The 40 week project

And no, I'm not pregnant. ;-) I'm embarking on a 40 week project that I'm very, very excited about. My goal in 40 weeks is to quit my job, take the summer off, and then think about next steps. I do not want to go back to a full on, demanding career, but I will likely explore consulting or something part time starting next fall.

This is a huge, huge step for me & I'm very excited, nervous, etc. There will be a lot of work & planning that will need to go into getting our family financially ready for this life change, & I'll be blogging about my progress to stay the course & stay on track.

I've been in a burn out mode for quite some time, and next summer will mark my 19th year working full time in a very demanding industry. I'd like to make it to 20 (because round numbers are fun ;)), but I'm way past the point of being able to commit to another year.

As I look at our lives & my energy level when I come home from work every day, it's clear that our lives are out of whack with our stated priorities. And, I'm just ready to make a change and spend more time with my family. It's crazy, right? Most people take time off when their kids are infants (I didn't - I went back to work when Sam was 16 weeks old, and N was 12 weeks old), but I've never felt more like now is the right time for me to spend with them. They notice my absences more, they pick up on my stress level when I come home, and they need me. They need an attentive & available parent who is not overwhelmed every night, traveling, and getting on calls in the evenings several times a week. It's just not working for us.

So, what's next?!! Well, I'm going to break the 40 weeks into phases, of course. First up is to build a rough draft of a financial plan & figure out exactly what it would take to get us there. The 40 weeks is roughly tied to when the boys get out of school, as well as a stock vest that I'd like to earn at work.

I'm really nervous about this, so please share any advice, input, etc!

It's been a long week

Ahhh, yes. A very, very long week. Our nanny is not working out & I have to urgently stop using her & find someone else. I worked from home today, but next week is going to be super dicey & the boys have no school on Friday. Plus, I leave for London in 10 days. So, yeah. The trauma of finding a new nanny. Don't want to get into the specifics here, but it was critical that we stop using her right away. :-(

M has been out of town for 10 days, but is back tomorrow. I will be so grateful to have him back. We haven't even been able to chat at all other than a very brief 5 minute call. You forget how much you enjoy having someone in your life until they are gone! That's a good thing that after 10 years, I still miss him when he's away. :-)

And, work. Lots and lots and lots of work on a huge project, squeezed in between everything else in my  life.

But, being stressed about everything never helped anyone, so hear are five good things about the week:

1. I handed off my enormous project. Last night, at 10 pm!!
2. My youngest son got selected to take part in a competitive goalie program, which he's thrilled about.
3. Both boys love reading & have really started to read advanced books for their ages. I'm a total bookworm, so this makes me very happy.
4. We went 10 days without any grocery shopping! 
5. I ordered pizza for dinner & I'm having a glass of wine, ready for the weekend.

On to the weekend! We have two soccer games tomorrow, then a trip to the airport, plus Costco. Oh boy, Costco. ;-) Two more soccer games on Sunday, plus an interview with a new nanny. Cross your fingers!

A few of my favorite things

I love hearing from others on what their favorite things are, so here are a few of mine. Some of these are frugal, and some aren't. There are no affiliate links, nor have I been paid to recommend any products. These are just some things I enjoy! :-)

1. Zella workout pants. I got my at Nordstrom during the half yearly sale. Currently priced at $26.40. If you wear workout pants a lot, these are, by far, the highest quality ones I've ever found. I've purchased cheaper ones, and they fall apart after repeated washes. I love these for running, yoga, & generally running around. (I do try to keep the yoga pants wearing to fitness related activities. ;-)) Another big advantage of these pants? They hold in your jiggly parts. Or, rather, my jiggly parts at least.
2. Brooks Ghost running shoes. I had a long love affair with Asics Gel Kayanos, until both of my recent pairs developed a large hole in the back (inside lining) & gave me severe blisters on my long workouts. No good. I found the Brooks shoes on sale at Nordstrom. Nordstrom isn't where most people would probably look to find running shoes, but they will accept returns if the shoes don't work out, and I love their policies generally. I got mine on sale for around $80 a few weeks back. Still extremely expensive, but worth it if you run regularly.
3. A mini thermos for packing lunches. Not the exact one we have (I got ours at Target on clearance. It's a Teenage Mutant Ninja turtle variety, which the boys aren't huge fans of, but . . .clearance. ;-)) This is a lifesaver in our house when one of the boys (usually N) wants leftovers rather than a sandwich.
4. This sunblock for your face. My lupus medicine makes me even more susceptible to the sun, plus we live in California, & I'm outdoor a lot. This sunblock doesn't leave a thick white residue, blends in well, & doesn't make me break out.
5. The library! We love, love, love the library & check out 20+ items a month as a family. I'm a pretty fast & voracious reader, as are the boys. We also check out movies sometimes as well. Our library is in walking/biking distance, so we can usually get in a quick workout & free entertainment. Win/win!

