Weekly 2020 Goal Check In: Week 7

For Week 7: 17 - 23 Feb


Main Goals

1. Go to the office every work day. 

Not technically. Last Sunday I drove 5 hours to another town in NZ to spend the week with an expert colleague who can help me with my PhD project, since my actual supervisor is terrible and very unhelpful.

Last week, I said I'd "work 9-5 every day with my colleague, taking breaks, go to my AirBnB, relax, eat healthy, and go for a run or walk in the evenings and enjoy the NZ town I'll be in."

HAHAHAHAHAHA.

NO.

That did not happen. It was basically Brain Boot Camp. Except for Wednesday, when I stayed in my AirBnB, I was in my colleague's office between 9 and 9:30 every morning. I stayed until at least mid-afternoon every day I went in, drove back to my lodging, and worked until 2/3/4 am or so, rinse, repeat. I did take breaks to bathe, cook dinner and watch a tv show every evening, but that was it.

I'm so tired.

Still, I'm counting this as a win for this goal. Go me!!



2. Make a plan to exercise every day, whether this happens or not.

My plan for this past week was: "exercise by taking a walk or going on a run after work in the town I'll be in."

This...did not happen. I thought about it, compared my work load and energy levels, and realized I wouldn't be able to have energy for both. Since I was only in town with this colleague for 5 days (I could have used 3 months), I decided to take advantage of the time I had with my colleague instead.

I am OK with this. I got a lot out of the week. I forgive myself for not having the energy to make myself work out. I wipe the slate clean and will start fresh this new week.

(It is amazing how much thinking that and typing it out actually relieves the guilt I feel for not living up to my stated goals.)

Next week I am back home and plan on going to the gym for my usual work out classes every day.  I'm really looking forward to it!
 


Concerns About My Goals/Lessons Learned: 

• The answer to: "Can I do 5 days in a row of working out plus 5 days of productive office-going?" is still no, not consistently. I am not getting enough sleep, not exercising, and not taking enough breaks. Problems: 
• I keep staying up too late to finish my daily goals. Either my daily goals are way too ambitious, I'm wasting too much time, or my brain naturally likes working late at night.
• This week, the pattern of not getting enough sleep, rest, or breaks, and my schedule of staying up late to get 'thinking work' done continues. And it probably will continue until I remove the day job part of my job. My brain just whirs into action after 10 pm. Ideas, productivity, efficiency...it's all there. I figure, as long as I'm super busy--if I don't use the productivity for work, I'm still awake and wasting that time, so I might as well use it for working. I don't feel that during the day. Is it a habit? Or am I wired this way? Solutions: 
• Accept it. Should I just sleep in so I get enough rest? But then when would I do the 'day job' part of my job?? There just isn't enough time.
• Adapt. Try working on thinking work for a short time during the day consistently, but with no pressure. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work. I just want to see if I can make it a habit to work on deep work during the day instead of at night.
• Any other ideas?
• I keep ignoring my timed breaks because I'm 'in the zone.' I don't know how to stop myself, and I figure out a way around every break software ever. I'm too smart/determined for it. Maybe if I make breaks shorter, they will be more palatable, and I can work up to longer ones?? Solutions:
• This week, I will try shorter breaks to see if this works.

