The best way for me to get something done that I've been putting off is to stop saying: "I'll get to it" or "someday, I'll do that" and actually say, "I'm going to do this!"
Example:
Last Saturday, I was chatting with one of my co-workers about all sorts of things and somehow the topic of running came up. She told me about the Couch to 5k and how she's about to start it, planning on running in a 5k race in October. She suggested I look into it. I did and it sounded like a great way for me to ease into running instead of just deciding to pick up my pace one day.
On Sunday I mentioned to Mere and Mikey that I was thinking about training for a 5k, but I didn't go into any detail, just put it out there. On Monday I thought about it some more and decided: "For sure, I'm gonna do this!" Tuesday morning, when I was making a bacon quiche with Mikey, I made up my mind: "I am so doing this. Maybe today, maybe tomorrow."
On Tuesday afternoon, my grandmother called me to let me know that she was at Ikea. Her and Grandpa rarely make it to the Cities because they both can't sit for too long at a time, but uncle Tim drove them to the Cities for Grandpa's VA Medical Center appointment and afterwards, they wanted to check out Ikea. Thankfully, Abbi was able to give me a ride (in her beep-beep Jeep with the top down!) to Ikea on her way to work. Minutes after I met up with my family, they were joking about my shoes. I've had my Vibram KSOs for about three months now and rarely take them off. I realize that I look like I have gorilla feet, but I don't care in the least bit. I mentioned various reasons why the shoes are great and then I said: "This week I'm going to start training for a 5k." Before I went to bed that night, I decided: "Tomorrow night."
At work yesterday, I told Lauren that I was going to do my first workout that evening when I got home from work. It effortlessly floated out of my mouth and I didn't feel the need to change my mind. I was going to do it. And I did. And it felt great. And I can't wait until tomorrow night to do it again.
I'm going to keep a progress journal on Tumblr, so if you're at all interested, check it out here.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Saturday, July 3, 2010
The Pizza Farm...Best Date Ever
So, it has happened. The best date ever is done and over with and will never be beat, but in case any of you want to replicate the awesomeness of the date, here's what I did:
First, I didn't let Mere know where we were going or what we'd be doing for the date. I sent her an invite as an email attachment. I told her we'd be driving an hour and a half to get there, she should wear something she wouldn't mind getting dirty and that we'd be eating something at some point during the date. That's all she knew for sure before we left Minneapolis.
Once we were on the outskirts of St. Paul, I had her fish a list out of the "inventory" bag. The list was scavengerhuntesque: someone biking, a red-winged black bird, an East coast license plate, a blue tractor, etc. For each thing she was able to cross off her scavenger hunt list, she was able to take a "clue" from an envelope. Clues like: "Though it would take them a long time to get here, TMNT would love this place" and "Mice aren't welcome in restaurants; it's a good thing this place has cats."
Periodically, she was able to take a "challenge" from another envelope. For each completed challenge, she was then able to ask a yes/no question to try to figure out where we're going or what we were doing. Most creative challenge: "For the next mile of the drive, your life is a musical. Sing-narrate your experience of the date thus far." Mere's impromptu sing-naration was brilliant and adorable and I wish I would have figured out a way to record her singing.
Eventually, she put all the clues together and discovered that we were going to a pizza farm. I described the farm a little more to her...it's a farm that makes pizzas in their outdoor brick pizza oven every Tuesday night during the summer. Everything on the pizza (except olives) is grown at the farm and every pie is made to order.
In case you don't know: farms + eating locally and organically = 2 things Mere is ALL about. I knew she'd absolutely love this date idea and sure enough, she had a blast. Getting there early is key. We were the 63rd person to order and we got there about a half an hour after they put the first pizza in the oven and when we left they were well on their way to two hundred pizzas. They don't offer plates, napkins, tables, chairs or beverages, but we were set with some iced tea and my picnic basket with plates and utensils. Others had rather elaborate spreads: tables, tablecloths, tealight candles, balloons (some people were celebrating birthdays), wine, beer, cheese spreads...
Before our pizza was finished, we took a little walk around the farm where we got to meet a few cows and some chickens. There was a bit of time when Mere walked down a row of some sort of produce and started taking pictures all around. During that time, I decided to have a little chat with the chickens: "I'm going to marry that girl some day."
We got the Italian sausage (#1) pizza. It. Was. SO. Good. I'm talking one of the best things I've ever put in my mouth, ever. If you ever get a chance to go: DO IT!
