What have I gotten myself into?

Now that Carnival season is over (pics to come soon-ish), the Lenten season has fallen across the city of New Orleans.  While I'm not Catholic, I was brought up in that faith for 16 years and actually do understand and embrace the Lenten season .  So this year I decided to take a huge leap and give up alcohol for 40 days & nights.  SHOCKING, I know, but I figured that since I did it for the 2 weeks before the wedding, I could stretch it out a few more weeks, no problem.  I did something similar with Coca-Cola during the summer before i started college.  Back in high school I had no problem downing 4-5 cokes a day, so giving it up was kind of a big jump at the time.  Since I'd be playing varsity sports once entering college that fall, I decided to stop drinking it the summer and fall of 2001 so I'd be in top physical shape -- and it turned into me abstaining from soda as a whole for 9 years (haven't had a soda since!).  Now, I have no intention of giving up alcohol entirely, I just want to see if I can do it until Easter.  It won't be easy, but thats not the point of Lent, right?

On top of abstaining from alchy, I've decided to jump in and finally take up Jillian Michaels 30-day Shred challenge. 

(photo from http://www.lionsgatepublicity.com)

Since I played sports at the collegiate and post-collegiate level, I figured this would be no sweat - just a way to get nice and toned.  I started off on Level 1 and I felt awesome - by Day 4 I had mastered that level and was feeling strong, motivated and in charge of my workouts.  Then I moved to Level 2 on Day 5 and the workout began.

Strong and motivated then changed to feeling tired, and out of shape.  I have learned that I despise squat thrusts, chair squats and V flies.  After day 8 of my 30 day challenge, instead of feeling like this:

(photo from http://theconditioningclassroom.com)

I still feel like this:

(actual picture of me when I was 6 months old.  My parents were always
 up for weird photos ops of us kids while were were little)

But every day is one step closer to feeling and looking great - every great journey begins with one little step.  What challenge have you put yourself up to lately?