Back in the Groove

After a very disappointing second week of 2010, I am doing a relatively good job with the third [insert self-pat on the back here]. I am proud to say that my plans for organizing my life are going quite well. In working in new little habits here and there, I am seeing great strides towards success. While it is understood that the weekend will always need to be reserved for bigger projects, I have found that putting in an extra half hour per weekday makes for a much more leisurely weekend. Slowly but surely, I am seeing myself stick to little routines. Baby steps.

In other news, I am the Toastmaster this week. For those not in the know, there is an organization called Toastmasters International. This is a club that anyone can join to hone or develop their public speaking and mingling skills. My employer decided that we should have our own Toastmasters chapter; due to our location on E 9th Street, we are the Rock and Roll Toastmasters. The overall goal for the members is confidence. To be honest, it is quite daunting and intimidating at first - everyone has to do a short, impromptu speech every week, and everyone must organize large speeches to give to the group through the year. The other catch is the "Ah" Meter. A bell is rung each time someone uses a filler word to hopefully achieve a Pavlov effect to eliminate the filler noises. The Toastmaster has to choose the theme of the meeting and basically oversee it, transitioning from segment to segment. There are also other roles throughout the meeting. I was assigned Toastmaster this week, and it's a bit scary. I might run away screaming, except for the fact that I am already seeing improvement in my own personal and professional presentation. I think that the theme of the week will be Conspiracy Theories; that should be fun.

The portion of the New Years resolution dealing with the nightly sustenance at Chez Spence is also going quite well this week. The meals are planned and shopped for; they are diverse and healthy. For this week's cuisine, I turned to my February issue of Real Simple magazine. The recipes this month are awesome. I have made three so far, and plan on making three more through the rest of the week. Last night's Balsamic Glazed Lamb Meatloaf was fine restaurant worthy, and the slow cooked Sweet and Spicy Pork from Sunday received rave reviews. Both were - real simple. If I plan and shop for the week, I have no problem cooking when I get home from work, and to be honest, I enjoy cooking when I get home from work. The minute I have to think about what's for dinner upon my arrival home, we end up at a restaurant. My goal is to keep these instances few, far, and in between.

My Recipe Manager software is a boon for my goal. It houses my recipes and makes my shopping lists for me by store section. I load the shopping list on my I Pod. I can also plan out the meals on the software's calendar for the week. I do not load every recipe that I own on this software; I primarily use it for my regular use recipes, and also my magazine recipes. It does require a little bit of a time investment for loading, categorizing, etc., but the results are so worth it. I am trying to use time on the weekends to go through my magazines and get as many recipes loaded as possible.

And now for the disappointing report on my exercise for the week. If I lie, I only set myself back, so here goes total honesty: It's not going so well so far. Pilates has become a staple, but I have not put in the Spin Class like I promised myself, and I haven't been getting in my other time in either. Hopefully I will have a better report next week. This is one area that I really need to work on the Work/Life balance.

And now, I don my insurance agent hat and work to make it a great day for myself, my clients, and for those around me. Whatever hat you put on today, I hope you strive to have the same effect on the world around you. Cheers!