Things I did today

Moonlight in the Garden held by JC Raulston Arboretum was excellent in idea and underwhelming in implementation. I went last year as well, and it was rainy and muddy all day then, too. Either I'm not doing something right (perhaps the point is to drink hot cocoa and listen to the live music?) or it just isn't for me. I'll try one more time next year and grab the first date available and hope day isn't rainy and plants aren't as dead.

I'm considering when I want to do the challenges that I've listed. I want to be mindful of what's coming up and when I think the challenges would be easiest. For example, I'm new at the gym, so it's all fresh novel stuff. Going there is still fun, and it isn't really cold and dark out yet. I'll use that to spring board into the workout challenge in December. Hopefully by going at least 5 times a week while the novelty hasn't worn off yet means when I get into January and February, I'll want to go to the gym at least 3 or 4 times a week after the challenge is done. Continuing on the healthy track, in January I'll do the No Added Sugar challenge. It'll be easier as the holidays will have passed and since it'll be cold, I'll not want to eat ice cream... as much. It will make it easier to get a better diet once I've gotten rid of the sugar and already have the habit of going to the gym. I'm really giving thought about the ch

Having enjoyed my gym thus far, I thought I would encourage use by going 5 or more times a week. I'm interested in strength training mostly, but will be running on the treadmill occasionally so I don't slump back into a 45+ minute 5k. As the weather starts to get colder, I want to build a habit/craving for the gym so I don't talk myself out of it when I get out of work and it's dark and cold outside. I'm also excited to see what gains/toning I can get by strength training. It has been 20 years since I've done it, and have never done strength training in any moderate way. Half-hearted when I was a kid because my parents also worked out, and I had to pass gym some way since I couldn't pass the written exams because I didn't care how long a basketball court is. Yes, I'm aware that diet majorly affects how you look, and that will be for another challenge. I'm not interested in doing too much after not caring about strength training or proper diet

I enjoy challenging myself for small amounts of time to see if I like part or all of an activity. In October, I stopped watching and reading the news, as well as checking up on social media. It helped me see that while I missed out on some big things, it made me realize I was watching or reading too much. I've cut back and it's helped. I tried out a calorie counting challenge and that failed almost immediately - not because it was difficult to log the food I was eating, but because I started under eating and losing weight rapidly because I wanted to go under the number of calories I ate the day previous. I have a few challenges that I would like to try out, and documenting my progress would be helpful. Things I'm interested in: 1. No Added Sugar - fruit and sweet onions and carrots are okay, but honey, candy, etc are out. I'm interested to see if I miss the sugar or if I have any appreciable benefits. 2. Go to the gym at least 5 times a week - now that I have a wo

As this week is a holiday week, I'll be working a shortened workday each day: 7am - 3:30pm. This morning, I got to work, fixed three bugs, went to two meetings, and felt pretty good about my progress at work. I decided I should go to the gym to exercise since I'll be able to get there around 4 and beat the traffic. I printed off a few pages of workout exercises and taped them in my workout journal, headed home to change, and off I went. In 45 minutes, my workout circuit was finished (well, I was tired and the last few machines I needed were in use) and I feel pretty good. Went home to eat a simple meal of seasoned rice and beans with an egg on top, and hot sauce. I played a few Hanon exercises as I didn't feel like learning a new song. Hanon is always a good idea. And now I'm finishing up my cup of tea, as it's time to start my bedtime routine so I can fall asleep by 10. I'm looking forward to continued success tomorrow!

I'm keeping up with the daily blog (though there are times that I fall asleep during editing and forget to publish) and am considering keeping this up for a year. I still am unsure where to take it, but it's a good exercise to continue and to work on "my voice" but I'm not sure what exactly writing about whatever you'd like actually helps with creating a unique perspective. It'd be easy to use it as a hobby habit tracker. While it would track the multiple hobbies I have, I'm unsure if I'd be helping my writing or creating an audience. I certainly could start tagging entries and (hopefully) have links to the articles grouped by hobby, if Blogger allows for that functionality. My main hobbies are Photography, Travel, Piano Playing, Music Composition, running 5ks/exercise and Reading. I also enjoy personal finance and cooking, but I don't feel like there is a lot I can say on those things that I've not done already, or have not a lot to

The only problem with habit trackers is that it's still easy to ignore them, unless you also set up a financial burden right when you first start the app and set up your first habit/goal. I'm running Habitica and ToDoist and I've had Beeminder before. I was successful with Beeminder about three years ago when I was losing weight and starting out run walking 5ks and needed more help with seeing where I could go reasonably and not burning out. It was also helpful to see how far I had gone over a few months. I chose Habitica because it gamifies habits however I felt it was unintuitive to set up and lost interest. I still have it on my phone in hopes that after I stop with my rather frequent travel this month, I'll be able to set a routine and try again. ToDoist was my second choice, as it's must easier to set up. It's also easy to ignore. I've not yet backed up my computer since I set up that task in ToDoist. Great track record so far! There are always ne