Lynnae Branham

Today I am grateful for... 
1) My amazing boyfriend who went and checked out the waves with me at 6am and treated me to Huron Bakery :) 
2) The winter course list being released - scheduling is so much fun to me! 
3) Living in beautiful Marquette - driving around this morning made me realize how lucky I am to live up here 

The past few days I have forgotten to post so I will make one large post for the past 4 days! I also keep forgetting to click the challenges I'm doing that specific day, I'm just trying to work on all of them together. 
Thursday: 
The 5 minute showers are next to impossible for me. I like to enjoy my time in the shower, I feel anxious rushing, and I take rough 7-9 minute showers which isn't so bad. I'm not sure the gallons of water difference but anything is better than 20-30 minutes, right? I was not successful in my challenge for that day but I did try. 
Friday: 
I walked to work which was extremely refreshing! The crisp fall air smelled wonderfully and the extra exercise was nice. My roommate and I have been making strides to workout more but our conflicting schedules has make it tough so the walk to work made me happy. 
Saturday: 
For less screen time/social media use, I had the opportunity to go mountain biking! Yay! A group of 8 or so of course all went out in a little pack and that's the most people I've ever rode with at one time. My roommate and I were the only girls and struggled to keep it but it was still a blast! Great group of people to ride with :) I'm sad the season is almost over. 
Sunday: 
Today I am grateful for... 
1) My crockpot! My boyfriend and I had time to not only grocery shop today but also make chicken and dumpling soup. It was quite yummy and I love cooking with him. 
2) I read about 60 pages in the book I chose for my book report for RE270! It was a really interesting read and it relieves stress as I'm having more and more homework lately. 
3) The light bill this month only being $55! Woo hoo! My roommates and I have been very light conscious and are good about turning off the search protectors if we don't have things plugged in. Every little bit helps, right? 

Three things I am grateful for today... 
1) My cozy new bed that my lovely coworker gave to me for free! 
2) The Gluten Intolerance Group setting up a 4 week meal plan (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) that will make my official transition to gluten and dairy free much easier. The great things you can find online! 
3) My roomie and I tag teaming feeding/taking out the dogs. It's super nice having the extra help! 

Typically I check my Instagram every morning I have breakfast but today that's not the case! I have not checked it yet and I do not intend to until bed tonight. I really think I can do it and having a busier day definitely helps. I'm not addicted to social media by any means but it's nice because it's easy stimuli when you're bored and just need to pass some time. I actually have deleted my Facebook and Instagram several times in the past, taking a hiatus. I wonder if I'll do this again soon. 
Three things I am greateful for this morning are... 
1) My biking buddies and finally having schedules that line up so we can all go out to South Trails today :) 
2) My roommates/"da fam" buying pumpkins to carve them tonight! Yay! 
3) Halloween is just around the corner. 

Today I took my first 5 minute shower! Yay! I've been able to get it down to 7 minutes on a regular basis but today I finally got it down to 5. I think the only thing I did differently was not fussing with the water temperature for a long time. I have an old shower and you have to adjust the handle just right or it'll be scalding hot or freezing cold. Today it was definitely a colder shower but since I was focused on just getting in and out quickly, it really wasn't all that bad. I know colder/lukewarm showers are better for your skin but now that it's getting chilly out, it's so hard to  do so. 
Three things I'm grateful for today are... 
1) Layers -- I love layering in the fall! 
2) I have a huge thing for rings, it's the only jewelry I wear, and I got two new ones this weekend :)
3) Scott being a boss professor and helping with my WFRer exam and making sure I don't fail the course :D 

Today 3 things I am grateful for are... 
1) Listening to the rain with the windows open 
2) My roommate's new puppy not having any accidents in the house yesterday or this morning 
3) My cousin sending me a free Hello Fresh box

Today I failed at checking my Instagram/SnapChat to one time a day, however, I managed to only look on both three times today! It's all about baby steps, right? It helped that I had a pretty busy day but instead of picking up my phone when I'm bored, I decided to play with the pups or doing something proactive with my time. This challenge has definitely made me more conscious of my social media usage and it's great practice to use it less and less! My goal tomorrow is to only go on once - let's see how I do! 

Yesterday instead of watching TV for an hour I went outside with my dog and my roommates dog and threw the ball around/played with them. It was a joy watching them interact and I love that they're getting along better and better as time passes. 

Today I am grateful for 1) my amazing boyfriend and roommates who are my best friends 2) my wonderful dog who is doing a great job adjusting to having a puppy in the house now and 3) the beautiful fall weather! It's my favorite season :) 

Today I completed an online energy audit for my home and I came to find out that my home is extremely inefficient. It's an older home, build in 1920, and from lack of insulation in the attack and basement, high number of older style windows, and not the most up to date furnace - it's no surprise that we waste energy and money. To my defense, its a college rental so the quality of the home is out of my control and there's no chance of making repairs myself so the most I could do is change to energy efficient light bulbs. This should help conserve energy along with savings my roommates and I money, which every poor college student loves. 

I already have my roommates participating and filling out their profiles online! Woo!