Eco-chic Lifestlye Change Week 5: Weekly Upadate

My SMART goal has been to walk to school and work at least 5 times in a week. Unfortunately this week I did not complete mt goal, I only made the walk 4 times. I only had school and work 5 times this week, so I drove once.

Succeses & Challenges

I major challenge for my goal is the upcoming weather. I am not excited to continue my goal once the weather is like it is in this picture. But I knew eventually this time would come, I have my hat and gloves ready so bring it on! The challenge I faced this week when I decided to walk to work was because I worked at 7am. I didn't sleep well the night before and it was cold, so I took  a step backward and did not succeed in achieving my goal for the first time. Otherwise, a strategy I used to succeed this week was to start to dress in layers on the walk; I wasn't cold one bit.

Feelings & Plans for Next Week

For the most part this week I felt really good about my goal while I was walking. I was proud that even on the windy chilly days I was still walking to school. The only time I was disappointed and upset with myself was on that drive to school that morning. Since I did not achieve my goal this week, I am going to keep my SMART goal the same. If I don't have any trouble achieving it this week I will consider making it more difficult next week.

Eye Opener: Junk on the Brain

For this eye opener I used the search engine dictionary.com to look up the following terms. Antiques refers to something of the past, not modern.  Also, antiquing refers to the process of shopping or collection antiques. Junk means any old or discarded material, anything regarded as worthless. Such as old metal, paper, or rags. A flea market is an outdoor market consisting of individual stalls selling old or used articles and antiques.  A thrift shop is a shop that sells used articles, especially clothing, as to benefit a charitable organization. Upcycling refers to processing used materials into new products, or the re-use of a defective product for alternative purposes, to prevent waste of potentially useful materials and reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials. A resale shop is very similar to a thrift shop. It is a retail establishment operated by a charitable organization for the purpose of fundraising.

The defined terms above have a lot to do with environmental health. They are all ways that different things are recycled or re-used in order to prevent uneeded waste and that is what environmental health is all about. There is a flea market that my family has gone to many times in the past in Hinckley, MN right down the road from the Grand Casino. At this flea market there are lots of antiques, and also a lot of what some people would call junk. Throughout the Duluth area they are several Goodwill stores, these are charitable thrift/resale shops. Their website is Goodwill.org. There is one located at 700 Garfield Ave and 4883 Miller Trunk Highway in Hermantown. In the past I have donated things to Goodwill, such as furniture, clothes, appliances, even a grill. It is  just a nice way to get rid of things you don't need and feel good about it.

Next I visited Junk Market Style and found several interesting projects. I thought the Leafy Sail Sculpture is really cool and creative. It is a really neat looking scuplture that spins freely made entirely out of reused metal, brass, copper, and steal. The next thing that I found that was really interesting was All Hallows Eve Junky Movie. This is a list classic scary movies that are filled with junk, simple enough. I thought it was great because looking over the list brought back a lot of childhood memories of me being scared out of my mind. Lastly I found Another Crazy Lamp, this is a very creative piece of artwork. He took an old paint bucket and made it into a pretty neat looking lamp, with a paint scraper as the pull chain. This was a very clever way of turning some old junk into something very useful.