Chanllenge Myself 2013

So I have always been setting a goal to lose weight.  And I never seem to complete my goal, but this year I am going to try something different.  My goal is to walk more. 

I have been doing some reading and found a "Walk to Mordor" Challenge. And before you say it, Yes I know:

But there is a challenge to walk the same distance that Frodo and Sam (Hey that is short for Samantha) walked as they walked from the Shire to Mordor to destroy the ring.  Which in miles is 1779 miles, a very long distance but I am going to give myself 1 year to complete this challenge 365 days of walking.

I originally read this challenge HERE.

I have since spent days reading about Frodo and Sam's Journey and my next two steps are to RE-watch the movies and read the books.

If anyone is interested in joining me on my walking journey, you are more than welcome too, leave me a comment, come back here to keep me updated on where you are in the Journey to Mordor and how close you are to destroying the ring.

Power Rangers and Growing Up

Last week I had decided to have myself a Flashpoint marathon, and if you are a DirecTV subscriber, we have a channel called ION, I do not know if other cable and satellite providers offer the channel but I do know that DirecTV does and they seem to play a lot of Flashpoint in the afternoons and I spent an afternoon watching it. 

Now if you have never seen an episode of the show Flashpoint you should know a little bit about it, you may even enjoy it.  This show is a Canadian Cop Drama (lately I have had a thing for Canadian TV).  Based in Toronto we have a team of police officers known as the SRU (Strategic Response Unit) they take the calls where there is hostage negotiations and talk them down and when needed they take the "Scorpio" shot (kill shot).  This show starts two actors from past shows that I have watched Amy Jo Johnson and Enrico Colantoni. 

In High School I will admit to loving the show Veronica Mars which starred Enrico Colantoni as Veronica's father the PI in Mars Investigations.  Loved the show and one of these days I will find myself a show that keeps me just as entertained in solving the big mystery as modern day Nancy Drew kept me.

But the reason why I bring up Flashpoint is Amy Jo Johnson who plays Jules on the show and my moms passing comment "Hey its the Pink Ranger!" My mom seems to think I do not know who the "Pink Ranger" was growing up, I do not know how many times I tried to be her growing up.  When it came time to pick who got to be the "Pink Ranger" for Halloween, I played the middle name card Amy Jo vs. Samantha Jo, I had the same middle name as the actress who played the Pink Ranger so it was destiny for me to be her.  leaving my sister to be the Yellow or one of the guys (minus the white my brother claimed that one).

Now growing up wanting to be a Power Ranger was always fun, I work a watch to so that I could set an alarm on it and pretend it was Zordon calling me to "Morph" into action.  Of course my mom yelled all the time about attempting flips off the couch or anywhere for that matter, but I did get her to give into gymnastics classes for one year (until I found out that I had no balance).

But lets get back to my moms comment "Hey its the Pink Ranger!" and what that led me to find out, yep you can watch the first few seasons of Power Rangers or what is was back then: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers on Netflix and now I am back to watching them and wondering why I never attempted Karate like the guys, that looks like so much more fun that the gymnastics ever did.

So what show from your childhood do you see the actor/actress now in movies or TV shows that you currently watch and have you thought about going back to watch the show again.

Guns, Hunting and Dating...

So there is this really interesting radio segment on my favorite Morning Radio Station here in the Houston area called Second Date Update.  Well this morning a guy who is not used to not hearing back from or having his dates act the way his did called in wondering what he had done wrong. 

As he was describing the date, I heard nothing wrong.  Took her to a local steak house "Texas Roadhouse", had great conversation and then all of a sudden she got an emergency call and had to go to the hospital where she worked as a nurse.  Now I know that this is a high possibility that she had to go to work at a hospital, don't know how possible with a nurse but it is a possibility.  Now here is where things get really fishy, she did not get him to drive her when she had ridden with him to the restaurant.  So yeah, he did something wrong that he was not telling us, so lets here the lady's side of the story.

