January-cap

January, as seen through my phone archives.

Happy New Years - Body Pump - Spinach Blackberry Smoothie

Sister Visit - Buddy’s Bed - Early Morning Body Pump

Warm Weather Runs – Curlers - Dance Trance Birthday

Rabbit, Rabbit!

Happy First of February!

Some more thought provoking questions from my Happiness Project Page-A-Day Calendar…

• Definitely to go to bed early and wake up early.  I loooove going to bed, and I also love the wee hours of the morning when you wake up early and the world is still very still and quiet.  One of my very favorite things is to travel to the west coast and stay on east coast time – to go to bed exhausted at 9 pm and wake up super refreshed at 6 am. 
• My favorite parts of my ordinary day are first thing in the morning when I get up and sit on the couch and check my email, and Buddy snuggles up on my feet – and in the winter, that’s paired with coffee and the fireplace and in the summer, that sun is coming up and it might even be warm enough to sit outside.  My other favorite parts of my ordinary days are my work outs – especially on Dance Trance days, cooking dinner and eating with Matt on nights he is home and reading before bed. 
• My perfect day would start off with writing first thing in the morning, followed by a workout and a big breakfast.  Then I’d do my coaching mid-morning to early afternoon, which is usually when I’m most personable and attentive.  I’d end the workday with emails or other reading – things that require less mental attention than coaching or writing.  Then I’d cook dinner (which I don’t get to do every night because of my work schedule), walk Buddy and hang out with Matt or a friend – ending the day with wine and a good book.  (Ok, can I pretty please have that day every day?)  I don’t totally know how to answer that last question – I do feel like I am doing the best I can do make room for the things I love (working out, cooking, writing) within the confines of my long workday plus commute (and my unwillingness to give up anymore sleep!).

Happy Birthday, Dance Trance!

One year ago, a new class started on Tuesday nights at my Y.  Jamie, Anne and I started going and before long, it became our regular Tuesday night date.  Over the course of the year, we’ve added more friends to our regular gatherings, 4 more nights of dance trance have been added in and 2 new instructors – Jamie and Anne!  It’s become quite a thing and I’ve already talked about how Dance Trance is my happy place, my destressor and my social hour.  I’m a teensy bit obsessed – as noted by my poor husband who is constantly giving me the “no dance trance in the car” or “no dance trance in the kitchen” look. 

So now it’s time to take a minute to pay a small tribute to the little firecracker of energy who has made all this possible – our DT director, Steph.  She moved here from Jacksonville, FL which is the home of the dance trance franchise and told her husband that she’d move to NC under the condition she could bring dance trance with her.  She does so much more than teach a class a few times a week – she has created a community.  It’s an exercise class where people learn each other’s names, where people who have been coming to class for a long time notice when someone new walks in and makes a point to welcome them and give them a few pointers for their first class.  She works a full time job but I know she spends a ton of her free time learning new choreography, managing the Facebook page, sending out emails and organizing group outings.

So Anne came up with the brilliant idea that we should celebrate our one year anniversary of Dance Trance, and really celebrate all that Steph has done for our class.  It was a complete surprise and such a hit.  I know Steph felt all the love she has poured into this group radiated back to her.  Thank you, Steph and Happy Birthday Dance Trance!

Weekend Update

I’m pretty sure it’s karmic revenge that since I was all “la la la, January weekends are soooo lazy and relaxing” that this weekend turned out to be the complete opposite.  It was jam packed – but it was all super fun stuff so it was worth it.  Even though it felt like Sunday was here before Friday even had time to get started.

On Friday, Matt and I took a road trip down to Waxhaw, NC.  If you don’t know where that is, you’re missing out on a bustling metropolis.  Matt had found a golf bag he had been looking for on Craiglist, so we decided to take a road trip down that way.  I was easily bribed with a trip to Trader Joe’s on the way home, and also worked in a visit to see my sister’s classroom since we were only about 15 minutes away.

We stopped in south Charlotte for lunch, and it was a beautiful 60 degree day in January so we ate outside with the Spuds at Dean and Deluca.  He was more than happy to share a few bites of my chicken salad sandwich with me. 

Then we picked up the golf bag, and headed over to Katie’s classroom.  It was after school so she didn’t have any classes left, but she still gave us a run down on how she uses her smartboard.  Then a kid came in the class to ask her a question and I got to see Katie switch into serious teacher mode.  I love it!  There’s something about seeing people in settings that you don’t see them in daily – it gives you a different perspective of their personality.

On our road trip, I finished a book I had started the night before…. it was a page turner.  I literally could not stop reading it, despite Matt’s admonishment to slow down and savor my books!  I want to see the movie now, although I’ve been told it’s not as good.

On Saturday, Matt and I met Anne & Locke for a lunch date at Skippy’s.  Despite the crazy long line and the fact that the restaurant itself is smaller than my kitchen, this is one of Winston’s gems.

After lunch, I had a blog date with Teri.  We came up with the brilliant idea a few months ago to get together and bounce blog ideas off each other, and use some set aside time to get some writing done… and about 10 minutes into our first blog date, we realized we were kidding ourselves if we thought we were going to do anything but tuck ourselves into a cozy couch and chat the afternoon away.  Our blogs might not be updated, but I always walk away feeling uplifted by our conversations and catch up time!  Budster was invited too – I think he had a good time chilling at his Aunt Teri’s. 

Saturday night we had a dinner date with Jamie & Zac and Donna & Matt at Milner’s.  First time I have ever been disappointed by a Milner’s meal – I should have ordered the fried chicken like everyone else did!  (I had gnocchi… it was swimmingly in an oily pesto sauce.  No thanks.)  It was a night out for both sets of parents without their babies… thanks to Anne & Locke volunteering to baby-sit!  I’m still sort of giggling at that. 