Other Aspirations: Wins and Losses

• SAME. So far I have not spent my $500 usual contribution to my house down payment fund savings on anything (reminder: I met that goal end January so I am taking February off) I just can't think of anything I really want yet.
• Food planning: check! Financial tracking,: check! Vitamins portioned out: check! Bare minimum personal and household maintenance tasks: check!
• Menu this week:
• Breakfast: sandwich thin + jam + peanut butter OR cereal with fruit OR poached egg OR pancake, all with spirulina smoothie or milk
• Lunch: Zambrero burritos
• Dinners: "Garden Alfredo:" veggie chicken fetticine alfredo (links are to recipes I mix up according to what I like). I am making a low fat version with low fat cream cheese. Veggies are red and yellow peppers, zucchini, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, and peas.
• snacks: strawberries, dark chocolate, salted cashews 
• leftovers: thai curry from my favorite place, cheeseburger and kumara fries from Burger Wisconsin, a new joint I discovered when I was in another city in NZ for work. They have branches in Auckland!
• I have continued my Duolingo streak for 55 days. Yo hablo mucho espanol.
• Finally got my new NZ passport. Why are things so difficult sometimes??? 
• I ordered two pairs of reading glasses from Zenni so I can get them when I visit in March. 
• I ordered items from Amazon for my March trip. Just a fun puzzle book for my mom's birthday, some headbands that look cute, and two external hard drives to replace the scam ones that don't work that I bought last September. Files don't transfer over to them or they corrupt the files when I try to back things up. Just a complete waste of $$.
• I still need to make a dermatology appointment. I need to check on my eczema.
• I still really need to to my boss about moving home. It is sort of set in my head and heart. The only thing tripping me up is that I'd have to give up my apartment, which is a complete deal for me, in the perfect location, the perfect set up, a great landlord that lets me rent-hack and have complete freedom and control. There is no way I'll ever have it this good again in Auckland if I give it up. I will be accepting that I'm probably not coming back to NZ if I give it up, and I don't like that.
• I need to sort out road trip stuff (itinerary options & car rentals) for my US March trip.
• I also need to make a list of things to take back to the US in case I move back in June/July. Basically--all my summer stuff :)
• I am feeling antsy about my rewards credit cards and travel plans. That means that it is time to review it and update it again. I love that my internal clock just automatically kicks in and makes sure I think about these kinds of things strategically. With all the travel I want to do post-PhD, planning is key.

Weekly 2020 Goal Check In: Week 6

For Week 6: 10 - 16 Feb


Main Goals

1. Go to the office every work day. 

Yes. YAAAAY! Go me!

Monday, I had a lunch at 12:30 with my boss and other colleagues from my and an affiliated organisations (gotta network). A person from an affiliated organisation seemed keen to hire me after my PhD so this was time well spent! Afterward, I went to the library to return and pick up books and went into work and worked til midnight, with a break for exercise.

Tuesday I was only in my office for about a half hour between my work out class and a social engagement, but it counts! I worked til 5 am at home after the social event.

Wednesday & Thursday I was in the office til midnight, then came home and worked til 3-5 am.

Friday I was in for a meeting at 11 am, had meetings all day, came home after my work out class at 6, then worked til 5 am again.

Saturday, I went into the office to get things to prepare for my trip this week, and worked til midnight. I also cleaned, did laundry and dishes, sorted out my plants/patio, did errands, and tried to pick up my passport (denied again).

Deadlines, man...

I'm so tired. Today (Sunday) I have to drive 5 hours to another town in NZ. I'm spending the week with an expert colleague who can help me with my PhD project, since my actual supervisor is terrible and very unhelpful.

This coming week is going to be busy and full of insecurities and self doubt. I never want to waste colleagues' time, but I need help with things I don't know about. I always want to impress people by picking concepts up quickly, but my brain is very foggy and it takes an inordinate amount of time for me to grasp ideas, let alone execute tasks these days.

Still, I will plan to work 9-5 every day with my colleague, taking breaks, go to my AirBnB, relax, eat healthy, and go for a run or walk in the evenings and enjoy the NZ town I'll be in.


2. Make a plan to exercise every day, whether this happens or not.

OK, yo girl KILLED THIS goal this week. SMASHED IT. IT IS IN PIECES.

Monday I went to TWO classes. I got the time wrong for the class I meant to go to, so went to the earlier different class, then stayed and went to the class I meant to go to. I am not sold on the earlier class, but the 2nd class, the one I meant to go to, is quickly becoming my fave class of the week. The instructor is great and the music and movements are right up my alley.

Tues - Fri I went to my usual work out classes. Y'all, it wasn't even that hard. I went back and forth about going on Friday, but then I thought about this blog, and I got ready to go and went.

Yes. YAAAAY! Go me!


This week I plan on exercising by taking a walk or going on a run after work in the town I'll be in.


Concerns About My Goals/Lessons Learned: 

• I keep staying up too late to finish my daily goals. Either my daily goals are way too ambitious, I'm wasting too much time, or my brain naturally likes working late at night. The pattern of not getting enough sleep, rest, or breaks continues.
• I keep ignoring my timed breaks because I'm 'in the zone.' I don't know how to stop myself, and I figure out a way around every break software ever. Maybe if I make breaks shorter, they will be more palatable, and I can work up to longer ones??
• The answer to: "Can I do 5 days in a row of working out plus 5 days of productive office-going?" is still no, not consistently. I am not getting enough sleep, not exercising, and not taking enough breaks. 

