30 Day Challenges 2012

Instead of doing normal New Years Resolutions, I thought I would just set up my 30 day challenges for the year.  12 months of 30 day challenges.  Naturally, I'll leave the most difficult for December because it won't technically be 30 days, it'll only be 22 days, and then we'll all die.  :)

January: Write a Poem Everyday

February: Walk/Run A 5K Everyday

March: No Sugar 

April: Take A Picture Everyday

May: Write A Novel (in one month)

June: Cook A New Meal Everyday

July: Yoga Everyday

August: Meditate Everyday

September: Learn A New Phrase In Italian Everyday

October: Be A Vegetarian

November: Learn To Play The Guitar

December: Wake Up At 5:30 AM Everyday

So first things first:

January: Write A Poem Everyday

Wish me luck . . . I'm gonna need it . . . 

30 Day Challenge Take 3

No Chocolate

This is an ambitious one, especially seeing how December is Christmas time and I have two weddings to go to this month and I have finals week.  But I'm going to do it.  If you see me wandering around muttering under my breath "I can do hard things" or "I think I can, I think I can" now you know why.

30 Day Challenge Take Two

If I do say so myself I epically succeeded at my last thirty day challenge!  I didn't get on there even once and by the end of week one I was wondering why I had wasted so much time on Facebook up to until now. I've decided to continue this challenge by limiting my amount of time on Facebook.  

Are you ready for my next epic 30 day challenge?

Low/No Iron Diet

That might seem strange to you.  You may even be wondering what this type of diet is.  Well it's not a very common diet, but I need to go on this diet for my health anyway, so I figured I'd make it my challenge.  Basically, I can't eat meat, a lot of grains, some veggies, and some fruits.  Hopefully this will help my iron levels go down more quickly so I will have to have less treatments.  

Here's to the next 30 days.

30 Day Challenge

I recently watched this video Matt Cutts: Try something new for 30 days | Video on TED.com. And it inspired me. I decided I'm going to do this.  My 30 day challenge for the month of October?

No Facebook

That's right friends - facebook friends - I'm going to say good bye to you for a month.  Here's adventures during a facebook free month!

I Hate It When Reality Sets In

I live with my head happily in the clouds most of the time in more then one way.  That's just the way I am.  When something hard comes my way I either stew and worry and stress and assume the worst about it forever or I force myself to forget about it by sticking my head back in the clouds. I force myself to use my imagination and I don't let myself think about it.  That's the approach I've been taking lately about school stuff.  But today reality hit me.

First some good news: I got a stipend/scholarship for college today!  Yay money for college!

So I looked at how much tuition costs.  Yeah it's a lot.  My heart sank.  I hate how expensive college is and how expensive living is. And how even though I try I can't pay for it all by myself. Yet.  But someday I'll be able to right?  That's what I have to remind myself as I work everyday that I'm just trying to pay for college so that someday I can be self reliant.  

For The Time Being

These are my short term goals:

• I want to get remotivated to eat healthy foods, healthy portions, and exercise.
• I want to get settled into my new position and responsibilities at work.
• I want to find a job in the Great-White North.
• I want to find housing in the Great-White North.
• I want to attend the temple once a month.
• I want to attend an institute class this summer.
• I want to make another quilt.
• I want to read a lot of books
• I want to spend less time on the computer and watching TV and movies.
• I want to practice the piano more consistently.
• I want to get back my self confidence and zest for life.

The Civility Experiment

I watched this recently and I really enjoyed it.  I am in the process of confronting my own prejudice and judgements of others and realizing that I was wrong.  It takes a lot to realize that your pride is causing you to be a hypocrite and judge others but I hope to work on this just like she is.

Negativity

This post was hard for me to type and I'm not sure if I'm going to publish it.  If I do be kind.  And I'm sorry it's really long and rambling.  But I had to get it out somehow.

I had an epiphany last night as I lied awake in bed trying to fall asleep but mind was going a million miles an hour.    I realized that I am an extremely negative person.

Really.

My brother had pointed this out to me a week or so ago when he told me I was cynical.  I brushed it off at the time.  But I thought about it and I really am.  When anything hard or unpleasant happens in my life I tend to face it in a negative way.

