September Goals and Long Weekend Plans

Going to be a pretty low key 3 day weekend. We are still trying to settle into the new routines and I haven't had the time/energy to plan much, so we will take it easy and use the extra day to get ahead on prepping for the week.

Current family plans: one birthday party, trip to rock gym, park with friends
G also has an outing (rare!) and I have a couple workouts and a work event (not fun, but showing up and speaking at an "awareness day" for a condition I specialize in)

I want to set aside some time to meal plan and prep healthy dinners and lunches for all of us.

This all fits in line with what I'm hoping to achieve over the next couple of months, which is basically trying to reset after a summer of sweet indulgence.

SELF

• Operation fit-in-pants: I can write a whole post on this (ooh, I will), but basically sticking to sane eating habits and anything I can do ahead of time to make this easier to achieve.
• Social media break: I'm looking at YOU FB. I am not ready or willing to completely give this up, but I like taking month long breaks every now and then.
• Wake up early to plan/work out/meditate etc... just to not feel like I'm already behind by the moment I get to work

FAMILY

• Research/sign up and start sports for each kid. Pretty sure L is doing soccer but B has aged out of the local parks program. He may enjoy basketball. I also need to stop procrastinating on the private swim lessons. I am determined that they are water safe by next summer.
• Stress free evenings. Figuring out a rotation for who picks up kids vs. gets home to walk dog and start dinner is key. This is going to involve a stern convo with G who is often "running late" by just enough that I basically have to do all 3 most days, since if I get home before him the dog needs to go out and the kids are hungry. RIGHT NOW  Its the time I am 100% more likely to yell and lose my shit and gets the whole evening off to a horrid start. Good luck getting kids to settle in for homework/reading after that (or for me to resist stress eating/drinking). 
• Set up playdates for weekends this fall. 

WORK 

• I made a list of what I need to accomplish and I will consult it. Not going into it here because its very specific and would sound overly vague and boring!

And...that's a wrap

Summer 2018 is officially over. The kids are back in school, such as it is, given that we have THREE half days this week (1 planned, 2 due to "excessive heat" in district in which some schools are not air conditioned or well ventilated). Why did they decide to open before Labor Day this year (and it'll be even a week earlier next year)?? Summers are getting hotter and hotter every year and I only see it getting worse over time (climate change, ya'll).

I am spending some time today reflecting/planning for the fall so I can get back on track in all areas of life.

Quick recap of the past 2 months.

Things I didn't really do

• Blog (obvi)
• Cook. We did lots of eating out/take out when the kids were away, and lots of grilling/sandwiches/simple meals when they were here. Back to meal planning and prepping.
• Go into work on non-clinic days. It was too hot and the commute took too much time/energy, especially given that my day was shortened by the camp schedule. Plus my computer died and there were summer students working outside my office (and chatting/on the phone) and various other reasons that just made it better to work from home. Also I could wear leggings or shorts. 
• Wake up at 5:30 AM to work out. I would wake up later and run or go to a 7:15 AM barre class. When the kids were gone I did some evening classes, and I also did some lunch time "express barre" classes on work from home days.

Highlights from July/August

• HAMILTON! G and I went to see it on Broadway last week. Culmination of 2 years of waiting and it was even better than I imagined. Aaaagh, so glad we went. Our entire family is kinda obsessed right now and we still listen to the recording on the regular. In fact, after seeing the show, I am much more into the 2nd half of the songs, which previously somewhat confused me because I didn't know who was saying what in all the political battles.
• Camping trip with friends and kids. This was in July and it was so much fun we are planning the next trip and can't wait. It was just nice to be away from home/the city for a couple days. 
• Beach trip with my family. The cousins, my sister & BIL, my parents....lots of great family time and junk food and reading and splashing. 
• My weekend to myself. Last weekend G went to go pick up the kids from MIL, and I was blissfully alone! I exercised, I did chores, but I also read books & watched Crazy Rich Asians on my own (LOVED IT!) and met friends for drinks and just decompressed. 
• New hobby: rock climbing! We took the kids when we visited MIL and they loved, so G and I went our own and learned how to belay and climb and we had so much fun. It'll be a good healthy family activity for summer/winter/rainy days. 

Lowlights 

• None of my clothes fit anymore. Obvious result of above. Working on fixing my eating habits so I don't have to buy new pants after ditching the larger size pants just a couple years ago. (and in a fit of uncharacteristic optimism, getting rid of them altogether last summer)
• I had to increase my P@xil dose to combat the return of insomnia, anxiety, apathy and hopelessness that crept up slowly and reached a peak in July. Thankfully its working. I am crawling out of it. 
• The heat. OMG it was painful. This was by far the hottest summer I remember since moving here 12 years ago. We usually spend lots of time at the park and have dinner outside in our backyard and we did those things ZERO times this year because it was truly unbearable. Just the walk home from work/camp nearly killed us and we slumped in puddles over the AC vents until we were revived.
• Overall low productivity at work due to above fun and said apathy but ALSO so so many unexpected and annoying things that happened at work (within 3 weeks my computer & laptop crashed, I lost some data, my -80 freezer crashed while I was on vacation and I lost samples, just to name a few...)
• I had a root canal revision that ended up being SO MUCH time/energy/pain/$$$ and DID NOT EVEN HELP the mild pain and discoloration that led me to have it done in the first place

I have pages of FALL PLANS and GOALS in my bullet journal that I am eager to bombard you with so I'll stop here. Happy New School Year!