Other Aspirations: Wins and Losses

• So far I have not spent my $500 usual contribution to my house down payment fund savings on anything (reminder: I met that goal end January so I am taking February off) I just can't think of anything I really want yet.
• Food planning: check! Financial tracking,: check! Vitamins portioned out: check! Bare minimum personal and household maintenance tasks: check!
• Packing for this week's trip: check! 
• This week I really liked the mini pizzas (I should have added more veggies and more protein, though, they didn't keep me filled for very long), and I loved the parmesan lemon basil zucchini veggie dish. The key is mixing salt with lemon over the hot veggies--that adds SO much flavor.
• Menu for this week while away:
• Breakfast: sandwich thin + jam + peanut butter OR cereal with fruit OR poached egg OR frozen waffle, all with spirulina smoothie 
• Lunch: apple, cheese, ham or tuna sandwiches
• Dinners: roast chicken, mac n cheese, peas OR salad with red pepper, strawberries, mushrooms, apples, pine nuts and seeds, olive oil, vinegar or lemon, roast chicken pieces
• snacks: strawberries, dark chocolate, salted cashews, water crackers and pepper dip
• Ingredients for the above are sitting in my online shopping basket so I can just pick them up next week in the new town. Work is paying for food so I kind of stocked up :) This is WAY more frugal than eating out every meal, though, so I don't feel bad at all. 
• I have continued my Duolingo streak for 49 days. Whoa.
• My new NZ passport technically arrived Friday but THAT is a story. I have packages set to be delivered to me at work since I can't be home to sign for anything during the work day. You never know what day things will actually be delivered here, and I actually can't plan on being home for several days in a row to wait for packages since I am so busy. It has always worked in the past. For some reason, my secretaries denied the package this time. It was addressed correctly with my name on it, but when I went up to the secretaries to ask about it, they said they had denied it because they didn't know who I was??? Like, literally last week they accepted a package for me and emailed me to let me know it was in...so weird. So I called NZ Post, and they were trying to return it to sender, but luckily it was still in Auckland, so I had it held for me at a post office to pick up Saturday. I go to the place they told me to go to Saturday AM, and it isn't there!! So the lady gave me a new order and apparently it will be held for me all next week and I can pick it up next Saturday. Whew. I hope this is the end of that story...
• I still need to make a dermatology appointment. My skin is still being weird and excessively eczema-y.
• I need to order my reading glasses from Zenni so I can take them back from the US when I visit in March. 
• I still really need to to my boss about moving home. It is sort of set in my head and heart.
• I need to order items from Amazon for my March trip. 
• I need to sort out road trip stuff for my US March trip.
• I also need to make a list of things to take back to the US in case I move back in June/July. Basically--all my summer stuff :)

Weekly 2020 Goal Check In: Week 5

For Week 5: 3 - 9 Feb


Main Goals

1. Go to the office every work day. 

Erm. Embarrassing, but this week was a sh*!show. I physically visited my office on Wednesday only. Some I have a good excuse for, some I don't:

I went into work last Sunday to finish up something I needed to do by Monday.

Monday I flew to another city in NZ to bang a manuscript out with a colleague, and started work at 5 am. I didn't get back into my house until midnight. Technically I worked NINETEEN HOURS in one day. Oof. I knew it was gonna be a problem for me and screw my schedule up for the rest of the week, but I didn't anticipate by how much. I also owed it to my colleague to be the one to have the long travel day.

Tuesday, I planned to take off the day. Quite obviously, I needed it. I justified this because I went into work on Sunday, and I worked basically 2 days in one on Monday. I had all these plans for Tuesday: cooking, cleaning, working out, but I couldn't leave my bed. I tried, y'all--but I really couldn't. I started sneezing and feeling poorly. I decided to watch tv and took naps and that was all I could muster for the day.

Wednesday, I ended up sleeping in late. I have just been depriving myself of sleep by staying up late to get work done and waking up at 9 am every day. I am paying for it in health. Monday, the long day, wiped me OUT and allowed a virus to take hold. I stayed at the office til ~11 pm Weds.

