summertime madness

August is officially here. Normally, I'm sweating a lot, heaped up on the floor of my barely air-conditioned duplex, but in July, I moved to Boise, Idaho, where the humidity is low, though the grass isn't nearly so green. It's been a crazy summer, concluding the craziness of the last few months, which included so many changes that my head is spinning a little. First, I got a job. Then I wrote a dissertation. Then I defended said dissertation, thus earning myself the title "Dr." and the letters "Ph.D." after my name.

All of these changes and more will be detailed more on a new blog I'm intending to start that will be associated with my professional work. But since this was a blog I began to talk about my food, my running, and my random reading, I'm returning to discussing just that. In other words, this will be my personal blog dedicated not to the esoteric or arcane bits of my scholarship, but more to the general day-to-day runnings of my life.

Right now, a major concern has been with all of the changes and celebrations and transitions, I've fallen out of my eating and running routine. Namely, I've put on about 20 lbs since the start of the year, and that bugs me a lot, partially because my pants are no longer fitting, and most of my work clothes will be too small in three weeks when school starts.

To rectify this situation, I've decided to refocus on my exercise and eating and discuss it here, along with some of the fun things I've discovered about my new home. I've found like a zillion yoga studios (with lots of "new customer" specials!), so I'm going to go through them until I find one I like best (for the best price). Additionally, I intend to return to my barre3 practice, a practice that kept me pretty sane and fit through the last few years of graduate school.

Finally, running! I've found a fantastic running group in Boise, and I have run with them a few times. I hope to continue running with them (as well as running on my own) and training for a few races in the meantime. Changes are tough, but this current transition has been delightful so far, and I really want to work to get back into my formerly healthy habits that don't involve drinking my way through June (I blame that for about 10 lbs) and eating really tasty, healthy foods.