Persevering and Ignoring Distractions

The hubs sent me a message last week informing me that he missed my posts.  I was really touched by this, and then immediately started to worry if I communicate better through my blog than in person.

 

That aside, I want to explain.  We lost our internet for a week. 7. LONG. DAYS.  Including a weekend.  Dan and I fought for the first time since December during these 7 days.  The last time was when we were in a car together for 15 hours returning from vacation with my family to Texas.

 

Source

To me, this was a sign that I am too dependent on my internet.  Lack of food, water, shelter.  These things would lead to unhappiness and lashing out at the husband.  Not, no internet.  I was ashamed.

 

So, I have cut down on my usage, meaning no blog.  And, now I’m back.  I tend to believe nothing in excess, everything in moderation.  I include under indulgence as an excess.

 

With that said, here is what I’ve been up to:

• I am ALMOST finished with the baby blanket that I’ve been working on for 7 years (5 more rows!)
• My nephew turned 7 and we had a family skating party.  I was sore for a week.
• I started going to the gym after work, giving up on being self motivated at home.
• I have developed the best low carb chocolate chip cookie recipe ever. 

• I am in the process of converting an old changing table into a bar (which can be converted back if needed).
• Dan and I booked a vacation to St. Louis for Memorial Day weekend.
• I signed up for a 6 day work conference in Vermont in July.
• I bought a new bathing suit.
• Our Bonnaroo bracelets came in!
• I’ve started to learn Italian (Che una macchina piccolo.  There is a small car.)
• I colored my hair for the first time since undergrad.
• I fell in love with my new coffee machine.
• I’m trying a new self-motivation technique to help me with work.

 

My goals for this week are: to run 3 times this week, hit the tanning bed 2-3 times, blog 2 more times, and finish the bar.

 

Happy Monday!

Dream Day

If you could plan your perfect day, in detail, for one day, what would it be??

Dan wrote his day out, and shared it with me.  He detailed everything from how he would want to wake up, his perfect breakfast, activities prior to work, leaving for work, his ideal job, dinner, followed by evening plans.  I have to admit, it sounded pretty near perfect for him.  Since then, we have slowly been working towards achieving this perfect day for him.  I mean, isn’t this what life is about?  Being as happy as possible.  Plus, I got to see his vision for our future, so we are working together towards the same goal.

Since then, I’ve spent some time thinking about my perfect day.  It’s very easy for me to say, well, my perfect day would be sleeping in, breakfast in bed, no chores, and spending the day with the dogs and husband on a beach.  But, this is very unrealistic, and so I’ve had to think about what my perfect realistic, achievable day would be.  I’ve really struggled with this, but I think yesterday, got as close as I’ve gotten before.

I woke up around 6:30, ate a quick breakfast, threw on some clothes, and headed to the dentist with Dan.  After getting a cleaning myself, we were back home around 10am, when I showered for the day, made a very yummie egg and toast breakfast with coffee, and headed out the door for work.  I got to work around noon, worked for 5 hrs, being fairly productive all day, before coming home.

Dan took the day off work, so he had dinner ready for me.  I also received some ebay orders (a new dress and new jeans that Dan said makes my butt look 18 years old).  I changed into a tank top, and we headed with the dogs for a nice evening walk to Daisy field.  The dogs got to run while Dan and I got to enjoy some time together in the daylight.  We headed back home for a some dinner, before we headed out to see a movie. 

After a wonderful date with the husband, we still had time to relax at home with the dogs, while Dan sang and played on the guitar for me.  We went to bed around 11:15 after a wonderful day together.

Something about having a productive morning before work, only working until my job is done with no frustrations/problems, having dinner ready when I got home, and quality time with the husband and dogs, left me feeling like I’m returning to work from a vacation.  The fresh from the dentist clean teeth feeling helps too. 

If I could somehow turn yesterday into motivation to get up and run before work, to Dan being home some mid-week evenings, I think I would be a major step closer to my perfect day.

So, what would your perfect every day be?

Year of Progress

With it being the new year, I thought I'd update everyone on how I was doing on my Goals list I created in September.
I have not run a 5k, but I did start to get back into running, just to sprain my ankle in December.  So, I'm back off running and am trying to get back into it.  I also have not tried GeoCashing and I didn't make it to either a college or high school football game.  I also decided not to do the Red Cross Disaster Training due to stress at work.
However!  I did change my name on my work badge and my license, and am on track to get my passport.  I've given to 2 charities, am still attending the Clinical Pharmacology Course, and am still on track to pay off my car.

So, for the Resolutions for the New Year, Dan dubbed last year as "The Year of Perseverance" and this year as "The Year of Progress."  In keeping with that theme, here are my resolutions:

1 - Keep mastering techniques at work to develop myself as a scientist.
2 - Start working out again and introduce more vegan meals into our diet to stay healthy
3 - Devote more time to myself and my hobbies.
4 - Meet our financial goals for the year so we can continue to work to being debt free.
5 - Be a better friend and wife.

That's it.  I've never really been a New Years Resolution person and always found myself setting goals in the summer.  None of these goals are "measurable," but I will know how I'm personally progressing which is the theme.

I wish everyone luck with their goals, and if you think of ways to help me with mine, just let me know!

September Mental Checkup

This has been a crazy year so far. There have been so many ups and downs, and I have been turned around far too many times. This was supposed to be our year off to relax and settle into our lives. Well, maybe next year we can get around to that.

Now that Dan is back to the man I remember and love dearly (not to mention completely healthy!), I’ve decided I need to focus on me. I know it sounds cheesy, but I took Monday off from work, and I literally sat and stared at the wall because I didn’t know what I did for fun. So I cleaned. I took Wednesday off for a Dr. appt and to see Caleb before he headed back to Seattle, and ended up spending the rest of the day on the couch. I have been so negative this week for no reason and I’m tired of it.

So! In attempts to get out of this funk, I decided to make a to-do list. Here are some things that I would like to NEED TO do from now until May.

1. Run a 5k. I would prefer the time to be in 30 min or less, but since I haven’t ran consistantly since before Dan’s surgery, I’d be happy to just finish without walking.
2. Participate in 15 hashes (and get named!)
3. Try Geocaching
4. Legally change my name on my license and work badge.
5. Get a passport
6. Complete the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Training so I can…
7. Volunteer for something.
8. Give to three charities.
9. Go to a High School football game
10. Go to a college football game
11. Go to a college basketball game
12. Go on a Wine Tasting Tour
13. Go camping.
14. Pay off my car
15. Plan/purchase our honeymoon!
16. Complete the NIH Pharmacology Course
17. Finish making the blanket I started 2 years ago.

Phew, I feel better already. I guess I really just need something fun that I can work towards.