Allie Meets Life: What brings me here....

So, as I mentioned briefly in my previous post, I am currently typing this from Houston, Tx. Here's what you need to know:

I work for Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes. If you have never heard of us (which is probable!), you should check out our website here. We have learning centers all over the United States, one in London and one in Sydney. Every summer we open up summer centers in various locations. I was asked to go to our Houston location and so here I am!

Besides the obvious downsides of being away from home (not your bed, no hot boyfriend, no kitties to jump in your lap), there have been some that were unexpected. The biggest struggle I have had so far is finding a balance between work life and "real" life. Because I am here by myself (did I mention that I share an apartment with my co-worker? Luckily, that is working out well) without my friends and family, I don't do a whole lot after work. Now don't get me wrong, I am quite the homebody in my "real" life too...but without people to talk to or my normal routine, work stays on my mind A LOT.

This is partly because we are insanely busy and I already feel stressed to the max ( I have had work-related dreams for the past two nights in a row) and partly because I don't have other things to occupy my time and mind.

One thing I have done to help with this is put in place an exercise routine that I try to stick to every day. I have found that it clears my brain out and puts me in a little better mood. I started out working out at 5am every day so that I could chill after work. That has slipped quite a bit now that I am exhausted all the time but hey, I'm still getting it done even if it is at 5 PM. I have an awesome plan that I am currently following ( Thanks to my AWESOME cousin Shandi!). More specifics about it later but basically, I lift weights 3 days a week, do straight cardio two days a week and take the weekends off for recovery.

Last night I got to meet my aunt, uncle and cousin out for an evening at the Aquarium in downtown Houston. It was a nice reminder that hey, it's a great idea to get out of the apartment every once and awhile!

My cousin made friends with a tiger...