Blog — Toddler on the Tenure Track

I am gearing up for the very first plan(it)* retreat this Friday and Saturday!! Although in all honesty, I’ve done so much prep work on the front end that right now there’s actually not that much to do to get ready! One of the things I’ve been doing to get the word out about the retreat is connecting with all the people I know who are doing similar/related work (i.e., supporting academics!). One of the people I reached out to was Cristi Cooke, who was so excited about the work I’ve been doing that she asked if we could do an interview! Here’s a brief overview of how Cristi and I met...

Planning and ProductivityJillAugust 14, 2019second year on the tenure trackComment

July 2019 Budget

July is the first summer month with no paycheck of any sort, so we’re pulling entirely from savings (using the money I’ve been setting aside each month during the school year). We also got hit with a big car maintenance bill this month (~$700), so we drained our car maintenance fund (which was just over $500) and then dipped into the emergency fund to pay the rest of the bill. Oddly enough, I looked at our car maintenance bills from the previous year and we had a major bill (~$800) on the very same day last year… apparently we’re very consistent about our car repairs.

FinancesJillAugust 9, 2019budget, student loan debt, july, july 2019Comment

July Monthly Update

My July monthly update is that, I’m not going to do monthly updates for the summer, ha!

Since I’m planning to do a year 3 goal review at the end of the summer, I felt like they’d be pretty similar to one another. Plus, I shared a number of updates in my movement/nutrition post (and will share a few more in my upcoming budget post next week). With 2 posts this week, I wasn’t up for a 3rd (in-depth) post! I’m working on running the blog and keeping it enjoyable… not letting it run me and feel like an obligation!

Tenure and Life UpdatesJillAugust 3, 2019weekly update, july 2019, monthly updateComment

Advice to My Past Self: Second Year on the Tenure Track

Similar to my advice for year one post, this week I’m sharing some thoughts about the advice I might give myself during year two, if I was going to do it all over again. Here they are, in no particular order.

Academic LifeJillAugust 2, 2019planning, second year on the tenure trackComment

Back to Basics: What I Learned From My Month Focused on Movement

How did movement go? Ugh… not well. I think maybe I set myself up for a challenge by starting off the month saying it was the “easiest” thing for me to work into my schedule. Fast forward to the end of the month and this one definitely has felt the hardest. We’ve been way off our old routine, going to bed super late and glued to our screens in the evening. Ellie has also been asserting her independence in every way possible (to put it nicely), which is awesome, and also exhausting, and I think Mike and I are both going through some parenting burnout. We also had a rough patch of sleep for most of July and my back has really been bothering me. So… movement was hard.

Work-Life BalanceJillAugust 1, 2019back to basics, goals, goal setting, movement, nutritionComment

My Goals for Year Two on the Tenure Track

If you’re just tuning in, I’m dedicating the next few posts to my goals/progress for years 1 and 2 on the tenure track (a year 3 post will come once the summer is over). Now, on to year 2, which felt drastically better than year 1. We’d been in Portland for a full year, we were living in a more permanent space, we had solid friendships, and overall just felt a lot more settled. First, I’ll share what was going on during year 2…

Tenure and Life UpdatesJillJuly 26, 2019planning, second year on the tenure trackComment

Advice to My Past Self: First Year on the Tenure Track

Last week I shared what my first year looked like. This week I’m sharing some thoughts about what helped during the first year. Kind of like advice I’d give to my past self. In no particular order, here are some of the main things I’d remind myself of on a daily basis if I had to do it all over again.

Academic LifeJillJuly 19, 2019planning, first year on the tenure track, top postComment

Summer Updates!

I have been busy behind the scenes and have two big updates for you!

First… I have a mailing list! Which feels like a huge deal to me… not really that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things, but it makes this space feel so much more official. You can sign up for it on the main page: www.toddleronthetenuretrack.com. As a thank you for signing up, you’ll also get a 7 step guide that I put together for planning a tantrum free (ha!) academic year.

My Goals for Year One on the Tenure Track

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing a recap of my first and second years on the tenure track, along with some reflections about what I learned each year. Once summer is done (for me, that’s in September), I’ll share insights from my third year (still got a few more months to work on those goals!).

June 2019 Budget

You might be wondering what the the picture above is all about… well, Ellie’s night time sleep routine is holding steady, with at least one middle of the night wake up per night. Our friends have a “toddler clock” and had good results with it; however, we didn’t want to shell out any money for something that Ellie was just going to ignore. That’s where this car (aka Bob the car), nightlight, trivet situation comes in.

FinancesJillJuly 7, 2019budget, june 2019, june, student loan debt, groceries, grocery billComment