Go for an early morning walk

Alrighty so some news first, I will be gone this weekend so updates won't come until either Sunday or Monday!

Go for an early morning walk
I'm heading to the race track with my boyfriend and we are at his work getting ready, so since I was up early anyway, I brought alone my iPod, some water, and went for a nice little morning walk around the area. I'm glad I did it before it got too hot!

Join a forum specializing in depression

Okay so lately with my problems sleeping and feeling so exhausted, I've been more emotionally drained as well, so I figured it would be a good time for this challenge

Join a forum specializing in depression
As some of you may already know, depression is something I struggle with. I wouldn't say its been at its worst lately, but it will still be nice to have a resource available when I do need it.

I found a depression forum called depressionforums.org. It seemed to be fairly active, which is a positive if I ever need some responses to something. Hopefully it will be a good resource for the future!

Watch the sunrise

Another one that didn't go quite as planned, but I guess that's how life works sometimes!

Watch the sunrise
So this one wasn't a magical picnic in the park. In truth, I have been feeling pretty weak and exhausted all the time. I've also had a lot of trouble sleeping. So I did watch the sunrise this morning, but it was through my windows because I couldn't sleep last night.

There was still something pretty about it. Seeing it slowly become less and less dark and more and more light. I usually see the opposite because I'm not often awake at sunrise, so it was still an interesting experience!

Watch a kids show I haven't seen since I was little

Okay so I'm not feeling on top of my game, so this was a more easygoing challenge for me.

Watch a kids show I haven't seen since I was little
The show I watched was called Jackie Chan adventures and I used to watch it when I was little. It was basically a cartoon about Jackie Chan as an archaeologist and him and his uncle and niece.

It was pretty nostalgic, but other than that, I don't think I would watch it again. I think I've outgrown it.

Draw Monica from Dark Cloud 2 in all of her outfits

So this was a difficult one and took up a good portion of the day. I guess I have mixed feelings about the results, but at least it did encourage me to do some drawing!

Draw Monica from Dark Cloud 2 in all of her outfits
One of these I had already done so I just counted that one

And the rest of these I did today, trying out different drawing techniques to see the different results

So I'm not super happy with the results and I probably need more practice. I don't think I'll keep any of them except maybe the last one.

Have a conversation in Spanish

Okay, I still haven't been practicing as much as I should and I should kick myself in the butt. I suppose I've been busy with the challenges and house work and moving and stuff. But enough excuses!

Have a conversation in Spanish
To hopefully help kickstart my practicing again, I had a very small, very basic conversation in Spanish with my boyfriend. He speaks about as much as I do so we made a good team!

We just did basic "hi how are you" type of thing, but hopefully this will put it fresh in my mind to get back to my lessons for my all day Spanish challenge!

Have chocolate fondue

I need to remember to start checking these more because I got another one wrong! Oh well, after a long day it was still enjoyable!

Have chocolate fondue
So I misunderstood this one as chocolate fountain and not chocolate fondue. So we went to Golden Coral buffet and for dessert, I had marshmallows from the pretty chocolate fountain!

I wish they'd had more options, all they had was strawberries, marshmallows, and rice crispie squares for dipping, but it was yummy nonetheless!

Try a new craft

Alrighty so thanks to having my back a bit iffy, I have been ordered by the boyfriend to take it easy as to not further aggravate it. So I figured this was a good challenge to try!

Try a new craft
So I decided to try origami! Of course, I didn't have the necessary special paper I needed, or even square paper for that matter, but I tried my best with what I have!

So I tried to make a cat and a piggy.

Not the greatest, but I guess not terrible for a first try!

 http://www.origami-instructions.com/origami-cat.html
 http://www.origami-instructions.com/easy-origami-piggy.html

I found some instructions here if anyone wants to give it a go! I think it's beautiful some of the stuff people can make with paper and I admire the skill it takes to be good at it!

Overall it was pretty fun!

Find 5 vegan recipes for Michael

Okay, so my mom currently has my son on a vegan diet with some supplements, so I decided to try and find some things to add to his menu!

Find 5 vegan recipes for Michael
Here are 5 dishes I found and a link to them for the ingredients, directions, and images.

Baked vegetables
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Baked-Vegetables-I/Detail.aspx?evt19=1
Nothing wrong with some veggies!


Spanish Rice
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Spanish-Rice-II/Detail.aspx?evt19=1
He does quite enjoy rice, so maybe he will like this!

Brownies:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Vegan-Brownies/Detail.aspx?evt19=1
He has a big sweet tooth, so why not try some vegan brownies?

Quinoa Tabouleh:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Quinoa-Tabbouleh/Detail.aspx?evt19=1
He is a huge fan of Quinoa, so this could be a hit.

