This isn’t much of a menu Monday post. I have no idea what I’m going to eat today, or the rest of the week really. It’s day 21 of my Whole30 and I have no intentions of cheating so it will be whatever I manage to scrounge up in the freezer. My Whole30 is going awesome and all I have to say about week three is that I wish I could bottle up how good I feel to give people a little taste of how we should all feel all the time.

Luckily I like to throw leftovers in the freezer when I am tired of eating them. After a weekend where I don’t have time to shop or prep, I am usually able to put together at least a day or two of meals from the freezer. This was one of those weekends where I was too busy for meal planning because I was busy FINISHING SCHOOL.

I am officially a certified Nutritional Therapy Practitioner.

Greg came to our potluck and graduation ceremony on Sunday afternoon. It was really nice for me to get to sit down with my friends, him, and a few of their spouses to share a meal. These women have been such a big part of the last nine months, but they have lived in a very compartmentalized place in my overall life. Somehow mixing in our spouses made it feel a little more real life and a little less like a fantasy life where I get to talk about the merits of grass fed beef and no one looks at me like I’m crazy.

At one point, a few of us were talking and Greg just kind of shook his head and said “wow, you’ve really found your people”. That’s how this whole program has felt. It’s been an outlet for me to follow a passion and be amongst women (there were 2 men and 24 women by the time our class ended, though we did start with 4 men) who have the same passion.

So, what’s next?

Immediately. Olivia Pope and I have a hot date tonight. The burning question in my head today is not what can go wrong in the digestive chain (answer: a lot), but where exactly did that plane take Olivia and Jake? I need a few days to process and unwind. I’m motivated and excited to move forward, but I need a short break.

Short Term. During a business lecture this weekend there was a lot of talk about viewing the first year post-program as an internship. Hearing that was a relief to me and something I’m going to take to heart. It took (self-imposed) pressure off me to figure out exactly what I want to do with my certification. Over the next few weeks I plan to set goals for my internship, keeping in mind that I will have a newborn and be adjusting to motherhood during this same time period.

Long Term. I’m going to view my internship as a success if I am able to dip my toe in different areas and have a general sense of the business I might want to build. Right now, I’m leaving my options wide open. I’m interested in exploring everything from building a 1:1 client practice, to going into creating content, to teaching workshops and leading group sessions, or to potentially getting into corporate wellness. I’m sure there are options on the table that I’m not even considering at this point.

There are two things that really strike me coming out of the program. The first is that I feel like I need to pay this opportunity forward.  I worked my ass off to earn this, but I also had the means and the time to make the commitment. I feel a sense of responsibility to use what I’ve learned. Not in a proselytizing, annoying way. But to do something with myself that will allow me to help people who want to be helped.

Second is that I feel incredibly lucky to have stumbled across a program that allows me the opportunity to turn my passion and hobby into a career. Work is going to have a different meaning starting next year. Any hour that I’m working is an hour that I won’t be spending with martian. It’s no longer just an hour that I’m not relaxing or getting stuff around the house done. To be able to have passion and to be focusing on helping people when I’m not spending time with the baby (and kid overtime) is a huge win for me. I’ve struggled a lot with how my career changes when I become a mom and while I’m not setting anything in stone yet, knowing that this path is open to me among other paths is a huge blessing.

You guys, I am so excited. Last week, after nearly a year mulling over what I want to do with my life, I took a big step. I sent Greg a message in the morning saying that I was thinking about a nutrition course. After a few clarifying texts, he was totally on board and by the evening I had enrolled in the Nutritional Therapy Practitioner program through the Nutritional Therapy Association.

