New 52 | Week 4 Scrapbook Page + Template

Boy I am exhausted! Tonight I just realized that Mondays in January have been exhausting for me. I go to work all day. Then I get home and wolf down a dinner. Then I head to swim class at 7:05pm. I get home around 8:10pm and then shower and get ready for bed. Then I blog my layout and template for the week. It has been very tiring, I can't believe I survived it. This is my last swim class on a Monday so hopefully things will go smoother from now on.

I had a really fun time doing my template and layout this week. I've enjoyed getting back into scrapping regularly, but it's been hard to get back into the groove. I think I'm finally starting to get there.

New 52 | Week 4: Fitness Calendar

Credits: New 52: Template #4 by me, Listgirl Designs by Christine Newman. Tweet Heart and New You by Pixel Gypsy @ The Digi Chick. Jellybean Toes Alphabet by CD Muckosky @ Little Dreamer Designs. ("Tweet Heart" is actually being released this Thursday, so consider this layout a sneak peek at it! You can go to the Pixel Gypsy blog and comment for a chance to win the kit!)

And here's the template, available for just $1 in my personal store, Listgirl Designs.


I've packaged up New 52: Templates #1-4 as a set and put it into my store at Little Dreamer Designs.

It's on sale for 20% off through Thursday. And if you're a Listgirl Designs newsletter subscriber, you will receive an extra 10% off coupon code for it in the newsletter that I'm sending out tomorrow.

If you wish to buy the templates individually, they are all available in my personal store at Listgirl Designs.

He Keeps Us On Our Toes

The other day I got a blog comment from one of my blog friends Christi that made me chuckle.  She said on one of my posts that it was the first time she's seen me be "Debbie Downer".  I was surprised, because I didn't know I was coming across my blog as so happy go lucky.  In my mind, I am "Debbie Downer" quite a bit in real life.  I just didn't realize people don't know that about me by reading my blog.  I am a worry-wort.  I have anxieties and worries when life doesn't go as I planned or expected.  I have stress.  I have personal thoughts that I don't put on my blog.  I think it's natural for people to assume that my life is always so great from what they're reading on my blog, but rest assured that my life is most definitely not perfect.  Granted, life is pretty good.  I enjoy many things in life and have much to be thankful for.  But on my blog, where I myself go back to read my own entries, where most of my memories are kept, I CHOOSE to concentrate on the happier things in life so that when I look back on my life, I remember the better times.  I do the same on Facebook.  I try to post mostly positive, amusing things, not total downers.  Because I myself don't like to read my own Debbie Downer status updates.  For what it's worth, I don't like to read status updates of people who complain about everything in their lives on Facebook.  It's not fun.  It's not what I CHOOSE to surround myself with.  I am also grateful to have a husband who is the exact opposite of a "Debbie Downer".  He really is someone who sees the great and positive in life and never dwells on the things gone wrong, the bad things, the worries and anxieties.  He helps me keep perspective on life when I'm down. 

On Friday night we had dinner at Punjabi Tandoor, our favorite Indian restaurant in town nowadays.  Todd's friend Cassi from work introduced us to it, and we've been seriously in love ever since.  Although, this was the first time in a month that we had gone there.  Buttery Indian food is just not Weight Watchers friendly.  Although, on Friday I ate less during the day and really saved up my points for it!  :)  Also on Friday nights, we like to relax from a week of working and being busy.  Around 10pm I found these two guys all pooped out on the couch. 



Yesterday morning we had to take Noodle to the vet again. (Third time in four weeks.) I discovered he has tapeworms. Don't ask me how I discovered. Ugh! I didn't know what the dried up tapeworm segments were, but after googling around I knew. So off to the vet he went to get the medication. Within 24-48 hours, the tapeworm should be dead and dissolved. It explained many mysteries surrounding Noodle, such as why he was so hungry for a few days there, his diarrhea, and those dried-up worm segments in his bed that look like sesame seeds. I know, SO GROSS! Man, shelter cats are NOT cheap nor free at all. They all come infected with something, or multiple things, and after all is said and done with the vet bills, they are as expensive, if not more, than purebred cats. But we are now Noodle's "hoomans", and he is our "kitteh", so we do all we can to make sure his life is great.

One lucky spoiled cat.

