Wow, April's over!

My challenge for this past month was suggested to me by my friend Noli. I attempted to walk every street in Two Rivers. Didn't seem like it should have been too hard of a goal, considering the population is only 13000 people, right? It was a challenge, let me tell you. First, the weather this month seemed destined to make sure I wouldn't be able to get any walking in on my days off. Then, I faced another vicious enemy: loneliness. I can't tell you how bored I was walking for hours by myself. I spent these hours reflecting on my shortcomings, where I thought I'd be at this point in my life, thinking about how much I hate walking (when really I don't), berating myself for how I rarely finish anything I start, etc. The majority of the days I walked it was cloudy, which always puts me in a sad/contemplative mood, and the days I worked I walked at night, which always made me sad when I looked in people's windows and saw them gathered around their tvs with their families. So anyway, it was difficult spending this many hours alone. Finally, the last roadbump to achieving my goal seemed to be my body itself. I struggled with a sore hip until I got new walking shoes about halfway through the month, and my nose was so runny (because it was so cold out) that my pockets were literally packed with soaking wet kleenex.

I started out with the goal of actually walking the entire length of every single street. I kept that goal until today, when I realized I just didn't have the time. So today and today only I walked on several streets for only one block instead of the entire length. At least I can say I was on every street. Special thanks to my friend Heather from work. She walked with me a couple times these past 2 weeks and it really helped me keep my sanity. Unfortunately, I didn't lose any weight because I just eat too much. I did enjoy getting out and seeing the town after the long, long winter. I only wish I had kept track of how far I had walked, because I'm sure it was an impressive distance. On a related note, we had a fitness challenge at work the past 8 weeks. It ends Saturday (thankfully). I will admit that I hand-picked the other 3 people on my team because I wanted to win really bad- the prize is an ipod shuffle for each person on the team! I have exercised EVERY SINGLE DAY for the past 8 weeks, even the days I was so busy at work that I thought I would die of exhaustion. And yet, despite personally putting in an average of 600 minutes a week, my team is 52 hours out of first place. Sadly, we won't be winning those shuffles. But I'm thinking I might buy myself one anyway, after working out so hard for so long. I posted a picture of the map of Two Rivers I used to chart my progress. That's a lot of pink streets, huh?

April has begun!

Well, I finished my March challenge strong! I spent in total over 8 hours editing my book (I spent extra time a few days) and I am very close to being finished. It feels really good to be so close to being done with it. I'm almost kind of sick of it. I wonder if real authors feel that way about their books by the time they're published? I don't know any authors so I guess I'll never know. I'm sure my parents are ready for my book to be published because they keep begging to read my book but I won't let them until it's published...My dad assures me he will buy a copy no matter what, but still... Please take a moment to enjoy this picture of my calendar with 31 smiley face stickers...one for each day I spent 15 minutes editing my book!

This month's challenge is off to a good start. So far I've walked over 6 miles of Two Rivers city streets in my quest to step foot on all of them. I have to say it's kind of difficult picking a route because I try to zig zag back and forth in order to hit as many streets as possible, but then I'm left with the cross streets. So then I have to come back at a later time and hit the cross streets. I've started to chart my walks on runkeeper.com, and if I can figure out how to link that to this you'll be able to see my progress. I also got a map from city hall and I carry it and a highlighter with me so I can mark off where I've marked. Today wasn't that great for walking- it was really windy any time I headed west (which was 50% of my walk) but I still got some good walk in. I had to call it a day when a rather annoying chafing issued caused me to come up lame, but hopefully tomorrow I'll lube myself up well and be ready to hit the road again!

The month draws to a close...

One day left in March, and since I work tomorrow I doubt I'll be posting any wrap-up then, so how about today instead? I haven't finished editing my book, but I'm over halfway there. As I've already said, I feel much, much more proud of this product than the first round. It's got better flow, and thankfully my four wonderful editors not only caught a huge amount of my mistakes, but they made excellent suggestions as well. Many thanks to Katie Kelch, Amber LaFountain, Katie Smith and Laurie Gross for reading my book last year and giving me your feedback. I will say that the random underlines that my cousin Kate provided me throughout the novel don't give much guidance as to what she meant, but she's excused since she read the book while feeding her baby.

