So, I’ve alluded to my crazy summer a few times, and I thought it was about time I recapped some of the big events of the past few months! 
Quite possibly the biggest event of the summer, for me at least, was Matt successfully defending his dissertation and becoming Dr. Matt, Ph.D.!!
I don’t know if you can tell in the photo, but the Snapple bottles are arranged to spell out “Ph.D.” This day has been over seven years in the making, and I couldn’t be prouder of my Dr. Matt-tastic. I have never seen anyone work so hard with so few complaints — he’s so unbelievably dedicated to his work, and it is one of his best qualities.
The trip to Hawaii is our big graduation gift to each other, but Matt also got one of the coolest presents ever from his brother:
Yes, that’s right — a Dr. Matt bobblehead!! Oh, and the base plays “Bad Case of Loving You (Doctor, Doctor)” I helped Greg pick out the pictures they used to design the face, but it turned out a million times better than I ever imagined. I mean, check out the resemblance!
In less-exciting Matt news, somebody got contacts!
No, not Barkley I’ve known Matt with glasses for 8 1/2 years, so this is definitely going to take some getting used to. It’s like I’m married to a different guy!
Back to educational milestones for a second, I also had some good news this summer: I finished my certificate program and am now a certified Health Coach! 
I’m not exactly sure what I’ll be doing with this new certification — I’ve thought about doing some web-based coaching, among other things — but I’m really happy that I went through the program.
In loooooooove news, I went to (and sang at!) two weddings this summer: my dad’s and my good friend Theresa’s.
Unfortunately, both couples had rainy wedding days — R & T’s big day was a borderline tsunami! — but thankfully, the rain didn’t spoil the fun.
Okay, funny and embarrassing story time: I’ve known both R and T since freshman year of college, but they didn’t even meet or get together until senior year. Rob and I actually kissed one night VERY early freshman year, well before I knew Matt and before he knew his bride. Flash-forward three years, and T is information-gathering about this cute guy named Rob in one of her business classes. My input? “Well, he’s a pretty good kisser!”
Flash-forward another three years, and R and T are sitting in the church on our wedding day, chatting. Theresa tells him that one of the groomsmen thought she was cute and wanted to ask her out (before he knew she had a serious boyfriend). He deadpanned, “Well, I made out with the bride!” Ahh, the perils of going to a small college…
In not-so-pleasant news, Barkley had a bit of a health scare this summer and strained a ligament in his hind leg. Of course, this happened THE MORNING OF MATT’S DISSERTATION DEFENSE (which was two days after my dad’s wedding, by the way), making for the most stressful 72-ish hours of my life. Thankfully he’s fine and didn’t need surgery, but it felt very touch-and-go for a while. He could hardly stand up for a day or so; it was heartbreaking 
When I was a kid, we had to put our dog Shannon down — also a collie — due to painful arthritis, and that’s what was racing through my mind:
That’s me doing downward-facing dog, with Shannon as my audience. She was the greatest dog, even though little me drove her crazy
To make up for the sad Barkley news, here are some cute recent pictures of his haircut:
Can you believe this puppy is eight YEARS old??
You can actually see the final bit of exciting news from this crazy summer on the front page of the blog: I launched two new sites this week!!
Kara’s Daily Eats will serve as a daily food journal to help me track my weight loss, especially on our upcoming trip. I was going to just chronicle my daily eats on this site, but I didn’t want food pictures to overpower what I consider to be the “meat” of Kara’s Marathon — my long, rambly introspective posts about the mental side of weight loss I’ll still post fun food finds and recipes here, but if you want eats, KDE’s is the place to go!
Kara’s Daily Dollars is also a daily journal, chronicling my spending as we work to get out of debt and save money for some big upcoming milestones, the biggest being buying a house and starting a family. Kids are small, but expensive!
While Matt and I are both getting better at saving for big purchases — Hawaii was paid for in cash, for example — it’s the little everyday expenses (things like buying lunch instead of packing lunch everyday) that really add up and break the budget. I’m going to share my successes, obstacles and any money-saving tips I come across.
Both blogs are still a work in progress, so I’d really love any comments and feedback you are willing to provide!