The books continue to arrive…

I don’t know what this means for me long term yet, but the idea that maybe I can turn my fascination with traditional nutrition into more than just an interest is huge. Being able to cultivate a passion with a class series like this, possibly making a career out of it, and helping people along the way is just something I never thought I could do. But for whatever reason on Thursday morning I asked myself “why can’t I?”.  What or who is stopping me other than my own fear of not being able to do it? No one. So here I go…

The certification is both a large monetary and time commitment and I’m not taking that lightly. I’m thankful Greg is so supportive – there’s several other places we could use a couple thousand dollars right now. I also know that my free time is fairly limited and I’ll have to make some changes to get the most out of this opportunity over the next nine months. The estimated work load is about 15-20 hours per week, with three 3 or 4 day weekends in person over the nine months. Phew. Guess I won’t be playing on Facebook anymore. And this means goodbye, Pinterest.

I wanted to set myself up with a solid foundation for making this a priority. I came up with a list of how I use my time right now and how I think I can cut back to make time for class and studying. Work and sleep aren’t really options and family time with G+A is a priority, so I’ll be making some changes in other areas.

+ Blogging – I think I blogged almost every day in January, but that will definitely be changing. My only goal here is to continue with my Monday menu posts (yes, I missed this Monday. Super Bowl and out of town guests, plus trying to get ahead in course work). This will keep me accountable to setting aside time to make sure we eat real food. Trying to avoid the irony of starting a nutritional therapy course and then eating fast food because I don’t make time to cook. It will also be a great way to share what I’m learning and get experience with honing and conveying my message. Hopefully I’ll have time to share house projects and crafts as I complete them because I find it so much fun to use this other side of my brain I just started to explore.

+ The house – I really want our house to be more of a home this year and I don’t see why I can’t make good progress. Unlike last year, when I bought stuff that fit and now we hate it (yes, we’re talking about you, coffee table), I’ve taken a much different approach. One room at a time and being very deliberate as to what I bring into our home. I will slowly work through my office to-do list and once it’s done pick the next room to work on.

What my desk looks like most nights before I go to bed.

+ Barre3 – I’ve been consistently going five days a week as I had set out to do and I love it. I had planned a whole post, but I’ll say I’m feeling toner without my boding hurting all the time like it did with running and CrossFit. The ladies (and few gentleman) at my studio are great and I love the instructors. I’m thinking of keeping my MWF 6:00am class, dropping my Tuesday evening class, and hopefully making it to one session over the weekend. Right now it seems reasonable, but I’ll continue to evaluate.

+ Project Life – After setting myself up for weekly again this year, I really think it makes sense for me to move to a monthly version, with the goal being just one spread per month. If at the end of the year all I have are 12 spreads I will be super happy. Recently, my fave blogger Elise posted about how she is tackling PL this year and shared her album for January. I loved it and immediately wanted to switch but told myself I started weekly and should stick with it. Now that I need to free up time, I’m totally going monthly. I imagine some months will have more than others and I look forward to not having to make something out of nothing on weeks that I have three crappy iPhone photos.

+ One Little Word – If there is one thing I want to stick with this year it is OLW. The January “homework” took just a few hours to sit and do but I thought about it all month. I really don’t think there’s a way I would have ended up signing up for this course and taking this step if I hadn’t spent the first month of the year actively focusing on the positive. I can’t wait to see where else “cheer” takes me in 2014. I also highly recommend signing up for it yourself and seeing what happens.

Slalom hoodies are proven to enhance learning. And the glass of wine was to celebrate the best day I’ve had in a long time; I won’t be making a habit of studying with it.

+ General crafting – My knitting, sewing, and whatever else I come up with will likely be focused on projects for whatever room of the house I’m currently working on. This course is only 9 months so I’m hoping it doesn’t knock me too far off my 35×35 sewing project goal, but we’ll see.

+ Cooking Through Well Fed 2 – Like the house, I plan to keep making progress on cooking through the book, it will just be more slowly than I had thought. Week night meals are probably going to be more simple, like taco salads, pork chops, etc.

Well, that’s my exciting news! Our first class meeting is a conference call tonight and I’ve already jumped ahead on my homework for the week.