May 2019 Reflections

May was a blur, partly due to activity and partly due to being sick.  It was also a bit frustrating on the job front which occupied a lot of my mental real estate.  Here is a rundown of some of my activity and thoughts from the month.

PA Trip

My big event for the month was a trip to Pennsylvania to see my sister and Baby T.  My sister is going through some personal drama at the moment.  I will not get into her private details, but the situation was such that I was not super comfortable staying with her this time.  I knew that she wanted me to be there despite the things happening though, so I went through with a sleepover on an air mattress in my niece’s room.  Baby T left me alone in her room the first night while she slept with my sister, but she joined me in her own bed the next two nights.  I think she enjoyed the sleepover, so I am glad I stayed for her sake.  The rest of the trip went as expected.  I arrived on a Friday, and mostly just hung out with my sister and Baby T.  We had dinner, watched some TV, played with toys, and talked until bedtime.  Saturday was breakfast with my parents and then the day spent at my grandmother’s house. Most of the local family was there to help grandma out with several home maintenance/cleaning projects.  My mom also bought a birthday cake for me and the family sang Happy Birthday.  The evening was another quiet night with my sister and Baby T.  Sunday I met up with my college friend for a late lunch at Emporio:  A Meatball Joint.  It is currently one of my favorite places to eat around Pittsburgh, and she likes it enough to make the drive down from Greenville.  Sunday evening, I went to my parents’ house to visit, because I felt like I owed them a few extra hours since I did not spend much of the weekend actually talking to them.  Monday morning, I packed up and left the house as my sister was leaving for work.  I stopped for breakfast with my grandma at Bob Evans, and then headed on home.

No Husband Weekend

The last weekend of the month was a very rare event where I had no husband at home.  He does not go away without me very often, so I try to cherish the few times that it happens.  In this case, he went to a weekend music festival a few hours away with one of his friends.  He left Saturday morning.  I spent most of the day with the wife of the friend that accompanied him.  We went to a small town festival about an hour away but did not spend much time there.  We left from there and went to Hillsborough Winery & Brewery.  I got a glass of a sparkling white wine and a pretzel board.  There is plenty of indoor and outdoor seating, ample parking, a decent food menu to go with the alcohol, and gorgeous views of the vineyard.  We went from there to Bear Chase Brewing Company.  I ended up not getting anything here, but just sat with my friend while she enjoyed her flight.  Bear Chase is also a very nice venue, but it was incredibly crowded for the afternoon with a lot of families running around.  We ended the night with pasta and gelato from Ciao, a local Italian restaurant.  Sunday, I wanted to stay home to relish the silence of a house to myself.  I went on two small errands during the day, but otherwise stayed in as planned.  I decided to go with a media free day to enhance the silence, so no TV, no podcasts, no Youtube, and very little online activity.  I mostly read, wrote, slept, and enjoyed my time.  Monday, my husband was home incredibly early which is typical for him.  We had our neighbors over for dinner since none of us had Memorial Day plans.  It was a good weekend.  I just wish I got them more often.

Birthdays & Anniversary

May always seems on the busy side because my birthday, my husband’s birthday, and our wedding anniversary are all in it.  I like to laugh and say we planned it that way so we could just celebrate for the whole month.  In reality though, I feel like these special days tend not to be such a big deal in our house.  We have dinner and give presents for each birthday.  I kind of miss the family gatherings that were the norm growing up, so I was glad to receive birthday cake while I was in PA even though it was technically a week after my birthday.  We always did cake and ice cream with the family when I was little (for everyone not just me), but it is hard to recreate as an adult.  My family is too far away, my husband’s family is not a good substitute, and while going out for friend’s birthdays is normal in our group, I somehow cannot bring myself to order cake and invite them all over for it.  Our anniversary is usually spent on a nice dinner, but my husband seemed uninterested in it this year.  We ended up just going to Foster’s Grill.  We never do presents for the anniversary, which has always been my choice.  I guess it just seemed a little bland this year compared to prior years, but I think that is where our life is at the moment.

Sick

I brought home a little souvenir from PA.  My niece was coughing while I was there, and I started a few days after I got home.  It started with coughing and chest pain, progressed to nasal congestion, then drained out, and resumed to just coughing with less chest pain.  It is about two weeks after symptoms began, and I still have a little residual coughing, but it is mostly cleared at this point.  This put a damper on my spirit and motivation for the month.  It was not a super productive month, but between being out of town and being sick half the month, I feel like I have an excuse.

CPA License

I bought the AICPA Ethics course.  I have actually completed all the modules at this point.  I was originally going to take the final exam today.  However, I got a little side-tracked with other things.  Plus, I thought it might be better to take it when I am home alone.  I am not expecting any issues with it, but it always easier to accomplish things when no one is here to distract me.  Once I pass the Ethics exam, I have some paperwork to complete and then I should be able to submit my initial application.  I also emailed the VA Board of Accountancy with the questions I had pertaining to my incomplete checklist on the site, the missing Congratulatory Letter, and the experience requirement.  I received answers to all of that very quickly.  Fingers crossed, I will have everything submitted by the end of next week, barring any surprises in the application process.

Job Search

My job search has been frustrating this month.  I will take some responsibility as I have not been as diligent about searching and applying for jobs as I could be.  However, the things that I have been applying to are going nowhere.  I did not get the job that I interviewed for last month.  I have not really heard back from anywhere else, except a couple rejection emails from places that never contacted me.  I appreciate the emails though, because then I can at least cross them off the list completely.  I thought I was off to a good start last month when I got contacted by two of the first places where I submitted applications, but it seems to have been a false start.  I still have enough time and money that I am not super anxious, but I need to start trying harder and redefining my process.  Part of this means looking within to determine what I am really willing to do in terms of commute, salary, and responsibilities.  Part of this means trying harder when applying for jobs as I admit I have been a little lazy about crafting cover letters and modifying my resume to the specific job.  I also need to start getting creative about job searching as the boards do not seem to get me close to where I think I want to be.  Hopefully, I will have something better to report next month.

