Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 5: Final Weekly Review and Overall Project Reflection

My SMART Goal: I will take public transportation to school three or more days of the week for the next ten weeks. 

This week I wanted to increase my goal from three days a week to four days a week. Unfortunately I only managed to meet the old goal and rode the bus 3 times this past week. I think the biggest challenge I faced this week was the snow and cold weather. It made it really hard for me to want to walk down the road when it was sooooo cold! Also I was thinking about when I was going to have to walk home when I got off of the bus. Now that that days are getting shorter and it's getting darker earlier and earlier, it was really hard for me to take the bus when I knew I was going to have to walk home in the dark. Even though I didn't meet my improved goal, I was still happy with the fact that I took the bus the three days that I did. I definitely learned that I just need to realize that it's not getting warmer anytime soon so I just need to suck it up and bundle up haha! 

Review of Entire Process

My SMART Goal: I will take public transportation to school three or more days of the week for the next ten weeks. 

My goal changed a little bit during the last weeks. I changed it from three days a week to four because I was satisfied with the progress i was making and thought I could do better. I think that the biggest reason I was so successful was due to the fact that I was blogging about my experience. The fact that other people were reading about my successes and failures made me want to achieve my goal that much more. Things that got in my way were my procrastination in getting ready (so I missed the bus), and the cold and weather. In the future I need to just hurry up and get ready 10 minutes earlier and also realize that the weather is not going to be good all the time so I need to just deal with it. 

The biggest way that I benefited from this project was saving on gas and money. I was astonished at how much gas I was using on the short trip to and from school every week. I also helped out the environment by not using as much gas, and reducing the emissions I was producing. 

I definitely will continue with this behavior. I would be really dumb to not continue taking the bus considering it is free with my U-Card. 

One thing I would recommend to others when making a lifestlyle change.... tell someone about it and ask them to hold you accountable. Check in with them and let them know how you are doing. It's a lot more motivating when someone else cares about it too! 

Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 4: Weekly Update

My SMART goal: I will take public transportation to school three or more days of the week for the next 10 weeks. 

Well, now that things have settled down a little bit, it's been much easier to meet my goal. Obviously I wasn't able to take the bus anywhere last week because I was home for Thanksgiving, but this week has shown much more promise. I have already taken the bus Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of this week! 

One of the biggest challenges for me this week was the temptation of driving my car to school due to the weather, but at the same time it makes me want to take the bus more because I don't want to have to drive if the roads happen to get really bad. I actually bought a new hat and mittens to make it easier for me to be outside now that winter is setting in a little harder. I am very surprised at how good it is making me feel to actually be meeting my goal this week :) My plan for next week is to make my SMART goal a little bit more challenging and take the bus 4 or more times next week. Wish me luck!

Blogged for the Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 3 hosted by Amy@Amy in the Rain.

Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 3: Weekly Update

My SMART goal: 

I will take public transportation to school three or more days of the week for the next ten weeks

Well, another week has flown by again. I had a really difficult time meeting my SMART goal again this week due to schedule conflicts. I left for the regional volleyball tournament last week Wednesday morning (I drove my car to school) and didn't get back until Sunday night. I was only in Duluth Monday and Tuesday before going home for Thanksgiving break. I did however take the bus to and from school those two days so that made me pretty happy :) 

I have been realizing how much more relaxing it is to take the bus to school. Yes, it sucks having to walk down the road to catch the bus, especially when it's cold out, but it sure beats wondering if I'm going to get a spot in the pay-lot at school (which has been very difficult this year). I've managed to accumulate a number of parking tickets over the last 4 years due to that darn pay-lot being full 24/7. Also, the bus that I take gets to school fifteen minutes before the hour which gives me plenty of time to get to class on time and even grab a coffee! I am somewhat of a procrastinator and when I drive myself to school, I always manage to never leave enough time to get to class early. Taking the bus has eliminated that problem! 

My schedule will be a lot less hectic now that volleyball is over and Thanksgiving break has come. I have high hopes of meeting my goal 100% from now until the end of the semester! 


Blogged for the Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 3 hosted by Amy@Amy in the Rain.

Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 2: Weekly Update

My SMART goal: I will take public transportation to school three or more days of the week for the next ten weeks.

Wow! The week went by really fast! I had a hard time reaching my SMART goal this week for two reasons. The first reason was because of the fact that there were days that I had to drive to school because I had other things going on where I didn't have the time to wait for an hour for the bus to come. The other reason it was hard for me to reach my goal was because we had a volleyball road trip last weekend and we left on Thursday. That meant that I drove to school on Thursday morning and didn't pick my car back up until Saturday night. Now we have regionals this weekend which meant that I drove my car to school Wednesday morning (today) and won't pick it up hopefully until Saturday night. This has kind of limited the amount of times that I even have the opportunity to drive to school. Also, next week is Thanksgiving which means that I won't be taking the bus Thursday or Friday for sure so I'm getting a little bit discouraged that I'm not getting the chance to fulfill my goal. I'll just have to keep taking the bus at any chance that I get and I'll keep you updated!


Blogged for the Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 2 hosted by Amy@Amy in the Rain

Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 1: My SMART Goal

For the next ten weeks, we will be focusing on a SMART goal that we have made for ourselves. SMART stands for specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely. My SMART goal is: 


I will take public transportation to and from school three or more days of the week for the next ten weeks. 

This goal is eco-chic because I am reducing energy consumption and saving money by not using as much gas, saving wear and tear on my car by reducing the number of miles I am putting on it and helping to improve air quality by reducing harmful pollutants emitted. 


I chose this goal because even though public transportation is offered to me for free through UMD, I still find myself driving to school. It is a huge waste of money and resources. I especially hate driving in the snow, so I want to get in a good habit of taking the bus everyday so I can easily avoid that obstacle. I am really excited to challenge myself to make a change and plan on starting today, November 10th! Wish me luck :)


Blogged for the Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 1 hosted by Amy@Amy in the Rain

Welcome to Barefoot in the Backyard with Brenda!

Hi! My name is Brenda and I am currently a senior at the University of Minnesota Duluth. I am majoring in Community Health Education with a minor in Psychology. I love being active and being outdoors as much as possible, but my absolute favorite activity is volleyball! I started this blog for a class I am taking called Environmental Health. Throughout the semester I will be writing about our impact on the environment. I will be looking at different ways of how to be environmentally friendly, and also how by keeping our environment healthy, we are helping to keep ourselves healthy too!

There are six possible types of posts on my blog. They include:

1. Advocacy Project

2. Eye Openers

3. Reflections

4. Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change

5. Read 'n' Seed

6. Share and Voice

If you notice at the bottom of this post, the categories will be listed as labels. This post has been labeled with all five kinds of posts. You will also see the number of each kind of post in my Labels Gadget at the top of the page. All post titles from now on will begin with one of the categories above.


The members of my web group are:

1. Dane@DanesTrailofHealth 

2. JD@EarthandMeWithJD 

3. Samantha J@SustainabilityWithSam

4. Alicia@OutandAboutWithAlicia

5. Matt

6. Molly 

You can subscribe to my blog by clicking the subscribe gadget in the gadget column. You can also follow my blog by clicking "Follow this Blog" in the gadget column. I am subscribed to all the blogs in my blog list gadget. You can see my complete profile and all the blogs I am following by clicking on "See Complete Profile."


I am hoping to have a lot of fun blogging this semester and hope that you enjoy following along!