What about you? What are a few of your favorite things? 

What did we spend this week? (9/1-9/7/15)

I'm trying to get back into a better routine on our tracking. It helps me stay a bit more in check. ;-) Here's what we spend over the past week:

9/1 

• $100, cash for my sister's birthday. We normally don't exchange gifts, but someone smashed in all of the windows on her car while we were out our relay last weekend, & she had to cancel a planned birthday trip to afford the replacement cost. Just wanted to help her out a little.
• $2.74 - postage to mail my sister her card, a project N made for her and returning a shirt that accidentally came home with me last weekend

9/2 

• $32 - fingerprinting for the boys school. I have to get fingerprinted to be able to volunteer
• $20 - lunch money for N
• $303.20 - four tickets to Portland for Christmas. The flights were really inexpensive, and I used a credit in my Alaska Air account to offset the rest of the cost
• $18.91 - replaced a soccer ball. At a game last weekend, S kicked a friend's ball & it went over a fence & down into a ravine. The game finished after dark & we couldn't find it & the field was 30 miles from our house. 
• $13.99 - a new fitted sheet for N's bed. His Ikea sheet is off of his bed every morning when he wakes up, as the elastic is wrecked.
• $2747.87 - final payment for our Hawaii hotel for our anniversary in October

9/3 

• -$115.38 - reimbursement from my dependent care account. Still getting reimbursed for summer camp, as I didn't have enough money in my FSA account in June. 

9/4 

• $360 - payment for the nanny for one week

9/5 

• $63 - water payment
• $183.50 - three months of N's after school art class
• $30 - cash for N, as he went to a water park with a friend. I sent money to cover food, etc.

9/6 

• $60 - bought two, one-hour massage credits at work. I'll add a tip when the time gets closer
• $500 - donation to the boys school
• -$87.50 - returned a pair of shoes. Ordered two sizes online & returned the ones that didn't fit.
• $33.97 - two bras at Target
• $30.32 - two birthday gifts for parties the boys are going to

9/7 

• $250 - bike tour in Hawaii
• $14.95 - urbansitter. Forgot to cancel, & forgot that I had an account while I was looking for a nanny. Canceled this morning, but they won't reimburse me. #stupidtax

We didn't even buy groceries this week, and our spending was insanely high. Total spend = $4561.57, with the majority being planned travel & then a donation. Super eye opening for me to track. I need to start doing this consistently. 

Travel/trips = 72% of the spend for the week. ;-) 

What about you? Do you track your weekly spending? Does it help you stay on track?

September goals

I'm always late to the goal setting party. Sometimes it's tempting to give up if you are starting late, but I find that when I set goals (even later in the month), it still usually motivates me to work harder.

So, let's do it, September!!!


Fitness:

1. Complete 1000 minutes of cardio
2. Complete 10 strength workouts
3. Complete 4 stretching workouts
4. Lose 3 pound

Finances:

1. Stick to our budget
2. Finish our 2016 budget planning
3. Determine what to do with stock vest money

Planning:

1. Book all activities for Hawaii
2. Continue thinking of mid/long term plans for Seattle house & our location
3. Build several options for me to consider taking time off/going part time
4. Work on 2016 family calendar & vacations

Work/Life/Balance:

1. Take a work life balance class (funded through my employer
2. Continue to accept no more than one late night's worth of meetings/week
3. Shorten all planned work travel
4. Find creative options to have my more senior staff cover additional travel
5. Eat lunch away from my desk 3x/week or more
6. Book my workouts on my calendar, & *stick with them*!!

Fun:

1. Get together for a minimum of one social event with a friend
2. Sign up to volunteer at the boys school.

That's it for me! How about you? What are you hoping to accomplish in September?

August Goals - How Did I Do?

I had such lofty goals for August! So, how did I do?