When I was little and in the hospital and getting poked and prodded I wasn't one of those happy, optimistic little sick kids you hear about who smile and get through it with no problem and no tears.  No.  I kicked.  I screamed.  I cried. I fought with all the energy I could muster.  It was like a life or death, fight or flight situation. I tried to manipulate (but that never really worked very well). I even considered bolting for the door, but that never seemed very likely to work.

 When we moved down to the Sunny South I was not happy about it and I made sure everyone knew, for a whole year.  I refused to see anything good in the situation, hoping that maybe if I did a good enough job making everyone aware of how much I hated the situation I was in they might change it back to how I wanted it.  That didn't work.  I just made myself miserable for a few years.

I give up on things that are hard for me.  You know things that I suck at like: Handwriting, Sports - of all kinds (seriously, soccer, baseball, basketball, tennis, and any other sport I've ever tried), and social things, you know, like dating.  I'm not the patient diligent type who works on my weaknesses until they turn into strengths.  I just say "Forget this" and go on to something that I enjoy more and can actually do well at.

I'm motivated by my fear of failure.  Really that's why I do almost everything.  I try really hard in school because if I don't I'll fail at school and I'll have to work at McDonald's and live in a box for the rest of my life, which would then make me a failure at life.  I can't handle failure.  If I fail then I'm even more worthless and hopeless and helpless then I was before.

Fear of pain is another huge motivator in my life.  It's why I'm so cautious and never take any risks if I can help it.  Even silly risks like riding on a roller coaster, because there's always this fear in the back of my mind that something will go wrong and I will end up hurt.  Not dead.  Hurt.  My fear of pain doesn't just extend to physical pain, I fear social and emotional pain as well.  That's why I'm so shy, especially with people I don't know very well.  Fear of pain.

My brother likes to point out that I very judgmental and critical of people.  And I am sometimes. It's something I struggle with.  But what he doesn't realize, what no one realizes, is that I'm much harder on myself then I am on other people.  I love to listen to Taylor Swifts song Mean especially in my car where I can turn it up as loud as it'll go and sing my heart out.  I'm singing this song to myself, because I'm very mean to myself.  I'm my own biggest critic.  I hate myself a lot of the time. I also like to sing Pink's "Perfect" another song that describes my life in so many ways.

It's time for this negativity to change.  I'm trading in pessimism and cynicism for optimism. I'm trading in doubt for hope.  I trading fear for faith.  I'm trading in negativity for positivity.  I'm trading in failure for success.  I'm trading in pain for healing. I'm going to try to make the best of my situation even if I don't like it very much.  I'm going to try to work on my weaknesses and turn them into strengths.  I'm going to try to be less introverted and closed to people and more extroverted and open to others.

It's time for a change.

Because life is beautiful and I have been blessed.  It's time for me to recognize those blessings and to take the time to be grateful for them and enjoy them like I should.  So here's to change.  Here's to taking responsibility for my life, for my "energy" as Oprah said on her final episode.

Goals and my "Quarter Life Crisis"

I've been thinking about goals a lot lately.  I've been thinking back to YW's, back when we used to have a lesson every year or two about goal setting and then set 1 year, 2 year, 5 year, and 10 year goals.  A lot of the goals that I set for myself back then didn't happen, at least not in the way I imagined they would happen, but it was comforting to have a "plan" for my life, even if I didn't follow it exactly.  It at least gave me some sort of direction.  The thing is that back then I didn't look at my life much past the age of 21. I mean really when you're a little kid you think of becoming a teenager and all the coolness that is being a teenager (haha), turning 16 and dating and driving, turning 18 and graduating high school and being an official adult who can vote and go to college and move out of the house, and then turning 21 and either being married and soon having children or if I was so dreadfully unlucky as to be an "old maid" who wasn't married by the age of 21 going on a mission and then getting married right after, and then graduating from college around age 22 and getting a job immediately.  Then I would be married with kids and a job so there would be no reason to plan out the rest of my life.

My perspective has changed a little since then.

I no longer think 21 is an "old maid" to not be married.  And I realize that I can't just "decide" when I'm going to get married and start a family at this point, because that takes two people and I don't have person number two just yet and I'm not sure when I'll have person number two.  So I'm moving marriage and family into my "lifetime goals" that I don't have a lot of control over.  But I realized that I am turning 20 really soon.  20.  That's 1/4 of the way to 80.  I can feel the wrinkles and gray hair coming on already. (just kidding!)  Anyway as I was pondering my upcoming birthday and just life in general I realized that I have no specific goals for my life at this point.  That realization made me feel nervous, because even if I don't reach specific goals that I set, it at least gives me a direction and a purpose for my life.  So I decided that I want to set some goals.

