In truth, I never actually went anywhere. I didn't fall off any wagon, though I'm not sure I've been on or off any proverbial moving device for some time now, and I'm not going through any huge, life-altering event.

Well, I did quit my job so I suppose that's something.

I'm going to miss my job at the Sun-Times, but admittedly not the hours (Wednesday through Sunday, 3 - 11 p.m., though always later, sometimes-till-2 a.m.-type later.). The job kept me away from everything in my life that I love, with the only holdout on that list being my job and that wasn't enough to sustain me. So I'm now working as a Web editor somewhere else, with Monday - Friday, 9-5-type hours. I've taken some time off in between jobs which is good because so far every day I've woken up thinking about my job at the Sun-Times and some mythical thing I didn't do the night before, which, of course, is impossible, hence the mythical, since my last day there was Friday.

It's still in my system is my point.

This week is my week to detox and return to a normal schedule. As I mentioned, I'm still on stress mode, so I've been trying to relax and chill out as much as possible. No sleeping in for me, either. I've already been doing all sorts of fun things, and necessary things, to get myself ready for the new job. Mostly it's just been nice to spend real quality time with the people I love, as opposed to fitting them in where I could. That kind of life was having a really poor effect on my overall health and I've come waaaay too far to take steps back.

I really enjoy taking care of myself. My job wasn't allowing me to do that properly. I'm proud of myself for acknowledging that and taking the steps to change it.

So what have I been up to? Well, I've gained - gasp - two pounds. During the big transition, I did little to no exercise and there were some wretched food choices made. I mean, I don't even like Arby's and yet? I ate Arby's. I didn't go out on a two-week binge or anything, just that if I felt like fried food, or sandwiches, or, whatever, I ate it. It was all fine while it lasted, I didn't flip out or worry, but, you know, moving on.

I went to a kickboxing class yesterday and as a result I am very, very sore. Gosh I forgot how much I missed doing this. I really, really loved it. I sweat my ass off and it was an awesome stress reliever to just run around, punching and kicking a big bag. My new job is going to give me a gym at my disposal (which solves some of my problems as to how I'm going to find the motivation to work out during the thick of winter) but I'm also hugely considering reviewing my funds to join this kickboxing gym in town. I'd join the gym I took the kickboxing class at but there is only one class within the entire network of gyms and I really don't feel like paying for all of the extras for one class. We'll see.

I've been running like a woman possessed when I'm out on the road. As in, fast. I'm not sure what accounts for this, but I'm running a 5K on Saturday so I'm hoping I can translate all of this speed work I've been doing into a faster run time when it's all over this weekend. If nothing else, it's come in handy when running with my dog. Keeping up with a hyperactive Golden Retriever is tough!

Today I'm taking the day off to let myself heal from all of the kickboxing of yesterday. Tomorrow I'm going to take a spinning class then an Astanga yoga class right after. Friday I'm planning on more yoga and then the 5K on Saturday. After the 5K we're going for steaks and martinis, and I'm fully planning on eating lobster as well. It's our celebratory dinner and I figure a 5K is just thing to get my metabolism ready to burn off at least the drawn butter from the lobster.

I'm looking forward to posting here with some regularity again. I don't have anything new or big or different planned - just happy to know I'll have some more time to write again.

Posted by Erin at 08:45 AM | filed under: Random