Spring Fever

Tuesday Workout Wrap-Up: AM: 12min Plyometric Tabata, PM: 3 mile run home from work Wednesday Workout Wrap-Up: Evolution Class

Where is Spring already?  We got some actual sunshine yesterday and it was such a tease.  Today is gloomy and rainy and gross.  I am ready for some nice warm weather!  With Easter this Sunday and Opening Day next Friday, Spring Fever has officially hit me!

In case you were more curious about the "Beach Babe" meal & fitness plan, here is an overview:

I must confess that I missed my AM workout yesterday - but I rode my bike to work...so I am counting that as a little something.  Plus this afternoon I got ambitious and took the stairs up to my office...that's 9 floors.

This week is the final week of round 2 of Evolution.  So, the pressure is on!  I have a number that I want to see on the scale on Saturday, so any extra calorie burn I can fit in this week is happening.  I took a walk yesterday during my lunch break - to a new Marshall's that opened up a few blocks away.  Shopping burns calories, right?  I did get a really cute new workout top...so win-win.

I also realized yesterday that I have a half marathon in 1 month!  I am excited for this one for several reasons.

1) It's in my hometown! (Rochester, NY)

2) The elevation rocks!  In fact, it's pretty much the opposite of Baltimore.

Rochester - aka downhill!

Baltimore - all uphill!

3) I am running it with my cousin, Megan. She has been training like crazy - and will probably kick my butt.  It's her first race and I am so excited to run it together!

4) We are dedicating the run for my grandma and are making special shirts to run in.She is going through Chemo now - so 13.1 miles is a cakewalk, right!?

5) I don't really have a goal time in mind...but considering the course, and running this race 20lbs lighter than my last half....things could go my way!

Birthday Trip

Saturday Workout Wrap-Up: Evolution Class
Sunday Workout Wrap-Up: 5.5 mile run
Monday Workout Wrap-Up: Evolution Class

What a weekend!

I don't know if its age or what, but I cannot seem to be able to sleep much past 8 on the weekends lately. It's getting old - and I vow to not get out of bed until at least 9 this upcoming Saturday!  This week was like most recent Saturday mornings. Up early - coffee and cereal & watching New Girl and The Mindy Project.  

Zooey might be the only person with bigger eyes than me!

After relaxing a bit I got ready and out the door for another tough Evolution class.  We ran a lot of drills and did some serious arm work Saturday.  I was feeling it!  After class I ran home to a living room devoid of furniture.  I should preface that with the fact that when I left there were 2 strange men trying to move of of the sofas out of the front door.  I should preface THAT with the fact that my roomie/landlord bought a new couch and was ditching the old ones...makes more sense now, right?

I had a quick lunch of my turkey taco leftovers - sitting on the living room floor - classy all the way.  Then, quickly showered and got ready to hit the road!  I hopped into the car and headed up to Philly....well slightly outside of Philly for my friend Carolyn's 30 bday celebration.

We hung out at her and her husband's apartment for a bit. Caught up then headed to the party that her sisters and parents were throwing.

There was tons of yummy apps and even a birthday girl signature drink.  It was a local rhubarb spirit mixed with tonic water and strawberries - very unique & yummy! The party was lots of fun - even included trivia :)  Hats off to Carolyn for handling entering a new decade a lot more calmly than I plan to be. 

The bottle was a little tricky to open

The next morning I headed out pretty early.  Carolyn was off to run 30k for her birthday with one of her sisters who is training for Boston.  I decided to hit up a Ross near her house for fun before heading home.  They opened at 9:30am - I arrived at about 9:35.  I ended up spending a long time in there checking everything out.  It's nice to do a little window shopping alone sometimes.  You get to take your time and this time that also meant trying on a million things.  I took a ton of clothes into the dressing room - mostly for fun and in sizes that I haven't worn in a million years.  It was fun and exciting each time I tried on something new and it fit and looked good!  I somehow got serious and only walked out with a new jean skirt, some flavored coffee and a couple running tops.  Most of the other things I tried on were sun dresses - and since it SNOWED today I guess it was good I left them behind since I won't be wearing sundresses any time soon.

