Less of me this week

This posting will be short but it is meant to highlight the fact that I am losing weight. As one of my 30 is to lose 20lbs, as of now I am 12.6lbs away from reaching my goal. Go me :) So excited.

As of training for the 1/2 marathon, I am doing well. Tomorrow I have to run about 8 miles which I am dreading but once it is done I will feel so accomplished. I don't really have much time before the 1/2 so I just hope that I can keep up the momentum and finish my race. Well until I write in you again.....

My 5 month late update....big smile :)

I swear I get behind on blogging on the actual 9th of the month. I don't know what my problem is. Hopefully in August I will be right on time with my 4 month update.

I have less than 5 months until I am 30 and to complete my 30 awesome activities. It is so fascinating and at times frustrating how time flies. I can remember writing my first blog on April 9th marking how I have 8 months to go and here I am 3 months down months writing about 5 more months left. Good goodness where does the time go.

Now on to the ever lovely update of my life and list thus far. Since you can view my 30 by 30 list by looking at my initial post I will not rewrite all of that stuff like I did before. But let me give you a glimpse of my life since last month:

I visited a different state!! That puts my total up to 16. Kara, Heather and I went to West Virginia where I got the awesome nickname Little Sizzle. Thanks to a news broadcast and our love of American Gladitors we all came up with names. I love my nickname so much that I think I embarrassed Kara by singing "I'm a little sizzle" while at Snowshoe, WV. I don't know what possessed me to do it, but it was super funny. Due to this being an update and suposedly brief, I will dedicate an entire posting to West Virginia later this week.


Anyways, while in West Virginia I did my crazy thing. The definition of crazy takes many forms, but the one that applies to any activity that I decide to do would be: foolish or impractical; senseless. So what did I do you wonder? I took part in The Mystery Hole located in Ansted, West Virginia on July 3rd.

Why was it crazy? Because it just was. I went in a happy, energetic person and walked out feeling like I was drunk without the fun act of getting drunk. It was horrible and the feeling of sickness lasted pretty much the entire day and night. Granted the feeling got better as the day wore on, but honestly going to bed for the night was the only relief. I was so thankful waking up the next morning feeling 100%. It is so weird how that activity really impacted me. But I was happy that I was not the only one. Heather handled it like a champ, but me and Kara were not so lucky. For the entire day if someone mentioned Mystery I felt like I was going to puke. Like I said not a good feeling, but crazy activity is marked off. Don't get me wrong if I come across another activity that I deem crazy I will still do it, but I can rest easy knowing that crazy activity is complete.


So what made this activity crazy, foolish, senseless, or impractical? Well because I paid $6 to get sick. I paid $6 to go to the bottom of the shack and even though I was vertical, I was at a slanted version. It was really weird. There was one point when I wanted to push men, women and children out of the way so that I could get out. But I refrained. Kara on the other hand made a boy a man by grabbing his head and securing it on her breast. By far the funniest thing that happened in the Hole. I really can not explain the activity, which is why I attached the link. It was bizarre, sickening, and horrible. I would never do that again. Ever.

Another activity that I made progress on is cooking my meals. I made 2 awesome dinners over the weekend. Yummy, yummy, I will blog about them later on also. I feel like I have so much blogging to do now. :)

As for more accomplishments, I weighed myself today and after my month or more hiatus of working out and eating better, I am back on track. I lost 2.2 lbs last week putting my total lost at 5.8lbs and needing to lose 14.2lbs more in less than 5 months. I would say that I should have challenged myself into losing more weight, but I know me and my patterns. 20lbs will definitely be difficult but worth it and attainable.


As for the marathon, I did post about that my progress last week but in our running group on Saturday, we ran for 7 miles. I am so proud of how far I have come. Granted I did not run the whole time, I am still in my 3 and 1 group but I survived. I am even strength training 3 days a week to hopefully get my body toned and let's face it, everyone knows that strength training is by far the best way to lose weight. I also have been doing my shake weight which has been helpful also. It is a trial basis, if I don't see improvement in my chest and arms by September 3 it is going back. That will give me 60 days from the time I brought it to see a difference. I do hope it works because Kara laughed at me when I bought it.


I guess that is really all for the updates so far. I am making progress and am very happy with my results. I still have a lot more to accomplish (I have truly only completed 6 activities) but I am optimistic that I will get it done :) Well, until I write in you again.....