We walked our full tummies back to the car and I called my sister to let her know we were ready for the second bit of the epic date: Mere visiting (some of) my family. It took about an hour to get there. First we met Mom as she was pulling some weeds in the front yard. We walked around the house so Mere could see all the awesome landscaping Mom has done in the backyard and since Bonkers was outside, she got to meet him and see just why we call him the kitty cow.
We walked next door to see Gramma and Gramps. They showed Mere both of their gardens, explained what everything was and offered us some kohlrabi, romaine lettuce and the very first zucchini. When we went into the house, Gramps showed off some of his wooden bowls that he had been working on before his back surgery. He let Mere pick one out to keep. Jo and Carter came over and we got to play with him for awhile and Gramps shared some of his venison jerky with us. Before we left there we had our hands full with more jerky, homemade donuts, rhubarb wine, and a few other goodies. Hugs were exchanged and we headed back to Mom's
Mere got to see one of my baby pictures, had a short tour of the house, and chatted a tiny bit more with my mom before we decided that it was time for us to head back to the Cities (since we both had to work the next day). Everyone was really happy that they were able to meet Mere and I was really happy that Mere didn't freak out on me for not warning her that she was going to be meeting my family.
First, I didn't let Mere know where we were going or what we'd be doing for the date. I sent her an invite as an email attachment. I told her we'd be driving an hour and a half to get there, she should wear something she wouldn't mind getting dirty and that we'd be eating something at some point during the date. That's all she knew for sure before we left Minneapolis.
Once we were on the outskirts of St. Paul, I had her fish a list out of the "inventory" bag. The list was scavengerhuntesque: someone biking, a red-winged black bird, an East coast license plate, a blue tractor, etc. For each thing she was able to cross off her scavenger hunt list, she was able to take a "clue" from an envelope. Clues like: "Though it would take them a long time to get here, TMNT would love this place" and "Mice aren't welcome in restaurants; it's a good thing this place has cats."
Periodically, she was able to take a "challenge" from another envelope. For each completed challenge, she was then able to ask a yes/no question to try to figure out where we're going or what we were doing. Most creative challenge: "For the next mile of the drive, your life is a musical. Sing-narrate your experience of the date thus far." Mere's impromptu sing-naration was brilliant and adorable and I wish I would have figured out a way to record her singing.
Eventually, she put all the clues together and discovered that we were going to a pizza farm. I described the farm a little more to her...it's a farm that makes pizzas in their outdoor brick pizza oven every Tuesday night during the summer. Everything on the pizza (except olives) is grown at the farm and every pie is made to order.
In case you don't know: farms + eating locally and organically = 2 things Mere is ALL about. I knew she'd absolutely love this date idea and sure enough, she had a blast. Getting there early is key. We were the 63rd person to order and we got there about a half an hour after they put the first pizza in the oven and when we left they were well on their way to two hundred pizzas. They don't offer plates, napkins, tables, chairs or beverages, but we were set with some iced tea and my picnic basket with plates and utensils. Others had rather elaborate spreads: tables, tablecloths, tealight candles, balloons (some people were celebrating birthdays), wine, beer, cheese spreads...
Before our pizza was finished, we took a little walk around the farm where we got to meet a few cows and some chickens. There was a bit of time when Mere walked down a row of some sort of produce and started taking pictures all around. During that time, I decided to have a little chat with the chickens: "I'm going to marry that girl some day."
We got the Italian sausage (#1) pizza. It. Was. SO. Good. I'm talking one of the best things I've ever put in my mouth, ever. If you ever get a chance to go: DO IT!
We walked our full tummies back to the car and I called my sister to let her know we were ready for the second bit of the epic date: Mere visiting (some of) my family. It took about an hour to get there. First we met Mom as she was pulling some weeds in the front yard. We walked around the house so Mere could see all the awesome landscaping Mom has done in the backyard and since Bonkers was outside, she got to meet him and see just why we call him the kitty cow.
We walked next door to see Gramma and Gramps. They showed Mere both of their gardens, explained what everything was and offered us some kohlrabi, romaine lettuce and the very first zucchini. When we went into the house, Gramps showed off some of his wooden bowls that he had been working on before his back surgery. He let Mere pick one out to keep. Jo and Carter came over and we got to play with him for awhile and Gramps shared some of his venison jerky with us. Before we left there we had our hands full with more jerky, homemade donuts, rhubarb wine, and a few other goodies. Hugs were exchanged and we headed back to Mom's
Mere got to see one of my baby pictures, had a short tour of the house, and chatted a tiny bit more with my mom before we decided that it was time for us to head back to the Cities (since we both had to work the next day). Everyone was really happy that they were able to meet Mere and I was really happy that Mere didn't freak out on me for not warning her that she was going to be meeting my family.
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