Goals for August:

1. Complete 1000 minutes of cardio, 15 strength workouts, & 5 stretching workouts. I have my relay coming up, & just joined a running club, so this should be doable. - Okay, so I achieved the cardio, with 1,020 minutes, helped greatly by my relay last weekend. I did 7 strength workouts, and 1 lonely stretching. So, I'll give myself partial credit. 
2. Commit to my running club. I've never run in a group before, & I'm a little nervous/anxious that I might embarrass myself. - Major fail. Work is just not allowing for this right now. (I know, I know.) I truly am trying to get things together at work, and have made some progress, but it's review time & planning for Q4, which is our biggest season. Honestly, I also didn't enjoy running at lunch time in the 90 degree weather. Would prefer early mornings or evenings. 
3. Complete my relay, have fun, & relax & enjoy the experience more this year, rather than stressing about the details. - Yes! Had a great time, didn't sweat the small stuff (despite being incredibly sweaty ;-)) & enjoyed the experience. 
4. Figure out what to get M for our anniversary. I'm thinking of experiences in Hawaii, rather than a gift, so I need to get thing planned. - Mostly planned, but am also thinking of a road bike, so need to get that sorted.
5. Stay on track with our budget. - Nope. Over by $353. 
6. Put more thought into our plans for our Seattle house (selling, keeping), plus our long term plan here (renting, buying, etc) - I don't know that we made much progress on this. It's a *long* conversation & planning process. We've tossed around ideas, but haven't come to any decisions.
7. Menu plan. For reals. For the entire month. - Yes, but when I went out of town, M was a little liberal with the plans. ;-) 
8. Plan a fun activity for Labor Day weekend. - I have a few things up my sleeve!
9. Figure out work & personal travel through the end of 2015. - Yes! Booked our holiday tickets this week & got a great deal!
10. Start planning our 2016 budget, including tweaks to our categories, budget amounts, etc. - Yes, about 75% of the way there!
11. Call to see if we can reduce our car insurance. - Yes, & I saved $836 for the year!!!!! Big win of the month!!
12. FIND A NANNY!! School starts in 2 1/2 weeks, & I'm starting to panic.  - Yes! :-) 
13. Seriously get more balanced in the work/life balance equation. It's pretty bad right now. Some goals I'm thinking of related to that:
1. One night (or less) a week with evening calls. It's super hard to come home, make dinner, squeeze in family time, dreading the knowledge that I have to put in another couple of hours starting at 8:30 pm. - I think I'm mostly there with the one night/week or less.
2. Amp up my recruiting efforts. I'm already spending 15 hours/week on this, but i have 3 people manager roles to fill, and once I fill them, my life will be MUCH easier, my evening/morning calls will be reduced, & I can travel less.- Have one offer out for my London based role. 
3. Minimize travel to only urgent/super important tasks. - Gave a flat out "no" to a strong arm request to go to Bangkok (helped greatly by the fact that it conflicted with M's trip, & have re-assigned two other trips (India & Taipei) to my teams. Still left with London (but, shortening), China, & Brazil. Going to try & keep all of the trips shorter than originally planned. So, progress? 
4. Work out 5 days/week. This requires getting up earlier, making time for my afternoon runs, etc. I must prioritize my health! - *cough*. No. Fail

So, as with most months for me, it was a mixed bag. Some wins, some not so good areas. But, those are opportunities for September, right? :-) How did you do on your August goals? Do you have any goals that you are carrying over to September?

August budget wrap up

I'm finally getting around to taking care of all my month end activities. :-) Here's a quick look at how we did on our August budget.

Short story, we were over by $353. 

The good news first. We were under in the following categories:

• Childcare, by $300. Our nanny didn't start until the 2nd week, when school began.
• Entertainment, by $50, which is our entire monthly budget. We had a lot going on this month, so didn't get around to spending this.

We were over in the following categories:

• Dining out, by $162. Bleh. We had one expensive date night, plus a bunch of smaller meals out when I was at my event last weekend (I treated everyone to breakfast) & M took the kids out multiple times when I was gone, as he was juggling multiple soccer games, etc.
• Groceries, by $341. I'm frankly just embarrassed by this one. M does the majority of the grocery shopping (the bigger, Costco sized trips). I know that August had one more Saturday in it (we do all of our shopping weekly, on Saturdays), which made a big difference. We also bought fresh fish twice to grill, which is pretty far out of our normal budget.
• Rent, by $200. Our rent is now $200/month higher, but I still have a set monthly 2015 budget. I'll officially increase this category in 2016, & figure out which categories to reduce accordingly.

We had a few other categories where we were over or under by smaller amounts, but nothing notable.

