Just a little bit of New Year Energy . . .
I needed it, and I feel like I am getting it from July 1. Starting 2 new planners helps — one is just “book 2” of the Hobonichi Cousin Avec which comes in two volumes, but I also jumped into a weekly Erin Condren Life Planner that has been taunting me from my desk since I ordered it in April.
(HOW do I plan to use both, you ask? I am using the daily pages in the Avec for my daily plans, and doing all of my task management/calendaring in the EC. The weekly pages of the Avec I’m just filling in for fun with daily highlights and things, but I am not really using them for ‘planning’ proposes. The dailies take up most of the book though so that’s ok!)
((WHY did I feel the need for this? Straight up planner wanderlust, plus I felt like the 3-box vertical layout of the ECLP is helpful for separating calendar items from tasks from kid activities. I like it so far! Below is an old shot of a sample page I was playing with.))
Anyway! I feel renewed energy with respect to my recent Reddit vow and other things too (strength training, nail care, decluttering, etc). I actually forgot that I quit Reddit on 6/15 – it feels more recent! But I have not touched it since that post despite really REALLY wanting to (esp on my call week). I would love for my lack of Reddit use to be so automatic that by next year I don’t even have to think about screen time. Pipe dream perhaps but . . .might as well aim high! Kae also posted about her big 7/1 goal – check out her post + cheer her on!!!
Days OFF
As I was filling out the calendar section of the ECLP (there’s a great small yearly spread that I love for tracking days off, vacations, etc) I realized that the back half of 2024 looks . . . really fun! I took very little time off over the first 6 months which is good because I needed to rebuild my vacation bank a bit. There was New Year’s Day (1), Recording Retreat w Laura (1), Spring break in Montana (3), Marathon + Memorial Day (2). 7 days total over the first 6 months of 2024, and I accrue ~3x that over the course of a year. Looking back on those 6 months, I think maybe 1-2 more would have been beneficial. However – I’m kind of excited to have a bit more leeway going forward!
I remember feeling like I used TOO many days over winter break last year, so I will try not to make that mistake again (maybe will do 1-2 less, though our nanny takes those weeks off so to some extent it’s a necessity!).
SO IN SUMMARY — I am excited for this back half of the year, and I am going to try to not be quite as stingy with myself with PTO for now. I just blocked a day OFF for A’s rescheduled wisdom teeth surgery. I am taking a day off after Taylor Swift in October (we’re going on a Sunday night!). I have a girls’ weekend (college friends) coming up in September. And, I submitted my 2025 days off with a good amount of buffer — it’s very easy to instantly fill a previously blocked day with patients, but it is HARD to take a day once patients have already been scheduled.
Summer Progress Report
So with all of this calendar chat, I think it’s worth talking about where we are in the summer!
School ended 6/5
School starts 8/12 (we have a sputtering start this year with two different school calendars and G but not C having “new level” orientation day at their school, but A has her first orientation day 8/12)
It is currently 7/2.
So we are not quite at the halfway point, but . . . wow, we are already close!
I have felt less of an abundance of time compared to what I was hoping for (shocker).
HOWEVER, I have felt that life has generally been more peaceful and just a bit easier, with later camp (vs school) start times, no homework, and way fewer activities. It has been so nice and I’ve appreciated the slower evenings a lot! Last night we all had dinner at 7ish and then watched You’re So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah (a bit TOOOO much cringe comedy for me, but also cute. ALSO made me super relieved that we are not doing bat/bar mitzvahs, we just don’t practice religion in that way and so this choice feels right for us. I never had one either, though Josh did).
It’s been nice to settle into calmer rhythms, and we have 2 trips coming up that should be a lot of fun. The big kids will head to their Monday-Friday camp mid-July and G will enjoy the extra attention I am sure. I can tell it’s going to go sooooo so fast (I mean, it wasn’t even very long!). All that said, I would rate this summer so far pretty highly (would have been higher without A’s pneumonia, but she’s doing great now so it all worked out).