The Witness

I picked up a video game in May.  I tend to not play too many video games, because they take up a lot of time and most do not really interest me anyway.  Of the video games I have played in the past, my favorite genre is the puzzle game.  The Witness came out a few years ago.  I heard the guys on Giant Bombcast discussing how great it was back then and it peaked my interest.  My husband bought it for me about a year ago, but I never got around to playing it.  This seemed like a good time to start it, seeing as I have the time to put into it now that I am done with the major studying but not yet back to work.  In total there are 664 puzzles to solve.  I am currently at 384-ish.  It is possible for me to “complete” the game without doing all the puzzles, so until I get into all the areas it is hard for me to tell what I have missed.  I am not a puzzle purist.  I looked up some general tips and tricks at the beginning, which gave me some basic puzzle mechanics to get me started.  I looked up two more pointed hint guides to get through two puzzles where I was stuck though I did not look up the actual solutions on them.  I looked up the actual solutions on a handful of puzzles in an area of the game that relied on audio tones to solve them.  Historically I have had trouble with sound-based puzzles, so I do not feel bad that I cheated in this area.  I am much more interested in getting through the game to the end than I am about doing it 100% on my own.  I do put effort into solving things myself first.  I certainly walked away and came back to puzzles after learning more in other areas of the map which made previously unsolvable puzzles suddenly clear.  I feel like it is a lot more fun to look stuff up after a certain amount of effort than to have to walk away completely because I have reached a wall on a particular item.  With any luck, I will have completed the game next week.

Personal Products Project

I am still just trying to work my way through all the products I own.  I am making the best progress on skincare.  Although I have a few categories that I just have too much based on how much product I can actually use (hello lip balm even after decluttering most of the unopened ones I had), I have managed to get through a number of half-used bottles and sample sizes in other areas.  I feel like bath & body products are hopeless.  I have a lot of gifts from people in this area.  I am trying to make myself use things regularly, but I have so much I probably can go for years without running out on certain categories.  Plus, I have a few staples that I really want to repurchase even if I technically have other things that would work (i.e. – my beloved CeraVe SA Cream even though I have multiple scented body lotions I could technically use).  Haircare is an area where my routine is fairly minimalist, but I have a lot of random samples of products mostly from the subscription boxes I used to get.  I have been trying to branch out and try new things occasionally, but progress has been slow.  Makeup is the area where I feel the most guilt.  I have a ton of product from subscription boxes, but I also have a lot of random items I purposely bought myself because they were pretty and popular on Youtube.  I have decluttered a lot of makeup items over the past few months.  I am trying not to throw things out that are still technically usable but I admit there have been one or two that I just knew I would never use again for whatever reason and so tossed.  It has become obvious to me how much makeup I have accumulated and how little of it I can actually use up.  Still, I am trying to just rotate through it and slowly pare it down as I go.  For May, I used up/trashed 10 items – 1 lash primer, 2 eyeshadows, 1 liquid highlight, 1 nail polish, 1 firming face mask, 1 SPF face moisturizer, 1 face mist, 1 perfume, and 1 body oil.  I did not buy anything for the month.  Next month, I plan to do a half year summary of everything I used up and where I stand going forward.  I am toying with the idea of doing a lessons learned series during the second half of the year, one for each main area of skincare, bath & body, haircare, and makeup.

Books

I have no real commentary on my reading selection for May.  I read some decent books, but nothing that stood out as particularly amazing or terrible.  Here are the books I read during the month with my ratings (1-Awful, 2-Disappointing, 3-Decent, 4-Good, 5-Amazing).

Seven Ways We Lie by Riley Redgate – 4 stars

Stillwatch by Mary Higgins Clark – 3 stars

So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson – 3 stars

The First Time She Drowned by Kerry Kletter – 3 stars

The Lost Girls by Jennifer Baggett, Holly Corbett, & Amanda Pressner – 4 stars

There you have it, my month in review.  I am planning on a quiet June filled with festivals, hiking, and other simple summer fun.

See you next month!

April 2019 Reflections

April went by really fast, but there is little to discuss beyond one big event and updates on the usual.  Here is a rundown of some of my activity and thoughts from the month.

Damascus

My husband and I went on a little trip to Damascus, VA.  This was something he chose and planned.  We stayed at the Old Damascus Mill Inn.  We had a room right on the river, so all night long we could listen to the sound of the river fall over the mill.  Unfortunately, it rained pretty heavily for most of the trip, so we had to adjust our itinerary to account for the rain.  Friday night, we arrived pretty late, so all we did was check in and eat at the restaurant run by the hotel.  Saturday, my husband went to a disc golf course in the morning.  I read a little bit, but ended up falling back to sleep for several hours.  Once he returned, we went to Abingdon, VA for the afternoon.  We ate at Moon Dog Brick Oven for lunch, which was decent pizza for a relatively inexpensive price.  Then, we went to the Heartwood Artisan Center and the William King Museum of Art.  We wrapped up the afternoon with a trip to the Abingdon Winery for some wine and some folk music.  After returning to the hotel, we walked to the Damascus Diner for dinner.  My husband left for Damascus Brewery after dinner, but I stayed in to journal, read, and stare at the water outside the window.  Sunday, we walked a 3.5 mile strip of the Virginia Creeper Trail out and back (7.0 miles total).  This was a gorgeous hike, especially after all the rain Friday & Saturday.  The water was just pouring down the mountain side, so the waterfalls were in full gushing mode and even the mountain walls just seemed to continually weep.  We had lunch at Mojo’s Trailside Café which is one of the most raved about places in town.  It was good, and I indulged in some Coca-Cola cake that was delicious.  After lunch, we made the trek home.  It was a beautiful weekend, despite the rain.  I would really like to go back some day.

CPA License

I have made zero progress on my CPA license since last month.  I have been waiting for the letter from the VA Board of Accountancy, but I have not received it.  I did check my profile a few weeks ago and it was missing two of my test scores, even though my last exam score sheet showed credit for all four.  I need to get back on to the site to check if those are filled in yet.  If not, I will probably email the board to see what the status is on my CPA exam requirement.  I keep putting off getting the ethics exam, because I just do not want to study any more.  However, it is time I get this done, so I am going to order that and complete it in May.