So, what am I going to do about being over budget? :-) The real question, right? Getting down to brass tacks, how am I going to improve? Here are my ideas for the month:

1. No grocery shopping this weekend. Should be easy. The fridge has plenty & I want to eat down our existing stores anyway. This should save $85-100 (average trip)
2. Minimal dining out. This could be trickier. I have a work trip coming up in a few weeks, and M tends to eat out more with the kids when I'm gone. But, if we don't have a date night, that should still work out okay.
3. No planned spending in some of our other categories: liquor, toiletries, etc. 

It still may not make up the gap, as our childcare is increasing & we have the rent increase. Soccer practices & drop off schedules just generally mean our nanny this year is working about 15-30 minutes/day longer than last year, which adds up quickly. 

How do you adjust when you go over budget? What is your go to plan to make up the difference? How did you do with your August budget?

Fun & frugal weekend plans

I'm looking forward to a long weekend with the boys! A LONG weekend!!! Ahhhh, yes. A bonus day!

I finished a first draft of a huge project at work, and feel pretty great about my progress. I didn't get a chance to go the gym, but a small price to pay for not having to worry about it over the weekend.

As for the rest of the weekend, here's what's on the agenda:

• A few workouts - the boys want to practice their 5K time 
• Yoga - at least once!
• Laundry. I know, I'm a thrill a minute ;-)
• We're heading to an outdoor movie event/potluck at a friend's house tomorrow. I'm planning to bring fresh fruit salad & something else. Maybe a pasta dish. Haven't quite decided yet. 
• Clean out the fridge
• A trip to the library
• Catching up on my budget
• Work in the garden, get it ready for fall, & use/freeze all of the fresh fruit & vegetables
• I'm NOT planning to go to the store. If I can skip a week, maybe we will get caught up on our grocery spending! That would be amazing

I started the evening off right by making a "clean out the fridge" dinner. The boys had two leftover hot dogs & pasta, while I took a giant zucchini & sauteed it with leftover sausage. I added eggs, cheese, salt & pepper. It was fantastic, & frugal. ;-) 

Hope you have fun & frugal weekend plans.

Extreme family fun

My family competed in Portland to Coast last weekend and had an amazing time - all 129 miles! Who cares about the 90 mile an hour winds & rain at the beach? ;-)

Everyone had a blast, from my 65 year old dad, to my 13 year old nephew! Here are a few pics of the fun:

The bottom picture is of my adorable parents. :-)

Anyway, I was out of town all weekend & now I'm struggling to get caught up. I'll be back soon with a summary of my August goals & new fresh, shiny goals for September!

Seven positive things I did this week

Sometimes it's pretty easy to get caught up in all of the things we didn't do.  Today, I'm going to focus on the positives. Here are a few positive things I did this week:

1. Did a bit of decluttering - and got rid of 4 brand new notebooks (donated), 3 tank tops, a sweater, & recycled some paperwork in the boys room.
2. Called Care.com & requested a refund for $39. (This is the service we used to find & screen a nanny). I forgot to call & cancel, & was charged for an extra month. I called before the fee even cleared (noticed it in my pending charges) & requested a refund, explaining that I hadn't used the service for several weeks. Just received the credit.
3. Helped my sister out by coordinating some details for our big family relay next week. She's the team captain, & there are a million details to arrange. I could tell she needed help with something, & picked up the work. I bribed everyone to complete their tasks with an offer of free beer at the finish line. My bribe worked, of course. Know your audience. ;-)
4. I took my boys on a bike ride. Fun & free, plus good for all of us.
5. I tried a new recipe (Shrimp Stir Fry), using a ton of garden ingredients - zucchini, sweet peppers, green peppers, tomatoes, basil, lemon (from our tree), and a few white eggplant that came from a friend's garden. I used leftover rice & it was amazing! So fresh & light. It will definitely be in the summer rotation, until all of the bounty is gone.
6. Tracked down Southwest Airlines *again* about the two flights I bought for a trip. I've called multiple times, and each time was told that it was being investigated & I would get a call back. I never got a call back, so emailed customer service, got routed to "corporate", and this time heard back! They credited me $279. Woohoo!
7. Started working on our 2016 budget expenses. Calculated how much we've spent in each category to date, and did all of the math to understand how we're doing. So far, I can see that we'll be reducing: insurance, gas, kids activities, & auto. And, increasing: dining out, groceries (despite my best effort), & rent. 

So, a mix of fun, work, financial savings, & decluttering! What are some positive things you did this week?

