October Goals

Better title would be "Mid-October Check-In." :)

October 1st marked 2 years since I left my Chief of Staff role at Duke and have been working with the DHIP contracting team in a remote position. It took a while for me to make the mental shift given that I had 15 years in my former Duke life, but I now feel completely removed from that previous world. I still keep in touch and have regular meetups with former co-workers, which is nice for networking and to keep doors open, but I've settled into my new life quite nicely. The time, flexibility, and balance I have is not something I take for granted, especially in this stage of parenting young kids.

Now that I am two years into working remotely, the biggest surprise is that I still feel less accomplished most days, even though I am way more busy than when I was working in the office full-time, which is an interesting juxtaposition. When I was commuting and in the office 7:30am-6pm each day, I felt no pressure to be doing anything else other than be working at my job or doing something personal on the computer, since that was my only choice. Now, I don't feel accomplished if I haven't gotten my actual work done, plus gone to the gym, done a load of laundry, walked the dog, emptied the dishwasher, returned the package, volunteered at the school, prepped our dinner, etc. I wrote about this early on when I began working remotely, but I thought by now that I would have a more structured daily schedule. Nope, I do not. I feel like I have a million things to do every day, in addition to my actual job.

October 19th marks two years since we lost our dog, Otis. I miss Otis and Pippa every day.

On the Calendar this Month:

1. Brooke's first Duke basketball game at Cameron! We went the the Blue & White season opener, which is really more of a big pep rally. We love it. :)

2. Cam and I are doing a 6-week "Try Tennis" clinic locally. Stepping out of my comfort zone for this one!

3. Halloween and Brooke's 3rd Birthday party (a couple days before her actual birthday)!

What I Read in September:

1. The Calamity Club. I could go on and on and on about this book. LOVED IT SO MUCH! I do not think I will recover.

2. The Power of a Praying Parent. I've been re-reading this prayer devotional in the mornings and have paused my Bible reading at the moment, simply because I have a lot to pray about for my kids! This prayer guide is amazing and I love spending time praying for Cam and Brooke each morning.

3. With Cam, I read two Goosebumps books: You Can't Scare Me and Welcome to Camp Jellyjam. 

What I'm Loving Lately:

1. Last week I finished my second paint-by-number of Cam and Brooke at Lake James. You can see them both pictured below. I love it! Now I've cleared off the dining room table so that we can get started on some seasonal jigsaw puzzles!

Goals for October:

1. Hang up everything on Cam and Brooke's walls. This is actually a goal for me to tell Brian where to hang up everything on Cam and Brooke's walls. ;)

2. Start going to bed and waking up earlier. Reading The Calamity Club and staying up past 11pm most nights has gotten me way off schedule the past several weeks.