Jigsaw July - 2017 Update #7

Wow - another month already? It's crazy how this year is flying, but I'm finding that as each month goes by, these habits are really becoming routine.

Designated Date Time

The weekly Saturday hikes just aren't going to happen for a while. In addition to having too much going on, it's just too hot. Sure - we could wake up at 6am and hike before it gets hot out. Frankly, we don't want to. Saturdays are the one day we really just get to sleep in, catch up on chores, and take it easy.


So we found a different solution. Whenever we can, we just take the dog on a nighttime walk through the neighborhood. We don't have to worry about her overheating, it doesn't take too long, and it's a nice time for us to just talk about our days and spend a little time together. The idea of weekly hikes was really cool and I hope we can get back to it in the Fall/Winter. However, big cool ideas just aren't always manageable. This was a great lesson in doing what you can and knowing that something is better than nothing.

We've also been good about getting out on more dates and spending time doing fun things around the city together. From beer events to Comicon events and everything in between, we were so good about spending time together and having fun this month.

Stick to a Regular Fitness Schedule

technique might have had help from new shoes!

I'll get to this again later, but sticking to a routine while a lot of events are going on, is really really difficult. July is a busy month. We had a very long 4th of July weekend, Comicon, and lots of birthdays. All of those events are fun but they throw a wrench in your schedule. Yes, I could have said no to all of those things... but I'm not a robot. I think they're all fun too, way more fun than working out... and that's generally what happened. These things aren't just disruptive when they happen, they take a few days to rest up from too. After both the 4th of July and Comicon, I had to take a couple of days off from exercising just to relax. 

TLDR: events are fun but really disruptive when you're trying to make a habit.

In all, I think I netted even. I worked hard and noticed some improvements in Body Pump. Climbing is a little different. I think my technique is getting better but I feel like I'm getting tired quicker. I think that has a lot to do with everything else I have going on. I'm looking forward to a milder August so I can focus more on my fitness... but more on that later.

One plus for fitness in July - fun and laid back exercise! Dan and I joined a kickball league and also got to try out stand up paddle boarding. The latter definitely grew on me quickly and I'm hoping we can get our own eventually!

Meal Planning

Last month, I discovered a trick to meal planning... freezing leftovers for future lunches! I have LOVED it. I don't have a lot of issues with cooking dinner each night but I do run out of time for making my lunches or just have a craving for a quick meal. This has worked out wonderfully.

My other issue has been with buying too many groceries. I love deals and also get excited about vegetables.. and tend to buy more than we can eat before it goes bad. Planning out meals was supposed to help me buy only what I needed for the week. Well, I went another way instead... I decided to start cooking dinner for the dog. Most of what we eat - meats and veggies - are good for her too. I did a lot of research on what dogs can have and what they need and have started making dinners for her. Usually, it works out that I can incorporate our extra veggies into her meals and we have less waste overall.

I'll give this it's own post eventually but if you're thinking about making food for your dog here are some basic guidelines:

Harley's Dinner for a few days:
 ground pork , veggies, and liver

- Dogs are omnivores but skewing toward carnivore. Meat should be more than 50% of their diet and the primary weight in their meal ( I weigh Harley's meals to make sure I'm not overfeeding).

- They need fat so dark meat is a little better than light when you can. Also make sure you are giving fish at least once a week and liver/offal about 5% of the time.

- Dogs can have some meats and bones raw. It seems like fish is the big exception here so make sure you cook that.

- Do a lot of research! Every time we want to give her a new vegetable, I look up and see if it's ok. I also read up a lot on how to find balance in a dog's diet. They really need to eat bones to get enough calcium but I was too worried about choking so instead we mix egg shells into her meals. We also still give her dry food for breakfast. 

I love that she's eating as well as us now and we're wasting less food!

Take an Annual Trip with My Husband

Still no more big trips for a while but we are starting to plan our small trips for weddings! We're so excited to see our friends and Dan's family on our next few long weekend trips. And that's all I have to say about that...

Read a Book a Week

One. Book. Just one. Obviously, that's a little under my goal. I'm kind of impressed I even got this one though... and it doesn't even have anything to do with everything else I have going on.

Screw you, you intelligent man

No... it's all Alexander Hamilton's fault. Oh yes. I encouraged book club to read it this month. Even though I had months to read it, I started 4 weeks before the meetup date... to read a 720 page book with the smallest font I've ever seen. I didn't finished in time for book club and still have 200 pages to read. Since I didn't make the deadline, I've slowed down my pace and read The Glass Castle as a break. I'll keep chipping away at Alexander Hamilton, but I'd like to read a whole lot of fluff this month as well. I've read so many biographies and memoirs this year and I'm ready to read some really silly fiction and probably a couple of comic books. Hopefully that gets my numbers back up for August because I've destroyed my buffer.

