August was a very busy month. Most of my time was spent studying, but I
also had two busy weekends as well. Still,
I think it was a pretty good month. Without
further ado, here are my reflections.
The Good
Lake Anna – I enjoyed my Lake Anna
weekend this year. It was off to a good
start when we were there early enough to eat dinner with everyone else Friday
night (an improvement over last year!). The
remainder of Friday was just spent relaxing, talking, and trying to avoid all
the bugs. Saturday, my husband and I
declined the boat trip and headed to Lake Anna State Park to hike instead. Then, we headed back to the house for a nap
before the rest of the party returned from boating. Saturday evening was the best food of the
trip with some wonderful pulled pork by one dinner volunteer and some pretty
tasty turkey wraps from the other.
Sunday was mostly just breakfast and cleanup before heading home. It was not a long trip, but honestly I would
not want to be there much longer with so many people in a house (12).
Hamilton Weekend – My cousin
and her boyfriend joined us the last weekend of the month to see the musical
Hamilton. My husband really wanted to
see this show, so even though I was impartial to it, I bought the tickets
anyway. I had a really pleasant
night. I do not think that it was the best
show I ever saw (so much hype around it), but it was a really solid performance. The staging however was brilliant. They used a rotating floor and choreographed
the performers in such a way that scenes just melted from one to another. I have to admit the tunes were catchy. The performers were good, with my favorites
being the men who played George Washington and King Richard. The rest of the weekend with our visitors was
pretty low key with just talking and eating.
I even managed to get a good chunk of homework done in the mornings
while they were at their hotel.
Minimalism Game – I did a great job playing The Minimalism
Game (see The Minimalist’s site https://www.theminimalists.com/game/). For this game, you declutter one item on the
first day of the month, two on the second, three on the third, and so on. I made it to the very end of the month, which
means I have found 496 items to declutter from my house. I was supposed to get rid of all the items on
the day I decluttered them, but that did not actually happen. I did donate a box of books, some food
storage containers, and sidewalk chalk to a teacher friend. I threw a lot of stuff in the trash. I do however have stuff set aside in my room
to be donated still. I just have not had
time to actually take them to Goodwill.
I promise that none of it will worm its way back into the house.
Hike – I made it out on one
hike this month. As mentioned above, my
husband and I went to Lake Anna State Park during the annual Lake Anna trip. We hiked five different trails that connected
into a five mile loop. It seems like a
nice park, so if/when we go back to Lake Anna I am sure we will try some more
trails. I am now at 7 out of 12 hikes
for my annual goal.
Diet & Exercise – I had a
great month for my health activities. I was
committed to a calorie plan where I tried to stay below 1200 calories two days
a week and 1900 the other five days. I
hit my goal approximately 84% of the time this month. I also have remained fairly consistent with
my exercise. I am still aiming for 4
active days a week, and I have been at 3-4 days each week for the month. I have been going with a friend to the gym on
Mondays to do a weightlifting circuit. I
go to the Pilates class with the people from work on Wednesdays. Thursdays I plan to go to Ballet Burn every
week, though this is the one I have been dropping most often. Over the weekend, I try to get a decent walk
around the neighborhood into my schedule.
I feel good about where I am.
The Challenges
CPA Studying – Studying dominated my month. There is a lot of material to cover for
FAR. My study schedule requires around 6
hours a day, 6 days a week, even on weeks when I had other things happening. There have been days I have worked on 10
different sections in one day, trying to get through all the material needed in
a given week. It is a lot of different topics
to learn in such a short period of time.
I really am struggling to put in the required effort. On the plus side, I am getting near the end
of the sections in the Wiley program.
Unfortunately, I have started to enter moods where I just do not care if
I understand what I just did before moving onto the next thing.
The Future
CPA Exam – One more week of studying! Then, I take my exam on Sept 8th. I am so ready for this to be over.
Relaxation – The rest of September I am dedicating to
relaxing. I have one trip planned, but
otherwise I am trying to keep it relatively obligation free. I just want to read or watch TV or hike or go
into DC or do whatever based on what I feel liked doing for a couple
weeks. Toward the end, I do plan to
begin the job search journey, specifically putting some work into my resume and
trying to figure out exactly what type of accounting position I want. However, I really need the rest period first,
especially since I jumped into studying so quickly after quitting my job that I
did not get much of one at the beginning.
PA Trip/Ed Sheeran Concert – I have tickets to see Ed
Sheeran with my friend in PA at the end of September. I still want to see Ed Sheeran, but I do kind
of wish I did not have another trip planned.
I still have not decided how many days I am going to be there or what
else I might do or who else I might see on this particular trip. I bounce between taking a longer trip,
especially if I can find cheaper accommodations, and just making it the bare
minimum needed to see the concert and my family. I also am thinking this will be the last trip
to PA for the year. I often go during
the holidays, but I am fatigued on traveling.
Hiking – I am hoping that September is the month to catch up
on the hiking goal for the year. I will
be done studying for FAR, and I do not plan to jump right into studying for AUD
or job searching, so that will give me some time to play. I hope to get 3 hikes done, the one for
September, the one I missed earlier in the year, and the one for December
(because really I do not expect to want to hike in December). I am not sure when or where I will be going
yet, but I will figure it out once my test is done.
There you have it, my month in review. See you next month!
