5 Things I Learned on Week 1

1. I must literally work my a** off.
With hot weather come frequent visits to the beach. With those, comes the satisfaction of girls running around in small pieces of fabric with cameras flashing everywhere. I saw my photos. Didn't like them. At all. I resumed my membership at the gym and started to pay much more attention to cardio. Before, I would ignore it mostly since I'm not crazy about the idea of huffing, puffing, sweating, and jogging for 20 minutes straight as well as having my face radiate heat equating to nothing less than solar power itself. Did I mention I turn beat red? Yeah , you try flirting with hot guys at the gym when your face resembles the inside of a grapefruit. But back to cardio- I'm bad at it. Fortunately, after the first week and a couple miles on the elliptical, along with some sick beats and a good boxing match on ESPN, I managed to actually run a mile on a treadmill. (Inner applause). I now record my data down and have run 6 miles total this week. (More than  I ever have...or wanted to.) I found several home workout websites, videos and  helpful sources such as:

1. Blogilates  Videos, recipes, exercises that actually work as well as a super quirky and fun instructor!
2. Body Rock Somewhat more challenging than blogilates (to a certain extent only) but is a great resource for folks who want to achieve a sculpt, toned, carved look.  
3. MyWayFit  If you are a Russian speaker, these will be peculiarly helpful as they are in Russian. However, you don't have to understand them to keep up! 

2. Saving money sucks. And I'm bad at it.

Budgeting is not easy, nor is it all that much fun seeing that I wasted about 40% of my paycheck on frivoulous things like eating out. I should really be focusing my assets on things that will last for a long time such as a pretty, shiny, slick, chick, (arrrghhhhhhh I CAN'T WAIT TO GET ONE) MacBook Pro. However, since I am constantly busy (work, internship, catching up on 6 seasons of Dexter), its much more difficult for me to stay organized with my purchases and expenses. To make my life easier, I signed up for a Virtual Wallet account with my local PNC bank which has superb features like actually showing me what I bought seconds after I bought it! This is really important for me since I despise waiting until the end of the month to see how I spent my money. It also has a budget tool built in. I will write more once I actually will be able to browse around. To get more in-depth knowledge about saving, earning, budgeting, check out these sites and articles: 

1.  LearnVest Knowlege Center Learn all the lingo! 
2. Set a Budget, Make a Plan. Understand Your Finances With Mint.com My favorite feature is it letting me create goals and set money directly for things I wish to purchase. 
3. Make the Financial Plan Fit for You Student? Loans? Parents? They got you covered with a customizable financial plan for you! 

3. I can read Allure in 30 min, but it takes a serious push to read a book.
I love books. And I love to read. But the Internet beckons and the sound is so sweet. I know that in order to educate, challenge and push myself I must simply read. It's a good hobby as well as a stress-reliever. Subsequently it is the way I pick up new vocabulary (since I am Ukrainian and English is not my native language, I can get all the vocab lessons I can get). I simply must come up with a plan, or a chart of some sort to organize my reading since I am running behind on my reading goal.

(Current read)



4. Two videos a week? Lies.

So far, it has been two weeks since I made a video. The goal was two per week. I have tons of ideas and plans set in motion- written out, planned, thought out. They just need to be recorded. And edited. And blogged. It's just like with books: if I get the ball rolling, I won't stop. I just need the push. (Seeing that it's already June 25th helps. Time flies. I stand still.)







5. I must try new things more often! (Like keeping a schedule. Or following up with goals.)

Simply put, I don't explore enough! I wanted to try new things like cook more, or explore new places or simply do more things. I've done little. I'm just not that adventurous but it is a skill I wish to hone. Stand by for further thoughts.

What about you? What'd you learn this week?
-K