Me Time

Great find while cleaning!

We had so much going on in July. I had my two jobs, my endless fitness goals, and all of the fun events we listed. Every weekend I was either working or we had some fun, exhausting thing going on... until the last weekend. I spent the last Sunday in July with a whole lot of me time.

Dan and I started the morning organizing the garage - a task that we've needed to do since the day we moved in. Then, he went to work pouring wine at the soccer game and I had the whole day to myself. I mostly took care of chores and errands and read... but it was nice to do it at my own pace. I didn't have any person or list telling me what to do for the day and I felt really accomplished while not being rushed. It just goes to show, that you don't need a whole lot of me time but maybe half day per month will be enough to totally refresh you.

And even had some time to find this bridge while out exploring!

Jigsaw July

I really loved this goal. There was a lot of wisdom in it that I didn't realize at the time. June was about making the leap from someone who had a normal job and a lot of hobbies.. to someone doing all that and trying to learn a whole additional career on the side. June was about making the push. July was about getting used to it. I could have easily tacked on some other goal for the month but I knew what I needed... and it wasn't one more project. I needed to master what I already had on my plate.

It takes about 2-3 months to master a habit, on average. That's the whole reason that most of these posts are about making progress. It's not a one off thing - I'm trying to build better habits for life. It's also why they're not resolutions. I plan on continuing this for perpetuity, as long as I can manage. Last month, I threw a wrench in my habits. I didn't manage to destroy them, and I knew it was manageable... but it would take some getting used to.

And that was the point of July. I wanted to give myself that extra month to turn my new lifestyle into a habit. Mostly, it worked. I will still need some time and a lot of outside forces pushed on me last month which made it hard to fully adapt. However, I can feel it getting easier. I've figured out ways and habits to make the real estate work load fit better into my schedule. I've made a habit of signing up for as much training as possible. I've taught myself a lot whenever I could. I know I can still do more but I have more time to fit more in. I have a safety net in my full time job and I will feel more comfortable taking the time to learn as much as possible while I move forward in real estate. 

Athletic August 

You're probably wondering why I need this when I already have a fitness goal that's one of my habits. Well, I always feel like I fall short of that. Even when I do well and go to my classes and gym dates, I still feel like I'm not hitting my goal. It's probably because I have a very firm goal - to be at the peak of my fitness. Going to the gym 3x a week isn't going to cut it.

August is the time for that and for a very good reason - I have nothing going on. Every month this year, I've had something going on. Comicon, holidays, trips, deaths, new jobs, tests. There have been so many excuses or things that took me away from routine. Was Comicon the most fun ever? Yes. Was it disruptive to my schedule and life? So much yes! It was one of the most disruptive because the time we were away from home was like being on vacation... but we still had to take care of our pets and were living here and making a mess without taking the time to clean up. It set us really behind.

So there is none of that this month. Well, no, I'm lying. There is one thing going on in August and it's my annual Spartan race. While we'll be out of town for a weekend, it's still athletically related so it's not going to throw off that fitness element. It embraces it.

Other than staying on schedule, I have some solid goals. Unlike other months that were more general, I want to get really specific so here we go:

• Do 30 burpees a day and try to increase this number - the burpee works out so much of your body and is key to excelling at obstacle course racing... and I hate them. 
• Pull-ups - I want to put the pull up bar back into the house and keep attempting to do them. I'm sure they've improved but I don't work on it. 
• No days off - as I write this, I skipped my workout today because I was "busy." Not okay next month. I know you need rest days but to me, that means a day off from the hard stuff. I'd still like to get in a casual walk, some stretching, or yoga on the days that I need to rest from harder work outs.
• Level up - most of my workouts are pretty quantifiable. I know what level I climb at. I know what weights I can lift in body pump. I know how fast I can run. I'm definitely plateauing and so this is the time to push through to get to the next level.
• Kick it! Dan and I joined a kickball league. The last time I played kickball, I could barely get on base. It was just fun for me. While it's still a good time, I'm actually good now. It's fun watching my other fitness flow through and seeing results on the field. I want to keep it going, make sure I don't miss a game, and kick some balls!
• And a last minute add... 31 days of fitness! A local gym that Dan loves is having a promotion. 31 day membership for $31 including a beginning and ending fitness evaluation and a practice obstacle race at the end. Another way to quantify my month!

So yea, I'm excited for this goal and excited to have a month to focus on bettering myself. I hope adding in the burpees, pull ups, and extra days will do what it takes to get me to the next level. This is my time and I'm excited to really get to peak fitness.