Thursday, March 11, 2010

Paula Scher

In one of my classes at Uni, our lecturer showed us some videos about different designers. He is really passionate about design and one of his goals is to educate us about well known designers in the industry. One of the designers featured this week was Paula Scher, an American designer from huge design firm Pentagram. I'm not entirely sure why, but the video on Paula really spoke to me and I left class feeling completely inspired. When I got home I looked up Paula on YouTube and spent a good few hours watching interviews and speeches she has made. I love listening to her speak as she talks so passionately about design, art and her life's achievements. Her enthusiasm and wisdom completely inspires me and reminds me why I love being creative. 
When I grow up, I want to live and breathe design the way Paula does. I want to be able to doodle up a famous, award winning logo on a napkin whilst eating lunch. I want to sell my personal visual art in my spare time. I want to be able to continue learning and developing my skills as I grow older. I want to create serious design, not solemn design (see video below). I want to be able to design intuitively. I want to be able to push the boundaries and create new design trends. I want to be like Paula Scher.






To be completely inspired, watch this video which I found on YouTube. 'Great Design is Serious (Not Solemn)' So much insight shared in this speech. So much good advice and inspirational quotes which I love and have decided to live by...



I've borrowed out a book on famous designers from the library and am looking forward to sinking into bed tonight to read some of it. I spent this afternoon flicking through it whilst laying on the grass in the park. A gorgeous sunny afternoon required a chill out session (cloud watching included) and it was the perfect wind down for me as the end of a busy Uni week. I think I will make it a new tradition...

I hope everyone else had an inspiring Thursday!
Alice
xx

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Intervals, HIIT, Yoga, Spin


Workout plan for the coming week:

SUNDAY: Cardio Intervals
MONDAY: Strength work - heavy, 
TUESDAY: Rest Day
WEDNESDAY: PT Session - Strength
THURSDAY: Spin Class, followed by Yoga
FRIDAY: Strength work - light
SATURDAY: Cardio Intervals

I may end up swapping Tuesday and Sunday, as my Mum is coming to visit tonight so whether I get to the gym tomorrow will depend on what time she leaves for home. Still aiming to alternate strength/cardio days, to ensure that I give my body time to heal and rest in between weights sessions. 

Last week, I did some intervals on the treadmill with my trainer. 
For those who don't know, here is a definition I found:

Interval Training: Exercise session where the intensity and duration of exercise is consciously alternated between harder and easier work; often used to improve capacity or endurance. Depending on the length of exercise and rest periods, it may be anaerobic or aerobic training. (Also known as HIIT - high intensity interval training) 


Usually when I do them as a warm up, I just play around with the speeds, but my PT used the incline instead. So I ran at a relatively slow pace, but found myself panting up steep hills, which seemed to get harder the longer I ran. My heart rate got so much higher than it usually does when I just tweak the speeds, I was sweating something shocking and I burnt a heap of calories in less than 10 minutes. Interval training with inclines is hard work! 

So, I was pretty impressed with my efforts and decided to do a session of intervals as my cardio training one day last week. However, found that when doing them alone, I had no idea about actually how to go about doing them for a whole session. I did 15 minutes speed work, alternating between a jog at 9.5 and sprints at between 12-15. I then went on the rowing machine, sprinting as fast as I could for 500metres, resting and then trying to do it again and beat my first time. (I did! First time 2:18, second 2:07) Lastly I got back on the treadmill and attempted some incline work, but by this stage was just 'not that into it'  and ended up only doing that for 5 minutes. It was a great workout, but I didn't like not knowing what to do. I needed a plan.

So, today while training I asked my PT about how I should structure a cardio interval program for myself to do on cardio days. She gave me a few ideas which I am excited to try out, hopefully tomorrow, and if they work for me I want to try and include intervals as a regular cardio activity during the week. Will report back as to how I go with them.

www.weheartit.com
In other news, I finally convinced one of my friends to join the gym with me! YAY! So now I have a buddy! Together we braved a yoga class on Thursday. Flexibility is one of the things I really want to work on in regards to my fitness this year...I can actually feel it improving already, but I still have a long way to go. I'm hoping that the yoga will help speed the process along. 

I have visions of myself doing morning yoga on the beach next summer. 

