Dear beloved readers,

As you know, I took the month of July off of blogging, as I knew it was going to be a very busy month at work.  I had hoped that during this time, I would “blog ahead” some posts, such as the décor posts or my book reviews.

That didn’t happen. 

The truth is, I really love my job. 

I wave at the building when I’m not there – seriously! 

I love my boss.  I MISS her when she’s not there.

I love what I do.  I am stimulated intellectually, creatively, you name it. 

And because of that, I have not had any urge to blog. 

That doesn’t mean that I don’t love you guys anymore – quite the opposite!  It just means that I need some time away, some undefined time, until I feel like blogging again.

I have a lot to say – it’s not a content issue at all.

It’s more about me focusing my energy on my career right now.  I have finally found the perfect match:  the right job AND the right company.

I am also stepping down from the Ohio Blogging Association.  I started it when I was unemployed.  I just don’t have the energy for that anymore either.  I’m so proud of what the team has done.  Huge shout-outs to Alicia, Rachel, and Katie.  I have told them that I’ll support them from the sidelines.

I do post frequently on my Facebook page, which is here.  I almost always carry my status updates from my personal page over to that.  I hope you’ll follow me there to keep up.

Also, I will still Tweet, @purtyinorange.

This isn’t goodbye, as I’m sure I’ll be back here and there.  It’s just to say:

Thank you.

Thank you for being here.

Thank you for caring.

Thank you for reading.

Thank you for commenting.

Thank you for sharing your world with me.

Thank you for allowing me to share mine with you.

Love,

Hi all,

This month is going to be killer at work, and I know I won’t have any time to blog. So I’m taking the month of July off. 

1.  There won’t be a July Challenge of the Month.  We’ll resume those in August.  The winner of June’s Challenge of the Month is Miss Laura of Absolut(ly) Fit!  Go Laura!  This is her second win this year.

2.  If you would like to guest post, just email me at angela[at]prettyinorange[dot]com. 

3.  This is the first real break I’ve taken in the 5 years I’ve been blogging.  I think I deserve it

I’ll see you guys in August.  It’s really not that far away at all!

Love to all of you!

No, I’m not talking about THIS kind of planking:

I’m talking about THIS kind of planking:

That’s right. The kind that strengthens your abdomen.  Wait, WHAT?  Aren’t I always about loving yourself no matter what?  Yes, yes, I am. 

BUT, this is important, because when your abdomen is weak, you open yourself up to issues with your back, with your abdominal wall (as in hernias) and increased pressure on your joints.  So, it’s not just about cosmetics, it’s about your overall health.

If you get a flatter tummy, that’s just icing on the cake, right?

Plank It!

Your challenge, should you choose to take it, is to do at least one plank every day. 

There are several options you have with planks and they’re suitable for everyone from beginners to die-hard athletes.

These are just some options.

Or you can watch this video:

The Rules:

1.  Do a plank and see how long you can hold it.  20 seconds is great for beginners.  Over a minute is great for someone a bit further along in their fitness.

2.  Leave your comment WITH your original plank time on this post to announce your intent to commit to the challenge.  You must do so by Monday, June 6.  If you can’t commit to this one, don’t worry – there are 6 more coming!

3.  If you have a blog, it would be great if you could do a weekly summary of what you did for the challenge.

4.  If you don’t have a blog, I would love to receive a weekly summary via email of what you did for the challenge.  OR, you can always do a guest post for me (meaning you write it and I post it here) about what you did.

5.  On June 30th, I want to hear from you as to how long your are holding your planks now.

6.  On June 30, I will enter all of the participant names into a drawing.  The winner receives:

• One (1) $25.00 gift certificate to Amazon.com AND
• Gets to choose a charity to which I will donate $25 in her/his name.

Okay?

Ready, set, GO!

This month’s challenge was No Hate, meaning that you needed to find something about your body to love every single day of the month.

Here are some body parts that I love:

1. My hands.  I love that they are not bony or veiny or anything else.  I love that they don’t show my age at all.

2.  My eyes.   They’ve been green since I was about 5 years old and I love that they are one of the more unusual colors.

3.  My lips.  No need for filler here!!

4.  My toes.  Despite 7 being broken at some point in my life, 2 being broken twice, they are still nice and not freaky at all. 

5.  My breasts.  They’re real and they’re spectacular!

6.  My hair.  It’s naturally curly, which is great for this wash and go girl!

How about you?  What did you find to love about yourself?

Our winner this month is:

Latoya E.

Congrats Latoya!  I’ll be contacting you for your charity information!

Stay tuned for June’s 2011 Challenge of the Month information1

Well, we have our May 2011 Challenge of the month contenders!

1.  Rachel of Hounds in the Kitchen

2.  Jennifer M.

3.  CLEgal of Why CLE?  (She also started her own challenge based off of this one.)

4.  Diana of Cookerati

5.  Renae B.

6.  Latoya E.

Good luck ladies!

