January Bucket List

December wasn't so successful, so I'm gonna put some of last month's onto this month's list.

1. No cokes for a week. This one is gonna happen this time. Day one of seven is almost complete! Sugar-free water flavor packets will be my new best friend.
2. Print pictures for my room. I got a cute new frame from my parents' trip to Disney World, plus my other frames that are sad and empty.
3. Try a new recipe for dinner. I found some really good ones in People magazine that I want to try!
4. Set up a payment plan. I haven't been able to pay my student loan payment in recent months because I've spent $200+ each month in gas to get back and forth to Athens. Lame. I also have lots of money to pay back to my parents from my college years, so I want to figure out the best way to do that. I need to get something on paper though because they tend to say one thing.. then a few days later, they say something COMPLETELY different, so this will help things a lot.
5. Complete 23 Things Before 24 list. I need 6 more things that I want to do before I turn 24 in November.
6. Get more shoes for student teaching. I have one pair of flats that I've used for both semesters of our teaching practicum, and now I have a new pair of short boots. Both pairs of shoes are black, so I need some brown and maybe some grey shoes.
7. Complete teaching resume. I started this last semester, but then the end of the semester hit and CHAOS ensued. I need to finish this and practice interviewing, because I seriously suck at that.
8. Exercise consistently. I don't wanna put a number on how much I exercise, because that's setting me up for failure. If I run a few times a week and do some exercises on the Wii Fit or using Jillian Michaels' DVD, I'll consider it a success.

Read more...

Flashlight 5k

On New Years Eve, I ran the Flashlight 5k last night! I had several goals for the race:

1. Beat my time from last year [41:07]
2. Get a sub-40 time
3. NOT FINISH LAST!

And one that I wouldn't allow myself to make for fear of not making it was to run the whole thing.

I did the first mile with Stephanie, then she needed to walk and I wanted to keep going. So I did. The course was pretty flat, minus the first huge hill at the very beginning. I had already resolved to walk the hill the second time, but the second lap rerouted a bit and didn't include the hill. So on the second lap, I just kept running. I made it to mile 2 and I wasn't tired, so I kept running. Then all of the sudden there was a half mile left, and I was like, "Oh, I've got this!" So I kept running. I came up the last little hill and saw the time sign, just as it turned to 39:00. I thought, "Oh, HECK NO. I'm not gonna get over 40 minutes!" and I kicked it into high gear.

And I finished in 39:19. I completed all of my goals, and then some. I felt amazing. There was a pizza dinner afterwards with salad and a cookie. It was delicious, but I think I could've eaten cardboard and it would've tasted good. Afterwards I went home and got ready for Stephanie's party. We played some Mario Party 8 on the Wii and Guitar Hero on the Xbox, then we counted down to midnight, set off fireworks, and I went home because the lovely TRU gods decided to schedule me at 6am. Yay. I'm ready for these early shifts to be over. Waking up at 7am will seem like a dream instead of a nightmare now.

Read more...

December Bucket List - Recap

December is over, so it's time to see how I did!

1. Read Voyage of the Dawn Treader before seeing the movie.
STATUS: fail
I ended up seeing the movie before I finished the book, which ended up being okay because the movie was different from the book. I started reading the book the next day, but I never got around to finishing it. maybe next month.

2. No cokes for a week.
STATUS: EPIC fail.
I'm so NOT a morning person, so when I'm working the 6am shift and I don't drink coffee, coke is the only option. gotta get some caffeine somehow! again, maybe next month.

3. Bake an apple pie.
STATUS: success!
I baked one on Christmas Eve, and I also made fudge for my co-workers. both were delicious, if I do say so myself.

4. Run 20 miles each week.
STATUS: fail
I hardly ran at all, buuuuuuut I did decide that since I failed miserably at this, I needed to at least complete part of my 23 Things list [not yet published]: run at least a 5k each month. So I'm running the Flashlight 5k in Lawrenceville tomorrow at 6pm. free long-sleeved t-shirt AND pasta dinner afterwards!

5. Have a family game night.
STATUS: success
When Memama and Pepaw came up to celebrate Christmas, we ended up playing a giant game of Phase 10 in partners. Pepaw got frustrated because he and Grant were losing, bad.   But he gets mad when he's winning because we always skip whomever is in first.. so he gets mad no matter what place he's in. I wonder where I get it from?

6. Complete 30 Day Challenge.
STATUS: undecided
I missed a few days when I was working all day or doing something with the family, but I've come close! I'll finish the month at day 22, so I'll consider this an overall success, despite not finishing 100%.

7. Unpack my boxes from Athens.
STATUS: success
finally unpacked the boxes so that I could get my super awesome Georgia Christmas tree. incentives tend to work well with me.

8. Print pictures to put in room.
STATUS: as of this moment, fail. however, I still have one day left, so I'll try to print them tomorrow and will update in 2011!
I have picked out several pictures that I want to print, but I've been too lazy to actually go get them printed. Walmart just isn't convenient to get to, but I dunno where else to print them. maybe Walgreens?

