already behind... but doing it anyway!

ok.

so epic fail on checking in last week for #sexback12! but in my defense, i was setting up a fireworks stand and opening it on the day we were supposed to check in! i actually wanted to begin most of my goals on july 1 anyway, so that kind of worked out. here's where i'm sitting:

physically:::::

oh my!!! this one i am doing surprisingly well with! it's actually the one that i'm doing the best at too.
last week was my first week on only 3 Pepsis a week. and guess what!!! I DID IT!!! that, my friends, is a HUGE accomplishment in my book! i had three. and technically i had one diet strawberry shasta. but it was caffeine and sugar free. :)

other HUGE accomplishment for me... today i started my couch to 5k with steff! she is seriously like, the BEST friend EVER! we went out at 6:30 this morning. it was insanely humid, but only 75 degrees. it was nuts! we made it through the first six of eight runs as the program tells you. then we (read "i") had to pause it and walk for an extra minute and a half or two minutes. i was having a bit of an issue catching my breath. :) but after that extra little bit of walking, we finished to the cycle! i'm sore in places i didn't know i could be, but overall, i feel quite accomplished! i told a few people today that i went running this morning. the looks on some of their faces were pretty hilarious! so what if it was only for eight non-consecutive minutes! it's more intentional running than i've done in at least 15 years! it feels good!

mental:::::

i've been reading through more of empty promises. still not through as much of it as i'd like to be, but i'm making some progress! the things i'm gleaning from EP are amazing! God is definitely using pete's writing to draw me closer to Him!

spiritually:::::

i'm still a complete mess. this week i didn't really do much at all to improve on this one. :( i've worked the fireworks stand for a week, packed that up, then had a wedding to coordinate this weekend, and coffee bar people to train this morning. *yawn* i'm tired. so this one has definitely been what i've slacked on the most. i'm hoping that this week will give me some time to catch up though. :) reading and writing out the Gospels. it's going to be great once i can get into the swing of it!

oh! another cool thing: Race For Freedom! we haven't registered yet, but i'm pretty sure that Steff and i are going to be running in this thing! our C25K will end on september 4 or 6 (i can't remember which one) and the Race for Freedom is on september 8. :) so that's the plan. we may see if we can get a small group of us to run in it together. :) it could be a ton of fun!!!

so that's where i'm at. sitting here at mead's next to an amazing friend willing to run with me in the middle or horrendous heat during her summer break. she's a HUGE encouragement and blessing to me that i don't think i fully deserve! she's seriously the best friend EVER!

how are you all holding up, ragamuffins?

:::andrea:::

here we go again!!!

so yeah. here we go. i may or may not be crazy. alright, i probably am.

it's time for the Ragamuffin Soul Sexyback Challenge 2012! i'm fairly certain of what my goals are going to be, but i'm going to simmer on them for a couple of hours before i post them. :) the suspense is killing you isn't it, my dear fictitious readers! HA!

i'll have them here in a bit though. they should be good!

click on over to ragamuffinsoul.com and see what the deal is! also check out the #sexyback12 hashtag! tons of awesome people joining in!

until later...

andrea

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here we go!

sexyback12 goals:

physical:
     ok, so i'm probably pretty crazy with this, but there are two things i'm going to start with for my physical goals.

first... cutting the soda. eek. typing that causes me to start twitching! seriously though, i drink waaaaay too much pop. so, i'm cutting it way down. hopefully all the way out, but i don't know that i could go cold turkey with this one! so, starting july 1, three twelve ounce servings a week. that's all i'm allowing myself.

second... and i'm DEFINITELY crazy with this one.... i'm going to go through couch25k. that scares the crap out of me! but for some reason, i really feel like i need to do it. it's nothing i would ever expect myself today. and for me, year 28 needs to be different. i don't want to do what everyone expects of me. including myself. so, couch25k it is! ack!


mental:
    this one is kind of going to be doubled up a bit with the spiritual, i think. i have a TON of books that i've purchased over the years and to this day, there are VERY few that i've actually finished. so, first off, i'm going to finish Pete Wilson's Empty Promises. all that i've read so far has been amazing! i really want to get it finished and apply some of what i'm learning! i'd also like to go through Pete's Plan B as well. i also own it and have never read it. :|


spiritual:
     spiritually... well, i'm a freaking mess. seriously. so, i'm going to be reading EP and i know that that is really going to help me spiritually. more importantly, i'm going to read through each Gospel. there are 89 chapters in the Gospels. i think. i hope i did my math correctly! so i'm going to sit down tomorrow... er, today... and map out what chapters i'm going to read each week/day. should be fun! i'm also going to try writing out of the bible too. i wrote about that a few posts ago and i really enjoyed it while i was doing it. so i'm going to try to write out the Gospels too. that may be too much though, so we will see. :)

so there they are. my sexyback12 goals. holy. moly. i'm crazy. but there are a bunch of other crazy ragamuffins that are in this with me! anyone want to join us?!

and away we go!

alrighty... so i've been reading jon acuff's stuff christians like for well over a year. in october, jon was at catalyst. i started up a twitter account during that week and at one point, jon tweeted (is that the correct word? :D) that he was going to be live backstage with Carlos Whittaker and Anne Jackson. so, i stumbled upon Los' blog, Ragamuffin Soul. it's been awesome! i've been encouraged by a lot of things he's said. he's also made me think about a lot of things as well.

this brings me to today. i open up my twitter account and see that Los has begun the Ragamuffin Soul 30 Day Holiday Health Challenge. all i can say about it is YAY! i've already hopped on the whole losing weight thing and i'm trying to be healthier. but i've realized that just losing weight isn't going to make me healthy. i've got to tackle a couple of other things in my life that are lacking discipline: my spiritual life and my relationships. i've been thinking about those other two for a while now, and low and behold, God used los today to push me into doing something about it!

i encourage you to go take a look at los' blog and find out about the HHC. it's going to be awesome!

so, here are the three areas i am working on:

physically ~ trying to lose about 20 additional pounds. i've lost about five since i started weight watchers two weeks ago... i want to get rid of another 20 before Christmas!

spiritually ~ even though i work at a church, my spiritual life is pretty much hosed. i don't talk to God much, unless it's to complain to him about something i think he needs to fix. so, first thing to help with this: talk to God a LOT more. even if it's just to spend two or three minutes each morning asking Him to guide my steps for the day, that will be better than what i've been doing! i also want to spend more time in His word as well. i'll get back to you on what i find to help with that. i've got some devotionals and such at home that might help with that.

relationally ~ i have some absolutely AMAZING people in my life. i am thankful for each of them and i want to take more time to really nurture my relationships with them. i want to spend more time with them; quality time where i can really get to know them. not too sure what step i'll take in that direction, but maybe just having coffee with one or two of them each week is a start.

so here goes. i'll be blogging about this at least twice each week. hopefully more!

say some prayers and let's do this!!!

asaff