Declutter and Plank Challenge Day 6

Declutter

Item(s): A furry vest I got as a christmas gift a few years ago.
Why I'm getting rid of them: I don't wear it often. It's too warm to wear in CA (for me at least) so hopefully someone else will get better use out of it.
Where is it going: Donation pile!

Plank

How I felt: I could definitely feel the difference between 45 seconds and 30 seconds. Thankfully today we happened to be doing 45 second intervals in my boot camp class so I had the instructor work in the 45 second plank. Since it was in the middle of class I couldn't take a picture during the plank but I snapped a quick photo when I got home while I was still in my workout gear. Thankfully we were able to keep dry during class even though it was pouring rain!

Goal for tomorrow: It's a rest day :-), but I may just do 45 seconds for the heck of it!

Declutter and Plank Challenge Day 5

Declutter

Item(s): A scarf that came with a jacket I bought
Why I'm getting rid of them: I don't think I ever wore this. Maybe once. I actually thought I had more scarves but the few I do have left I actually wear, so it's only 1 item today!
Where is it going: Donation pile!

Plank

How I felt: Today I felt great. I think I was just in the correct mindset today.

Goal for tomorrow: Stay in the mindset I was in today

I've been keeping tabs with a few of the people that are doing the challenge with me and everyone is still on track. For those of you who I haven't talked to, I hope you are still doing it and staying strong!

Declutter and Plank Challenge Day 4

Declutter

Item(s): Some workout shorts I got when I was working in intramurals.
Why I'm getting rid of them: I never really wore them and when you are in college, you'll pretty much accept anything that is free. I just hated the way these looked on me haha
Where is it going: Donation pile!

Plank

How I felt: A little harder then yesterday but I attribute that to my full workout in the morning and my long run from yesterday, which happened to be the first run in about 2 weeks.

Goal for tomorrow: Keep my focus

I've had a few more people join with the challenge, and to those of you who are just starting, good luck!

Declutter and Plank Challenge Day 3

Declutter

Item(s): A fluffy pillow and a desk lamp
Why I'm getting rid of them: The short answer: I'm not in college anymore! This pillow matches with nothing we have and honestly isn't even that comfortable. It's just really soft and fun to touch. The desk lamp really has no use since our desk is in the other bedroom and there are no roommates we would be disturbing with the main light on.
Where is it going: Donation pile!

Plank

How I felt: Fine. It's still pretty easy for me but I know it will get difficult in a few days.

Goal for tomorrow: Don't clench my fists? Haha I have no good goals for tomorrow other then that.

For those of you who are going along with me for the challenge, how are you feeling so far?

Declutter and Plank Challenge Day 2

Declutter

Item(s): A pair of USC basketball shorts bought sometime during college.
Why I'm getting rid of them: As much as I love basketball, I hardly ever play anymore and have way too many basketball shorts in my drawers. This was the first pair I came across and decided to get rid of them. Hopefully I can make some other young USC basketball fan happy with them.
Where is it going: Donation pile!

Plank

How I felt: Tired earlier but probably because I had already done a full exercise in the morning. I still made it to 20 seconds easily though.

Goal for tomorrow: Wear workout clothes. I was too lazy to change after work today. Branden said to me "You are really going to do it in jeans?". I figured since it was only for 20 seconds I could suck it up haha.

And as a reminder (mostly to myself for the next day), I'll post the calendar at the end of each post.

My 30 Day Challenges

Challenge 1 - Declutter My Life

I recently read an article about a man in his late twenties who was making 6 figures and was very successful in the business world. One day he decided he just wasn't happy doing what he was doing and decided to quit his job, give up his huge apartment and move into a small one bedroom apartment, and just in general live by doing something he loved. In the article it discussed how much happier he was by giving up all the things that really had no meaning or purpose in his life. The article also suggested that people who want to declutter their lives should start small by getting rid of one item every day for 30 days.

For those of you who know me, you may know I have a tendency to want to hold onto things. Maybe it has some small meaning or memory to me. Or maybe I think to myself "well I might use that again in the future", but in reality I probably never will. So I thought this would be a really great challenge for me to do since I have so much stuff! Most of the items I will most likely end up donating but there may be some things I end up throwing away (who knows what I will find). I bet over the next 30 days I'll be getting rid of a lot of clothes, but I'm also hoping I can find some other random items to get rid of as well.

My goal over the next 30 days is to pick my one item, take a picture of it, and explain why I'm getting rid of it. To start my challenge, this is what I plan to get rid of for day 1:

Item(s): 2 skirts my mom bought for me in 2009 for my summer in Spain.
Why I'm getting rid of them: I'm a little older now and realize I will never wear them again. I got lots of use out of these throughout the years but it's time to let them go. I chose to get rid of both of them in 1 day instead of 2 (technically they are 2 items) because then I can get rid of more "stuff" I don't need over the next month.
Where are they going: Donation pile!

