This post is a bonus of sorts (not related to any meal) and will be more introspective than most.

When I quit my life as a teacher to persue a new career I wasn’t worried about feeling aimless, even though I knew our move to Buffalo meant I couldn’t start a program this year.  My identity isn’t tied to my job, I’ve got a lot to be proud of – my motivation, my organizational skills, my ripped abs, my awesome cooking…..  Let’s check in with that shall we –

• I’m behind on the reading for both of my classes.  I had to miss Chem on Tuesday and class last night had me in tears because I was so confused.  This is especially pathetic because I chose to take Anthropology; I’m taking it for fun not to fulfill a prerequisite.
• I haven’t cooked a real meal in basically weeks.  It seems like everything we eat is packaged (and beige!) and I feel like a terrible wife.  Plus I basically stopped eating fruits and vegetables which is certainly not good for my health.
• I’m feel exhausted all of the time.  I know feeling stressed and run down is a normal thing, but I am an unemployed part-time student, there is no reason I shouldn’t be well-rested!  Adam and I both just get so sucked in to doing things late at night.  The later we stay up, the later I sleep in (because, you know, I have nowhere to go) and then the cycle continues.
• My abs are no longer ripped, in fact what is the polar opposite of ripped?  I’m surprised no one has asked me if I’m preggers yet.  Nevermind the fact that I’m dangerously close to not being able to button most of my jeans.  When I had an insane life in Brooklyn I could deal with weight gain as a trade-off for the work I was doing but I’ve gained more weight since we moved to Buffalo than I did in the two years in Brooklyn.
• I am running a half marathon in 37 days and I have not started to train at all.  Am I even going to be able to finish my race?  And if I do it will feel a lot less anti-climatic if I don’t put in any work first.  The plan was to get a 2nd tattoo to mark the memory but I’m not sure I want to any more.

So, I’m just going to whine about it?  NO!  It feels like everything in my life is spinning out of control, but “everything” covers a lot of ground, so I made four manageable goals –

1. Food – cook at least three meals a week.  And eat more (any?) fruits and veggies.
2. Exercise – for the next 37days you can’t tell me I don’t have 30minutes a day to devote to exercise.  It’s training time, baby!  (Don’t forget, you can track my training here)
3. Sleep – I’m kind of a night owl, but even if I ultimately decide I want to keep my late night ways, for the next month I need to shift into waking up earlier.  My goal is 7-8hours a night, 10 or 11 bedtime.
4. Time management – even if I add in an earlier bedtime and daily workout I still have time to study.  I get nothing done at home so I think I might take the monetary hit and start heading to the coffee shop for study time more often.

I’m going to call this “life improvement movement” FEST – Food, Exercise, Sleep, Time management.  I love how Susan of The Great Balance Act does goal check-ins on her blog and I think I’ll do the same.  Since all/any of these changes will be tricky for me I’m planning on giving a quick update at the end of each day.  Wish me luck!

What goals would you like start working on?  I would love it if you would tell me your goals/progress.