The Michael Kors Project

If you are looking at this screenshot and thinking, “Oh! Want. NEED.” You are having the same instant reactions I was having a few weeks ago when I received a what-to-buy-your-valentine emailer from Apple. I had just gotten paid and felt like treating myself to a Valentine’s Day present.  The thought, “You need to be saving for your April California vacation” wasn’t really present, as my financially irresponsible spending habits go.

It was at this moment that the Michael Kors Project, a little initiative I started in order to bring about a bought of sobriety and slow my carbohydrate intake, started.

As I was perusing the different potential colors of this Michael Kors clutch I would soon be rocking, I recalled a tip I read in an old copy of Shape magazine that morning at the gym.  The article suggested choosing something to reward yourself with after making consecutive healthy life choices as a way of staying motivated.  Feeling bored at work and intrigued by this new health mission, I started brainstorming.  As I’m big on indulgences, especially when it comes to food, I wondered what I could/should try to go without.

It took about 30 seconds for the idea to come to me.  As I was mingling around the POS system at work with my coworkers waiting for what few midweek diners we would get in the brutally slow February evenings, I looked around and saw our bread service station.  An inviting, heaping basket of baguettes.  I touch on the horrendous relationship I’ve developed with the bread at work in a previous post. More or less what happens just about every night at the end of work, when I haven’t eaten in hours, is I start snacking on baguettes embellished with butter and/or other easily accessible condiments. Clearly not the best snack to eat in mass quantity at 10 pm.

What started February 8th as three nights without snacking on bread or having any wine, has turned into a modified month-long mission of no bread at work until March 8th.  The goal obviously being the above absolutelycannotlivewithout Michael Kors clutch, but also in hopes that I will break my bread addiction and gain a little bit more self control.  Having something so fascinatingly adorable is actually making it quite a bit easier to just say no!

In other exciting news, this morning I set out to write 1,000 words.  Instead I wrote a little over 1,600 while writing two blog posts, finishing a profile piece, grocery shopping, working out, putting away laundry and having a fabulous lunch with my grandparents.  I think rewarding myself with a pre-Jackie’s-birthday-dinner glass of wine is in order!  I’m really starting to enjoy this new rewards program I got going on. 🙂

Why I want a 9-to-5 job reason #1: my health.

These days my desire for a 9 to 5 job is quite strong.

My daily stimulants.

By that I mean I want to work the hours of 9am to 5pm.  Adapting the mentality that comes along with it is a little daunting.  I see many 9-to-5ers wake up in a bad mood simply because they have to go through the motions for the next ten or so hours; turn on the coffee pot, the television, the computer, the iPhone, make the routine breakfast, shower, dress, turn off the coffee pot, the television, pack up the computer and the iPhone, turn on the car, the radio, commute.  That part is a little intimidating for someone like myself who has spent the last several years getting up every morning taking my time to read the New York Times if I please, or perusing iTunes, or writing, or lying in bed trying to remember the dream I just had, or going for a long run, choosing any or all simply because I have the time.

However, once I get over the routine aspect, I am back to longing for those 9-to-5 golden hours.  I’m convinced that the restaurant industry makes it impossible to lead a healthy lifestyle or have healthy relationships with people.  Personally, I am most productive in the morning. I fuel my early morning productivity (it has to be early if I want to get anything done before work) with coffee and sometimes green tea energy pills.  This helps me get my butt to the gym.  After the gym I have a few hours to cram in any errands and other activities before having to get ready for work.  Once at work, I find I’m quickly losing steam and need a pick-me-up in order to be productive.  The result?  Drinking coffee and/or green tea in mass amounts throughout the evening. This ultimately leads me to be wide awake when I get out of work say around 11 pm.  Therefore I have a glass of wine or, if on a Friday or Saturday night, a Makers Manhattan.  This vicious energy cycle eventually starts to wear on one’s body- shocking right?

Not only is the caffeine consumption and alcohol sedating cycle wearing on my health- mental and physical- but it’s also almost impossible to eat at normal hours.  I almost always eat a normal breakfast at a normal hour, but I find I end up eating a massive lunch because after 4pm or so I am not able to eat again until 10pm.  It’s not that I end up eating at 10 pm, it’s what I end up eating.

yum!

I end up snacking on the baguettes and butter we use for bread service as they are the only easily accessible food to quickly chow down on.  I have learned our delicious house baked bread is a great vessel for other condiments as well, my personal favorite combo is Sriracha sauce and butter.  Due to this high intake of carbohydrates, butter and condiments, I recently started the Michael Kors project.

Besides the obvious health issues in terms of food and caffeine consumption, I find myself mentally suffering from lack of relationships with people outside of the restaurant industry.  I say suffering because I deeply believe that everyone in the restaurant industry is somewhat insane, including myself.  I need some “normal” people in my life in order to help keep a grip on reality.  Further, I get easily bored interacting with the same kind of people.

The interaction I have with one of my roommates, Alex, who works Monday to Friday 9-to-5, is a perfect example of missing out on some good human interaction.  I see her for maybe 10 minutes a day in the morning as we cross paths.  I have all morning off she has all night off.  By the time I get home at night she’s asleep.  Then, as it goes in the restaurant industry, the weekends are the busiest for me, where as she has the whole weekend off.  She’s a great source of support and a great friend and I wish I could spend more time with her.

Despite my lack of 9-to-5 lifestyle, I am trying to incorporate some 9-to-5 qualities.  The quest for the 9-to-5 job isn’t just about obtaining the hours, but also in anticipation of getting there, better using my time to write more and cleanse my life and mind of clutter, if you will.  The strive to find balance.