I have been running semi-consistently now for almost a year. I find it challenging, and yes, often difficult. But also rewarding. This week I have decided to start training for a half-marathon in December.

Now, I know that this is a crazy idea. 13.1 miles? That is way more than I have ever run at one time. So why am I doing this? There are a couple of reasons.

1. I need to get into a routine of running. I tend to be sporadic in my running schedule, and a routine would be healthier. The race is in 14 weeks, which is far enough out to be feasible.

2. I would like to physically challenge myself. I am at a point in my life where this is possible. I have the time and the energy to devote to this.

3. My friends are doing it. Sometimes peer pressure can be a good thing. I hope that they keep me accountable for training. I don’t want to lose their respect by flaking out on my goal. And I know that come race day, it will be great to have friends cheering me on at the finish line (since they will finish so far ahead of me…).

4. I want to set a big goal for myself. Earlier this year I ran the Bolder Boulder 10K. I want to follow that up with a bigger goal, which will take more training and focus.

So why am I posting this here? Well, running is one of the least expensive sports to do. All you need is a pair of running shoes. No mitt, ball, gloves, nets, cleats, pads… I even got two training plans for free. One was from a book I checked out of the library, and the other was a free download from Runner’s World.

So what? You are not a runner. Ok, you can walk (see “Walking the Dog“).

Ok, ok. The bigger reason that I wanted to share this was to challenge you to set a goal for yourself. I have lots of goals in my head, but not often do they get written down and shared with the world. Is there something you have been wanting to do, but never had the courage to start? For kids, the school year is starting back up. As adults, we don’t always get the mental stimulation that we did when we were younger. I think Fall is a great time to pick a project, set that goal, and work towards it. The biggest part of accomplishing a goal (even a physical one like running) is the mental part. Keeping after yourself to do the daily tasks needed to complete the larger goal is difficult.

Setting goals for ourselves is a big part of what makes our lives interesting. One of the reasons I started setting goals again was because I realized that my life was becoming a monotonous routine of work, home, TV, sleep (Rinse and repeat). I was BORED. By pushing myself outside of my comfort zone, I have something exciting to look forward to. And the feeling of accomplishing my goal will be great. Never in a million years would I have guessed I would want to run 13 miles.

So what are some of your goals? Here are more of my 2011 goals for some ideas:

• Pay off credit card
• Take a real vacation
• Be more social – meet new people
• Get my mile time under 9 minutes
• Learn to knit something more complicated than a scarf
• Complete a novel for NaNoWriMo

One thing that can help you quite a bit is to use an RSS feed program like Google Reader. You log into one screen, and it notifies you of any blogs that have been updated. That way you do not have to visit a million websites just to find out it anyone has written lately.

Get to Know Your Favorite Author (or other celebrity):

One problem I have always been frustrated with was knowing when my favorite authors were coming out with new books. I know that some places like Amazon are just starting to have those “notify me when this item comes out”, but even then, you have to know the item is coming out to click the button! A great way to follow an author is through their blog. You already know that they are great writers (since you read their books), and it is also interesting to see them go through the process of crafting a book. They may describe things that inspire them, write about their habits, etc. You may also find out when they will be signing books in your town, or when they have special giveaways for free loot! I have found some authors to be hard to follow, or who write about things that do not interest me – but that is OK too. You can simply delete the feed, and move on to a different blog.

Find Someone With a Common Interest:

I was browsing the various blog sites a while back, and stumbled across a blog that I fell in love with. It was about an American girl living abroad in London, and her experiences while there. While I know that there are probably millions of those sites out there, this site was well written and funny. I connected with her, because I too lived in London for a year, and went through many of the same problems and amusing situations. I unfortunately lost track of the blog after a while, but I still remember that nameless girl who’s experiences I shared for a brief time.

I often also look up people with similar hobbies. I am a beginning knitter, so I often look up sites for patterns and advice. What makes these blogs fun is that not only do you get the pattern you need, but you often get to learn about the grandmother who taught the blogger how to knit, or the evil ex-boyfriend who was to be the recipient. It personalizes the experience.

Find a Random Blog:

One idea, if you don’t know where to start, is just visit a blog site like Tumblr, WordPress, BlogSpot, Blogger and look around. There is bound to be something that catches your eye, and everything will spiral out from there.

