February is always a bit of a rough month for me. It is so short, but it just drags every
year. I am so glad that it is finally
over. Here are my reflections for the
month.
The Good
Staycation – The best part of the whole month was my
staycation week. This year was not as
good as prior years because I have the CPA looming over my head. I felt the need to focus some of my time on
studying, and I had general anxiety creeping into everything during the
week. Even still, I managed to pack some
fun into this week. I had a massage at
The Red Door Spa. I saw The Greatest
Showman in the theater. I read two books,
Lies She Told by Cate Holahan and Lean In:
Women, Work, and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg. I went shopping. I ate at several yummy places including Eggspectations,
Coastal Flats, The Silver Diner, and Cupcakes Actually. I managed several really long, lovely naps.
Wardrobe Reorganization – My one home project for the
staycation week was to work on reorganizing my wardrobe. This was not so much a physical reorganization
of the space as I did that during last year’s staycation (and it has mostly
stayed organized). Instead, I am working
to create a coherent stylish wardrobe that changes with the season. I am taking inspiration from the capsule
wardrobe crowd by trying to streamline my colors and styles to make everything
more mix & match. However, I am not
participating in the whole minimalist trend that capsule blogs seem to
encourage (who wants to wear only 15 pieces of clothing for the next 3
months?). This round of project was
mostly about organizing my clothes into the 4 seasons and taking stock of what
I own. Over the next few years (as
budgets allow), I can start making strategic replacements. The end goal is to feel classy and confident
in my clothes without feeling so overwhelmed by them.
Hiking – During my staycation week, we had a couple of
extremely nice spring days (70s and sunny!).
Of course, I took the opportunity to do my first hike of the year. I went to Manassas Battlefield Park. I hiked the First Manassas Trail. This is a 5.4 mile loop trail around the area
where the first Manassas Battle was fought.
I purposely cut off the Stone Bridge Loop, which shortened my hike by a
mile. However, I messed up my directions
around the Matthew’s Hill Loop area, and ending up adding half of that mileage
back. In total, I walked about 5 miles
on relatively flat grass paths. It is
the longest hike I have done to date though not particularly strenuous terrain.
The Desire Map by Danielle LaPorte – Last month I mentioned
that I had previously read The Desire Map, and that I was using the associated
Daily Planner this year. This month I
started working on some of the exercises in The Desire Map. I have only just begun, but I am excited to
keep going. I am currently working on
the Rapid Fire Questions, which push you to quickly answer questions with your
gut. Part of the Desire Map work is to
create Core Desires. I have not actually
gotten to that part of the workbook, but I did come up with some current
mantras to use until I actually work through the exercises. They are 1) Work with a passion, 2) Be
healthy and strong, and 3) Feel calm in my own space. Of course, these might change drastically as
I actually do the work to figure out how I want to feel. For now though, they give me some focus when
trying to do my planning.
Ballet Burn – I have continued to do the Ballet Burn class,
and I still love it. The class is very
challenging for me. I am sweaty and
tired at the end, but I also feel great.
My muscles remember some of these exercises so well. I am pretty inflexible and clumsy now, but I
am hoping this improves over time. My
work is canceling the Pilates class that they were offering, and I really want
to add the Ballet Burn instructor’s Monday Pilates Barre class to my
schedule. This would put a further crimp
in my husband’s dinner plans though, and he was already annoyed over the first
class, so I do not know whether I can.
Book Club – It was my month to host. We enjoyed a power brunch complete with
Bloody Mary’s. Well, I passed on the
Bloody Mary, since I am not a big drinker or a fan of tomato juice. We read Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead by Sheryl
Sandberg. All of us that attended are
working professionals. We all basically
agreed that the book makes some great broad sweeps about things women can do to
keep their career moving forward. We all
also agreed that Ms. Sandberg leads a life in an entirely different ecosystem
than most women, and some of her examples and solutions were hard to translate
to those of us with less money and social connection. The book itself was a quick enjoyable read,
and book club this month was a great chat.
The Challenges
CPA Studying – I did continue to study during February, but
I did not do as much as I originally
hoped.
My biggest problem is sheer brain power.
When I get home from work, I am tired and spent. Although I pushed myself to do a section most
nights, I do not feel like I always absorbed it well. On the weekends, I was trying to get 6-7
sections in each day. I never could manage
it. My brain just stops after a certain
point. As such, I am swiftly approaching
my test date, and I am not completely through the study material. I was hoping to have the last week to test
and study weak spots, but now I am just trying to get through the remaining
sections. I am very anxious about my
ability to pass.
