Delicious Breakfast

No photos, so just take my word for it--baked sweet potato with bacon and goat cheese.

"Hello, Pot? This is Kettle. You're black."

Lately, I just want people to get to the point when they're talking to me.  Too bad I am the worst for taking the long way around when telling a story.

October is Full of Excitement

Lots of things coming up this month, including:

• New hairstylist audition.  My hairstylist of five years decided to move up to Encinitas.  That's great for her, but I am not going to add another two hours onto what ends up being a 2.5-3 hour appointment.
• Spa Night activity with the Young Women with a very talented aesthetician.
• Black Keys in concert!
• Dinner and Jekyll and Hyde with the Butterfield Girls.
• General Conference!  Cheese toast and apple juice as I listen to the words of the Prophet, Apostles and other General Officers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
• Molly and Craig are coming to town for an insurance conference.  They will have a lot of activities going on, but we will definitely make an effort to get together with them.
• Max and two of his friends are visiting for a few days.  
• Jamie is coming out from Denver to go to a MNF game--Chargers vs. Broncos.
• Laser Tag with the YW.
• She-Roxx super-sprint triathlon.
• Off to Chile!!!

48--Pretty Great!

Yup, that is my number.  I have a hard time believing it, until I remember things from the mid-60's, the 70's, 80's, 90's....  Ay yi yi.

The actual day was fun.  Even work was fun--I was asked to help out in the OR, which was a special treat.

Rowdy took me to a new-ish restaurant in Hillcrest, D Bar.  Here are the photos:

Rowdy's dessert insists on posting before everything else.  It's churros with chocolate dipping sauce and rum and coke ice cream.

Vanilla lemonade.  It tastes like a lemon cupcake.  I thought it was a little too sweet and desserty.

This was my dessert.  It also insists on being posted before the salad and entree.  It's a molten chocolate cake with pistachio ice cream.  Yummy!!

 

Dressed avocado.  I love avocados!  This was tasty, with a nice little salad on the side.

I had roasted halibut with a corn-bacon thing and asparagus.  The halibut was a little dry, but it was really good when I mixed it in with the corn.

Rowdy had macaroni and cheese with lobster.  He has waited to have that for two years.

Change of Plan

Instead of going to Peru and Argentina, we are going to the tippy-tip of South America.  We will be staying five days and four nights in Torres del Paine, Chile.

There are penguins near Punta Arenas, where we will be spending a day before flying out.

Natural beauty!

This may surprise my friend, Cindy, but I am going to ride horses there.  At least, I'll give it a good shot.

What is This "Let" Business?

"Rowdy's wife lets him have his guns out and practice dry firing in the TV room.  My wife won't let me do that!"
"She makes him think that he doesn't have to ask her permission."
"My husband will be so mad if he knew I bought that."

Ugggghhhh!  Rowdy and I both hate hearing comments like that!  This whole "my (spouse) won't let me" is so completely ridiculous.  Aren't you both grownups?  Isn't it supposed to be an equal partnership?

Saying that your partner will or will not give permission for you to do something makes them sound like a "mean mommy" or "stern father", not a wife or a husband, and it makes you sound like a five-year-old.  To me, there is something wrong with a relationship like that.

My husband and I are independent people who talk things over and support each other's decisions.  I think that's the way that marriage relationships were intended to be and the way our Heavenly Parents conduct their relationship.

And that's my opinion.  So there.

That's Why They Call It a Challenge

Challenges are something that I've been thinking a lot about lately.  Three weeks ago, I joined my sister-in-law, as well as Rowdy's cousin, the cousin's husband and two of the SIL's friends in a wellness competition.  We have eight weeks to make changes in our health habits.  Not every week or even every day is easy.  But if it was easy, it wouldn't be a challenge, would it?

Here is my guest post for the blog Lifetime Wellness Challenge:

Years ago, I was part of a university committee that monitored student progress.  Two of the deans were sitting near me at one meeting, talking about two upperclassmen that violated the law in some way and were being held in the county jail.

Dean Victor:  I felt so sorry for them!  The conditions there were terrible—no privacy, tough people, overcrowding….

Dean Joe (looking incredulous):  That’s why they call it JAIL, Vic!  It’s not supposed to be easy.

I think about that whenever I or someone else expresses surprise and/or dismay when a challenging situation arises.  That's why they call it a challenge, Vic!! 

One of my teammates was apologizing last week for not being able to complete the bonus.  She and her husband own their own business, which is vacation-related and extremely busy over the summer.  They have been great at eating well, avoiding sweets, staying hydrated, working exercise into their busy, active lives, but they couldn’t get that one last thing in.  My response to her was, “You are doing your best.  Keep at it.  That’s why they call it a challenge.”  If it were easy, we’d all be doing everything perfectly.  We started this endeavor four weeks ago because we wanted to make permanent changes to improve our own and our families’ fitness level. 

Challenges sometimes hurt.  They make us stretch.  We go outside of our comfort zones.  Sometimes challenges will make us mad, or make us cry, or make us doubt ourselves.

Never fear, what seemed like a challenge four weeks ago will be second nature by October 8^th.  Don’t beat yourself up, just keep going.  You will find that the nature of the challenge doesn’t change—the mile run doesn’t get shorter—but you get stronger and faster.