After what ended up being almost 3 hours of shopping at Ross and looking in a few other stores I hit the road back to Baltimore getting home around 3.  When I walked in the door, the stairs were about halfway done being stained - I was greeting with "Hi! Hope you don't plan on going upstairs for a while!"  OK. Now what to do - I couldn't unpack or crawl into bed to watch DVR shows...alright, I have running clothes on - better hit the bricks.  I took a nice casual 5.5 mile run around the neighborhood and even ventured into a few blocks I've never been too (aka the hood)

Tomorrow morning I'm starting a 5 day nutrition plan called Beach Babe - from Tone It Up blog. I did this a few times over last summer before a beach trip and felt really good.  It's got lots of yummy recipes and if focused a lot around fruit.  The only tricky parts are making sure to fit in the 2 workouts each day  - and then starting the day with a drink they call Bomshell Spell  that is made from pineapple juice, lime, honey and apple cider vinegar.  My first dose is made and waiting for me in the fridge for the morning...between that and the tabata workout I have lined up...I'll definitely be awake!

Taco Thursday

Thursday Workout Wrap-Up: AM: Elliptical. PM: Booty Call Class
Friday Workout Wrap-Up: AM: No More trouble Zones. PM: Jump rope Challenge??

TGIF!!

Confession - I totally forgot to complete my own challenge last night! major FAIL.  I remembered when I was about to fall asleep - and I wasn't about to get out of bed to jump rope for 15 min at that point.  I'll try to sneak it in today.  Although I did already do some minor jump roping this morning with my BFF Jillian Michaels.

Amazon rocks and I got my new No More Trouble Zones DVD in a day!  Awesome!

I love to hate you!

I can't quit figure out why this is the hardest workout EVER - but it is.  I guess because it's non-stop.  All the moves are combos - so you aren't just doing a set of lunges...you are doing a set of lunges AND a fly-out with weights.  You aren't just doing crunches...you are doing crunches AND chest presses. Also - in the video they are using 3lb weights.  I only have 5lbs...so there is that too.

Needless to say I have been nice and sore all morning.  In addition to the soreness left last night at my Booty Call class.  45 minutes focused on creating a perfect Whootie.

Dinner last night was one of those meals where you just start pulling things out of the fridge - add a little of this, a little of that and before you know it d - voila! Dinner!

I had some ground turkey I knew I needed to cook - so I started browning that and pulled out a green pepper and onion.  I added a bunch of seasoning like garlic, cumin and red paper flakes.  After after that I added in some salsa and let everything simmer.

I had some taco shells that were still good, but at 180 cals per tortilla I decided to use one FlatWrap.  One of these has 90 cals and is pretty big.  I cut it in half and  BAM! - 2 taco shells!

I mixed some corn salsa with leftover brown rice from Monday and had a Mexican fiesta! 

Yummy!

I am looking forward to the rest of the weekend (hello, captain obvious!)  Tomorrow after my Evolution class I am heading up to the Philly area for a friends 30th birthday party!  I believe the theme is a cocktail party - so looking forward to getting a little dressed up and enjoying an adult bev!

I volunteered to be DD so my friend and her husband could enjoy the party to the max - but found out she has to be up super early on Sunday to meet her sister at 8am to run 30k!  I was invited along...right now my max mileage is 13.1 and I in no way will be joining in for all 18 miles on Sunday.  I said I would probably head out for about 6 - 8 of those miles as long as it's on some sort of out and back trail.

PS - delayed review from ealier this week.

Freeze dried vegie snacks - meh.  I had a little over the past 2 days and I'll probably finish the bag today.  It's nothing to write home about (or in your blog about)

Chocolate calcium disc - AMAZING!  It's just like a delcious decadent peice of dark chocoalte! So good...I am so sad I forgot mine today!

Carrots for Breakfast

Wednesday Workout Wrap-Up: AM: Elliptical. PM: Evolution Class

In my attempt to "be more like Danni" and to watch HBO series, I got up yesterday early to have enough time to hop on the elliptical before work. I am an avid Q-tip user, even if they are bad for you - but after watching yesterday's episode of Girls...I have avoided them like the plague.  Sorry if that is a spoiler alert - but I was so grossed out by that episode. Eww!

Evolution was great again last night - we did a lot of running drills.  That always helps break up the time and keeps your body guessing what is coming next.  We also ended class with a lot of work on the barre - the legs were screaming, but now that spring is here and all the cute shorts are on sale at Old Navy, I'll be glad for those torture sessions.

