay on task/motivated? Mondays! I don't want to leave bed... never mind be motivated and productive!


5. Fun Question of the Week: If you were going on a road trip {longer than a day} who would you take with you? Where would you go? haha well I am going on a road trip in  May with Mr. J.  We're driving to Vancouver area and perhaps across the border to the States. We don't have much of it planned yet, it's going to be a lot of whatever we feel like doing that day!

Check out some more Winter Wonderland Warriors at life's Journey with a smile.

Feeling Invinsible and Free

I grew up on a farm. In some ways I may not have always appreciated the experience for what it was. But I definitely didn't hate it. Who I am and how my life has progressed would be considerably different if I hadn't grown up in the country. One of the best parts was winter fun activities after all the chores and homework was done. Any chance we got, in whatever season, we spent our time outside. In winter we did things like sledding down the huge hills in the pastures, or climbing on top of barn roofs and sliding down them, or my favorite... ski-dooing!

[caption id="attachment_199" align="aligncenter" width="517" caption="Little me all ready for a ride"][/caption]

When I was in high school my step sister and I were obsessed. We'd sometimes wake up early and go before school. But we definitely went first thing when we got off the bus after school. We'd go for an hour or two. Throw our stuff in the dryer, and half an hour later run out again. This pattern continued all evening until midnight were we'd head to bed and do it all over again the next day. On the week-ends often me and a bunch of girl friends would use whatever skidoos we could and head out for the afternoon of sledding over where ever we could drive our skidoos.

Then I moved away for school and didn't visit all that often. When I did it was in the summer time. So it had been 8 years since I last sat on one. Until today. My sister and her fiance keep their skidoos out at my dad's place as they live in town, and out at dad's there is so much more space to go. They invited us out with them today to take dad's skidoos out while they drove their sleds. After an hour of struggling we got all four sleds running great and off we went. We've had a lot of snow in the past month. Specifically the past couple days. So there was four feet of powder, plus the almost foot and a half of base. So that's a lot of snow.

Right away we all found ourselves stuck. Like digging your sled out of snow almost to your waist stuck. And regardless of where we went, this seemed to be the story. Eventually we got a pretty good trail along the highway packed down and my sister, her fiance and I  had no problems but Mr. J's sled had other ideas. He had never gone skidooing before so we thought his slow driving was just a mark of a rookie. Taking it cautious, always getting stuck, that sort of thing.  After an hour of watching him drive two feet... get stuck... dig it out and keep going only to repeat it again in two feet. We try his sled out and realize there's a problem with it! He was trying to pin the throttle but there was no change. Anyways, we got home safe and had a good time after we figured out how to get his machine going faster.

But all this to say. Sometimes you don't know what you miss until you try it again. Made me feel like I was younger, before I lost some of my naivety and realized I'm not invincible! But sometimes, every once in a while it's fun to feel that free again.

Winter Wonderland Warriors~Week2

Week 1 went so great! Hopefully it's an indication of how the rest of them go! So without further ado...
Week 2 Questions:

1. What have you done this past week to help you achieve your goals?This week I worked on the majority of my goals. I'm not going to repost them but if you want to read them they're HERE I didn't see the numbers on the scale go down and stay down but as I mentioned last week as  long as I am eating healthy and working out I'm not going to worry about the numbers for a little while. And workout I did!! Four times this week which was what I was shooting for. Three days on the treadmill and one day Mr. J and I took the dogs for an hour walk in the back trails where the snow is up to our knees. Makes the walking a bit more challenging.I did really well the beginning of the week with cutting back on my liquid calories and caffeine but slipped up by the end of the week... opps. I blogged more and experimented more with lighting and photo editing. And I did two oil paintings! yay! So next week will be much of the same. Keep my eye on the goal!


2. Are any of your goals repeat offenders (i.e., have you made them before and not succeeded)? If so, what do you intend on doing this time to ensure you achieve them? Oooo yes the weight loss and drinking water goals are repeat offenders. As long as I make an effort to always have a full water bottle nearby I do well. As for weight loss I reached 27 pounds lost last year and then we did our big move to here and it got harder to exercise with people aways around. excuses, excuses. This time I'm serious, no more going soft hehehe  literally.


