August Blog Challenge Day 5

Today's Challenge: A Picture of You and Your Friends

Well, this was very difficult as 1. I dislike pretty much any picture that I am in. 2. Which friends do I choose and more to the point which friends do I have a picture with? 3. Is there a time frame? With that being said, here is a montage of pictures through the years and in no particular order....

My friend Anna Marie and me in Nuevo Laredo. The tall skinny guy is actually a friend of her little brother who was with us. We took a day trip there from San Antonio in 1990ish....

Long, long ago on the campus of Texas A&M there was a tradition called Elephant Walk whereby the Seniors would all tramp through campus and the Juniors would "kill" them by throwing shaving cream and mud, etc. The walk started at the site of Bonfire and went all over campus, through fountains and mud fields and where ever and would end up in Kyle Stadium for a Senior only Yell Practice. This always occurred the week of Bonfire, which was the week of the Texas A&M vs. t.u. game. It was our way of having one more moment with our friends before going off to face the real world.

A couple of years back, some of the HCBC ladies all gathered in Southern California and visited The Queen Mary. It was the first time that some of us had ever met in person. Can you believe how time has passed?

While out in California, it was a semi-regular occurrence to head up to Sonoma for a day trip. On this occasion I went with my friends Jennifer and Vanessa.

For my birthday this past Spring, I went to Scarborough Faire with my friend Angelia. She is a magical wing-maker and always dresses the part of a fairy. This trip, she loaned me a pair of wings and I had the privilege of participating. 

Another Texas A&M tradition is the christening of the Senior Rings. This would be me with my roommate Kim (on the right), a friend of hers, and some random guy. I can't believe how skinny I was back then and yet thought that I was overweight....

So, I'm not actually in this picture, but it is one of my favorite pics of Samantha and Sara.

Lastly, a picture of Sara and Gauri before we took the big skydiving plunge.

First, I really need to get more pictures of me with friends. Second, I have a whole lot of really great friends that are spread all over the place and each teach me and challenge me in new and different ways. 

August Blog Challenge Day 4

Today's discussion point is: "A Habit That You Wish You Didn't Have"...

Oh there are so many, where should I start? I think I might actually have to list them out here with an action plan....

1. Watching too much television. I am in the habit of turning the television on the moment I get home or get up. It should just be background noise for me, but it isn't. Sadly, even though I tell myself I'm not going to do it, as soon as the television is turned on, but couch develops an ass magnet and I am trapped. I have tried to come up with a couple of different ways to overcome this bad habit. On the days that I work from home, rather than turn on the TV and become distracted, I am listening to my Audible books. They provide the same sort of background noise (plot, character development, etc.) that the television does, which activates a certain part of my brain that just listening to music doesn't quite fill, but I'm not distracted by the shiny, moving pictures. Another way I am considering conquering this habit is by getting rid of the television altogether....well, okay, maybe not get rid of the television just the cable and instead get the replacement to the rabbit ears so that I only have the local channels and only in real time....this will cut out a lot of the time that is spent watching recorded shows....But, I doubt if I'll actually go through with that one. 
2. Eating ice cream...I have developed a terrible habit of eating ice cream all the time, for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. I get a craving for ice cream and instead of refocusing myself on something else that is better for me (like an apple) I will get in the car, drive to Walmart and buy some ice cream. I will then sit and eat the ice cream until I am sick. So, how am I going to conquer this, well it is two-fold and is also part of the first step of a long term goal that I am working on (having a viable budget and savings program)...I have challenged myself to NOT go to the grocery store without a list and to NOT buy anything that is not on the list. I sit down and figure out what meals I will have in the upcoming week and what I need to prepare them and make a list based on that plan. I have also challenged myself that in the month of August I am not going to buy anything for myself, other than the obvious necessities like food and gas. So, this actually leads me to the next bad habit: 
3. Spending money all willy-nilly. I am very bad about just going to Target and buying a shirt or a sweater or going out to Amazon and buying a book or something that I just DO NOT NEED. At this moment in time, there is nothing, aside from food, that I need. I have plenty of clothes, shoes, books, makeup, fabric, etc. etc. etc. and do not need to randomly buy stuff. I am challenging myself to NOT do this. Now, I say that, but there is one thing that I intend to purchase in the month of August and that will be paint and paint supplies for painting my house; I know it is not a necessity, but in order to achieve my goals it is something that I will need to do. 

Okay, those are 3 of the bad habits that I have and how in the next month I'm going to try and exorcise them from my being. Once I get those conquered, there are plenty more to take their place....

August Blog Challenge Day 3

Today's question and blog topic is "Why You Are Doing this Blog Challenge?"

Well, I'm doing it because I've fallen out of the habit of blogging regularly and this challenge gives me a reason to sit down and actually come up with something to say. It may not be something of importance or interest but it is making me sit and have cohesive thoughts and put them down in writing. With luck, this will inspire me to stick to it past the 31 days of the challenge. Perhaps it will lead me to challenge myself in other ways to keep up with my writing or to expand my writing. Or, perhaps, it will convince me that I don't have anything of relevance to say and perhaps it is time to hang up the ABBA blog and move on to something else....

We are 3 days into it, so there is still no telling where this might take us. But "they" say that it takes 21 days to make something a habit, so maybe by day 31 the writing habit will be fully ingrained in me that I just won't be able to stop.

August Blog Challenge Day 2

Today's challenge is to document some short term goals for the month.

Since there isn't a set number of how many goals are needed, I'll go with 5:

1. Blog every day. I need to do this so that I can keep those creative juices flowing and so that I can uphold my promise that I made to my readers when I took on this challenge. 
2. Determine which paints I want to use. Purchase the paints and complete the painting of at least the bedroom. I need to do this so that I can then rearrange the whole house and get my studio set up differently. 
3. Move my quilt studio to its new, more convenient location. If I relocate my studio downstairs, then I know I will be more likely to do at least some sewing or designing or quilting thinking on a daily basis. 
4. Run a mile...without stopping....okay, jog a mile at a pace slightly faster than a walk. I have to get this first mile accomplished if I'm ever going to complete the half marathons that I'm signed up for. Once I get this first mile done, I figure the rest will just fall into place. 
5. Cook at least 3 meals from scratch every week. I figure that if I actually cook meals from scratch, and then have the leftovers the next day for dinner, then I'll be saving money by not eating out and I'll be eating healthier as I'll know what I'm actually putting into my mouth.