I was so excited for dinner all day.  I had an awesome omelet last weekend at a place called XS.  It was just egg with avocado and chicken in it topped with salsa - but the combo was so good.  I had some left over chicken from Monday, so I grabbed an avocado on the way home and was good to go! 

Yes, that is a hamburger bun toast.  Wegmans Lite  - less cals than sandwich thins!

 OK - now the part of the post that makes the title make sense.  I expereimented with a smoothie recipe on Monday and it was a fail - the ratios were off and well mostly it was due to the use of Soy protein in stead of Whey.  I bought new whey protein yesterday and made a world of difference.  I'll save the soy version for making protein pancakes this weekend...yum! 

Carrot Cake Smoothie

• 4 -5 baby carrots
• 2 big spoonfuls of fat free cottage cheese (could use yogurt)
• scoop of vanilla protein powder
• dash of cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice
• dash of vanilla extract
• (optional) I put in a dash of Starbucks Gingerbread syrup
• ice
• almond milk or water

Blend like crazy and enjoy!


Do you have a favorite smoothie recipe?   I think as it gets warmer, this smoothie will need to happen!

Also - I am issuing a challenge today!

Challenge #1 : Jump rope for 15 minutes!  I'll be taking that on tonight.  Try it with or without a rope - you may burn a bonus 100 calories!

BL love

Tuesday Workout Wrap-Up: 4.26 mile run + abs video

Wow!  Did you watch the Biggest Loser finale on Monday night?!  I was so excited/sad for the end.  This was such a good season!  I was texting and tweeting with Alyssa the whole show - we were booth rooting for Danni.  She did so good this season and won so many challenges on her own.  Spoiler Alert below!

Girl-Crush Extraordinaire

Danni totally killed it and beat all the big boys!


Last night I joined my run group for a nice sunny run. Still getting used to the daylight after work  It was really windy, so still pretty chilly.  My friend Deirdre joined me this week to catch up.  We hadn't seen each other in a bit so it was a nice casual paced run that flew by b/c we were talking the whole time.  She is getting over an ankle injury, so asked me to pace us and push her to 4 miles...surprise I snuck in an extra quarter mile :)

Before bed (aka falling asleep to an episode of Chopped) I did this quick ab routine:

I picked up a couple treats at Whole Foods today to try.

1) Freeze Dried veggies - I have been craving something crunchy and salty.
2) Dark chocolate calcium chew

Reviews tomorrow.

Lunchtime also included buying a new copy of No More Trouble Zones.  My copy is long gone and I needed it back ASAP.  Thank goodness for Amazon 2 day shipping :)

The Non-Stop Weekend

(Saturday) Workout Wrap-Up: AM -Evolution Class, PM- bike 4 miles, walk 3 miles (Sunday) Workout Wrap-Up: AM - Elliptical, PM - counting broomball this week
 (Monday) Workout Wrap-Up: Evolution Class

 
Happy Belated St. Patrick's Day!

This weekend was go go go go!

After Friday's night's party fails - the rest of the weekend went by super quick/...probably because I didn't stop going the whole time!

Saturday started with my Evolution class in the morning.  It was a lot of fun and really challenging this week - also the temp in the room seemed like 100 degrees.  Not sure if that was actually due to the temp - or we were just working that hard!  We ended the class with a lot of team relays.  I love doing these - the competition gets me going...I also purposely made myself the last person on my team so the wins would fall on me. My team won all the relays and and had 2 ties/photo finishes...just sayin'  :)

Sometime the gym is like Wild & Crazy Kids

After class I had to rush home to get ready for the day.  I had to meet my friend Sarah for lunch in an hour.  I got ready so fast - grabbed my bike and hit the streets to the Inner Harbor (about 1.5 miles). I parked my bike at a place I knew it would be OK, then started walking to the restaurant (mostly uphill - another 1.5 miles)

Needless to say I was starving by the time I got there.  We immediately ordered a volcano roll - a tradition.  It's so good and spicy and probably horrible for you...but it is what it is - we split it.!

 Harper opted for cereal

After lunch I walked and biked my way over to Carolyn's house.  We visited Alyssa at the running store, grabbed some food to cook and of course got some fro yo to have later.

We made a delicious and pretty healthy Thai chicken pizza and salad and watched a Mandy Moore chick flick on Netflix.

