Howdy y'all!

 Greetings from Austin :D

photo cred: Angela Doran Photography

If you're reading this blog, chances are rather high that you fall into one of the following categories (or a few) family, friend, or follow me on some social media platform, so I'm going to just go ahead and assume that you know that I've moved from NYC to Austin, Texas!

If you didn't know, surpriseee!

A lot of people's first question as to why I moved to Austin is "why?" Well really, why not?! I never had it set in my mind that NYC was where I would stay for the rest of my life. I'd always told myself that if that's the way it ended up, that it would be great, but never an expectation. Over time, it became very apparent to me that NYC was not where I was meant to live the rest of my life, so at that point, it was only a matter of when and where would be next.

I've had thoughts of living in Southern California on my mind for many many years, so it was something I seriously considered, and even went out for a visit in February. But nothing was really calling or pulling me there. I felt really indifferent about the idea of moving to California and I figured, one should probably feel pretty strongly about making such a huge move. So I stayed in NYC.

After I'd dismissed the idea of living in Cali, my mind still wasn't fully settled at the idea of living in NYC any longer. Life wasn't really moving anywhere for me, and I felt like the longer I stayed there, the more time I was wasting. I'd been looking for work since January when I was laid off, without any luck. I sent out countless resumes and went on many interviews and never heard back from any of them. If you've never been unemployed before, let me just tell you, this does not do good things for ones self esteem. I've never in my life struggled to find work the way I did these past few months.

It was around April when life had gotten a little rocky, as it does from time to time, that I decided I'd had enough of the bull shit NYC throws at its residents. I had very briefly looked at jobs in Austin and applied for maybe one before I decided to actually reach out to my Austin peeps and find out if moving there with their support would even be a reality. I have one cousin in Austin who outside of Facebook, I hardly knew. I decided to take a leap and reach out to her to ask if I could stay with her while I get adjusted, acclimated, and found a job and a place to live. Because my family is AWESOME, she quickly got back to me with a "yes!" It was only a couple of days later, that I heard back from one of the resumes I'd submitted to a job in Austin and was immediately offered the job over the phone and was asked "how soon can you be here?"
In retrospect, I probably could have been here in a week (thank you unemployment) but I told her I'd need about three weeks to wrap up my life in NYC.

One of my favorite spots to catch the sun setting over NYC

Before I knew it, my life was packed into 3 suitcases, and 20 boxes. What wasn't packed was sold or left on the curb. I had the chance to say my goodbyes to some of my favorite NYC people as well as pack in all the good food I could. After an extremely emotional goodbye to all the ones I loved in NYC, I landed in Austin without any issues.

Some of the greatest people NYC has to offer!

I hit the ground running... I started working for Vega only a few days after landing, I got a car within the first week, I found my apartment in the first 4 days (though I didn't get to move in until mid-June), and I got a full time job at a chiropractors office within two weeks. It was amazing for me to see how quickly everything was falling into place for me in Austin vs. how hard I had to work for everything in NYC.

We work really hard at Vega!

I've got some pretty good helpers at the chiro's office!

I ended up getting a lemon of a car and have since had to buy a new one, but this time, I think I got a great one! Isn't she pretty!?

Now, unfortunately, this means car payments. So my hopes of cutting my 7-day work weeks back is probably far off from ever happening. That being said, I am hoping to grow both my health coaching and my photography business here in Austin. So whether you know me personally and happen to know someone in Austin who could benefit from my services, or you have randomly stumbled upon me and are looking for some senior portraits, maternity photography or need a health coach - please get in touch with me soon!

I'm taking a brief break detox from Facebook at the moment, so I'm kind of hoping I won't be neglecting this blog as much as I have been. I know blogs are a fading art, but I love reading about other people's life happenings and I hope you enjoy reading about mine. I feel writers block often when I sit down to talk about what's happening because I feel like surely, I'm boring you all. So please! If there's anything specific you want to know about me or my life in Austin, please leave me a comment and I'll try to write about it! 

