31 Days: Pause

Obviously I have not kept up on my 31 day challenge. I read the challenges every day, attempt to include them in some way, but don't always complete or post what I do. So I've decided to save all the challenges, and when I feel like I'm in a rut or just need a little fun, I'll pick a challenge and do it! So while I wasn't successful in completing the 31 day challenge in 31 days, I will complete it throughout the year. In the mean time, I have other things on my mind, so you may see an actual, non-challenge post from me in the near future! Stay tuned.

31 Days: Day 6

Rock out to a new beat

Break out of your regular playlist and listen to new music today.

Check out your local venues and go see a new band. Change your Pandora station to something you've never heard of. Listen to an opera in its entirety.

Today I chose to pick a new Pandora station. I chose acoustic blues. It's not a genre I'm familiar with at all. I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's a station I could listen to quite often. I know it's the Blues, but I found myself grooving to great beats and fun instrumentation. If you don't listen to the words, it's actually quite fun! Looks like I've found myself a new station!

31 Days: Day 5

Get foodie with it

The colors and aromas of ethnic cuisines from around the world can open us up to all kinds of adventure.

For today's adventure, try a new food.

Maybe it's one you've never heard of. (Quinoa? Kim chi? Let's give it a go!) Or how about a food or spice you're used to avoiding. Hot salsa? Chili paste? Wasabi? Or you can simply order a different item from your favorite restaurant instead of the regular.

Now is the time to give your palate a little extra adventure. You never know what you might fall in love with.

Feeling extra adventurous? Invite a friend to cook something new for you and taste it without knowing what it is.

I would have loved to be extra adventurous with this today, but it was another day I simply didn't leave my house. But I still managed to fit this one in.

Being from Washington, I am well acquainted with different types of apples. It has been disappointing to find fewer varieties here in Texas. While I can still get the honeycrisp apple, probably the best apple out there, there are others I can't get. One of my favorites is the gravenstein apple. It's the apple I made my applesauce from most years. I love the flavor of it. It's one of my very favorite apples. Last month I found a single bottle of apple juice made from gravenstein apples in rather a random place. It was the only one on the shelf. I picked it up and hid it away. I decided today would be the perfect day to open the bottle and see just how good it was. I was not disappointed. In fact, I was quite pleasantly surprised! It tastes just like my applesauce did, but in juice form! It was a great reminder of a wonderful apple that I love. I don't often drink juice, and when I do I drink very little. I drank almost the entire 32 oz. bottle.

For good measure, I also threw in a new chocolate I've never tried before; Vosges Black Pearl Bar. Dark chocolate with ginger, wasabi, and black sesame seeds. It was remarkably delicious.

31 Days: Day 4

Stretch your brain

It's often said that knowledge is power. What have you learned recently?

For today's adventure, learn something new.

Here are some ideas to get you thinking:

• How to fly a kite.
• How to say "adventure" in three different languages.
• Learn to knit.
• How to tie a bowline knot.
• The capitals for every province in Canada.
• Something about a loved one you don't already know.

OK, what I learned today wasn't something new. I re-learned it. Helping a 12 year old with grammar homework is hard. I had to re-learn prepositions and adverbs and a number of other terms I'd simply forgotten.

31 Days: Day 3

Remap your route

Ever feel like you’re totally stuck in a rut and doing the same thing day in and day out?

For your daily adventure today, consider a different means of transportation to work (or school) — Can you bike? Walk? Take a bus or carpool? Or, if you can’t do that, take a different (maybe more scenic) route and see what you discover.

Today was definitely a stuck in a rut kind of day. I thought about this challenge, but I didn't even leave the house. I tried to run again yesterday, after 2 months of rest and rehab on my knee. Today I spent the day with an ice pack, hobbling around my house.

I would have liked to go out, maybe walk somewhere I usually drive, take a bike ride with my kids, just do something different. Instead I found myself unable to do much of anything.

Definitely a stuck in a rut day. Unfortunately today's prompt just made that a little more obvious.