SO YUMMY!

It was really cold when I left to go home - but the view was nice :)

Sunday I woke up way to early for a weekend - so I made the most of the time by unloading the dishwasher and getting some laundry in.  Then hopped on the elliptical to catch up on some more episodes of Girls. 

Carolyn picked me up and we headed off to meet Alyssa for our belated Valentine's date of shopping, Nicholas Sparks movie and Wegmans.  All of these elements were epic.  I got some new (smaller) work pants, cried at the movie and got all sorts of good things to make at Wegmans - the highlight was discovering a new mango coconut cereal.  That has already been dinner. 

The weekend concluded with Broomball playoffs.  My team was ranked last so we had one playoff game.  The winner of that game would then have to play immediately after against the #1 ranked team. I was subbing as coach this week b/c the actual coach was living it up on St. Paddy's day in Ireland.

We were down several people - so everyone stepped up to play a lot. We normally have enough to rotate and play 2 out of the 4 quarter.  I played in all 4 and even scored a goal.  The team did awesome and we won!  Now excited and tired , we had to play another game right after against the BEST team.

I played in 3 of the quarters in that game and we held the team to only 1 goal - basically we were awesome.  The best we've played all season. Go Freezer Burns!

Party Animal

(Thursday) Workout Wrap-Up: AM -SLEEP, PM- Booty Call class
(Friday) Workout Wrap-Up: AM - Elliptical, PM- 2 miler

Sweet! The weekend is here!

Friday kicked off with invitations to 2 parties last night - party animal, right??!  Not so much.  After I got home, I went for a short run - it was too nice out not to.  I ended the run right near a place where I could pick up some wine or beer to bring to party #1.  Before running into the beer store, I decided to check out a new running store that opened up right across from it a few weeks ago.  I had heard that they focused on minimalist running & someone from my run group had been in contact with them b/c there was some interest in having our group join them on there Tuesday night runs. That didn't work out - long story.  Anyway - I popped in and it was very small.  The one employee was working with someone on a treadmill, but I was really surprised I didn't get any attention.  No "hi!", "Welcome", "I'll be with you in a minute" - nada.  I was in running gear - clearly a potential customer.  I checked out what small amount of merchandise they had and left.  I won't be back.

On to Party #1!!

I wasn't quite ready to leave to walk over with some friends - so I headed out a bit later to find my friends Chadd & Katie's house.  I arrived at the address but was a little confused.  The outside light was off.  The living room light was on and I could slightly see through the blinds.  All I saw was a TV on and an abandoned couch. I rand the bell.  Wait - wait.  Knock! knock! Wait - wait!  Peer into window again.  I called and texted a friends inside...wait - wait.  Look in window again.  After like 10 minutes of looking like the world's worst burglar - I decided to head out.  Sorry! Now what to do with this birthday beer I bought??

On to party #2!  The theme of party #2 was a Bad Beer Tasting party hosted by my friends Andrew & Lindsay.  I arrived at their place just a few blocks away - I had previously let them know I would not be bringing any bad beer b/c I wasn't planning on taking part in the taste test.  Instead I showed up with good beer - well basically regifting it.  I avoided all the beer (probably a good thing since people were forced to drink things like Boh Ice and MGD)  and a table full of yummy smelling pizza.  I left before the winners were announced - so I'll update later when I find out. AKA, I left before 10 pm - see, party animal!

Today I have my Evolution class in about 30 min.  I am curious if we will have a "Pop-quiz" weigh in today.  Last time we did that at the half way point, and this weekend or Monday is the half way of this 4 week version of class.  According to my scale I am just about on track with about 2lbs a week - but the gyms scale is way more accurate.  After class I am biking/walking to another neighborhood to have lunch with my friend Sarah and my mini-friend, her daughter Harper :)  Hoping for the rain to stay away.  Then later tonight I am off to make dinner and get yogurt with my friends Carolyn!

Last year at this time I was running my 4th 1/2 marathon with my friends Alyssa and Eric! This was my PR 1/2 - guessing mainly due to the rather flat course (at least compared to insanely hilly-Baltimore course) and great weather.  I have 1/2 #6 coming up at the end of April on a new course in my hometown, Rochester NY - so maybe a new PR in the future??

Time to get moving!


