I've missed you guys. I've been meaning to write, but things have just been happening.
I took that road trip I mentioned in my last entry, and it was fantastic. Portland was crazy and wacky and amazing. We walked around downtown all day and ate delicious things from Voodoo Doughnuts and Cupcake Jones and food trucks. It also made me realize that Seattle has a really crappy public transportation system. Portland kind of spoiled us in that regard. (We were able to take a train from our hotel--which was nowhere near downtown--all the way into the city and our tickets were for the entire day and it was only five dollars and...c'mon, Seattle. You guys can do way better than that. I think I would actually take public transportation and stuff if the routes were...more organized.) Then we went down to Cannon Beach and it was beautiful and peaceful and wonderful. We spent an entire day at the beach one day and my friends tried to bury me in the sand and we got attacked by seagulls and we made the world's wimpiest sand castle with five-dollar sand castle-building equipment. And we got an awesome kite and flew it on the beach. It had spaceships on it.
That's not to say we experienced our fair share of shenanigans. At our hotel in Cannon Beach, there were only two people registered for our room, even though there were three of us. Not to mention our room was probably the smallest hotel room I've ever stayed in. Ever. There wasn't a single spot on the floor or the desks or bedside tables that wasn't taken up by suitcases, our cooler, doughnut boxes, books (I think there were about twenty books between the three of us...didn't help that we went to Powell's City of Books when we were in Portland), clothes, plates, water bottles...it was small. We also got lost a few times. Only when getting out of town, thought. Took us about a half hour to get onto the highway to go to Cannon Beach...
This trip wasn't life-altering in the way the movies make road trips out to be...but it was nice to take a trip without any parental supervision (not that we did anything stupid or illegal; we were in our room at eight ever night and we'd hang out, eat popcorn and bagels and watch the Olympics until midnight), with two friends who I've known since I was six years old. And we didn't spent it running all over the place; we're pretty low-key people. We hung out like we would've if we were in one of our own backyards. It wasn't life-altering, but it sure was special.
Since then, one of those friends, and a few others, has gone off to college, and I've been patiently waiting my turn, since I am, quite literally, the LAST person to leave for college. My roommate even moves in before I do.
I didn't come on here just to give you an update, though. I came here to tell you about something I'm doing this month. You know, to solidify that fact that I'm actually going to do it instead of telling myself I'm going to do it and then just...not do it.
For you Internet and YouTube-savvy people, there's a guy out there named Shay Carl. He's been highly successful in with his daily video blogs and other video-related projects over the last five years. He's also been successful in the realm of weight loss. He's lost over one hundred pounds over the course of about a year and a half. He's run two marathons. He's changed his life--and his family's life--for the better. And now he's trying to help other people change their lives in similar ways.
This month, he launched a 30-day challenge: make a goal for yourself, whether it be health-related, school-related, financially-oriented, whatever...make a goal that you can achieve in 30 days, and see how you come out at the end of the month. Healthier, better grades, more money, the ability to do 100 push-ups...Anything. And don't just make one goal. Make several, work on a different goal every day.
I'm choosing to participate in Shaytember (as it's been christened). I have two goals, and they're multi-layered. Shay recommended to set sub-goals to make your large goal much more manageable. For example, one of my goals this month is to lose 15 pounds. But they won't just fall off my body (I wish). I've made goals to incorporate more activity into my days (I've gone running three times this week, and I've done a few movie workouts), eat less processed foods (to the best of my ability) and more fruits, veggies, whole grains, and drink lots of water. I always brought water with me to school, but I've just gotten out of the habit since summer. I said in my last post that I want to be healthier, and I figured that this was the perfect time to start.
My second goal is to read at least three books this month. I decided to have this as one of my goals because, I made a resolution in January to read at least 50 books this year. I looked at my list that I use to keep track of all the books I read, and I'm barely to the halfway mark. So I want to read more, and the only way I can truly achieve that goal is just to read more. I've actually done well this summer; I think I've read six or seven books since I graduated, so I'm pretty confident that I'll actually meet this goal. I'm already about 60 pages from finishing my first book, even though it's an easy read. It's still progress.
Throughout this month, I'm hoping to make at least weekly updates on my progress. It's not to late to start for you, either, if you want to join in the fun. Again, it's not necessarily about loosing weight or getting healthy; this month is about setting a goal for yourself, working toward it, and seeing how you come out at the end of thirty. Shay is doing daily videos on his weight loss channel to offer encouragement and progress on his own goals. I'll put a link to his channel below :) Are you guys going to do it??
On another note, I've come to realize that I kind of miss the daily blogging. It's weird to think that I started that whole little project one year ago today. That's crazy. So much has changed. My friends and I have been through so much--the good, the bad, and the ugly. You guys know that. This next year, I'll try to keep you guys updated to the best of my ability. I don't know if I'll get on some sort of schedule like I did last year, but we'll see. Maybe I'll do some old school Blog Every Day in April. Maybe...
SayLoss: http://www.youtube.com/user/ShayLoss?feature=watch