Work – It was not the quarter, and I still struggled. I was hoping that the staycation would
refresh me, but I still feel as unmotivated and frustrated with work as before
it. When I sat down at my desk on
Monday, I felt like crying. I am just
exhausted. There is a huge (I mean
huge!) transaction coming through that everyone is arguing about how to handle,
which means that we never seem to get started on it. I am afraid it will still be an open mess by
the end of next month, when we plunge into the fiscal year end. I also was informed yesterday (by someone
other than my boss who has not yet bothered to mention it) that I am on a list
of people being assigned to implement the new Leasing Standard. While this is not unexpected, it is just more
work that I do not have to time to do.
Tooth – I am having a crown replaced. Of course, it is not going smoothly. My dentist is replacing a crown in my mouth
that has been irritated and bleeding intermittently over the past year or so. On this first visit, we removed the crown and
we should have taken scans to make the new one.
However, my gum around the tooth was bleeding so badly they could not do
the scans. So now I have an
antibacterial rinse to use for a couple of weeks to try to get the gum to
heal. When I go back, we will redo the
scans and then of course I will need to have the new crown installed. The gum irritation is part of the reason we
are replacing this crown, but apparently it was much worse underneath than he
realized.
Husband – My husband went through with quitting his
job. February was pretty brutal on the
frustration charts for him. He came home
practically every day fuming about things that supposedly happened. I still do not have a very clear idea of how
much of what the company did was unreasonable and how much is just unreasonable
expectations on his part. Although I am
a little anxious about his unemployment period, I am glad to be done with the
crazy ranting every evening.
Diet – I tried to make further changes to my diet this
month, but I really struggled to follow them.
I wanted to cut my soda intake a bit further, to about 1 a week, but
this remained at 2, sometimes 3, in a week.
That is still better than where it was originally, but no improvement
over last month. I wanted to cut my
breakfast down to about 300 calories. I
managed this very well some days, but not others. I am especially struggling on weekends, because
my husband and I prepare bigger breakfast meals that are hard to quit. Finally, I am working on restricting calories
on one day of the week. I am considering
trying the 5:2 intermittent fasting method, but I have not committed to
that. For February, I just tried to
restrict calories on Tuesday to 1200.
This was the one goal that I actually did accomplish every Tuesday of
the month.
The Future
CPA Exam – March 3rd is my REG exam. I do not feel ready for it, and I have pretty
much run out of time to learn new things.
I am just going to take it and see what happens. If I pass, then I will move on to taking
FAR. If I do not, then I think I am
probably looking to switch jobs before I attempt again.
Hiking – I set myself a goal of doing twelve hikes this
year, increasing length and difficulty.
I made a good start this month with the First Manassas Trail hike. I have high hopes of doing one with my
husband this coming weekend on Sunday. As
the weather warms up, I will feel more motivated to get out there. I really need to prioritize hiking over other
activities though, if I want to meet my goals.
Ultimately I hope to do a full day hike, something in the 10-12 mile
range.
Husband Home – I am feeling very anxious about my husband
being off work. Surprising, I do not
feel that anxious about finances yet. I
make a good salary, and we have a decent amount saved. I know we can survive several months even if
we made zero changes to our spending habits, longer if we are more
careful. However, I am very worried
about him being home by himself all day.
He does not do so well being alone.
Although the first few days have not been so bad, the longer he is here
by himself, the more I worry he will start to be impossible to deal with at
night after a long day at work for me (kind of like a puppy that jumps all over
you the minute you walk through the door).
I also am a bit worried that the thinks too highly of his skills and he
will pass up good opportunities by trying to go after jobs more senior than he
is qualified to do. While I am not
worried about finances yet, I also do not want to get to the point where I have
to worry about them either.
Easter – I am hoping to go home to PA for Easter this
year. I am still trying to coordinate
between work and my family, but I think I can figure something out. It will probably be a quick trip, just three
days over the weekend. I really want to
see my sister and baby T, but my schedule just does not seem great over the
next few months. I finally decided Easter
seemed like the best option. Otherwise
it would probably be the end of June before I could get up there again.
There you have it, my month in review. See you next month!
No comments:
Post a Comment