My Mindfulness Project

I recently read The Happiness Project. For those who have read 'Eat, Pray, Love' - it's like that but for normal people. A woman is on a quest to optimize her happiness so for an entire year she focuses on one aspect of her life per month and seeks to increase her happiness.

Now I love a project and goal setting and while I didn't love everything about this book, I can relate to wanting to improve things in your life. But I feel happy. In fact I think I'm the happiest I've ever been and can't imagine what could make me happier.

But I do think I could learn to focus on and improve a few areas of my life. So I'm coining this my 'mindfulness project'. Where I focus on one topic area in my life each month that I want to pay extra attention to. There is no failing - it's simply that I focus on creating opportunities for improvement.

And by telling you all (my 4 adoring fans) it holds me accountable to them.

So for the last 6 months of 2011, I'll focus on the following:

July - finances
August - time/calendar
September - distractions
October - health/wellness
November - relationships
December - traditions

At the end of each month, I'll let you all know how things went. So, since it's the last day of July, and my last day to focus on finances, I'm happy (mindful?) to report that I had a successful month!

For the first time in my life, I feel good financially. I've spent many, many years living paycheck to paycheck and sometimes even beyond my means. Between a few promotions and raises and sharing expenses with someone, I'm doing quite well.

So how do I ensure that I'm saving appropriately, in the right places and for the right things.

Carl is very good with money and has a lot more knowledge about things like money markets and IRAs. He was so helpful in guiding me into some good decisions that not only made me feel good about what I'm doing with my money day-to-day but also what I'm doing to plan for our future and retirement.

So, here's the recap:

1. Opened a money market account
2. Opened a Roth IRA
3. Got a new credit card (that will actually reward me with something)
4. Began storing documents on Carl's computer, which we will now share
5. Created a monthly budget
6. Update my will

Ok, so #6 hasn't been done yet but I'm working on it tonight. I created a will in 2006 and needed to update it but the software I created it with wouldn't work so I bought new software. It's sitting next to me right now, just waiting.....

And since this project isn't about failures, I'll be happy when I get it done, no matter when that is (but hopefully tonight).

So while I'm not seeking increased happiness, I will say that it made me pretty happy to make these changes. It was an investment in mine and Carl's future as well and it was great to have a month to actively focus on that.

Next up is time and calendars - specifically how I best manage my time outside of work ensuring I make time for Carl, myself, friends, family and Buster. I'll let you know how it goes.....

Heat Wave

Austin is (once again) having record heat this summer. Every year I either forget or I'm in denial about how hot it gets here - and for how long. Summer came upon us super quickly this year. Last I checked, we've had over 40 days above 100 degrees so far. And the sad thing is that we have at least 2 more months of summer left.

Some of the only things that keep you cool in the Austin summers are cold drinks (margaritas please!), swimming and air conditioning......

And mine broke. Again. For the third time in less than 2 years my AC broke. I came home from babysitting Lucie and Audrey one night last week to a warmer house. I slept in it that night (it was tolerable) but that couldn't last.

Luckily I have Carl and a warranty. Carl tried to fix it but couldn't. So I called my warranty company and they came out on Saturday morning. Turns out, it was all part of a bigger problem. Luckily, it could be fixed and I didn't have to pay a dime. Unluckily, a part had to be ordered and it wasn't going to be fixed until today. Luckily, Carl just bought a condo!

So we moved to the condo for the weekend. It's close to downtown (and my work) and where I think we'll live in the next couple of years. For now, we're renting it out (to a fellow colleague) but no one has moved in yet so we got to camp out there for a few days. While we didn't have all of our home amenities, it was fun! I'd wanted to do this at some point anyway.

So while I'm happy to be back at home doing laundry and sitting on my couch (yes, I look forward to super lame things), I enjoyed our weekend at the condo and it made me excited to live there one day.

So while the hot, hot summer continues I am grateful for air conditioning, pools and margaritas, of course!

Details, Details....

Several of you have mentioned to me (several times) that I needed to update the description of my blog because I describe myself as a 'single girl'.

Of course this isn't true anymore but it was true when I started this blog. So while I wasn't resistant to change this (love you, Carl....) it was part of the establishment of my blog.

I've gotten over that and made a simple update that will hopefully appease my adoring fans.

DIY: Haircut

Not for me but for Buster.

Buster has hair; not fur. And he doesn't shed, which is glorious. But it means his hair gets long and wiry and matted and he has to get it cut every 6 weeks or so - even more often in the hot Texas summers.

For the past two years I've been paying someone to cut it but in Carl's infinite ability to try anything, he suggested we start cutting it on our own. Sure. Why not?

I bought some clippers (still cheaper than the cost of one haircut) and we gave him a bath and cut away. Turns out, Buster has a lot of hair!

So, on his worst days, especially after spending time with Carl at his land (swimming, rubbing his face in dirt, more swimming...) he looks like this:

After a lovely haircut:

He now looks like this:

Vacation #2

This year I'm scheduled to take more vacation than I've ever taken in a year - almost 4 weeks! We have a flexible vacation policy (note: none) but in general we're expected not to take more than 4 weeks. Granted, I've traveled for work on weekends and worked at night so I'm certain I'm still not taking a full 4 weeks. But it still makes me feel guilty, which is ridiculous.