But we got lucky with him too. He's very friendly and wants to play together or cuddle almost all the time. He always wants to be NEAR us. This morning after I played "Cat Charmer" toy with him for like 20 minutes, I had to go into my office to get some things done. I closed the door to the office because I didn't want to be disturbed. Later I looked under the door and saw a shadow. I peeked and saw him just outside the door, waiting for me to come out. It's touching how he wants to just be near us.

After the vet and getting Noodle back home, we went out running at the beach. Because that's what you do when you live in San Diego and it's 70 degrees, low tide, and gorgeously sunny at the beach.




The tides were so low that you could see the reef near the shore at Swamis.


I did a combination of running and walking, and my leg felt really good. Nothing hurt except for being out of running shape, LOL. I ended up with a total of 3.1 miles.

We also had lunch at Bongiornos. I had a salad and one slice of pizza.




In the evening, Todd made one of my favorite dishes, Swedish Meatball made with chicken meatballs. He makes this from scratch from the Cooking Light recipe. We put the meatballs and gravy over some leftover lemony mashed potatoes.


The rest of the evening was my NEW thing this week, so I 'll talk about it in a few days for my New 52 post.

Today Todd is on a 40-mile hilly bike ride while I try to catch up on some stuff. I will feel better about myself when I can check off a few of these things on my agenda off my list.

New 52 | Week 4: Fitness Calendar

This week I created a new fitness calendar in Google Calendar to help me get back to consistent exercising. It's been a long time since I've had a consistent training schedule. Training for what, you ask? Well, nothing as of now. That was my problem. In 2009 I joined West Coast Road Runners and trained for the Rock N Roll Seattle Half Marathon. In 2010 I continued running with WCRR and trained for the Rock N Roll San Diego Half Marathon. After that my right leg was injured and I had no consistent exercise schedule.  Now after weeks of physical therapy, I am finally on the mend and getting back into the swing of exercising.

I had a few goals in mind when I devised this 12-week schedule.  (I will be evaluating after 12 weeks to see whether to continue with schedule or make up a new one.)

• I wanted my activities to be varied.  Running was great, but too much running hurt my leg and I neglected other fitness goals that are good for me.  Varied activities will prevent boredom and save my legs.
• I wanted to get back to regular morning exercise again.  I find that without a schedule, it's very easy for me to not set my alarm clock and just sleep until it's time to get up to go to work.  Morning exercising ensures that I get it done and helps me energy for the rest of the day.  It also works WAY better for showering schedule.  I hate showering twice in a day.  Having a set exercise schedule will hopefully force me to go to bed earlier too.
• The schedule incorporates doing the same exercise on the same day of the week, yet when I add up the week, I'm doing many different things, like yoga, rowing, running, swimming, weights, and gym class.  

Fridays are rest days.  I don't believe in exercising every day of the week.  Body needs rest to recover.

I am excited to give this schedule a try.  If I am feeling well with everything and I'm not injured by the end of the 12 weeks, I will consider signing up for a race.

You may have noticed that I did not start out the New Year with grandiose plans for improving EVERY aspect of my life.  Why not?  Because will power is limited.  (See this lifehacker article:  You've Got a Limited Supply of Willpower, so Use It Wisely.)  Lifehacker also has another great article about using a monthly approach on adopting new habits.  That's my plan for this year:  one project/thing a month to improve my life, while incorporating New 52. 

I wanted to provide some updates to my previous New 52's.

New 52 | Week 1:  Noodle Came Home - we are adapting to life with Noodle.  When he first came home, he was in a new environment and a little bit sick with a cold, so he was very snuggly and let me pet him and handle him whenever I wanted.  Now he is over his cold and used to his new house, so he is a rambunctious kitten who wants to play quite a bit.  When he gets into a playful mood, he likes to bite and scratch.  (Not vicious, just play.)  But we don't like it, so there are times when we just have to play with him without touching so he can get his energy spent.  This is an adjustment but we are learning about him everyday.  I think I had forgotten what having a kitten was like.  :p

New 52 | Week 2:  Swim Class - Swim class is progressing nicely.  With each class, I am able to swim further and stronger, with less breaks in between.  I'm learning and honing my swimming skills.  Tonight I get to swim in the 25 yard lanes.  I have three more classes left in this session and I really hope to be able to swim laps back and forth for an extended period (like 30 min) by then.  In my new fitness schedule, every Thursday morning is swimming.  This is a completely new thing for me, swimming for exercise!

New 52 | Week 3:  Weight Watchers - the first week I lost one pound.  I'm really happy with it, since I only want to lose 10 lbs.  This week my eating wasn't as good as last week, so we'll see how much I can lose, if any.  Mind you, this week I'm still eating within my points for the week, it's just that I ate more than last week.  Keeping track of food is now a habit.

