Meet Pancakes

Pancakes likes his Halloween costume. He is one cool (and unique) cat. 

Input, please

I am nearing the end of my first 40 Days, and I'm thinking about changing things up a little. Maybe adding some reasonable weekend mods, changing a few of the habits... adding a couple new ones, something to keep it interesting.

These are the originals, and if I did all 6, I got a "superstar", worth 2 points:
1. Up by 7am
2. Exercise
3. 8 Glasses of Water
4. Under 1600 Calories
5. Floss
6. In bed by 10:30

Surprisingly, I've been most successful with exercise and flossing, the two habits that have been hardest for me in the past. And I modified the weekends by giving myself a star if I stayed up late, but still managed to get up by 7 the next morning. Or if I went over SLIGHTLY on calories, but didn't just give up and eat whatever I wanted to.

Now, in the spirit of vulnerability and collaboration, I'm asking for your help. Maybe you have things that you have personally wanted to do, but have found it daunting. Or maybe it's just something that is good advice to anyone. Give it to me, and maybe I can try it on for 40 days.

Thanks!

Obsessing

I hate how prone I am to downright obsession. Currently, it's weight and politics. I just canceled a tweet about eating In n Out. So, consider this my apology for my tweets and blogs being so... fixated.

169 so far!

So Aaron convinced me to count superstars as two. I'm more than halfway through this first round, and I'm going to keep doing it as long as it's working. Yea!

Pictures!

Alright, I have finally managed to get the pictures that I have of the house up on Picasa. I really haven't taken any of it with everything set up inside yet because I'm just not happy enough yet to document it. But soon... very soon. :)

I think I can, I think I can

The power of positive thinking is a double-edged sword.

In thinking that I really can do something, I very often find myself doing it.

Right now, I am in super-workout-lose-weight mode. I have not been in this mode since September of 2005 when I was determined to lose weight for my wedding. I did pretty well then, but fell short of my goal weight. It's almost a good thing that my current drive is coming back in full force around the same time of year. I already see the pitfalls ahead of me: my birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas... the big derailers of self-discipline.

So where does that leave me? Well, I know I have to work extra extra hard to stay on the wagon until November 19th, when meltdown begins. Then, I have to circumvent some of the problems and I think I know how. You know what's coming... STARS!!!

Here's my plan, because my next 40-day set begins on November 4th. I'm going to build in a break for myself ON my birthday, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. But JUST the actual days. No pre-birthday binge, no drive-up-north fatty calorie splurges, no drive-thrus in the Christmas shopping madness. But on the actual "holidays" I can rest and relax and enjoy my friends and family.

In addition, I have already started google-mapping gyms near Orland so I can check into getting a 1 or 2 week pass so I can keep the workouts going. My biggest downfall is procrastination - and with the holiday season, it's way too easy to say I'm going to start back up next week, or the week after, and then it's Christmas, and then I don't start anyway. And then it's "oh, the gym will be so crowded after New Year's with all those new resolutions." I'm the queen of excuses.

So for me, it's all about eliminating those excuses. I know it's crazy, but since I couldn't keep up with a 3x a week exercise schedule, I'm going for every day. And get this - it's WORKING. I found myself in the car thinking that I should just workout every day that I eat food. I wouldn't schedule my MEALS for 3x a week, so why should I workout 3x a week? I'm looking for ways to enjoy working out instead of loathing the gym when I drive to it, by it, or walk in to it.

Another thing that is crazy to me is that I am hardly having any trouble getting out of bed anymore. My goal is to get up by 7 every day. The day after April's wedding I didn't, because I was wiped out and Aaron and I stayed up to watch SNL. But yesterday, I did. Even though we had stayed up until 12:30am. The more days I get up at that time, the easier it seems to become.

So, fellow bloggers, what are the good habits you want to get into? Inspire me and I might change it up come election day (when my next 40 starts).

(P.S. I finally figured out my comment issues, you should be able to comment here from now on)

Who said Rancho wasn't ghetto?

This is on the doorin the Target fitting room. Gross.