Sorry About the Quiet Weekend (Days 9-11)

     Hello readers, sorry I didn't write over the weekend. I was busy. I kept up with my activity level although in some different ways than I usually do, sadly I fell behind on my art related daily goals. Saturday I took some pictures but not very many and I don't think I have done a sketch since at least Friday. I went to a bachelorette party Saturday night and played games like banana ring toss and peck the pecker. It was fun, and it was the first bachelorette party I've ever been to. Despite the fact that my sister only got married a year and a half ago.
     Sunday I went out on the river for the second time this summer. I saw two beautiful adult bald eagles and one surprisingly huge juvenile. I forgot my camera though so the only pictures I got of it are on my parents far less superior camera, not that mine is a great one or anything.
     Today I did some yoga and went shopping. That was fun. I got some shorts and some things from health and beauty. One of which is an anti-chafing gel that is supposed to be just like Smashbox Photo Finish primer. I'm really excited to try it out and see if it works as well as that one blogger and many pinners said it does. I did start Castle today from the beginning. I hope I can watch that fast. I watched two or three episodes today. I love it!
     I work tomorrow but I'm going to  try to get back on track with my daily goals even though I'm still feeling really satisfied. I know I'm going to miss my art eventually. Also, just a side note. I may not post on weekends anymore especially if I keep myself busy during them. This Thursday is the Fourth of July so I might not post from then until Monday because my friends birthday is Friday, granted she is pregnant so there won't be a late night of drinking I still might be too tired to post afterwards. Thank you for reading and putting up with my silence over the weekend. You readers mean the world to me!

Fish and Satisfaction

     Today I only did one sequence of yoga and did not make up for all the stuff I missed out on yesterday. Otherwise I'm right on track. My niece and I went on a nice walk today and I saw a bunch of fish in a runoff pond I  had always thought was uninhabited by anything  besides turtles.  This really made my day.  It was all I could talk or think about.  It was like an aquarium but outside. I recognized the fish but I still can't recall its name. It was some kind of silver sucker fish.  One of them was at least a foot long. This made me want to go fishing for the first time since I was a little girl. But sadly  I have no fishing license, so that was an automatic out for me.
     After we got back if ound out my dad bought  catfish for supper.  We had never had it before so I looked up recipes and found one called oven fried catfish.  I loved it.  Mixed reactions came from the rest of the family.
     At the end of the day I felt like I should have finished the other daily goals  but I felt truly satisfied today.  I realized that is what is important.  That is why I started this challenge, because I was so unsatisfied with my life.  I don't need to do everything, every day.  I just need to do what makes me feel good and accomplished. I shouldn't feel like my goals are a burden to me.  I should want to complete them. That is what I am going to do from now on.  Use my goals as guidelines not rules. I hope I can inspire at least one person to do the same. Thank you all for reading. :) 

Incomplete (Day Seven)

This post  will be very very short. I only  did  my morning  yoga today,  I might still do my other yoga.  I don't know for  sure yet because I have been falling asleep on the couch. Between work,  babysitting,  socializing,  and a picnic I had no time to do the rest of my daily goals. I count all the activity towards my walk and yoga and I'll just do two sketches tomorrow and twice as many photos too. I'll try to write twice tomorrow,  the first time to make up for this post and explain today's  activities and then my other normal nightly post.  Goodnight, thank you for reading! I'm  sorry for anyone who is let down, I'm just so exhausted.

Back On Track (Day Six)

     I got back on track! That's right, I completed all of my daily goals. It was great, yesterday was a fluke. Today was my first day off since Friday...I think, and I slept till ten. That felt amazing. My niece has been visiting us for a few days now and I'm trying to find new ways to keep her occupied so I invited her to do yoga with me. Today we did both sequences together.
     I also took her on my daily walk. Boy, was that a bad idea. I say this because of many reasons. It was very hot and humid by the time we finally left. I had intended on leaving around eleven but, she needed sun-screen and bug spray. I never use these, my path is in mostly in the shade and not very buggy. She also wanted to ride her bike, we couldn't find a proper fitting helmet so we spent almost ten minutes trying to decide if we should use the one that was too big or the one that was too small. I decided that as long as the bug spray was out I would use some. Instead of repelling the bugs it seemed to attract them. They were all over me today. Needless to say we didn't stay out long. 
     I took a few pictures while I was out but not as many as I had been taking recently. When I got home I did a nice sketch. Something simple, non-representational abstract. I missed doing abstract art, most of my sketches had been of real life objects and I just wasn't having as much fun with it. I also did some reading which was relaxing. 
     Sadly, I did not practice my Norwegian again, and I'm starting to get bored with writing this blog...I have to do something to it to keep it interesting. I need to spice it up. What do you think I should do? Tell me in the comments below. Should I start posting my photos and sketches? Thanks for reading! Have a nice night, or day depending on when you read this.

That is just one of many pictures of post flood damage. Not great, but not bad either. Let me know if you want more.