Job Search

I have made some progress on the job search.  My LinkedIn profile and resume are updated.  I talked to a recruiter from Robert Half, but I ended up canceling the full interview.  At first I thought it would be a good thing to work with the recruiter since I am so out of practice with job searches.  Internet research and my husband’s warnings though made me too anxious to take the chance that they would not actually help and instead just use me to fill their quotas and garner new company leads through my references.  I have applied to a handful of positions directly.  After I eliminate everything going toward DC, those posted by recruiting firms, government contractors, and auditing/tax/operational accounting positions, there is barely anything left to consider.  I have done one phone screen and one interview at the location, both for the same company.  This was recent, so I am waiting to hear back from them still.  I had one email inquiry for another position, but after canceling one phone screen and stating she wanted to reschedule for this week, I have not heard anything from her.  In the meantime, I just try to scan the job boards every few days for new options for which I can apply.

Marvel Cinematic Universe

Note:  There are no plot spoilers to Avengers:  Endgame below.  However, there are some vague references to things in the film.  Read at your own risk if you really want completely pure dead silence going into the film.

Last month, I mentioned that I began a full Marvel rewatch project to prep for the final Avengers movie.  I gave a partial list of movies watched to date in the order that I liked them.  In April, I finished this project.  Here is my final list of Marvel movies in order from least favorite to favorite, not including Endgame itself.

The Incredible Hulk (actually did not rewatch this one, and it is the only I do not plan to rewatch)

Iron Man 2

Iron Man

Doctor Strange

Avengers:  Age of Ultron

The Avengers

Thor:  Dark World

Thor

Ant-Man

Iron Man 3 (technically not a rewatch as I somehow never watched it the first time around)

Spider-Man:  Homecoming

Captain America:  Civil War

Captain Marvel (not a rewatch either, but I saw it once in the theater)

Captain America:  The First Avenger

Ant-Man and the Wasp

Black Panther

Guardians of the Galaxy

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2

Thor:  Ragnarok

Avengers:  Infinity War

Captain America:  The Winter Soldier

I have actually seen Avengers:  Endgame, but I decided not to put it in my official list.  I honestly am not sure where I rank it yet.  In terms of homage to the fans’ journey through the MCU, I think the film is brilliant.  It is an emotional roller coaster, taking us laughing, crying, and screaming for more down memory lane of all the energy we have put into the franchise.  I really like some of the character arcs they did.  I think some of the plot decisions were bold and unexpected, but good calls nonetheless.  I think the pacing is surprisingly good considering it is a 3 hour movie.  I am just not sure I think it is a particularly strong movie taken as a whole.  I found the “people turned to dust” problem resolution confusing, and it leaves several holes in logic with certain people/items/events during the course of the movie.  While I can get behind some of the character/plot decisions, I question some of the others.  I understand the emotionally driven reason why everyone possible has been brought into the film in some way, but I am not sure it was the right choice to pack in so many little scenes that are there solely to indulge this desire.  In the end, I think I need time and probably another rewatch or two before I can wrap my brain around everything and fully determine what I think of it.

Social Media Purge

I made some progress on the social media purge this month.  I deleted my Goodreads account.  I deleted my Twitter account (which probably means I will lose what little traffic I have to my blog).  I unfollowed almost everyone on my Instagram account, except those that I actually know.  I am not sure the Instagram purge is permanent, but I just wanted to reset and take a break for a while.  I narrowed my Youtube subscriptions to 10.  I binged a bit to catch myself up to current on those 10, but now I am hoping this will not generate enough new eye-catching videos to get me so off track again.  I will have to make another cut though if I find I still dump too much time into watching makeup reviews.  I really, really want to delete Facebook, but at this time it just does not seem feasible.  I get most of my social event invites and most of my family updates through the site.  Maybe some month I will feel comfortable taking the plunge, but for now I am just going to try to stop getting on 50 times a day.  I also decluttered my podcast list, but I ended up adding almost as many new different things over the month that no real progress was made there.

Personal Products Project

When it comes to my overload of personal products, I am just carrying on with my previously mentioned strategies of trying to use what I have and only buy what I really need.  For April, I used up/trashed 10 items – 1 eye liner, 1 eyeshadow, 1 liquid highlight, 1 hyaluronic acid serum, 1 exfoliating face mask, 1 SPF face oil, 1 hand cream, 1 foot cream, 1 perfume, and 1 deodorant.  I only bought 3 things in April – Paula’s Choice Skin Recovery Enriched Calming Toner, Paula’s Choice Skin Recovery Daily Moisturizing Lotion w/SPF, and Native Deodorant in Cucumber Mint.

Books

As stated above, I deleted my Goodreads account.  I still have an Excel spreadsheet that has been around longer than my Goodreads profile and has always basically been a duplicate to it.  However, I feel way less pressure to reduce my list with it in Excel than I did with it online.  I also feel less pressure to read from the list when it is just there for my own reference (not that I really think many people were stalking my Goodreads profile).  For April, here are the books I read during the month with my ratings (1-Awful, 2-Disappointing, 3-Decent, 4-Good, 5-Amazing).

The Right and Wrong Stuff:  How Brilliant Careers are Made and Unmade by Carter Cast – 5 stars

A Study in Sable by Mercedes Lackey – 3 stars

The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh – 3 stars

Daddy’s Little Girl by Mary Higgins Clark – 3 stars

Weep No More, My Lady by Mary Higgins Clark – 3 stars

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides – 4 stars

The Rose and the Dagger by Renee Ahdieh – 3 stars

There you have it, my month in review.  I am hoping May will be a month of good energy.  May has a lot of special events in it already, including my birthday, my wedding anniversary, and my husband’s birthday.  I am also planning a trip home to see my sister and baby T which will hopefully be lots of fun.

See you next month!

March 2019 Reflections

March was a good change of pace from last month.  The weather is finally starting to warm up, my testing is done, and I took time to breathe before planning my next steps.  Here is a rundown of some of my activity and thoughts from the month.

CPA Exam

I took my last test on March 6^th, and I passed it.  Woohoo!  I am now done with all four sections of the CPA exam.  I still need the final congratulatory letter from my state board for it to be accepted and final.  I have to take an ethics course from the AICPA.  Then, I have to get a signed acknowledgement of my relevant work experience from a licensed CPA.  My education requirement is already on file because it was completed prior to applying for the exam.  Once those final pieces are done, I send it all to the VA Board of Accountancy with my license application.  I am not sure how long it will take to get everything else completed and processed, but nothing else should be as difficult to get through as the actual exam.