Well the date started OK is what she had to say, he picked her up though he had something "familiar" looking on his truck but was unable to pinpoint what it was.  It was later while talking about hobbies that she realized what he had on his truck.  Now before we go any further in the explanation of this date lets remember this is TEXAS and and COUNTRY radio station.  The man was an avid hunter, now this is something I expect from someone who takes a girl out for steak on a first date in our area, and he was talking about some of his recent kills hunting one was a deer.  He did lightly mention dressing a deer, if you do not know what this means look it up, now this may be one of the things that would turn me off of the date but he did not go all gory with the details.  So the guy was an avid hunter, no big deal to me, my family is big on the hunting scene.

Now this was a turn off for the girl, but what she did not know which she found out on the show was:
1.  He is a Concealed Handgun License (CHL) holder
2.  He was carrying a Concealed Handgun during the date

These two facts brought up the whole debate how do you feel about bringing a Concealed Handgun on a date and would you tell your date?  Personally I do not care, I know if I had my CHL I would bring a handgun with me and I would probably feel safer if the guy did have one but I do not need to know if he is carrying the gun with him.  That is his bussiness, if he wants to tell me he can and I have no problem with it.

So who do you feel?  Would you date someone who hunted a lot and talked about it?  Would you date someone who had a CHL and carried?  Would you wan to know before the date about the handgun?

Being Raped Cant Cause Pregnancy?

Last time I checked that is not true.  A woman's body does not "Shut Down" its reproductive cycle because she is being raped. 

So I heard a little about this earlier today and now I have seen this interview and even I am amazed at what people believe.  That would just give all these rapist a way of getting off, she got pregnant so it could not have been rape, as the woman can not get pregnant if she is raped. 

Day 30: A picture of yourself this day and 5 good things that happened since you started the challenge.

Well I started my diet this past 30 days so it is nice to say that the first good think that started during this 30 day challenge to myself was me starting to lose the weight.

Another good think that has happened is that I have started to search for a new job, though I have not had any luck in finding a job outside of working retail, I have started the search and that is a step in the right direction.  So lets all keep our fingers crossed about the job search.

During this 30 days I made the 12th payment on my 5 year loan on my car.  I know I still have a long ways to go on paying it off but I have started to pay it off and I am 1/5 of the way done!!!!

I bought a couple of cute jackets for the fall season on clearance at work, don't know if me finding cute clothes is something that can be considered a good thing but I want it to be considered something good so I will count it as a good thing since it is another thing toward the finding of a job since they will make good business attire.

Lastly, I have made plans to go see my dad for the first time in over a month.  I should have gotten to see him right before this 30 day challenge started on his birthday July 13, but he did not make it home for his birthday but I have made the plans to go and see him in September since August in Back to School month in retail and I can not get off work just yet to go and see him.

Day 29: Who is you hero?

My mom's dad was my hero growing up, he was the one that taught me to fish, came to eat lunch with me while I was in school still.  He came many of times on my birthday while I was in elementary school to eat with me and I loved him for it.

You know that question if you could have dinner with anyone dead/alive who would it be? My answer would be him.  I would have a meal with him, maybe out on the fishing boat that we always fished on growing up, and now that meal would included me being able to drink now legally since he had a thing of letting us drink his Jack/Coke without caring that we were under the age of 12.

Yeah, my grandfather was my hero, a man who raised a kid who was not his own (I found this out after he died my freshman year of High School).  He raised my Uncle who was not his just like he was his own. 

Day 28: What stresses you out?

Working RETAIL, yep I get stressed out while I am at work, I am trying really hard to get out of working Retail, but it is harder than you think when the only experience you have is working retail.  No one seems to want to hire someone without any experience.

There have been times that customers stress me out so much that I have went into the bathroom at work and cried because I was that stressed.

Day 27: Photo of your city .

So, I don't live in a city, I live in a town.  Not a small town but still if I were to take a picture of it you would get a picture of the main road so that you can see the most of it, and personally I think that is boring.  I don't drive the 30 min to the largest city often enough for myself to get a picture of it for you all to see it.