My First Failed Day (Day Five)

     Yes my few faithful readers I failed today, and it's only day five. I got up and did my good morning yoga sequence then I ate some breakfast. At that point I should have put on my workout gear and went for my walk. Instead I just sat on the couch and tried to read. I think I only got a couple of chapters in before I had to start getting ready for work. 
     All of the late nights I've been having sure caught up to me today. Work really took its toll on me. I kept stumbling over my words, saying things backwards, and worse of all I hurt. My knees still hurt. I don't get why though, usually all I get is some stiffness in my knees, but it was horrible today, like it was my first day back in six months or something. 
     Since I was so tired and in pain I skipped out on my daily walk and with it my usual nature filled photoshoot. I just curled up on the couch and  read some more, I still didn't practice my Norwegian either. So today I count as a failure. I'm sorry guys and gals I don't have much to tell you I guess. I'm probably even gonna shorten my yoga sequence tonight, maybe just do some stretches instead. I'm just so tired and I'm looking forward to having the day off tomorrow so I can sleep in and get all my daily goals.
     So readers, tell me if you want me to start posting my photos and sketches...I will if you really really want me too. Thanks for reading, I'll hopefully have more for you tomorrow. 

Interview and a Movie (Day Four)

     Hello everyone! I write tonight with good news on my mind. This morning I had a job interview and I think it went well. I've been in desperate need of a second job and hopefully this one will be it. Before the interview I did my morning yoga in the first few minutes after waking up. Not my brightest idea. Yoga on an empty stomach is the worst. It made me want to throw up.  I pushed through the pain and finished the sequence just fine, but the first chance I got I gobbled down a bowl of cereal and started getting ready for my day. 

     When I got home from my interview I went on my usual walk. I was glad to see that the flood waters had gone down but the water was still high. I saw anywhere between two to four Great Blue Herons unfortunately they saw me first. I spotted one on on its own then another a ways down the road. Both flew away before I could get a good picture but I snapped my camera fiercely after them. On my way back I saw two in the pond on my way back and the same thing happened.

     My niece came to us a few days early. She had been visiting her dad and was scheduled to join us on the twenty-ninth. When she got here I did a quick sketch and let her do a few too. It was the first time she drew with charcoal. Later in the day I took her to see Monsters University. It was super cute and it got me in the mood to go back to school. I was surprised to see how things turned out for Mike and Sully, it was not quite the cookie cutter message usually sent in a Disney movie. After we got home and ate supper I watched last night's True Blood. and the last two weeks of Teen Wolf since I was falling way behind. I also did my nightly yoga sequence during Teen Wolf.
     With all of this going on I didn't have time to read or practice my Norwegian, at the rate I'm going I will never learn anything...booo. Sorry for another short post tonight I have just been so tired and I always end up doing this too late. Tomorrow I'll try to write as I check activities off my list. Maybe that will help me bring my post length up and help me get to bed at a decent hour...but that probably won't happen knowing me. So once again, thank you readers, you mean the world to me!

A Short and Sweet Post...I Hope (Day Three)

     Here I am again not posting till the wee hours of the night. Due to this late hour I don't want to spend much time writing but it might be hard for me to resist. I enjoy writing especially writing like this, just for my pure enjoyment. Today I am proud to say that I completed all of my daily goals before I went to work, except for my second yoga session, I save that for before bed, but I'm done with that now too.
     I woke up at a decent hour today, nine am, and I went out for my walk before the hour was up.  It looked like it might storm so I thought I should take advantage of the little bit of nice weather that the morning would hold. I decided to kill two birds with one stone and took my camera along with me. It has rained a lot this past week and it rained very hard overnight. I was able to get tons of good shots of the rain damage, which there was a lot of. I talked to my neighbor about the high water in the creek and surrounding land, and ran across a  family whom I had never met before, a strange occurance here. They were also looking at rain damage in awe.
    When I got home I relaxed for a while and showed my parents the pictures I had taken on the TV. I followed that up by doing some good morning yoga I found on pinterest months ago. Once I had finished that I did a sketch of the bird feeders outside  the dining room window. 
     Lunch came and went and I still had an hour free before I needed to get ready for work. I took this time to read, which I continued again after work, reading a total of five chapters. After that I skyped with my amazing boyfriend and then did my sweet dreams yoga routine, also found on pinterest some months ago. 
     See now, I tried to make this as short as possible and it still came out to be five paragraphs, but still I guess it's half the length of my other two posts. Well, maybe three quarters, I just can't help myself I love to write! A big thank you to my  readers however many of you there are, I am grateful you find my life interesting enough to read about everyday. When I see my pageviews number go up it always puts a smile on my face.