I did a spin class before the yoga, and although I loved both classes, I started to feel really off mid-way through yoga. I felt dizzy and sick and just 'not there' if that makes sense. Both of my feet kept cramping and my head was spinning. I was really pale when we came out and pretty much went straight to bed when I got home. Thinking about it now, I think it could have been from exhaustion, as I did push myself quite hard this week, had trouble sleeping, plus had uni going back and worked two days at the design firm. My PT thought that it could have also been dehydration or hunger or lack of salt. I plan on trying it again this week and seeing how I go. I guess I just need to read my body a bit better. All a learning curve and all part of the journey I guess.

Anyway I must be off, as this Saturday post has turned into quite the ramble. I am off to see Cats with Mum tonight, however am unsure if we will make it in time as the storms have flooded the city.

Alice
xx

Monday, March 1, 2010

YAY! I have returned! Today is Monday...and on Mondays I feel creative! Why am I feeling creative today? Well, because it is my first day back at Uni, that's why!!! After 4 months holiday I am sooooo excited to be back into it! As much as I love holidays, 4 months was a little much for me I think.... (I reserve the right to change my mind about this when folio time approaches...)

So, to begin, a little random creativeness from the past 2 weeks....
Arn't these cute???
My housemate made this series of gorgeous pillows to put on our couch.
The cute fabric prints inspire me...and they're pretty comfy too!

Fancy a pot of tea???
Kaitlyn and I both enjoy a steaming hot beverage and we LOVE old tea cups.
And yes that is our Christmas tree...it looks pretty so we kept it up....
In the background you can see the silhouette of a shelf Kaitlyn MADE!
How clever is this girl, seriously??? Shelves and pillows????? 
We have fairy lights draped over it and enjoy sipping our tea in the warm 
light during the evenings. 

The apartment is starting to come together. Each of us keep finding
cool bits and bobs and adding them to the existing collection. 
We're going for a vintage/arty/design/totally random look.
There is still a little way to go until we are done, but we're enjoying 
the process. We have a few cool ideas sitting around waiting to be 
nurtured, which I will share when they're done.

Inspired by Kaitlyn's cleverness, I raided our family's junk shed
while I was home last week. I managed to dig out a few treasures 
to bring down. I especially adore the old chair. It was my great
grandma's, which she gave to my Mum. It has beautiful carvings
on it which I missed in this photo, unfortunately. When it 
arrives at the apartment I'll share a better photo.
Totally inspired by old books at the moment. I don't plan on
reading most of them, but just love the look of them piled up
on top of each other like this!


In other news, last week I did a weeks work experience at a design firm in Brunswick. It was truly a great learning experience for me and I am so glad I did it. Just to get a feel for the atmosphere of how a professional design firm works was really valuable. I initially struggled with sitting still for so long in front of a computer. Being on holidays for so long, I think I had got used to bouncing around everywhere all day. Kept up my running and gym sessions though and by Wednesday was feeling a little more used to the whole sitting thing.

I got to work on real projects and watch as ideas went from research, to planning, to development, to the final finished design. Probably the most exciting thing is how much I learnt during that week. The people I worked with were all easy going and more than happy to let an annoying young girl like me follow them around for hours, oogling at their illustrator skills and demanding to be taught 'how to do that cool thing you just did'. 
And because I am weird...one of my favourite things was to simply
go through the Pantone colour swatch books, picking out potential
hues and mixing/matching them with each other. 
Here I was trying to decide on the perfect shade of green to 
compliment a brand of olives... decisions decisions....

And something exciting???? They asked me back! And so this week I am going to go in and help out again on my two days off from Uni. Really looking forward to it.

And just to be random....how cool is this tree????
I don't know if you can see in this photo, but there are a bunch
of different random items hanging from the branches.
I spotted it on my way to Brunswick station one morning and
just had to photograph it. I spotted old bike tyers, handmade
voodoo dolls, flowers, an old phone and shoes, just to 
name a few things, dangling from the branches with string.
Love abstract, totally quirky art like this.

And to finish...snapped this photo a week ago while
I was home... loved how a bunch of my favourite 
things just happened to be clustered together on the
couch as I walked through the lounge room....
This photo shows so much about 'me' that it's
just plain weird...

I hope everyone has had a great start to the new week already!!! Hello March! Hello Monday! Heres to a  brand new, exciting month! (Now I best be off to the gym to fit in a workout before class starts! First up is animation!!! Ohhhhhh excitement!) 

Alice
xx

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

I'm a designer...

I'm here! I'm here, I'm here, I'm here!!!
I haven't gone walk about...

however, all this week I can't promise that I will stick to regular posting.

www.weheartit.com

I am lucky enough to be doing a weeks work experience with a design firm this week! YAY!!! Have already learnt so much and am enjoying it a lot.
However, I have been spending most hours from 9-6 in front of a computer and when I get home the last thing I feel like doing is jumping on the computer again... My eyes need a rest! :-)

So I may post, but I may not.