Challenge 2 - Plank Challenge

I saw this challenge idea on a wedding forum and decided I would partake in it. I have anterior pelvic tilt, which in basic terms means my back is arched more then it should be and that my abs are too loose and my quads are too tight. Hopefully by doing this challenge I will be able to tighten up my abs a little more and help to improve my posture! Here is the calendar of the challenge:

My plan is to take a picture of myself (well really have Branden take a picture of me) planking every day and post this along with the item I am getting rid of for the day. So here is to tight abs and better posture!

How I felt: Well day 1 was only 20 seconds. It was fairly easy but I can tell that the longer I go the more difficult it will be.

Goal for tomorrow: Separate my hands

I know these next 30 days are going to be busy but I'm hoping that by posting my challenges I will be able to hold myself accountable. If you want to yell at me for not posting, go right ahead! Let's see what these next 30 days bring!

Honeymoon Recap - Part 3

I'm finally on to the 3rd and last portion of our honeymoon recap! Our next stop was in Limon, Costa Rica!

Of course I had to take a picture of the view from our balcony as we were docked.

For our Costa Rican adventure we decided to go on a ziplining excursion through the rain forest. It was so amazing and I wish we could have gone longer. It lasted about an hour and we went on 12 lines but it felt like it went by quickly. Here are some snapshots from the excursion.

After our excursion we headed back to port and decided to stop by the shops to buy some souvenirs. We ended up buying coffee and a few other trinkets and then headed back to the ship for some time to relax before dinner. I was able to snap one of my favorite pictures from the entire trip. I thought the colors of the sunset were spectacular

As the evening got darker we were able to see some amazing lightning storms in the distance as well! It was very relaxing sailing away from port and watching the storm in the distance.

Final Stop - Grand Cayman Islands

Our final stop was at the Grand Cayman Islands! Oh my goodness it was absolutely gorgeous! I have never seen water so beautiful. Branden and I decided to do a highlights tour of the island which included going to Stingray Sandbar and swimming with the stingrays. First, however, we toured the tiny island.

Our first stop was in Hell

Our next stop was at the Tortuga Rum Factory but there wasn't really anything to take pictures of. We almost bought some rum but ended up purchasing some rum cakes and hot sauces.

Then we were off to the Turtle Farm!

 We even got to hold some baby turtles!

Our final stop on our tour was at Stingray City, which was what we were both looking forward to the most. I learned about Stingray City for the first time when this photo went viral:

Needless to say we were both excited when we realized our cruise stopped in the Cayman Islands, where Stingray City is located.

We went for about a 30 minute boat ride which took us out to the sandbar where the stingrays are located. Once we arrived at the sandbar the stingrays immediately started congregating near out boat. The guide told us the stingrays always go to the newly arriving boats because they know that they bring food.

I didn't think I would get too nervous because the stings are removed from almost all of them around but once I got in the water and they were swarming around us I freaked out a little! Eventually
I calmed down when there weren't so many around and was able to swim around and take pictures. We both were able to hold a stingray as well as kiss it and get a massage! It was such a weird feeling but really neat. Unfortunately we were too cheap to buy the photos they took but here are quite a few we took with our own cameras. Sorry for the bad quality! We took the photos with the disposable waterproof cameras you can buy at the drug store!

 One of the other people on our tour holding the stingray

 This is probably my favorite underwater photo of the stingrays

We had such a fun time on our tour but were starving when we were finished, so we headed over to Margaritaville at the port and got a late lunch. Our tour guide had told us conch was a popular food on the islands so we ordered some conch which actually tasted really good.

After we ate we headed back to the ship for our final journey back to Ft. Lauderdale. We did snap some pictures from the ship before we left though!

One of our favorite activities during our sea days was participating in the trivia sessions. We went almost every day, twice a day and played with the same group of people. We never really had a chance to win because some of the groups had so much knowledge, but we still had so much fun. However, our group was able to talk the crew into doing a sports trivia session so when they scheduled it for our last day at sea we were all thrilled. We knew we had done well but weren't sure if we would win. Well, when the scores were in...WE WON! We were all excited and decided it was worthy of a picture.

Dwight, Joanne, Pat, and Paul were great partners throughout our trip and we were very lucky to have met them!

Unfortunately the honeymoon had to come to an end. We finally reached Ft. Lauderdale, caught our flights, and made it home. We had such an amazing time exploring new things and spending time with either other with no distractions. I know I can't wait for our next big vacation, but in the meantime, we will continue to enjoy just being newlyweds and finally living in the same location :-).