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About This Project

New52 is a project started by Peppermint and I to encourage each other and others around us to try something new every week in 2011. The "new" each week doesn't have to be something big. It could be something as simple as ordering a new dish instead of old standbys at your favorite restaurant. It's simply opening your heart up to NEW possibilities.

Don't worry if you're late getting started on joining in. It's totally OK if you miss a week here or there. We encourage everyone to keep an open mind about trying something new. This is a life project, and a photography/blog and even scrap challenge if you wish. If you participate this week, please leave a link to your blog post in the link list below. You can also post images to our New 52 Flickr Group! We would love to see what you were inspired to do.

New 52 | Week 3 Scrapbook Page + Template

Credits: New 52: Template #3 by me, Listgirl Designs by Christine Newman; New You by Pixel Gypsy @ The Digi Chick.

Here's the template, available for just $1.00 in my personal store, Listgirl Designs.


Thank you for those that shared your links to your New 52 Week 3 experiences! I enjoyed reading them very much. :)

Deviations from Plan

I have the type of personality where I am out of sorts or even upset if things don't go according to what I've planned.  It's very hard for me to not have expectations of how things SHOULD go, or to just go with the flow when things don't go the way I had planned.

This weekend was full of plan failures.  At least that's what I saw at first.  Until I saw all of my photos and how blessed I am.

Saturday morning Todd and I made ebelskivers for breakfast.  They're traditional Danish pancakes that are spherical and have filling in them.  We put nutella in them.  :)



My friend Terry at work gave me some tips this week about how to get the ebelskivers to be rounder. He said you need to turn it 1/8 at a time, instead of just flipping them over like I had been doing.


It seemed to work better, but my ebelskiver-making skills still have a lot to improve!

Good thing these were pretty yummy, because they caused me lots of points in Weight Watchers.

We planned on going to the Little Italy Mercado farmers market on Saturday at lunch time. We had never been, and I wanted to go for my NEW thing this week for New 52. We got to the neighborhood and circled around and just could NOT find any parking at all. This is a common problem in San Diego but very frustrating nevertheless when it happens. I got so frustrated and told Todd to just forget it. Since we were near the airport and the harbor, I suggested that we go to Point Loma Seafoods for lunch instead. No arguments from Todd! In fact, I think he was more excited about that than the farmers market, LOL.

It was a gorgeous day at the harbor. I wore short-sleeves even.


And look what I saw, a sea lion!


Point Loma Seafoods was totally packed, but we managed to get our order in and find seats even. I got the scallop sandwich while Todd got fish tacos, because they didn't have his favorite halibut sandwich.





Todd didn't know the tacos came with cheese, or else he would have told them to hold the cheese. So he had to spend some time picking it all off.


The "Todd Shot" after the cheese was off.


After lunch, we drove to Todd's friend Cassi's house to drop off some homemade food for her and Dan and the baby. Baby Madison was born last month and Todd signed up to take some food to the family yesterday. I had never met baby Madison before, so it was a great opportunity to check the baby out. :)


After baby Madison, we drove to nearby Tea Station and got a boba milk green tea to share. One of our favorite Asian treats!

In late afternoon, Todd went on a 26-mile bike ride. I was so tired for some reason. Maybe from swimming the night before, I'm not sure. I conked out on the couch, only to be waken up by Noodle standing on my belly. He snuggled on my belly for a while, then he made himself comfortable and spread out completely over my belly. It was hilarious and so cute.


We napped together. Well sort of. I also snapped photos with my phone, LOL.

It was one of those times when I felt like I was wasting time, yet I enjoyed myself. Maybe Noodle knew I needed some down time.

For Saturday dinner, Todd and I made Fusilli with Green Sauce. I put my leftover scallops on there and it was super-yummy! (Yea, I was afraid to eat my whole sandwich at lunch because of Weight Watchers.)


So that was Saturday. The farmers market was a fail, but Todd and I still had fun together. I need to remind myself to go with the flow sometimes.

SUNDAY - This morning we had to get up early so that we could drive all the way up to Carlsbad to see our friends finish running the Carlsbad Half Marathon. We had never gone to the Carlsbad Half Marathon before, so it was a new thing.