1 Year from now I want to:

• Have a job up in the Great White North
• Walk/Run a 5k (probably a lot more walking then running but hey I'll try)

2 Years from now I want to:

• Graduate from college
• Get an internship

5 Years from now I want to:

• Be financially stable.
• Have a real career as a Child Life Specialist

10 Years from now I want to: 

• Own a house
• Make a trip to England to visit/live.  I'll see all the sights, meet the people, and I want to do some family research back there. 

Long Term Goals that I refuse to set an age/date/time frame for:

• Marriage (in the Temple of course!)
• Children

Do you guys have any other good long term goal idea that you would like to share?  Pretty please!  :)

To the great white north I go!

Tomorrow I drive by myself for the first time up to the great white north for a long weekend. I'm nervous and excited for this adventure. I hope to find a job up there, find good housing with good roommates that is also affordable, get through orientation as quickly as possible, sign up for classes, practice my city driving skills, and just become more familiar with the great white north. I also hope not to get lost. Because I get lost really easy sometimes. A GPS should help with that right?

Getting my voice heard

Right now I'm listening to the Beatles "Revolution".  I've been watching and listening to Les Miserables especially the songs "Do you hear the people sing?" and "Red and Black".  I've had a horrible day and I'm frustrated with myself and the whole world around me. 

I have a feeling this is going to be a ranting post.  I hope I don't offend anyone but this is really how I feel at this exact moment in time.

I don't even know where to start.

I have watched elections that I haven't been able to vote in and I've watched the government make mistake after mistake after mistake.  I have always learned that here in the USA we are ruled by the people for the people.  Is that really the case anymore?  I just don't know anymore.  I have been told that majority rules but what happens when the majority becomes silent?  Or becomes so loud that they can't even here themselves anymore?  Many people that I have talked to have become so dissillusioned with the political system and feel like there is nothing they can do to change everything that is happening in the world that they disagree with.  I mean what can I and my friends and family do?  We can vote.  We can write our representitives.  We could protest.  But really none of those things will do a whole lot of good at this point.

I think that part of the problem is the two party system.  I think more people should vote third party.  The democrats have become so liberal they are conservative and the republicans have become so conservative that they're liberal.  I agree with about half of what each party stands for and I think both parties have some really flawed thinking.  Half the problem is that they won't compromise, they are all too worried about being right and getting whatever is on their agenda passed rather than focusing on what is good for the American people and what the majority wants and needs.  This is a huge issue.  It's what causing our country to go downhill.  In the Book of Mormon it talks about how the majority of people will usually want what is right, so it's up to our leaders to listen to the majority.

Another problem is in fact the internet.  Don't get me wrong, I love the internet it can be helpful how easy it is to get information.  The issue is that it makes it so easy for everyone to put their ideas out there that there are so many voices and so many putting out their opinions it's virutally impossible to unite people.  (And yes I understand the irony of me writing this on my blog.) Everyone is so busy speaking, yelling their opinions that no one is taking the time to listen.  We as a generation need to remember to use our ears and mouth proportionately. 

If you look throughout history, it is always the young people who bring about the necessary changes in the world.  The American Revolution, the French Revolution, and the Civil Rights, they were all started by college students.  Adults my age.  But now people my age either don't care or feel like there is nothing they can do about it.  But I think that we need to stand up for our country and for what is right. If we don't stand up, who will?

Basically I want to be able to tell my children and grandchildren that I stood for what was right, that I didn't sit by passively and let the world change around me for the worse without trying to make a change for the better.  I want to make sure that the world is a better place when I leave it then it was when I got it, then it is right now.  Whether it be politics, standing up for the family, or just plain standing up for what I think is right, whether or not it's popular, I just want to be able to stay that I stood up and had my voice heard and counted for.

Sorry this post is kind of rambling and I don't know if it made much sense, but I just had to get it out there.

"D" is for Dating

My roommates are planning an "Australia Night" group date.  I was talking to one of them and she was telling me that she doesn't feel like she has anyone to go with.  I suggested some of her friends and she told me that she couldn't because "we're just friends and I'm not interested so I don't want to ask them." So I suggested a few men that I knew she had "admired" and then she said that she couldn't ask them because "I don't know them well enough."

