Happy Monday & Happy March!  I wanted to share some tidbits from my life last week as well as an accompanying photo recap with selections from my Instagram feed with you.  Here’s the buzz:

It may be March now, but it’s certainly still winter here in the midwest!  We saw a bit more snow and a lot of frosty wind chills last week.  Winnie and I don’t mind fresh snow, but I can feel my enjoyment/tolerance of winter starting to slip as we enter March.  This happens to me every year, so I’m not surprised.  March is my least favorite month of the year in the Chicagoland area.  It’s usually pretty bleak, grey, cold, and altogether dreary.  Don and I usually plan an escape vacation sometime in March, but we’re home bound this year.  I started pulling up pictures the other day of our 2010 trip to Bora Bora that we took in celebration of our 5th wedding anniversary.  Just because we’re not physically going anywhere warm and sunny this month doesn’t mean I can’t daydream about it!  Just looking at that crystal blue water makes me feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside, even if just for a moment.  I’ll take it! 🙂

One of the reasons we’re not traveling this March is because we’re both quite busy between work and other tasks that require our presence in Illinois.  I personally experience a lot of joy in a busy schedule as long as there is a healthy balance between work and play.  It can be hard to rationalize making time for personal pleasures when my to-do list is growing longer by the minute, but ultimately I’ve learned I am far more productive (not to mention happier) when I give myself some time each day to do something that isn’t on that list.  For instance, Don had a work thing one evening last week, so I took the opportunity to glitter some clothespins for the magnetic strips I hang snail mail on in my office.  I realized halfway through the process that it had been ages since I’d glittered anything and I was having so much fun doing something so simple and, for lack of a better word, frivolous.  Sure, I could have taken that time to work on more pressing things, but after putting in a full day in front of the computer I really needed a break.  Crafting is one of my favorite things to do when I want to totally take my mind off everything else.  I highly recommend glittering something if your brain is feeling a bit fried!

I try to find other small ways to break up my normal winter routine to help fend off the March blues.  For example, I started incorporating one of my favorite warm weather breakfasts back into my rotation.  I usually eat a hot breakfast that consists of eggs during the winter months.  Last week I started eating Greek yogurt with berries and granola again.  This might seem kind of silly, but it’s actually quite effective in my experience.  Taking time to notice and appreciate small changes around me helps as well.  I was delighted to find my Christmas cactus in full bloom last week.  I had brought it down from my bedroom a few weeks ago to repot it and kept putting it off.  The result was a bounty of bight pink blossoms!  Sometimes we just need a change of scenery to start blooming again.

Spending time with my loved ones is another way I like to “get away” without traveling.  It was another family fun focused weekend for us!  I co-hosted a potluck style appetizer party with my sister in law for my mother in law’s birthday on Saturday.  I am planning on sharing more about that in an upcoming Party Prep video later this week.  Making the party potluck style took the pressure off of us to prepare everything while providing a nice variety of food in an interactive way with the family.  It was relaxed and oh so fun!  On Sunday, we went to see La Cage Aux Folles at the Marriott Theatre with my folks.  I’ve always been fond of the movie and found the show to be just as entertaining.  Afterwards we shared a scrumptious meal together at our favorite local Italian restaurant, Tuscany.  A busy yet somehow relaxed weekend like this one filled with all fun things is a nice break from the daily weekly routine.

These are some of the ways I’m managing to transition to spring and a renewed vibe even without the weather’s compliance.  I’d love to hear what you do to switch things up and “escape” without leaving home if you care to share!
Take good care…

* This is not a sponsored post.  All opinions are genuinely my own. *