Sunday ramblings

We've had a nice, relatively mellow weekend around these parts. S had a soccer game on Saturday, N had his class picnic today. I also did a 5 miler yesterday (in the heat, since I missed my window in the morning taking S to soccer) & took the boys on a 35 minute (hilly) bike ride today.

M & I also went to an open house a couple of blocks away. We came to a couple of conclusions: we're getting a "great deal" on our rent (quotes used because I just can't swallow $5,200 being a great deal, but we're referring to market conditions in this instance, not my own point of view), and it's going to be a LONG time before we can buy here. Even if I worked indefinitely in my crazy job.

Over dinner last night, M was very frustrated about the price of housing (as was I) & said, "what if we just move back to Seattle & move back into our house?" It was a bit of a throwaway comment, but it definitely got both of us thinking about the possibilities.

By this morning, M had built a weighted matrix of advantages & disadvantages with each decision. We each weighted each attribute and then scored each location, and my assessment had Seattle leading by 50%. M's was much more even. His job situation is fantastic - his career is on fire, & he's enjoying it very much.

This entire conversation is based on the timing of selling our Seattle house. Basically, we can avoid $500K of capital gains if we sell by next September. But at this point, moving back is on our radar again. I have a long list of pros & cons (as does M). We'll decide by the end of the school year (and, honestly, probably sooner, given that we need the house listed by March or April to ensure a close by September). We wouldn't move the kids before the end of this school year regardless.

It would mean being closer to my family, a much, much lower cost of living, and moving back into a house we already own + a vacation house. On the other hand, there are fewer career opportunities (particularly for M) & the weather is obviously not as good. ;-)

Deep thoughts aside, I'm about to make a Chinese feast - orange chicken & shrimp stir fry plus rice. Plus wine! Happy Sunday. ;-)

And, because these guys crack me up, here's a great picture from the first day of school. One of my favorites.

What do you do when what you're doing isn't working?

This applies to anything, really - weight loss, fitness, parenting, work, marriage. I'm feeling this keenly in multiple areas of my life right now. I'm spread too thin, and it can often feel like none of my efforts in any of the above areas are working. In my case, I think it's fair to say that I'm putting in maximum effort, but not really achieving much output. So, what should I be doing?

A few things jump to mind - you can do either:

• Option A) Give up. Perhaps a good choice if you determine that the goal isn't really suited to you, and/or after exploring it, you determine that it's not worth the effort.
• Option B) Change something. 

Let's take one of the areas above & work through what's not working in my life - fitness, in this case. I do want & NEED to be fit, so giving up isn't one of the options. So, I guess I need to choose Option B - Change something.

Being fit, staying in shape, running, & generally being a healthy & active person are all important to me. Not only because it's needed for long-term health/short term energy & the overall way I feel when I'm in shape, but also because it's critical that I manage this to keep my lupus in check. Yet, I'm not currently in what I would describe as great shape. I'm very inconsistent with my workouts, and "something" is not working. 

Breaking it down a bit, what exactly is not working? I find that listing out all of the things that are currently getting in the way of my good intentions is helpful.

My schedule is busy, so finding time to work out is complicated. More specifically:

1. I'm often too tired from late night calls to get up early & work out.
2. If I plan workouts during the work day, they are almost always interrupted by work conflicts, urgent things, etc.
3. Evening workouts are also hard. It's part of my very limited time window with the kids, and/or, I have evening calls as soon as the kids go to sleep. I feel guilty taking away kid/family time. 
4. If I don't have evening calls, I'm exhausted from all of the other evening calls, and/or feel super guilty about missing kid time, and want to make it up.
5. Weekends are filled with kid activities, but I do have success if I get up early enough to get in my workout. 
6. When I travel for work, jet lag, eating out & generally working 12-15 hours a day makes working out very difficult. 

So, how can I solve this? There are drastic solutions (quit my job & look for something with fewer hours, less travel, & no evening commitments)  to smaller solutions. Honestly, the quitting the job is pretty high on my list of potential solutions, but I'm not mentally (or financially) ready to make that decision right now. So, what else can I do?

