Today was the first day back to work. It was, predictably, a bit of a bummer. I don’t have any right to complain because we had TWO WHOLE WEEKS of wonderful nothingness. But still. Returning to work is always a little sad.

On the other hand, I was super excited to see the kiddos. They seemed thrilled to be back inside the school, beaming at each other and all their teachers. Bopping around as though they’d never been there before and had never heard of rules. But mostly in a cute way.

My read, write, run goals have been going fairly well? I’m still going strong on this plant-based diet (but I’m not loving it). Everything takes a while to prep or make, and nothing tastes amazing. It’s all just…fine. Whatever. It’s the end of day 4 though, so only 3 more days. (I’m only committing to 7, not 10, because the book says 7, and I’m a book person.) (So there.) I’m also super grateful to all of the pals who have sent me encouraging messages about my progress. It’s a decent diet, honestly. And I’ll definitely be incorporating some meatless dinners into regular dinner rotation. But I also really miss having eggs for breakfast. And also some cheese in the afternoon. And also olive oil. God I miss olive oil.

I ran on Saturday with Hannah before heading on a reading adventure in Naples. We got some great wine at Inspire Moore Winery, and then posted up with our books and some fantastic cocktails at the new(ish) place, Hollerhorn Distilling. I cannot recommend Hollerhorn enough. It was beautiful, the drinks were fabulous, and Hannah can attest to the deliciousness of the poutine. (I didn’t eat any, because cheese isn’t plant based and uuuugghhhhh.)

Today was the first day back to school. I packed my lunch and laid out my clothes the night before. I went to yoga right after school (with best pal and best husband, too!). I came home and made a healthy (meh) dinner of whole wheat pasta, Brussels sprouts and spinach, and then I took a bath (with an incredible bath bomb made by one of my very favorite people, check out her stuff here) and read more of Beartown, which I am seriously loving, and now I’m (un)ironically watching the premiere of The Bachelor (BECAUSE I’M A GROWN UP AND I CAN AND GUILTY PLEASURES ARE ALLOWED).

So. I’m doing the damn thing. I’m reading, I’m writing (DUH, because you just read this thing that I wrote–or no on is reading it, but oh well, it’s still a fact that I put words on a screen that isn’t Facebook or Instagram), and I’m running or yoga-ing or gymnastics-ing. Guilty pleasures of The Bachelor and wine aside, I’m doing okay so far.

Cheers to y’all. I hope your new years are off to a good start, too!

You guys. After surviving the 24 stomach bug (which realistically wasn’t the worst thing, because it was legit only 24 hours and also, #firstworldproblems) I felt like a normal person today and did normal Rachel things.

AND AND AND! My #24in48 gear came and life is fantastic.

I got up and showered (which I hadn’t done in way too long–did I mention the stomach bug?) and got my ass in gear and went first to Amity Coffee
with Hannah and my book and a croissant and (duh) coffee.

Followed immediately by grown-up gymnastics with our favorite Miss Molly, and my headstands are looking closer to straight up headstands. I still can’t do a backbend (it’s real scary, y’all), but headstands and cartwheels and tumbles are my jam. I’m only so-so at all of those things, but I’m a billion percent better than I was 8 months ago.

And then I spent a lot of time at 3 different grocery stores gathering the components for my plant based challenge that is supposed to start on Monday. My goal is to start tomorrow and keep with it for at least 7 days. The FLX Wienery has dumpling night next Saturday and I am not about to miss that. But. Two hundred bucks and a meal plan for 10 days is officially in place. I’ll be real honest with y’all–I don’t intend to quit coffee or alcohol–I’m pretty sure I can argue that they’re both plant based–but I’ll do my best to abide by this diet otherwise.

And then! (After unloading a billion things.) We grabbed a beer a Keg and Barrel (our new favorite watering hole), where I was accidentally twinning with my pal. We followed it up by coming in dead last at trivia (who cares?) and then SO much karaoke at The Mustang Pub .

So grateful today for my pals, for my husband, and my MIL. Also proud that I’m sitting on the couch while my husband snores and I’m struggling to hit the correct keys to type what I want. But you know what? Now I read today, I wrote today, and I ran (a little, but mostly did gymnastics) today, and I’m feeling just a (lot a) bit proud.