My thoughts tonight...11/29/10

I hit the gym this morning & met up w/my awesome trainer.  I was spanked pretty hard!  I love my trainer!  Yes ladies, he is rather easy on the eyes, but that is not why I love my trainer.  I love him because he doesn't let me get away w/anything.  He isn't brutual, but he is tough.  He pushes me to want to give it my all.  I've seen other trainers at the gym who are way too easily pushed over by their clients.  My trainer doesn't care if I don't like sit ups.  I still have to do them.  And I've learned early on that complaining only means I have to do more of them!  The only thing I can challenge is the weight on things.  If I don't look like I'm handling it, he'll ask.  If it's too much, we agree to lower it...but the activity still has to be done.  And you know what...that is just fine w/me!  I love it!  I love Paul because I see the changes in my body.  I see the muscles coming to life.  I see the fat melting off of my body.  I see how my posture has improved.  My self-esteem has increased.  My energy level is higher than ever.  And overall, I just feel better. 
So I cheated over the Thanksgiving holiday which is why I ended up at the gym early today.  I had to rock a great workout to try to undo some of my overindulgent behavior.  And yes, I did tell Paul how bad I was.  He let it be known that I shouldn't be hard on myself, but rather I should just hit the gym a little more...which I will this week.

While resting after my workout, I actually started thinking about this blog.  I started thinking of more ideas to add to the list.  Here are a few things I thought up...

- buy 40 different pairs of socks
- get a make over
- get 40 people to join me for a picnic in a park
- go whale watching
- eat a papaya...I've never had one
- cook a Thanksgiving dinner
- sing karaoke w/some friends
- visit the gravesite of Billie Burke, Glenda from 'The Wizard of Oz' in Vallhalla, NY
- learn sign language
- paint my bedroom
- clean out the living room closet


I will add them to the list.



Hope everyone is well!

Happy Blogging!

Happy Turkey Day!!

Happy Thanksgiving to one & all!

I will be away from the computer for a day or two...so I wanted to get this in early.

Best wishes to all celebrating one of my favorite holidays...Thanksgiving!

This year I am thankful for my family, my friends, my job, my camera, my crazy spirit & more!  And I am looking forward to a lot more in 2011.

Gobble gobble!!!

Enjoy your holiday! 

My thoughts tonight...

I've been thinking of selling some stuff on ebay to help pay for some of these 40 weeks.  I would love to do some traveling as part of this mission, so I'm going to need some extra loot. 

Speaking of my 40 weeks...I've come up w/a few ideas of my own for suggestions.  I'm going to add them to my list for consideration...
- learn to speak Spanish
- read 'War & Peace'
- get a tattoo
- take Salsa lessons
- take a cooking class
- get set up on a blind date
- hostess a tea party

I can't explain why I'm even hooked on this mission.  I normally don't make a big deal about my birthday.  I've had the habit of taking the day off from work & spending the day in the American Museum of Natural History in NYC.  (I love that museum.)  But for some reason I am looking forward to celebrating my birthday next year.  I'm looking forward to 40 weeks of doing something fun.

By the way, I printed out a calendar for next year.  I've decided that I am going to start these 40 weeks on May 1, 2011.  They will end the last week of January 2012.  Damn...that seems so far away!  I'll start planning out the weeks as the list gets narrowed down.  And I'm sure I'll have to plan the money issue for each week...thus my possible ebay venture.

For now...I want more suggestions.  Hey...I did say this was an interactive blog...so start interacting!  Yes, I can be a bit demanding.  It's all good!

later

Q&A entry...

Well...here it is...the Q&A entry.
Feel free to ask me anything.  All questions will be answered in the order they are posted & if there is something too personal for my liking, I will politely say so.  All questions should help you to suggest something for my 40 things to do.

Thanks!!!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

What about Thanksgiving???

I went for a walk to get something to eat & I see some people actually putting up Christmas lights!  OMG!  It's not even Thanksgiving yet!  Great...now I have to start worrying about my holiday shopping earlier than expected.

