This week Mike and I celebrated 8 years of marriage… by flying across the country with a three year old, which is probably the most fun way you could spend an anniversary. It actually wasn’t that bad. Everything went as smoothly as it could go, we didn’t have any major meltdowns, and the airplane snacks/drinks kept Ellie entertained for a really long time.
Read MoreDespite feeling like we were hemorrhaging money during May, we managed to stay within our overall budget. Makes me feel good about the amounts we’ve set for each line item and that our budget is flexible enough that it can accommodate “spendier” months.
Read MoreWell, I made it through a month of focusing on sleep… not sure if I actually feel more rested than I was before, but I will say that I am 1,000 times more consistent with my sleep routine, and interestingly enough, my workout routine. So that’s a win. On the other hand, Ellie isn’t sleeping through the night and I’m in the process of figuring out some iron related health issues, so those two things probably have something to do with my energy levels.
Read MoreMost weeks I try to reserve weekends and evenings (and holidays… like Monday) for non-work related activities. When the work week includes a holiday and a day long workshop, mixed with meetings and other events, it makes it hard to do much else. This week I had about 12 hours (not even 2 full work days) to get all of my non-meeting work done, which wasn’t enough time… so work crept into personal time.
Read MoreIn case you haven’t been keeping track, as of June 1, 2019, I have been blogging for a full 6 months! 🎉🎉🎉 In these 6 months I have written 71 blog posts (including this one) totaling over 73,000 words. In honor of the 6 month mark, here are the 10 most visited posts from Toddler on the Tenure Track, plus a few insights on what I’ve learned since December 2018.
Read MoreTime for another day in the life post! This particular Monday was the inspiration behind my 2-minute Monday post from a few weeks ago.
Read MoreWith the long weekend and our birthday extravaganza on Sunday I’m a day late with my weekly update. As the end of the school year gets closer and closer my brain is feeling increasingly fried. Summer can’t come soon enough! Even writing these short little reflections is proving to be a mental feat. One of the things I worked on this week was writing the first draft of an introduction section for an article and I encountered all sorts of resistance to writing. It was subtle, so I didn’t even realize I was doing it at first, until I noticed that I kept searching for anything else to do besides write (it’s not often that I can convince myself I should be grading instead!).
Read MoreThe ability to juggle multiple projects with an infinite number of moving pieces is (I think) an essential skill for reducing the overwhelm that can come with academic life. In an ideal world, it would be lovely if this wasn’t a necessary skill for survival, but we live in the real world, with ever increasing workloads and expectations, where advanced project management skills are essential. Between research, teaching, service, and all the things that don’t fall within the bounds of these three pieces (…setting up your office?), there is always something to do. Project management should be a key component of all doctoral programs... instead of expecting everyone to learn through osmosis (which doesn’t always work out so well).
Read MoreWell, I started off the week with the best intentions, and then I caught Ellie’s cold and pretty much just managed to get things ready for my two classes. Although, as I was putting this post together I realized that I did some sort of workout every day except one this week, which is huge! So, I was able to keep momentum going with working out, despite getting sick (it was a head cold, so nothing too intense, just annoying).
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