2015 Workout Challenge!

Need a little boost in your workout routine? Looking to challenge yourself and keep yourself on track? I hear ya! Consistency is so important in any training you do. I did a great job training for my first 2 marathons, but then my consistency went out down the shitter.  Let's just say my last marathon was pretty crappy too.  Well, since that marathon took almost 6 hours to complete, my running buddy and I had plenty of time to talk about how to kick ourselves in gear! We needed to hold ourselves accountable.  What's one thing that I hate doing? Wasting $$$$ I don't need to spend. Here's a way to get your butt in gear!  Rally a friend (or two or three!!) to complete this challenge!

Are you ready?!

Printer Friendly Version of the Workout Challenge Contract 

Find a willing friend and agree to the following terms: 

I will work out a minimum of 30 minutes on 20 separate days and will follow the following rules: 

• If a workout is over 30 minutes it still only counts as one. 

Each person within this contract can use one over 30 minute workout as a freebie per month to count for a missed day.

If I do not meet this workout requirement (30 minutes for 20 days), we owe each contracted person $20. 

If everyone misses the same month, each person's $20 goes into a pool to go to the next winner (a winner is the person who meets the workout requirement for the month when the other didn't). 

If everyone completes the workout requirement, you keep your $20. 

If someone is injured to the point of being unable to work out, then we have to tell the other person and stretching has to be the workout (or what we agree to at that point) until the injury resolves.

I agree to all terms listed about and am committing myself to this workout challenge by signing and dating below.    

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Contract period: 1/1/2015-12/31/2015

Here is a log  to track your workouts.  Good luck!! 

Happy New Year!! What's your New Year's Resolution??

Happy New Year!!!  I look forward to building my blog and providing you with different tips, tricks, recipes, and projects that hopefully will inspire you! I think that last year was a good start and I can't wait to ramp it up!

 Looking back at 2014, it was a pretty eventful year, but I can't say that I stuck to my resolutions very well.  I always go for your typical eat better, exercise more, blah blah blah. This year, I've decided to switch things up.  Instead of getting rid of things, I'm going to ADD. Add more family and friend time, add paying it forward tasks, and add positive focus.

It is SO easy for me (and probably many of you) to see the negative.  I want to try and find that silver lining in things.  I want this year to be about letting others know how much they mean to me and how they impact my life.  I want to help others the best I can, and I want to make sure I carve out quality time with loved ones.  So often we "talk" about what we want to do, but when it comes to actually doing it, we don't follow through.  This year WILL be different!!! Who's with me?!

So here are my thoughts for the year.   

1.  Family/friend time

- at least one dinner per month with family and/or friends.  We are always together in large masses where it's so hard to have a quality conversation with anyone.  This will give us that opportunity! 

2.  Pay it forward

- I'm still figuring this one out, but there are so many things that I can do to make it an impact.  Sometimes even just a smile at someone makes a huge difference! 

- Register for races that donate to charity.  I register for 3-5 races a year.  This year, I want to make sure that the races raising funds and awareness for a charity.  

3. Positive focus

- This isn't a set activity thing per se, but hopefully will be built in my mind set for the new year.  Spending quality time with loved ones and doing things I love, would definitely build my positive focus.

I can't wait to share projects and tips throughout the year that will help us show our love and passion! 

"So often we become so focused on the finish line that we fail to enjoy the journey." - Dieter F. Uchtdorf

What's your New Year's resolution?! I would love to hear from you!! 

Ooh la la! DIY Gold Chandelier

Ever see all those fancy decorations and then when trying to find it, you can never find what you are looking for?  Ya, that's me...always...I have these insane ideas for DIY projects and decorations and sometimes the ambition to complete them.  Luckily, I have a crazy enough family that is willing to humor me and be ambitious with me!

So this is where the golden chandelier was created, inspired by the Great Gatsby for a Roaring 20's themed party.  When trying to find one to buy, they were all too small and would get lost in the size of the room so we created two! 

