The 20/20 Challenge

The final day of instruction is over and graduation is just 10 short days away! The weekend of graduation will be quite eventful. As I mentioned here my girls Sarah and Amanda will be here on the 17th and they're bringing along little Grayson! Zac's parents will also be coming into town and we have a fun weekend planned:

- My finals end on Wednesday May 18th. (WHOO HOO!)

- Thursday May 19th there is an appreciation dinner for Fresno READS tutors and interns. I had such a great time at my internship and this will be such a nice way to end the experience.

- On Friday May 20th I am going dress shopping with my mom, Zac's mom, and my three bridesmaids, Sarah, Amanda, and Amy. That evening Sarah has planned an engagement dinner for Zac and I. It should be a super fun night with the fam bam and our bridal party.

- The next morning, Saturday May 21 is graduation day! Following the morning ceremony, Zac and I will be inviting our families and a few friends over to our place to enjoy a post graduation bbq.

- On Sunday May 22, some of my girls and I will enjoy an end of the weekend brunch get together before my friend Claire and I head off to a co-worker's baby shower.

So, after the weekend is over, the family visitors have gone, and the thrill of graduation has subsided my datebook will have gone from this :

To this:

It may look a little sad to some people, but an empty week in this datebook is a sigh of relief to me! After having every day filled with work, school, homework assignments, studying, and a little bit of wedding planning, I will gladly take a week off to do.....nothing. Don't get me wrong, the wedding planning part of it has been fun, and I seriously look forward to filling more days in my datebook up with appointments and projects up until the big day, but it will certainly be nice to have a little time off.

So what will I be doing with my time? This is a question I have been getting a lot lately. More specifically it is asked in regards to my future career choices. While I haven't quite figured out my post grad job opportunities, I have at least given thought to what I will be doing to occupy my summer time. For the last little while I have been looking over photos from last year and I will be the first to point out that I look different this summer than I did last summer. The last two semesters have taken a lot of my time and energy to get through them and unfortunately I became neglectful of myself. As a result my clothes have gotten a little tighter and I've felt less energetic. Just take a look at this photo comparison for yourself:

                                                  July 2010                           January 2011

Needless to say, I have set a goal for myself to return to my summer of 2010 weight. This is not only for appearances (although yes I think I looked a lot better back then) but it has more to do with feeling good. At this time last year I felt energized and ready to take on the day. My mornings were spent either running in the park or getting in a good workout at the gym. I ate delicious, fresh foods (prepared mostly by my sweet Zac), and I made time to relax and wind down. With school being over (for the time being) I will now have time to get back to that. I definitely look forward to feeling that good again (and being able to fit into my cute clothes from last year will definitely be a nice bonus!).

In addition to having more time to get back to feeling good, I will also have plenty of time to do my favorite thing....READ! The last two semesters have really taken a lot of work and most of my "free" time has gone to studying, homework, or other school related activities. After graduation I will finally have some time to make a dent in the newest additions to my library. For my birthday, Zac's parents got me a gift certificate for Amazon.com and I happily went on a shopping spree for new books. I was super excited everytime a large envelope appeared in my mailbox.

These eight books are now sitting on the shelf in the library, and I am anxious to start reading!

So now for the reason behind the post....the 20/20 challenge. This summer, starting from Monday May 23rd and ending Monday August 29th, my goal is to lose 20lbs and read 20 books. That's 14 weeks (98 days) to accomplish both goals. In the past I have lost 25lbs in 7 weeks, so I am confident that I will be able to reach my goal before the end of the summer challenge. Last summer I read 15 books before having to go back to school. It was so nice to be able to read for pleasure rather than for homework. I really look forward to spending my mornings working out and my afternoons engrossed in a book!

Zac will be a big help for me in accomplishing the first goal. He has been so supportive in the past, preparing delicious and healthy meals, keeping junk food out of the house, joining me for morning laps around our neighborhood and the park, and reminding me that it's okay to indulge every once in a while. I'm sure he'll be just as happy to get back on track. We've both been feeling a little sluggish lately as we've been indulging a little too much these days.

As for the reading challenge here is a look at the books I have selected:

My Amazon order included:

- Official Book Club Selection - by Kathy Griffin

- Good in Bed - by Jennifer Weiner

- Are You There Vodka? It's Me Chelsea - by Chelsea Handler

- Tip It! - by Maggie Griffin

- Sing You Home - by Jodi Picoult

- Something Borrowed - by Emily Giffin

- Something Blue - by Emily Giffin

- Baby Proff - by Emily Giffin

In addition to these books I am also hoping to read:

- The Murderer's Daughters - by Randy Susan Meyers (Amy let me borrow this book and said that it was really good. I've already started to read it and it's really good so far.)

- Certain Girls - by Jennifer Weiner (the book that follows Good in Bed)

- All 7 Harry Potter books (Sarah let me borrow these books a long time ago and I never got around to reading them. It's time to finally sit down and enjoy them. Maybe a Harry Potter movie marathon will be in order afterwards. Also, it looks like she's missing book #5 so if anyone has it and is willing to let me borrow it for a little while I would appreciate it.)

- Eclipse and Breaking Dawn from the Twilight series (Also on loan from Miss Sarah :D)

- Enchantment: The Life Of Audrey Hepburn - by Donald Spoto

- Alice's Adventure in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass- both by Lewis Carroll

In order to reach my goal by the end of the challenge, I will need to read one book about every 5 days. I definitely think this is doable. Plus it should be fun to finally read all these books that have just been sitting around waiting to be read. :)

In the meantime, if anyone has any helpful, healthy tips to keep me on focus, or any great book suggestions, I'd be happy to hear them.

Does anyone else have plans for the summer? Fun trips? Events or parties to look forward to? Goals to accomplish? Please feel free to share. :)