Job Search

No, I have not started the job search yet.  But I have made progress on getting prepared to start.  My LinkedIn profile is about 90% complete.  I am still tinkering with the wording in my Summary section.  I want to get a new profile picture because the one currently there is about 10 years old even though the actual account is only 5.  I also want to tweak the skills section.  I have a random assortment of things people have tagged to me over the years, but some of them are not really that relevant.  I also want to include a couple new ones that are.  Over the next week, I will complete the LinkedIn profile.  Then, I need to revisit my resume.  I did have that sort of updated toward the end of last year, but the length is an awkward 1 and a tiny bit more pages right now.   I need to either shorten it so it is on 1 page or beef it up so it is 1½ pages.  Then, I will be ready to start applying to positions.  And I do plan to start applying in April.  I am out of excuses for why I am too busy, tired, and unmotivated to look for a job.  Plus, I have been ready to have an income of my own for a while now.  I am also tired of spending 4 days at home with my husband (why does he have to work 2 days a week from home?!), who has become increasingly snarky over my job search process.

Social Life

With the better weather and the better mood comes a better social life.  I had 3 social outings during the month.  For the first one, I traveled to Philadelphia for a weekend with my cousin.  We saw the Pennsylvania Ballet perform Giselle.  The rest of the weekend, we mostly just hung around the house venting about work and husbands.  The second one was a Sip & See to meet my friend’s new baby.  It was open house style, so my husband and I dropped in about half way through the event and stayed to the end.  The new baby was adorable, and he stayed very calm despite all the people passing him around.  The final one was my book club.  We read What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty and went to The Red Table for brunch.  It was a nice time, even though we were at the restaurant forever.  I always feel bad when we hog tables for extended periods of time, though at least this place did not seem particularly busy and our server was very amicable.

Sunshine & Beach Body

I am working to get back into the fitness swing of things.  The weather has finally warmed up, and we have not had too much rain either.  This means I can get outside and walk again.  I have taken a few neighborhood walks.  Plus, my husband, stepson, and I have made it out on 2 short hikes already.  The first one was a 5-ish mile stretch on the Bull Run Occoquan Trail starting at a little parking area close to where we live.  The second was around the Bluebell Trail in Bull Run Regional Park.  The bluebells have not quite bloomed yet, so we just saw the green plants with some buds.  In another week or so, it should be a carpet of blue.  I am getting excited to go on some longer hikes as the weather becomes more stable and things start to dry out.

I also bought a membership to Beach Body on Demand.  I have been considering adding some kind of online program for a while, because I get a bit lost doing workouts on my own.  It gets really expensive to hire a trainer at the gym or join another studio for more class variety.  I know there are tons of Youtube videos, but I feel like I am searching for a needle in a haystack trying to figure out what is legitimate and a good match for me.  My cousin has been doing Beach Body for over a year and has really enjoyed it.  I decided to give it a go, because it was not particularly expensive and it has been around long enough that I trust the quality.  I have started with the 21 Day Fix program.  I am not doing it exactly as scheduled because I am fitting it around hiking and my ballet burn class.  So far I am enjoying it.  Now I just need to work on reigning in my nutrition again.

Marvel Rewatch

I have done better with Youtube watching this month.  I am down to 17 subscriptions.  I have also been decent about streaming TV shows on Netflix this month.  However, I have gone into full Marvel rewatch mode, using a combination of my 2 disc rentals from Netflix, previously bought movies on Amazon Prime, and free/rented movies on Verizon FIOS.  I originally decided I wanted to view some of the older ones a few months ago as we headed into the final Avengers movie.  Then, I decided I might as well rewatch all of them, so I really kicked up my viewing in March.  I like making lists, so here is my list of Marvel movies rewatched in order from least favorite to favorite.

The Incredible Hulk (actually did not rewatch this one, and it is the only I do not plan to rewatch)

Iron Man 2

Iron Man

Doctor Strange

Avengers:  Age of Ultron

The Avengers

Thor:  Dark World

Thor

Ant-Man

Iron Man 3 (technically not a rewatch as I somehow never watched it the first time around)

Captain America:  Civil War

Captain America:  The First Avenger

Guardians of the Galaxy

Captain America:  The Winter Soldier

Still to Watch:  Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2, Spider-Man:  Homecoming, Thor:  Ragnarok, Black Panther, Ant-Man & the Wasp, and Avengers:  Infinity War (and Captain Marvel for the first time).

I will update my list next month, because I am sure you are all dying to know my full order of the movies.

Personal Products Project

I do not have much to say about my personal products project this month.  I am just continuing the strategies of trying to use what I have and only buy what I really need.  For March, I used up/trashed 8 items – 1 foundation, 1 calming serum, 1 hand cream, 1 foot mask, 1 perfume, and 3 lip scrubs (What? 3! Yes, 1 I used up, 1 was so dried out I could not use it despite it still being sealed, and 1 was half-used but so old I did not want to put it on my lips any more).  I did not buy a single beauty-related product in March.

Books

I am still working to whittle my Goodreads To Read list down to fewer than 100 books.  I read a few, I deleted a few, and I added a few over the month.  At the end of March, I have 104 on my list.  I am still reviewing books to delete, particularly ones not available through my library, but otherwise I am just trying to read at a normal pace to get the number down to where I want it.  Assuming I do not add a bunch next month, I should get to the 100 goal during April.  Here are the books I read during the month with my ratings (1-Awful, 2-Disappointing, 3-Decent, 4-Good, 5-Amazing).

What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty – 4 stars

The Perfect Mother by Aimee Molloy – 3 stars

My Year with Eleanor by Noelle Hancock – 3 stars

From a High Tower by Mercedes Lackey – 3 stars

I Almost Forgot About You by Terry McMillan – 3 stars

There you have it, my month in review.  I am hoping April will be a continuance of things getting better with even more energy in me and my life.

See you next month!

February 2019 Reflections

As predicted last month, February was also a bit rough for me.  I generally felt better than I did during January, but I am still struggling with lethargy, depression, and a general lack of motivation to make it better.  February is such a short month, but I have always found it one of the longest to get through each year.  I did not do a lot with my month, but here is a rundown of some of my activity and thoughts from it.

