Friday, January 31, 2014

Where did January Go?

So here it is, January 31st, sitting in my awesome Ikea Poang chair (it is seriously the cheapest, most comfortable chair in the world) and wondering how the month of January passed by without the plethora of funny, insightful, brilliant blog posts I had planned ever making it onto the screen.

Oh. It's January.

January tends to do that to me… suck all the post holiday, New Year's good intention right out of me. Sometimes, no matter how well meaning I am, January is just too cold.

Not every day in January was cold. I do remember a couple days where I went walking on the beach in  a hoodie and vest. And I wasn't lazy all month. I actually did get quite a bit done. But not nearly as much as I had planned.

Yeah, January tends to do that to me.

JANUARY GOALS:

1)  Winter Warrior Challenge: run outside every day. Oh, I got started with a bang. 8 am New Year's Day found me on a group run through the marshlands and down along the beach. It was great. The first week of January was actually quite great. And a few nice days in the middle that had me running on the beach.

But the thing about January? There's snow. And ice. Although there are frigid temperatures and wind chills, the cold will never stop me from running outside. That's what winter performance wear was made for. But when you are ankle deep in slush, sliding on patches of ice, and praying that the cars on the road will not slide and pick you off like a clay pigeon, then the whole idea of a winter warrior challenge just seems, well, stupid.

There's a reason treadmills were invented.

2) Organize physical files, computer files, and emails. Well, the email box isn't down to zero, but at least I can find everything I need. The paper files have been weaned down, as well. I'm calling this a success.

3) Put together a race/ event schedule for the year. Partially done. I mean, I'm not sure where I'll be in the spring. And I'm still debating the Polar Plunge. I wasn't too successful with the Winter Warrior Challenge, and that had everything but my feet staying dry. Oh well, I still have time to decide. Partial credit.

4)  Blog post daily. I don't know if I could have failed that any more thoroughly than I did! But sometimes it just seems way more important to stream entire seasons of Dexter and American Horror Story onto the computer screen than to blog.

5) Girl's weekend with college friends. Success! It was good to get together and hang out for some long awaited girl time.

Of course, I could have done without the icy roads with 3 inches of slushy snow on top. Seriously? Do they maintain roads at all in upstate New York? I don't think they do. Because even with the Jeepy-Jeep's four wheel drive capacity, I ended up like this:


The good news was I was okay, and so was the Jeep. We both made it to my friend's house after a nice tow truck guy pulled us out. And the other good news is that I didn't pick off any joggers.

6)  Get licenses for 2 states for travel jobs: I had this bizarre idea at the beginning of January that since the internet has proliferated greatly since I last was applying for state licenses, that the process would now be faster and more streamlined. Not so much. If anything, it takes longer now. However, I did get licensed in two states. Two warmer states.

7) Go Skiing with Friends. Yeah, that didn't happen. Totally not my fault.

8)  Participate in 1 adaptive sport event. That didn't happen either. Totally my fault this time.

9) Daily Journaling: At last, success. There's something so soothing about having an actual pen to paper. And I can have any season of any show monopolizing my computer screen without interrupting my journaling potential.

10) Start Downsizing. Downsizing has actually been pretty fun this month. Clothes are easy. Clearing out the paper clutter is easy, too. But books. Books are always my downfall. But I've been playing a little game called "Who should this book go to?" And I've been having a blast mailing books off to friends. It's not like abandoning an old friend, but more like sending a puppy off to a deserving home.

Here's hoping February is both warmer and more energizing.

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