Lasagna:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Vegan-Lasagna-I/Detail.aspx?evt19=1
he already has a vegan lasagna he likes, but this might change it up and get him some different veggies and vitamins.

So I will print these out and bring them with me on my next visit and maybe he will have some new dishes he likes!

Take a bubble bath

Alrighty so this one had a few bumps, but in the end it worked out! We did this one after we went over to the new house to do some painting!

Take a bubble bath
So we found out we have a bit of a bath leak and we also didn't have a plug! So we made a makeshift plug. And I forgot bubble bath, so we used dish soap!

But it was still nice and relaxing. I haven't taken a bath in who knows how long, so it was refreshing and relaxing after a long day!

Draw with something other than a pencil

This challenge was picked out by my boyfriend! Hopefully it will encourage me to keep up my drawing that I keep forgetting to practice!

Draw with something other than a pencil
So for this challenge, I decided to draw with some gel pens. I tried to pick something simpler because I wouldn't be able to erase, and so I drew Carbuncle, the summon from Final Fantasy!

Overall, I'm okay with how it turned out, especially considering I couldn't erase and fix details!

Learn how to tie different knots

So my boyfriend was a big help with this challenge and I had a lot of fun! I'm not sure how much I'll remember but hopefully I can retain some of it!

Learn how to tie different knots
So these are the knots I was taught how to do!

Bowline
One Armed Bowline
Clove Hitch
Taught Line Hitch
Sheep Shank

I can't remember them well enough to explain them, so I recommend maybe YouTube videos if you are interested in any of them. It can be pretty fun to learn!

Join a Suikoden forum

I feel a bit bad about this one because I put off doing a challenge until just earlier because I was busy with house painting and housework. But I did get a challenge done!

Join a Suikoden forum
I joined a Suikoden forum on a site called Suikosource.com. It's always been a great resource for the games, the site is well maintained and taken care of, and it is always the first place I look for Suikoden related things. So hopefully the forum can be a good source of discussion and help!

Also, remember that I did two updates tonight, so check the index for yesterday's challenge!

Stay up all night watching horror movies

Alrighty, I'm sorry I didn't update the night this happened, but I was tired and it was late and I was busy actually doing the challenge!

Stay up all night watching horror movies
So I get easily scared at horror movies and due to some prior commitments, this one got put off until really late. Because of that, I only watched two horror movies. We watched the Skeleton Key and Nightmare on Elm Street 2! Both were entertaining movies and it was fun to watch them with my boyfriend!

Ride around a race track in a race car

Okay so our plans for the weekend did not work out and were postponed for a few weeks. But I was able to accomplish some of this challenge!

Ride around a race track in a race car
So I found out when we do go racing, I won't be allowed on the race track in the race car. But I was able to take a ride around the garage and down the street with my boyfriend in his race car, Raoul, today!

It was silly fun, but race cars are not built for comfort! Still, I was glad to at least partly partake in my boyfriend's hobby!

Print off and organize all of my articles

Okay so this one is a bit of a sour note, but I suppose these things can happen! I'm going to try not to let it get me down and push forward regardless!

Print off and organize all of my articles
So I was supposed to print these off regularly to avoid using up too much paper and ink. Sadly, I didn't do that and I'm up to a lot more of them and and well... its too much all at once. And I'll just have more and more to catch up on. So I am abandoning this challenge. Sorry everyone!

On the bright side, I'll have several more challenges complete this weekend as I am going out of town with the boyfriend for a race event! So I'll have some exciting stuff going on!

With that, I won't be updating this again until Sunday or Monday and I'll make seperate blog posts with each of the challenges. Looking forward to it! See you guys then!

Only watch Spanish TV for a whole day

So I had planned for this one yesterday but didn't end up completing it. So I tried it again today!

Only watch Spanish TV for a whole day
I went to the YouTubes and watched an episode of a show and a movie in Spanish. The show had Spanish subtitles and the movie had English subtitles. I kind of understood what was going on in the show. And that was the only TV I watched today! Have to remember to keep practicing my Spanish for the harder challenges!

Buy a new stuffed animal

Okay so today we went to the Michael's craft store to check up on a few different things required for a few challenges. But due to funds, most of them had to be held off. We did get this one done though!

Buy a new stuffed animal
We got a cute little stuffed Octopus at the register! My boyfriend took to it pretty quickly. The name on its tag said Legs!

Welcome to the family, Legs!

Try a new show

Okay so I fudged on this one a little. I have a challenge to watch a kids movie I've never seen and to watch a kids show I haven't watched since I was young, and I ended up mixing them up in my head and I thought my challenge was "Watch a kids show I'd never seen". Oops!