Day 26: Your Dream Wedding.

My dream wedding is something small, just family and close friends.  I want a simple dress like this one on Davids Bridal (I could not seem to get the picture so click the link)

MY DRESS

I would give it the deep purple sash and get the bridesmaids dress to match that sash (just hope my sister will wear it).

I wedding would hopefully take place outside in the fall or spring (not to hot/not to cold) but there will be a back up indoor location for it it does rain.  I will have an indoor reception with dancing (I have been to a wedding reception where there was no dancing).

I have thought a lot about this and there are a few things that I may do to save money, one of my cousins had the food provided by the family and friends, this let them have an open bar instead of a huge catered meal.

But this is something that I have been lightly planning in my head since my cousins who are all older than me started to get married.

Day 25: Something you are looking forward to.

Personally since the announcement of LeakyCon 2013 I am looking forward to getting to go.  It has been over a year since I went in 2011 and I could not go this year as I was going to go on a family Cruise and that was where my money was going instead.  So I am really looking forward to going in 2013.

Day 24: Something you’ve learned.

I have this thing of trying to learn something new everyday and today I found out that if you hit a head of lettuce on the counter top you dislodge and break the stem (core) all at one time and can easily just pull it out and then you don't have to cut it out like I always do....

So, the things I learn while sitting at work in the break room waiting to eat a ham sandwich that they are giving us for lunch.

Day 23: Favorite Movies and TV Show.

I have lots of those, I love to watch CSI and NCIS (I love Abby) when I have time. I watch The Vampire Diaries like it is in my blood to watch and not miss.  I have to get my weekly dose of Damon each week and when it is not airing I sit there and wish that a new season has started so that I can try to decide who is better looking Stephan or Damon (though Damon always wins). Then lets not forget the girl who loves Doctor Who in me, I am really looking forward to the next season even though I am still in mourning of the loss of the 10th doctor.
Now during the summer I spend a lot of time watching USA Network since I love their shows during the summer, they have some great series.

Movies is not that much of a big deal, I will watch just about anything at least once, I LOVE the Harry Potter Movies (the 5th is where it started to get really good), but who does not love those.  Beyond that just about anything can be my favorite at some point in time.

Day 22: What do you want your future to be like?

I want to have a HAPPY future, I want to get married and have a kid or two.  Not a lot, but I also want it to be healthy.  I want to get the point that I am healthy, I do not want to have all the health problems that my family has had in the past.

Beyond that, I really do not know what I want for my future, I just know that I want to by Happy in it.

Day 21: Something you’re proud of

I am proud of the purchase of my first car by myself.  Saving for the down payment and making my monthly payments all by myself is great and makes me really excited to get in my car every time since I am the one who owns it.  Not my MOM and DAD but ME.

Day 20: Something you wonder “What if…?” about.

I wonder "What if" I had done better in school, got better grades went to a 4-year university or just finished college in general.  Would I have everything I want or would I be where I am now.

I also wonder "What if" I had never put on as much weight as I did.  Would I be happier in my life right now had I not put on all this weight, would I have fallen in love at some point.  Would it be easier to get out there and meet new people.

Day 19: Things you want to say to an ex

Though he was not an ex, there is one guy that I wish I had never said not to a date, and to signing my yearbook that year.  Yeah, he wanted to draw a Confederate Flag in my year book that year, but I wish that I had never told him no since that was really the last time we talked, we never talked the next few years of school.

So there you go, I lost a possibly great guy without really giving him a chance.

Day 18: Something you miss.

I miss Sugary drinks.  I started going without cokes at the beginning of the month and I already wish I could still have them.  I really do miss them.

Another thing I miss is High School.  You never would have thought that you would miss going to school 5 days a week and learning something.  Plus the time spent with my friends, I now really do not get to see those people who I saw all the time during school.

Lastly I miss being less over weight, this is one of the things I am taking care of right now and hope over the next year to have it completely under control or damn close.

Day 17: Put your iPod on shuffle, first 10 songs.