A Final Note on Quantity:

The biggest problem I have with following a blog (or many) is keeping up. It can be a lot of work, and sometimes feels more like a chore than a fun thing to do. When I find myself at that point, I usually go through the list of blogs I follow, and start deleting. Remember, this is just a fun activity, like watching TV or reading the paper. You can do it everyday, or catch up whenever you get a chance. Find those blogs that inspire you, make you laugh, or that you find valuable. Dump the ones that you forget about, find annoying or uninteresting.

Finally, if you can’t find a blog you are interested in, start your own! It is free and can be a lot of fun.
Photo Credit

Writing a novel is one of those things that almost everyone wants to do, but for whatever reason, they don’t ever try. They are too busy, think their ideas are bad, don’t want to mess with all of the rejection, etc. The answer to these problems?

NaNoWriMo.

What? What is NaNoWriMo? It stands for National Novel Writing Month. And the purpose is for each person to write 50,000 words in one month (it is currently every November). You pack away your internal editor (we call him Ed) for the month, and just write. It may not be quality work (probably won’t be), but the purpose is to spew out a novel in a month. You can spend the next year revising and editing it (hello Ed!), but for now, you focus on word count. It allows for people to write without all of the fears and second guessing that most people have when they write anything. And, at the end of the month, you can say that you wrote a novel. How cool is that?

I have heard of this before, but never was motivated enough to look into it until this October. I was actually amazed that is was coming up so soon (I have a tendency to find these things immediately after the fact). So I signed up. At that point I had almost no plans for November, and other than the fact that it is a brutal month to be working in the retail world, I had plenty of time to write.

Of course, that was bound to change. For someone who has no life, I suddenly am very busy. I am rather intimidated by the month, and yet anxious to start. You cannot write a word before November 1st, and being just over a day away, and knowing this week will be insane (actually going on a trip for a week… bad timing), I am itching to write now, when I have a fighting chance of making the 1667 word/day rate. Never mind the fact that I only have two vague ideas, which I cannot decide between (a cliche that will probably be easier to write, or the novel that would be unique and based on my academic dissertations but I am less interested in). Neither idea has a plot to go along with it. For someone who has written three thesis papers in her life, I am going into this pretty unprepared.

Some of the impetus for this is that my 30th birthday is approaching (ancient, I know). So, of course, I have been examining my life to date, and started thinking more about the future. I, like many people, have a “Things To Do Before I Die” list (a Bucket List). One of the mistakes about those lists is that it is easy to put the To-Dos  off, thinking you have all the time in the world to do them. But actually, being 30 is a great place to work on some of them. I don’t have a ton of obligations in my life right now, and so have some freedom to check things off the list. And “attempt to write a novel” is on it. (This is largely due to an academic adviser who, after reading my undergraduate honor’s thesis, asked me if I ever thought about writing children’s books. While I initially was rather devastated from that response to an academic work, she actually meant it in a positive way – she wanted to write children’s books herself. It was also surprisingly insightful, given my current feelings about academia).

So, this is my attempt to check an item off my life-long To-Do list. Whether anything comes of it doesn’t really matter. I may discover a hidden talent, or realize that writing is torture, but I can still boast that I did it. Before I turned 30. And it is completely free. Not many things on the list can claim that.

Photo Credit

A few weekends ago, I got up at 5:45am on a Saturday to help out at a fun run in downtown Colorado Springs, CO. It is called Sailin’ Shoes.  I was a “water-hander-outer” (I am SURE that was the official term) at a double station, about 4 k and 6k  into the 10K race.

I showed up at the location around 6:15am. We started filling water cups and lining them up along the route. Once the race started, we all grabbed a few cups, holding one out. I learned that giving a flimsy water cup to a person who is running is VERY difficult. It was a good thing it warmed up fast, because I was pretty wet.

I was the front person on one side of the street. I also learned that the people who want water will grab it from the first person they see every time, so I handed out more water than the rest of the people behind me combined. People would actually stop running to wait for me to shuffle cups between hands, even though there were a half dozen people at the ready behind me. Weird. And I also discovered that you can get prune-like fingers when you are standing outside fully clothed, holding cups of water for extended periods of time.

What they didn’t mention in the organization meeting we had a few nights previous, is that water-hander-outer is only part of the job. We also yelled and encouraged the runners as they came down the street. At first, it was kind of embarrassing, but after a bit (especially after you get a big smile from a runner), you get into it. It was fun to cheer them on, knowing that they weren’t even half way done running over 6 miles, and feeling a bit sorry for them. I also felt bad, because we were on a residential street yelling at 7am on a Saturday. Glad I don’t live there! =-)

It was all over by about 8:15am. I got in my car to drive home, feeling good about life. I was inspired to run, had accomplished something that made the world a bit better (even if it was just to a handful of thirsty runners), and all before I normally would be awake. It was a beautiful day, the sun shining through the trees as I drove through one of the most beautiful parts of Colorado Springs.When I got home that day, I was more productive than I had been in the past month.