I had several different things I wanted to do for our challenge this month, most of them physical as it’s almost bathing suit season.  But then I decided that we needed to focus on our bodies in a different way.  And thus, the May 2011 Challenge of the Month was born!

No Hate

This month’s challenge is to identify one thing you love about your body every single day. You are beautiful just the way you are and I want you to reinforce that knowledge with this challenge.

We’ve got to stop these ridiculous standards we’ve set ourselves to, friends. Every time you say something negative about your body, you not only put yourself down, you put down everyone around you.  WHAT?!?! What do I mean by that?

Let’s see.  How do you think it makes me feel when you, at 5’2” 135 lbs complain about your body in front of me?  Hmmm? Or that you hate that you’re a size 10 and not a 6 or 8.  Really?

This is a picture of Princess Beatrice from 4 years ago. She was ridiculed for being too fat.  Umm, I wish I looked that good in a bikini!  Why do we need to publish photos like this and make fun of people?

How about loving where you are? If you want to tone up, tone up.  If you want to change your shape, do it through exercise and eating well.  But don’t let a number define your happiness.  And don’t spread that kind of negative self-talk around.  Your children, especially your daughters, are listening.

So NO HATE!

The Rules:

1.  Leave your comment on this post to announce your intent to commit to the challenge.  You must do so by Friday, May 6.  If you can’t commit to this one, don’t worry – there are 7 more coming!

2.  If you have a blog, it would be great if you could do a weekly summary of what you did for the challenge.

3.  If you don’t have a blog, I would love to receive a weekly summary via email of what you did for the challenge.  OR, you can always do a guest post for me (meaning you write it and I post it here) about what you did.

4.  On May 31, I will enter all of the participant names into a drawing.  The winner receives:

• One (1) $25.00 gift certificate to Amazon.com AND
• Gets to choose a charity to which I will donate $25 in her/his name.

Okay?

Ready, set, GO!

This month’s challenge was to Walk It Off, meaning that you should up your amount of walking.

I did that by:

• getting up and walking to people’s cubicles rather than  yelling over them
• taking some stairs here and there (which is really hard on my back – it wants my hips to stay even, not shift so far up and down)
• working at the store 2 days per week.  Being on my feet and running around definitely increased my movement!

How did you do?

The winner is:

Susan of Falling Out of Place!

Congrats Susan!  I will be contacting you for your charity information!

Stay tuned for May’s 2011 Challenge of the Month information!

We have our April Challenge of the Month Participants!

1.  LonnieandJess

2.  Diana of Cookerati – who also informed us that smartphones have pedometer apps – big yay!

3.  Katie of Healthy Heddleston

4.  Alexis of Too Busy Gals

5.  Susan of Falling Out of Place

6.  Natalie

7.  Renae

8.  Laura of Absolut(ly) Fit

Can’t wait to hear how everyone is doing!

Walk It Off

This month’s challenge is to up your movement by walking more.  As I’m sure you’ve read, doctors recommend walking around 10000 steps per day (or more) to promote an active lifestyle. 

I am pretty sure I don’t walk that much, especially at my desk job.  The bathroom isn’t that far away and I don’t have to travel through the building often.  BUT, that doesn’t mean I couldn’t get up off of my hiney and walk around on my own.

I don’t love walking, as I’ve said before.  But I’m willing to take 30 days and challenge myself to see how many steps I can do in a month. 

I don’t expect you to do 10000 steps per day.  I just want you to make an effort to walk more over the next 30 days.

Most of us sit for 8 hours or so at our jobs.  This has shown to be exceedingly dangerous, as our fluids just pool where they are, rather than move around and go to the correct places.  I want us to do something about that. 

You will need a pedometer to get an accurate reading of your steps.  Or you need some sort of monitor that measures distance.  These are very easy to find at most stores (Target, Walmart, etc.) or Amazon.

So WALK IT OFF!

The Rules:

1.  Leave your comment on this post to announce your intent to commit to the challenge.  You must do so by Wednesday, April 6.  If you can’t commit to this one, don’t worry – there are 9 more coming!

2.  If you have a blog, it would be great if you could do a weekly summary of what you did for the challenge.

3.  If you don’t have a blog, I would love to receive a weekly summary via email of what you did for the challenge.  OR, you can always do a guest post for me (meaning you write it and I post it here) about what you did.

4.  On April 30, I will enter all of the participant names into a drawing.  The winner receives:

• One (1) $25.00 gift certificate to Amazon.com AND
• Gets to choose a charity to which I will donate $25 in her/his name.

Okay?

Ready, set, GO!

This month’s challenge was to Give It Up, meaning get rid of some clutter in your home every day. 

The winner is:

Lisa of Thrive Style! 

Congratulations Kim!  I’ll be contacting you for your charity info and to send you your Amazon gift card.

REMEMBER, YOU WILL NEED A PEDOMETER FOR APRIL’S CHALLENGE! 

Thanks again to all who entered!  Come back tomorrow for the deets about April’s Challenge!