Week 4: Rest your eyes

Guess what, guys?! On Tuesday of week 4, I started my new job! I am absolutely loving it so far. The people I work with are funny, welcoming, and supportive. The work itself, from what I've seen so far, is right up my alley. I can't wait to finish my training period and get my hands dirty in the world of nutritional counseling! The dietitian I worked with this week taught me a lot about how to put clients at ease and ask questions in a way that gets you honest answers. I loved observing her and hope that I get to work with her much more in the future.

Photo via

In lieu of the traditional 9-5 schedule, I'll be working 10 hours per day for 4 days out of every week. That means starting work at 7, which means leaving the house at 6:30, which means waking up at 5. I'm not so much a morning person (or a night person, either, really... I like to joke that I'm a "noon to 4pm" person). Considering this, along with the fact that I've been jobless since the end of October and not really on any kind of schedule, I knew that waking up each day was going to be a challenge. The only way I could do it, I reasoned, is if I got enough sleep. This seems to be different for everyone, but for me the magic number is between 7 and 8 hours. As such, goal #4 was to go to sleep by 10pm at the latest each night of this week.

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Even though I love sleep and don't need a whole lot of convincing to get into bed, this goal turned out to be a real challenge. My commute and lunch break add at least an hour and a half to my 10-hour workday, so I'm away from home for at least 11 and a half hours per day. Between the job, giving my dog enough attention and exercise, and trying to stay fit myself, I found that I didn't have much time for anything at all this week.

So, did you do it? Honestly, my saving grace was how tired I was at the end of each day. I think that if I hadn't been a veritable zombie by about 9:15, I would have tried to accomplish more in the way of everyday tasks, like answering emails and running errands. As luck would have it, come 9:30pm, my eyes were closing on their own. This made accomplishing goal #4 easier than expected!

I gave myself a free pass for the weekend, which was good as I definitely wasn't asleep by 10pm either night. On Friday, I met up with a friend from many, many moons ago and he gave me a little bar-crawling tour of my new town, including The Praying Monk, Mabel's on Main, Dos Gringos, and Kelly's. On Saturday, he invited me to celebrate a friend's birthday at a great restaurant called O.H.S.O., which was absolutely delicious. I also got to see another old friend on Sunday morning for brunch at NCounter and a little romp at the Desert Botanical Garden. As an added bonus, we didn't have to pay the $18/person admission since she is getting married there in March! It was such a fun weekend, and I'm really glad we reconnected. Thanks, A & C, for making me feel at home in my new city.

Week 3: Caffeine detox

I'm not a daily coffee drinker. I love coffee, but usually I save it for a weekend treat, because drinking white mochas or pumpkin spice lattes every day would not be a good life choice. (Coffee, like wasabi, is a sometimes food for me - skip to 5:05 and watch for about 35 seconds for the cutest nutritional advice ever given.)

While I was on the road with a daily coffee drinker, however, Starbucks became a series of mini-Meccas en route to our destination. I was drinking coffee or black tea almost every day and loving it.

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Once I arrived in Phoenix, I was feeling seriously over-caffeinated. It was clear to me what Goal #3 would be. I needed a detox from caffeine, and it was perfect timing as I wouldn't be starting work for another week. I didn't have any tea-less 5am mornings to look forward to in week 3 of the New Year. I vowed that for this week, I wouldn't drink any caffeinated tea or coffee, and if I had a yen for a warm beverage, I would make hot herbal tea to satisfy my craving and keep myself hydrated in my new, dry climate.

So, did you do it? Yes! I didn't have any coffee or black tea all week. I didn't do quite as well with staying hydrated as I'd hoped, but I don't think that any amount of water ingested could ward off the inevitable dry skin and lips this week. I hope my body adjusts quickly!

I also accomplished a number of other things in week 3. I put together my bed, unpacked 90% of my boxes, hung curtains to cover up my door-less closet, and explored my new neighborhood. It was a very busy and satisfying week!

Week 2: Keep moving

I left North Carolina for Arizona on January 6th and arrived at my new home on the 14th. Even though we took day-long breaks in each city along the way (Atlanta, New Orleans, Dallas, and Santa Fe), I knew that I would need movement in order to stay sane. Those long hours of sitting in the car would make me sore and antsy if I didn't make a conscious effort to work out. Thus was born Resolution #2: exercise. Those of you who know me know that I am a yoga fanatic. I do yoga almost every day when I'm not on the road, and I wanted to challenge myself to keep it up while I was traveling. Some may argue that yoga isn't exercise, but I'd say that vinyasa flow is a pretty good workout. Regardless, the point was to move.

