Crazy Planner Fitness Experiment

So, two weeks in, and still not thin.  (Cool rhyme.)  BUT... I am making progress.  If you read my last post, you know I had a challenging weekend.  And I while I would love to say I've been a rock star since, not so much. Both Monday and Tuesday I had to be to work early and had to stay late.  And both days I failed to prepare meals the night before and then had to rush out the door without lunch or snacks. Dragsville.  At least knowing I had my weigh-in coming up kept me from eating a lot of junk. So today was scale day.  I did lose 2.4 pounds, bittersweet because it was great to see more progress, but I knew it could have been better without all the revelrie and feasting --- and that cake!!!!!! (By the way, the cake was made by Kristen's friend Tracy Zenobia who is, no lie, the best baker I have ever known in my life in terms of both beautiful craftmanship and taste.  I wish she would open her own shop.) Kristen's wedding cake, ma...

November 13... wow... I can't believe it's been six days since I last wrote a blog post.  Life was crazy busy this past week, and boy did it ever take a toll on my efforts to be consistent and diligent with my health goals. First, a dear friend -- really, more of a little sister to me -- got married Friday night!  The wedding was beautiful and the reception was the best one I have ever been to in my life (including my own.)  I got to honor Kristen and Larry (bride and groom) by accompanying the various singers on the piano and somehow managed not to cry.  The reception was so much fun, and my cousins are all friends of the family, so it was like a cousins' date night with great food, beautiful views of downtown Milwaukee, and amazing cake.  Amazing cake.  (I know.) Kristen and Larry saying "I do." All of us cousins -- I'm the chubby one on the right.  Honestly, it's a good thing my girl cousins are all sweet, smart and lovely because otherwise...

Well, what happened in Vegas is not going to stay in Vegas, because I am going to tell you about it. Jody, Fred and I were all there this past weekend for the PlannerCon Party Las Vegas. First of all, they don't call Vegas "Sin City" for nothing, especially where delicious, calorie-ridden food is concerned.  Hello, buffet , anyone???? (No, we didn't.) And actually, I feel pretty good about the last four days, although I think if Fred and Jody listened to me say just one more time, "No, because then I'll have to write about it in the blog", they would have "disappeared" me, and no one would have been able to find my body. You know the story about how when you are planning a conference, all anyone really cares about is the food?  Yeah, well, Louise gets an A+ for conference planning. Friday night . snacks: ice cream sundae bar with both ice cream and gelato (which Jody helpfullly insisted taste "terrible", even though she spoo...

So today is day two of the 90-day Planner Fitness Experiment . Yesterday in the blog I gave an overall of the project and my goals. Last night, I used our "Goals" page to set up goals for November.  Jody is the designer on our team, and I am pretty sure I used the goals page in a way she had not intended, but what the hay, isn't that what's great about the planner world?  We all modify and adapt systems to our needs. Here's my goals page: Pretty, huh?  The reason I say I didn't use this as intended is that Jody set the page up to be a linear path to the goal.  I instead filled each block with things I need to do to be successful for the month, with the goal of checking everything off by the end of the month, but in any order I achieve the small blocks.  AND... there are several entries that hit to my weak spots... such as drinking 64 ounces of water!!!  (WHY is that so hard???) I'm pretty excited, and I love having small daily goals that ad...

Hello, friends!! My last successful blog (and by that I mean, a blog that had a start, middle and end and that I did not lose interest in and stop doing three weeks in) was the blog I did as I prepared to ride my bike from Anacorters, WA to Astoria, OR back in 2013. Not only was I proud of myself for actually keeping up with the updates and writing, but blogging was also a huge driver in being able to reach my riding goal and keeping myself motivated. Since then I have had several fits and starts, all of which have ended in failure and oblivion. But... I am ready to get back in the author saddle and try this blogging thing again.  It makes sense to me to blog about another project that has a start, a middle and an end, and also to have clear goals I want to accomplish. And it just so happens I have a particular project in mind! THE BACKGROUND: Last year I started, along with three partners, a new business based on a customizable planner.  More on that in a minute....