CPA Exam

Of course most of my time has been spent studying (and avoiding studying).  Even though I scheduled everything out from the beginning so that I never had to do more than 5 sections a day and got 2 days off a week, I have deviated from the plan so much that currently I can only take 1 day off and have many days where there are 7 or 8 modules on the schedule.  We are getting closer and closer to my test date of March 6^th, so I am running out of time to procrastinate.  I am forcing myself to push forward so I at least get through all the modules before my test date.  I am suffering from the CPA version of senioritis and find myself not really caring if I understand the material after I review it.  Hopefully, I will have absorbed enough to pass next week, because otherwise I will have to do it again.  I really do not want to do that.

Game Night

I only had one real social event during the month.  This was a game night at a friend’s house.  This turned out to be a very good evening.  There were about a dozen people there.  We split into three-ish groups to play board games through the night.  Although the groups did mix up a bit over time, I managed to go the entire evening without having to compete with my husband.  I played two different games.  One was a reboot of an old game from the 1980s called Fireball Island.  Visually it played on Indiana Jones themes.  The main idea was to run around the island picking up treasure and then get back to the helicopter before the volcano exploded.  The person with the most treasure won.  I did not win.  The second game was called Roll for It.  This was a quick game that involved cards with different combination of dice rolls on them.  Everyone had 6 dice with which they tried to be the first person to roll the combination on the card.  You collected the cards from each combination you earned.  The cards had points on them and the first person to 40 wins.  I did not win this game either.  After playing those two games, I hung around for a while to talk.  However, I went home relatively early as usual.  It was a nice night though, and the type of socializing I enjoy most.

Watching Stuff

I have gone a little crazy on watching videos this month.  Remember last month, when I tried to cut back the Netflix and Youtube subscriptions to try to tame my watching habits?  Well, it did not really work.  While I watched fewer movies thanks to my 2 disc per month limit, I increased my streaming activity in its place.  When it comes to Youtube, I currently am still at 21 subscriptions.  It is not quite the same 21 as where I started because I added 3 new ones and cut 3 old.  I guess it is good that I at least followed the 1-in-1-out rule I set for myself.  I am a little embarrassed to list all the watching activity I did, so instead of leaving a complete rundown of all the shows like last month, here are just a couple that I would recommend.

Travelers:  Season 2 & 3 – This was such a good series.

The Haunting of Hill House – I am a wimp when it comes to horror, and this was really scary in parts.  However, it was also very character driven with a lot of non-scary plot development that helped me get through the scary parts.  It is not a faithful adaption of Shirley Jackson’s amazing novel, but I think it did justice to many of the themes.  The show is entertaining in its own right, and I am happy to appreciate it for what it is.  I am looking forward to the next story in this series which will be based on Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw.

Personal Product Project

I have continued on my project to work through my crazy inventory of personal care products that I have accumulated.  How little progress I have made just reinforces how much I need to do this.  When it comes to the skincare/body care/hair care, I have just been trying to work through the things I have open first.  I have noticed I have a lot of unnecessary products that I do not find myself really wanting to use (bubble bath, clay-based face masks, perfume samples).  I am trying to force myself to work through what I can, but my guess is some of this will end up being tossed.  Hopefully, I can be more selective about what I let into my collection in the future so I do not end up with such a bizarre collection of crap.  When it comes to makeup, I am mostly focusing on trying stuff out.  I do have a couple items that are almost gone, so I am “panning” those.  However, most of my makeup is nowhere near being used up.  Instead I am rotating through products, trying things I have not used in a long time or some possibly ever.  Items that seem workable go back into the drawer for future rotation.  Things that are no good, I am tossing.  Unfortunately, most of the tossed items are so old I have no idea if the product has gone bad or if it was terrible from the start.  I am not a full face of makeup every day girl, so I have no idea why I thought it was a good idea to accumulate so much.  For February, I used up/trashed 8 items – 2 single eyeshadows, 1 tinted face SPF, 1 hand mask, 1 perfume, 1 deodorant, 1 shaving cream, and 1 nail polish strips kit.  I only bought 1 thing, Native deodorant in Lavender Rose.

Books

I am still working to whittle my Goodreads To Read list down to fewer than 100 books.  I am struggling to just delete more of them, so I took another tactic this month.  I tried to find some of the shortest, easiest reads on my list so I could get through more than normal.  I definitely accomplished the goal, but it set a hectic pace that I do not think did me any good.  I read 8 books in February, and I have 108 books remaining on the list.  Originally I wanted to do another short book readathon again in March, so I would be right at 100 going forward.  However, I have changed my mind.  I am going to read normally in March, and just let the number be wherever it ends up.  I have been careful about adding new books, so as long as I just keep reading more than I add, I should get to 100 in another month or two.  Here are the books I read during the month with my ratings (1-Awful, 2-Disappointing, 3-Decent, 4-Good, 5-Amazing).

You Will Know Me by Megan Abbott - 2 stars

White Hot Truth by Danielle LaPorte – 4 stars

The Red Car by Marcy Dermansky – 3 stars

Klickitat by Peter Rock – 3 stars

An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen – 4 stars

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson – 4 stars

Dead to You by Lisa McMann – 1 star (truly one of the worst books I have ever read)

The Haunted Bookshop by Christopher Morley – 4 stars

There you have it, my month in review.  I am hoping March will start to see some renewed energy in me and my life.  Fingers crossed, I will be forever done with the CPA exam.  Also, the sun will shine and the warmer weather will return for good, and as such I should start to feel better.

See you next month!

January 2019 Reflections

As I mentioned in my last reflections blog, my intent for 2019 is to continue with the monthly reflections.  However, I am abandoning the sections that were previously used:  The Good, The Challenges, and The Future.  I actually found them to be a bit restrictive.  A lot of the things I wanted to mention had good and bad parts to them, so I struggled to decide where to categorize them.  For 2019, I will just use a topical divide and let my discussion be as positive or negative as my thoughts on the matter.