Velkommen til Norge (Day Two)

     Here I am on the first full day of my challenge. My challenge to live  a more active lifestyle and achieve my goals. Speaking of which I forgot to mention one of my goals in my last post. I am learning to speak Norwegian!  The title of this post means "welcome to Norway". The idea, to learn Norwegian was brought up by my friend from France. He had been watching True Blood and asking me questions about the language because he knew I had Norwegian in my blood. I didn't know much; that was when he suggested we learn together. We are going to Skype once a week so we can speak to each other and help one another learn the proper way to say things. 
     As for what I did today to keep on track with my goals, I started my day off with some reading. I finished book nine, Twisted, in the Pretty Little Lairs series. I was surprised when I got  to the last page; it felt like there was more to the story. I sadly had to stop and go to work before I could start book ten, Ruthless, but as soon as I got home I ripped through the prologue and the first five chapters.
     I felt a little guilty about this though. I had yet to start on any of my other daily goals. It was already nearly five pm. I forced myself to put the book down and I started to sketch. I did a small sketch of what I saw in the front window, warping it to my liking. I've been having a hard time getting my creative juices flowing. The sketches I had done before going to bed last night were sub-par at best. I really had no idea what I should draw. First I tried to draw a frog because I could hear them singing loudly outside my window. I couldn't finish because I didn't know how to draw a frog. My next victim was a bottle of nail polish on my dresser, then my high school graduation tassel. Once I look up the terms and agreement for photos on here I will start posting my sketches daily if I feel comfortable with it. When I finished my sketches I moved on to my photography.
     I stepped into the back yard and started snapping pictures of my mom's rose bush, then some of the other flowers, and finally a rose breasted grosbeak at my dad's bird feeder. It felt so good to get back to my main passion in life. I so often overlooked it even though it has been my dream to be a photographer for National Geographic since I was in eighth grade. Once again I will post these photos after I have read the terms and agreement. I fear that I will have far to many pictures of the plants around my house by the end of this summer. I need to find some new grounds. My dad suggested a county park on the river and I think it's a great idea. I can't wait to start.
     After I took some photos around the house I strapped on my camera and headed out for my walk. I took my favorite path down to the creek and back. This walk usually takes twenty to thirty minutes depending on the speed you walk and other variables. I was walking on limited time today as I had to get back in time for the supper my parents had started cooking. I didn't make it all the way to the creek because of this. I was also a few minutes short of my desired twenty. The walk, however short, was still enjoyable. I thought of all the family and friends I had taken down this way. My mom used to walk this path with my sister and I as small children. I loved it because I got to collect rocks on the way to the bridge that spanned the creek. Once we reached our destination I threw them in one by one, or sometimes in handfuls of they were small. I taught this to my niece. She loves it.  It is still one of my favorite summer activities and probably always will be.
     Normally I would wrap this up all neat and tidy with a summary conclusion paragraph, but tonight I am way too tired and just want to go to bed. That reminds me I did my yoga last night before I went to bed last night. It was a great way to relax. I did some earlier tonight but I have yet to do my second set. I guess that is what I'm off to do. Goodnight readers. Thanks for showing interest in my new blog.

Decision Day (Day One)

     It hit me tonight when I was scrolling my friend's Twitter feed that I was doing absolutely nothing this summer. Sure she wasn't doing more than me, she might even be doing less than me, she was just doing different things. I don't know why reading her tweets kicked me into gear but it did. I haven't done much with my summer so far. I've only been home from school at Upper Iowa University (UIU) for three weeks. 
     Here is what I've done so far:

1. Work.
2. Read (about four Pretty Little Liars books and recently some fan fiction).
3. Hang out with friends (four or five times).
4. Visit my sister in Madison.
5. Go out on the Mississippi River (once and I spent the whole time reading).
6. Spent a s**t ton of time on the internet (Facebook, Netflix, Tumblr, ect.).

     Outside of work, where I spend my whole shift on my feet, most of these activities are very sedentary. I want to live a more active lifestyle. That being said, I am not the type of person who likes to work out, I'm not an exercise nut. I go through phases where I stick to a regular workout and then I just stop. I get lazy. I don't want to do that anymore. 

     So here are my summer goals (that I made tonight):

1. Do yoga or a stretching routine twice a day, everyday. Starting tonight.
2. Take at least a twenty minute walk everyday.
3. Sketch everyday (starting tonight). I was inspired by a different friend who is posting her daily sketches on a blog, I guess she kind of inspired me to make a blog too.
4. Take at least one good photograph a day.

    Other goals I made earlier this summer:

1. Save $2,000.
2. Finish all the Pretty Little Liars books, including Ali's Pretty Little Lies and Pretty Little Secrets.
3. Read all the books my sister lent me so I can finally return them to her (over a year later).
4. Read three to five other books (that would bring me up to about twenty or twenty-five this summer).
5. Visit my friends stuck down in Iowa at least once.
6. Keep up with my art.
7. Visit my friends and family in Madison.
8. See my boyfriend in person (we are currently 500+ miles apart).
9. Keep in touch with my friends (I'm usually horrible at this, only talking to them once or twice, if at all).
10. Prove myself (whatever that means).
11. Watch the entire series of Castle (I have always liked what I've seen but have never watched it in order).

     So those are my goals for this summer. Yes, some of them are just as sedentary as my life right now, but others will get me up and moving. I have already made plans for a nice hike at a local park with one of my friends! I'm  so excited.

     I plan on making daily posts to this blog explaining what I did each day and how it will help me reach my goals. This may not be interesting to many people out there so I don't expect many, if any, readers but, this is my first blog and it will be nice practice for a future, possibly successful blog. 

     Thank you readers! You are a big help to me in sticking to my goals.