Always something fun

1. Dierks Bentley - Living Single
2. Katy Perry - I'm Still Breathing
3. Nickel Back - I Don't Have
4. Carrie Underwood - What can I say
5. Brad Paisley - She's Her Own Woman
6. Billy Currington - Time With You
7. The Pussycat Dolls - Flirt
8. Carrie Underwood - Good Girl
9. The Pussycat Dolls - How Many Times, How Many Lies
10. Billy Currington - When She Gets Close to Me

Day 16: Your opinion about your body and how comfortable you are with it.

My body thoughts: Something that I never have anything to really say that is good.  I am over weight, something that I wish to change and something that is far on my list to change.

Back again to this picture from my family cruise this past summer.

Day 15: Death row meal.

EEEKS, what would I eat if I was fixing to be executed.  Since I live in Texas (we do have the death penalty) I think about it, not that I plan to do anything illegal to put me on death row, but to think of what some of the people on death row may ask for.

Choice One: Lobster Tail with lots of Coconut Shrimp since that is my favorite type of food. And for desert my sister made me a Margarita Cake for my birthday, I would have that again.

Choice Two: I want nothing but sweets, I am going to die anyways not have a dinner of nothing but Chocolate for my last meal.

So there we go most expensive meal that I do not have very often that I can think of and the meal that I never really get to eat because it is not a meal it is sweets and more sweets.

Day 14: A picture of you last year – how have you changed?

Taken last year around Christmas time.

I don't think much has changed since then.  my hair is longer but you can not tell the length anyways.  And I don't wear large flowery headbands in my hair though I did not then either, that was just taken because we thought it looked cool.  Maybe I should wear some.

Day 13: Goals

I have many of goals but for now I will just put in my main three goals here and then give you a link to my 101 in 1001 list.

1.  Lose the Weight, get down to a healthy weight for me.
2. Travel to Europe, see my moms family that lives there.
3. Get out of working in retail, find a full time job that will pay for me to go back to school.

THE LIST

Day 12: Something you don’t leave the house without

I can not live without three things:

Cell Phone - You never know when you are going to need to enter someone's cell number into your phone, if you will get in some trouble and need to call for help, look up directions or Google how to change your own tire.

Nook - While I am standing in line at the store to check out I can pull it out of my purse and read a few pages.

A bottle of Water - I am trying to cut cokes out of my daily routines so I like to carry around water to keep me from drinking cokes.

Day 11: A quote you love.

I have this goal to live by this quote by JK Rowling but sometimes it is just a little harder. but part of my going for my goals is doing this, sharing my goals and my progress towards them.

Day 10: Something you’re afraid of

I am afraid of being alone, my mom says it is going to happen (mostly because she wants grand-kids).  But all she does is make me even more afraid of being alone for the rest of my life.

I am also afraid of failing at something, I have the worst luck of making it to a goal so I have this fear of failing at any goal I set for myself to the point a lot of the time I do not even try.

Day 9: A favorite picture of your best friend

This was  really good friend of mine during the midnight showing of Eclipse.

Day 8: A place you’ve traveled to and where else you want to travel

TRAVEL my all time favorite word, I love to see the world.  Part of why I would really enjoy a job where I get to travel all the time for work (really do need to see about finding something that lets me do that).  So lets begin with the question:

Where have I traveled?

Many of places all by cruise ship so I really wish to travel another way.  But Outside of the United States my favorite location that I have been to was  Grand Caymans Islands.  That was my one time experience with Sting Rays and swimming with them was pretty fun.

Where I wish to Travel?

I have a goal to go and tour Europe, I want to see many locations in Europe so I think a full Tour would hit most if not all the places I want to see.  Though said tour may take 1 year to see it all.

Day 7: What makes you happy

I believe there are a lot of things that can make me happy, but the number 1 thing growing up that made me the happiest was fishing with my grandfather on my Mom's side of the family.  I am now not a fishing person, but those memories make me happy.  I loved spending time with my Mom's family and it was always a great time at their Lake House.  I believe that the view of a calm water to be relaxing so it will always make me happy to be out on the water even if I no longer fish.