I hope you are having a fabulous summer!

February in review

February 2013: Results

• Run at least 75 miles This did not work out as planned, but only because I got bronchitis the last week of Feb :( I ended up completing 67.42 miles. Had I completed all of the runs I had mapped out for myself, I would have ended up over my goal. This really bummed me out, but I guess it's better that I get sick now, than the week before the race!

• Go to yoga at least twice Nope! Didn't even go once :(
• Take my scheduled cross training days seriously: actually do a full set of weights Frankly, I do not do well with creating my own workouts. I love working out, but I love it more when someone else is telling me what to do. I still did cross training about 2 days/week, I just know I didn't workout to my full abilities, for a number of different excuses: my gym is always packed and mostly full of men who stare at me (I'm also usually the only white/blond woman/person in my gym); I love cardio and have a hard time jumping off the machines to move on to the weights; etc. etc. etc....
• Eat sweet & sour candy peaches from work no more than twice/week I did alright with this, except for the week of Valentine’s Day… there was ridiculous amount of treats in the office and once I start, I can’t stop!

• Bring (healthy) lunch to work at least 4 times/week This is something I was already doing, but I wanted to make sure I stuck with it, and I did!! There were a couple of days that I just stuffed my face with unhealthy snacks from our kitchen, but I would say for the most part, I did well with this and will continue to do so :)

• Get checked for skin cancer This is something I’ve had on my mental to-do list for a very long time. I love the sun, and I love going tanning. Yes, I am aware of how bad this is for me. No, I do not plan to change my tanning ways anytime soon. (sorry I'm not sorry) Thankfully, my skin checked out good! I do plan to continue going back once a year to get checked.

• Hold at least a 1 minute plank no less than twice/week I actually did better with this than I anticipated! If I'm being honest, I probably only averaged once/week; but I did notice them getting slightly easier by the end of the month. But I put a huge emphasis on "slightly"...
• Go to at least 1 spin class CHECK!!! Not only that, but it was theeeeeee best spin class I have EVER taken! Come back in a few days to read my review of this amazing class!
• Find someone to run at least 1/2 of my long runs with me I didn't even bother asking anyone (other than my friend Rachael, who is running the half marathon with me). Last year, I needed the help towards the end of my training. This year? Not so much! I'm trying my hardest, to run in new areas of the city that I've never been to before, which is really keeping me entertained throughout my runs :)
• Do at least 1 thing I could only do in NYC CHECK!! I went to the Museum of the City of New York! It wasn’t the best museum I’ve ever been to. I also didn’t realize that there was a 3rd floor and ended up having to rush through it because I had somewhere to be. I think I’ll go back sometime, to see if the exhibits change, and to look longer on the 3rd floor.

I really enjoyed doing this for myself and would like to continue to keep posting my goals for each month. I mean, who says that goals should only be something we have January 1st?! That being said, check back March 1st, for a new list of goals I've set for myself.

*** Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone that has taken the time to read this blog lately. It's definitely keeping me inspired to write and post more often! ***

 

Goals (continued)

As promised, here is a list of the goals I have set for myself for the next month. I will do an update after the month is over to let you know how I did (and to keep myself accountable)!

February 2013

• Run at least 75 miles
• Go to yoga at least twice
• Take my scheduled cross training days seriously: actually do a full set of weights
• Eat sweet & sour candy peaches from work no more than twice/week
• Bring (healthy) lunch to work at least 4 times/week
• Get checked for skin cancer
• Hold at least a 1 minute plank no less than twice/week
• Go to at least 1 spin class
• Find someone to run at least 1/2 of my long runs with me
• Do at least 1 thing I could only do in NYC

So there you have it folks! Some of these things have already been mapped out for me to do for a while now, or I've already been doing them, I just want to make sure that I keep up with them. I'm a very competitive person, and hold myself at a higher standard than probably anyone else does- so I'm really hoping that by having this in writing, and ONLINE, I'll actually stick to it!