January Retrospective

It feels like January 2013 has been a long month–I can’t believe there’s still a full work week to go in it. Days into the New Year, Dan got sick. My sister was here in Philly teaching yoga for three weeks and I did have the chance to catch up with her, but not as much as I would have liked. I did not eat all that many vegetables. My effort to drink less alcohol was an unmitigated failure, especially in the early weeks on the month, when I was feeling overwhelmed with anxiety and stress over work issues.  And then I caught a miserable cold. 

January has had its highlights, though. One weekend, I went to Baltimore to spend time with some of the most wonderful friends a crazy person like me could ever hope for. Here we are walking around the Inner Harbor on an unseasonably warm Saturday:

We walked, talked, and ate for the most part. That’s my kind of good time. We also checked out the American Visionary Museum which now ranks as my favorite museum-going experience ever. It’s really an uplifting, fun place. I want to go back to Baltimore to spend more time there.

I wrote various stories I am proud of. Some of them are out in circulation already, others will be published down the line. So I should not take that for granted. Even though I’ve been writing for my job for years now, I still realize how lucky I am to have found a way in this crazy business.

I’ve been cooking plenty–see above photo of roast chicken with kale salad. I borrowed this method to roast my bird and it turned out very juicy and full-flavored. It turned out so well, I plan to do it again later this week. The kale salad was hastily assembled so I can’t pass along that recipe.

I joined Good Reads a while back and I find it helps me read more. I recently finished Richard Ford’s Canada and liked it so much I went on to The Sportswriter, which I don’t like as much but feel like I must finish. You should friend me there to swap recommendations for reading.

Given the depth of these January blahs I’ve been feeling, I’m thinking of reviving those 30-day challenges I worked on during 2011. I have five to days to think it over for February, which has only 28 days so it seems like a good month to start.

Here are some of the ones I am considering:

• Write a daily 5-item gratitude list before bed
• 10 minutes of morning meditation
• Get up a half hour earlier–at 7 instead of 7:30
• Take a daily photo and post it here
• Three pages of longhand personal writing

Any opinions as to what would be the most beneficial? How is the New Year treating you?