Jan 2014 - so far, so good

I have been a little worried about next week and how long it was going to feel. After weeks of one or two day work weeks followed by two or more days off, five whole days of work seemed long and daunting. But now I'm looking forward to it a bit too. After weeks of having weird schedules, Gwen is starting to act out more. She's more clingy at bedtime, gets frustrated more easily. I think she will be so much better off with her normal schedule back.

That said, the holidays have been fun. Gwen and I had New Years Eve off together, while Trav worked. We headed to see Gwen's first movie in the theater, Frozen. She loved the theater experience. The big seats, the popcorn, the big screen. She enjoyed the first part of the movie with its pretty scenery, dancing, and fun songs. But the later parts of the movie proved too much for my sweet girl. She bawled during one scene and spent the rest of the time in my lap, wrapped in my arms. Thankfully she appreciated the ending, and we spent some time cuddling and talking in the car before we left, so she was fine. However I don't think we'll be heading back to the theater until next NYE.

Gingerbread house with Auntie Ro.

That night we went to Ro and Pat's to hang out and watch the ball drop. Once again, Gwen was up until almost 11!! (Despite my efforts to get her down sooner. Hard when there are other kids not going to sleep yet.) Unlike last year though, she did not sleep in the next morning. Ugh.

We were very lazy on New Years Day, back to work/school on Thursday, then home for an impromptu work from home day (for both Trav and I) thanks to a storm that dropped a good 6+" and drove the temperatures down to a high of 19* (not including wind chills). While stressful, that day reminded me just how lucky we are to have a safe, warm house to call our own.

I was however, thanks to Trav's presence, very productive on Friday. That productivity seemed to have spilled over into the weekend as well. We used today to put away all of the Christmas stuff, and set up Gwen's new play tent (a Christmas gift). Trav did some work in the bathroom we've been wanting to do, and I fixed the button on his pants.

I also did yoga at home for the 3rd day in a row, which makes me happy. In the spirit of my pledge to be more authentic this year and cultivate the positive, I've been making a big effort to improve my home practice, which has been pretty lazy to date. I got an email about a 21-day challenge by my yoga online though, and thought it a great way to jump start things. I believe that 21-days is what they say it takes to make something a habit... either way though, its a great start. Yoga, you may have noticed, is something that makes me so happy and fulfilled. So adding it to my daily routine is a huge step towards a happier, healthier me. [If you are interested in checking it out, you can start anytime. And if you use my link to sign up, you get 2 weeks free: https://www.myyogaonline.com/invite/TattooedMeegs]

Another thing making me happy? Reading. I started Watership Down almost 2 months ago, but thanks to super busyness at work, holiday craziness, helping a friend read through his manuscript, etc. I put it down and had a really hard time picking it back up. I knew if I could just get myself to start again, I could read through it pretty quickly, but for some reason I just didn't. Well, Trav started reading the Hunger Games a few days ago and thanks to seeing him tear through that, I finally picked up W.D. again.

And promptly finished it in one night.

The next night I read through a novella from the Ender's Game series (a Christmas gift from my brother), and now I'm halfway through another of the books from that series! It feels so good to read again!! Three more books in that series, then its time to decide if I want to reread the Hunger Games trilogy, or reread Harry Potter first (for the 9th? time...)! Then its on to the large pile of unread books in my office, and in our home office! I have some damage to do, and I'm so excited to get to it! I have the feeling I'm going to be going through a LOT of books this year, and that makes me endlessly happy.

Small changes to begin the year. Very happy Meegs.  :-)

How has your New Year been so far?