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Life Lately
I did a birthday hike with my mom at the beginning of September (pics on my Instagram here). The rain gave us a lovely fog over the river (the photos don’t do it justice). And it also gave me a lovely wipeout. So we stopped at Target for an outfit before heading out to eat. And then I had my first facial with dermaplaning and an eyebrow wax. Highly recommend!
And that was the highlight, lol. My web development course rather took it out of me. And I didn’t study extra like I needed, so this semester looked glum. Then I decided to be stupid and get on dating apps. And then did some other “research” on my looks and such involved with that. All of which served to make me crazy (and tended to get the “men are pigs” sentiment going quite nicely). Then as I was winding that catastrophic experiment down, I got covid (the week of our huge company walking challenge, which would have normally put me right in 4th or 5th place!). I got enough better according to the current policies to do training (downtown) most of this past week and half of next. All the while trying to get a seasonal weekend job.
I’ve been exhausted, but I’m mostly relaxing this Sunday, and trying to plan for a fun fall. I want to enjoy my favorite season!
I’m looking to see if I can get a spot in the next semester for web dev and spend this semester studying. I’ve got a part-time weekend job that should start this month. I’m almost done with training, which should give me about 2 hours a day back and make it easier to pick my exercising back up. I’ve got my race with my mom at the middle/end of this month (with hopefully a bit of exploring after), and then the last week I’ve got a staycation (hallelujah!). I think I’ll try and start that off with another facial!
I’m hoping I can get some fall decor and goodies next paycheck since, you know, it’s actually still fall! Hopefully it isn’t sold out since every season and holiday starts about two months earlier lately!!!!!
My mom dropped off apples, apple cider, and an apple cider doughnut this week, and my sister and I had our seemingly annual fall get-together with some childhood friends complete with plenty of pumpkin treats. I also managed to snag a couple jars of pumpkin (I still had plenty of molasses, it took me so long to find last year I made sure to grab several, but I think I might still grab some more this year). I’m also thinking of the cozy savory fall foods to have like saurkraut, potatoes, and sausages, yum!
I’m going to plan some more stuff for fall today, so to sign off, a video from the Autumnal expert herself.
Here’s to Autumn and all things Autumnal!!!!!!!
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Life Lately
Edit and note. Don’t write posts on days when you are feeling a bit blue. Rather warps perception you know? Actually I knew this was rather whiney then, but the next day? Wow, I’m embarrassed. So let’s try some rephrasing/reformatting.
Wins:
- I’ve been doing a local web development course which is more helpful than I expected (and it’s free!).
- I’ve been running (I’m on my 3rd week) with the C25k program. And I’ve been getting up early to accomplish this.
- I’ve been adding a walk in on most of my non-run days this last week, so out of the last 8 days, I’ve hit at least 10,000 steps.
- I’m working with my doctor on some elimination diets to see if I have food allergies, so I’ve been eating better and have lost 3 pounds in the last two weeks.
- I’ve not read much this year, so I got the Jeeves and Wooster books to try to get me out of the slump. I also started The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea for Darling Desi’s June Buddy Read. I’ve not got far but its got perfectly mystical summer vibes.
- I’ve not killed any plants I bought, and it looks like I’m going to be getting some tomatoes to eat very soon (I’ve already been using my herbs).
Fun Stuff
- I went strawberry picking with my mom (and ate all the strawberries within the week, yum!).
- I made this carrot cake for memorial day, definitely a winner. I, of course, forgot to take a photo.
- My sisters and sister-in-law bought tickets for the travelling broadway Anastasia that is coming back to town this August. Remember the one I was trying to go to for my 30th and covid cancellation? That one. I think its going to be way more fun this way. Especially since I can get a ride with someone.
- Looking forward to blackberry and peach season!
Things to Work On
- I’m rather burned out/overwhelmed a bit/underneath it all. This usually shows up on the weekends. And I’m going to crash and burn if I don’t start matching an earlier bed time with my early rise time. I also feel like I need to figure out how to get more energy and time management because my life is easy, so I feel like I should feel like I have more time and energy.
- Time management/information overload. I think this should help the above some. I have about 60 tabs on my main browser and many on my two(!) secondary browsers. And yeah, my mind might be kind of like that. I don’t need to keep up with all the influencers, channels, etc. I don’t need to research every single topic to the nth degree.
- My cholesterol is high so I got put on cholesterol medication. This is the major motivation for my exercise and a motivation to work on my diet more. My goal is to get off the medication as soon as I can.
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What I’ve Been Up To
I can’t remember my last update, so
Job
I became full-time at my job which I needed but because of the commute wasn’t worth it except as a temporary opportunity in case the full bank buy transition would open things up, so I was still actively looking especially since I was took my Cold War with my bosses to more of a warm one. I didn’t get any change and couldn’t wait, so I accepted another position at another bank with improved conditions, and then literally on my 3rd to last day, I was offered literally exactly what I wanted, full-time and the nearest location (like 5 minutes) to my apartment.
It’s an improvement on the last year, especially the beginning of this one, but it’s not well-paying. It would have been a great entry-level job for a recent college grad interesting in climbing up in the banking world. For me it’s a decent temporary solution.
Learning
So, I’m also enrolled in a local web development course. I’d taken courses in college, but it wasn’t worth the cost, and I changed direction, and I’d studied on my own, but kept running to ground on Javascript. And this offers networking and job search help. Thus far, I’m really hopeful.
Lifestyle
I have more time and more knowledge, so I’ve managed to start a little grow pot garden on my balcony from purchased plants, and I’ve now successfully planted the basil seeds Mom gave me, they are tiny, but they did germinate.
I finally purchased some Jovial einkorn flour. And I just started day 1 of their sourdough started, and I’m trying this recipe while I wait for my started to grow.
I tried sauerkraut, but I need to try again. That’s all I’ll say for that experiment.
I finally got Bjorn groomed, so he’s been “reset”, so now I’m trying to get him brushed almost every day. He was a little ragamuffin.
Fun
Just normal family gatherings. And a family wedding which was the most fun I’ve had, because I care less than I’ve ever done (which is still too much) about what people think and was forcing myself to try and not think about it and just enjoy.
So my reading has been abysmal this year. Between less time, lack of focus, and lack of books that can really pull me in, I’ve read a whopping 16 books this year and one of those was a graphic novel. The graphic novel and a nonfiction book were definite winners. There were a lot of meh books. I need to find more wins, especially that introduce me to new authors where I can just read about any of their books and enjoy it. So, I’m focusing on that.
Miscellany
I felt like we hardly had a spring last year and it got hot too fast, but I think that was because it rained so much more than usual all April and May as if we were England (seriously, I looked up rain amounts). Well short spring this year, because 80’s in the beginning of May, I’m not sure if we’ve reached 90 or not, but we might before the end of the month. Awesome, I love being steam cooked.
I learned in Virginia that a pineapple is a sign of hospitality, at least for some of the South (clearly not this lady). Well, I learned (at work, here I was thinking banking was going to be so prim and proper) that an upside down one is the sign of TOO much hospitality. In short, it means you are open to swing. As in swingers. I’ll leave you to mull that one over.
