I am feeling so much better! I think I had a mini-meltdown on Friday, but thankfully I took full advantage of this weekend to recover. See, the thing is that I really don’t get stressed out about much. I can manage a lot at once and I usually let most things just roll off my shoulders. On rare occasions, it gets to be too much for me to handle and I lose it. Friday was one of those days…the culmination of days of stress when I reached my breaking point. What’s caused all this stress? Work is insanely busy with a lot of pressure to deliver and a lot of eyes on me. Mom’s been back and forth with the dreaded ex. Then there was the whole windshield wiper stopping on the highway in the middle of a storm incident. And, to top it off, John and I found out that we are going to have our 2nd long-term house guest in just one year…my sister Ashley. On top of all that, the allergies from hell have been making me miserable. Seriously cannot breathe. And, for some strange reason, I was exhausted all last week.
All of this just got to me on Friday. I was on the brink of tears all day while I was at work. I got nothing productive done and I had to reschedule two meetings. Since I had to have my car towed, John picked me up from work at 2 PM. We went home and I immediately changed into my pajamas and hit the couch, where I proceeded to take a 3 hour nap! I really needed it though. I felt a million times better when I woke up. Then, after a great night sleep Friday night, I was ready to tackle my stress.
I started Saturday with a killer class at the gym – the “Saturday Sampler” – an intense mix of step, kickboxing, floor aerobics and weight training. I then went home where I cleaned the entire house and got showered and ready for the rest of the day. We then went to pick up my fixed car (which I also got an oil and filter change while it was in the shop - kill two birds with one stone and check one more thing off my to-do list) and headed to the mall to beef up John’s fall wardrobe. Amazingly, I didn’t buy one thing for myself! After that, we went for a few games of bowling…my faves! We then returned home to our dinner ready for us…I had set the crock pot and bread maker before we left for the afternoon…so yummy. We spent the evening cleaning out and combining our closets, and then we had a few cocktails while we played pool and darts in our basement. Really fun and relaxing.
On Sunday, we slept in and then went for brunch at our favorite spot. After that, we headed up to my Dad’s to pick up his key to our house to give to my sis and then we went to my mom’s to drop off all the old clothes I was getting rid of. We spent the rest of the day at home just relaxing and enjoying each other’s company. It was just what I needed.
Because of this fabulous weekend, I woke up this morning ready to face all the stress that I left behind on Friday. I had a great workout at the gym, took Ms. Bailey for a nice walk, finished preparing the guest room for Ashley’s arrival this afternoon, and got ready for work…and all of this before 7:30 AM! I also forgot to mention that I revamped my allergy remedy this weekend…as of yesterday, I am back on the stronger Claritin and using saline spray to supplement. I cannot even put into words how much better I am feeling already. It’s like night and day. I’m so glad that I finally figured out the remedy that works for me!
So, here I am, finishing up my personal business for the morning and ready to tackle my overwhelming to-do list. I am determined to have an incredibly productive day and get my business in order. Cheers to a fabulous Monday!
This morning I had an 8:00 am meeting, so I was headed to work a little earlier than usual. Not a huge deal...the only drawback being that traffic is much heavier at that time then when I normally come. Well, when I merged onto I-91 this morning (at one of the most dangerous sections of the highway, btw) you'll never believe what happened. My windshield wipers stopped working. Just stopped. Right in the middle of the windshield. As it was pouring outside...the start of 2+ days of pouring rain. I seriously thought I was going to die. I could not see a thing and I was right in the middle of rush hour traffic on a stretch of highway with no exits surrounded by other commuters and numerous 18-wheelers. Truly terrifying. As you can tell, I made it to work in one piece, but I was less than thrilled to say the least.
Long story short, my car's been towed to the dealership to be fixed and my hubby has to come pick me up. I guess the bright side is that I get to leave work a little early for it.
TGIF.
Sometimes the world works in mysterious ways. And sometimes it works in more obvious ways. Yesterday was one of those…
After complaining about everything that was wrong in my life in yesterday’s post, I found some motivation and got working hard at tackling my to-do list. As a result, I worked a little later than usual so I was driving home a little later than usual. On my drive home, I was listening to a radio show that I don’t normally catch and wouldn’t you know it…the whole show was about not complaining! It was a minister of the Unitary church who started a movement called “A Complaint-Free World” to stop the negativity that is complaining. He challenged everyone to a 21-day complaint free challenge. So, you know what? I’m going to do it! Complaining only makes me feel worse and I should expend that energy on solving whatever is plaguing me instead of whining about it. In that spirit, let me rebut yesterday’s negativity:
- It’s Tuesday, and I’m thrilled that it is! Why? First, because it’s bowling day (yay!) and second, because it’s movie release day and guess what I was able to snag this morning on my way to work? Sex and the City!!!
- I’ve got a renewed focus on my work today and I am confident that I will accomplish many of my goals.
- I had an awesome workout this morning. Spinning rocks!
- I hopefully burned off some of those muffins from yesterday in said spinning class. Plus, they were so good that they were totally worth it :-)
- I came home to a wonderful candlelit dinner last night, followed by a night of cuddling on the couch, so I think it’s safe to say that the stupid fight is long behind us.