We were there to see our friends Monika, Daryl, and Pete run. However, other than seeing Monika cross the finish line, we didn't get to see anyone else. And we didn't even get to see Monika or talk to her. I felt like it was such a failure in plans and I was quite upset. When we left I was sort of mad. Why did I get up early just to go to a crowded race and not be able to find my friends? It was a failure in my mind. However, later in the day, after some evaluation, I realized that it was my bad attitude that made it a failure, not the actual showing up at the race and not being able to find our friends. I was with Todd and it was a really nice day. We got to see some people finish a half marathon and a full marathon. It wasn't so bad.

For the rest of the afternoon and evening I audited and paid bills. It was no fun at all, but I had a good chuckle when I found Noodle in a box behind my chair. I guess he just wanted to be close to us, in the office. :)


We were going to cook dinner at home, but we decided to eat out at Macaroni Grill as a date instead. We had delicious Italian sausage pasta, but I only ate half and saved the other half for lunch tomorrow. I'm starting to get better at this Weight Watchers thing.

Paperclipping Digi Show Ep 032

Well, it must have gone alright last time, because they let me crash the party again on the Paperclipping Digi Show this week! We recorded the episode Monday morning and it is available to listen now.

In this episode, we discussed all the ways there are to recolor digital papers and elements. It seemed that everyone had a different method, so we all learned a lot from each other. No wonder the title of the episode is "I'm Learning So Much Today". Hope you enjoy the podcast and learn some valuable recoloring skills too! :)

Dinner with Shannon & Ryan

On Sunday night, Shannon and Ryan came over to our house for dinner for the first time.  Shannon had been to our house before for a party, but not Ryan.  Shannon works with Todd and also is a part of Toastmasters.

The menu of the night was Szechuan Spicy Noodles with Carrot Cucumber Relish and Roasted Asparagus with Balsamic Browned Butter.



For dessert, we had Skillet Apple Crisp (recipe from America's Test Kitchen - need free registration to see).



Everyone happily eating dessert!


It was really fun to have Shannon and Ryan over. I'm all for new people coming over for dinner!

New52 | Week 3: Weight Watchers

I am not fat.  But I am 10 lbs over my "fighting weight", the weight I feel the most comfortable in.  The weight I feel when my body performs better athletically.  I haven't been this weight since early 2007 when my mom died.  After mom died, I ate to feel better.  It became a bad habit.  I also eat because I do love food, as evidenced by this blog.  I've tried several times to lose 10 lbs, but each time I got to about 4-5 lbs down and something would happen to disrupt my good eating and exercising habits.  Like a vacation, or the holidays.  Or San Diego Restaurant Week.  :p

I joined Weight Watchers online for the first time ever, on Friday.  I've always thought I don't need help, I can do it on my own.  I've lost over 10 lbs twice in my life before.  But I think now I need the discipline for the time being.  I'm going to give it a try for three months and see if I can finally lose the 10 lbs.  However, that's not the end-all be-all.  Maintaining weight and keeping physically fit is a lifetime journey, I know that.  But I am optimistic that I can jump start the weight-loss with Weight Watchers.


Here's my "before" photo. I'm going to take a photo in the same outfit every month and see if I look any different, besides the number on the scale.  I started tracking my food on Friday and have been doing really well with it so far.  :)  What I like about WW is that no food is off limits, you just have to decide whether the high points food is really worth it.  Most fruits and veggies are 0 points now, so I can go nuts with those, although I don't.  I'd imagine once you've eaten four bananas, the fifth one doesn't taste so good!

I can't keep this week to ONE new thing, because I'm very excited about my NEW spork.

It's made of titanium, so it's really light and strong!

I admit it. I used to hoard sporks from Taco Bell. Sporks are the most perfect utensil in the universe. You can use it to eat everything: jello, soup, stew, cereal, noodles, cake, etc. But besides the total utilitarian reason for the spork, I'm excited about it for another reason. I'm going to be keeping this spork at work. I eat my lunch at work almost everyday. Sometimes I eat breakfast there too. And then in the afternoon I might eat a yogurt. All this was adding up to a lot of plastic forks and spoons in the landfill. With my $11 titanium spork, I am saving approximately 343 plastic utensils from the landfill per year. Now that is something to be excited about!

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About This Project

New52 is a project started by Peppermint and I to encourage each other and others around us to try something new every week in 2011. The "new" each week doesn't have to be something big. It could be something as simple as ordering a new dish instead of old standbys at your favorite restaurant. It's simply opening your heart up to NEW possibilities.

