Making Blogging a Habit

They say that good habits have to become habits before you can keep them. Obviously blogging isn't a habit for me yet, but I hope that it will be. This week has been pretty busy, but I could have made time to blog, it just didn't really come to me as something I should do until it was bedtime. So I have a while before my dinner reservations tonight, so I'm going to use it to write a solid blog post.

One of the reasons I want to write a blog regularly is because I think it's a good place for me to organize my thoughts. Whether they're about weight loss, nail polish, cooking, social life, school, work, etc., having them all written down in one place helps me contain them into finite thoughts and lists of thoughts, which I can then organize into something that doesn't seem quite so overwhelming. Being seriously depressed was very frightening and, while I hope it doesn't become an issue again, having some measure of control over my life is a good way to keep that from happening. I've always been a person with a plan and when I was the most depressed, my plans were shot and I didn't know what I wanted to do other than to marry someone who was bad for me and completely lose my sense of identity in him. Good thing that didn't actually happen.

Having more solid plans that can roll with the punches should be good in the future. It's one of the reasons I named my blog "What's next?" It's a West Wing reference, sure, but it's also a rallying cry to face life as it comes at you, tackle it, handle it, and move forward. Locating the lightswitch is also a West Wing reference that, while ridiculous, is essentially the same concept.

So this week has been busy, but it's been REALLY great. I worked out every single day from August 8 through August 15. I went to two awesome Zumba classes (I've been looking for a great instructor since Jose left GWU) and got my ass kicked more than once by things like "Step and Sculpt" (*shudder*). That instructor was a sadist, but he was wearing a UVA shirt, so we'll call it even. But I felt really proud of myself for sticking to the working out, even though some of it was out of my comfort zone, even though I busted my ankle a couple weeks ago, even though I was tired and didn't want to do it, etc. I worked out, I kept up with the skinny girls (for the most part) and I had a good weigh-in yesterday (also kept up with all my points tracking for WW). I feel like the physical activity part of things (at least right now) is really coming together. That's another thing I want to make a habit.

Work is going pretty well right now, too. Though there are a lot of frustrations, given my boss's....unique... personality, but I feel like I have a solid handle on things. Having been in charge of a program on top of my other duties for the past year has been a challenge. I haven't done it single-handed, but I became the go-to for much of the school when people needed a rep from our program. I took on a lot of the director's responsibilities that were time-consuming and way over my pay grade, and generally I got treated like shit while doing them. But now we have a new director, things are falling back into place, and I've done everything for a year. So now it should be easy.

Today we wrapped up our annual admissions cycle, and everyone with a complete application has received a decision, which is amazing. I'm not sure it's ever happened before in the history of the program. One of the interesting things about my job is even on the days when I slack off and I'm not working constantly, there's something to do, because there are always applications to be processed, decisions to be rendered, letters to be sent, etc. But now... there aren't. Now it's done and when I sent the last letters, I literally felt a completely different atmosphere enter the office today, because it finally felt like we were where we should be, after all this time. I think we can stay ahead of the game this coming year, too, so I look forward to that. Though, hopefully in a year, I'll be done with grad school and looking for a new job and it will become someone else's admissions cycle.

And on top of working out and handling work, I'm in-between semesters for school, so I didn't have to work on Saturday, do homework on Sunday, or freak out about not having any time to myself. It feels really good to be on "vacation" from school, even though I'm still going to work. And tonight I have dinner reservations at a fancy steakhouse with three lovely ladies (though one was a last-minute cancellation -- sad) from college who I love to be around. It's Restaurant Week in DC and so we're getting three courses for cheap at a nice place and I've been looking forward to it for weeks.

Right now, things are good. I'm in a good place. I'm wearing a cute dress. My weight is coming down. My activity is going up. I'm getting good grades and doing good work. This is a little bit of a cheesy post bc it's basically just "Life is good," but it is right now. So I thought I'd write about it as I attempt to make blogging a good habit, too, like I'm trying to do with all these other things.

And I don't have nail polish on my nails right now, but I leave you with my Fourth of July manicure from when Laura and I went to Nashville:

As you can see, it's kind of crappy. It's supposed to look like a firework (which was not my idea, you can find the original here). I think it came out all right given that I used a toothpick and have no skillz whatsoever. And here it is on the whole hand:

I'll keep the pedicure in reserve for the next time I'm not wearing nail polish.