Sunday morning, I did some grocery shopping and prepped a dish for Akanksha’s baby shower – my mom’s new go to appetizer, Cuban Toasties.

Then I spent the afternoon at Akanksha’s shower, and wrapped up the day with some Sunday dance trance.  It wasn’t as low key as my other January weekends have been, but it was chock full of good meals, good chats and good friends. 

Akanksha’s Baby Shower

Here comes another baby!  Jamie and Donna did a beautiful job preparing a shower to welcome Akanksha’s baby, little girl Ayanna, who is due in March.

We can’t wait to meet you soon, Little Miss Ayanna!

Can You Choose What You Like To Do?

This phrase really resonated with me when I read it in the Happiness Project.  When I saw it in my calendar today, I come back to same thought I had when I first heard it: gardening.
 
I really like the idea of gardening.  I like the idea of little pots of herbs and vegetables tumbling over on a back deck. I love in the summer when my friends give me their bounties of homemade basil, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers - last year, I had a field day making salsa and pesto from all these goodies.  I always think "I should do this!!"
 
Matt planted a whole bunch of flowers around our mailbox last year.  He did all the hard work of planting, and asked me to do the upkeep of watering.
 
Good thing he knows me well enough to know I’d forget after a week.

I really like the idea of gardening, but when it comes right down to it, I realize I don't actually like gardening.  I like to be outside.  I like the way flowers look.  I like fresh grown veggies.  I hear people say that weeding is therapeutic to them and there's not a single ounce of me that can relate to that.  I can think of a hundred other things I’d rather do besides be in my yard. I just don't like gardening.
 
I also don't like scrapbooking.  I don't like hiking.  I don't like concerts that don't have lyrics.   I don't like bowling.  These are all things that somewhere along the line, I've felt like I should like or I've tried to make myself like doing.  It feels kind of nice to just embrace the fact that I don't really like these things - but my brain still keeps fighting against this concept.

I like writing.  I like dancing.  I like snowboarding.  I like sitting on a couch with my feet curled up under me talking to a friend until I've lost track of the hours.  I like reading books.  I like cooking and reading recipe magazines.  I like doing crafts.  I like lifting weights.  I like popular, top 10, overplayed music. 

Isn't a weird concept?  That you don't really choose what you like to do?  I often wonder if I did something more often - gardening, for example - I'd learn to like it.  After all, I didn't really like running when I started.  But then again, I didn't dislike it.  I did it initially because I didn't know what else to do after I stopped cheerleading.  I've done it to lose weight, to get over break ups, to manage stress and to complete an accomplishment.  But this year, I've realized I've just been running because, well, I like it.  And so maybe I have all along…
 
I'm a bit torn on this idea.  It seems fairly obvious to me, when I think about my likes and dislikes.  All of them are things I either tried because they looked appealing to me (snowboarding, crafting, hiking) and either found I like or didn't like them.  Or they were things I've been doing for as long as I can remember (dancing, reading books, writing.)  I can't help but wonder if it's true that you can choose what you like to do or not, or if preferences can be developed over time with intention.  What do you think?

Snooze Button

Oh I had the best of intentions for this morning. I had my gym bag packed, my breakfast ready to go and my alarm set for 5:00.

Except, turns out it was set for 5:00 pm. Not so helpful when the class you're trying to get to is 5:45 *am.* (And to be honest, 5 am is cutting it close, but I refuse to get up at an hour that starts with a 4. Even 4:59 is out of the question.

So when Buddy woke me up at 5:14 am, I knew my window of opportunity was closed. (But lest I get no workout in this morning, he decided a good neighborhood frolic was in order after his routine business, so I did get a quick little jog in. Thanks, Bud.)

I then spent the remaining extra 45 minutes I had, snuggled on the couch with my feet shoved under a warm doggy butt. It's the best feet warmer ever, ya'll.




We had a pretty low key weekend. We went home to Lincolnton on Friday for a basketball game at Matt's high school. Saturday and Sunday ended up being pretty normal, routine weekend days - some housecleaning, laundry and cooking. Matt, obviously inspired by my closet clean out last weekend, tackled his domain - the garage.




We always make fun of the neighbors who have so much crap packed in their garages they can't put their cars in there, and we were in danger of becoming those people based entirely on the amount of tailgating gear we've acquired.

Saturday night Matt and I cooked ourselves a steak house worthy dinner, complete with our favorite appetizer guacasalsa.

What, don't all steakhouses serve guac? Well they should.

It's hard to rationalize going out when you go to the grocery store and buy all this food for what one meal for one person would cost.




Although I guess there is the whole "someone else doing the dishes" perk.

(And for the record, we ended up putting back one steak. That is a whole lotta meat.)

Sunday night I made chicken and broccoli alfredo from scratch and it was absurdly easy. Who knew?




I also made my own laundry detergent. I think this makes me a hippie. It was also absurdly easy.



I also spent a good chunk of time packaging up all the stuff that I had put on eBay last weekend. I had so many things sell! I love the little noise my phone app makes to tell me I have a new bid. eBay has gotten so much easier to use since I started 10 years ago too - now you can even print and pay for your labels right from the eBay page and request carrier pick up to your house!

I feel kind of bad for my postal worker tomorrow though.




It was a wonderfully relaxing weekend and I was sad to see Sunday night come to an end. January weekends have been very low key - just what I needed after all the holidays, and before a busy February starts up again. January weekends have been my own little snooze buttons to get all caught up.

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