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!