Week 13 Challenge: Put Together an Outfit for $30 or Less

There is not much I like better than buying cute new clothes for summer. This year, though, I'm facing the reality of a pay cut for the next school year while also saving money for two short trips in July, so I need my new, cute clothes to be cheap!  I recently discovered the Penny Chic blog, one girl's effort to create entire chic outfits solely from Wal-Mart selections.  I decided to run with that idea but also include other budget-friendly favorites like Target, Old Navy, Payless, and Forever 21.  In addition, I gave myself a limit of $30 or less to get an outfit, including shoes and accessories.  The result of my day of shopping is shown below.  Do you think I was successful?

The answer:  No.  I went over my $30 limit, but I did keep it below $40, and I got some great deals!
Shirt - Ann Taylor Loft (on final sale) - $9.98
Skirt - Old Navy (clearance) - $3.97
Shoes - Payless (BOGO + 20% off coupon) - $13.40
Necklace/Earring Set - Wal-Mart (clearance) - $7.00
Bracelet - Wal-Mart (only regular price item I bought!) - $5.38
GRAND TOTAL = $39.73

Not bad for a super cute Memorial Day/Fourth of July outfit! 

Week 11 & 12 Challenge: Update

So, there was no good news to report on my week of exercising challenge.  My sickness came back even worse, and I had to give up on exercising and concentrate on not coughing up a lung.  At least I had three good days of exercising before the sickness took me down!

After being sick, I had trouble coming up with a challenge for Week 12.  As the week went on, my challenge became to not feel guilty about not having a challenge.  I just had to remind myself that there are no blog challenge police, and I am allowed a week without accomplishing anything, if I so choose, without feeling guilty.  I can say that by the end of the week, I was no longer feeling guilty about being challenge-less, but instead was looking forward to the next week's task!

Week 11 Challenge: Exercise Every Day

Now thatt I am feeling better, I'm turning my attention to getting in shape.  To kick off my exercise program, I'm going to attempt to exercise every day this week.  I'm going to try a combination of riding the exercise bike, walking, weight lifting, and dance classes.  This is going to be a challenge because: 1) I am lazy and 2) I will not be home every night this week to exercise.  I'm going to have to be creative to squeeze in exercise every day in this busy week.  I hope I have good news to report later in the week!

Week 10 Challenge: Called in Sick

I had very grand plans for week 10 of my challenge, but unfortunately, I woke up with a terrible headache on Monday morning, and

my week just went downhill from there.  It seemed like every day there was a new random symptom - sore throat, lost voice, fever, relentless coughing.  Every day I felt more and more blah, so I decided to give myself a break and rest all week.  It turns out that my real challenge was not to feel guilty about taking care of myself.  For some reason, whenever I rest and relax after work or on the weekends, I feel guilty for not doing something more productive.  I will admit that I did feel some guilt about laying around all week, but my good sense usually won out and convinced me that I needed to rest in order to feel better.  I think I need to challenge myself to never feel guilty in the future for taking care of myself!

Week 9 Challenge: No Fast Food

I admit it - I am a fast food junkie.  I work hard to stay far away from the drive-through most days, but during times of extreme stress, I fall back on my old, faithful source of comfort food.  Last week, I knew, was going to be particularly challenging, so I made it my goal to avoid all fast food for the entire week.  Here's a peek at what was going on last week:

 

*Driving home from Easter with my family

*TAKS testing

*EOC testing preparation

*Planning/preparing for a baby shower

*Royal wedding watching

*Various Mavericks games

*Making cupcakes for a birthday party

*Attending a birthday party

*Hosting and cleaning up after the baby shower

*Surprise!  Osama bin Laden has been killed and I must watch every bit of news about it

 

Normally, I would convince myself that I was too busy or too tired to cook something and just pull through Chick-Fil-A, Taco Bueno, Panera Bread, or Cane's (all my FF of choice) and eat it as fast as I could.  This week, though, I prepared by making a huge dish of broccoli mac & cheese (see picture below), stocking up on veggies and fruits, and making sure I had baked potato and sandwich fixins.  Every day as I drove home from work, I just kept repeating to myself what I was going to eat when I got home and kept on driving past those tempting fast food favorites.  Not only that, but I rode my exercise bike every night except the one with all the cupcake baking!
 

Week 8 Challenge: Update

I ate some sea creatures!  They did not taste anything like the terrible taste I had imagined for them in my head.  I started first with some fried shrimp, which actually didn't have much of a taste at all.  Next up was some fried cod.  One of the reasons I have never wanted to eat fish has been the flakiness aspect of it.  The cod was flaky, but that didn't stop me from eating it this time.   I could only detect a teeny, tiny bit of a "fishy" taste to it.  Success!  I will definitely be eating more sea creatures in the future! 

 

Here's the proof that it actually happened:

 

 

 

Week 8 Challenge: Eat a Sea Creature

I can't remember a time when I ate fish or any kind of sea creature.  I know that I did because my parents have told me stories.  Apparently, I used to try to eat the fish sticks when they were still frozen!  My love affair with fish steams to have come to a screeching halt right about the time we went to visit the fish hatchery in New Mexico, other event that I don't really remember.  I'm told there was a giant fish that I definitely didn't like, and ever since then I have eaten nary a sea creature.  After many years of contemplation, I've come to the conclusion that there are really two things that bother me about eating sea creatures:
1)  They smell like sea creatures.
2)  They still look like sea creatures, for the most part.  Fish usually still looks like a fish, shrimp usually still looks like a shrimp, etc.  Unlike a burger, chicken tenders, or bacon, none of which still look like a cow, chicken, or pig when you go to eat them.

I'm not sure I will ever completely get over my sea creature issues, but I am going to make a sincere try since they are so good for you.  So, this weekend, I am going to start by eating some coconut fried shrimp cooked by chef Ole Dad (aka my father).  I'm starting with fried shrimp because I'm told it tastes less fishy.  Plus anything fried has got to be good, right?  I'll be posting pictures of the first bite and the aftermath.  Wish me luck!