January in general has been a bit of a struggle for me.  I have spent much of it not feeling particularly well, though I have not actually been sick.  By that I mean, I have not had any colds or flus or other tangible illnesses, but instead I have been plagued with headaches, stomachaches, joint aches, fatigue, low-energy, and just general feelings of blah.  I have found it hard to stick to my work out schedule.  My diet has been less than stellar, though I have mostly refrained from the ridiculous.  The weather has not been terrible, but it has been a typical winter of generally cold temperatures with periods of rain/snow.  This has not motivated me to leave the house any more than necessary.  Overall, I think I might be suffering from some degree of SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder).  I feel like I always struggle more in the winter months than the rest of the year.  I cannot afford them right now, but I am considering investing in some SAD therapy lights for next year to see if they make a difference.  Given this general state of apathy and lethargy, here is where my January thoughts have been focused.

CPA Exam

I am back to studying, mostly.  I am working on my final section of the exam, BEC (Business Environment and Concepts).  I was on track with my study program for the first 3 weeks of January.  I have slipped a bit this week, but will hopefully catch myself up by the weekend.  I have scheduled my exam for March 6^th, so I need to get through everything before then.  BEC is a collection of non-accounting business topics (economics, finance, corporate governance, operations, strategic management, etc.).  As such, there is a lot of variety on which topics I enjoy doing, which I do not, some that I know much of the material, and some I know nothing.  I am not seriously concerned about anything content-wise so far.  The biggest change for BEC is there is a Written Content section of the exam, which has not been in the other sections.  While I am not particularly concerned with my ability to write decently, I do get a bit concerned over writing on particular topics.  The Wiley review program gives WC assignments to practice, but there is no feedback to it.  You basically read their canned answer and grade yourself to move past the assignment.  Some topics I am comfortable enough to regurgitate information, but others I cannot remember much detail without any prompts.  I know I do not need to be perfect, and I just have to give it my best shot come test day.  But I know I will still worry about this part of it until I am done with the section.

Simplify

I tried to do some goal setting exercises in December/January, but I have been so unmotivated that I did not get very far on them.  I have decided to abandon that for now with the intent to do it in April when I hope the returning sunshine and warmth will make me feel more hopeful and enlivened.  In the meantime, I have still tried to focus on getting some things done during the month.  All my activity seems to be around the idea of simplify and declutter and organize.  Here are some of my accomplishments and/or projects within this area.

Netflix:  I reduced my DVD subscription to the “1 at a time, 2 in a month” option.  This is the lowest option available.  I like the couple dollars savings, but really I am trying to reduce my TV time temptations.  I remember when renting a movie was a special treat for a family night.  Now it feels like I need to see everything that catches my interest, and that is just ridiculous.  By lowering the number of discs I can get, I now have to choose what I actually want to see the most.  I still have the Netflix streaming service, FIOS, and Amazon Prime, so there are plenty of options available if I do feel the need to find something to watch.

Book of the Month:  I canceled my Book of the Month subscription.  This definitely falls into the save money category.  However, the bigger reason was to help me reduce the amount of books in my house.  I love books, and I definitely want to have a personal library.  As I work to simplify my life though, I have come to the realization that I really want to be intentional with the books I include in my library.  They should represent me and what I really love, not just a random assortment of things I acquired haphazardly.   While I have enjoyed the vast majority of the books I received through the service, very few of them are ones I necessarily feel the need to own.  Therefore, I have canceled the subscription.  I intend to get most of my books at the library, maybe buy some through my Nook, and reserve purchasing physical books for the ones I love the most.

Youtube & Other Online Time-Suckers:  I am taking steps to try to reign in my online activity.  The big one is Youtube.  I have reduced my subscription list from 40-something to 21.  My goal was 20, but I am having trouble picking the last one to unsubscribe.  I decided to just let it go for a few more weeks and see if one will work its way to the nix list.  Going forward, I am going to try to whittle it down even further, but at the very least do a one in, one out approach.  This still leaves a lot of content for me to choose from (maybe still too much), but at least there will not be quite so many videos screaming for my attention.  In addition to Youtube, I have tried to eliminate some of my other online activity as well.  I am working to reduce my Goodreads To Read list to no more than 100 books (currently at 114, starting somewhere around 130 at the beginning of the month, but more like 300 when I started trying to reduce it last year).  This does not take up time online, but it makes me anxious seeing such a long list of books waiting for my attention.  Plus I used to just pull books at random off the shelves in the library, but now I feel like I cannot do that because I already have all these ones planned out to read.  I am also not going to be writing reviews on Goodreads going forward.  I will still rate them, but I do not think it a good use of my time to write reviews any more.  I am working to reduce my BlogLovin’ subscriptions.  I had somewhere around 60, and I am down to 35.  I hardly ever read any of them, because there were just too many to look through in the amount of time I wanted to give blog reading (typically a lunchtime activity).  I am now trying to read posts from the ones I have left to determine which ones actually give me value and which ones do not.  My end goal is following 10-15 blogs, with a one in, one out approach going forward.  Finally, I went through my Instagram and unfollowed everything that did not inspire me.  I kept everyone I knew in real life.  Otherwise I still have a collection of fitness/health/travel/food/photography/whatever that either inspire me or provide beauty that I can enjoy for the sake of beauty.  Gone are the overt sales pitches, the canned inspirational quote posters, and the random celebrities whose lives do not matter to me (I do actually have a couple of celebrities left, but only the few whose posts I actually appreciate).  I have no set number for this (currently it is around 115), but I just want my feed to be filled with stuff that is interesting to me and not just thousands of selfies of people I do not know.  I feel good about the sweep I have done this month of all my online activity, but I am not done yet.  I still need to tackle twitter, delete Pinterest which I never use, and continue to evaluate the ones already mentioned.  In the future, I am going to try to be more careful with my online accounts.  I want to make sure I am only adding things intentionally that add value to my life, while continuing to let go of the stuff that is dragging me down.

