Some of you have asked what my next steps are going to be now that I am without job. In all honestly, I have no clue. All I know is that I’m taking a much needed break from life. However, while doing so, I’m going to focusing on three things:
1) Reclaiming my health-I’ve gained 15 lbs this past year due to depression and stress. Needless to say, I’m not too happy about that when I’ve worked so hard to lose weight in the first place. I’m going to start going to the gym more consistently because, hi, what other excuse do I have not to go? I’m going to check out some classes at the YMCA to take since they are included in my membership fee and up the ante with my strength training. I may also really up the ante and start swimming again since it won’t put a lot of pressure on my knee. They have a pretty sweet sauna and jacuzzi that I can use afterwards so when I go to the gym, it’s probably going to turn into a two to three hour event. Fine with me, I want to get my moneys worth and get back on the right track!
2) Unwind-This is piggybacking off of #1. I need to lower my stress level, I just have to. My most recent job put a lot of stress on me but so did my job before that, that I was in for four years. I like to think of myself as a laid back person but truth is, I’ve never been so high strung in my life as I’ve been in the past year. My blood pressure is borderline high and I’ve never had issues with blood pressure in the past (blaming weight gain and stress on that). Add the fact, that on a normal day I would down two to three cups of coffee from Starbucks (and I’m not talking tall cups, go grande or go home!) so I’m pretty sure that wasn’t good for my central nervous system. Also, depression is not a good look for me. The past five months have been rough. It got to the point where I didn’t want to talk to my friends or get out of bed in the mornings (weekends included) And all because of a stupid job. The money was great and I had a history with the bank but what’s the point in making all of this money if I can’t even look forward to enjoying it?
3) Travel-I’m going to Florida next week to see the parental units and my sister. I don’t have a set plan of how long I will be gone, which is nice for a chance. I have to be back in Charlotte for a wedding the weekend of the 21st so I feel like I have a lot of time to spend there with them, see high school friends and duh-work on the tan. Once I get back to Charlotte, I will be here for a week then go to Indianapolis to see my other sisters and nieces for Memorial Day weekend. From there I will be driving to Chicago to check out the scene there. NYC and Colorado may be making a special appearance in there as well! My lease is up June 30 so I have to be out of there by then and would like to be out of Charlotte by then as well. I am going to try to sell most of my stuff on Craigslist or Ebay and if that doesn’t work, give the bigger things to charity and if I still have a lot of clothes and random things laying around, put those in storage.
So, yeah, that’s it for now. Today was a perfectly relaxing yet productive start to my “me-time”
The first stop of the day was the Value Village to get some new digs for cheap! I found some pretty good deals. The tags of the day were any item that had a pink tag was 50% off and any one with yellow was 75% off. That being said, I had my eye on the prize since I am now without job and have to really be frugal. I kept my eye on the pink and yellow prize and kept singing to myself “Pink and yellow, pink and yellow” to the tune of “Black and Yellow” which worked out in my favor since the first thing I found was a Pittsburgh Steelers T-shirt. No pink or yellow tag but I didn’t mind shelling out $1.50 for the shirt since I know Neyal will love it.
Fila shirt –$1.50
NY& Company Skirt- $1.25
Nike T-Shirt-$.38
Eddie Bauer Cardigan-$.63
Pink T-Shirt-$.75
Plaid Shirt-$1.50
Denim Jacket-$3.50 (don’t think I almost put this away because it was so expensive compared to everything else)
Lincoln burrowing under all my finds-priceless
Total spent– $11.90
What would I do without Value Village? I’ll tell you-be in credit card from too much shopping. The only downside to the place is the questionable people there (I seem to be the most normal person there and that’s not saying a lot) and the fact that I need major hand sanitizer action going on afterwards
I went to Ross afterwards since I didn’t find a dress at VV. I was just looking for a simple sun dress or strapless dress to wear when I’m in FL and found this cute dress for $10. I wasn’t too happy about having to pay $10 for something new but it was on clearance so that smoothed the burn over a bit.
When I got back home, Lincoln and I went for an hour long walk. I can’t tell you the last time we went out for that long and it was a perfect day to do so! The past three months my knee has been killing me, so much that the single act of walking more than a few blocks would leave me in pain. But the past few days, not so much. Could stress from work really have been making my knee pain worse? I guess we will see but I just thought it’s a bit odd it starts to feel better as soon as work went adios. Anyways, Lincoln and I headed over to park in my neighborhood that I’ve been wanting to check out. The park is only 1/2 mile away but I always made excuses not to go. Excuses like I was exhausted by the time I got home from work to go or that I was too busy on the weekend running errands that I didn’t have time (or energy) to run during the week. I hate that I made so many excuses in the past not to go so it felt extra good to go today. Turns out the park has trails and tables throughout it with different paths to walk on. Lincoln was sniffing away, enjoying the new terrain and when he would stop, I would do calf raises or squats. I figure if we have to keep stopping every other minute, I may as well keep the burn going.
After lunch, Lincoln and I continued to enjoy the day. I have a side yard that’s fenced in and gets optimal sun light so it was tanning and relaxing time for me! All was right-the sun was out, Pandora was playing, iced water in hand and dog by my side. It was hot enough that I could feel it on my skin but not so much that I was sweating my balls off. Lincoln had to go in a little after we went out there since it was too hot for him but I continued to stay and enjoy the sun.
All in all, a successful first day of “God-knows-where-my-life-is-going?”
How much sleep did you get last night? There was some little announcement late last night from the President. In the past, I would have dismissed it and said “Oh, I’ll just catch it on YouTube in the morning” but it was nice to stay up without having to worry about work in the morning and take part in history. I think I got about seven hours of sleep so I was a happy gal.
Do you visit your local parks or national parks?
Simply Shaka 