Thursday was a holiday so I was off work technically. I tried to get myself to work, but it didn't happen. I did manage to leave the house and get errands done, but I just ran out of time and energy at the end of the day. I really did try...

Friday, I didn't go into work either. I did manage to get a full day of work done from home, though.

Saturday, I cooked, cleaned, changed my sheets (ALWAYS the impossible task) and did laundry. I had a social engagement in the evening. 

This coming week is going to be CRAZY. I have a major major deadline next Monday, wherein I present my results to a colleague, and I am nowhere near close to being where I want to be for it. I'm really terrified I won't be ready. I thought I'd planned out my timeline well, but everything just takes SO MUCH LONGER than I think it will. I will need to exclusively work on this particular task until Monday. I won't have time for anything else, but unfortunately things always pop up, don't they? 

Deep breath. OK. Enough beating myself up. I forgive myself for this week's issues. I wipe the slate clean. Whew, that feels really nice.

Next week I will concentrate on taking breaks, working out, being healthy, sleeping, while doing as much work as I possibly can before my Monday deadline. I can DO this.


2. Make a plan to exercise every day, whether this happens or not.

Oh SO embarrassing. I went to one (1) work out class. Monday I was traveling and working all day. Tuesday I took off. I meant to go to at least the work out class that day, but it just didn't happen. Weds I went to class. Thursday was a holiday and the gym was closed. Friday I had an urgent deadline and wasn't done in time to make it to class.

OK. Deep breaths again. I forgive myself for missing so much class this week. It is OK. I will do better next week!

Silver linings?

1. I made it to one class! Go me!  
2. I thought about going, and was prepared to go, each day I missed class. My body/time management just wasn't up for it. I think this proves that it is becoming a habit.  

Next week I plan to go to my Monday - Friday classes, and take my breaks each day. I don't have anything planned that would conflict with this. I have scheduled it in my calendar for each day. No excuses. I can DO this.


Concerns About My Goals/Lessons Learned: 

• day vs night working schedules are something I'm working out
•  I am not getting enough sleep, rest, exercise, or breaks,
• firmly institute breaks again
• Given this week's fails, the answer to: "Can I do 5 days in a row of working out plus 5 days of productive office-going?" is no, not consistently. I am not getting enough sleep, not exercising, and not taking enough breaks. I am actively fighting off a cold now. I can only do what I can, and being healthy has to be the priority, no matter the deadlines. 
• I cannot handle a 5 am - midnight work day. Esp after not enough sleep and busy (for me) social activities. I just cannot. I need to recognize and work with my limits, not try to short cut them or cheat my way around them. That does NOT work.

Other Aspirations: Wins and Losses

• So far I have not spent my $500 usual contribution to my house down payment fund savings on anything (reminder: I met that goal end January so I am taking February off) I just can't think of anything I really want yet.
• Food planning: check! Financial tracking,: check! Vitamins portioned out: check! Bare minimum personal and household maintenance tasks: check!
• Menu for this week:
• Breakfast: sandwich thin (and butter), poached egg, and spirulina smoothie OR cereal and fruit OR fruit smoothie (banana, strawbs, and bluebs (frozen) + milk + chia seeds + ground flax + peanut butter) or jam toast with spirulina smoothie
• Lunches: mini pizzas: use leftover pesto, veggie mix (mushrooms, pepper, zuke), cheese, pizza sauce, meat (frozen pepperoni or roast chicken pieces)
• Dinner: roast chicken, mashed potatoes, parmesan lemon zucchini add basil
• snacks: strawberries, dark chocolate, salted cashews, water crackers and pepper dip
   