3. Do you have a support system in place to help you achieve your goals?I've blogged about this a few months ago so I won't go into as much detail. There are a few people that feel negative comments are good motivation for me... wrong but that's their thing. Mr. J and my brother are pretty supportive. Both offering to work out with me. So that is really nice. The problem is... I have a huge sweet tooth and it seems whenever I start to lose weight Mr. J is proud of my hard work and wants to spoil me... rough I know! He often buys/cooks me something he knows I love. One time I lost 5 pounds, he made me cinnamon buns. Sometimes it's candy. Last week it was a huge bag of Cadbury mini eggs! AAHH!! I so do not have enough self control when they are totally call


4. Are you a planner when it comes to meeting your goals, or do you tend to “wing it” and hope for the best?

I'm a little bit of both. I love to make lists so often my goals and how/when I want to achieve them are written all out.  But other times I just "wing it" and my goals get completed sort of on accident.

5. Fun Question of the Week: Who knows about your blog? Are you on blogger lockdown or do the “real” people in your life know about your blog/read your blog? The only people who have read this blog who I've met in person is Mr. J and my brother, although I know my brother doesn't know the address to it. Otherwise it's not known to other family members or friends. I live in a small town and I like the idea of having a  bit more freedom of what I can write without having to worry that half the town knows by lunch time. I do however have another blog that Mr. J and I started two years ago when we lived far away from all our friends and family. The purpose of that one is to update everyone on our personal lives. No one we haven't met in person reads that one.

Check out some other great Winter Wonderland Warriors!!

Wanna Be Facebook Friends?

I can sometimes be a little quirky. Ok... a lot quirky. At least according to Mr. J. I can't help it if I REALLY like things a certain, perhaps unusual way. Case in point, apparently I am very particular about facebook friends. I don't like to say no, so I pretty much always accept. But I never accept right away, I have to wait at least 24 hours, usually longer. But I have some pretty firm rules if people want to remain on my friend list (not that I'm sure it's a big deal not to be).

1. If I'm asked more than once a week for a month or so, to harvest a field or do some stupid thing on some stupid game... I delete them.


2. If it's been two years and you've never messaged me or "liked" something... you're deleted.


3. If you post a status about something minute.... all the time like everything you ate... all.the.time... I delete you.


4. If you have over 50 albums of your not even one year-old baby (true story)... you're deleted.


5. If you send me a million messages when I'm online and offline begging me to add you on some stupid game... see point number 1.


6. If you find yourself the victim of number 2 and re-add me a day later, only to have me delete you two weeks later and you to re-add me the next day.... I delete you again! (again true story! but it went on longer)


7. If you and your significant other or ex-significant other, have "fights" on your walls and statuses all the time that seem to drag drama-craved people in... I delete you.


8. If every week you copy and post a status about "if you love your *insert appropriate person* mother/sister/hairdresser/dogwalker's mailman, and think they are amazing, repost this message. It's (always is) National _______ Week. If you don't repost horrible things will happen to you... blah blah blah".... delete.

But really I'm not that strange! Sometimes Facebook feels like it's a really personal look into my life or relationships with people; a view I'm not always comfortable having certain people accessible to. And other times I don't care at all. Let them creep my page. But I'm sorry... I refuse to add my sister's dog as a facebook friend. Even if she does comment and like people's statuses.

Do you add people's pets? Do you have guidelines or am I the only one with "facebook rules"???

Mice in the Bed??

Last night Mr. J and I were sitting on our bed, not quite ready to call it a night. I was reading some fmls when we hear a cat scratching and meowing on the side of our mattress. I swung my arm over and made a noise to scare Lucy away and thought it worked because the meowing and scratching stopped. A minute later it starts up again. This time I look over the edge of the bed, and see no cat. I figured he (yes Lucy is a he... long story) ran and hid under the bed. Then the scratching starts again. Mr. J gets up this time and looks under the bed to see if he can see Lucy under there. And there is no cat, but something is meowing. We pick the top mattress off the bed and lean it against a wall. Then the second mattress and under that one we see Lucy! I didn't think to grab my camera but his expression was very similar to the one he had here

We tried to fix it all up so he won't be able to get under the bed and into the box springs again. So here's hoping!

