Challenge....Schmallenge....

30 day challenge? Please. What's so hard about doing a repetitive motion on a daily basis with a slight increase in reps. I know I can do it....no problem.

Fast forward 7 days......

OMG!!!! Owwwww......

Yes, just a mere week into my challenge and I'm starting to see stars and tears are beginning to well at the thought of squats, crunches and planks.

Over the past couple of weeks, I kept seeing friends and family members posting how they are starting up 30 day challenges to prepare for the upcoming bikini season. I usually just scrolled right past them on facebook, twitter and instagram, thinking to myself, "What's the challenge in doing that? I'm sure I can do a 30 day challenge". Then, one day as I was looking at the mirror (a very scary activity) I realized that I need to get myself in gear. I need to get in shape and become a healthier person. So, I decided to add the 30 day challenge idea into my routine (which is Zumba classes every so often).

I was determined.....30 day challenges don't scare me, in fact, I'm going to make it a REAL challenge and do a challenge incorporating 3 different exercises.

So off I went to my computer, looked up various poplular challenges and I decided to go with the 30 day Crunch-Squat-Plank Challenge. I copied the formatting from a few different sources and borrowed an image of a fit individual and titled my workout : I'm doing it for ME!

I quickly sent an email to my sister and one of my best friends and encouraged them to join me in this little quest to fitness. My sis.....(the smart one) declined, stating that she is already engaged in the 30 day plank, so it was left to me and Rita.

That evening as I was explaining everything to my family, I was very happy to see that my husband didn't poo-poo the idea....in fact, he agreed to join me on this crusade. We did our crunches, squats and planks with ease and for the first couple of days things were hunky-dory.

As the days progressed, it started to get more and more difficult.

....sad to say my hubby has since dropped out, stating his need to do the taxes, working late and then last night he was sound asleep and wouldn't get up. (YES! he stopped on Day 4 ~ WIMP!!!!)

My friend Rita and I are still at it, trying to encourage each other with daily text saying "Done", "Did it".... and telling each other that we are turning a new leaf, blah blah blah......but now, the text are beginning to show our fatigue and AGE.....such as sad thing - getting older.

Rita's text to me

However, we are determined to finish, although to be honest with you all, I'm not sure I'm going to make. So, to all those people who are doing various fitness challenges....."Hats off to you!! Keep it up and I'm sorry to ever think that these challenges were a piece of cake."

How about you? Have you ever done a fitness challenge? Would you consider doing one? Let me know, I would love to see what everyone is doing to get healthy.

Off to do my daily workout.....wish me luck (I think I will have a piece of cake when I'm done..... mmmmmm).

Project 52: Crop It

{crop it}

The challenge was to show a before and after view of the same photo.
recipe: crop,tranquil effect, color boost

These photos are submitted for Bella's Project 52 in response to her prompt "Crop It".

This is week 4 of a year long photo challenge.

See more photos submissions here at  Crop It.

A to Z Challenge: Is it Over?

I can't believe I was able to pull it off. As many of you may know, I decided to combine the A to Z challenge with NaPoWriMo (which required me to write a poem a day ~ even on Sunday).

Although I love writing poetry, I must admit it was a challenge to write a poem with the letter of the day in mind.....I couldn't just write anything.....it had to speak to me in some way....I had to feel it and then and only then would the words flow. Seriously, it wasn't easy thinking up a poem about something starting with C, W, Q and Z.....just to name a few.

This whole month of April, I could be found writing on the plane, in the car, in bed, on a couch in the lobby of a hotel....anywhere I could find so that I could post my poem every day.

I was often lost in thought during the day and then burning the midnight oil at night to get the words just perfect.....most nights I stayed up until 2 or 3 am! I even wrote until 4 am once.....ugh!

I didn't have much luck trying to stay ahead of the game by writing my poems ahead of time, because I was constantly playing hide and seek with my muse. I was able to get some poems done ahead of one of my trips where I wasn't going to have access to a computer, only to find out 15 minutes before I left that I had accidentally erased one of the poems! WHAT!!!!

Talk about panicking.....I lost my X post. I tried to re-write it from memory, because I didn't write it in my notebook. Fortunately, I remembered most of the words by the time I got through security and I called my daughter and had her type into my blog. It wasn't exactly how I originally wrote it, but it was close enough and the plane was taking off with or without me. Talk about stressing out.....ha!

But, I must say that I loved this challenge. I combined the two challenges and through this process, I came across many amazing blogs (there is no way to list all of them here) but I would like to highlight a few of my favorite A to Z Challengers:  Zainab of Metamorphosis, Sania of Embracing Dawn, Nick of Scattergun Scribblings, Sarah from  Simply Sarah, Dana of The Daily Dose, Julia from Writing Jewels, Sandy from Oozing Out My Ears, AJ of Words from Sonobe and Kate from Another Clean Slate.

I learned a lot about myself.....and so did my kids. By the second week, my kids were trying to help me come up with subjects for my poems that fit my so called "requirements" as they saw it.....my son said....what starts with R that is depressing and sad. ha!

Anyhow, it's been such a wonderful experience and I look forward to next year....I must say I'm a bit lost since it's been over. Kind of sad.

Thank you Arlee and everyone else who helped get this challenge rolling. I can't wait for next year.

I also want to thank all my readers for taking the time to read and comment....I hope to continue this amazing blogging journey with you all.

Are there any other writing challenges that you are participating in?

Also, which of my poems was your favorite? I would love to know. Thanks!

A: Among the Broken Glass
B: Beauty
C: Confusion
D: Death
E: Erase
F: Fate
G: Glimpse
H: Help!
I: Inspirations
J: Jupiter
K: Kryptonite
L: Loss
M: Moments
N: Nothing
O: Oblivion
P: Precipice
Q: Quiet
R: Revelation
S: Stifled
T: Tangled
U: Untethered
V: Vengeance
W: Weep
X: X Marks the Spot
Y: Yours
Z: Zoning Out