Hey guys!
So, there are a few Valentine’s Day traditions that Ryan and I have had for the past four years, and last night was no exception. They include gifts, a nice dinner, and me complaining about how UNattractive I feel due to the winter blahs.
For some reason, right around Valentine’s Day, I REALLY start feeling gross. I can always tell that I’ve gained a few pounds (hello, tight pants. Guess I’ll just be wearing my pj pants to the dinner table again), and I just feel all around gross. Obviously the awful weather that we’ve been having has only made this worse—I feel like I haven’t been outside in so long (other than our snowshoeing adventure on Saturday)! I just hate living somewhere where you feel stuck inside all the time—I’m a pretty outdoorsy person…but I also hate the cold! It puts me in a bad place, and in a bad frame of mind. I can’t WAIT for spring!
But, last night, I was thinking more about it, and I thought, “I do this EVERY year, and every year I find something to blame for my blahs other than myself.” I blame it on the bad weather, on stress, on winter in general, when the truth is, I make the decision to stay inside. I make the decision to watch two (three?!?) hours of television at night. I make the decision to eat when I’m bored but not hungry, and I make the decision to keep things like sugar in my diet.
I guess I had a little wakeup call: yes, winter sucks, but there are things that I can do to make it either more sucky or more tolerable, and from now on, I’d like to focus more on the latter.
In that spirit, this morning, instead of lounging around in my pjs for a few hours like I normally do, I hopped out of bed, got bundled up, and took Ella on a nice 30 minute walk around the neighborhood. Yes, it was cold, but it warmed up pretty quickly, and it felt so good to get moving right away and to just be outside. I can’t change my environment, but I can change the way I interact with it, and instead of hiding away indoors and pretending that winter isn’t here, I’d like to try to find ways to get out more. The walk with Ella this morning was a good start.
Plus, once I got back, I was all warmed up, so I decided to go ahead and get my workout in for the day. I had a great run on the treadmill, plus a 10 minute toning segment, all before 8:30!
I was feeling so energized, I knocked out the rest of my grading, started some loads of laundry, and mopped the floors—and I didn’t even have coffee this morning! I definitely believe that if you start the day off with a burst of energy and activity, that will carry on through the rest of the day…or at least the morning!
Anywho, after my busy morning, I was more than ready for some lunch by noon! My lunch was easy and delicious:
Ezekial wrap with laughing cow and tempeh (I’m loving this combo!), plus a few cherry tomatoes, along with an “immunity blend” of Green Giant frozen veggies (I like these!), and some carrot sticks.
When I finished up, I was still hungry, so I’m eating some Oikos as I type for dessert:
Well…we’re actually under ANOTHER winter weather advisory right now, and I think we’re supposed to get about 6 inches tonight and tomorrow. I’m looking out my window, and sure enough, the snow is falling…again! WILL IT EVER END?!?
Do you have the winter blahs as bad as I do right now? What do you do to fight them?
See ya for dinner!
OH!!! And, I wanted to say: if you have a blogger blog, I have been trying to leave comments, but have been having tons of trouble!!! None of the blogger blogs will let me leave a comment. 
So I guess, even if you don’t see my comments, know that I’m reading!
