Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Summer Bucket List

Summer Bucket List:

1. Climb Table Rock
2. Play tennis
3. Paint my daughter’s room
4. Landscape my back yard
5. Complete summer reading programs for myself and daughter
6. Go to South Carolina
7. Go to a Hawks Baseball game
8. Attend a summer concert with my husband
9. Go to the Shakespeare Festival
10. Ride my bike on the Green Belt
11. Go to the drive-in theater with my family
12. Meridian Dairy Days Parade
13. Run a 5k
14. Camp-out with my family
15. Go to the Western Idaho Fair
16. Swim lessons for my daughter
17. Take my daughter to Starlight Mountain Theater
18. Lay out in the sun in my backyard and catch up reading all of my magazines.
19. Visit Eagle Island State Park
20. Visit Sandy Point Beach
21. Have a girls night out or in.
22. Grow my garden
23. Host a “Swap and Talk” with friends
24. Host Award BBQ for “Better Me Challenge”
25. Make homemade jam.
26. Visit Emmett, ID and pick Cherries
27. Visit Syracuse Days
28. Learn to fly fish
29. Go on 5 hikes around the Boise area
30. Have a garage sale
31. Dejunk and simplify my house so I don’t waste time managing “stuff”.

Better Me Challenge Update

My 8 weeks to a "Better Me Challenge" has ended with me taking 3rd place.  My super competitive sister-in-law Steph and her husband won 1st and 2nd place with only 1 point in between the 2.  If I were her husband I might demand a recount of her points, but then he'd probably find himself in the doghouse. 

I really learned a lot from this challenge.  I was disappointed because I didn't lose any weight.  In fact, I don't believe any of the female participants noted any significant weight loss.  The 2 guys that competed did loose several pounds.  (It is so not fair that men can lose weight faster than women).  In any case, I did tone up a bit. My overall cardio improved- I can definitely run and exercise for longer period of times.  I was also able to improve my minute per mile by over 3 minutes.  I was really bad out of shape prior to this challenge.  I really learned to balance my eating habits... making sure I ate enough fruits and vegetables, drinking lots and lots of water, and not breaking down for a late-night snack.  When I did decide to "lose a point" I had to weigh by options of "was that treat worth losing a point?" or "do I really want a Dr. Pepper today?", and if so "I guess I will have to follow through on the rest of my goals for the day".  The competition against others was also helpful.  It helped me stay motivated through-out the challenge.  And having to pay money to participate was another  great motivator because I actually had something besides time invested into the challenge. 

We have decided to turn this into an annual challenge.  We will be having a reward BBQ for everyone that participated.  I look forward to eating a lot of treats that were otherwise absent from my life for the last couple months.