19 Comments
I’m so glad to hear A is better and that you’re feeling some new year energy. I don’t envy your school year evening schedule. We had friends round one Sunday and slightly awkwardly kicked them out at 7, saying “bedtime!” and they were surprised, until they did the math and realised that T is getting to school for breakfast club before their daughter even wakes up. I don’t think we could manage more than reading and dinners in the evening.
It feels funny that you are halfway through summer, when we’re on day 2. I think Elisabeth is the same. But our summers are much shorter, T goes back mid August, so I know it’ll go quickly. We’re off to my parents on Thursday for some much needed rest.
The nudge to look at annual leave and rest of the year plans is really helpful, thanks for that. The rest of summer seems fine, and autumn seems nice. I’m not teaching so hoping to make the most of it from a writing perspective.
My AL randomly resets 30th of July and I was really stingy throughout the year so ended up taking an extra week off in July. But I made a plan for most of 24/25, and can submit the request on 1 August. My husband’s resets in September, but he’s off to see his dad in Canada so will need to be a bit stingier throughout the year.
Our big anniversary year coincides with my big birthday year – got married a few months before I turned 30 – so we’ve booked a few nights in Lisbon for my birthday, and my dad has offered to come hang out with T so we can go for our anniversary in October. Wish they were spaced out a bit but it will be nice.
We’ve booked our winter break flights already and decided to stay at my parents’ for an extra week, as we always find that last week boring. We can work for a few days to save a bit of PTO but it’s much nicer to work from the porch in Portugal than from home, with a kid, in a dreary Scottish winter. And we’ve invited my in-laws up for an early Christmas celebration.
So lots to do, but also lots to look forward to.
That sounds lovely – even the working from the porch in Portugal part. I actually feel like our summer seems short! I feel like it was close to 3 months when I was growing up, and now it’s more like 2-and-change. NOT complaining about that, though!! I dont’ really need my kids to be out of school for much longer, from a practical standpoint!
I was just texting Kae about how I am leaning towards not getting a W222 for 2025… I find that I only use the notes pages in the back for notes/to do lists for work. I never reference the actual calendar pages and have fallen off the wagon of listing out highs/lows/accomplishments each month like I had tried to do previously… I want to be a paper planner person but I kind of live and die by my outlook calendar and my non-work commitments are pretty sparse overall since our kids aren’t in activity-heavy stages of life. I’m kind of sad because I do love my W222 but I think I should just get their notebooks instead of a full-fledged planner.
I was taking about a shouldless day/quarter but we are not using a lot of PTO as a family these days given our kids’ ages so I have shifted to taking a shouldless day every other month. Work is so busy and it is very hard to take a day off unless I plan it in advance so I have scheduled my July and Sept shouldless days. I have unlimited PTO but I try to take as much as I would if I had a set # of days. I would like to plan a fall trip to visit my sister in the DC area with my older son, maybe during his fall break. My husband and I have such different planning styles… but if I don’t book the trip pretty far in advance, I’ll have work travel scheduled so I would like to get something blocked on my calendar soon.
YAY for shouldless every other month! I totally see how an electronic calendar plus just a plain notebook can be the best solution for many. As long as you have some sort of electronic task management integrated into your calendar, or as a separate app (trello todoist etc).
I’m similar. I keep trying to use a planner but I use outlook and Notion for my weekly to do list, forward planning etc. I often print off the relevant list though. I am also always on my bike/public transport so reducing the weight of my backpack is important. I wonder about a disc bound for me.
Hi,
Based on your recommendations I bought planers like Aura estelle and hobonichi.
I recently found these erasable colors pens that had reignited my passion for using planners, if you have not used them yet, you might want to check them out.
https://a.co/d/0hlGutns
Do whatever feels right for your family religiously 🙂 However, for other readers, I’ll just point out that Bar/Bat Mitzvah parties do not need to be elaborate, and it’s not the norm in my community to do so. For my son’s, we paid the kiddish committee extra to make a nicer kiddish in shul, and then rented a few lanes at Top Golf for the party. We kept it to a few friends and immediate family. Other families have rented out bowling lanes/party room. At the end of the day, it’s still a kids 13th birthday party, even if it a life event in the jewish faith 🙂
yes that’s so true – my most religious friends have the least elaborate bar/bat mitzvahs!!!