- I am going to try my hardest to support my mom no matter what, because I know she’d do the same for me. I will try to be open-minded and give Chris a fair chance.
- I’m going to pour all of my energy into finding a way to solve my “problem”. And whenever I find myself feeling down about it, I will just remind myself that I have an absolutely wonderful life and in the grand scheme of things, it really is no problem at all.
- Job titles are just semantics. My job is not going to change and maybe being an “Operations Consultant” will open up new opportunities in the future that I never knew even existed. Plus, no matter what you call it, I love my job and I’m so thankful to have it.
- The allergies have been slightly better the past two days. If they get worse, all I need to do is go get some stronger allergy meds.
- I am shaking off yesterday’s mood and starting today off on the right foot. I am in a wonderful mood today and I love feeling like this!
If you, too, would like to eat multiple muffins in one day, I suggest the following...
This recipe is originally from Allrecipes, but with a few minor changes:
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease and flour muffin pan or use paper liners. Mix sugar, oil, eggs. Add pumpkin and water. In separate bowl mix together the baking flour, baking soda, baking powder, spices and salt. Add wet mixture and stir in chocolate chips. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes.
Good luck trying to not eat all of them!!!
Blahbidy Blah. That's how I feel today. Why?
- It's Monday.
- I have so much work to do that I don't even know where to begin. So, instead of just beginning somewhere, I've done nothing.
- I didn't go to the gym this morning. I was going to go after work instead, but then I sort of volunteered to go for a bike ride with my mom instead. Now I wish I didn't because I have the distinct feeling that a certain someone that I DO NOT want to see will be there (see #6 below). I just want to go home and be alone instead. I need to come up with an excuse to give her ASAP. Maybe not feeling well? That's always a good one and not entirely inaccurate (see #7 below).
- I've eaten 4 muffins today. Yes, four. In my defense, they are ridiculously good and I rarely bake, so this isn't a common occurrence. But, yes, I've eaten four already. All the more reason that I should go to the gym. But odds are that I (1) won't go to the gym and (2) will eat more muffins.
- I got in a stupid fight with John yesterday. We had such a wonderful weekend in VT and then I ruined it by being grumpy and picking a fight on our drive home. In my defense, I was somewhat justified in my argument, but I certainly didn't approach it in the best manner possible.
- I'm so disappointed in my mom I can't even stand it. She's back on good terms with the wretched ex and I am so disgusted with her for taking his lame self back. She claims that they aren't back together, but I know that it's only a matter of time. How am I supposed to embrace and be nice to a person who has broken my mom's heart repeatedly, walked all over her, taken advantage of her kindness, treated her like crap, mooched off of her, and been an all-around worthless piece of you-know-what? I know that it's only a matter of time before this causes a rift between my mother and I because I, unlike her, can't just forget everything and pretend like nothing happened. Just thinking about it, and her inability to respect herself and kick him to the curb for good, makes me sick.
- I think I've sort of been in a rut/funk the past few weeks or so that is affecting everyone around me (especially John). I'm pretty sure I know why (reasons that I'm not comfortable sharing) and I don't really know how to make my "problem" go away right now, or at least not bother me so much. John knows what this "problem" is, but he just doesn't understand and he is, quite frankly, no help at all. In fact, talking to him about it just makes it worse, so I've been exercising every ounce of restraint in myself not to bring it up with him. And, I don't really feel comfortable talking about it with anyone else, so I just bottle it up inside, but now I'm at the point where I want to explode. I know that this "problem" will eventually work itself out, but not knowing when and not being able to effectively deal with it until that time comes concerns me. How am I supposed to go about my everyday life like nothing is wrong when this is always on my mind? I know I am being over-dramatic and ridiculous, but I can't help it. This is just how I feel.
- I just found out today that my job title is changing from "Compliance Consultant" to "Operations Consultant". How lame of a job title is that? Nobody will have any clue what I do.
- These stupid allergies are making me bonkers. I seriously could not breath yesterday, which no doubt contributed to my misery.
- I hate to be in a mood like this. 99% of the time I am such a positive and happy person, so feeling like this makes me feel even worse because I hate feeling like this.
So, my “allergies” have flared up again. I ran out of Claritin on Saturday, so I decided to see what would happen if I didn’t take anything. Well, each day since then has gotten a little worse, yesterday being the worst of them, so I bought some more meds last night. I am trying a different kind this time (on sale super, super cheap at Target) so we’ll just see how well they work. And, I’m having a weird eye thing going on right now. Yesterday I started to feel pain in my right eye like someone had punched me in it. At first I just thought it was sinuses, but it’s clearly not. And, it hurts worse today. Thankfully it doesn’t look abnormal, but it feels yucky and I’m afraid that my eye is going to swell up or start watering uncontrollably or something. Let’s all hope that doesn’t happen.
