A Saturday night state of the union

Life has been really great lately. I feel like I'm getting into a good groove with school, work, practicum, health stuff, and relationships. Things feel balanced and productive. They won't always, and I accept that, but for now - yippee!

Academic/Occupational

I got thesis draft 2 in to my advisor last week and am currently waiting on his edits - it's been nice to have a break from that and know that I am soooo close to finally being done! I can't wait to put that M.S. behind my name!!! There has also been a lot to do lately at work and I've done a good job being productive. I'm trying not to waste time farting around on the Internet, and have found that not checking my personal email first thing helps keep me from getting too distracted. It's good to be back and getting things done! Also, can I say how glad I am to be taking ZERO classes this coming school year?! Sure, I have to finish my thesis, write prelims, do my clinical capstone project, and hopefully get my dissertation proposed next spring/summer, but that can all be done in PJs on my couch with kitties, and whenever I want!  ^_^

Financial

Things have been tight in August, as they always are, until my fall semester loans come in. I'm just doing my best to be really frugal in the meantime. I've scored a couple free goodies (desk and nightstand) for my little brother to use when he moves down here with me in a few more weeks!

Physical

Since getting back from my vacation at home with family two weeks ago I've been really diligent about reprioritizing good health practices. I have been getting to bed early and getting up early to exercise first thing, which makes a huge difference in the rest of my day. I've primarily been walking, running, and swimming, and intend to add some other things into the mix to keep from getting bored (weight lifting, dance classes at the gym, biking once I get my flat back tire fixed, etc.). I've also been tracking portion sizes/calories via the Livestrong My Fitness Pal app/website, which I really like. I'm focusing on eating clean, healthy, unprocessed foods (no refined sugar, little to no refined flour, lots of good proteins and fats, lots of produce) in the right amounts - NOT starving myself, which is counterproductive. It seems to be going well because I have lost 4 pounds, 2 lb/week (eating MORE - score), since getting back from vacation. Woohoo! It feels so good to be taking better care of myself again.

Mental

Work has been busy, like I said, and my new off-campus practicum at a rural VA CBOC (Community-Based Outpatient Clinic, aka primary care center) is definitely going to be mentally taxing as well, in a good way. I've been trying not to OD on Netflix like I sometimes do, and enjoying some neat books instead. Still working on "Anna Karenina," and mowing through some other quicker reads too ("The Shack" - SO GOOD!).

My massage therapist (wow, that sounds pretentious) was telling me several months ago that one of her other clients called 2014 "the year of change" because of some astrological whatchamacallit. When I went in again for my most recent massage we were talking about how accurate that has been for both of us this year. 2013 SUCKED for me, with a good amount of suckitude carrying over into early 2014. This year has brought a lot of major, painful changes for me personally, for my family, and for others I hold dear. However, as far as I can tell, all of these painful changes have been necessary, and have had a good outcome. I was so grateful to have some time off to think and process all of this when I went home. I returned to my routine school/work life down here feeling an uncharacteristic sense of peace and optimism that has just been wonderful.

Social

I enjoyed one of my occasional lazy introvert days yesterday - didn't leave the house or interact with any other human beings all day, just did some food prep for the next several days (lentil soup with miso & tofu sandwich spread), snuggled kitties, listened to This American Life, and watched a couple crappy movies. Ahh. Other than that I've been a pretty busy bee - made yummy quesadillas with my friends J and K the other night, and helped J and friends do a massive clean-out of their co-op house today.

Environmental

On Thursday afternoon I got some good work done on the house - cleaned out the room that will be little brother's, organized/found homes for all that stuff, and finished decorating the sunroom/guest room/tv room. It's now my favorite room in the house, and the kitties have been spending tons of time in there too! I also mowed a lawn for the FIRST TIME EVER IN MY LIFE this past week (other folks were doing it while my arm was broken), and boy, did it need it. I felt very accomplished (and dirty/sweaty/grassy) afterward.

Service/Acts of Kindness

I spent all day today at the co-op helping my friends clean and organize, which was really satisfying. I've sent/left some encouraging notes for people in the past few weeks. I had friends over for dinner last weekend, which was fun. Some of them are in the same poor-grad-student-in-summer boat as me, so feeding them is always good. I also gave a cute little board-book version of "Madeleine" to a couple in my church small group for their little girl, who was actually born this morning!

Developing talents

Been doing some good crafty stuff lately - I made a pretty dream catcher and a mala (Buddhist meditation beads). I've been singing quite a bit and writing some. I think that's about it...

FIN!