I have decided on my challenge for April and it is from a suggestion one of my wonderful friends provided me. See? It does pay to beg for help each month. However, as is my tradition, I will not reveal what the challenge is until April 1. Let's just say it involves my feet and a lot of sidewalk.

Thanks again for reading. I realize the majority of the time I post things, it's neither witty nor entertaining but for some gosh-darn reason you guys keep reading anyway. Probably just in the hopes that you're going to get lucky and hit the one post that actually is funny. Today's not that day, and the forecast for tomorrow doesn't look so hot either. Sorry, dude.

The picture above is my super high-tech book editing station. Yes, I am using both my tv tray and a dining room chair to hold the copies of my book. Looking at that pic again, it makes me look kinda messy, which I guess is...true. Dangit.

MORE FREE MONEY!

I am shocked to report I received another wonderful response to my February challenge that included a gift card! This response is from New Balance shoes (by now you know how much I love them, since they're made in America). Their letter reads as follows:

"Dear Ms. Smith, Thank you for contacting New Balance! We are grateful that you took the time to express your thoughts and concerns about our products and services. Total customer satisfaction is very important to us and we appreciate your feedback. New Balance proudly relies on our manufacturing associates to produces a quarter of our North American footwear worn by consumers in the US each year. We are proud to invest in American workers who provide some of the greatest working spirit, commitment to advancement and ingenuity known in the industrial world. In addition, we would like to thank you for your continued customer support. To express our gratitude, we have included a gift certificate to be redeemed with your next purchase through our online retailer www.shopnewbalance.com Please let us know if you have any additional questions by email or at 1-800-622-1218. Have a good day! Sincerely, James Duprey"

So I'm now the proud recipient of a $10 certificate for Hallman Lindsay Paints and a $25 gift card from New Balance. And I didn't even ask for a response from any of them! Cool!

As March draws to a close, I know for certain I won't finish proofreading my book in time, which is ok. The spark to finish it has been rekindled inside of me, and I can't wait to be done! Especially considering the idea for my next book is taking shape in my mind, and I'm going to need to pour it out onto paper soon before I forget it!

I'm taking suggestions for challenges for the upcoming month. I have a few that I can fall back on if nothing better comes up, but I am hoping someone will come up with a good one for me! You can post it here or facebook it to me! Thanks for reading!

And can you tell spring is on the way and I'm breaking out of my winter doldrums by how many exclamation points I used in this post!? WOW! Exclamation points are the BEST! So are CAPITAL LETTERS!!!!!!! But the very best is CAPITAL LETTERS AND EXCLAMATION POINTS USED IN A SENTENCE TOGETHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I need to eat less sugar.

Another response to my Feb. challenge!

I received another response to my February challenge, and this one wins the prize for the largest monetary value. You may remember that I wrote to the Hallman Lindsay Paint Company to tell them that I admired the quality of their product and the fact that not only is it made in America- it's made in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin! I painted the bricks on the lower portion of my house with it last summer and I will say it is the thickest paint I've ever used. It also covered in just one coat, which is something a lot of other paints advertise but lie about. Anyway, here is what their letter says:

"Dear Ms. Smith:
Thank you very much for your February letter to our company! We were very glad to hear about your positive store experience with our staff in Manitowoc, and that you were impressed with the high quality of the paint we make here in Wisconsin. We very much appreciate your efforts to let other people know about our company and our paint! Without loyal customers like you in Wisconsin, we wouldn't be able to continue our business. We hope to see you in our stores again soon. Please find enclosed a gift certificate for $10.00 towards your next purchase at any of our stores. If you are coming through Sun Prairie, let us know- we'd be happy to give you a tour of the plant! Many thanks again for your support of our family owned, Wisconsin-based company. Sincerely, Renee Kalvestrand Marketing Director"

Cool, huh? I never imagined I would get anything worth actual money out of this! I almost can't wait for my next painting project so I can use the gift certificate! And I'm planning on being down near Sun Prairie in June, so what better way to spend a beautiful summer day than touring a pain factory (ok, I'm joking a little bit here.)