• Menu planning for next week done. Food planning is weird for next week--I am going away to another city for a week in 2 weeks, where I will have a limited kitchen, so had to work around that and plan to do my normal grocery shop in another town next Sunday. The great news? Food is covered by work because I am travelling :) Still, I don't go crazy--I try to keep it frugal.
• Ingredients are sitting in my online shopping basket so I can just pick them up next week in the new town. Planned meal:  
• Breakfast: sandwich thin + jam + peanut butter OR cereal with fruit OR poached egg, all with spirulina smoothie 
• Lunch: apple, cheese, ham sandwiches
• Dinners: roast chicken, mac n cheese, peas OR salad with red pepper, strawberries, mushrooms, apples, pine nuts and seeds, olive oil, vinegar or lemon, roast chicken pieces
• snacks: strawberries, dark chocolate, salted cashews, water crackers and pepper dip
• I have continued my Duolingo streak for 42 days. I missed one day in there (Monday) but used a 'streak freeze' to got to keep my streak :)
• Have finalised my NZ passport application! Got my brows waxed and brows and lashes tinted--and had an excuse to do my make up and hair for a social outing last night, so I finally felt decent enough to take a million passport photo options. Do you know how HARD it is to get a photo of yourself that a) is not a selfie b) is straight on c) has a plain background when you are all alone??? I had to shift half my furniture around in several different rooms before I found a well lit spot with a plain background and a place to put my camera for self-timed photos. And then I had to contort myself on the ground because nothing was tall enough for me to take a photo standing up. Sometimes being alone blows. I think I got a good one, though.
• I need to make a dermatology appointment. My skin is still being weird and excessively eczema-y.
• I had an eye appointment so now need to order my reading glasses from Zenni optical. It was actually useless, though. Weirdly, their prescription (same diopter for reading for each eye, no astigmatism found, no far vision diopter indicated) is not as precise as the one I got from the eye surgeon, even though the eye surgeons told me I needed to see the optician rather than them for a more true-to-life prescription(?). The one from the eye surgeon indicates a small far-sighted prescription that differs in each eye, specific astigmatism differences in each eye, and differences in reading vision ("ADD") in each eye. I'm just gonna use the one I got from the eye surgeon then! Waste of $55...
• I really need to to my boss about moving home. It is sort of set in my head and heart.
• I got in some quality social time this weekend: spent the day with my colleague/friend on Monday (SO NICE to work with friends :)), and Saturday I spent the evening with two friends (a couple) who are leaving NZ for a year because the husband is off on sabbatical to Europe. So sad :(

January 2020 Budget

January was a great month for the finances.

It was a 3 paycheck month while also being a 4 rent payment month.

	January 2020 Budget
Category	Spent	Budgeted Amount	Balance
Rent	$950.00	$950.00	$30.65
Groceries	$392.93	$450.00	$57.07
Internet	$0.00	$92.00	$92.00
Electricity	$85.12	$0.00	-$85.12
Eating Out	$91.25	$175.00	$83.75
Charity	$0.00	$50.00	$50.00
Cell phone	$82.00	$30.00	-$52.00
Medical	$145.00	$120.00	-$25.00
Misc	$675.35	$500.00	-$175.35
Savings	$600.00	$600.00	$0.00
Total	$3,021.65	$2,967.00	-$24.00
Leftover	$1,746.30

January 2020 Income: $4,767.30

Total Spent: $3,021.65

No need to go into detail; I was working so things are just sort of ticking over as they need to, on autopilot. I was over budget in a few areas (cell phone; medical; and misc), but under in others (groceries; eating out; charity (oops!)) and that mostly made up for the overages.
 
My 2020 US Trip Fund of $3K is complete. If I move home, I suppose it will be used for that, plus going back and forth to NZ for my project's big research presentation day, a big conference I am helping to organise early 2021, my defense, and my graduation--4 big occasions between November 2020 and end 2021. I will hopefully combine a few of those trips into one long one. It's also good because two of my friends want to come to NZ and travel around, so they could come along on those trips and we could travel afterward. 

To do that, I'll need some $$--clearly. I already have a "Post-PhD Defense" travel fund--that is for after I am officially a doctor, but before graduation. Basically, I also will have lots of time between handing in my thesis and my defense, and between my defense and my graduation--it can be 6 months or even more between hand-in and defense, and several months more until they hold a graduation ceremony. Of course, some of that time will need to be dedicated to a) preparing for my defense, b) finalising manuscripts for publication (though I really hope they are done by then), c) fixing my thesis (it gets rated and can get NO changes, which is almost impossible to get; minor revisions, which are usually very easy fixes; or major revisions, which is...not great and take a long time to fix--I'm aiming for minor revisions), and d) applying and interviewing for jobs.

