My Baker

 

Pat at a fundraising event in the the new football facility. Such a great view....oh, yes, of the field too.

Day 30 of my first 30-day squat challenge,2

October 6th was day 30 of my first 30-day squat challenge. "Why?" you ask, "did I take on such a challenge?" Well, sure, my move to a new town has eased my social calendar, so I had some time. But I think the real reason is, I've always hated squats and I'm tired of not doing things just because I don't like them. 

In workout classes when I've been told to do squats, I usually have done less than the instructor said to do, just because I didn't like them. They feel uncomfortable, they are not in my natural rhythm of moves, I like to work on abs or arms or stretching (why can't there be a whole exercise routine that's just stretching that results in new found firmness?) I have always been good at finding reasons to stop doing squats. But I didn't get the point that if I only work the body parts that I enjoy working, i.e. the ones that are probably already stronger, than I wouldn't grow any new muscles (well, perhaps I got it mentally, but I didn't/wouldn't follow through on it). 

I have spent a lot of time in my life trying to find something, a job, an activity, something that will be fulfilling to me in a long sustained way.  I'm referring to something outside of the contentment of Jesus's love and outside of loving my husband, drinking wine with my girlfriends, laughing with my family. A human activity that would somehow perfectly conform to and enhance Emily (undefined and messy recipe that I a may be) in a long-term sustained plateau sort of way. An unscratchable itch indeed. On the other hand, I've also spent a lot of time being scared of doing lots of things and/or avoiding things because they are uncomfortable. You can see where those two motivations would quarrel with each other and end up in what I shall refer to "action constipation".  

But recently, whether due to the move across the country or just the beauty of getting older, I have received some amount of acceptance that 1) take career out of it, just go do my job and it will lead to whereever it leads, 2) even outside of that, I may never find that perfect activity and 3) doing hard stuff or stuff that I don't want to do is a necessity. I can sit around wishing I could win Powerball, or I could just do what has to be done and move on with it. And since no activity may ever fill me up, I have permission to try them all, even the hard ones (and the silly ones). 

Okay, that philosophical stuff is great, but really what made me do and keep doing the squat challenge? In the past, I have seen several friends on Facebook working their way through squat or other challenges, but I couldn't find the motivation to do one for myself. Then I had the "ah ha" moment: the posterior must be a large muscle. If I could turn mine into more muscle, which would in turn then burn more calories, then I could eat more. Somehow the thought that I could eat more food that I loved was the Motivation found! Oh, and I happened upon before and after pictures. Oh, and it's only for 30-days, not forever.

The challenge started with 50 squats on the first day, built up for two more days, took a rest, then jumped to 70, built up for two days, took a rest....etc. to 250. Yep, I did 250 squats on the last day.

I got it from this website: http://aprilathena7.com/life/30-day-squat-challenge-30-day-crunch-challenge/

So what did I get out of it? I feel strong. I feel proud of myself of doing something that I didn't like to do. And...I like squats now.

So the question now is what is the next challenge? What is my second least favorite exercise to do? And outside of exercise, what are other things that I don't like doing/am scared of? If I did them 250 times, would I like them more? I've always been scared of dogs......

(note, now on Day 3 of plank challenge)

Balloons

Driving to work a couple weeks ago, these sights greeted me on the way through downtown and into the parking garage...

Drove up to the top of the parking deck for these:

One more from the walk into my office:

What makes balloons so amazing? We've all seen them many times. But I think the sheer fact that they go up into the sky strikes some deep childhood awww. It doesn't matter that I know it's not magic, that gas and heat are involved, it's just not something that happens every day. And yes, I've added going for a ride in one of them to my bucket list....even if it makes me queasy.

July 14th

Happy Bastille Day.....or my day to celebrate another year of life in this world.

The day before my birthday we started the celebrating by going to the yearly Eagle Rocky Mountain Oyster Festival.

In case you're unfamiliar with Rocky Mountain Oysters.....they are not oysters. They are fried steer testicles. Yes, I love trying new foods, so I tried them. They are covered with so much fried batter and flavor that they aren't gross....but I don't know if I need to eat anymore soon.

Then we went downtown and saw a bike race:

Good grief, I can't imagine going that fast and not falling over....and you can't fall over or so would everyone else. But very cool to watch!

Then (yah!) we got to go to an amateur stand-up comedian contest. Oh, it was wonderful. Do you ever just have experiences where you recognize that an activity or thought or idea is connected to some inner part of who you really are? I was very reminded that comedy was one of mine. I've only done stand-up a small bit, but watching the timing and the thought leaps, made my heart leap. More visits to Liquid Laughs to come.

On my actual birthday, I celebrated by drinking a bowl of soul at Java and then a family dinner....it was also Pat's parents' anniversary too! Yay for never forgetting my in-laws' anniversary.

July 10th

I cooked dinner! and Pat had seconds!

Chicken thighs with peach, chipotle, honey sauce. Black bean, corn and red pepper salad.

Thanks to these recepies:

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/chicken-thighs-chipotle-peach-50400000104947/print/


http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2013/06/black-bean-corn-red-pepper-salad-lime-cilantro-vinaigrette-recipe.html

July 7: post 4th bbq

Long story short, we got a new grill...well, new to us. Found a good deal on craigslist, brought it home and cleaned it up and viola: grilled veggies and chicken! So delicious!

July 4th in Stanley

July 3rd we picked up our friend Anne-Marie and took off for Stanley. 

Got to catch up with Jason and then found a camping spot. 

July 4th we woke up in the glorious outdoors, got coffee in town and then headed back to the river for fishing and girl-talk time.

Then we stopped by Redfish and took a quick, refreshing dip

 We headed back into town in time to catch the 4th of July parade and festivities. We got to catch up with lots of people we hadn't seen in years.

Sunset

Fireworks, Karoke & Fun

The next day we got up and headed for Idaho Rocky Mountain Ranch where Pat, Anne-Marie and I worked in 2008.

Best view in the world.

Then we stopped by Stanley Lake...and watched the storm roll in

and made a few quick sandwiches in the rain on the way home

Hope to get there a few more times this summer