Sometimes someone touches your heart...

Well, as promised, I am going to share with you a wonderful card I received in the mail this week in response to my challenges. It's from my friend Cameo, and it didn't make my day- it made my week! It reads as follows:
"Annie, Hello there! As you are my inspiration, I thought it only fitting that you should receive the first card. I started to make a list of things and people who make me happy and let them know. It is a much better pastime than worrying over the "thorns" that are in the way. A whole year with challenges, it is such an admirable goal. You might find you'll be changed by the experience:) ! I made a list, and wanted to start in April, but I hit 40 people/places in the blink of an eye! So I began today 3/11/11 and I will see how far I can go. 1 person a day, and if I need to add more to my list, well I'll just keep writing! Thank you for being my inspiration. Thank you for your challenges and your blog, I am a fan! Happiness and blessings, Cameo"

I told a few people that I didn't set out to inspire others. I set out to see if I could just complete 12 different challenges. But I quickly realized, just a few days into January, that I DID want to inspire others! I love that I got other people to pay attention to where everything they buy is made, whether that is America or China. I love that I have given people feedback that they value, whether that be my favorite author or my favorite bike company. I guess without initially meaning to, I am trying to spark a change (however small) in those around me. Everyone likes to be appreciated, but of course it means more coming from a dear friend than from Menards!

Cameo, I'm honored that I inspired you to let those who mean the most to you know how you feel. I want to thank you for choosing me to be the first recipient of a card. And I really hope that everyone reading this can do one little thing to positively impact someone else's life. (Sound like the movie Pay it Forward? Tough.) When you think about it, that's what I'm trying to do: encourage others to make the world a better place. I dare you...what will you do?

Fan mail continues to pour in...

I've still been receiving feedback from my February challenge, although I also got a small disappointment. My letter to Adam Richman (the adorable host of Man vs Food) was returned unopened. I guess this means my chances of meeting and marrying him are fairly small since I can't even get a letter to him :(

But on a happier note, a few days ago I got a letter from the author Janet Evanovich. It reads: "Andrea, great to hear from you. You'll have to excuse the semi-form letter. I love getting mail, and I read every single letter that comes in, but I've had to stop handwriting responses. Too many letters and not enough time. Hope you continue to enjoy my books and thanks for taking the time to write. Fondly, Janet" (signed by hand). So that was pretty neat! Today I received a response letter from General Mills after I had shared with them how much I enjoyed their Fiber One cereals, granola bars, etc. They wrote: "Dear Ms. Smith: Thank you for contacting General Mills regarding Fiber One granola bars. We appreciate the time you have taken to share your positive feedback with us. We will be very happy to pass on your comments to the product team. We are committed to creating the highest quality products for our consumers. Feedback such as yours helps us to achieve this goal for the future. We appreciate your loyalty and hope you continue to enjoy our products. Sincerely, Kristin Wynn"

I would have to say I'm pretty impressed with the feedback I've received. I never once intended to get anything back, so I'd say the response has been great. I think that makes a total of six or seven people/companies that I've heard back from. Out of 28 days in the month, that's about 1 in 4 return rate. Pretty cool!

I am, however, saving the very best response for its own post. Stay tuned- tomorrow I'll share a really touching card I received in the mail from a wonderful friend in regards to my YEAR OF CHALLENGES!

Now, for an update regarding this month's challenge: I continue to KICK BUTT at editing my book. I feel like I've made some huge improvements, with my proof being that I'm only on page 67 out of 266 pages of the book. I am going over it with a fine-toothed comb, moving portions around, changing the wording, etc, and I really feel like I'm going to turn out a killer product. However, I don't think I'm going to be able to finish this challenge by the end of the month. Luckily, that wasn't part of the challenge- it was only to consistently work on it 15 minutes a day. Like I said, stay tuned! There's more to come tomorrow!