This vacation was to Puerto Rico. A friend of Carl's from college was getting married there so we decided to make a vacation of it since neither of us had been before. One adorable anecdote is that Carl asked me to go to this wedding after we'd only been dating for 3 weeks. I was, of course, thrilled, but at the time July seemed so far away. Crazy how time flies.....

Suffice it to say that Puerto Rico wasn't really on my short list of places to travel too. I was still excited to go but I didn't have super high expectations that the food, culture or weather would astound me. And while yes, none of those things were super amazing, we had a great time. It was a relaxing trip to say the least and I managed to sleep in until after 10 one morning!

The first day was mostly spent traveling there. It's much further away then you'd think and nothing is easy to get to from Austin. That night we met some of his friends for drinks and dinner and even went dancing. Yes, Carl danced....and seemed to enjoy himself. It was a the first in a series of late nights.

Day 2 was July 4 and the rehearsal dinner. We had breakfast at the hotel, sitting on the beach and then hit the road to check out Old San Juan. We didn't make it far because it was a holiday and many of the roads were closed into town due to parades and fireworks. So we turned around and spent the afternoon at the beach and pool until the rehearsal dinner.

Day 3 was the wedding day but not until 7pm. We hit the road, again, for Old San Juan and had more success this time. We had breakfast, went to the Bacardi Factory, checked out the town, including a fort and cemetery ate more and came back to the hotel. The Bacardi Factory was an interesting experience though. The best part about it was that the tour was free and you got two free drinks as well. The worst is that it took forever and was kind of lame. But I'm glad we did it.

The wedding was that night and a lot of fun. Up until this point, we'd been less than impressed with the food we ate - a lot of meat and cheese and seafood but all overcooked and flavorless. This all changed at the reception. This might have been some of the best food I've ever had at a wedding - lamp chops and prosciutto wrapped sea bass - and a coffee bar and cookies for dessert options. And the reception was a blast - lots of dancing (yes, Carl danced again - in fact all of the men were dancing sans shirts for most of the night because it was so hot).

Day 4 was ultra lazy day. We slept in, ate a late breakfast, took a nap, sat by the pool, rested some more and went out to dinner just the two of us. Up until this point we'd been with friends most of the time. It was nice to go on a date and we had a delicious meal downtown. Easily some of the best food I've ever had. Good to know that Puerto Rico has it in them. It just isn't a guarantee. Despite sleeping in, we were asleep early in order to get up early the next morning.

Day 5 took us to Vieques Island - a small island off the coast of Puerto Rico. After several hours of being delayed due to rain, we took a small (8 passenger) plane to the island. Carl and me along with 5 other couples rented a house there for 2 days. The house was super nice, with lots of amenities and was in walking distance to a market and restaurants. We did rent cars, though, and on the first day we drove to the other side of the island and had lunch at this amazing hotel. This was by far the rainiest day we had but it was nice to sit and watch the storms roll in while we were safely protected in the hotel. The weather cleared up and we went to one of the many small beaches on the island. After refueling on pizza we went on a night time kayaking tour of Mosquito Bay, which is known for the bioluminescent species that live there. We swam in the water for awhile, watching the bioluminescence appear around us, moving with our own body movements. It was one of the coolest things I've ever done and I know my description doesn't give it justice.

The tour itself was interesting. The tour guide was about 18 and the whole experience was pretty hilarious - nothing like if you'd go on a tour in the States. No waivers were signed, we road in the back of pick up trucks, we swam without life vests. Again, nothing that would ever happen in the States but it was fun, made for some good laughs and certainly was pretty laid back.

Our last full day arrives. We all decided to spend the day at the house because it's so amazing. After a big breakfast, we spent all day in the pool - reading, playing dominoes (my latest obsession), eating and drinking (rum and coke of course). We did make it out for dinner and promptly all came back for more pool and dominoes games.

And then it was time to go. Another early start and a long travel day brought us home last night - to a happy dog, tremendous heat, a garden waiting for us and one more day off before going back to work.

I had a great time on another vacation with Carl and loved meeting and spending time with his friends. As always, there were some memorable things from the trip (and PR) that I'd like to share:

1. Puerto Rico appears to be stuck in 1982 - between the rat tail haircuts and clothing they are a bit behind in trends and fashion

2. The weather - well, despite it being only 86 degrees every day it felt hotter than Austin. The humidity was gross and it rained (or looked like it was going to rain) every day. Such is the life on a Caribbean island I suppose

3. Rum, rum, and more rum. Clearly with the Bacardi Factory on the island, they love their rum. But they also love their 'Gasolina' drinks - picture a capri sun container with red bull and other disgusting concoctions

Even though Puerto Rico wasn't my most favorite place to visit (I mean I do live only a few hours from Mexico) I'll miss the vacation life style. But don't worry, in two more months I'll have another one.