Time to celebrate

By now you probably know that I won the latest round of the Biggest Loser challenge at work. So it's time to reward myself. I've decided to pick five rewards, one for every 10 pounds lost since January. Plus, that let's me treat myself while also throwing in a few challenges.

Here's the list:

1. New clothes. It would just be wrong to lose more than 50 pounds and not buy new clothes. I shop a lot anyway, but between the past two weekends, I've spent my winnings and then some. So I think that counts as a real shopping spree. I really don't want to buy anymore clothes, though, because I'm still losing weight. I can't afford a new wardrobe every six months.

2. Nice bottle of wine. This is important to me because I do love wine, but I usually buy fairly inexpensive kinds. Since I've already spent my winnings, I can't exactly go crazy. But I think a deserve to spend at least $25. Whether it gets shared with my friend at work (you know who you are) remains to be seen.

3. Tennis. I've loved playing tennis since I was in high school, but I've played just once in the past 11 years. That's unacceptable. So I'm going to pick it up again. If anyone wants to play, please let me know. I've already committed to taking on my boss.

4. The Loop. I want to walk to walk The Loop at Wrightsville Beach. For those who don't know, it's a more than 2-mile trail around the town hall and through part of the town. This is a challenge because I really haven't been exercising much and taking on more physical activity for the second half of the year is extremely important to me. My goal is to do it by the end of August.

5. Be happy. This might seem weird, but I'm giving myself permission to be happy. An intern at work inspired me to add this reward. And I've already been working on this for the past six weeks or so. Happiness comes in many forms, but for me it mostly means not getting bothered by the little things. Instead, I want to see the good in every day. And I want to end every day with a sense of peace. Achieving this will be a struggle, especially since I don't have any real strategies in mind. But I think I've demonstrated that I can do anything I put my mind to.