So October is over… not really sure how that happened so quickly. The prospect of November is really stressing me out. I have a LOT of changes going on right now in my personal life, the biggest being work-related. I don’t talk much about my job on here, and that has a lot to do with the fact that, for the most part, my job is really low-stress and at the end of the day I like to separate my personal and professional lives. Working out and blogging are my two ways to decompress, and I like to keep work separate from that.

However, at the moment, my job is in a big transition period and it’s occupying quite a bit of my time. To (very briefly and broadly) explain what’s going on: our company is in the midst of acquiring another company and as we integrate the two companies into one I’m working with the new company at their office. I went and met with the employees yesterday and on Monday I’m moving offices down there to get familiar with the company, help them out where they’re lacking in staff, and help figure out how we can best integrate the new company and its employees into ours. I’m pretty stoked that my boss asked me to start working with them during this period, but I’m also pretty nervous about it. For the month of November I’m going to be working longer hours, farther away from home, and travelling during peak traffic hours both ways. The light at the end of the tunnel is knowing that I have the opportunity to really get comfortable with the company before we finalize everything and that my hours will drastically shift for the better after November. So I just have to plug through this month

Needless to say, this week has been a mess for me, thus the lack of blogging. Monday I pretty much worked, came home, and then worked until 8pm before finally calling it a night. I had wine, cheese, chips and ice cream for dinner and didn’t work out. To say I was stressed would be a gross understatement. Tuesday I started out with the best of intentions, fitting in a quick 4 mile run before work, but then things got busy again because I went straight from work to family pics with Sean’s fam, to dinner with them, to home to have (way too much) ice cream and I ended up going to bed with a massive stomachache. Wednesday I fit in 3 miles and some abs before work, ran by my doc’s office, went to a meeting with the new company, came home and tried to work out but nothing was jiving, and then had to hurry and get ready because we had a few of our friends over to pass out candy/hang out. I went to bed late and woke up this morning less than motivated and freaking out about my upcoming commute and not getting to see my coworkers for an entire month. I’m feeling decidedly better now though because I just got in a decent 5 mile run and did some upper body weights and I think I’m ready to not let stress rule my November. Honestly, it’s not going to make a difference whether I’m stressed or not – I’m still going to be working longer hours with the new company and I’m just going to have to try and make everything work. My plan right now:

- limit drinking to one day a week on the weekends. I’d say not at all, but we have some wedding showers and weddings coming up and I know that’s just not reasonable or likely.

- fit in 5 days of working out a week. I typically prefer to work out 6 days a week, but I’m trying to be realistic and recognize that I’m going to be seriously pressed for time both before and after work, so I’m just going to have to make it work where possible.

- seriously limit my processed sugar intake. I got into the really bad habit of eating well over what I needed to be eating, and I need to reign it in. my goal is to allow myself some, but be mindful about what I’m eating and how much of it. I think it’s ridiculous to say I won’t have any – I love candy and ice cream way too much – but I don’t need to be having as much as I’ve been consuming.

- limit eating out to once a week. for MONTHS I wouldn’t eat out at all unless Sean and I were already out, but now I’m finding myself eating out more and more. not only is it not good for my waistline, but it’s not good for my wallet either.

- get a few house projects done. I’ve got to do something for me in all of this, and there are some house things that have been lingering over my head that I’ve been wanting to get done. in addition to working out, working on the house is one of the few things that I do for my own personal enjoyment. gotta have a little of that in there, right?!

My game plan: make an overall list of things I want to accomplish for the month, and then break it down by week, then by day. I’m a very list-oriented person, so having one with everything laid out for me is crucial.

Hmm… this post started out as a way for me to catch up with you guys and morphed into more of something to ease my mind. Whoops.

Fill me in on your lives, what’s going on?? I’m going to try to post 3-4 times a week for November, but we’ll see how it goes after I know more of what my schedule is going to be like.