But come Saturday all will return to the norm!
Have a great week everyone!
Alice
xx

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Just a note...sunday's adventures are coming, but am having technical difficulties with pictures atm, so will try to have it up here by tomorrow morning....
Sleep tight
xx

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Good evening Saturday...my day to blog about fitness and gyming and running and all that sweaty good stuff. 

http://www.ptwithmargaret.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/beach-run.jpg

Firstly, my new Saturday tradition is to post up my workout schedule for the coming week. I did promise ages ago that I was going to do this each week, when I talked about over training in THIS post. I have chatted to my PT about it since then and she has helped me get into a steady routine which is both enough to push me physically, but also allows my body time to rest. I think it is so easy to get caught up in the whole excitement of fitness and seeing results, that sometimes we forget that our bodies need to rest in order to work properly. There was a stage where I wasn't allowing myself any rest days at all, and looking back at that now I realize it was really stupid. 

Anyway, in my previous post I spoke about dedicating 5 sessions a week to 'high impact training', a few sessions to 'low impact training' and then 1 or 2 rest days. After speaking to my PT and reading up on training schedules, I think I was looking at this the wrong way. Instead of dedicating work outs to being either 'high' or 'low' impact (as what exactly determines the cut off point for each?) I am instead focusing on cardio and strength training. The general rule is that you need at least a days rest between strength training sessions (weights) in order to allow your muscles to repair themselves and ward off injuries. So, a good basic plan is to alternate strength training days with cardio days and include at least 1 complete rest day a week. Extra cardio can be done on strength days if you're feeling up to it, but extra strength training shouldn't be done on cardio days for risk of injury. 

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/cms/articleimages/319/home.jpg

After our discussion, my PT drew me up a few strength training programs. The plan is for me to try and do three strength sessions a week - one with her, one with a lot of heavy free weights and one slightly easier one with higher reps and machine work. The other days I can do cardio, like running, intervals, body attack, body pump (classified as 'light' weights cross cardio), spin class etc. So far it is working and I feel that since including more strength training in my weeks (instead of so many pump classes) my body has started changing shape again, which is exciting!!!

And so, sticking to that plan, here is my proposed workout schedule for the coming week:

SUNDAY: Heavy free weights strength training
MONDAY: Rest day - perhaps evening walk
TUESDAY: Run
WEDNESDAY: Lighter strength training
THURSDAY: Spin Class, Yoga Class
FRIDAY: Run
SATURDAY: PT session

I'm not sure how I'll go sticking to the schedule this week, as I am doing work experience in the city and don't know my exact work hours yet. (But more about that tomorrow) However, once Uni returns the week after, I will hopefully be able to develop a regular schedule to follow weekly. 


Another one of my goals for 2010 is to improve my flexibility, so when my PT suggested I try a yoga class I was all for it! Hoping to make it to one Thursday night! Should be interesting. I love trying new things. 

And just randomly....totally lemming one of these right now! Perhaps will reward myself with one sometime soon... I love moleskines, I love health and fitness...this is definitely the book for me. I think my problem will be filling it up too quickly! It has sections to record food, training, goals, progress, plus extra blank sections for other things you want to record! Love the idea of having all your notes in one place. Could see this fitting nicely into my new gym bag...hmmmmm

Thats all for tonight, as it is late and I'm getting tired and bed is calling.. but hopefully most Saturdays I will be able to include more information about fitness in general, as it is my absolute passion at the moment. Off to bed for me now... thinking I might tuck into the newest issue of Oxygen mag.

Good evening
Alice
xx

Friday, February 19, 2010

What did I eat this week???

Ok, so it's Friday! And what do I do on Friday? I post about food and nutrition! I love food, I love buying groceries, I love cooking, I love eating and I love talking about food. I can already tell that Friday is going to be one of my favourite blogging days!

So to begin, what did I eat this week? I ate pretty well this past week, with the exception of Saturday night which was spent sharing pizza and cupcakes with friends...oops...but more about that later...

Friday 12th February

Started the day with a big bowl of oats. I cooked some pumpkin and mashed that through the cooked oats with some banana, cinnamon, honey and a dash of milk. I topped it off with a sprinkle of bircher museli. Ended u being quite a HUGE breakfast and kept me full until lunch. Ate out with Dad at a cafe for lunch. Decided to go with a turkey and cranberry focaccia and a skinny cappachino. The focaccia probably wasn't the healthiest option in regards to carbs, but it sure tasted delish! Tucked into a baked pear with cottage cheese and chopped dates as a pre-workout snack. Dinner was a chicken and vegetable stirfry with a big dollop of cottage cheese on top. 