OK, so enough of the whinny post! Let’s talk about some good stuff. First off, it’s Friday!!! Who doesn’t love that? John and I (and Ms. Bailey) are going to northern Vermont this weekend to visit John’ sister, so I am really looking forward to that. I’m really feeling in the fall spirit these days with the crisp, cool weather that we’ve been having, so I’ve decided to try out a new recipe that I got to bring with me to VT this weekend. Pumpkin chocolate chip muffins…seriously, how good does that sound?!? I cannot wait to try them! Also in the fall spirit...last night I did some serious damage at New York and Company on some great fall outfits, got a Pumpkin Spice candle at BB&B (which btw, Yankee Candle Pumpkin Spice and a few other fall scents are on sale at BB&B right now, so be sure to run out and get one!), and then I pulled out all of our fall decorations and decorated our house to celebrate this wonderful season (of course while burning my yummy fall candle).
I have to say that as I get older, fall is creeping up on my list of favorite seasons. There is just so much that I love about it! Crisp, cool air, sweaters, scarves, leaves, fires in the fireplace, pretty colors abounding, football, apple picking and then baking up a storm with the fruits of my labor, hot apple cider, butternut squash, pumpkins, Halloween, the Big E, gosh…I could go on and on! It’s hard to explain, but this time of year just gives me a feeling of comfort and contentment inside. Being outside in all this fall glory just makes me feel so inexplicably happy in a very unique way…a way that only this time of year can do. I just feel so relaxed and feel like all is right with the world. It’s fall-tastic!
I am just so tired today. I cannot even being to express how busy work has been for me...I am juggling several huge, high-profile projects and have been pulled in a million different directions by a million different people looking for guidance, help and support. Don't get me wrong...I'm really enjoying the work that I'm doing. And, I am so happy and so proud that people around the organization view me as a valuable resourse and feel that they need me and my expertise. BUT...it has been difficult to manage everything and I've been pushing myself really hard, and I think it's caught up to me today.
I've definitely been feeling very stressed at work and that stress, which I am not used to, has given me some serious insomnia this week. However, eventhough I haven't been sleeping much, I've still been at the gym at 5:30 AM every morning working out hard, working 10+ hour days without any breaks, trying to squeeze in time at home to do my chores, get my schoolwork done (which I had hoped to get done during my lunch breaks...but that's impossible when you don't get a lunch break!), spend quality time with my husband, and still try to have a little fun. It's a lot, and today my body is telling me to take a rest! So here I sit, writing a whinny blog post when I should be tackling my mile-long to do list. I have a lot to get done and absolutely no motivation...a deadly combination for sure.
I need to just power through and finish out the day strong...the more I accomplish today, the less I'll think and stress about work this weekend. Get going Melis!
Hello old friend! It's been a long time. I haven't been blogging much lately, not for lack of things to write about but, to the contrary, too much to write about! Where do I even start? In a effort to not make this post the size of a small novel, I will try to highlight the big things in the adventures of Melis:
We had a fabulous long weekend (Labor Day, that is)...highlights include attending a Jack and Jill, renting a boat and cruising on the Connecticut River for a day, and going for a great bike ride on a newly discovered bike path. And, we managed to get a lot of relaxing in too. Why can't every weekend be a long one?
I did, in fact, join the gym again and I'm so glad I did. I've been going to the 5:30 AM classes (I know...I'm insane), but I love them. It's such a great way to start my day and my workout is done before my day even gets started. The classes are tough...I've been working out harder than I have in a long time...but it feels so good. I convinced John to try spinning and he really liked it, so I'm excited that we can go to spinning class (yes, at 5:30 AM) twice a week together. Awww!
School started! I'm all set up and organized for my class except for one small detail...I haven't gotten my book yet! Fortunately, I don't have to complete my first assignment until next weekend, so I've got a little time. I'm hoping that it will be sitting on my doorstep when I get home today (I did pay extra for fast shipping, after all!). I've been participating in this week's discussion actively, however. It's the perfect topic for me...banning trans fats in NYC restaurants. Right up my healthy alley :-)
And speaking of my healthy alley, personal trainer studies are nearly complete (again, waiting on my last shipment of study materials...hmmmm...I'm starting to see a trend). Just need to get my CPR cert and I'm all set. 3 weeks until the exam!
Bowling started, baby! Love it! It's so great to have John back on the team and I'm looking forward to what is sure to be a fun season.
Work has been insanely busy, but super productive. I feel so accomplished and I really feel like my hard work is being recognized. I've got a lot of key deliverable coming up soon, so I've got to stay on my A-game!
I've got a busy month ahead of me...running a 5k (the "Jail Break 5k" where 3 prisioners "escape" and we have to chase them down. If you cross the finish line before them, you get a special prize. So cute!), a visit from my beloved college roomies, the Big E (my absolute fav!), a weekend away in Vermont (WITH Bailey...yes!), and of course, the personal trainer exam. Oh, and I'm supposed to take my mom to a pow-wow for her birthday (seriously, mom?). How am I supposed to fit this all in with work and school? If you know, please tell me!
Well, I really could go on and on (in case you haven't noticed, I tend to be long winded), so I'm going to stop myself before it gets out of hand. I just want to say how all of these wonderful things are a great reminder of just how good I have it. I am truly blessed to have the life that I do.