I hope this isn’t a silly question. I’m from a Christian tradition so I don’t know what all a bat/bar mitzvah involves. I’m sure it’s much more than a party. Is there a lot of religious instruction that happens prior? Also, do/will your kids feel left out if a lot of their friends and family have one but they don’t?
Thanks for educating me.
Totally not silly!! Yes there are a lot of classes you do to prepare. Generally that includes learning or memorizing certain passages in Hebrew. Our neighbor goes 1-2 times weekly I think. I actually don’t know the specifics as I did not do it! As far as being left out I suspect they will get to go to plenty as guests. I think they will feel okay about it!
I’ve been following you since med school (and I did an MSTP, so it’s been a long long time), and would LOVE a post from you (if it’s not already up, apologies, still comatose from a June 30 call), about how you adjusted your planning structure as a fellow/attending, and how you approached planning weekends/evenings OFF.
I’m guaranteed every other weekend off, and I’m told we generally are DONE between 5-6, and I’m starting to panic about not planning for this free time while also not wanting to pressure myself. Ironic that having less time obligations make me more anxious…
Such a great question!!! Will be fun to post about this and others maybe be able to weigh in as well. I am so so excited for you, truly!
Yes, I listened to your podcast about the mysterious “friend” who was trying to give up soda- then read Kae’s post the next day. i am totally cheering her on- I’ve had to go through something similar, and it’s hard. But she can do it.
I’m also totally enjoying a more relaxed vibe this summer. The heat isn’t even bothering me that much! I know it will when it gets to be September and October, and it’s still hot.
It bothered me today, ha! But yes I’ve been learning to just … live with it. Bc it’s not going anywhere!!!
I’m so amused that you’re happy about the later camp start time this summer, because I’m in the opposite boat – camp starts earlier than school – but am equally thrilled! We didn’t get into before/after care last year, and our elementary school bus picked up at 9:05 and dropped off at 4:05. Basically I couldn’t get to the office before 10am (and then occasionally had to leave at 3 to meet the 4:05pm bus, but we did have some afterschool help some days I was onsite). Now, the camp bus picks up at 8:15 and drops off at 5pm (so, akin to having before- and aftercare…) and I feel like I have more time to actually work!!! It’s amazing what that extra 1-1.5 hours will do.
Of course, we didn’t get into before- and aftercare AGAIN for this upcoming school year (childcare crisis, much?) so we will be again cobbling things together in the fall…but I’m enjoying this more regular schedule for the summer!
Glad A is feeling better. I’m in the mid-Atlantic and a friend has a kiddo on day 6 of fever, pneumonia, now on second antibiotic…so it’s hitting here too.
oh wowwww if it were that late, I’d be feeling the same way!!! I am mad you didn’t get the early/after care again! What do they want working parents to do!?
Today I left at 8 with just G. What a luxury (the other two stayed home and our nanny came shortly after I left). During the scohol year it’s like a full out RACE and a lot of ummmm micromanagement is required. Next year we will have to leave at 7:25 and I am already dreading dragging the kids out of bed (not to mention moving my workouts earlier!)
I think next year I may have to really play with some routines (even my beloved morning runs) because it’s just going to be a lot!
Just wanted to say that having those 2 hours to myself because the kids are in after care has been wonderful for my mental health. At first I felt guilty because “I should pick them up as soon as I get off work!” Then, no. What I need to do is get off work, go home, take those two hours to myself, heck, pick up the house even, then I can go get them. Still struggling with it but signing them up for aftercare this September as well.
Daria I think that is awesome!! And people need to share stories like this more.
You’re doing so well with your Reddit restriction. I love how you love two different planners, I can see how it is useful in the way you plan your weekly and daily activities. I am currently only using a “Fringe Planner”, which has a monthly and weekly layout and it seems to work well for me. I’d like to start a separate workout log/calendar, but haven’t picked one yet. Any recs?