I'm sure there was something I could have done to discover some kind of adventure anyway. There always is, when there is a desire to do so. I'm embarrassed to admit I let my frustration with my knee overwhelm me today.

31 Days: Day 2

Notice the little things

It's often easy to overlook the little things as we go about our days.

Today's adventure invites you to pause and notice the littlest things: The way the light comes in the window. The rise and fall of your chest as you breath (or maybe the breath of whoever else is in the room). The patterns made by the trees.

How do the little things add adventure to your day? What have you discovered that you missed before?

Instead of one post at the end of the day, I am going to try to post things as I think of them, then publish at the very end.

The first little thing I noticed today was the way my brown sugar melted and swirled in my cream of wheat. When I was a kid I would mix it until everything was a uniform brown. Now I like the swirl, the contrast in color, and the subtle change in flavor from bite to bite, depending on how much sugar is in that bite. It's one of the little things in life that simply makes me happy.

Today was a little chilly. The kids and I went to the park where I walked and attempted to run on my injured knee. There were a few things that stood out to me as I tried to focus on the little things. First, I noticed the slight discomfort in my chest as I inhaled the chilly air. My lungs didn't like it, but the rest of my body loved the cleanness of it. Second, I noticed the gradual but definite soreness in my knee as I tried to run on it. I could feel it get worse with almost every step. Third, I noticed the wind. I noticed the prickly feeling as it stung my cheeks and made my skin tingle and itch. While none of these sound like good things, and I continue to be frustrated to verge of tears with the pain in my knee, I am grateful that I have a (mostly) healthy body, the opportunity to be outside, and the ability to take my kids to the park and walk/run for an hour. Plus, the happiness that comes from that time in the sun will boost my spirits all day long.

Sitting at my kitchen table today, with the warm sun streaming through the door behind me, warmed me both body and soul.

Have you ever noticed the difference just a degree or two of heat can make?

Warm bread sticks, just out of the oven, brushed with butter and salted with garlic salt may just be the most delicious thing ever.

I didn't discover anything groundbreaking during my day of looking at the little things, but changing my focus did help me to discover little joys I may have overlooked otherwise. Sometimes, finding joy in your day can be the greatest adventure of all.

31 Days: Day 1

Day 1: A new perspective

It’s a brand new year and many of us take this time to start fresh.

Today’s adventure is all about seeing things in a new and different light. Take a photo of something familiar from a new angle: up close; upside down; from above; from underneath.

What do you notice? What’s interesting? Unique?

I spent some time thinking about this challenge before I pulled out my camera. I kept coming back to Zoe, my darling 2 year old niece. I spent some time today just sitting on my floor, in different areas of my house, trying to see the world as she saw it. I was amazed at what I saw, and what simply disappeared. My first thought was it's no wonder children of that age get into the things they do. They simply see things we don't. They don't know that inside that box with a lid they can't lift, or behind the door they can't open, or on the shelf they can't reach, are toys and books and games. But that remote control within reach, that candle holder right at eye level, and those fun buttons on the dishwasher, are all right there. They don't always see or know where the more appropriate playthings are, and so they play with what is easily available.

But I noticed something else. The dirty dishes in the sink? Gone. The cluttered counters? Nope, not there either. The pile of laundry just looks like a colorful pile of clothes, even something more to play with. A 2 year old doesn't understand having to do the dishes first, or the need to sweep, or the pile of clothes that need to be folded. All they see is a mommy who can't play with them or read to them. Of course we understand these things have to be done, but maybe we need to pause every now and then and try to understand what it is a child sees, and how they see it. Maybe we can pretend the dishes aren't there, sit on the floor for a while, and try to see the world from the perspective of a 2 year old.

31 days

Dear Julie sent me a link to 31 Days of Adventure. Each day through January you are prompted to post something new on your blog. I haven't posted since my last 30 day challenge, and I really would like to blog more. My first official post will come later today. But in case anyone would like to join me, I thought I'd post a link to the prompts! So if anyone else is looking for a bit of adventure this month, join me. Let's have some fun!

http://www.31daysofadventure.com/prompts/