On day 1 of the trip, I started the morning with a little yoga at home before hitting the road. I also took my dog for a long walk, because he'd have to sit still for quite a while, too. On day 2, Elle and I hit up Red Hot Yoga in Atlanta for a sweaty flow class before getting our day started. Day 3 was yoga at home, followed by days 4 and 5 at Reyn Studios in New Orleans - a new favorite. (As a side note, I just got a hand-written note from them in the mail thanking me for coming and saying that they hoped they'd see me again when I was back in town! How cute!)

Photo by Reyn Studios

On day 6, I decided to switch it up a bit and hit up a barre class in Plano. This place was awesome and was definitely what I needed.

Photo by The Bar Method

I took day 7 off (intentionally, in favor of a nap) due to sore muscles and a long day of driving that left me exhausted. Day 8 was a hot flow class at Blue Moon Hot Yoga in Santa Fe. Considering that it was 7 degrees that morning, I think it was a better idea than the hike we had originally considered. On day 9, I did a short yoga podcast in our hotel room before hitting the road for our final stretch of the trip.

So, did you do it? Mostly, yes. I usually take a day off each week, and this week was no exception. Plus, that nap was just what I needed and I was happy with my choice. I'd say that week 2 was a complete success! Add to that an incredible massage at our hotel in Santa Fe, and the long hours in the car hardly bothered me at all.

In other news, I guess that now that I have a blog, I'm going to have to start taking my own pictures ;)

In keeping with week 2's resolution, I'm off to another yoga class! I'm going to try out Yoga Village in Scottsdale. It has great reviews on Yelp and is one of the more affordable studios in the area. I hope I love it!

Week 1: Introduction and my first goal

I've never been much of a New Year's Resolution kinda gal. I think that most successful changes are small ones done persistently, not grandiose life overhauls. We've all seen it: In January, the gym (or, in my case, yoga studio) is packed with new faces. Give it a few weeks, however, and the new faces start to dwindle. That being said, I think that having goals is worthwhile and necessary for growth. I also think that being accountable for them is really helpful in meeting them.

I was initially inspired to create 52 mini-resolutions by my sister. She started weekly goals last year, and I've loved reading about them on her blog. A second inspiration came from a good grad school friend, Anne, who wrote a post about daily action in lieu of resolutions. At first, I just figured that I'd tell someone about each weekly goal and that would keep me accountable. It only occurred to me a few days ago that a great way to make sure my goals had an audience would be to start a blog of my own! So here I am.

There's a little catching up to do, given that it's January 17th and I'm just now writing about my first week's goal. In order to explain Goal #1, I guess I'll need to give you some background.

In November, I graduated from UNC's Master of Public Health Program in Nutrition!

Here are my classmates and I after our ceremony.

(Photo by M)

Also pictured are fellow bloggers Elle, Anne, Amanda, Maria, and Emily!

And here I am with my professor and mentor, Janice.

(Photo by M)

On Janice's recommendation, I had started applying for jobs in August. One week after graduation, I got an offer! I had really enjoyed my interview for this position, it was a job I had always thought I'd want to do for at least a little while to get my career started, and I felt a great connection with my would-be supervisor. After some small deliberations - but mostly just trusting my gut - I accepted the job. The hardest thing about saying yes was the location - Arizona! Having spent the last 9 years in North Carolina, a move to Arizona meant leaving my friends and family there and starting over in a place where I didn't know a soul. It also meant driving across the country with my dog and my friend Elle*, since I couldn't fly with the pup.

This brings me to Resolution #1: PACK. I know, I know - It's sort of lame to set a goal for something that you have to do no matter what, but with everything that was going on, I felt it was fair to start with something easy.

So, did you do it? Yes! I left a lot of my things back in North Carolina, as my current life plan is to move back East in a few years. I was also going to be moving into a furnished house, so I didn't need everything that I own. Nevertheless, I got everything I was bringing with me packed up and loaded onto a Pod and put the rest in storage. I was ready for my big adventure!

*You can read recaps of our trip on Elle's blog, starting with the decision to travel together, and then moving from Day 1 all the way through to our arrival!