Bring it on

This is the time of year students dread, while the rest of the world soaks up the holiday spirit we sit cramming in final papers and exams and counting down the days until we can shut off our brains. Now add into that be a teacher as well and there are not only my own finals but the one's I need to grade as well.

Imagine our house this time of year with 2 grad students and now me also teaching and on top of it studying for NASM. So in the next 3 weeks I will be completing 2 final papers by next Friday, taking (and hopefully passing) NASM and then writing and grading numerous final exams and final projects. Yikes, I can do this! I will have survived my first semester teaching and another semester of my doctoral program (only 1 more and a thesis to go which still needs a topic!).

I started studying for NASM in the summer and planned to take it then but life got in the way, now I am coming to my deadline and need to get back to studying. This is actually what I am most nervous about! Any advice from those who have taken it?

Some days my mantra is "just survive" and other days I am aiming for greatness. It is amazing how our bodies respond to stress; lack of sleep at times, shutting down, aches and heart palpitations. As an athlete we are very intuned to our bodies and can easily feel these things. Time for some stress relief and looking forward to vacation. Luckily we have some nicer weather coming so I can get out a long run again to clear my mind. What is your method to relieve stress?

Hopefully after Matt is done with his last final paper on Monday we can begin to make our house ready for Christmas, tree and all. We did manage to get family pictures taken last weekend.

So far the only preview I have seen and I love it, can't wait to see the rest. Aleah does such a great job!

Day 5 gluten free and so far only one mess up and one big fit requiring me to search out GF graham crackers. I forget that she may not understand why we have taken away some of her typical snacks.