Did you have a crazy summer too? What were some of the biggest events in your life the past few months?
So, as I’ve mentioned recently, we’re leaving in less than a week for 10 glorious days in Hawaii! When we got married 2 ½ years ago I was working at a job where I only got 10 vacation days a year, and there was barely anything left in my vacation bank after taking a few days off before the wedding for last-minute planning stuff and saving a few days for Christmas. As a result, our honeymoon was four short days in Disney World; we had a wonderful time but it wasn’t the tropical vacation paradise we’d been dreaming of for years. We promised each other that once Matt finished his Ph.D. we’d go on a BIG celebratory “second honeymoon”; thankfully, his graduation coincided with my finding a new, better job with a much more generous vacation time.
Now that our trip is super close, I’m starting all my pre-travel lists in my head, compiling information on restaurants and must-visit sights, and generally planning like a madwoman! One of the first things I checked was baggage fees – we’ve only had carry-ons on our last few flights, so the concept is generally foreign to us – and unfortunately we’ll be stuck paying about $100 total for our trip.
We could probably crunch everything we need in our two large carry-ons, but then we’ll have 10 days of wrinkly clothing, limited outfit options and no room for souvenirs. We’re both trying to keep non-essential spending to a minimum (both in general and on this trip), but Matt’s parents will be watching Barkley the whole time we’re gone, and we pretty much owe them an island!
The second hotel we’re staying at has laundry services, so we could theoretically pack half as much as we need, but are we really going to want to do laundry while we’re on our tropical vacation? This balance between our ideal plans and our actual behaviors is a struggle for me, especially on a trip this huge.
For example, the first hotel we’ll be staying in has a fancy 24-hour fitness center. Ideally, I’ll stop there every morning and get my sweat on…which means packing at least 5 workout outfits on top of my everyday wear. But will really I go to the gym every morning on vacation? And do I need to, on such an activity-heavy trip? We’ll be swimming and hiking and walking and kayaking and snorkeling and playing tennis most days – legit physical activities that are lots of fun. No offense, elliptical machine
Here’s the problem: if I pack 5 workout outfits for our stay at the first hotel and only go to the fitness center twice, I’ll beat myself up for not going the other three days (and for wasting space in my suitcase) and ignore the fact that I actually did a pretty good job. Or if I only pack two workout outfits and actually USE them, I’ll yell at myself for not packing more exercise wear. If I try to compromise and buy a t-shirt and shorts to get in another session at the gym, then I’ve spent money I don’t need to and that starts yet another internal lecture. I just can’t win with myself.
I think my struggle with good intentions and ideal vs. actual behaviors comes from my issues with perfectionism (which I talked about briefly the other day and plan on writing about some more over the next few weeks). The thought process is all the same, whether it applies to exercising on vacation or overly strict diets. Or, I’ll create an arbitrary “I’m not spending ONE PENNY today” rule, find something I really love at a store, and then destroy myself for caving and buying it. I truly mean well when I set expectations or guidelines for my behavior to motivate me, but they backfire when I consider them inflexible and set in stone, especially when the guidelines were unreasonable to start with.
So where do I go from here? For one thing, I’m going to compromise and pack a number of separates that could function at the gym, pool or just wandering around the islands; that way, I don’t have a specific “workout wardrobe” to obsess about. I’m also going to get as much physical activity as I can each day, so even if I don’t hit the gym I’ll feel accomplished and good exhausted at night.
Generally, though, I know I need to work on not being so hard on myself, focusing on the positives in my life and re-framing the negatives. Changing the way you think about yourself is a long, exhausting and painful process, but oh so important for your mental and physical health.
Do you struggle with the battle of good intentions? What do you do when your good intentions backfire?
How do you stay focused on the positive?
Yesterday I ate six of the cookies I made on Saturday. That sucks, I know, but I ate NINE cookies on Sunday (and who knows how much raw cookie dough on Saturday!), so technically I’ve been going in the right direction! I’m calling it a victory, especially considering the fact that a monthly visitor is on her way shortly…;-)
Update: Katherine at Low-Fat Kat just published a great post on combating negativity — check it out! Squashing my buts and onlys.
