#Reverb11: Community

"Where have you discovered community, online or otherwise, in 2011? What community would you like to join, create or more deeply connect with in 2012?"

Today's prompt is courtesy of Cali Harris.

This year, I finally took a stand against my weight. I've gotten too heavy over the years for my own comfort and finally had enough. I tried making small changes near the beginning of the year, and had very little progress. It wasn't until the summer that I remembered a Calorie Tracking website I had joined in 2010, Myfitnesspal.com. In July, I started tracking the calories I consumed and those that I burned. I made an introduction post on the website forums, and started meeting new people. over 4 months later, I'm the captain of a Weight loss/ Excercise challenge group called "The Truffle Shufflers".

I've met a wonderful group of people who help motivate me, keep me sane, help me with food/exercise choices, share their successes and failures of weight loss with me, and are just the greatest bunch of people ever! There are many times where I feel my efforts are not enough and that I'm just going to fail like I do every time I try to lose weight, but with this group of people, they help lift my spirits and remind me of all I've accomplished so far! To date, since August 1st, I've lost 24.5lbs. Its my most successful weight loss attempt in years, and I'm going to keep on going til I reach my main goal! 

As for a Community I'd like to join/create/connect with in 2012, I'm currently happy with my MFP crew, but I would like to connect more with the blogging community, particularly those who blog about cake baking/decorating, Crafty-ness, life reflection, and good ole fashioned humor! Are you a blogger like that? If so, let me know, I'd love to check out what you have to offer! :)

Continue with me on this journey!! Check out my earlier post with links to other #Reverb / #WEverb projects, and join the adventure!

Peace and Good JuJu to You,
Holly

#Reverb11: Who are you?

"Who are you? Describe yourself."

Today's prompt comes from Diana Prichard and I think it is a great question.

Do you know who I am? I'm sure you don't! And honestly, not a lot of people do! (Seriously, did you know that there are 300 Million people in the US? I'm sure most of them don't know me! hehe). This is something I've tried to think about in my head, and I always wind up with a jumbled mess of thoughts. So, let's try and find out WHO I AM!

I am... a daughter of the most insightful, inspiring, stubborn, caring mother! Her experiences, words of wisdom, and actions have helped to mold me into the person I am. Her successes and failures have helped shine light on new paths for myself.

I am... the older sister of 1 Duder (my brother 7 years younger than I). I try to share my wisdom and experiences with my Duder to help him grow and learn and not make the same mistakes I have in life.

I am.... the older sister of 1 Bubby (my sister 16 years younger than I). Her positive attitude and pure girly-ness remind me of all the hope and magic still left in this world!

I am... a partner! I share my life, my struggles, my happy moments, my adventures with the love of my life, Josh. Since he came into my life, I have felt this amazing feeling inside! A feeling I lost for quite a few years and am glad that it is back! Its that magic inside that keeps me going, that pushes me forward, that challenges me to be a BETTER me!

I am... a friend! I do my best to surround myself with people who are amazing in their own life! My blend of friends is similar to my blend of music - eclectic, crazy, and down right AWESOME! Near or far, I make sure that my friends know that I care for them, I am always here for them, and I will always bury the body for them should something bad happen! (j/k, hehe!)

I am... a lover! I love all people. I have found that I am an extremely forgiving person and that often turns out to bite me in the rear. It makes me bitter at times, but we live and learn, and then move one!

I am... a worker, who enjoys her career! I spend every day loving the job I have! It is just the challenge my life, and my brain, needed!

I am... a (Forever) student! I spent nearly 8 years in college, taking classes slowly but surely to get my degree. I spend every day learning and exploring more topics! My brain is a sponge, and I need to keep filling it so it doesn't dry up!

I am... a Rookie! A rookie blogger that is! I love to write, but never feel like I have the time to write or the topics that people will want to read. I'm such a random person, and often feel like my random thoughts wouldn't appeal to ANYONE but myself. I am going to change that though!

I am... a chef! Sort of!! I love to cook marvelous meals, and am honing my skills to be a Master (at-home) Chef! I am constantly searching for quick, fun, easy, good to eat recipes to try out at home and with my friends.

I am... a Baker! I LOVE to Bake! I am the average home baker, with no experience, but a desire to learn and improve!

I am... well, I am a lot of other things! I could probably sit here and list a lot more things, that wouldn't be as significant as what I've already stated. So I will end with this...

I AM ME! AND NO ONE CAN TAKE THAT AWAY!

Continue with me on this journey!! Check out my earlier post with links to other #Reverb / #WEverb projects, and join the adventure!

Peace and Good JuJu to You,
Holly

#Reverb11: One Word

"Encapsulate the year 2011 in one word. Explain why you’re choosing that word. Now, imagine it’s one year from today, what would you like the word to be that captures 2012 for you?" 

In the spirit of the movement, I am using last years Day 1 prompt from Gwen Bell for this year as well! As stated in my post yesterday, I have signed up for a handful of email opt-ins and am following a few bloggers who are doing a #Reverb project of their own. I will be picking and choosing the prompts that I feel best capture me, the place I currently am in life, and where I would like to progress towards. I feel my selection for today's prompt is the most appropriate.

