When you ask someone who their heroes are, they’ll probably answer with some super inspirational people who’ve done amazing things for humankind, like Martin Luther King, Jr. or Mother Teresa. And, of course, those are awesome heroes to have and I’d jump on that train any day. But if you ask Nikki Crews who her heroes are, she answers with the two most awesome blonde women in the world: Shakira and Leslie Knope!

If you know anything about me, know that I will drop everything to sing and dance along to a Shakira song AND most of the time, I’m quoting the greatest show to have ever existed: Parks & Recreation.

via GIPHY

Friends, I’m making some changes. Nothing major, just a few things that will help me the person I actually want to be.

I care about a lot of things in life, and it’s very important to me that I do my part to leave the world a better place for my son and the rest of humanity. I worry about climate change, the environment, animals, food waste, etc., as well as my other social justice causes.

I’ve been very bad about food waste for a long time, and I’m ashamed of it. I really dislike eating leftovers so they sit in the fridge unless Nick gets hungry on the weekends. Cooking is fun but the clean up is so time consuming that I’d rather just dine out. Then I buy lots of vegetables because I know the importance of eating healthy but they sit in the drawer in the fridge until they grow seven kinds of mold. Out of sight, out of mind. And who wouldn’t want to grab some chips or cookies instead of an apple or carrots? Being healthy is hard. Additionally — and this is what I’m most ashamed of — I was so excited to start our little garden and reap the harvest of our hard work AND THEN we barely even ate the produce. Cucumbers, peppers, and tomatoes sat rotting on the counter. HOW AWFUL IS THAT?!

My calendar gets me…

Settle in for a little story.

There are two elevators in my new office building. The building itself is fairly new so the elevators are clean and well-kept. I work on the top floor of a three-floor building and I take the elevators daily. The first few times I rode the elevator car on the right, I noticed that it took slightly longer to get to my floor that you would expect for such a short ride. And when it did get to the floor, it felt like it took a few extra seconds to find the right place to come to a stop. It seemed weird to me but both cars had updated inspections so I didn’t think much of it.

Y’all. Trying to do it all isn’t easy. I’m sure you all know exactly what I’m talking about so instead of preaching to the choir, please just commiserate with me, friends. I have the desire to do so many things each day but not enough of the energy required to do them.

My new job is going really well. I’m settling in, I’ve moved into my own office, and I’m quickly picking up all of my responsibilities. But the transition at home for my family is slow going. Sebastian is having a little trouble adjusting to daycare, which is totally normal. His fever ended up being hand, foot, mouth disease (a viral infection like a cold that is really common for kids his age) but luckily he recovered quickly, but we had to work from home for a few days. Nick and I are having trouble adjusting to the new routine, which is only exacerbated by Sebastian’s a rough time adjusting to daycare because he wakes us up a bunch at night seeking comfort and reassurance that we’re still there. Because we’re not getting a full night’s sleep, we’re waking up much later than we should, so mornings are hectic. I’m drinking copious amounts of coffee. Work time is for work, obviously. Then we come home, cook dinner, bathe Sebastian and put him to bed. Then I have about 2 hours to live my life before I pass out from exhaustion. Sound familiar? I thought so.