Oh, BTW - the chia pudding pie wasn't half bad.  I didn't follow a recipe really.  It was a spoonful (the big spoon, not the normal one) of cocoa powder, a spoonful of stevia, and a spoon + a little more of ground chia seeds.  I added some unsweetened almond milk until everything was almost covered and blended for a few seconds in the magic bullet.  I was pretty much in pudding form right then.  I let it sit in the fridge while at the gym and then later put it on the crust I made out of ground chocolate Fiber One cereal and a little I can't believe it's not butter spray.

3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375105820974944592307816406286208998628034825342117

Happy Pi Day!

(Wednesday) Workout Wrap-Up: AM - Jillian Michaels: Kickbox FastFix, PM- Evolution Class

Yesterday I managed to drag myself out of bed to do a quick 20 minute kickboxing DVD with my friends Jillian.  Here she is being super motivational:

"Drip Sweat! GOOOOOOOOOO!"

 

 

I love mornings when I actually do something before work - I somehow manage to get a lot of extra things done too - like laundry all before leaving for the day. Which is nice to not have to worry about when you get home, and can do more exciting things like plop on the couch and watch Diners. Drive-Ins and Dives until it's time to go to the gym.

Last night in class was I think the hardest class I've had there.  It felt like basically a 60 minute plank. I was so sore when I got home that my intention of cooking some chicken and veggies turned into barely wanting to pour a bowl of cereal.  Luckily today the soreness is gone...so I will be able to handle tonight's class "Booty Call".  After last week, laying down in bed even hurt...they mean business.  But, Whooties are important. 

In honor of pi day - I am going to attempt to make a chia pudding mini pie tonight.

DVR Strife

Workout Wrap-Up: 25 min on elliptical this morning, 4.5 mile run after work

After barely being able to get out of bed yesterday morning (darn daylight savings time!!) I managed to get up a little early this morning to hop on the elliptical before getting ready for work.  This was mainly because I wanted to watch the next episode of Girls. Are you watching this?  Its so awkward - but I can't stop. Why are HBO shows so addicting?

After work I met up with my usual Tuesday running group, Run, Gab, Gulp & Go!  Even though the weather was super nice - only 5 people showed up. It was nice to get out for an evening run in daylight - (alright, you win daylight savings time) A lot of other people had the same idea tonight because the waterfront that we run on was packed with other runners. 

I always high-five this guy when I run past

Saturday's BBQ was decent.  I don't think anyone was overly impressed by anything we ate. I got smoked turkey - that was alright - but my sides were not so good - so I picked at them which I guess was a better decision.  My friend John did get something called a bacon jarbeque - I think only he could handle this meal.

Sunday's race was fun too! It was so crowded - that's the only downside.  The crowd never really breaks up, so there is a lot of dodging people. Considering that and the fact that I stayed up way too late the night before, I was content with my finish time of 28:33.  I tried to find my friends at the end to celebrate - but there was just way too many people so they had already left. 

Monday was another challenging class at Inline.  We ran a lot of drills like suicides, and carrying weights.  We break the class into two teams to compete against each other which makes it feel like you are in 5th grade again. It make class a lot of fun and the time flies by.  I had to sneak out a little early last night, but I made up for it with some time on the elliptical at home and doing some weights on my own.

First World Problem Alert!  I was having an issue with my cable last night and was not able to handle not being able to watch Biggest Loser.  I was afraid to unplug the box so I wouldnt mess up the DVR.  I patiently waited until 10 when the recording was over and stayed up to watch the whole thing just to have it cut out right at the weigh in! AHH!  So now I have the On Demad version playing, but you cannot fast forward it - annoying - so I have The Office playing on Netflix while I wait for the whole episode to play out again to the end.  Speaking of weigh in's 2 more lbs down as of yesterday. win.

Is it bad that I think this week is going by super slow already?

Weekend!

Ahh the weekend if finally here! Hooray! I started my weekend off by leaving work an hour early and running across the harbor to a running store to pick up a race packet for a race I have tomorrow.  It's a St. Patrick's themed run and was really fun last year...hoping for the same this year.  The race is usually very crowded but it starts mostly downhill and ends with free beer - so not bad at all.

Last year's race - I expect us all to look identical tomorrow.

