February is here! Which is good and bad. Good, because February brings what the Swiss call “Sport Holidays” (where a lot of people go skiing, but the idea of paying lots of money to be surrounded by snow and freezing temperatures and having to wear puffy overalls all day long doesn’t appeal to me in the least), which for us means sleeping in, going ice skating, and letting the girls play in the snow for hours while I curl up with a good book and a cup of hot tea or dream of warm weather while looking and the new Spring/Summer collections.
Unfortunately February also brings Fasnacht, which is kind of like Halloween, except without the scary stuff.
And without the trick-or-treating.
Ok, it’s not very much like Halloween at all unless you include the fact that people get dressed up.
And play jokes on people, albeit without the option bribing them with a treat.
So basically it’s mostly awful, except for the costume parades and the floats, which can sometimes be fun.
Not so fun? The sandstorms of confetti. Oh, and the marching band playing loudly while touring the the city very early in the morning on the first day of Fasnacht.
February also means a brand new set of New Month’s Resolutions. But first, let’s see how I did on last month’s:
1. Going to bed by 10 pm: except for a couple of nights, I did pretty good. And almost by magic, I noticed I was in a better mood. Which reminds me of when I got 6 hours of sleep for the first time after Stella was born, and woke up in the mornign sounding more like Mary Poppins than like the b*tch from hell I had been in the previous months of sleep deprivation. Ah, good times.
2. No sugary coffee drinks: I am proud to say that I stuck to this the whole month! No caramel macchiato nor vanilla latte crossed my lips, mainly teas and cappuccinos. Yay me. I bet getting more sleep helped a little with the sugar cravings, too. So what if I found out that the tea lattes I though were such a better choice also include flavor shots? I didn’t know it when I started ordering them, so it totally doesn’t count. No it doesn’t. Don’t be such a stick in the mud.
3. All the basic household chores will get done before I sit on the computer: … and here’s where all my sense of accomplishment comes crashing down. SHocker, right? I bet you had a wager running on this one. Can I get in on that action? If I have to once again debase myself by showing the world I am still very much The Unlikely Housewife, there may as well be something in it for me. Aside from time in front of the computer.
Let’s move on, shall we? It’s not like I’m going to run out of stuff to get done any time soon.
So, I know I wasn’t blogging during my time in Switzerland pre-NY, but woulnd’t you say I am fairly well-adjusted? Sure, I have moment of… you know, when the crazy spills out a bit. But I am not I a total basket case, right? (pssst! this is where you say “No, of course not, darling” as my husband does)
Anyway, despite me no longer being all pouty and It’s not fair about living in Switzerland , I don’t quite have it together on all fronts. Or many fronts, really. Or almost any. Case in point: home decor.
Our place is furnished, but it feels unfinished. There isn’t one room that feels… you know, done. It’s high time I inject the place with a bit more personality, so this month I’m going to
1. Make a detailed plan for each individual room and get started on it.
Of course I won’t be finishing the whole apartment in one month, but as we say in Italian “With a good start, you are half done” (corollary: as long as you don’t lose momentum.)
At the very least I’ll finally get around to framing and hanging some lovely photographs (Audrey Hepburn! NYC!) I bought a while ago and left piled up in the home office until now.
Another thing I haven’t gotten around to since we moved back is getting my agenda and appointment calendar in order. With the exception of the English book swap I organize once a month and the visits to the dentist (scheduled by my husband, can’t take credit) a year has passed by with me constantly forgetting to schedule regular checkups for me or the girls, and leaving hair appointments until the last minute (read: when I start to look like Madam Mim). That is about to change, because this month I will
2. List out all overdue visits/checkups/appointments, schedule them, and create a system so they are never skipped or forgotten for too long again.
You’d think an organizing freak would have it together on this kind of stuff.
And the time has come to tackle a kind of trite resolution topic: exercise.
In spring, summer and early fall I keep pretty active, because I spend a lot of time outdoors, walking around Zurich sightseeing and looking for opportunities to take pictures, hiking with my family, playing outside with my daughters. But when the cold season rolls around I just want to go into hibernation. That’s a bad habit. So this month I vow to
3. Start exercising again, at least 20-30 minutes five times a week.
But not that. Most likely it’ll be in the comfort of my own warm, cozy, snow-free home.
What about you? What are you going to tackle in February?
Picture credits: 1. & 2. DigsDigs and Stylizmo, via WeHeartIt; 3. Shape magazine
Lovely new graphic for the New Month’s Resolution challenge series courtesy of Pokidots. Used with artist’s permission.
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