I wish this had been more of a success, but I did have a great month, so I'm not complaining. I'll get next month's list up in the next few days!

Read more...

30 Day Challenge: Day 13

Day 13: Goals

I feel like I've done this before. Most of the things on my bucket list(s) are goals for my life. Like meeting Peyton Manning and Matt Diaz. But I'll reiterate them here:

• Graduate college.
• Get married.
• Adopt children.
• Run a half marathon. Particularly the Disney half marathon.
• Go skydiving.
• Own the entire Gilmore Girls collection.
• Get a teaching job.
• Go to a Colts game AT Lucas Oil Stadium.
• Meet Peyton Manning.
• Meet Matt Diaz.

Those are the main ones. And yes, the last two are serious. It will happen.

Read more...

December Bucket List - Halfway Point

Following Rachael's lead, I decided to do a little check-in on my progress!

1. Read Voyage of the Dawn Treader before seeing the movie. Task semi-complete. I saw the movie on opening night, but I hadn't finished the book. However, I'm almost done with it now. And I think it was better this way. The movie was better than the book. But I'm slightly biased.. Ben Barnes is gorgeous.

2. No cokes for a week. Haven't even started this one. However, I'm starting it tomorrow. From midnight tonight until midnight next Thursday morning, zero carbonated beverages. I will not fail!

3. Bake an apple pie. I haven't made an apple pie, but I have made Alysha's fudge to take to my co-workers tomorrow, particularly Jaime who's had a rough few weeks. Pie will still come though. The baking for the season has only begun!

4. Run 20 miles each week. Oh, man. This one is a huge failure so far. I haven't even done one mile yet. I am so ashamed.

5. Have a family game night. Not yet, but my grandparents come up on the 22nd, so we will probably have one then. The kids are still in school til Friday, and Grant has had finals to study for and such. I hope that next week will be more free.

6. Complete 30 Day Challenge. I'm working on it. I've done pretty well over the past few days, but I think I was too far behind to complete this by New Years Eve. But I'll get close!

7. Unpack my boxes from Athens. Just two more boxes to go! My room looks great! I had a little incentive to clean it: I needed somewhere to place my new Christmas tree! My mom, a Georgia Tech fan, bought me a black Christmas tree, some red and silver ornaments, and Georgia candy canes! So I cleaned and set it up!

8. Print pictures to put in room. Haven't done this one yet either. Once my check clears on Friday, I'll go to Walmart and print some out. Mom framed a picture of me and Grant from Thanksgiving, and I need to put pictures in the frames that Katie and Jordan gave me for my birthday! There's also an incredible picture of my bestie Melissa and her fiance..

it's too perfect not to put up, don't you think? I want to print this picture on a t-shirt and wear in on their wedding day.. I'd try to wear it during the ceremony too, but Melissa might kill me. Bridezilla!!

Read more...

December Bucket List

I got inspired by Rachie, who got inspired by Kay, so I'm going to do a December bucket list.

1. Read Voyage of the Dawn Treader before seeing the movie. The movie [with BEN BARNES] comes out on the 10th, so I should read quickly! Alysha and I are hopefully gonna have a date night to go see it :]

2. No cokes for a week. It's been SO hard for me to do. I'll do it for a few days, then I'll have a really bad day or I'll get a REALLY bad headache from caffeine deprivation, so I'll have one. I know that it's almost impossible to cut cold turkey, especially around the holidays, but I'm gonna try.. for one week. Then maybe I'll decide that I can have 1 or 2 cokes per week, Sunday to Saturday, or something like that. But none for now.

3. Bake an apple pie. I love apple pie, and it's pretty easy to make. Maybe I'll make several and share with friends, neighbors, and/or co-workers.

4. Run 20 miles each week. And by run, I mean walk/jog/run. Now that the semester is over, I can actually justify going to the park instead of going around my neighborhood. And the park is so beautiful that I want to just keep going and going and going! So it'll be easy to do 3+ miles each day!

5. Have a family game night. Our family is constantly going, between swim practice, cheer practice, Wednesday night church, Mom working, Dad travelling, and early morning and after school meetings/homework help.. so when we're all together, we're resting and usually watching tv. But one night, I want to play games instead. Julia got The Amazing Race for the Wii, so maybe we could all play that?

6. Complete 30 Day Challenge. This means that I have to blog more than once every two weeks. More like once every two days. And then some. AKA I need someone to be like, "Lynn, have you blogged today?" Any volunteers?

7. Unpack my boxes from Athens. Yeah, they're still sitting in my room beside my bed. From August. I just haven't been motivated to mess up my room to organize things before putting them away. But I need to before Mom has a duck.

8. Print pictures to put in room. I have zero pictures up, and I just got two new frames for my birthday from Jordan and Katie. Therefore I need pictures. I also am newly addicted to Mod Podge. So I want to print some pics to mod podge a canvas for my room as well.

I wanted to do 10, but I couldn't think of more. So we'll do 8 this month. I'll update this list in January with "pass" or "fail" and make a new list for January. You should too!

Read more...