Challenge

Since purchasing my first issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine, I have read Ali Edwards's blog. I like her scrapbooking style and she posts a variety of interesting things on her blog. For the last couple of years, she has encouraged people to choose a word for the year. It is a good alternative to resolutions, since resolutions can be so quickly forgotten. My words for 2008 is CHALLENGE. I see some positive challenges coming my way this year and I want to challenge myself to make positive changes in my life.

I am co-chairing a one-day conference for academic advisors in September. I do not foresee any free time at work between now and September, but this is an awesome opportunity.

I am challenging myself to be healthy. As I have posted in the past, I have tried a variety of diets and ways to lose weight. I will be all excited about the plan for a while, but then I lose steam. I am striving for consistency instead of the all-or-nothing approach. I am working to follow what I learned from reading You on a Diet, but I am not following a super-strict diet. I am still challenged to fit exercise in my life. I have discovered that my favorite activity at this time is walking around my neighborhood.

The change I have made this year is giving up soda. (That's pop for all of you in Ohio:) I drank too much diet soda. I have not had any soda in over a week now. I drink more water and green tea. (and an occasional ice tea) I did not think I could completely cut out caffeine, so I switched to green tea, which has about one-third the caffeine of soda.

To drink more water, I bought a Brita pitcher. I found a coupon here. I am little behind on the Brita bandwagon and I now see what the hype was about when they came out. I don't like the hard water here and now it tastes much better.

I hope that everyone is having a good start to 2008!