Challenge #13: Backyard Adventurer

Challenge #13: Spend 10 minutes outside doing something that you have never done before.

This one was hard for me. I thought about it all day yesterday. What was I going to do? One problem is that I love being outside when the weather is nice, which it finally is now, so there’s not a lot that I haven’t done. Another problem was that some things I haven’t done that I would like to try even if only once, such as fishing (catch and release – I don’t eat fish), I don’t have the resources or friends to do. And yet another problem is that today is Sunday. As per my religion I make it a point to not spend money on Sundays, and I have church and family obligations which made time a factor as well. While I do hope one day someone will take pity on this city girl and take her on some kind of outdoor adventure (within reason – baby steps with me), today just wasn’t the day.

So since I went running this morning and I’ve never been on a run on a Sunday before I thought maybe I’d count that. But then I thought that was kind of  a cop out. But then I got a little creative. The challenge didn’t say it had to be something active. Just something I’ve never done before. So after my run, I took my breakfast out on my balcony and ate in the beautiful morning sunlight. Yes, I’ve eaten breakfast outside before – at girl’s camp when I had no choice. This morning eating outside was something I wanted to do. I decided to make a childlike breakfast as well – cinnamon toast and chocolate milk. (I have this theory that calories don’t count on the weekends.)

Sunday mornings are typically quiet around here (Utah, I mean). Even folks who have church at 9:00 aren’t up in time to be there even 5 minutes early. So I pretty much had the outdoors to myself. It was so peaceful, warm and beautiful! I snapped some pictures of my view from my balcony and basked in the sun once I cleaned my plate. I enjoyed every minute!

I love the mountains!!

Oh! And for those of you who may have missed it, I was featured in a recent Kim & Jason blog! Check it out! I’m pretty much famous now. That’s right.

Escaping Adulthood

Hey there. I’m Amy, you’re typical adult. I’m working on becoming your not typical adult. That’s what this blog is all about. But as Fraulein Maria once sang “Let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start.”

Once upon a time (Saturday, April 9, 2011) I traveled to a mysterious land (Orem, UT) to attend a royal festival (the Utah early childhood conference). There it was revealed to me that I have a bad case of Adultitis. What is Adultitis, you may ask? Well, I’m not exactly the best person to ask that. The best person to ask is Jason Kotecki, the Champion of Childhood, and his darling wife Kim. Basically, having Adultitis means I’m a doo-doo head. Now, this wasn’t exactly news to me. Why, just last week one of my sisters told me I take life too seriously. And my boss constantly tells me to slow down; that stuff isn’t that crucial. However, Jason presented this information in a way that not only reminded me of what I already knew about myself (he’s a professional reminderer-er), but he also gave me tools. Instead of just saying “here’s what’s wrong with your story” he said “here’s how to create a better story.”

Some of Kim and Jason's cool stuff

So the purpose of this blog is to put those tools to work in my life. One great resource I took from the conference (actually I bought it, I didn’t just take it) is Kim and Jason’s book “The Escape Plan” which details 40 challenges that will help cure me of Adultitis. I hope you’ll join me on the next… however long it takes me to complete all 40 challenges (it’s supposed to be 40 days, but finals are coming up). I hope you’ll even take the challenge along with me. And please follow their blog and check out their really cool stuff.

You may be looking at this picture and thinking “is that Pokey?” Yes. Yes, that’s Pokey. Why? Because.

I didn’t get to meet Kim or Jason, but I did email Jason and I have to say that he’s totally awesome for granting me permission to do this blog. (He returned my email in less than 12 hours… who does that?!)

Tomorrow I’ll write more about myself, specifically to answer these frequently asked questions:

How serious is Amy’s case of Adultitis?

What has led Amy to contract Adultitis?

What sorts of childlike things are already in place in Amy’s life that have kept her from Full-Blown Adultitis?

What does Amy look like?

Inquiring minds what to know. Stay tuned!