30 Day Challenge - Day 23

Today was unquestionably a "Monday".   I'm certain I have said this before; Mondays are tough.  I mean right off the bat, I walk into voice mails and emails that came in during the weekend.  Don't get me wrong, I love to keep busy but sometimes it gets a little overwhelming.  Especially when there's a 30 day challenge going on.  I suspect that some individuals that started the challenge with me are no longer running in the race. Knowing that pushes me even harder to make it happen.  My work challenge is going great and it's mostly powered by sheer stubbornness.  All my life my stubbornness has been a strength of mine.  And it has been a weakness too.   Balancing between the two has always been my struggle but I really feel that engaging in this challenge has really helped me to see how minor tweaking can make all the difference.  Embracing change and letting go of old habits is key for me.  I am learning that change is good!

T minus 7 days!

Day 23 done!

I raced home to cooked dinner so that Sweetheart and I could watch the Season Finale of the The Next Food Network Star. **Spoiler Alert**  Now, the episode actually aired yesterday so I'm sure the spoiler alert is not necessary but I still feel obligated to post it.

And the winner was Justin!  Sweetheart and I have been rooting for this kid since day one.  His culinary point of view was a little quirky and he is obviously very unique but we instantly took a liking to him.  He's very charming and charismatic and the kid is wicked smart.  We were impressed with him from day one and we were so happy to see him take the win!  What made it more special is that his mentor Alton Brown really vested himself, not just with Justin, but with his entire team.  We saw an entire different side of Alton and well, it was a very emotional finale.  I (literally) cried when they announced the winner and Sweetheart admitted that even he got a little choked up!  It was an amazing 11 weeks of hard work and sweat on their part.  On our end, it was 11 weeks of nail biting when it came to eliminations.  In the end, the last one standing was absolutely the best choice!  Congrats to Justin!!

I love this picture!  

BTW, there was another intense dust storm in Phoenix today.  This is a picture of downtown Phoenix mid afternoon -- covered in dust!  Now we need a monsoon rain to wash all the dirt away!