How is everyone doing after this first week of January? I will say it was nice to have all the time off from work to catch up on sleep. I find myself quite well rested (for now). This week starts the getting back into routine. Grab some coffee or tea (my preference) and let’s catch up.

I start my Spring semester of grad school today. I spent some time reading the syllabi this weekend as these two classes will be new subjects for me. I actually don’t think I ever read the syllabi last semester, but we had a week on campus to get started and meet our teams, teachers, etc. With online classes, I definitely feel like you have to be on top of things. Some of my classes have weekly meetings and others are sporadic throughout the semester. Either way, due dates can approach quickly and I know I will have more reading material this semester. I am saying goodbye to TV for the weekdays as that kept me focused last semester. I also deleted the Facebook app from my phone on New Years Eve. I couldn’t believe the amount of data I used on Facebook, so now I just log in from my computer every now and then to pop in, but I feel like it reduces the scrolling for no reason. Oh but I still have Instagram, so…

              I kicked off January, starting Yoga with Adriene’s January Dedicate challenge. I will not say I will do it everyday, but I am going to try to do all 30 days in this month. That may mean doubling up some days. So far it has made me more motivated to practice. The first few videos, there was a bit too much talking, but I understand that she addresses things for beginners. As someone who has practiced yoga for the last 7 years and is a certified teacher, I find it harder to find online videos that are challenging. I love Yoga with Adriene because it is free and when she is moving too slow for me, I do some of my own poses in between. Therefore it is motivating for me to get on my mat and stretch out.

              Sometime over Christmas, I strained my right shoulder. I already have shoulder bursitis on my right side and it is a constant practice to check in with it and see how movements at the gym feel. I have learned over the last 10+ years dealing with it, that it is like a muscle weakness almost. When I am not strength training, it gets weaker and bothers me more. I learned in yoga teacher training that doing ONLY yoga was not good for my body. This is when strength training became a number 1 focus for me. I had a good balance of strength training 4 times a week with 2 yoga classes a week. Then my favorite studio closed (in between locations) and I also had grad school so I focused on school work and strength training. I do spend some time stretching for warm up/cool down, but it is obvious to me now, that it wasn’t enough. I NEED yoga to balance with my strength training and vice versa. With more strength training, I find my yoga poses feel stronger. With more yoga, I find that my strength training workouts feel better. They are perfect complements. So with that, trying to motivate myself to practice yoga at home. It’s great because it saves me money, but I will tell you, I much prefer the studio environment when I can get it.

              This week is going to be busy as I figure out my classes. Luckily I did read the first two chapters for Marketing and took a look at the discussion board questions. I am also excited for this week because I have a massage booked for tomorrow and with that I am being a terrible student skipping my first Stats class, but I booked the massage a month ago so not going to move it. Luckily the session will be recorded so I will watch it Wednesday.

              It was a great last weekend of freedom for a bit. By the time I finish this spring semester, it will be time for our destination wedding in Charleston. As the final pieces are coming together I am starting to get excited. We are also heading to Aruba for our honeymoon and I’ve already checked out Yoga Girl’s studio and pass options. Brian is actually working on his scuba certification this week too so he can do his open water in Aruba. I am sticking to snorkeling, but it will be fun for us to each have activities to look forward to. I am also just hoping for lots of sunshine and beach time because I miss living near the beach and water.

What routine are you setting for yourself in the New Year?

It’s that time of year when you start thinking back, what did I accomplish this year? Did I meet my goals? What do I want for next year?

I feel like reflection posts can be written multiple ways. I started out by looking month by month at what I accomplished, but the thing is, I want to look at the bigger picture. In 2018, I had two main goals and I’m not sure I even shared them because they were big goals and I was somewhat afraid to tell the world my goals. These two goals were:

• Buy a house
• Get into grad school

I accomplished both of these in 2018 and I am so grateful. For the house, I simply mentioned to my co workers I was looking for a house. I started to look at open houses around the area and went to one which I thought was overpriced and didn’t like the layout. I soon realized this would be hard. Then things suddenly fell into place. I was at work and my co worker mentioned someone at my company was transferring and needed to sell her house. I saw the house and asked some questions and then when Brian was briefly home from work, he got a chance to see the house. The owners had done a lot of major updates which meant it was good for moving into. We still had a few things we wanted to do of course, but it was essentially move in ready. We also were not in a rush to move which worked out. We made the offer in February and finally closed on the house in May, moving in, in June.

Meanwhile, I was working on grad school essays and putting a lot of time into writing them while also realizing it was the first time I felt passionate about what I was applying for and really hoping my essays and grades would get me in after not performing as well on the GMAT as I would have liked. I got into both schools I applied to which I was overjoyed about and I absolutely loved my first semester, even though it was stressful at times learning to balance a full time job and school work.

In addition to those two major goals being accomplished, I participated in my first powerlifting meet. I may have been lifting light to some, but it was my first time and I learned a lot. I also completed my first warrior dash, watched my sister graduate and attended blogfest for my second time.

I would say all in all, I accomplished quite a lot in this year.

As for 2019, I hope to continue to enjoy grad school. I also have my second powerlifting meet in April. Of course, 2019 is mainly about Brian and mine’s wedding in May. Wedding planning is not easy and all the money a wedding can cost is crazy!! I can’t wait for our simple beach wedding and more celebrating in the summer locally.