How my world is shaping out

So let's see... things have been going pretty well in my world. Granted I lost my boo boo a couple of weeks ago, but I am getting better. I did my running group last night and could not help but notice how every Wednesday is about the hottest day of the freakin week. But I ran and survived. While running with the 3 and 1 group I was talking to a co runner and she was informing me of the 1/2 marathon she is doing in September a week before mine. It is located in Dayton so not far from me and the price is a bit higher than the one I want to do in Oxford, but the good thing about Dayton is that I would have a running buddy who trained just like me and I will get this marked off my list a lot sooner than expected (well a week but still).

I am really considering doing this. The race I think is about $70 which is $30 more than Oxford so I guess I would just really have to weigh the pros and cons. I really want to do it but I feel like I am not even ready for my potential race on the 26th of September. Ahh decisions, decisions. Maybe I can talk Ann into running the Oxford with me but we are on two different levels so I am not sure if that would be more helpful for me. I wish that I would have took Caleb's offer and have him train with me. Good grief.

But I will do a 1/2 marathon, be it with Elizabeth in Dayton, by myself in Oxford or if I don't feel ready I will do it in October in Columbus. I kinda don't want to do that one because of the distance, the price and the fact that I just don't wanna.

I am trying to revamp my workout schedule. I have been dropping the ball a lot with working out and eating right. It is like I forgot that one of my 30 by 30 is to lose weight. Weighing myself on Monday I have gained roughly 5lbs that I lost for the 20lbs but I still have the 2lbs gone so somewhat of a success :)

This month I have been taking an inventory of my spending, my eating habits/patterns, working out, just about everything. I spend so frivolously that I am sickened by how much I waste monthly. The purpose of ASAP was to help decrease my bills, instead it increases my spending because I have the extra cash. I am trying to get back to a place where I survived off of a monthly pay check and the other income I get will be for savings and paying off extra bills. Unfortunately I can not do this until my August 31 check due to my two upcoming vacations to Atlantic City and Michigan. Both trips are booked and will be somewhat costly but it should be fine.

Well, I guess that I will continue to set goals and work on them. Hopefully this blog will keep me in check and hold me accountable. Let's see how it goes :) Until I write in you again....

Remembering Spunky....

This posting is dedicated to my boo boo Spunky Lee. I can remember coming home late at night in February 1998 with the sign on the front door saying be careful walking in. I did not know what to expect when I unlocked the door but in the living room was the cutest littlest light brown puppy I have ever seen. His eyes were so big and brown and his tail never stopped wagging. I dropped my shoes on the floor and got down and played with him. My mom decided to name him Spunky because he was so full of energy and he has always stayed true to that name.

Spunky has always been a bundle of joy, love, excitement and cuteness. I loved that dog like he was my child. I always told my mom that Spunky was my heart because I could not imagine my life without him. It was hard when Geoffrey passed away a few months after Spunky's arrival in 98 but having Spunky made it bearable. It was additionally hard for me going to school in Michigan in 1999 because I had to be away from Spunky but I loved coming home from breaks and playing with him.

With going away from school I told everyone that my mom had custody of him because when I came back in 2006 she decided to keep him even though I was back in Ohio for good. I still got to see the little guy and play with him but to ease my loneliness I got Buddy in 2007. Buddy and Spunky played together and it was the cutest thing. Spunky has been afraid of other dogs since he was attacked by another dog so I was happy that he played so well with Buddy. Even though I had Buddy, Spunky was always my heart and my boo boo.

On Friday, July 2nd my baby had to be put to sleep. Even as I write this I cry to think that I will never see my dog again. I miss him so much that it is painful. I sit in silence just looking at his picture and thinking about him and how he felt before being put to sleep. Did he wonder where I was, did he think I was coming, or was he in so much pain that he could not think. I tell myself that he is with Geoffrey playing as he did as a puppy. That thought does bring some happiness to me. I kinda wish that I got to see the little guy one last time, but if he was in that bad of shape like my mom said, I am happy that I saw him when he was okay.

My boo boo was not quite 12, and I just believed that he would always be around. He would get excited when I locked my car because he knew that I was coming to see him, he would wag his little tail and just seem so happy. My baby, I miss him so much that it hurts to even think that he is not here. I know that my mom and sister are not taking it well either. But instead of focusing on the fact that he is gone, I will focus on the love he brought and the memories I have of my Spunky. This is just one of the few videos I have of my baby, which makes me feel happy knowing that this little doggie had such a wonderful impact on my life. I love you Spunky Lee and I am happy that you are at peace little one.