1. Look for smaller windows of time to work out. I often convince myself that if I don't have 90 minutes, particularly at work where I have to shower, that I don't have time to workout. While not awesome to get in a 15-20 minute workout, it's good for my mental health to get in a quick workout. 
2. Limit my evening meetings to one night per week. Even if I have to work later one night, I'm willing to try to do that vs having multiple nights with late meetings. It's extremely hard for me to manage personally (family, my own mindset, not feeling like I can relax) when I put in a 10 hour day at he office, come home, make dinner, help the kids with homework, and then get on the phone for three more hours. It throws off my entire schedule & is just, quite frankly, depressing. I've said I'm going to do this, and now I'm going to force myself to make it happen.
3. Wake up early two times per week. This isn't crazy, will still give me days where I can "sleep in" until 6:00
4. Get in workouts both weekend days, first thing in the morning, regardless. This needs to be my top priority to knock out first thing in the  morning. Otherwise, it gets too hot, my day gets filled with other activities, I get lazy, etc. ;-)
5. Skip reading, and do yoga one night a week (on a nights without calls) after the boys go to bed. 

I'm already doing a few things that are helping me get in workouts. Here are the things that are currently helping me.

• Review my work & family calendar over the weekend. Plan early mornings, late nights, & (when possible), book workouts. I need to make the workout booking more of a priority.
• Keep my hand weights out & accessible. I regularly squeeze in 2-3 minute intervals with the hand weights. It's easy, and keeping the weights out & where I see them (in my case, on my bathroom counter) means they are always top of mind. 
• Make fitness a part of my life, generally. I register for race, encourage my kids to be active, try to make social activities with friends & family active (we always work out on family vacations, I meet friends for hikes, etc). 

I'm finding the need to step back & evaluate my life in more detail. Do you ever reach that point where things don't feel like they are "working"? If so, what steps do you take to fix it? 

August goals - week 2 check in

I'm a little late, but at least I'm getting it posted. ;-)

1. Complete 1000 minutes of cardio, 15 strength workouts, & 5 stretching workouts. I have my relay coming up, & just joined a running club, so this should be doable. - Let's see, I've done 425 minutes of cardio, 5 strength & finally - ONE stretching workout!
2. Commit to my running club. I've never run in a group before, & I'm a little nervous/anxious that I might embarrass myself. - I've done one group run, but had to cancel the other due to a work conflict. 
3. Complete my relay, have fun, & relax & enjoy the experience more this year, rather than stressing about the details. - So far, so good. :-) 
4. Figure out what to get M for our anniversary. I'm thinking of experiences in Hawaii, rather than a gift, so I need to get thing planned. - Haven't made any progress on this since my last check in. 
5. Stay on track with our budget. - On track except for food! We took the boys out to eat after their triathlon, and we've spent more than planned on groceries. We have one extra shopping day (we buy all of our weekly groceries on Saturdays) than normal. Still on balance, on track. 
6. Put more thought into our plans for our Seattle house (selling, keeping), plus our long term plan here (renting, buying, etc) - have put no more thought into this. Need to email the accountant!
7. Menu plan. For reals. For the entire month.- Yes, on track!
8. Plan a fun activity for Labor Day weekend. - Not yet.
9. Figure out work & personal travel through the end of 2015. - Mostly sorted, but not completely.
10. Start planning our 2016 budget, including tweaks to our categories, budget amounts, etc. - Haven't started. 
11. Call to see if we can reduce our car insurance. - Yes, done & saved a bunch of money! ;-) 
12. FIND A NANNY!! School starts in 2 1/2 weeks, & I'm starting to panic. - Yes, done!
13. Seriously get more balanced in the work/life balance equation. It's pretty bad right now. Some goals I'm thinking of related to that:
1. One night (or less) a week with evening calls. It's super hard to come home, make dinner, squeeze in family time, dreading the knowledge that I have to put in another couple of hours starting at 8:30 pm.  - eh, I'm trying, but recruiting interviews are getting in my way.
2. Amp up my recruiting efforts. I'm already spending 15 hours/week on this, but i have 3 people manager roles to fill, and once I fill them, my life will be MUCH easier, my evening/morning calls will be reduced, & I can travel less. - yes,I have two promising candidates out of my 3 manager roles. 
3. Minimize travel to only urgent/super important tasks. - Yes, looking for ways to cut at least one country out of my proposed calendar. 
4. Work out 5 days/week. This requires getting up earlier, making time for my afternoon runs, etc. I must prioritize my health! - Nope. I've been really needing my sleep from late meetings & haven't prioritized it!

Based on my progress (or, lack thereof), I'm going to email the accountant today about our Seattle house, work on the 2016 budget, come up with a workout schedule for the week, and finalize our Hawaii plans. Fingers crossed! :-) 

How are you doing with your August goals? Any major progress?