Friday Feature

Yes, they made another one so I had to share. Here's Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake doing The History of Rap, part 5.

Workout Clothes

Though I do have a place in my heart for a great LuLu Tank, there are many other options when it comes to great looking/feeling workout gear. Here's LivFit and KIAVA and right now they have a special running, Everything LivFit under $29.99! Check them out:

Hydration

Your body is made up of between 50%-75% water. Water serves a number of essential function to keep us all going:

• A vital nutrient to the life of every cell, acts first as a building material.
• It regulates our internal body temperature by sweating and respiration
• The carbohydrates and proteins that our bodies use as food are metabolized and transported by water in the bloodstream;
• It assists in flushing waste mainly through urination
• acts as a shock absorber for brain, spinal cord, and fetus
• forms saliva
• lubricates joints

Need more reasons to drink water?

Running Right

I was going to write a long wordy post about the correct way to run but then saw this great info-graphic and thought y'all would probably like that better so here it is--learn it, love it. Running is one of my favorite ways to burn calories.

Resolve

It's January! we've made it through the delightful chaos of the holiday season. Now ready to make some resolutions for the new year. So how did it all get started?

Wikipedia says this:

The ancient Babylonians made promises to their gods at the start of each year that they would return borrowed objects and pay their debts.

The Romans began each year by making promises to the god Janus, for whom the month of January is named.

In the Medieval era, the knights took the "peacock vow" at the end of the Christmas season each year to re-affirm their commitment to chivalry.

At watch-night services, many Christians prepare for the year ahead by praying and making these resolutions.

The concept, regardless of creed, is to reflect upon self-improvement annually.

So I'm reflecting on the resolutions I made last year and deciding what worked and what was completely ignored, and what do I want to work on this year. This is what I decided. I need to make only a few goals to work on--focus to achieve. :) And they need to be in categories.

I came up with five categories that work best for me:

Church

Writing

Family

Personal

Financial

Next I thought up no more than two goals for each, and I wrote them out in detail. I read once that goals need to be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound. The time length is already taken care of--one year, and I wrote them out in detail so that checks off my specific requirement so I need to make them relevant, measurable and attainable and I'm all set.

I'm looking forward to working on my own goals this year, and excited to see what the new year brings!

Code

Being able to write code is something that I believe will be a vital skill for us in the future, particularly for our children's generation. Many schools internationally are already including this in their curriculum for all children--four and up, but did you know that 90% of the children in the United States are not learning any? Might be time to add to the curriculum again, or in after school programs, where available.

You might have seen this floating around recently:

I thought it would be interesting to learn a new skill myself so I signed up at Code Academy and chose the language I wanted to learn, Java, and started. It has been a fun and addicting project. I'm currently only 20% done but I do a little each day.You also earn little badges as you hit certain points, and they are, interestingly enough, exciting to get.

Here's a screen shot of one I got:

I plan on learning as many languages as I can, why not? It's free! Have you learned to code?

Friday Feature

Here's a few of my favorite holiday songs this year. First up Pentatonix doing The Carol of the Bells




Cloverton's Cover of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" with a twist



Nathan Pacheco, O Holy Night



What are you listening to during the holiday's?