worst. blogger. ever.

So...

I haven't done any of the things that I said I was going to do.

In fact, I may have moved slightly further away from my initial goals of working less, spending more time with loved ones, etc.

2014 is a rough year so far and I must say that it's kicking my ass.

Last year I thought I may have started getting allergies, but I wasn't sure.  This year has punched me right in the face with seasonal allergies and I've been name calling Mother Nature bad names every day for the past month.  Because I have absolutely no self control, I also basically gave myself an eye infection from itching and scratching my eyes every day causing extreme irritation.  I really thought that I had pink eye, which is yet to be fully ruled out in my opinion, but either way, I seem to be on the tail end of my eye issues.  I think that I have previously mentioned, but I'm pretty sure that I have one major, weird health issue every year (i.e. shingles, stress eczema, etc) so hopefully this was it.  I really don't think I can handle any more health issues this year.

For good things that have happened in the last 5 months:

I got a puppy!  Rick and Andrew actually got a puppy and it didn't work out for them so, I got a puppy!  His name is Mookie and I love him with every fiber in my body.  This was from the first day we got him so he's bigger now (5 months old).

Dan and I also moved to the Bronx!  I am really happy to have moved and am loving the apartment and my shorter commute.  We have tons of space, tons of conveniences around, and the animals love it!  I will post pictures once it's really cleaned up (we have no doors to the rooms yet...).

I got a promotion at work!  I am now the ops manager at CM 57th street and I have a love/hate relationship with it currently.  I still feel like I haven't gotten into a good groove yet and I am still getting to know people so even though it's been 3 months, I'm trying my best to have an open mind.

Due to my complete failure of my last goals, I'm making only one revised goal:  DEBT DIET

It's hard for me to do a complete debt diet because my job requires me to look nice and wear the current clothing and we get new clothes every month.  I can usually get away with not getting new things for a month or so but after that I am clearly not current at all.  Luckily, I work in the back so I can hide more than other managers.  

The goal of this debt diet is to reduce my credit card debt to oblivion.  I realize that if I did this until I paid my credit cards off I would probably not be able to buy anything until I'm in my 40's so I will give myself a realistic goal of 3 months.  Since it's already May 26th, I will just round to June and say that this will end August 31st, the day after my birthday.

Rules:  I can spend money on food (conservatively) and any necessities.  In addition, I can spend money on any gifts that I need to since I have a few friends' birthdays that fall within this 3 month time frame, including Dan's birthday.

I encourage anyone else to join me in my dieting!  We can commiserate together over some window shopping.

I struggle with consistency

It's been a very long while since I've written.  Since my last post, here are a few highlights:

1.  I played a solo (actually duet) with an orchestra!  It was so much fun and I feel so lucky to have been asked to do something like that.  I was also really excited because my mom came into town to hear it!

2.  Went to Puerto Rico with Dan, Rick, and Andrew.  It was lots of fun and I highly recommend staying in old San Juan if you are traveling there.  One of Andrew's friends lives there so he nicely volunteered to be our tour guide for the week which was a special treat.  Just thinking about it makes me want to be back on vacation.

                              

3.  Celebrated Dan's 30th Birthday!  Ice cream cake and a new espresso machine!

4.  Left my CBUS store in the beginning of July and transitioned to being the Operations Manager at the SoHo location.  Going into a strictly operations role has been very different and so far and a major challenge for me.  That being said, I'm learning a lot and am excited for things to come.  Look at the cutest card one of my girls gave me!  There is a real kleenex glued to the front!

5.  I went to the Lake Placid Chamber Music Festival last week.  It was very nice being there and I remembered how much I love violin and miss music.  I took a month off of playing because I worked for about 30 days straight, 14 hour days.  I think this going back and forth with music will be a struggle I'll have to deal with for the rest of my life.

