Also known as: prioritizing during a very packed month!
My month-view analysis revealed that April includes:
- 12 clinical work days (of which 5 are inpatient/on call including 4 nights)
- 6 creative work days (counting yesterday, which was sort of hybrid vacation / work day)
- 2 normalish weekend days (and Josh will be gone for these so it really isn’t entirely normal)
- 10 DAYS THAT INCLUDE AT LEAST SOME TRAVEL! To be specific: 1 day driving back from Orlando (done), 3 days (Naples), 2 days (Gainesville), 3 days (Williamstown) and 1 day (flying to SF). I absolutely have never come close to this frequency of travel and I anticipate it will be a challenge.
So basically I need to mostly be focused on life maintenance here. There isn’t much room for much else! Here we go . . .
PERSONAL
- Practice self-care while traveling. Meaning: prioritize sleep, eat in a generally intentional manner (continuing to roughly macro track!), continue regular exercise and my daily rituals (reading, journaling, etc) when possible
- Bring 2 dresses to tailor. It’s a one-off errand and I could even do it after work. I can do this!
- Practice a cappella music. Gotta be at least somewhat prepared for the reunion!
WORK
- Get back into a reasonable email rhythm. I was doing so well for a while. Time to get back to ~twice weekly clear-outs.
- Finishing touches on BLPA2.0 so designer can finish with the new workbook!
- Keep a positive attitude on my call week and send a text about some potential future call swaps
HOME/FINANCES
- Complete 2 (already scheduled) Konmari Sessions with organizer. We’ll be tackling paper . . .
- Sign up for one AA business card. I don’t have one yet! But AA/Citi points are my most-coveted and most-used points so I feel like I should.
RELATIONSHIPS
- Work with Josh to plan our anniversary trip (already scheduled in May but we have to do some more detailed planning)
- 2 dates (I’m counting the kids’ school Parent Night Out as one of them even though Josh would probably NOT count this as he doesn’t consider anything social to really be a date!)
- Take A shopping for her bday – only problem is when . . . maybe we’ll aim for this Sunday afternoon which is her actual bday!
METAPLANNING (ie prepping for farther-flung events)
- Work on planning Hawaii!!! I have some great tips. I also don’t want to overplan this trip – I think we’ll do a lot of chill exploring and swimming and hiking etc. But I want to have a couple of fun adventures set (kayaks? guided hike? etc). ** Has anyone done a biking activity in Hawaii that WASN’T down a mountain – ie something good for 8 year olds? ** One of our fave New Hampshire memories was a family bike ride we did in the hills – we’d love to do something equivalent. I did bike down Mount Haleakalā in 2006 but I don’t want to risk injury in the kids.
- Book refundable Costa Rica lodging for next spring break. Not that I plan on cancelling but we don’t know the state gym meet dates yet for 2027 . . . I have some awesome recs for where to stay though and figure I might as well try to book something as long as it’s cancellable if the dates don’t work out.
- (Maybe) buy PHL tix depending on what airfares do.
- Ariana Grande tickets. Maybe. I really want to go. But the price tag is hideous. I might actually just try to snag these last minute if the prices drop . .
Do you have a packed April, May, or spring? I feel like there is so much fun stuff but I’m also bracing for it to feel like a lot (possibly too much). Will keep my own advice in mind . . .
11 Comments
Just sayin’…hideously expensive Ariana Grande tickets are a great way to meet the sign up bonus for the new credit card!!! It’s true that your April is very busy but it looks like a ton of fun.
bahaha way to combine my goals! That IS true! (But I feel like I might try to pull one of those “literally buy it at the start of the concert” coups. Might be worth it in this case!! It’s fairly low stakes and close to my house 🙂 )
You have an intense month ahead of you! That’s kind of how March was for me with 2 work trips + my short getaway to DC with Paul. I felt like I was barely home and struggled to get into any sort of rhythm. That’s sort of been the feeling of 2026 so far w/ my return to travel. I’m looking forward to not traveling in June, though! It’s the light at the end of the tunnel for me.
I hate how expensive concert tickets are. It’s just insane, especially with all the BS fees that ticketmaster tags on.
I was just in Hawaii last week (Kauai) and a family favorite activity was surf lessons. I was drawn to them because they weren’t terribly long (90 min, versus a lot of activities that were in the 3-4 hour range) and they weren’t terrible expensive, so lower stakes overall. I did it with my 12 and 14 year olds and we all had a blast and everyone was successful. There were lots of 8 year old ish kids doing it as well and looking like they were loving it. The place we did it kept the groups small so we had our own instructor (i.e. an unofficial private lesson).
Otherwise, I was glad not to have preplanned too many activities. I kept focusing on the opportunity cost of driving to all of the activities and how long they were. ($450 and 3.5 hrs for the family to do a chocolate farm tour vs spending $100/20 minutes at the chocolate store and getting a mini-lesson from the staff).
Good luck! You’re going to have a great time.
we are def planning that (probably not me but everyone else)!! also going to kauai (maui first then kauai!). if you had a great experience and can share where you did it please let me know!
We used Hawaiian Surfing Adventures out of Hanalei because we were staying in Princeville. There were a lot of 5-star rated places to chose from though so I’m sure you’ll have a great time wherever you go. Have a great trip! Kauai is incredible.
Busy busy month here. We are headed for California on Monday (just me and T, my husband is staying home to do move prep) for Easter break. Back the 18th, an inset day the Monday and then T starts his new school (20 miles away! So it will be a hassle). But the movers come to pack on the 29th and we move on the 30th! Trying to keep my work goals realistic – I’ll be commuting into town with T and working from the local library, and I suspect jet lag will play a role. Plus the big emotions from starting a new school, although he had an afternoon in yesterday and LOVED ur.
Just reminding you how much you loved seeing TS but also the price tag was $$! Go for it for Ariana!!
I need to make fun goals for myself. Most of the things I can think of are things that I have to or should do, but that aren’t especially fun. Ofc if I want to do something fun I will have to plan 100% of it myself, which takes a lot of the joy out of it. And of course my job is sucking me dry again.
ATVing on Kauai was pricey but so so worth it. One of my favorite activities ever. You feel like you’re driving through Jurassic park (minus the Dinos)
ooh thank you!!