Challenge 20: Cook the kids a healthy meal

February 1, 2010

So it's a new month and a whole lot more days for new challenges. I suppose I'm starting today off on a lazier note. I set my alarm to get up at 8:30 so I could have lots of tea and breakfast and internet time before I meet my friend Mary for a date with our dogs, but I just couldn't do it. So here I am, still in bed, barely up. I did finagle a ride to the meetup, so I don't have to take the 30 plus minutes it usually takes to get there.

I had a really great day yesterday. And it was interesting how I worded my challenge and how that affected it. It wasn't that I wasn't supposed to do work-related things, but that when they started to feel like work, instead of fun, then I stopped. For example, when I was originally thinking of the challenge I figured that I wouldn't be able to do some of my coaching emails because that is technically "work" but as I was doing them, they weren't feeling like work, so I continued. Then I started to clean my office and it was fine, and then I starting thinking "I really don't feel like doing this right now," so I didn't. It was definitely a cool challenge and the wording gave me lots of freedom.

Later in the day we went to Bernal Heights dog park to meetup with a bunch of other great danes and their owners. It's this beautiful off leash area that overlooks the entire city. Check out the pic of Coach overlooking the city. It was an easy hike, albeit lots of uphills, to the top. After we let the dogs play around for a bit we all went over to this dog friendly bar called Stray Bar. You should have seen all these danes in this tiny bar. We definitely took over the couch area, as you all know, danes LOVE couches. While we were there I had another one of my wacky ideas. This one was to somehow combine a dog park and a restaurant/bar. So there would be this huge outdoor area and an on duty dog watcher (think lifeguard, for dogs) so you can go eat and have drinks while your dogs get exercise. There would even be tables overlooking the dog park area so you could keep your eye on your dog while you eat. And in order to make sure your dog is safe to play with the other dogs, you'd have to pass a quick little test with your dog meeting the "house" dog. I don't know. It was really fun to think about. Anyone want to be my partner in crime?!

So it's almost noon now and I just got back from the off-leash excursion with Mary and our dogs. I have to say, I'm so proud of Coach. He's been such a great dog lately. Mary is a fellow coach in my program, so it was really fun to talk shop. We agreed to hang again when she gets back from her vacation.

So, like I said it's a new month and I'm finding it valuable to reflect on my past month and the challenges I set out to do. First things first, last week was all about not cracking my knuckles. I made it! It was a lot harder than I thought but I was enjoying the structure of the challenge. Just seeing if I could do it. And today when I woke up, I knew I could give em a good crack, and when I did, it didn't even feel that great. So I'm going to see if I can continue on the no cracking, or very little cracking. We'll see. I also set out to do three hang events with my friends and I'm happy to say that I also did that. We had Nickel's party, bad movie night, hanging with Jamie and Michele, hanging with Jamie and Erica. And I've already set up a couple more dates for this week. I set out to get some more clients and I have three more from when I started. And I've spent some really great time with my dog, conquering my fears with him. I'm feeling pretty good about it all.

So new month, new challenges. For the day for the week and for the month. This month I want to focus on my health a bit more. Get more physical. Eat fresh foods. So here's the breakdown:

Today: Cook the kids a healthy meal
Week: Start boxing
Month: Lose 5 pounds

There it is. Wish me luck.

20 down. 345 to go.