Wordless Wednesday

 

What I’m Reading in January

 I love the beginning of a new year. All of my reading challenges reset, with new prompts. Planning begins full force. My stack of daily books is usually 4 or 4 high. When I finish a book, it satisfies so many prompts from the year long challenges as well as the monthly ones. I found a few new ones this year, so my pile is a little higher than usual!

I have my journals all set up. I used one last year, and it got too full, too soon. This year, I got one for my challenges and one for my book journal. I also got a cute library cart to keep my monthly TBR pile off of the furniture. The hubs is still laughing about it, he thinks I’m insane! 

I have a pile of four books right now. I’m reading  a chapter a day of the Comeback Quotient (for the BibRave Pro book club) and Bleak House (for What the Dickens on Litsy).

I’m also reading Taming of the Shrew for a Shakespeare challenge that gives me a schedule so that by the end of the year, I’ve read his complete works. My copy used to belong to my mom, but she gave it to me in high school, along with some others. I had to buy his complete works anyway, and when I get to that I will post a pic. It’s a monster! 

I have finished Dying for Devil’s Food and will be starting Blue Labyrinth, which is a a Pendergast book. I adore Pendergast. I’ll be starting it tonight.

Challenges I’m doing this year: Pop Sugar, 52 in 52, Flourish and Blotts on Facebook, Creating and Co on YouTube, to name a few! I’m also doing some Litsy challenges. 

What are you reading right now? Do you have any reading goals? 

My 2021 Achievement Board

 It is my 9th Blogaversary today, and what better way to celebrate than to talk about my Achievement Boards. Every year I post about them, and pretty much every year I explain them. If you've heard the story before, feel free to scroll down to 2021!

I was watching a Hallmark movie in December 2012 (it had a Little Women theme to it)  and one of the characters made an achievement board for her sister. It was flowery, if I remember correctly, and for every goal she met, she colored that space in. I loved it! Why not do this for fitness? I jumped right on it. Small attainable goals are way better than resolutions you never follow through on!

In 2014, I jumped on the One Word bandwagon (who didn't?) and decided to use my word on my board. This is the board when I made it, not at the end of the year, so nothing is colored in yet. 

2015 was the year I would run the NYC Marathon, or so I thought. I did believe I could do it, but plantar fasciitis changed all that. 

2016 was the year of the NYC Marathon, and I was right. I can do it. I kicked butt, too. Ok, no I didn't. But I finished, and that's all that mattered.

In 2017, I ran Chicago, and the plan was to finish better than NYC. That did not happen, but I loved every minute of the race, and that is redemption for sure. It was also the year I ran the Disney marathon with a hole in my heel and only got to mile 15. Chicago was way better than that!

2018 was a good year! Lots of fun events!

2019 was the year of trying hard things. I didn't get to everything on the list, but I have kept the heart behind the idea in years going forward, and will keep doing it. I did tear my meniscus in November, which brought everything to a screaming halt, but at least the year was almost over.

sigh. Journey. The plan was to journey through my recovery and on to more adventures. I am still recovering, since I also have arthritis in my knees, plus. You know. 2020. But look at all of those colors! I did so many things. I fired a gun for the first time (and if you don't agree with this, feel free to keep that little nugget to yourself), I got a peloton, became obsessed with it, shared that obsession, got others obsessed... I read over 160 books, lost 20 pounds, started doing peloton Tours, started my 500 hour yoga certification (i am almost done!), did a bunch of multi sport challenges, did my first triathlon (at home, with a peloton for the bike portion), and so much more!

2020 was rough. Not just because of Covid, but mostly because I am just not recovering the way I would like. Arthritis is forever. Walking around the house sometimes hurts. I decided 2021 would be more about taking care of me. Yes, there will be fitness goals, weight loss goals (I will post about this journey soon), new things to try, etc but also yoga goals, and reading goals, as well. There are so many things that I cannot do right now, but there are even more that I can do. I will be adding more strength workouts, trying new reading challenges, and this year I will get on that damn horse. 

Whenever I make an achievement board, it starts with the One Word. Well, 2021 is the year of the Fuckit Bucket, so I went with two words and threw the One Word right into that bucket. Peace out, buddy. Could I have found One Word to replace Self Care? Probably. But I didn't. Once I choose the word, I make the board. I have done the same board every year except 2013, so I tried something new. Ish. 

Once the ruler helped me make the nice straight lines,  I traced them with sharpie and got as nice, fine point one for the goals. My reading goals are at the top, and my others are at the bottom. At any point I can add to these, it isn't permanent, and I never sweat the ones I miss. 

As I reach my goals, I color them in. Sometimes I add another, sometimes I revel in my success and call it a day. It depends on the goal. As the year moves on, I may add more as they occur to me as well. 

Have you ever made an Achievement Board? Tag me on Insta if you post it, I love seeing them! @Barkingmadrun

Son of a Nutcracker, It Was Elf Virtual Race Day!

 I received entry into the Elf Virtual Run as part of being a BibRave Pro (ambassador). Check out BibRave.com to find and write race reviews. 

Today was the Epic Race Day that Lissa (Runnerdgirl) and I have been putting together for the last couple months. I registered for the Elf Run, and she registered for the Christmas Story Run. (You can even register for both here!) We decided to meet up at my house on Sunday morning, run the race, and then watch the movies back to back.

Lissa arrived with a few fun surprises! You can't tell from the pic, but the cereal is maple syrup flavored! Oh my heck!

Once everyone arrived, we got ready to start. Lissa and Kendal were running, and Toni and I walked. (I am still not running, although my knee is feeling amazing lately. I will be posting more about that in the coming weeks.) We used the route from the 5K I was race director for in my neighborhood earlier this month.  Because we walked, I got some fun course photos. Apparently, some of the Blow Up Decor in the neighborhood had a rough night...

After Lissa and Kendal finished running, they ran back to where we were and finished with us. 

After we finished, we changed into our swag while the hubs made us mimosas. Lissa and Kendal had their bling, but the Elf bling was delayed. Ram Racing kindly sent the swag, and the bling is on its way now. I love that so much. It was great to be able to wear our swag after the race! 

After our photos, the hubs made us breakfast, and then we settled in for the first movie! We had to laugh, because Ming Ming and Ralphie are both played by Peter Billingsley!

After Elf, we moved onto the Christmas Story. But first, we had to shoot the official Red Ryder carbine action, 200-shot, range model air rifle with a compass in the stock and this thing that tells time. Sadly, our gun didn't have the compass in the stock or this thing which tells time.  

I did really well! All ten of my shots were in the tree, even in the same area! Score! It was cold and damp out, so obviously we needed cocoa. Bring on the chocolate bombs! I had the cookies and cream one and it was delicious!

So much fun was had, and we ended the day with pizza (well, I had a Panera Salad, they had pizza)  before everyone had to go home. It was so much fun! I really love when Lissa and I get together and host events like this. Stay tuned for our next escapade! 

 

Wordless Wednesday

 

Wordless Wednesday