Today is gorgeous out - I met some friends for coffee in another neighborhood -and my walk back was super hot.  We had "snow" earlier this week and today I wished I had worn flip-flops outside.  I hope the nice & warm weather doesnt throw off my run tomorrow since I am used to running in temps closer to 40 - not 60+.  I guess spring is on the way!

This morning was a really fun class at the gym.  It felt like a really good workout - and I can't beleive how "easy" push-ups are getting.  I in no way will call them easy - probably EVER...but it feels good that I can notice myself getting better at them.

I got a great email this week - well make that 2.  The first one was a summary of our progress during the first round of Evolution.  I blurred out the actual numbers...but you can see the changes here: 

I hope that this next 4 weeks have similar results.  Days like today will make this tricky since I have a lot of delicious plans ahead of me!  I am going to get dinner at a BBQ place with friends - so I will try to make better choices...then tonight is a party...aka drinking, so again - hoping to keep that under control and choose crappy light beer instead of delicious ones - sacrifice! It'll be worth it :)

OK - time to eat some smoked meats...probably less than I want. 

Snow Day

Well, it never happened.  This supposed 5-10" of awesome snow we were supposed to get in Baltimore ended up just being an on and off rainy day.  So many people worked from home, got snow days from school, businesses closed...all for rain!

The best part was how long it took for the news to acknowledge that the snow was never going to happen.  Most people stayed at home in the anticipation that the snow would get here - and lots of it.  And, avoiding driving during any type of weather on the Baltimore beltway is totally understandable. So as the morning turned into afternoon with no sign of snow ever showing - I think it was finally 3 or 4 pm when the news posted that the storm warning was removed from the area.  Delayed reaction!  There was about 5 people from my department at work - so that made it nice and quite and a good day to knock stuff out.

I was prepared to work from home on Tuesday, even followed MD tradition and wore my PJs inside out (does anyone know where this came from??).  I love the idea of working from the couch, drinking coffee, watching the snow fall outside and getting laundry done all at once (I am a multi-tasker).  But, sadly when I looked out the window - only rain.  I am originally from upstate NY, so nothing short of 3 feet of snow impresses me - so I got up and headed to the office.  (I have no excuse really, I work a mile from home and walk or ride my bike everyday - bonus calorie burn!)

 

 

That mirror could use some Windex

The gym emailed during the day saying that class was on - rain or shine, turns out there was no need since the threat of a snow storm by the evening was negative.  We did 2 rounds of abs last night - normally one is torturous enough, but they upped the ante.  I feel like planks are getting easier as the weeks go on, but my hands always slip on the mat which has me wondering if I need those grippy yoga gloves...and will that make me look like a cool super hero, or a bum standing over a burning trashcan?

Google search for "bum gloves"

I also became the Mayor of the gym last night - woot!

 

Nothing else too exciting to report now - I'll start to post weigh-ins on Saturday mornings to make sure I am keeping on track!

The Idea

So back on January 16th I started a 6 week program at a gym right by my house - like 4 minute walk close. (Which is great since I won't have to worry about getting there tonight during this "Snowquester" in the DC/Baltimore region....which as of now is drizzle...so glad every thing is closed, except work of course :)

So the premise of this program called "Evolution" was to jump-start the New Year on the right track. You go to hour long workouts 3x a week and get a suggested meal plan to follow each week.  The classes consist of cardio, weight training, stretching, HIIT, drills and more. I was really liking everything we tried in class, and doing my best to get ideas from the meal plan.  

At the half way point - we did a "pop-quiz" of sorts and had a mid-program weigh in. I found out at that point I had lost the most - 6lbs.  I decided to make the program my own personal contest - let my competitive streak out! I was going to be the "biggest loser" of the whole 6 weeks!

"Barbie Feet" from Monday's class..no I wasn't taking pics - I grabbed this from the gym's FB page.

Fast forward to the end of the program and the last day.  I was down 13.5 lbs!  I did "win"!! (Even if the contest was all in my head - and my prize was a cute new running jacket and a couple tops (size M...new territory!)

Monday started the 2nd round of Evolution classes.  This time it's 4 classes each week for 4 weeks.  And I got to thinking last night, I wonder if I could lose 30lbs by the time I am 30?

So, here I'll share my successes, failures and adventures along the way for the next 90+ day....eww, only 90-something days. Gross.

Edited to add: I tried a similar blog when I wanted to try to complete 27 things by the time I was 27...umm, I think I got about 50% of them done :)