That conversation got me thinking about dating and why its so complicated and I can now understand a little bit of the guys dilemma.  They don't want to ask a "friend" because it could ruin their friendship and they don't want to ask someone who they don't know because that's kind of awkward.

I'm taking a marriage class and we have talked about how the best marriages are those that are based on friendship.

I guess the trick is gaining the courage to go from "just friends" to "more than just friends".Transitions are the hardest part in any relationship, at any time in the relationship. I haven't had too much luck with that so far. I'm actually really bad at that. I've gotten a lot of advice on how to deal with this transition but I've found that it's not something that can be taught in a book, fireside, talk or from the best advice from well meanin people.

I do know one thing, I want to be friends with men I'd be ok with dating an I want to date people who I can be friends with. I want my marriage to be a friendship.

My Dear Husband,

It's true, I'm not married, yet, but I have seen cute letters to future husbands here and I thought I would try it, especially because she won't be writing letters to a future husband anymore.  :)

Dear Husband,

I hope you know I'm a hopeless romantic. 

I love rainstorms, I think they are so romantic.  If I ever text you this "Drop everything now. Meet me in the pouring rain, Kiss me on the sidewalk, Take away the pain." and it's raining, please do just that.  I know it's corney, but it's also cute (in my opinion) and that will make me so happy. (And yes that is from a Taylor Swift song.  Have I mentioned I'm a hopeless romantic?)

I love little kid movies like The Lion King and Tangled and Up and How to Train Your Dragon and Finding Nemo.  We will be watching those on a regular basis.  (I'll let you off the hook for my favorite chick flicks like Pride and Prejudice and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. I may even let you off the hook for my cute but really old classic movies.  Maybe.)

I like to sing and dance.  I sing really loudly and badly and I dance really silly.  I hope you will sing and dance and make a fool out of yourself with me.

Sometimes I'm really sarcastic and I don't like being wrong.  I apologize in advance.

I love food, I love to cook, but I hate doing the dishes.  I hope you like to eat and do dishes.  :)

Sometimes I just have to have ice cream.  It's not a want, it's a need.

That's All!

Love,

You're darling future wife!

:)

Creativity

I've been listening to this every morning as I get ready for classes and it has got me thinking about creativity.  I have never really thought of myself as a creative person, as a matter of fact I've pretty much always pictured myself as an epic failure at anything remotely creative. 

I play the piano and I play beautifully when it's just for myself, but I epically fail at it whenever anyone else listens (which totally makes it sound like I'm lying about the fact that I can play at all, but I really can, I just freeze up whenever anyone else is around.) But I enjoy playing for myself, and I will play for others when called upon. 

I have never been one for art.  First graders draw better than me.  I'm still learning to color in the lines.  My 4th grade teacher even sat down and gave me a "private lesson on how to color in the lines" once.  Yeah.  I'm that good.

I loved to sew clothes and cross stitch when I was younger.  I fancied myself a little pioneer.  I wasn't very good, but I enjoyed it.  I kind of want to start sewing up again.  I made a quilt this summer and I semi-recently bought some new patterns for clothes.

I love writing/storytelling but again, I'm not super good at it.  If I try to hand write anything, no one else can read it (handwriting was the one thing that was consistently on my report card through out elementary school that I needed to improve on, K-6th grade) and I have this nasty tendency to completely ignore/make-up my own spellings/words/grammar (thank goodness for computers/spell check).  And I don't really like other people reading my writing (that's the hardest part about this blog, I'm putting it out there for anyone to read and judge) because I don't like people correcting/editing/judging my work (and therefore me.  I'm super logical like that.  If anyone tells me I spelled a word wrong I think that means they hate me) but I'm getting better at it.  And I'm really bad at finishing my writing (I'm really good at starting my writing though!) But I enjoy writing lots of different things, stories, poems, thoughts, quotes, journal entries, and blog posts.

I love to cook and I also love to eat.  I'm still a slow cooker (wait, that's not what I meant to say) It takes me a long time to make a meal (I pretty much have to double preparation times on most meals) and I make a lot of mistakes but I really enjoy it anyway.  Eating has always rocked my socks.  I'm not really sure if eating is creative though...

I blog (no really?) which I suppose is somewhat creative, as is journaling. 