Day 6: Pet peeves

 

Most recently my biggest Pet Peeve is that people ring the doorbell at work 5 or 6 times thinking it will open the Handicap door for them.  When there is a handicap button for the door not even 4 feet away on the side of the door so that you are not in the way of the door opening.

Day 5: What song inspires you

Normally by now I would have already have had this typed and posted by like 10am today but for some unknown reason I have found that this is very hard for me to think on, I love music, I think it is a big part of my day but choosing ONE song that inspires me is really hard.

I would pick just about anything by Taylor Swift mostly because of what she believes in, she takes a thought and turns it into a beautiful song and at this current time I love her song Eyes Open from the Hunger Games soundtrack.

So do enjoy: 

Day 4: Your parents

 My parents just celebrated their 31st wedding anniversary this past May on board the Carnival Magic.  It was a blast and one day I would like to be like them and married happily for 30+ years.

My mom Linda was working up until she had me and my younger sister and decided to stay at home and raise the both of us.  My dad currently works in Louisiana instead of near us in Houston but this has taught the both of them to use Skype over the past few months, though they don't really talk while on it just sit their and play their own computers and watch TV.  Personally I think it is a comfort thing and I congratulate them on making it this past year even though they are in different states.

My Dad Dwayne is who I am more like, my sister is more like my Mom while I am more like my Dad.  I am better on a computer than at the fishing and hunting thing.  Though he does have this annoying habit to do things he knows you really do not like just to drive you nuts.  Him and my brother have this thing of always believing they are right and the other is wrong but my brother is like that all the time.  So there we go both of my parents happily married to each other living in different states.

Day 3: Your first love

I have never been in love.  Partly I think I am living the Never Been Kissed movie but nope, I have not been asked to go back to high school undercover.  And I really do not think that I ever would.  But I am going back to college this coming semester maybe something good could always happen.  Personally I do not know, but I do hope to fall in love one day.

I know this is a very short answer about my first love, but since there is not one out there I do not have one to share anything about.  But this first love thing is hopefully something that will change in the next year or so, as I lose the weight and become more confident in who I am and who I want to be I think I will become more of a go getter in this department in my life.  I have no problem making friends, it is the next step that scares me from friends to something more.

Day 2: Nicknames

I have had many Nicknames over the last 26 years, but I am going to give you the most common ones.

Sami Jo: Started at the church youth group when one of the guys realized my name was Samantha Jo.

Amethyst: One girl called me this in jewelry since I was wearing nothing but Amethyst stones on my jewelry and my birthday is in February.

Dynasty: Not something that I answer to but a friend likes it and I was named after a character on the show.

Besides that the normal Sami and Sam is normally what I am called.

Day 1: Introduce, recent picture of yourself, 15 intersting facts

So onto the introductions: 

My name is Samantha and I am from the Houston area of Texas, I am 26 years old and fixing to go back to school something that I need to do not only for my future as well as just to prove that I am not as bad at school as I believe that I am. 

This is a picture of my brothers girlfriend and I.  I am on the one in the blue dress and why my goal over the next while is to lose a  good portion of weight.  I want to look good so that when those two do get married (because they will) I can look good in any dress I decide to where to the wedding.  

15 Interesting facts about my self is a little harder to figure out.  I mean what I can consider interesting and what others consider interesting are two very different things.  But here we go:

1.  I have never left the US but on a Cruise Ship, My mom and my sister have both driven to Mexico, my Mom flew to France and my Dad has been to Canada but both my brother and I have only traveled out of the US on a Cruise ship.  Maybe that should be a goal fly to another Country or Drive to Mexico over the next few years.

2.  The Farthest north I have traveled is Tennessee and the Farthest west is Colorado, yep another thing I wish to change.

3.  I love to read, not all that interesting but it should be said on here early on.  My favorite types of books to read are Paranormal and Romance

4.  I have been on a total of 3 cruises, which I have loved them all.

5.  I was taught to fish by my mom's dad growing up, but I am too much of a girly girl to still fish, though sometimes I wish I still did.