Saturday 13th February

Today was a disaster calorie wise... I also failed at taking photos of the second half of the day...
Oats for breakfast with banana and cinnamon mixed through. I topped it off with some chopped dates and a chopped up lara bar. Perfect energy booster. My morning coffee followed. Later than morning I snacked on a peach and a handful of almonds while out and about (not pictured). I had a late lunch of toasted burgen soy lin bread with salmon, tomato and light mozarella cheese, served with spinach. I had a chocolate craving mid arvo, so opted for a few pieces of lovingearth raw organic dark chocolate. Gosh I love this stuff! Guilt free chocolate which I can indulge in when the cravings strike! YUM!
The evening was spent with friends, eating pizza and cupcakes, cheese, olives and crackers. A good time was had by all...except my waistline! lol Not too worried though, as the rest of my week up to this point was near perfect. 

Sunday 14th February

Redemption day! I ate a little lighter today to try and balance out yesterday. Oats with banana and cinnamon. (You can tell I have an oats addiction at the moment right?) Went for a long morning run and was starving when I got back. Two slices of burgen toast spread with cottage cheese did the trick. I threw together a random mixture of vegetables to use up, beans and tuna for lunch, making a bulk lot to freeze for meals next week. Ate an apple in the park and enjoyed a protein shake as an early dinner in the late arvo. I then travelled home and had a light late meal of Mum's chicken noodle soup and another piece of toasted burgen with cottage cheese. Was proud, as my family ate pizza with their soup, but my choice was much wiser for me. Shared a platter of mixed fruit after dinner with Mum. 

Monday 15th February

I couldn't photo much today as my iphone battery went flat. I felt like something cold for breakfast as the night was warm, so cut up an apple and topped it with strawberries, Tamar Valley natural yoghurt and some Swiss Bircher muesli. Was yummy, but didn't keep me feeling satisfied for as long as my oats do. I was starving by mid morning and so opted for a protein hit. Some cut up ham, cucumber, tomato and a slice of Burgen with cottage cheese. Made a chicken and mango salad for lunch (great combination!) and snacked on fruit during the afternoon. I ate a banana before my Body Attack class and then had some of Mum's beef stirfry when I returned home. Opted to have mine without the egg noodles and black bean sauce, instead using bean sprouts. Had a handfull of mixed nuts after dinner with a cup of tea. 


Tuesday 16th February

Was excited for breakfast this morning. Tried the combination of cooked oats with a poached egg on top. I got the idea from HEAB and so glad I did! I know it sounds strange, but it worked really well and kept me full for most of the morning. I had half a banana before my workout and then came home to half a protein bar and half a lara bar. Lunch was chicken, pumpkin and beans with almond butter and cottage cheese. My Nanna gave us a box of homegrown goodies, so I cooked some of her rhubarb in the afternoon and ate it with natural yoghurt, the other half of the banana, some honey and raspberries. Dinner was salmon, egg whites and vegies, followed by some of Nanna's fresh plums.


Wednesday 17th February

Ate the egg and oats combo again for breakfast, but added an extra egg this morning and a little milk. I snacked on more of Nanna's plums at about 10:00 (living off these at the moment! so yum!) Cooked up some kangaroo mince and vegies for lunch, which gained me strange stares from Dad. Kangaroo meat is so good for you. A great source of protein with hardly any fat! I finished lunch with a hand full of grapes. My preworkout snack was a carrot dipped in cottage cheese and almond butter. I snacked on a handful of mixed nuts and then cooked a chicken, apple, pecan and raspberry salad for the family. 


Thursday 18th February

Enjoyed banana oats with swiss bircher muesli for breakfast. A long morning run was followed by a cup of cold milo. YUM! I love milo, but only allow myself to drink it if I have run for 10km or more. Believe it or not, chocolate milk is actually one of the best things you can eat/drink after a hard workout. It has the perfect ratio of carbs to protein to help your body recover. I had chicken and mango salad for lunch, deciding to serve it in lettuce cups and eat them like sandwiches. WOW! Why have I not tried this before??? Makes a normal salad so much more interesting to eat! I ate the leftover kangaroo meat from yesterday in the same way for dinner. 