Don't worry if you're late getting started on joining in. It's totally OK if you miss a week here or there. We encourage everyone to keep an open mind about trying something new. This is a life project, and a photography/blog and even scrap challenge if you wish. If you participate this week, please leave a link to your blog post in the link list below. You can also post images to our New 52 Flickr Group! We would love to see what you were inspired to do.

New 52 | Week 2 Template & Page

Credits: New 52 Template #2 by me, Listgirl Designs (Christine Newman); Creator, Tranquil (collab with Leora Sanford), Storyteller (collab with Paislee Press), and Along These Lines v. 02 by One Little Bird @ Oscraps; Adorned by Paislee Press @ Oscraps; Splash-tastic Alpha (recolored) by Kate Hadfield @ The Lilypad.

Here's the template, available for just $1.00 in my personal store, Listgirl Designs.


Thank you for those that shared your links to your New 52 Week 2 experiences! I enjoyed reading them very much. :)

Slowly But Surely

On Friday night there was some much needed end-of-week relaxation. Noodle joined in as well, although he doesn't really have much job-related stress.





Saturday morning Todd was eating his standard breakfast of popcorn (whirly popped) and Coke, when Noodle tried to eat popcorn out of Todd's bowl. Todd said, "Noodle, now I know you're really my cat!" Now we know. Like hooman, like kitteh.

At my physical therapy session on Tuesday, my therapist Amy said that I can try jogging a little this week. She said to warm up with a 7 minute walk, stretch, then jog. I was excited to try it out, especially since the weather in San Diego was absolutely gorgeous this weekend. Sunny and high 70's.

An outfit I haven't worn in a while.


Ran up the coast of Encinitas and enjoyed the awesome views.


Ran on the beach as well, on the way back.


All my photos while running are now taken with my Blackberry phone. My pouch doesn't have enough room for both my Canon SD850 IS and my phone. I think my phone is more important while running alone, so phone camera it is.

I ran about 1.5 miles in total, while walking even more for a total of 3.65 miles. As expected, I was quite a bit slower than before, after not running for months. And my legs felt tired faster. My right leg still felt a little tight and sore as I went along. I stretched it out good last night. Today it seems fine except I have some slight soreness here and there due to my legs out of running shape.

Todd went on a 20-mile bike ride from Cardiff to Carlsbad and back. He thoroughly enjoyed it. He hadn't ridden his bike since November due to rainy and cold weather. (I know, even in San Diego!) After exercising, we went to lunch at Bongiornos, our favorite NY style pizza place we haven't been in a while. I had one piece of pepperoni and mushroom pizza, and a house salad. It was really quite a treat, but I forgot to take photos.

Yesterday afternoon we went on a house-cleaning spree. With the nice weather, I opened up all the windows for some fresh air. I vacuumed the whole house while Todd mopped all the non-carpeted areas. All the bathrooms were cleaned.  Some laundry got done.  It was quite a productive house-cleaning day.  We found out Noodle is scared of the vacuum, but it wasn't a huge surprise since our previous cats were as well.

With the open window, Noodle took a keen interest in some birds outside.


In the evening, we made the Best Ever Hot Cocoa Mix. We saw the link to this homemade hot cocoa recipe on Lifehacker and wanted to try it. We had never made homemade hot cocoa from scratch before.

The ingredients.


Mixed together.


And how was it?

It really was probably the best hot chocolate I've ever had! The Ghirardelli white chocolate in there really made it nice and creamy. The amount we made is good for about 25 cups, so Todd and I can keep having our hot chocolate dates this winter with this recipe. I'm so excited!

Tonight we're having some friends over for dinner. I'm going to scrap and pay bills until then.

Some Inspiration Related to New 52

I came across two articles the past couple of weeks that really touched me and inspired me about my New 52 life project this year.

The first is a NYT article written by Oliver Sacks called "This Year, Change Your Mind".  It is astounding to think that no matter what age you are, you can change, rewire, and strengthen your brain.  The last paragraph really spoke to me in regards to why New 52 would be good for me.

"Whether it is by learning a new language, traveling to a new place, developing a passion for beekeeping or simply thinking about an old problem in a new way, all of us can find ways to stimulate our brains to grow, in the coming year and those to follow. Just as physical activity is essential to maintaining a healthy body, challenging one’s brain, keeping it active, engaged, flexible and playful, is not only fun. It is essential to cognitive fitness."

The second article I found via my friend Anne's blog.  It's called "Regrets of the Dying" on a blog called Inspiration and Chai.  It's not directly related to New 52, but it's encouragement to live an authentic life.