Try a new show
So I ended up watching a kids show as my new show! It's kind of funny, but oh well! What I ended up watching was the 2010 remake of Strawberry Shortcake. I liked it more than I thought I would! It was pretty cute and sweet. Campy, but what kids show isn't?

I've never seen the original so I can't compare, but I am a fan of the new character designs and their cute clothes!

Try a dish I've never tried before

This was another one that wasn't planned, but the one I had planned fell through so we were able to make up for it with this!

Try a dish I've never tried before
We went to a place I've never been before called Shlotzky's and I ordered a roasted red pepper soup! I had never tried one before!

It was pretty yummy and I had it with a ham and cheese sandwich! I might order it again sometime!

Go to thrift stores/garage sales and don't purchase anything over $5

Well this one did not go as expected, but I guess there are always some successes and some failures!

Go to thrift stores/garage sales and don't purchase anything over $5
I guess part of it was a success because I didn't purchase anything over $5. Or anything at all! The garage sales we went to were not really that great and being such a small town there wasn't much going on. Oh well! Maybe we will try the flea market in a few weekends!

Do a giant house cleaning

This one wasn't a huge house "cleaning" but it did end up sorting and organizing some things, and it certainly took a long time!

Do a giant house cleaning
We are moving soon so it is time to pack things up and get ready! I started by cleaning out the fridge because we will soon be moving stuff to a little fridge to let this one thaw before we move. Then I packed up a whole bunch of stuff and now we have a house full of boxes!

I'm so excited to move and get things sorted and organized now that we'll have extra space for everything! Things won't be so cramped anymore!

Jump rope

Sorry for the late update. I got sidetracked! But don't worry, I still got my challenge done! It's been one I've been wanting to do for a while but haven't quite gotten around to.

Jump rope
So I got myself a nice sparky purple and pink jump rope and I had a lot of fun! I didn't jump for very long though because I forgot to wear a bra and also because it's a lot more exercise than you would expect.

I encourage you to try it! It's inexpensive, it's fun, and it's a great workout!

Go to a store I've never been to and window shop

Sorry a bit late on this update. Still feeling a bit under the weather. But we did get some stuff done and I did complete another challenge!

Go to a store I've never been to and window shop
While not exactly what I was expecting, we went to Academy Sports or something and looked at some things for future challenges! We got some prices on bikes and badminton gear and the like!

So it wasn't a special pretty store but it did help with future goals, which is something positive!

Have a picnic somewhere new

Okay so it wasn't somewhere new, but we have very rarely been there before and we couldn't resist after finding out it was near our new house!

Have a picnic somewhere new
So we got some chips and sandwiches and pizza and drinks and headed on down to enjoy ourselves at the picnic tables in this park with the fountain! We also took this opportunity to sail our paper boats from yesterday!

It was a lot of fun and I'm glad we went!

Make a paper boat

I was feeling pretty under the weather today so I picked a more lighthearted challenge. I had surprisingly never done this before, so it was some nice silly little fun!

Make a paper boat
I have made paper airplanes before, and paper hats, but never a paper boat! So my boyfriend and I each made one and tomorrow we will bring it for the next challenge and see how quickly they sink!

Here were some very helpful directions for anyone else who wants to give it a try!
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Paper-Boat

It was a lot of fun and I'm glad I tried it!

Try roller skating

So this is one we have had planned for quite a while, but it never seemed to pan out! But finally we were able to get out there and do it!

Try roller skating
So we headed to the roller skating rink and I put on some roller skates for the first time ever! I've ice skated before, but never roller skated. Because of that, I wasn't very good.

We went once around the big rink and I fell and hurt myself. So then we went to the little practice rink! It was much more fun that way. My boyfriend seemed to really enjoy it and wants to do it more often! It was fun to try something new!

Try a new Chinese buffet

Chinese food has never been my top pic in cuisine, but this is about trying new things and challenging myself, so that is exactly what I did!

Try a new Chinese buffet
We went to a place called Hibachi Grill which did many different sorts of foods, one of which was chinese. It was also a buffet. So in we went!

So I tried some new foods and some old ones! Overall it wasn't too bad. The potatoes, chicken balls, chicken broccoli, and rice were my favourites. Might eat there again sometime!

Play tennis

So we had a nice cool summer day and we were in town anyways to check out our new house, so we decided why not get out there and give this challenge a shot!

Play tennis
Today we played better than we ever have before! We weren't keeping score, we were actually mostly focusing on getting the ball to the other person because we are not skilled tennis players. But we had a lot of fun and a lot of back and forth going for us, so I'm glad we did it! Probably got some good exercise too!