Personal Product Inventory:  Another area of my life that is out of control is my personal products.  I did an inventory of almost everything I own (I know it is not complete because I keep finding things I never included).  I have over 200 items of makeup.  I have almost another 200 items of skincare, bath & body products, and hair products.  My collection has accumulated from several sources, including stuff I bought myself, a lot of stuff I received in subscription boxes, and gifts from other people.  My goal for 2019 is to work through as much of it as I possibly can.  I am uncomfortable throwing away good products, so I am planning to try to use stuff up unless it goes bad or is truly terrible.  There is very little of it I can give away, because most is opened and/or of unknown origin date.  Also, I am trying very hard to limit the amount of new items coming into the house.  Obviously I cannot do much about gifts, though I will not be asking for anything specifically.  I canceled all the subscription boxes ages ago.  As for items I buy myself, I am putting myself on a 20 items restriction in 2019 which includes restocking anything I used during the year.  Originally, I wanted to do 10 makeup and 10 everything else.  After reviewing what I use and what I have in stock, I decided 10 is too many for makeup and possibly not enough for everything else.  For makeup, I honestly think mascara is the only thing I should need to purchase the whole year, anything else would be a want.  For the rest of it, I have categories where there is no way I will use up what I have (body wash, hair oil) and categories that I will definitely need to rebuy, maybe more than once during the year (toner, deodorant).  Once I reduce the excess, my next step in the process is to really focus in on building a good, simplified, self-care routine for myself.  I am open to experimenting with new things over time, but right now I have so much stuff and use so much variety that I really have no idea what works best for me in most categories.

For January, I used up/trashed/gave away 15 items – 2 eyeshadows, 1 mascara, 1 tinted lip balm, 3 lip balms, 1 face moisturizer, 1 toner, 2 sheet masks, 1 clay mask, 1 body exfoliating cream, 1 scalp treatment, and 1 hairspray.  I only bought one thing, CeraVe SA Cream, which replaces the empty body exfoliating cream I used up during the month.  This is one of my favorite products, and one of the few things I repurchase constantly.  It has done wonders for my dry, flaky, itchy skin since I started using it 3-4 years ago.

Low-Buy:  I am trying to be very conservative with my money for the next few months.  We have been on a reduced budget for all of 2018 seeing as we have only had one income all year, but we have not done the best job at reigning in expenses to match the reduction.  As a result, we have racked up more debt than I am comfortable having acquired.  Once I go back to work, it should be easy enough to pay it back down.  Until then, I still feel I should do what I can to not make it any worse than it has to be.  Therefore, I am trying to be very intentional with my money for the near future.  I think I did reasonably well during the month of January.  I reevaluated my memberships/subscriptions, and while I let most continue since it seems more a hassle to cancel and restart, I did cancel the book subscription noted earlier and the headspace app (I will likely renew this when I go back to work because I did use it regularly, but figure I can get by on the free version for now).  I also postponed some things I was considering purchasing, mainly fitness equipment and some type of new studio membership to supplement my current gym memberships (I support multiple memberships if you like variety, you actually use all of them, and you can reasonably afford it).  I did great on no impulse buys….no clothes, no books, no movies, no tickets, etc.  My struggle category was food.  While I did OK on restaurants ($1.34 over what I budgeted), I went way over in groceries.  I have two issues I am trying to work through in this area.  First, I am out of practice with planning my meals around my budget.  I used to be great in early adulthood, but I have not had to worry about it in years and am finding it hard to go back.  Second, my husband and I split meal planning and grocery buying duties, but we do not coordinate well.  This ends in fluctuations on what is available in the house, and weird non-planned purchases to compensate.  My low buy is only in affect for me; my husband is still spending like a wild man.  I just have to work with this, because he is uninterested in cutting back and just harps on my unemployment if I try to bring it up.

Entertainment

I am not going back to doing entertainment reviews, because frankly I do not want to do them.  However, I thought I would give a rundown of the entertainment I did consume during the month and notate anything I would particularly recommend.

Books:

All The Missing Girls by Megan Miranda

The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown – Most recommended

Smart Women Finish Rich by David Bach – This does give good practical beginner advice if 

     personal finance is something you want to explore.

The Unfortunates by Sophie McManus

Everything that Remains by Joshua Fields Millburn & Ryan Nicodemus

TV Series:

Travelers:  Season 1 – Most recommended

Criminal Minds:  Season 12

Tidying Up with Marie Kondo:  Season 1

Movies:

To All the Boys I Loved Before – Most recommended of the 4, but honestly none of these 

     really stood out to me as great must see movies.

Deadpool

Dumplin’

Thor

There you have it, my month in review.  I know this might not be the most interesting blog post ever, but it is reflective of how I spent January.  I doubt February will be much better, because I am hibernating until spring comes back.

See you next month!

In The Tradition 2018

It is time for the third annual In The Tradition letter.  Similar to last year, I start with the five things from the past year that stand out in my mind.  I followed that with my Top Ten from the books, movies, and TV shows I consumed over the year.  At the end, I talked about a couple goals for the upcoming year that I will pursue.

Five 2018 Highlights

Hiking:  Last year I set a goal to complete twelve hikes for the year.  In general, I wanted to increase the length and difficulty of the hikes that I was doing.  I also wanted to do a full day hike.  I did complete my twelve hikes for the year (listed below).  I think I did succeed in increasing length and difficulty of the hikes I was doing over last year.  I did not do anything that I would qualify as a full day hike though.  Maybe I will complete that next year.

- Manassas Battlefield National Park – First Manassas Trail (altered route) – 5 miles (approx.)

- Burke Lake Park – Lake Trail – 5 miles

- Bull Run Regional Park – Bluebell Trail/part of Bull Run Occoquan Trail – 5 miles

- Harper’s Ferry National Park – Visitor Center Trail/Jefferson’s Rock Trail/Across Trellis Bridge – 6 

  miles

- Manassas Battlefield National Park – Second Manassas Trail – 7 miles

- Seneca Creek State Park – Lake Trail – 5 miles

- Lake Anna State Park – Five different connected trails (sorry I do not have the names) – 5 miles

- Manassas Battlefield National Park – First Manassas Trail (not altered) – 6 miles

- Shenandoah National Park – Hazel Falls & Caves – 6 miles – Terrain-wise, this was the most 

  difficult hike I did.  It also is my favorite one of the year.

- Hemlock Overlook Regional Park – Red Trail – 3 miles

- Bull Run Regional Park – White Trail/part of Bull Run Occoquan Trail – 3 miles

- Lake Accotink Park – Lake Trail – 4 miles

CPA Exam:  This year, I finally got started on the CPA exam.  I have been talking about doing it forever.  I have started and stopped studying a few times over the last couple of years.  I finally got serious and sat for the first exam in March 2018.  Since then I have taken two more sections in September 2018 and December 2018.  I now have (high!) passing scores in REG, FAR, and AUD.  In a few days, I will dive into studying for BEC, my final part, expecting to take it in March 2019.  It will be such a relief when this task is behind me.  The CPA exam is a major undertaking, and it has not been easy for me.  I am glad that I finally made the decision to just do it.

