The 90 Day Challenge - Here we go!

This summer I have not taken care of myself at all. I haven't exercised since early June. I haven't eaten well. I haven't done anything remotely to promote a better me. And so here I am Sept. 1st. feeling tired and fat and disorganized. I don't have any energy to play chase with Pax. Poor Shawn comes home to Poca Hotmess at the end of the day. I'm just a big ball of blech.

Well I'm done with blech. I'm done with Poca Hotmess. I want more. I want better. My family deserves more. My family deserves better. So I'm starting a 90 Day challenge. A challenge I am giving myself. This isn't some program, not joining a group or anything. I'm simply giving myself 90 days to change bad habits into good.

The goals are simple and manageable and not just about one thing. This is about a better me - overall.

As a busy mom, I will hesitantly admit that my hygiene comes last. I will make sure everyone else is clean and looking nice before I jump in the shower. Often times that means no shower. That means I grab a baseball hat and some sunglasses and head out the door. Lucky if I brushed my teeth. Well that's just nasty, and wrong. So on my goal list is to brush my teeth twice a day, wash my face every night before bed, take showers, get dressed and put on makeup. And when I say "get dressed" that doesn't mean yoga pants and a sweatshirt. I mean a real bra and real clothes - with snaps, buttons and zippers.

I want to drop two dress sizes. To do that I plan to eat cleaner. Cut out all soda and fast foods and try to avoid processed foods. No crazy fad diet. Just eating the way we should eat - whole, simple foods. I need to drink more water and cut out alcohol during the week. Exercise is a part of this, a big part. I plan on getting to 6 days a week. I'll start slow, but want to get to 6 days. 3 days of running and 3 days of HIIT. I'll also be riding P to and from school on my bike 3 days a week. When I get in the groove of working out, I actually enjoy it. I do. It gives me energy for the whole day and I love that. I need that and so does P Bear. He needs his mommy to be able to keep up with him. When I was running on a regular basis, P and I could play chase for ever. Now I can barely make it around the yard two times before I need a break. It's shameful. I have to change that.

Another thing I want to change is my level of presence and connectivity. I am unplugging during the day again. No TV or Facebook or any of that crap from 9:00-5:00. Instead I will play with my son, clean my house, cook good food and be present in my moments. As work comes in, I will have to be tethered to a computer, but it will be purely for work and there will be no lingering in front of a glowing rectangle. Once I am done, off it goes.

Since I'm sort of a dork, I made a little document and put it on my fridge. It lists my goals and my reasons for starting this and has some aspiration photos and quotes and what nots. There are pictures of the me I use to be, the me I can be again, to show me where I want to go. If you want to join me on this habit changing journey, I'd love it. Your goals don't have to be my goals, but we can put our goals out there and cheer each other on. We can celebrate little successes and lift each other out of slumps.

I will be posting a "before" pic. Just have to take it today. It wont be pretty, but it will be honest. In the mean time, here's my dorky doc on my fridge.

Spontaneous Adventure Sunday

One of my all time favorite things to do with my guys is Spontaneous Adventure Sunday. We'll wake up and just decide to pack some gear and snacks, pile into our own "Createrra" and head out to find a road less traveled. Seeing as we still haven't earned our wild animal badge for the canoe, the main goal was creature finding. Shawn had heard about some beaver lodges just off highway 119, so that was the direction we headed. It was a grey and sort of drizzly day, but that didn't dampen our fun. Our little Kratt Kid was in his Creature Power suit and we were off to explore!!

It's amazing what you see when you stop to look around. We found some great beavers lodges. Most had been abandoned as it seems like the main damn had been washed out by a major storm. We found  stumps of felled trees and signs of the big beautiful rodents all around, but no fuzzy fellers were to be found. We did however discover gold flecks in the stream and some groovy abandoned buildings and machinery. We chose to imagine the tenants struck gold and fled to live a richer life.

After several non beaver producing beaver stop and searches, we decided to move forward and explore Golden Gate Canyon. As we tend to do, we saw many roads and turned down them to see what we could see. We wound up in historic Central City surrounded by echoes of the past, including several old west cemeteries. The rain added to the mystery and mood.

Traveling on, we found our way to Golden Gate Canyon State Park, Snowshoe Hare Trail and Dude's Fishing Hole. We hiked, we explored, we climbed, we looked over the world. It was incredible. There was rumor of a moose spotting in the area a few days ago, but unfortunately no moose were spotted by us. While our senses were soaked in all sorts of wonder, the only animal encounter was with a chubby little chipmunk.

The day was wonderful and not a complete creature loss. On the road we saw a pair of doe and some wild turkeys. Even though moose, beaver and raccoons have eluded us all summer, we still travel on living free and in the wild!!

Hooray for living in Colorful Colorado!!