1 Week Down, 51 to Go

I have finished the first week of the blog: Hallelujah! This puppy is off the ground and running. I’ve noticed that a handful of people have already found me and visited a few times.  Thanks so much for being the invisible presence that is helping to keep me accountable!  I’d love to hear from all of you—please drop me a line or post a comment.

I thought I’d list some of the highs and lows from the first, wee baby days of the project:

The Lows:

No TV

Such a sad and lonely TV... (image via autowitch at Flickr)

This didn’t seem all that hard at first, because I was super busy anyway.  Then my husband left on a business trip, and the house started to feel quiet.  Way too quiet.

I thought to myself, “I should probably check the TiVo to make sure it has space in its memory to record the things I’ll want to watch, come October.”  So I turned on the TV—volume off—just to check the TiVo.  I wasn’t going to watch it (“I was just holding the bag of weed for my friends, mom!).

I noticed the back-log of Project Runway and Top Chef episodes, and like any addict, I started to rationalize why I should have just a few hits of that Pure TV Goodness.  My husband doesn’t like those shows, so I’d watch them by myself eventually–it might as well be now, right?  If I watched these episodes, it would make space for other, better shows that we both enjoy.  I could still complete the course if I watched a day of TV—I had even built in a sliding scale of participation points in case I cheated.  One day wouldn’t matter.  My pupils were dilating just thinking about it.

I told you. TV junkie.  Then I realized if I broke down, I’d have to blog about it. A little white lie didn’t really seem like a viable option, given that this project is for my own benefit and all.  What would I do with my “X day of 30 with No TV” widget?  It seemed like more trouble than it was worth, so I turned the TV off.

It’s still really quiet in the house, but I guess I’m getting used to it.

The Highs:

Other Healthy Lifestyle Blogs

Not being a guru of the Internets, I had no idea there were so many amazing blogs out there until I dipped my toe into the pond myself.  This week, I have opened the Clown Car of Ideas and brilliant blogs are just popping out, one after the other. There are blogs that make me laugh, blogs with inspirational stories that blow my mind, blogs with nutritionally-sound and delicious recipes, blogs that motivate me and candidly discuss the challenges of healthy living, blogs by Locavore superwomen who are putting their money where their mouth is (hilarious pun, I know), and so on.

Fun random facts from the blogs: Did you know that chia seeds are the new and improved flax seeds? Yeah, pretty much everyone does except for me.  I learned that I have totally missed the chia seed bandwagon, even though they are Like, So Totally 2009 and you can’t throw a virtual rock in the healthy living blogosphere without hitting a chia seed recipe.

I have gotten many good ideas already, including several recipes I either cooked this week or have purchased ingredients for and will cook:

Overnight oats from Kath at Kath Eats Real Food

Ina Garten’s Cape Cod Chopped Salad from Annie at Twin Yolks

4-Step Chicken from Melissa at the Food Network

Healthy eggplant parmesan from Kath at Kath Eats Real Food

Stir Fry recipe, courtesy the Lovely Locavore Ladies

Pizza on whole wheat crust from Anne-Marie at This Mama Cooks

Going to the Market

It is impossible not to feel smug and self-satisfied when you’re at a Farmer’s Market.  Okay, so I know market shoppers aren’t actually better than other people, but it sure feels like it in the moment.  Who wouldn’t want to place a fresh bag of cranberry beans in their wicker basket while thinking, “these will be lovely braised with the organic shallots and the soft-necked garlic I just got from Lance at Butterchurn Farms.”  See?  Smug can be fun.

Tomato-splosion! (image via Harriete Estel Berman at Flickr)

In all seriousness, the experience itself is pleasure to the senses.  The smell of sun-warmed tomatoes is really yummy. Not sure what those apples taste like?  Watch the farmer cut off a little slice and hand you a taste-test.  Who doesn’t like samples?  Ask my friend who goes to Costco to every Sunday to have a brunch consisting entirely of samples.

Exercise is Fun (Sometimes)

I’ve already told you about when exercise has felt really hard this week.  I kind of forgot that exercise can be fun too.  Sure, I have distant, foggy memories of loving ballet classes, but I was a much younger lass then.

This week I went and played tennis with three of my friends.  Since I have held a tennis racket a total of about 10 times in my entire life, I almost didn’t go.  I was dreading the feeling of missing nearly every ball and clearly dragging down the game, while my super-nice friends reassure me that it’s totally okay, and not to worry, they’re having a great time.

The first thing that happened was that I didn’t suck nearly as much as I expected.  I returned most of the balls, albeit only sometimes in the lines.  The second thing that happened is that we got into a rhythm of rotating doubles and singles with different partners, and I started to get absorbed by the task at hand and to notice–shocking!–that I was having a lot of fun.  I barely paid attention to the fact that I was running my booty off.  We took lots of short water breaks with gossip and our updates from the week.  I realized I could barely remember the last time I did something that active with a bunch of my friends, and I suspected that I have been missing out on something .  When we wrapped up after two hours (!), I didn’t want to be finished.

Ok, on to the weekly roundup of course updates.  Thanks for reading!

Overall Course Progress from Week 1:

Participation points:

√ Went to farmer’s market

√ Created a meal plan for the week

√ Tried 2 new classes at my gym (yoga and Boot Camp)

√ Spent time daily setting and reviewing goals

√ Spent time daily writing and working on my writing

√ Did 240 minutes of exercise this week! (a month early)

Exams completed/ in progress:

√ No television

Assignments completed:

√  Went to food festival celebrating local/slow food

√  Read: DHHS Physical activity guidelines

√ Read: The Courage to Start