What you need (this will make 2): 

• 1- 12' fringe curtain such as this one or you can use 2-fringe table skirts (just make sure the length is what you are looking for as well as long enough to cover your hula hoop!)
• 2 hula hoops (the size you would like your chandeliers to be)
• spray paint similar to the color of your fringe curtain 
• packing tape/masking tape
• thin string/fishing line
• hot glue gun
• scissors
• a large area to lay out the curtain on
• 2 people! This will definitely make this a lot easier

1. Spray paint your hula hoops. You only need to spray paint the side that is facing down, but can do both sides if you'd prefer.  
2. If you are using table skirts, skip to step 6.  Lay out the curtain on the floor. You will want it as flat as possible with as few strands overlapping as possible.  This will make the next step easier. 
3. Using your second person, pull a piece of packing tape that is the width of your curtain (12 feet) and half way down the length of the curtain (4 feet).  The metallic fringe was full of static so we placed the tape down on both sides at the same time, then pushed the fringe to the tape.
4. Next, cut along the TOP part of the taped area along the width of the curtain (12 feet).  You have now made 2 long strips of fringed curtain that are 4 feet long.  
5. Flip the curtain over and put another strip in the same spot as the tape on the other side.  
6. Take one strip and hot glue it to the hula hoop. Hot glue small amounts at a time so the glue doesn't dry before you are able to get the curtain attached.  Be careful, it gets hot!!!
7. Once your hula hoop has fringe all around, cut the excess off.
8. Repeat steps 6 & 7 for your second hula hoop.  
9. Attach 3 pieces of string to the hula hoop and loop together.  Hang using string or fishing line.  I hung this on a fan, but you can hang from anywhere on a ceiling.  Command hooks work great! 
10. Trim any crooked fringe or if it is hanging too low.  
11. Voila! You have yourself two chandeliers!

Additional Thoughts: If you have the time, you can also make a second smaller hula hoop fringe to hang underneath it to add depth.  We ran out of time, but it could have been a nice touch.  

Here is a picture tutorial to help with these directions! Good luck! :) 

1. Spray paint your hula hoops. You only need to spray paint the side that is facing down, but can do both sides if you'd prefer.  

2.  If you are using table skirts, skip to step 6.  Lay out the curtain on the floor. You will want it as flat as possible with as few strands overlapping as possible.  This will make the next step easier.

3. Using your second person, pull a piece of packing tape that is the width of your curtain (12 feet) and half way down the length of the curtain (4 feet).  The metallic fringe was full of static so we placed the tape down on both sides at the same time, then pushed the fringe to the tape.

4. Next, cut along the TOP part of the taped area along the width of the curtain (12 feet).  You have now made 2 long strips of fringed curtain that are 4 feet long.  

5.  Flip the curtain over and put another strip in the same spot as the tape on the other side. 

 
6. Take one strip and hot glue it to the hula hoop, wrapping it around the top of the hula hoop. Hot glue small amounts at a time so the glue doesn't dry before you are able to get the curtain attached.  Be careful, it gets hot!!!

7. Once your hula hoop has fringe all around, cut the excess off.

8.  Repeat steps 6 & 7 for your second hula hoop.

9,  Attach 3 pieces of string to the hula hoop and loop together.  Hang using string or fishing line.  I hung this on a fan, but you can hang from anywhere on a ceiling.  Command hooks work great! 

10,  Trim any crooked fringe or if it is hanging too low.  

Voila! You have yourself two chandeliers!

Roaring 20's Party Ideas and Decorations

Leaving the Roaring 20's Behind Party was a hit! We transformed a hall into an awesome Gatsby-inspired themed party.  Starting from scratch, we were able to create a complete look!

Before

After! With decorations from 1toystore.com and 4funparties.com, we were able to decorate the room really well! 

The chandeliers in the center of the room are made from gold fringe curtain and a hula hoop painted gold.  Here is the tutorial for the chandelier!


Here were some additional features of the party! I hope you are inspired from all these fun ideas!

A two tiered cake with fabric embellishments make for a fun, easy cake! 

Many of our favorite candies were invented in the 20s!! My sister put together this amazing candy bar with a timeline and descriptions of when the company started making the candies. It was a perfect Thank you goody bag! Who says goody bags are for kids?!?!

It was AWESOME! 

 Above the candy bar hung a Happy Birthday sign created using my Cricut. 

Centerpieces were made with spray painted branches (it was perfect that this party was in the winter!) and spray painted vases from the dollar store).  Hanging a string of pearls added the perfect touch to this centerpiece! 

I also made a photo booth using the program Sparkbooth ($55) that I had purchased when planning my husbands party last year. Last time, we made the space too small so the pictures were EXTREMELY dark.  This year, my party planner assistant (aka my mom) came up with the idea to use the frame from a canopy tent.  It was a 10' frame that we taped black table cloths to to create the photobooth effect.  (I ran out of black tablecloths - since I used some for the backdrop as well.  You will need 2 for each side if you are going to cover all sides.  

Photo props included mustaches, glasses, lips, boas, hats, saxophones, microphones and cigarettes.  We had a blast! 

I set up the photobooth to automatically print and it came out with 2 copies of the picture per page.  They were able to tape one into a book, giving me a keepsake of my 30th and the others was there to keep!