I'm not really creative in any other way though.  And I'm not great at the creative projects I do pursue.  But through listening to these thoughts on creativity I'm learning that it's not really about being the best or most creative at whatever creative pursuits you do.  It's about enjoying the process of creating and knowing that it was through your effort that something new was made, no matter the quality.  I'm learning to just enjoy creating no matter the quality of the end result.  As long as I'm enjoying it, nothing else matters. 

March = Media Fast

Well I'm back!  Last month I decided to go on a "media fast". My media fast was no facebook, no blog (of my own or looking at others blogs), no (ok really it turned out to just be limited) mindless web surfing in order to procrastinate homework, no movies or TV (I made an exception during spring break and a little on the weekends,) and limited ipod usage.  My goal was to disconnect from the world and to reconnect with my life. 

I wish that I could say that I did something extra amazing with all the extra time that I had, you know, something that would be worthy of a novel or a really exciting blog post series, like "I decided since I had so much extra time to spontaneously jump on a plane and move to England.  Oh and guess what, I met the Prince Charming there are we went on a really cool adventure, and he saved me of course (that's why we have Prince Charming's).  I hated him at first, but then one day I looked into his deep blue eyes and I realized that we were in love.  So we're getting married next week.  (haha APRIL FOOLS!!)"

But I don't have any really cool stories from my month of March.  I spent my extra time doing homework, working, cleaning, and chilling with the roommies.  But I actually am kind of sad to not be on the media fast anymore.  Because my life was a lot more meaningful and a lot less stressful.  I was able to receive some insights about my life that I don't think I could have received "plugged in".  So I've made a few changes to my life and to my priorities in life.  I've realized that "early to bed and early to rise" really does make a woman "healthy and wealthy and wise" (actually I'm still waiting on the wealthy part) I used my extra time to do some extra reading (Jane Austen, of course, I'm almost done with her last book, Lady Susan) and to listen to some words of the prophets on here and to learn about creativity on here .  I hope to apply more especially about the creativity to my life, but I'll talk more about that on a later post.  I realized that it's time for me to stop "waiting" for the things that I really want in life but to actually take action to help things happen.  Basically, especially after listening to this yesterday and today I feel the need to try a little harder to be a better person.

As I re-enter the media world, I realize that there are some guidelines that I need to set up for myself.  I have to limit the amount of time I spend using media because while I believe that it is ok in small amounts of time and there are some great things made available to us through all this new technology, it has the power to completely take over your life if you let it.  And while I want to continue blogging and facebook because I find it therapeutic and it's a great way to keep up with people, I have to be so careful not to compare myself to the people who's blogs I read.  I have this crazy, little nit-picky part of myself that likes to compare my weaknesses against others strengths, and sense most people prefer to make public on the Internet all their strengths I have this terrible habit of looking at others and thinking to myself "Their life is going so well.  Why can't my life go that well?  Why can't I be more like them this way and this way and this way? Or why don't I have this and that and the other that they have?  Why am I loser with tons of problems while they are amazing with no problems what-so-ever?"  And then I just feel bad about myself.  That is probably what I have loved the most about this past month, I have pretty much stopped comparing myself to my friends and family and I feel a lot better about myself and my life.  But I am determined to not only find the good in my own life, but to see the good in others lives and instead of being jealous, being happy for them.

To Do List:

•  Take Test
• Go to class
• Sing to the elderly
• Speak in Shakespearean/Jane Austen English
• Go to the library
• Get on facebook, like a million times
• Work on a little homework
• Blog
• Eat chocolate
• Day Dream
• Read text books
• Finish assignments
• Write a lesson plan
• Go to the gym
• Go visiting teaching
• Clean
• Go to Relief Society Activity
• Accentuate the Positive
• Count Blessings
• Pray
• Smile

"Let’s be honest; it’s rather easy to be busy. We all can think up a list of tasks that will overwhelm our schedules. Some might even think that their self-worth depends on the length of their to-do list. They flood the open spaces in their time with lists of meetings and minutia—even during times of stress and fatigue. Because they unnecessarily complicate their lives, they often feel increased frustration, diminished joy, and too little sense of meaning in their lives." - President Dieter F. Uchtdorf (to read the rest of the article go here.

Guess Who Officially Got Accepted to the U?

That's right  . . .

ME!!!!!

You're looking at one of the newest Utes!!  :)

I'm transfering in the fall.

