Productive Saturday for once.  Finished updating my resume to add to my grad school application, uploaded my transcripts and all my recommendation letters are in.

Now i just need to tackle the essay.

I also got a 45 minute workout in and had a nice relaxing mani/pedi with my boss.

January is almost over . . .finally. This seems like the longest month ever. Even so, I've been making things happen and moving towards my goals.

My workouts have continued regularly, and I'm really enjoying them. I do need to get my snacking in check. Maybe I can hire someone to follow me around and yell "stopppp fatttty" whenever I reach for chips or cookies.

On the grad school front, things are really looking up. I completed my fafsa forms, which is a huge step. I've paid my registration fee for school and ordered my transcripts. Now i need to write an essay and ask people for recommendation letters and I should be all set.

Of course I am still stressed out about financing but I keep trying to tell myself that won't stop me it's just another obstacle.

They say it takes 7 days to form a habit. Well, tomorrow will be day 7 of my early, morning workouts and I have to say, I am indeed looking forward to it. It really is a great way to start the day. I love going to work with my energy already up. I also love that I can't spend all day making excuses to not workout.

I promise this will be my last workout post for a while. I promise this isn't a weight loss blog.

Long time no talk? Obviously blogging every day is unrealistic so I've revised my goals to just blogging regularly through the end of the year.

No major life updates. Except if there are any fitness types reading, I have some questions. I am pretty nauseous throughout my workouts. any way to stop this from happening? I guess that's actually it. My next focus will be stopping myself from snacking. It's hard not to snack when I'm inside with toddlers who are eating basically all day.

I plan on emailing a contact I have tomorrow about volunteering for after School Matters. It's a great program and I'd love to give them some of my time.

Trying to stay more focused this year and have less "down" time but thats seeming like a double edged sword. Staying busy and filling my time more productively has made me feel a bit out of control at times. Hopefully I get used to it.

I woke up at 5am for the third day in a row to workout. I know people do this all the time and that I NEED to do  this but I feel like I deserve a medal, basically. I know this isn't a fitness or weight loss blog, because those are terrible but I'm feeling discouraged. I hate that after 3 workouts I don't have my dream body. So today, instead of being discouraged and quitting I worked on learning new ways to keep myself mentally focused and committed to my goals. BOOOORING.

It's only Tuesday?????? It has to be at least Thursday, amiright?

Today was actually really productive. I had a frank, professional discussion with my boss about our schedule & Salary for the next few months while we transition to me being PT so I can start school in September. It was really great and I felt relieved after. It's nice to know there is a plan in place but also different options so no matter what happens I can stay employed FT/PT or as much as I want to. This was progress for me because I generally avoid discussions. Just any kind of discussions. I hate them. If people want to discuss things with me, my modus operandi is to shout "i don't care" and then walk away. To a bar. . .

My first morning workout was a success. Well, half a success. I only did 30 minutes of my hour goal but its a start. I definitely need to invest in a yoga mat. Mountain climbers, burpees and planks were difficult on my freezing, hardwood floors.  I also need to eat something of substance before I workout. Which may seem like common sense but the last thing I'm thinking of at 5 am is breakfast. Hell, I'm not even thinking of coffee that early. I ate "clean" today and remembered to drink lots of water, hopefully I can keep this up.

I also learned fat free half and half is just as good as the full fat stuff, so that will be an improvement to my diet.

I've decided thinking of these "resolutions" or "goals" as year long is too daunting.  So I'm taking blogging, improving, etc month my month. It seems so much more tolerable and reachable.

I will try to do 8 sentences tonight since I missed yesterday. It was an unintentional flake, I was running around and out all day.

It's about to be close to 50 below 0 in Chicago so I spent the day being productive inside. I made a budget for the rest of the month. It might not seem like a lot, but that is huge for me. I know I've said it before but I'm just absolutely the worst WORST ever with money and even being aware of what I'm earning/spending is a huge step forward. after my minor (read: major) freak out on Friday night about going into debt to pay for my masters I thought I should start being smarter with what I spend.

I spent the afternoon/evening cooking a "clean" vegetable soup and some healthy, paleo cinnamon rolls. Eating healthier is going to be a lot easier when I have lunch and breakfast stuff prepared on Sunday night.

Tomorrow morning is my first 5 am workout. We'll see how it goes :-)

Spending tonight on my grad school application. I've been really stressed about going back to school because I'll have to take out student loans and going into debt terrifies me. I got into a little credit card debt during college but that's nothing compared to paying for grad school. I have to keep telling myself the ends justify the means but still . . .I'll be almost $60,000 in debt.

I'm also pulling my credit reports tonight. I haven't done that in a long time and want to make sure everything is good. If I'm going to go into debt, I should probably start paying attention to my finances more than I do now. I am the WORST at that. Terrible flaw.

Let's be honest, the biggest way I'm improving things and pushing forward is that I'm not at a bar tonight. Friday is my usual bar night but I decided this was more important.

Improving my patience tonight. It has apparently been snowing in Chicago for three days. I got super lucky with only a 25 minute delay on my flight home from Seattle. However, we are now sitting on the ground at Midway with an hour wait for a gate. I'm going to look at this as bonus reading time.

So, I decided to start a blog. Not because I have anything particularly interesting to say but because I needed something to dedicate myself to. I have a lot of great qualities but follow through and commitment aren't on the list. Today is New Years day and as I was reflecting on the last year I realized something terrible. I have grown complacent. Complacent in my job, complacent in my relationships, complacent in my goals, etc. The list goes on and frankly I think complacency is the worst thing that can happen to a person.

So this year I'm going to change things and start moving forward. I'm not sure what that means yet but this blog seemed like a good way to keep myself honest.  I'm going to try . . NO. . I WILL write 4 sentences every day about what I did to change, challenge, or improve my life that day. How hard can 4 sentences be?

P.S. If I manage to actually commit myself to this blog (or anything) for a year, you should all chip in and reward me with expensive shoes.