If you are doing Project 365 this year (which I completed once, in 2009), or want to join in for New 52, be sure to listen to this week's episode of the Paperclipping Digi Show #031.  Peppermint (One Little Bird) was a guest on there and got to talk about New 52!

New 52 | Week 2: Swim Class

I know how to swim, but I've never been really confident in the water. And I've never swam laps as a form of exercise. Two things in the past year have inspired me to get better at swimming.

The first is seeing Todd train for the San Diego Triathlon Classic (Olympic distance). He was so dedicated in getting in swim shape. He swam twice a week in the mornings at the YMCA pool, and he swam in the ocean several times to prepare for his race. I thought to myself, "I could NEVER do that!" But maybe, just maybe, I can start getting better at swimming.

The second is realizing that I need to branch out from running.  I really enjoy running.  But after a year and a half of training to run half marathons (13.1 miles) and running two half marathons, I've injured my right leg and it's taking months to rehab.  I enjoy being active, so it's time to branch out into different activities so I don't get the repetitive-motion injuries in my old age!

So, back in mid-December, I signed up for the 5 week adult swim class at the YMCA by my house.  The class meets twice a week at nights.  I was both excited and worried about it.  It's been six years since I've actually swam.  What if I had forgotten how? 

And, I had to suffer through the indignity of  finding out that my old Nike swim suit that was almost new does not fit anymore, no matter how much I tugged and pulled at it.  The cutout in the back was as if meat from a sausage was spilling out of its casing.  (Need to work on that back fat, yo!)  THEN I had to suffer through the second indignity of trying on swim suits at my local sporting goods store RIGHT AFTER the holidays.  Oh boy that was not a pretty sight.  In fact it was downright scary.  Did you know that Speedo swimsuits are in REAL sizes?  As in, if you think you're a size 6 in clothing at Old Navy, you're a size 10 in a Speedo swimsuit?  Yea, real encouraging.

Swim class started on Monday, January 3rd.  But I didn't get to actually swim until this past Monday, January 10th.  Why, you ask?  Here's how it went that first Monday.  I get to the pool a couple of minutes late and jump into the water.  Less than a minute later, the lifeguard yells at everyone to get out of the water.  I had no idea why.  Then our instructor found out why.  A kid in the previous class had pooped in the water.  :-|  And according to the YMCA rules, everyone has to stay out of the water for an hour after a "fecal incident".  (Obviously after removal of said fecal and putting cleaning chemicals in the water.)  So that class was canceled.  THEN on Wednesday 1/5 I went home after work to get ready to go to swim class, only to get a message on the answering machine from the YMCA.  "We have another fecal today and the pool is closed for the rest of the evening."  SERIOUSLY???  That kid needs to be banned from the pool!

So the third time was a charm this past Monday.  I got to the pool early to acclimate myself.  I was shocked to find that I remembered how to swim!  The instructor worked with us at our own levels.  So for me, she told me to swim 10 laps while breathing every 3rd stroke.  Then swim 10 laps while breathing every 5th stroke.  I was totally out of swim shape and couldn't do the 5th stroke breathing that well.  I would cheat and breathe on the 3rd stroke after breathing on the 5th stroke.  It was hard, but I couldn't believe I was doing it!  Me being able to swim back and forth in the first swim class was beyond my expectations.  I was so excited!  And I love my swim cap.  Even though I look like a total dork with my swim cap and goggles on, I realized that my hair wasn't getting in the way and I could see.  Both good things while swimming.  So, I embraced those facts instead of worrying about looking like a sausage with a blue nubbin on the end.  :p

My first swim class was a success.  I hope I get better and better at swimming and can incorporate regular swimming into my exercise routine.  My goal is to eventually be able to swim laps for 30 minutes.  I'm on my way!

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New52 is a project started by Peppermint and I to encourage each other and others around us to try something new every week in 2011. The "new" each week doesn't have to be something big. It could be something as simple as ordering a new dish instead of old standbys at your favorite restaurant. It's simply opening your heart up to NEW possibilities.

Don't worry if you're late getting started on joining in. It's totally OK if you miss a week here or there. We encourage everyone to keep an open mind about trying something new. This is a life project, and a photography/blog and even scrap challenge if you wish. If you participate this week, please leave a link to your blog post in the link list below. You can also post images to our New 52 Flickr Group! We would love to see what you were inspired to do.