Technically, anyway. It’s still a tad blustery in NYC, but spring just happened, so cheers to that…I may or may not have wandered into the makeup aisle when I went to stock up on allergy meds yesterday. Nothing like a seasonal impulse buy. I wish my insurance covered pick-me-ups like lip-stain. 

These boots are worn the f*** out

Even if the temperatures suck, the lighting situation is definitely improved. I love that it’s so much brighter out. While out running errands, I spied a few budding plants. Signs of life!

The start of a new season seems like a good time to check in with those new years resolutions and see which ones are worth keeping with, which ones to chuck, and which ones to get started on already. It’s also a good time to see if there’s anything you need to focus on that didn’t occur to you in January. Not that January 1st is the only time to make resolutions, but since so many of us do, it’s a good jumping-off point. 

My 2013 aspirations as of January 1st were:

• Integrate more mindfulness-based practices (qi gong, meditation classes) into my life—I’ve kept up yoga and short, daily meditations, but so far haven’t gotten to qi gong or any classes. Definitely want to get on this.
  
• Work on becoming more open and continuing to make room for those good, right things I started making room for in 2012—I’m not sure I really know what “those good, right things” are anymore, but I’m okay with evolution and the idea that sometimes you go through a foggy in-between time where you have no idea what you want. For example, I can’t whether going on a lot of first (and second, and sometimes third) dates helps or hurts, but I suspect it at least teaches you to recognize what you don’t want.
• Get outside more—so far so good! Looking forward to more outside time in the months to come!
• Eat more ginger—I was doing really well with this in January, but then I stopped craving ginger so much and figured maybe the need had had been met.

If I could add a new resolution, it would be to work more on clearing my mind and addressing certain knee-jerk fears I have that I think hold me back in some areas. Conveniently, some of the above resolutions are a great way to do this. The intention is just slightly different.

As far as career goals go, I already passed my RD exam and am a couple months shy of being done with my MS. Next things are to find a full-time (or even part-time) clinical job because I miss working in a fast-paced environment and would like to learn a little more on my feet before transitioning towards seeing only private clients. I have some fun writing projects in the works, but I find it hard to focus on them when I spend all day writing other stuff and continuously looking for new writing work.

So time will tell.

The culinary spring-cleaning continues. I’m also toying with the idea of banning myself from buying certain standbys for a few weeks in favor of different ingredients, if only to get out of a rut. I think eating the same basic things the past few months is messing with my qi! Haha I’m only half-kidding. Or only a third-kidding.

One habit I’m planning to stick to in 2013 is making a point to eat red meat once or twice a month to replenish those iron stores. Besides, things like steak are much more enjoyable when they’re a once-in-a-while thing.

My dad would laugh at how little this steak is, but hey…

Mostly, I just wanted an excuse to show a picture of a sweet potato that kind of looks like a heart.

Everything else aside, I really have one main concern: WHEN CAN I WEAR A FREAKING SUNDRESS?!

Did you make any resolutions this January? Any spring resolutions?