Sorry guys

So, I haven't been doing much lately since I've been sick and not able to breath well. Here's why:

There are a couple of people that live in my building that smoke right outside of the door, under the covered entrance into the building. Such as this:

I have started to take pictures of the people who have been doing it, and I haven't been sneaky about it in any way. However, they continue to smoke where their second-hand smoke comes right into our windows and patio door. The smoke has been irritating my lungs and is impeding my ability to breath!

While I appreciate that they abide to the no smoking law and not smoke in their apartments, smoking right outside of the building impacts the tenants that live right by the front door immediately.

I have contacted my management twice so far, indicating that it is disruptive and it causes my asthma symptoms to act up. They have pretty much done nothing in regards to this and have only offered to send out an email to remind people to try and move away from the building when they smoke. 

So, I haven't been running or doing any exercises recently because I haven't been able to breath well. I kind of like breathing. So, my next step is to see what kind of organizations are in Minnesota that can help me and see what other steps I can take.

I promise I will do better, guys.

To lighten the mood, here's a picture of me from the NKOTB concert last week!

-A

In need of some motivation

I'm in need of some motivation and company.

I need to get some items to help finish some of the items on my bucket list, and I'm hoping that some people will point me in the right direction to get these items.

I need help with finding:

• Someone with a tree house who would be willing to hang out with me.
• A good place to rent a canoe for a day and people to go with me.
• Someone who has a slackline or how to go about learning to do that.
• A good place to find butterflies.
• Someone who has cows and would be willing to teach me how to hand-milk one.
• Someone who is willing to go and hang out in a graveyard with me.
• Somewhere where I can rent gear AND learn to SCUBA. The places that I've seen online in the Twin Cities, you have to buy some of the gear.
• Someone who would be willing to teach me how to snorkel.
• Someone wish knowledge of when the next meteor shower is.
• A place that would be good to learn to shoot a gun.
• Figuring out what a box kite is!
• A local place that does bungee jumping.
• A place that is good for dance classes, like the Salsa and Tango, and to go with me.
• A good company that would do dog sledding.
• Someone to go with me to the MIA.
• A group of friends to go tailgating with (no need to actually go to the game)
• Someone with a motorcycle.
• A group of friends who want to go paint balling.
• Someone who has a boat and water skis, so I can learn how to water ski.

I hope that this helps be clear what I need assistance with. Just recommendations would be great, so I at least KNOW where to start.

THANKS!

-A

She keeps on running....

I ran my first 5k with my sister on this past Sunday at the Susan G. Komen's Race for The Cure. I finished with the time of 41 minutes and a couple seconds. My sister finished much sooner than me, but she's been running for longer.

A few minutes after finishing

That is really not that bad considering I had barely trained the last month. Also, I had set my bar very low with the goal to finish within an hour, and I did. So I'm going to call that a win. I will be trying to beat that time from now on.

Charlie being cute during the walk

Afterwards, my sister and I walked around the area that you can get free stuff, and got a bunch of free food, water and COFFEE. It was amazing. We didn't have much time to soak it all in, because we were also doing the 5k walk with our other sister and niece. It was so packed for the walk, that we weren't able to walk very fast, but it was nice to stretch out after the run.

The crowd behind up

The crowd in front of us

After we finished the walk, it was actually one of my other nieces' birthday and we were having a party later that day at my sister's place. It was fun. I took a small nap on the couch while everyone else was talking. The nap was glorious. The beer that I had with our dinner was even more glorious. My niece got her own "smash cupcake" to eat. She loved it.

Clara eating her cupcake!

We didn't stay too late, and I went to bed super early to go back to reality.

-A

P.S. I was SO sore on Monday.

Update

So, I have been a little busy with the end of the semester and all, but I have been working on some of the items on my list. Such as:

I have bought a sky-diving Groupon to go sky-diving with my cousin.
I have registered for my last class, which I will be completing this Summer and then I will be done with my bachelors. (super excited)
I have my first 5k tomorrow (May 10th), that I will be trying to run the whole thing.
I put 5 inspirational messages inside books at my local Barnes and Nobles, in hopes that people will buy the books, find the pieces of paper and feel good.

I'm still looking for people to help me with some of the things on my list, even if it's recommendations on where I should start looking or where I should go to do the activity.

I'm looking forward to having some more of this "free time" everyone keeps talking about, and exploring some new "hobbies" (whatever those are).

Now, I'm going to bed before a big day tomorrow!

-A