While driving home, I was thinking about the fun and interesting volunteers I met, and all the people running. I want to be a runner. I try often, but tend to give up when it gets hard. I was thinking about how I wanted to be more like “those cool people”, and then, in the quiet beauty of a Saturday morning, I suddenly decided I would stop wanting and wishing, and start doing. Corny, I know, but since that day a few weeks ago, I have tried to have a more positive attitude everyday (hard for a pessimist like myself), and to accomplish some things on my To Do list. And I have been happier. I don’t know if it qualifies as happy, happy, but for the last few months I have been so focused on the negative, and so I can tell the difference.

I don’t know if all of this came about because of the actual volunteering, being up so early, or just happened, but that day has had an impact on my life, at least short term. I am running again, and working to improve my attitude towards life. I feel like I got more out the day than I gave. And that is the beauty of volunteering. Plus I got a nifty T-shirt.

Photo Credit – Running Legs

Volunteering and getting involved with service organizations is a great way to have fun, and help make the world a better place. (I know some of you are cringing as you read this – sorry). The great thing about volunteering is that you can usually find something related to your interests. Below are some ideas for different fields of interest. If you don’t see something that interests you, google it!

• Do you like sports? Coach a kids sports team, work with disabled people, play shuffleboard or Wii with retirees!
• Are you an environmentalist? Plant a tree, clean up trails, pick up trash, education others about recycling.
• Enjoy working with kids?  Offer tutoring, volunteer at the Boy’s and Girl’s club, become a Big Brother/Big Sister, lead a youth group.
• Enjoy hearing the stories of those more “mature” individuals? Visit at a retirement home, assist your elderly neighbors, sign up for an Oral History project.
• Love animals? Volunteer at a local animal shelter, support an animal sanctuary, offer to walk your neighbor’s dogs.

The sky is the limit when it comes to volunteering. If you are a teen, volunteering looks great on college applications or when applying for your first job.

Volunteering is also a great way to meet other people who are interested in similar topics as yourself. Whether you are looking for friends or a date, you know that the people you meet care about a cause, and you are guaranteed to have at least one thing in common!

And if you cannot find a local cause that you are interested in? Start your own! There are bound to be other people who would be happy to join you. The goal is to get out of your house, to meet new people, and to focus on something other than yourself. You will feel a great sense of accomplishment when you do.

Photo Credit – Dog

Photo Credit – Stuttgart Volunteer

I have now added a calendar to the site. If you have any fun, free (or nearly free) activities going on in your town, let me know and I will try to get them up as soon as possible. Just send me a message with all of the info via the Contact Us Page.
If I need anything else, I will reply back to you.

The general information I need is:

• Event Name
• Event Description
• Date
• Time
• Location
• Website for event (if it exists)
• Cost (if any)
• Any other special instructions you feel are important.

Together we can share all of the cool things going on all over the world!

Thanks!
Michelle

Photo Credit

Click here to view the embedded video.

The video was also originally accompanied by the Imperial March song from Star Wars, but because I did not contact George Lucas or Steven Spielberg to get permission, I did not want to infringe upon their copyright.

You can see that some aspects of the video are hard to follow. For some tricks and tips to improve the quality of your videos, visit the video posted in the articles section of this site: “How to Make a Video: Tips and Tricks“.

Thank you to Ryan Gimarc for allowing me access to his footage to make this video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

YouTube is a great place to be entertained for hours, days, even whole weekends. You log on with the intention of watching one video, but of course there are links to related videos, and before you know it, you have spent the entire afternoon doing nothing. Here is a list of random things I have watched on YouTube:

Music Videos from my favorite musicians
“Behind the Scenes” videos from celebrities
Surfing Dogs (yes, you read that right – surfing dogs…)
A Cover Song of a band I like by another band I like
How-To Videos about hairstyles, building rockets, and fixing things around the house
Music by unknown/unsigned artists
News footage from around the world
Video of my friend’s new baby
Workout videos

as well as a ton more of random stuff.

I could spend hours and many posts talking about the many facets of YouTube. Instead, I would love to hear what your favorite YouTube videos are!