So the overage for January goes to my "Post-PhD Hand In" travel. I'm excited for this! I'm going to put off job stuff until I am truly and properly ready to dive back in to work. The past 5+ years have been absolute hell on my physical, mental, emotional and every other kind of health. I need to recover, and my savings are just going to have to take the hit. I'll try to minimize the damage, of course, by being frugal and saving up beforehand as much as possible, but DANG do I need a serious, long-term, job-free break. Can't say worry free because that isn't possible, but eliminating job worries will go a very long way. I want to just concentrate on my family and feeling better in all ways before I saddle myself with major responsibilities again.

Weekly 2020 Goal Check In: Week 4

For the week 27 Jan - 2 Feb


Main Goals

1. Go to the office every work day. 

DONE! AGAIN! I physically visited my office every day Tues - Friday (Monday was a holiday, and also we were banned from campus without special permission as there was a music festival happening and next door and they blocked off all the entrances). I went into the office on Sunday to make up for it, and I went into the office one day this weekend, too, due to a deadline (but plan to take off a day next week to make up for it).

I felt I was quite productive this week, as opposed to last week. I meant to go in quite early every day, but that didn't end up happening--though I did wake up earlier than usual, which is fantastic progress. Go me!

Tuesday: I had a meeting with my RAs (research assistants) at 2 pm, so was physically at work by then (though my work day of course started at home much earlier than that--sent my first email of the day ~9 am) and worked til midnight.

Weds--worked all day at home (starting ~9 am) til about 3 then went in and worked til midnight, then came home and worked more til ~3 am (long story + some deadlines).

Thurs--slept in a bit. First email of the day out at ~11 am, worked, then had a meeting at 2 so went into the office for that. Worked til midnight.

Fri-- slept in a bit again. Had a meeting at 11 am, went in for that, and was there til 5:30. Would have stayed longer but a rare social offer popped up late in the day.

I get nothing but pesky little tasks and emails done in the office during the day--there are so many people around (7 people in my office) and I get super distracted. I continue to be best at making serious progress from about 8 pm - 12 am. I'd stay even longer but they kick us out of the building at midnight. There is something about wanting to leave to go home that makes me really motivated to work and get into a flow--maybe the pressure of wanting to go home kicks my brain into high gear? And also, I'm generally just a night owl. Whereas, if I go into the office at 9 am, I feel like I have to be there all day and I basically feel like, oh, there's plenty of time to get _X_ done (X being work I have to sit down and become really focused and invested in--I procrastinate doing it during the work day because I think I'll get distracted with other little urgent things people request via email). Hmmm. There is something in there that is very interesting about my thought processes--I'll have to think about this weird assumption I have about day vs night work more.

Next week, I aim to continue this positive trend and go into work every day! Well, except for Monday. I'm off to Wellington to meet a collaborator for a project and I have to catch a flight at 7 am, not returning til 10 pm. Since that is a long day and I worked over the weekend, I probably will be taking Tuesday off, then :) Next Thurs is a public holiday but I plan to go into work. There's tons to be done before 17 Feb, when I visit a colleague to discuss my research. I want to be very prepared for those discussions. Also, I made myself a deadline of 29 Feb to be done with a draft presentation and poster for a conference I have in March. Also, I have a friend leaving for sabbatical for a year, so hope to see him before he goes. That is maybe happening Thurs or Fri and will have to take precedence over working one evening. I'll of course make up for it by going in on a weekend day if I have to.


2. Make a plan to exercise every day, whether this happens or not.

ANOTHER WIN! (Crowd roars) I actually worked out 3x this week (Tues, Weds, Thurs). And that is EVEN WITH the gym moving 15 mins away. I'm quite proud of myself for that. I did not make it to class on Friday due to the rare social engagement, but I am OK with this--it was a considered decision and I have to be able to be flexible and prioritize sometimes. I'm getting into a good habit of taking a break when the clock strikes a certain time, no matter where I am or what I'm doing, suiting up for the gym, and going to class. I also am getting very good at planning to exercise--making sure I have gym clothes, socks, shoes, the night before/morning of and an eating and working schedule that makes working out possible.

I really hope to make working out a permanent habit, and not dependent on the gym availability, weather, or exercise class schedules. I think everything I am doing is a step towards this.

Next week I plan to go to the Tues, Weds, and Fri classes. I'm in Wellington on Monday and Thursday is a holiday--gym is closed. I plan to bike to/from the beach and take a swim if the weather is nice instead.