Salt Lake City won't know what hit it!  :)



What's a girl to do?

Everybody say that the teenage years are the awkward years in life.  And in many ways that's true.

 But I firmly don't believe that's the only awkward time in life. 

I think the "Young Single Adult" years or "Emerging Adult" years or whatever you want to call it are extremely awkward years.  Especially for girls.  Think about it.  This is the time of life when we have to make so many decisions.  And they aren't decisions that don't really matter like "What color of shirt will I wear today?" no their more like "Where should I go to school?" and "What should I major in?" and "Should I go on a mission?"  and "What about marriage (high pitched scream)?"  This is a time of life when you are expected to make decisions on you're own, because guess what, you're an adult now.  And you have to find a job, which isn't easy in these economic times, and provide for yourself. 

Wait, this isn't what I signed up for. 

I wanted everything to just fall into place.

 Options? 

Who wants options? 

They just make life more complicated. 

Yeah, yeah, I know, it's all part of the plan, it's all part of the learning process, it's a little thing we like to call agency.  And most of the time, I'm a huge fan of agency.  It's just on days like this that I get a little discouraged about how everything is going to work out and how I'm going to get through this lovely thing called life.  But then I read things like this and I remember that I need to have hope and faith in the future.  I know that I have gotten direction for my life in the past, and I will continue to get direction in life as I need it.  I just have to remind myself of that fact sometimes, when I realize that my life isn't turning into that fairytale that I always wanted.

Bucket List

1. Run a 5k.
2. Run a marathon (eventually...maybe...)
3. Go canoing or kayaking. (I've done both!)
4. Take horseback riding lessons.
5. Learn how to ice skate
6. Build a classical music library
7. Learn to play the piano
8. Learn to dance (waltz or foxtrot or some sort of legit ballroom dance)
9. Ride in a hot air ballon
10. Go on a helicopter ride
11. Swim with sharks
12. Ride a mechanical bull
13. Dive in a submarine
14. Go Zorbing in New Zealand
15. Go on a cruise
16. Experience Weightlessness
17. Swim in the largest swimming pool in the world
18. Visit the Grand Canyon
19. See the Northern Lights
20. Visit England
21. Visit France
22. Visit Italy
23. Visit Greece
24. Visit Austria
25. Visit Australia
26. Visit New Zealand
27. Visit Jerusalem
28. Visit India
29. Visit on all 7 continents.
30. Go to Universal Studios in California
31. Visit Waikiki Beach
32. Visit Disney World (twice and Disneyland 3 times)
33. Visit all 50 states in the United States of America
34. Learn to play chess
35. Take up photography (and become semi-decent at it)
36. Learn some Gormet Cooking skills
37. Become a "Cheese Connoissuer"
38. Learn to Embroider
39. Make a Quilt
40. Read Jane Austen's 7 great works
41. Meet the President of the United States
42. Meet Prince William
43. Be Interviewed on the Today Show
44. Become an extra in a film
45. Sleep in a Castle
46. Become a Yoga Instructor
47. Create a Youtube Video
48. Swim with Dolphins
49. Try cheese fondu
50. Try Escargo
51. Attend General Conference
52. Visit all the temples in Utah

That's pretty much all I can think of right now. 

It's been a long time

It's been a long time since I last blogged.  I don't know why I struggle with blogging so much, but I do.  Here is what is new since the last time I blogged.

1. My major - I changed from Pre-Med to Child Life Specialist.  Basically I'm going to be helping kids get over the emotional trauma of hospital visits and procedures.
2. I've moved back home for the summer.  Yay for no rent and free food!! And I get to chill with awesome people at home too.  :)
3. I turned 19.  That one sneaked up on me.
4. I've been working ALL the time, earning lots of money.  And I'll be spending all that money in late July and August.  Yay for college!!
5. I just got back from a vacation to Hawaii!!  It was gorgeous!!  I got to snorkel, kayack, visit Pearl Harbor, visit the Polynesian Cultural Center (and fall in love with a Maori warrior, but that's another story haha), meet up with old friends, and spend lots and lots of time on the beach, working on my tan of course.  :)

Yep that pretty much covers my life. I've decided to set a goal to find something to blog about at least once a week.  And I'm going to try to keep my camera near by so hopefully I can add some pictures to this blog.  But I'm not a very good photographer so we'll see how that goes. That's all.