What Went On in January 2016

The first month of a new year – I am a big fan of January! I get excited thinking about what might be in store in the year about to unfold and it always feel like it’s full of possibility.

And a fresh start calls for a fresh haircut, right? So, I chopped all my hair off. 🙂 I was going for Rachel MacAdams from True Detective (you know, the kind of hair that looks better the messier it is).

When I say, ‘I chopped all my hair off,’ I mean that literally. *I* chopped it off. I was all of a sudden fed up with my long, style-less, heavy mane and googled “how to cut your own hair”.

I can be a little impulsive. Thank goodness it wasn’t a disaster! (I’ve had a disaster many years ago, when I tried to go blonde by myself. You can’t do that when you’re a brunette, fyi).

This year started out on a healthy high note – we decided to do a dry January, which worked out great for me, since I was doing Laura from Mommy Run Faster’s 21-day Runner’s Reset. Check out what I learned about nutrition, as well as what I learned about running during the reset. I was steering clear of wheat, so I dug out this quinoa pasta I’d had in my cupboard for ever, one night when my menfolk were clamoring for pasta. A long time ago I wrote about quinoa pasta versus whole wheat pasta – let me tell you, I never would have guessed this wasn’t wheat if I didn’t know. See if you can find this brand if you’re celiac or gluten-free, because you’ll love it!

Part of the Runner’s Reset was also strength training – I busted out some resistance bands, my BOSU, dumbbells and more for some at-home workouts! My favorite was a HIIT workout I made up on the fly when I had 30 minutes to spare one evening. I basically did body-weight strength moves, with 1 minute of fast cardio (skaters, jumping jacks, etc) between each set. So fun and the time flew by.

This month was also filled with running – building my base for marathon training, which I’m starting this month. It’s so lucky we’re having such a ridiculously mild winter from the El Nino/climate change perfect storm, because winter training is considerably easier when it’s so mild. (And I feel guilty enjoying the perks of a global crisis, but I can’t pretend I’m unhappy it’s not negative-crazy-cold out.)

Roman even joined me one day for a few running ‘races’ on a snowy trail. That boy LOVES snow. And running! (And mama loves an easy bedtime when he’s worn out from running in the snow.) Everybody wins! 🙂

(Also, those are new thermal Spandits tights – they’re lined and much warmer. Showers aren’t quite so stingy/painful after running in them! Remember, you can use the code SPANDITSLOVE for 10% off at their website, since I’m an ambassador).

I had a little bit of sunshine in the way of an enormous box of citrus fruit mailed to me from my friend/past Brooklyn client who spends winter in CA. I love getting this winter care package from her every year! Grapefruit is one of my favorite fruits.

This month we also had some lovely visitors! First up, I got to see Christine! I was so, so excited to get a text from her that she and her family would be stopping in Burlington on their way back from a ski weekend. We met up for lunch and it was so wonderful to see her. I do miss all my NYC girlfriends and I miss my coffee dates with Christine!

Fran’s cousin Ann and her partner Alberto came to visit, as well. We live a lot closer to them now we’ve moved to VT, so we will be able to see more of them now. They’re both artists and I’m excited to go visit them and see their work and Ann’s studio. Here they are with the boys. Tanner was super happy about having those glasses on! 😉

And January is a very special month in our little family, since it’s our big boy’s birthday month! This year Roman turned 4 – I am not sure how I have a 4-year old, but somehow I do and he had a wonderful, Lego and Star Wars filled birthday! I also made a cake for the occasion. This was a big deal for me – I don’t think I’ve baked a cake since I was a kid, with my mum’s assistance. Some Facebook crowd-sourcing took place when I realized I had a weird-sized pan that no recipe called for, but the end result was pretty damn good, if I do say so myself! Pinterest was the source of the idea to do a construction-site theme – I also figured if I screwed the cake up somehow, turning half of it into ‘rubble’ would mask its imperfections.

Baby T also had one of his monthly ‘birthdays’ – I love doing these monthly photos of him. I did the same with Roman and it’s amazing to see how much they grow in 12 months. Here is my 27-pounder at 9 months:

Finally, my friends, I will leave you with one piece of advice to close out the month…back up. Back up, back up.

How was your January? Did you have a fresh start to the new year, or did it feel like a bit of a letdown after the December holidays?