6.  Jackie and I went to Toronto for work earlier this week for an operations workshop lead by the manager at Bloor Street.  She was amazing and I got to share some of my best practices with her team as well as pick up a few good ideas that I'm excited to implement when I go back to work tomorrow.   Jackie and I also got to play tourist and did some relaxing time as well.  :)

less work, more life

For the last few years, my focus has solely on work.  Since I've come back to Club Monaco, I've been trying to get myself to where I need to be to take over the store for the time if and when Brandee leaves.  I've been working long hours (not a new/good thing) and really trying to better myself as a store manager.  Things are going very well for me at work and I think that things can only go up from where I am right now.

HOWEVER, I have been thinking...

I think I'm going to stop doing what I'm doing.  I mean, I'm still going to focus on doing my job well and working hard when I'm there, but I am going to have a better work/life balance.  I am constantly tired and borderline sick all of the time.  I want the main part of my life to be about music, friends, spending time with Dan, making food...  doing the things that I love, which I realized (this week) requires me to work less, stress less.  It's not that I don't want to be promoted because I do; however, I've never felt content just being where I am for any given time, but I'd like to start.  Right now.  There was a time where I loved work and wanted to work all of the time.  This is no longer the case so I'm going to start prioritizing my life to put my outside-of-work-happiness first.

To begin my new major life decision, I had a really good practice session last night followed by making some super yummy sweet potato, red lentil, curry soup.

I read my book, fell asleep watching tv with Dan by my side, and woke up this morning in my sunny, Brooklyn bedroom with Sangria curled up next to my head.  

This is the life that I want.  This is the life I will have.

work.sandy.montreal.music.

I totally forgot to write about this, but I have a new (old) job!  I'm working at Club Monaco again and am so glad to be back.  Anthropologie turned out to be not such a good fit for me.  Since I've been back, I started working at the SoHo location and was recently moved/promoted to the Columbus Ave store.  It's a really great place for me and will definitely help me have more exposure with corporate members.  The commute is longer than I'd like, but I'm getting a lot of reading done so I'm not complaining.

Hurricane Sandy happened.  All of the stores were closed for 2 days (the downtown stores were closed longer because they didn't have power until the end of the week) and I was really happy because the impromptu time off coincided with my annual fall-to-winter-transition sickness.  I definitely needed the extra time to rest and felt much better when I went back to work.  Aaron, Dan, and I spent some quality time hanging out and I got to crush them at Scrabble which was loads of fun.

Also, Dan and I went to Montreal shortly after the hurricane which was a nice little get away.  Dan gave me the trip for my birthday which was super sweet.  It's only 6 hours away so we opted to drive instead of fly.  I was paranoid before we left because of the major gas shortage but it all worked out well.  We stayed in this super swanky hotel in the middle of downtown so we were able to walk everywhere which was very convenient.  We saw Old Montreal, the Quebec Club Monaco (my request of course), the Notre Dame Basilica, went to a Scandinavian relaxation bath house, and did a ton of walking around.  I'd love to go back because there were a lot of things that we didn't have time to do.

In other news, I'm doing a ton of playing right now (probably too much as usual) and am feeling very run down.  I say this to myself all the time, but I'm going to try to slow down once I get through all the concerts I'm doing right now.  Last year this lead to me getting shingles which was no fun at all.  Maybe pacing myself will be my new year's resolution.  I am actually really excited that I was asked to play a viola solo in a concert in May so I've been thinking about cutting back after December is over and just focusing on that for the spring time.  We shall see.  

the pros of being sick

Being sick has tuned out to be not completely awful! My shingles haven't been bad compared to some horror stories I read about. I think my quick thinking to go to to the doctor (matt telling me to go) right away was key.

 Pros:
- Working from home is amazing! I got frustrated at times because I didn't have all my resources but overall, my new dream is to work at home 50%.
- I got to spend lots and lots of time with Sangria!
- Avoided spending $10+ on lunch
- I got to hang out in my pajamas all day (for those who don't know, I hate getting ready for the day and will wait as long as possible.  Even if I'm not leaving until the 6pm, I won't shower until an hour before I have to leave.  Note:  This is why my hair is always wet)
- I have earned so many Viggle points- yay free Starbucks coffee!