Work:  I quit my job this year.  I have been complaining about it for years.  I kept hoping that various changes made by the company and by myself would make it better.  My experience fluctuated over time, but it never reached a point where I felt good about everything.  I finally had to face the fact that the company and the job were not a good fit for me anymore.  August 2017, I made a promise to myself that if I had not found a new job by August 2018 I would quit anyway.  It turns out I could not even wait that long.  I just got to a place during the March 31^st year-end close process where I said I cannot do this anymore.  As soon as we filed the 10K for the year, I gave my notice.  My last day was toward the end of June.  I have not had a job since.  While I originally thought I would start looking after a few weeks off, I soon made the decision to put more priority on the CPA studying.  That endeavor is a big time commitment, we are not hurting that much on the financial front, and I just do not feel like going back to work yet.  I cannot stay unemployed forever.  I imagine it will be years before I will have another opportunity to take an extended period of time off once I do go back to work.  Therefore, I want to enjoy this while I can make it last.

Husband and Work:  In an unexpected twist, my husband quit his job in February.  He decided he hated every action of the firm that had bought the company where he was employed.  He would come home furious every day, ranting and raving about things that were supposedly done (sometimes actions directly affecting him, sometimes just business decisions they made).  I finally said if you are that upset you need to quit because I cannot handle your mood any longer.  So he did.  On one hand, I was glad because he quit being so angry all the time.  On the other hand, he was so negative about me quitting my job the first couple times I mentioned it, that it annoyed me when he started talking about quitting his.  It was like he was somehow allowed to make that decision, but I was being impulsive and irrational with my quit-by-August-2018 plan.  Of course, once he made the decision to quit, he no longer had any footing to disagree with my decision to quit mine too.  It was scary to quit when I did because he had not found a new job yet, but I did it anyway.  Luckily, he actually found one before I had made it through my full notice period.  We ended up with both of us home together for only one week.  His new job is much more aligned with what he wants to do responsibility-wise, but he still complains a lot about the company, the people around him, etc.  I honestly think he will never find a job that he likes.  Complaining is fine (after all I do it too) but he cannot be the crazy angry person he was during January.  He also cannot quit again until he has been there for a while unless something truly unconscionable happens or he find something else first.

Health & Wellness:  When I looked back at all my monthly reflections, I spent a lot of time reflecting on my diet and exercise.  I put a lot of emphasis, especially after I quit my job, on trying to get into better shape.  I wanted to do it in a way that was more sustainable than doing a crash diet.  I used the My Fitness Pal app to track my eating habits.  Initially, I just logged everything to get a base-line for where I was.  Then, I started gradually decreasing my goal from an average of where it was down to a net 1800 calories per day.  I also gave myself “low calorie” days once or twice a week, where I tried to keep it below 1200.  Some months I was more successful than others at staying below my limits, but overall the logging process worked pretty well for me.  I also put a lot more emphasis on working out this year.  I did some group classes, some at home workouts, circuit training, and the aforementioned hiking.  I have discovered that I really love group classes.   I resisted these for a long time because the initial attendance to an unknown class intimidates me.  However, I have tried a couple of them now, and once I get over the initial fear, they really work for me.  I find that the energy of the people around me helps me to go for longer and to have more fun during the workout.  My favorite this year was Ballet Burn, which is really more of a mix of Pilates and Barre rather than classical ballet.  Even so, it allows me to move my body in ways I have not done in years, and I have discovered I miss dancing a lot.  Overall, I lost ten pounds during the year, but gained about two back over the holidays.  This works out to a net eight pounds lost for the year.  If I can do the same thing again in 2019 and 2020, I should be right about where I would consider a reasonable weight for my height and body composition.

Top Ten Favorite Entertainment Items of 2018 (no particular order)

Note:  These were consumed by me this year, not necessarily released this year.

TV Series:  The Tudors (only watched Season 1 so far)

TV Series:  Stranger Things (watched Season 2 this year, still amazing)

Movie:  Green Book

Movie:  Rudderless

Movie:  Avengers:  Infinity War

Book:  The Blinds by Adam Sternbergh

Book:  Carnivalesque by Neil Jordan

Book:  All The Ugly & Wonderful Things by Bryn Greenwood

Book:  The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky (the movie is amazing as well)

Book:  The Nest by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney

Upcoming 2018 Goals

Career:  It is not a particularly fun goal, but 2019 has to be the year I get myself moving forward again on my career.  Since I am not independently wealthy and my husband’s salary does not really accommodate our spending habits on its own, I need to go back to work before our savings runs out.  I am extremely grateful that I saved so much over the past few years, because I have been able to take my time with the transition.  I cannot go indefinitely though, and I need to start the process of going back to work soon.  This is especially true if I want to give myself some time to be picky before being forced to take whatever comes my way.  I still have ideas about what I want to do going forward (teaching, financial literacy, etc), but I think I will likely end up back in corporate accounting at least for a few years.  Once I pass the CPA exam, I still need to get the other requirements out of the way to be fully licensed.  Plus many of the ideas I have are not flushed out, I am not sure how to pursue, and/or I feel might be better to try on a part-time basis first.  I will keep my eyes open as I apply for jobs, but I do have to be realistic about what is out there and what I am qualified to do.

Hiking:  It seemed like a shame not to include a new hiking goal, so here it is.  My goal for 2019 is to complete 4 unique hikes during the year.  By unique, I mean trails I have never done before.  I want to keep hiking for fun and as part of being healthy, but I do not want to put so much pressure on myself.  It takes the fun out when I have to worry about how many I have done and whether I am repeating trails.  I would rather just feel free to hop over to Hemlock or Bull Run to be outside and active, and not worry about research and travel to make sure I am trying new things all the time.

There you have it, my third annual In The Tradition letter.  I think this year was an interesting year for me, a challenging year, a risky year, a growth year.  I hope 2018 was a good year for all of you, and I hope 2019 is even better for everyone.