Winter Wonderland Warriors ~Week1

Today begins the Winter Wonderland Warriors Challenge!! I mentioned it the other day but if you want to know more or join in, click the button below and head over and check it out!

Positive Picture:

I picked this picture that Mr. J took the other day as my positive picture this week. I absolutely love this picture and thought of it right away. One of the goals of WWW is to beat away the winter blues and be the best we can be. This picture inspires me to enjoy the little bits of sun.

Week One Questions:

1. What are your ten goals for the WWW Challenge?

(1) Lose Weight

(2) Exercise 4 times a week

(3) Be prepared to buy a swimsuit and dress for our trip in May

(4) Be half way completed my correspondence course

(5) Drink 8 cups of water a day

(6) Reduce the amount of coffee and liquid calories I consume

(7) Take more pictures and learn more about photography

(8) blog regularly and courageously

(9) Nurture my creative aspirations whenever I feel inspired

(10) Grow to love and accept myself

 

2. Why did you choose them?

1 and 2: I've been trying to lose weight for a while now and do good for a bit, then slack off for a day or two and am done for a week or two. Not a very good track record. I'm saying exercise 4 times a day because I think with 3 times I'd keep making excuses and put off till the next day. With four days there are only so many days a week that I  have the house empty enough to exercise without people around. Ideally I'd like to exercise 5 times a week but I'll be happy if it's at least 4. And weight... I'm not putting an amount because I'm happy if the scale is going down. In 13 weeks I'll be at a better position to put a number in front of goal.

3: Goes along with the first two goals. We're going on a road trip in May, and I'd like to be prepared by the end of WWW to look for and buy a new swimsuit and at the same time a new dress for my sister's upcoming wedding this summer.

4. I've been working pretty hard on the course already but I think this goal should be doable if I keep motivated and work hard.

5 and 6. These are tough ones for me... I love to sit there and sip coffee or tea all day, but I'll need to really push the water consumption!

7. I think my lack of knowledge on my camera and my new lens is keeping me from being brave and trying it out. So I hope to learn more techniques and just go out and try!

8. Sometimes I have things I want to blog but don't for (fear?) concern of what people might think of me or how they might take it. But I'd like to be braver and write whatever, whenever.

9. I am my biggest critic so my goal is to see the talent that maybe I have in the projects I do, and let myself try when I feel like it. This goal kind of ties in with 7 I guess.

10. And my toughest goal of this whole WWW challenge is to learn to love and accept myself no matter what weight or how I think I look in the mirror!

3. Are you making a New Year's Resolution beyond the WWW Challenge?

No I`m not. I don't normally make resolutions. Because I usually feel that if I slip up in the first week or two of the New Year then I've failed and it's no use. That's one of the things I like about this challenge is the length of it. 

4. What does this challenge mean to you?

I like making lists of my goals and trying to work through them so I can cross them off. I've wanted to find a challenge for a while now where there is a sense of accountability from other people working through it with me! I was so happy to see Amy from life's Journey with a smile 's post about WWW.  Her blog is always so inspiring and I could really  use a challenge right now to help motivate me towards completing my goals!

5. Fun Question of the Week: What did you do when the clock struck midnight on New Year's Eve? I hate going out for New Years... does that make me weird? So we stayed in and watched movies on Netflik while creating our own recipes for mixed drinks. When the clock struck midnight I wished Mr. J, his brother, and my mom a Happy New Year. And then left to go pick up my little brother from a New Years shindig.

 

I`m excited for the next 13 weeks! And if you feel so inclined drop me a message and ask me how my goals are doing... I hate to lie so it`ll keep me motivated so I can answer proudly!