So what's new peeps?  What's going on in the blogging world?  I'm still a little under the weather.  So much so that I actually canceled my training session tomorrow night.  I figured I'd cancel if I was still feeling yucky this weekend & well, I am still a little stuffed up.  Oh joy!  I hate being sick!  At least I have my appetite back tonight.  I was hungry earlier which forced me to walk down to the supermarket...which is how I spotted the people putting up the Christmas decorations...which prompted this blog.

And here I am...blogging...

I've been giving some thought to my purpose for this blog.  The whole 40 things idea...which I am still really excited about doing.  I was wondering why there aren't more suggestions.  Is it because you don't know anything to suggest?  Or is it because you don't know me?  So then I was thinking about doing a Q&A blog.  I figured you could all ask me something that might help you decide on a suggestion for me.  I'm still wondering on that...I'll post a new entry for it if I actually think it would work.

So what's new?  What has everyone been up to lately?  How is this blog site treating you?  I'm still learning my way around this blog site.  I keep finding the same blogs which is okay, but I would like more options.  Guess I have to learn more, huh?

Well...happy bogging!

Nothing beats a photo taking walk on a sunny fall day....

Happy Sunday my blog followers!!!  Welcome to another Sunny post...

I've been a little under the weather lately.  I haven't been this sick in about a year or more, so I was due for a cold.  You know the kind...one nostril stuffed at a time, scratchy throat, achey, tired.  Yup...I was due.  So I haven't been to the gym during this sickly time.  I figured I'd save my cold cooties for just myself.  I'm nice like that.  This morning I woke up feeling great, so I thought I'd get to the gym.  I really planned on going...well, that is until I stepped outside my front door.  Once that sun hit my face, I knew I was changing my plans.  I went back inside, layered on some warmth, grabbed my camera, waved good bye to the kitty & out for a photo talking walk.

Allow me to explain...

Last September I started this lifestyle change.  I hate using the word diet...instead I call it a lifestyle change...hey, work w/me here.  As part of my lifestyle change, I would walk.  To make myself walk more I started taking my lovely camera w/me.  I would stop & take a photo & before I knew it, I was walking about five miles.  Little by little my walks would take me on longer distances to find better photo taking opportunities.  Helpful tip: if you're looking to make a lifestyle change, grab a camera & try it.  You'll see I'm right!  :)

Here is a sampling of todays photo taking walk...

I loved the funky patterns on the leaves, plus the colors scream FALL...my favorite season.

And as I came around a corner, I spotted these two red balloons stuck in a tree...

And then one of me walking through some leaves...

During my walk I had time to think about this blog journey.  It got me excited.  Just realizing I am asking people to tell me 40 things to do is a bit scary, but exciting.  I'm wishing it was May already so I can start doing these things! 

Hey...I'm a dork...deal w/it!

So we are now at 12 followers & 4 ideas.  Woohoo!!  I hope to hit my goal soon.  I would even love to get more than 40 ideas...just to get some debates going on which 40 I do.

Happy blogging peeps!!

7 days, 7 followers & now 3 ideas....

Seven days ago I started this mission to find people to suggest 40 things for me to do over 40 weeks to celebrate my 40th birthday.  I created this interactive blog to see if people would actually help me reach my goal & I'm actually getting feedback!  OMG!  This is great!

So as of tonight I have seven followers...woohoo!  And I have three ideas!  I want to wait till I get more before I say yes to them...but oh what the heck...yes to all three!!  On the list - a full body massage, hiking, & frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity in NYC.  Simple enough...yet fun. 

In my free time I've been checking out this blog site.  I've been reading through some blogs.  I love how the net brings us thisclose even though we are in different parts of the world.  So I keep landing on blogs about photography, cooking, crafts & scrapbooking.  Oddly enough, these are a few of my favorite things!

Speaking of photography...the other morning on my way out the door to work, there was this cute little snail that had made his way onto the frame of my hallway doorway.  He was so cute.  I couldn't resist taking a moment to shoot a photo of him.  And as always I had my beloved Canon Power Shot SD 770IS at hand.  I was rather amused that the snail was the perfect muse.  He was really a good sport. 

Check him out...

Yea...he was thrilled to see me w/my camera just snapping away at him.  Oh well.


So it's fall...my favorite time of year.  I love the colors around here.  This photo was taken locally during one of my many walks.