So there you have it, my week in food. I didn't get to photograph everything, but I do like that I managed to take pictures of most of what I ate. It really helps me to grasp exactly what I'm eating when I see it all presented together as a series of photos. I can see which days were great, filled with healthy foods and which days I could have made better choices for (and will hopefully learn from in the future). From looking at the photos I can see trends emerging... I have an obsession with cottage cheese at the moment (I want to add it to everything!) and am also loving mangos and cinnamon.
I did go a little overboard on my nut portioning. I love nuts!!! Thankfully they are good for me, but I will have to keep an eye on my portions this week.

To help keep me more accountable, I have set up a calender to the right where I can record my daily calories, exercise and 21 day challenge goals. Click on the coloured days to see what I have done!

Until tomorrow
Alice
xx

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Screen prints, Tea parties, Alice in Wonderland, Flow and GMH


Today is Thursday and Thursday is the day where I post about things which inspire me. Whether it be artwork, talented artists/designers, music, films, books, new purchases... if it inspires me, then it gets posted here, in the hope that it will also inspire someone else. 
Sharing is part of the fun of being creative!!!

So what is inspiring me today?

These gorgeous pin toppers from Etsy Seller GigiMinor

and

These quirky prints by the talented artist Helen Dardik

I also love the statues in this one...

... and this one totally reminds me of Alice in Wonderland!
Tea party anyone?

and

These screen printed goodies from MrPS

This is so me! Love tea, love red, love this mug! 

I've already had breakfast, but boy does this make me feel like eating it again! 
Perhaps a Thursday brunch session is on the cards???

I want a collection of screen printed totes to thread on my clothesline...

and

This article by Everett Bogue  ~ Click here ~ which was published on Zen Habits this morning.
The Hidden Art of Achieving Creative Flow.


and

This website ~ Click here ~ which I discovered yesterday.
GMH or Gives Me Hope.

Such a feel good, warm fuzzy lovable blog.
Bookmarked and will be read every day for a dose of love.

My favourite that I've read so far:

"I work with kindergarden children, and when a little girl wet her pants, we decided to give her dress up clothes to wear. She was very upset and embarrassed, so a little boy in the class put on a cinderella dress and held her hand the rest of the day, saying "look...everyone's laughing at ME! His kindness GMH."

Isn't this just precious? Doesn't it bring a smile to your face?


Happy Thursday everyone!
Alice
xx

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

21 Day Challenge

As you may have noticed yesterday, I have been having a play around with the format and appearance of my blog. I think I just like a good excuse to fiddle, but I also felt that my blog needed a bit of a revamp too. I love posting about my daily meals, but it was getting tedious and boring posting them up everyday. There are so many things I love blogging about that it was getting hard to fit them all in and make it all work. So, I have allocated certain topics/themes to certain days of the week. You will be introduced to them as this week rolls out and I hope that this will not only make it easier for me to organize my thoughts, but easier for readers to find posts which they are interested in reading.

So, without further rambling, welcome to Wednesday! Wednesdays at Ally Louise are basically a chance for me to talk about, report on and re-evaluate my goals. Some weeks I will post about my progress, other weeks I'll post new goals, ideas, cool articles I find on goal setting etc. I think that having goals in life in so important. They not only give you something to think about and strive for, but also fill life with purpose and meaning. I get so excited thinking about my goals and visualizing myself successfully achieving them!

I call Wednesday's posts 'Road to Becoming' as I believe that the journey taken towards completing a goal is just as important (if not moreso)  than the completion of the goal itself. Often we end up somewhere completely different to where we thought we would when we first decided on our goal. It is during this journey that we learn the most about ourselves, as we try different things, meet interesting people and discover new things that interest us. 

I invite you to join me as I document my own personal 'Road to Becoming' and hopefully inspire you through your own. 

Today I want to talk about something called the 21 Day Challenge. 
I am a huge follower of AntiShay on YouTube and I have borrow this idea from her channel. I have been watching Shanti's videos for quite some time now. In fact, when I first started seriously trying to lose weight mid last year, her videos inspired me every day. I even went back through her past videos, watching them all and marveling at her amazing journey towards success and where she is today.

Back to the 21 Day Challenge.
Recently, this is something which Shanti has been talking about. A group of people in the YouTube Community participate in them. The theory is that it takes 21 days to make/break a habit. The concept behing the 21 day challenge is to chose one goal/habit to make/break and pursue it for 21 days. By focusing all your energy on that one habit, you are more likely to achieve success, than if you are trying to be 'perfect' and change 50 things in your life all at once. 