6.  I am teaching myself to make my own jewelry to go with my own style not just the style that the stores sell for you.  A little harder to do and it can also be more expensive.

7.  I have been to one Leaky Con in 2011, I wish to go again in 2013 along with VidCon and BEA and Comic Con.  Talk about one very expensive summer if I do go to it all but I would love to go to each of them so here goes planning and saving to see what all I can afford.

8.  My cousin's husband actually fell off a beam in our garage and fell onto the windshield of my car after Hurricane IKE.  The car was not working so they did not really have a way to move it so that is where he ended up falling, I guess it beats the concrete.

9.  My goal weight to lose is over 100 lbs, I know not all that interesting but I figure since that will most likely be a topic a couple of times on the blog I may as well as get it out there how many pounds my goal is to lose, but as I start out I am going to show it in smaller increments.

10.  I am in general a sloppy person, that is another thing I am hoping to change about myself.  Both my room and my appearance.  I want a cleaner look for myself neat and put together.

11.  Scrapbooking is fun, though I do not do it often, I keep journals on trips that are scrapbook looking. 

12.  I collected beanie babies when I was in High School with my mom and I still have them all in the top of my closet (I don't think they are worth much now).

13.  I have N'SYNC bobble heads, yep I have a Justin Timberlake bobble head along with all the other members of the group N'SYNC.

14.  My favorite thing to study is school is math, I love the order to it all, 1+1=2 all the time, that never changes, English seems to be all over the place for me.  Personally I was never any good at grammar.

15.  You would think this was easier but it is really a lot harder than it looked on the site that I found the 30 posts that needed to be done over the next month.  It took way too much thought effort to come up with 15 INTERESTING facts about myself.

30 Day Blogging Challenge

So for the fun of it so that everyone here has a chance to get to know me, I am going to participate in a 30 Day Blogging Challenge, where I answer once a day a question that has already been predetermined about myself.  This is something that makes blogging a part of my everyday life so that I can get into it again, and maybe over the next 30 days I will get into the vloging thing I also want to really get into.  In the past I tried to be a part of a group vlog but I never really got into was always too nervous about participating so my goal is to get over that little fear of mine.

But just so that you all know what the plan is, I am going to list all of the 30 questions to be answered here for your own viewing pleasure.

Day 1: Introduce, recent picture of yourself, 15 interesting facts.
Day 2: Nicknames.
Day 3: Your first love.
Day 4: Your parents.
Day 5: What song inspires you.
Day 6: Pet peeves.
Day 7: What makes you happy.
Day 8: A place you’ve traveled to and where else you want to travel.
Day 9: A favorite picture of your best friend.
Day 10: Something you’re afraid of.
Day 11: A quote you love.
Day 12: Something you don’t leave the house without.
Day 13: Goals.
Day 14: A picture of you last year – how have you changed?
Day 15: Death row meal.
Day 16: Your opinion about your body and how comfortable you are with it.
Day 17: Put your iPod on shuffle, first 10 songs.
Day 18: Something you miss.
Day 19: Things you want to say to an ex.
Day 20: Something you wonder “What if…?” about.
Day 21: Something you’re proud of.
Day 22: What do you want your future to be like?
Day 23: Favorite Movies and TV Show.
Day 24: Something you’ve learned.
Day 25: Something you are looking forward to.
Day 26: Your Dream Wedding.
Day 27: Photo of your city .
Day 28: What stresses you out?
Day 29: Who is you hero?
Day 30: A picture of yourself this day and 5 good things that happened since you started the challenge.

Starting Over/Just Beginning

So today when I logged in here, it had been over 2 years since I had last updated so I decided to give it all a fresh start.  First I took and deleted all the older posts next I am going to give this page a brand new look.  Time to find a look for new blog, I am hoping that maybe with a fresh out look this will get some good traffic.  I am also going to get back into my working out ways and hopefully going to get into losing weight again.