We took a trip to the Columbia River at the end of August and it was lovely. It also made us realize how much we love the ocean. We had some money in our travel savings fund, so we figured, it’s there, let’s use it instead of just having it sit there. So, we went to Cannon Beach this weekend, a place that we’ve been for day trips before but never to stay the night.
Read MoreWhat was going on during year 3? In terms of teaching, I eased into the year by not teaching during fall term. This rhythm works well for me, I’m all about the slow start!. During winter and spring, I taught four classes. Two were online and two were in our distance program, which means the classes were condensed into 4 sessions (from 9-5). Content wise, I had taught all of these courses previously; however, modality wise, it was my first time teaching one of the online courses. This meant that there was a significant amount of prep work in terms of making videos and adjusting the online content to match my style.
Read MoreMy main takeaway this week has been to slow down and listen to my body (which feels like it’s been my life main lesson since Ellie was born). I’ve been feeling a little “off” lately, experiencing things like shortness of breath and a racing pulse. I happened to have a doctor’s appointment scheduled for my back and was considering whether I should ask them to give my heart an extra listen… turns out I didn’t have to ask.
Read MorePartial paycheck month, woohoo! And… I think we’ll be able to make some significant progress on one of Mike’s loans with the leftover money we have from my summer salary fund (I’ll report back on this next month). September was a month of spending. Mike did some work on our doors (see a peek in the above pic), we decided to plan a weekend trip to the coast for October, I had my annual hair appt, we started paying Ellie’s preschool tuition, I had a bunch of doctor’s bills, we were super social… it wasn’t anything exorbitant, but we definitely went over budget in a lot of areas. One place we did not go over budget was groceries… it was a ~$600 month!!! I also updated our budget for the school year which will show up in next month’s budget post.
Read MoreWeek 1 of the term is done. Even though I’m not teaching this term I still felt that nervous excitement (or is it apprehension 😄) about the beginning of the year. I’m also still in disbelief that it’s October already. Time just keeps on going. Although this week felt pretty light in terms of the number of things I was doing, I did have some big wins (quality, not quantity, right?!). I submitted my fourth year review, finished the initial round of reviewing article titles for a systematic review project with a collaborator, finalized a poster presentation for a conference in November, and am 99% done my prep for winter term!
Read MoreThis week we welcomed the newest cohort of students to our program, part of which involves all faculty and staff getting on stage and introducing ourselves in front of a very large room full of people. Which is probably the most nerve wrecking time of year for me… and now I don’t have to do it again for another year, whew! I get it into my head that I need to have something clever or inspiring to say and then when I get the mic it’s a wonder I remember my own name. I don’t see my career as a motivational speaker taking off, ha! Perhaps I just need to take some of the pressure off myself.
Read MoreNow that I am officially back on contract I am bringing back my weekly updates for the school year. I kicked off the week by working from home and then ended it with meetings (because it wouldn’t be academia without them!). My office still looks like I just moved in… and honestly, it’s not high on my priority list so it’ll probably look like this for awhile. I did get a small table this week to put under the white board for when I have meetings. So… now I can just shove things underneath the table to make it look a little less cluttered. Before having Ellie, I used to need my work spaces to be super organized before getting to work… after Ellie it doesn’t phase me at all.
Read MoreWay back in April 2019 (which feels like ages ago), I wrote a post about the things that were working (and not working) for my brain. I thought I’d do an update to that post about what worked for my brain during the summer months. Summer has such a different feel to it, that it really seems like there’s an adjustment period once it’s in full swing (which is July for me). Which might be why, during August, I felt the need to adjust some things in my/our daily routine. This summer, my days were spent working on a few papers and a systematic review, course prep, 4th year tenure review prep, and building a relationship with a new collaborator. In non-tenure track related life I was working on the blog, plan(it)*, helping out someone in the personal finance realm with her online community, spending time with Mike and Ellie, and also trying to take it easy (ha!). I hadn’t really planned on the summer being filled to the brim... I just kept adding things on and here I am (I’m noticing a pattern 😒). Despite being packed, it was fun! Here’s what’s worked, along with where I’ve struggled.
Read MoreI have officially made it through my 4 month back to basics “challenge” 🎉🎉🎉 where I was making an effort to focus on the things that make me feel like a whole person. Which means… it’s time to do an update on my month of focusing on nutrition! If you’re curious, you can check out my other posts in this series. My initial post is here. May was all about sleep, June was all about meditation, July was all about movement, and August was all about nutrition.
Read MoreSummer is coming to an end, which is sad… and also exciting because that means I get a paycheck again! Before October starts and my full paycheck kicks back in (I get a partial paycheck in September), I need to do an overhaul of our budget to re-evaluate how much we need to set aside for next summer. I’d also like to think through the exemptions we claim (I think that’s the right terminology) and maybe make some adjustments. We usually get a decent amount back during tax time and I’d rather have that money in each paycheck as opposed to getting a lump sum in April.
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