Last year, while working on #Reverb10, I chose Adventurous as the word I wanted to capture 2011. I told myself that I would go places I'd never been, see things I'd never seen before, and accomplish tasks I would not normally have ever aspired to. Boy did I fall short!!! I still enjoyed the days, cherished the nights, and constantly relived the adventure that was in every day, but it was lackluster, unpleasant, and down right difficult! This whole year, I felt like every time I got a step up, I would fall three steps back. It was a year filled with great triumph, but also great failure. It was a year of struggling through obstacles I thought I had already overcome. So if I really had to pick a word that encapsulated 2011, it would have to be Challenging.

chal·leng·ing
(adjective)
1. offering a challenge; testing one's ability, endurance, etc
2. stimulating, interesting, and thought-provoking
3. provocative; intriguing

2011 was one of the most difficult, yet rewarding, years I've ever experienced. Throughout the year, Josh and I struggled with his job situation, due to the current economy. We struggled with multiple car issues (we are on Car #3 for the year!). At the end of October, Josh finally got the job that he needed all year. A Full-time, Monday-Friday, daytime, great paying job. However, that was short lived, and after 3 short weeks, they let him go. Financially, that was the last straw. The next day, I met with a lawyer and am currently in the process of completing a bankruptcy. It is not my finest moment, and it is something I am extremely embarrassed and ashamed to admit. But I know that I have tried everything in my power, for 8 plus years, to not fall into this situation, and that is what counts to me. All of this has brought about a lot of anger, frustration, and disappointment. But I'm still here! I'm still forging through with my life.

The good that happened this year came from my job. This year, I celebrated my first full year with my employer. It has been an amazing experience and as a bonus, I received an amazing raise from my employer this year (2 of them actually), that not only more than compensated for all the hard work I put in at my job, but also made me thankful for my job, and my bosses. My work is amazing and I love it every day!

As we finish up 2011, and as I start thinking ahead to 2012, its hard to narrow down the things I would like to achieve and where I would like to be at the end of next year. I find that when I try to make plans, I tend to either not follow through or just fail miserably. I'm trying to think of a word that could best capture how I would like to look back at 2012. The only word that keeps coming to me is Growth.

growth(noun)
1. a stage of development
2. an increase is size, number, significance, etc. 

I want to grow in 2012! Personally, emotionally, financially! I want my career to advance and to learn more skills to help grow within my company. I want to reflect on my own emotions and my feelings and work on the parts inside of me that are holding me back. I want to grow my relationship with my amazing boyfriend Josh and better prepare ourselves for an amazing future together. I hope at the end of next year, I can say that I have GROWN more than years prior!

Continue with me on this journey!! Check out my previous post with links to other #Reverb/#WEverb projects, and join the adventure!

Peace and Good JuJu to you,
Holly

#Reverb11 is HERE!!

Tomorrow, December 1st, begins another year of #Reverb. Last year I participated in #Reverb10 and loved it. It gave me a chance to really focus on writing and reflecting on the previous year. I had every intention of continuing that momentum into 2011, however things the got away from me.

As we got closer to December, I waited anxiously for news about the new round for #Reverb. And then it came. Yesterday I received an email from creator of #Reverb, Gwen Bell, stating that she would not be hosting #Reverb this year. After providing a brief history about the beginnings of #Reverb, and an update on where she is at currently, she provided the base for people to create/host their own #Reverb.

How to Host Your Own Reverb
1. Write 31 prompts for the month of December
2. Post those prompts to your blog starting December 1
3. Invite other people to join you
4. Let other members of the project see/friend/read one another
5. Publish on the topic each day. Post the link and use a hash tag to group them all
6. Support one another through sharing, and commenting on, one another’s writing.

While it was awesome to receive the steps to create my own #Reverb, I'm just not that creative in making my own writing prompts, especially on super short notice. I do much better at responding to other peoples prompts!! I wasn't the only one upset about the change up for this year either. The internet today was buzzing about the change up!! After much searching and investigating, I'm happy to announce that I've already found numerous people holding their own #Reverbs this year! Below are just a small handful of the sites I found:

Kaileen Elise (Co-Creator of #Reverb10) - Let's Reverb 2011
Kimberly Michelle (with a new spin on #Reverb10) - #WEverb11
Megan (From Everlasting Present) - #Reverb11 | Making It Happen
Geekin' Hard (for a list of #Reverb sites and email Opt-ins) - A list of lists!

While at first I was bummed out, now I'm excited to #Reverb! I've gone ahead and subscribed to multiple mailing lists! I'm interested in seeing what various prompts people have come up with for this year and will be mixing up which prompts I will use from day to day! It is going to be an exciting adventure for the next month, and I hope to continue the amazing right into the New Year!

I can't wait to get started in the morning!

Peace and Good JuJu to You,
Holly

1 more month!

so, I started my 100 day Challenge in September and had HUGE goals in mind. I quickly learned I had definitely set some unrealistic goals for myself! while my overall goal is great, my individual goals were way off base. I wanted to be under 200 lbs by new years! NOT HAPPENING!! and not because I haven't tried. Mainly because for a healthy weight loss, and to keep it off, I had to set smaller goals for myself. I would still like to be under 200 lbs, but not until my 28th birthday in March. I've set myself with goals much smaller than 15-20 a month, and more on 10 a month.

Since August 1st, i'm down 21 lbs. there were a few weeks of no weight loss at all, and i'm hoping to ramp up some cardio workouts in the next month to make sure I am under 250 by thanksgiving and under 240 by christmas. those two goals will keep me right on track to be under 200 by my birthday, and still reach my ultimate goal of 150 by the end of August 2012 for my 10 year reunion.

It's been an amazing adventure. every week I learn more about myself and more about what does and does not work for me. It has definitely been tough. and many time I've wanted to just scream and sit down with a carton of chocolate ice cream and not move.... but I don't! I keep chugging along! This is my lifestyle change, and no matter the struggle, I will succeed! THIS IS MY LIFE!!!

Peace and Good JuJu to you,
Holly