I had quite a productive day. I met several amazing people around the island, in several capacities, and got to know our neighbors. But knowing us, getting to know the neighbors is like announcing “There goes the neighborhood!”
I venture out a little each day, mostly just to a grocery store or the library, but today I ventured a bit further and accomplished something that has been on my To-Do list for about 2 months…I finally got my hair cut! The snarls in my hair were driving me absolutely mad, so I called up the most local hair salon I could find and made an appointment with Janet at Mane Stream Hair Salon. Chatting with Janet, I felt that this place really is somewhere we could stay for a long while.
After my haircut, I met up with Lara from South Island CrossFit. I miss the CrossFit community, there really is nothing like it. I’m hopeful that there may be a great opportunity for me to learn from some really great people who want nothing more than to help others achieve their fitness goals. It was a great meet-up and really uplifting for me. I think I’m on the right path that I need to be. And I feel certain that doors are opening in positive ways.
Chris and I decided to visit Greenbank Farms for their First Friday celebration. In their artists’ galleries, they were featuring new artists and new works, and we reconnected with Windwalker at Raven Rock Gallery, whom we had met on our first venture to Whidbey Island and was one of the main people that convinced us that Whidbey was the place for us. They were so incredibly generous and welcoming. Mary Jo, one of the artists and owners of the gallery, even gifted me with a welcome present, to keep my “Trust the process” rock company.
Our final stop was the Winery at Greenbank Farm, where we met our future next door neighbors. They are an older couple, and I’m sure they’re a little worried about what kind of neighbors these two “young kids” are going to be. I’ll tell you what type of neighbors we’ll be! We’ll bring the food, you supply the wine! The meeting really has us excited about our new home, even if there is a little anxiety surrounding the move.
We even managed to get in a run along the nature trails around Greenbank Farm. The woodland trail is a lot longer than we thought it would be, but it’s incredibly peaceful, jogging in the coolness among tall fir trees. Almost made me forget I was DYING. 
I really hope I come to like running, because right now I’m totally not feeling it. Tomorrow we are taking a day off from a running workout (I’m not so lucky, I still need to run my mile), so I’m pretty sure the day will call for a Deck of Cards workout.
And later on I listened to this fantastic podcast called 15 Minutes to Wellness. They unfortunately didn’t have a better method for sharing the episode in a blog, so if you are interested, you’ll have to copy and paste. Sorry for that. But in the episode, they discuss what I consider a major aspect of Fitness Through Operant Conditioning- break down your goal into small, manageable steps. I really like the saying they give: “Inch by inch, it’s a cinch. Yard by yard is way too hard.” Listen to it, and make those small changes!
http://app.stitcher.com/splayer/f/41488/35287903
We will have to do the full loop at Greenbank one day in the future and I would also like to get back to the Crossfit community, that was the only time that where fitness felt like recess at kindergarten.