No one will see this post. Or at least, I don’t expect anyone to. This site is for me.

I plan to use this as an archive, for accountability and as an outlet. So many times I tell myself, “You can start again tomorrow”, but tomorrow begets another tomorrow. Today, I am stopping that process and bringing the same drive and focus to my personal development that I have for my professional development. If you see this journal and it motivates or helps you, bonus points.

Today is Sunday, the last day of a week long vacation. Today will be a recap of the last week, but going forward will be daily updates.

Family: This week, the family and I cleaned up the house, spent 3 days in the Outer Banks at the beach, visited the Wright Brothers National Memorial, played board games and generally spent time together. We had planned on visiting Williamsburg as well, but altered our plans due to the excessive heat warnings. Busch Gardens can wait for another day. Looking forward, the kids are registered to start school again in 3-4 weeks. Additionally, my sister and niece will be visiting from Texas next weekend and I am ecstatic to see them.

Fitness: Vacationing was a workout daily. Walking in the deep sand on the beach really got the blood pumping. We walked to restaurants for food. I swam in the pool. I hiked to the top of the memorial in the sweltering heat and back. Additionally, I hiked out in the sand dunes at Jockey’s Ridge State Park. Yesterday, I did a 30 minute gentle yoga flow to get the blood pumping.

Nutrition: My husband and I shopped for healthy foods and I have made healthy choices for the last 2 days. Vacation fare was delicious and I chose relatively healthy options. I haven’t had a soda since Friday and the plan is to keep that up again. I felt better when I didn’t drink it in the past.

Knowledge: I completed the Behavior Change Specialist certification from ACE, restarted my yoga training certification and started a paper for my Masters program.

Health: I visited the optometrist and ordered the correct glasses and contacts. My eyes have fluctuated quite a bit over the last few years. I’m not sure if it is because of my hypothyroidism, pre-diabetes or something else. Hopefully, we will figure this out over the next year. Wednesday proved to be a bit too much sun, even wearing 70 SPF, so the little bit of pink I received on my upper body is now slowly healing. When sunburns heal on me, I break out in small hives, and those are finally starting to subside.

Sleep: I’ve been sleeping a split schedule for a while now. This consists of 3-4 hours in evening after dinner and 3-4 hours in the morning, with a wakeful period in the middle of the night of 2-3 hours. This isn’t tenable and I have plans to adjust this in the coming weeks.

Outdoors: My plants have taken a beating from the heat this summer. The Brussel Sprouts I planted on a whim are doing well as is the parsley and rosemary. The peppers and tomatoes are ripening. The basil haas bolted and seen better days. The lawn is well under control and mostly green. I’ll wait until midweek to mow after the next rain storm has passed and the temps go back into the 80s. Part of the near future plans is to add in some local hikes and trips to the water. I need to be outdoors more.

Career: In general, I won’t update too much about that here. I work remotely as a Senior Software Engineer and Lead Developer of an application for a large corporation that sells used vehicles. At work, my focus is the success of my application as it rapidly expands in-stores nationwide, mentoring developers on my team, growing my network, and learning skills that will help me get to my next planned level, Engineering Manager. This vacation has been a nice break. In three weeks, the team and I will be meeting for team building and a store visit in Richmond. The majority of my team live across the nation, so it will be nice to see them in a person for three days.