I wasn't great about taking breaks this week. I will keep my Enso Retreat break software on this week while at home or at work. Moving around more is the goal!


Concerns About My Goals: 

• Last week, I wondered, "Can I do 5 days in a row of working out plus 5 days of productive office-going?" Turns out, I probably can, but a) for how long is that sustainable? b) could I do this in winter? and c) it means I REALLY pay for it in sleep and other very small tasks I should be doing to keep my health and life running smoothly.
  It takes me ages to wind down after work so when I work til midnight, I end up staying up quite late at home trying to relax, and then waking up only a few hours later because I'm trying to start my day earlier. Sleep is a priority and this schedule is going to make me ill if I continue, if the migraine and usual chronic stuff doesn't get me first! I will continue to monitor the situation to try to figure out what is best for my health + productivity.

Other Aspirations: Wins and Losses

• I have now completed my $50K House Down Payment Fund, a decade in the making! PARTY TIME!! I am taking February off--no intentional saving. Just fun and indulgence! I feel so free
• Food planning: check! Financial tracking,: check! Vitamins portioned out: check! Bare minimum personal and household maintenance tasks: check!
• It turns out I am not a big omelette fan, esp because I do not own a true non-stick pan. It probably will not make it into the rotation.
• Menu for this week: will be cooked on Tuesday on my day off swap. Due to the holiday, I'll have to pick up my groceries from the nearest store by foot on Saturday.
• Breakfast: sandwich thin (and butter), poached egg, and spirulina smoothie OR cereal and fruit OR fruit smoothie (banana, strawbs, and bluebs (frozen) + milk + chia seeds + ground flax + peanut butter) or jam toast with spirulina smoothie
• Lunches: mini pizzas: use leftover pesto, veggie mix (mushrooms, pepper, zuke), cheese, pizza sauce, meat (frozen pepperoni or roast chicken pieces)
• Dinner: meatloaf, a starch: leftover roast potato, mashed potatoes, roast kumara and pepper mix, or kumara fries, and a veg: slow cooked southern style green beans
• snacks: strawberries, dark chocolate, salted cashews, water crackers and pepper dip
   
• Menu planning for next week done. Ingredients are sitting in my online shopping basket until I know I don't have anything to add:
• Breakfast: sandwich thin (and butter), poached egg, and spirulina smoothie OR cereal and fruit OR fruit smoothie (banana, strawbs, and bluebs (frozen) + milk + chia seeds + ground flax + peanut butter) or jam toast with spirulina smoothie
• Lunch: leftovers (options: mini pizzas; Thai yellow curry with chicken and veggies and rice (x 1); chicken tortilla pasta soup x 1)
• Dinners: freezer leftovers: chili lime chicken, meatballs + tatziki (x 2), meatloaf (x 1+); kumara, courgette side dish--with garlic, and basil and lemon from garden
• snacks: strawberries, dark chocolate, salted cashews, water crackers and pepper dip
• My taxes are completed, reviewed, signed, and were posted on 1 Feb! Woo hoo! 
• I have continued my Duolingo streak for 36 days. I have reached my 30 day badge! 
• Still waiting to feel cute enough to take a photo for my passport renewal. I need to catch up on my sleep first.
• I still want a bike but am not sure about buying one since I may leave in June.
• I need to make a dermatology appointment. My skin is still being weird and excessively eczema-y.
• The next time I go to the mall, I'll stop in for an eye appointment.
• I really need to to my boss about moving home. It is sort of set in my head.
• I got in some quality social time this weekend: Friday, I hung out with a friend I haven't seen in ages and another friend who is leaving for a year soon. Today I went to the Auckland Botanical Gardens for their sculpture walk. 
• I really think the nice summer weather is why I can go into the office and work out. I am positive I would not be able to keep up with this schedule in the winter, when it is all I can do to brush my teeth every day. Warm weather gives me life.

$50K House Down Payment Fund COMPLETED!

Hurrrrrahhhh!

A very long time after setting my first* house down payment fund goal...it is complete!

I'm super stoked!

I'm gonna take Feb off from saving. This is a huge goal and it's taken a LOT of work on a low salary to get there. It will be nice to chill out.



*I say 'first' because $50K NZD is NOT going to get anyone a house in any place I have looked at living...