A lot of clubs have something called Ladies Night. The idea is simple. Guys go to clubs to meet women. Often, more guys show up than girls. In an effort to draw the women to the club, the club will offer all sorts of deals to make it cheaper to have an evening out. Usually the cover charge is waived, so you get in free. Then, drinks (meaning beer and possibly wine) are free until a certain time (often 9pm). So you can go out to the club, have fun dancing and drinking, and not spend a penny. After the free drinks are over, or if you are thirsty for something a bit harder, then you will have to work for it – find the guy(s) who are willing to buy them for you.

The great thing about this is that it is often on a weekday evening, so usually you have work or school the next day, and won’t be able to stay out much past the free drinks anyways.

For women who like to get out, dress up, dance, drink and flirt, this is a great way to indulge yourself without breaking the bank. If you are a guy… sorry. But the whole idea is set up for you to meet women, so it is really your own fault.

Photo Credit – Color
Photo Credit – B&W

Spring has arrived, and you are whipping out the sandals for the first time. You slide them on, loving your feet feeling free (how’s that for alliteration?), then you look down. OMG. You have troll feet. When did that happen?

The fact is, most of us do not have time or money to properly care for our hands and feet. I have a job that often tears up my hands and gets my nails dirty. And I love sandals, and wear them as soon as the temperature gets above freezing, but my feet end up in rough shape because of it. So what’s a girl (or guy) to do?

The answer is the at home manicure or pedicure. It isn’t hard to do, and most women have the supplies they need at home. Guys, you may have to steal some of your gal’s things, or hey, embrace your good looking hands and purchase what you need. You can do this while watching tv, or invite your friends over for a girls night out. (I’m not sure the guys would go for a pedicure party… but who knows?)

Here is a quick list of how to do each:

Manicure:
1. Remove the old polish.
2. File the nail to the desired shape. I personally do not go for long nails (plus it isn’t great for work or guitar playing), but use your personal taste on this. File the nails from the outside towards the middle on each finger.
3. Soak your hands in lukewarm soapy water for about 5 minutes.
4. Rub hand cream into your fingers. If you want it to really soak in, put on some gloves or a pair of cotton socks (over your hands, not feet, silly) for about 10 minutes. You can also use cuticle oil at this time, if you have it. In dry Colorado, it makes a world of difference on the cuticles (I know a lot of people here who have problems with cracking, and this is a great solution).
5. Push your cuticles back with an orange stick (in the nail area at the store) or even a popsicle stick. This is an instant way to make your nails look better.
6. Exfoliate your hands and nails. If you have a hand or body scrub, go ahead and use it. If not, you can make one by simply adding sugar to some hand soap or olive oil. Scrub for a few minutes to get all the dead skin cells off.
7. Wash off the scrub, dry your hands, then put hand lotion on. Wipe off the nails to prepare them for polish.
8. Apply a base coat of polish and let dry.
9. Apply two thin coats of nail polish, letting them completely dry each time.
10. Apply a top coat to finish.

Voila! Beautiful nails. Guys can skip the polish (unless you are embracing your emo or goth side). It has recently been brought to my attention how much good looking nails affect your first impression with someone. This is important for both men and women, so don’t be thinking this isn’t for you, guys.

Pedicure:
1. Remove the old polish.
2. Soak your feet in lukewarm water with epsom salt added,  for about 10 minutes. You can do this in the tub, or if you have a bucket, that will work too.
3. Dry your feet, then buff the bottoms with a pumice stone. Pay special attention to the calluses, but it is ok to leave them be somewhat. They are protection for your feet, after all.
4. Exfoliate your lower legs and tops of your feet. If you have a hand or body scrub, go ahead and use it. If not, you can make one by simply adding sugar to some hand soap or olive oil. Scrub for a few minutes to get all the dead skin cells off.
5. Trim your nails. This is a big one for guys – long and ragged toenails are gross. Sorry, but it is true.
6. If need be, file your toenails to shape them.
7. Moisturize your feet with a thick lotion. You can also use cuticle oil, if you have it.
8. Push your cuticles back with an orange stick (in the nail area at the store) or even a popsicle stick. This is an instant way to make your nails look better.
9. Apply a base coat of polish and let dry.
10. Apply two thin coats of nail polish, letting them completely dry each time.
11. Apply a top coat to finish.

Now whip out those sandals, and show off those attractive feet!

Photo Credit – Troll Feet
Photo Credit – Toes