I have noticed a few bad habits slipping into my daily life recently, which I have decided are best tackled using this 21 day challenge method. I have chosen 2 habits, however as they are both simular, I am hoping that the concept will work for the two of them together.

Okay, so what are my two habits?


1. Only eat when sitting down, never while standing.

www.weheartit.com

This sounds like an obvious one and I thought it was too. However, a few weeks ago I took a test, to discover what my current eating patterns are like and my attitude towards changing my health. One of the questions was do you eat standing up. I immediately thought, ‘no! who eats standing up? That’s just weird!’

This questions stuck with me and I became more aware of my eating patterns. Well, didn’t I get a shock! Even before making breakfast I found myself unknowingly eating while standing. I picked at the raw oats while making my porridge STANDING UP. I ‘taste tested’ the chicken in the pan while cooking lunch and STANDING UP. I found myself in the fridge, picking at the cottage cheese, the yoghurt and the strawberries STANDING UP. I was forever in the cupboards, grabbing an almond or two and munching them STANDING UP. I realized that I was eating a lot more food than I thought, without even noticing it...and I keep catching myself in the act!

So for 21 days I want to eat only while sitting. That means no picking whilst cooking, no licking the mixing spoon, no random handfuls of mixed nuts (unless they are one of my daily snacks), no gobbling my food before I’ve reached the table, No drinking from the milk carton…
It’s pretty obvious really, just something that now I am aware of, I have the power to stop.



2. Drink a maximum of 1 coffee and 1 white tea a day.

http://scienceblogs.com/neurotopia/coffee%20love.jpg

Lately my coffee and tea addiction has got a little out of control. I have up to 4-5 cups a day, all milky (as I love my hot drinks milky!) and at random times thoughout the day. When my friend was over recently, she remarked that, ‘It’s funny how I eat so healthy and yet drink so much coffee.’ I didn’t take it as a judgement or an insult, moreso as a statement. However, it really got me thinking. Casually sipping on coffee all day, really means that I am constantly drinking milk all day. That can’t be good for me. And how much coffee do I really need? I think part of it had become habit, the habit of having a hot drink in my hands while watching tv or beside me while on the computer.

I’m not cutting it out all together, as I really do love my coffee. I think that by getting a little routine happening, I can easily reduce the amount I drink. I am aiming for only one morning coffee a day. I love waking up, having breakfast and then enjoying a strong hot coffee, especially ever since Kaitlyn brought the coffee machine for us to use!
However, if I know I am going to have a social coffee later in the day, I will hold off and drink water, green tea or my other allocated drink – a cup of white tea. Normally I like a cup of white tea either late arvo, when I want to eat, but am not hungry or after my evening meal while watching a favourite tv show. By making it a habit to only drink at these times, I am more likely to be able to kick the addiction and drink more of the good stuff!


And so there it is. My two goals. My two habits to break over the next 21 days.
I am in the process of drawing up a progress chart to stick up on my pinboard to use as a constant reminder each day and as a way to track my successes/failures.


And the reward? There has to be a reward right? I know that I respond really well to rewards! I love having a lemming to obsess over and look forward to! And the feeling when you finally get that reward is amazing! Makes getting something new so much more special and meaningful than if you just went out and bought it. For a while now I have really been wanting a trendy new gym bag and workout towel. Currently I just use which ever casual bag I'm currently using and Dad's old exercise towel. I have oogled over the cute colourful bags in the shops, but couldn't really justify getting one.
So the deal? If I can complete this 21 day challenge, I get the new bag and towel! I can do this and I WILL do this! (I really really want that new gym bag!!!)

I will post a progress report here next Wednesday and also display my chart, so you can see how I am going! View Shanti's video by clicking here.

Anyone wish to join me? What habit do you want to make/break in the next 21 days!

Until tomorrow
Alice
xx

Tuesday, February 16, 2010



http://www.myspace.com/nitwhit03

Follow your dream
Wherever it leads
Don’t be distracted
By less worthy needs

Shelter it, nourish it
Help it to grow
Let your heart hold it
Deep down where dreams go

Follow your dream
Pursue it with haste
Life is too fleeting
Too precious to waste

Be faithful, be loyal
Then all your life through
That dream that you follow
Will keep coming true

This poem used to hang on the back of my Aunt and Uncle's toilet door. I remember reading it over and over when I was younger, loving it's sing song tune and simple rhyming pattern. I memorized it and can still remember it word for word today. I'm not sure who wrote it, but I think it's a beautiful poem.


Alice
xx