Some people clean in the spring. I don't because let's be honest, I hate cleaning no matter what the season. My dream is to be rich enough to afford a house husband who can stay home and do all the cooking and cleaning so I don't have to. (But without the actually being married part because right now in my life I don't believe in marriage. House lifetime partner?) Though I don't break out the vacuum when nice weather hits, I'm not immune to that tantalizing rush of Change and New Beginnings that flows through the air--I find it more seductive than the other time of year when people love to plan Big Changes, aka January 1st. What new things have I been testing out then? As of a few hours ago...plants!
Maybe it's a tad pathetic that I'm proud of my ability to pick out plants at Home Depot and put them all in a pot together but look Ma, plants! I am not Green Thumb Girl. I am more like apathetic, I will have a garden if you do all the work just so I can get fresh vegetables Girl. Plants are a mystical confusing world that has never really interested me, though I can agree that they are pretty. Plus these ones thrive on neglect, according to the internet, which is perfect for me! I would have kids if kids also thrived on neglect! (Just kidding. That is why I have cats though.) I have to admit, I've been looking at pictures of succulents in cutely shaped planters after bringing home these babies and I am not against getting more. Waiting to make sure I don't kill the test batch first though!
I'm also halfway through my April Challenges! I meant to post about this on April 1st and here we are...13 days later... As I'm sure you've guessed, health and fitness challenges are my jam if I'm going to do any kind of personal challenge at all. See: Whole 30, Rugged Maniac, and so on. I felt like I was coasting and wanted to set myself a few challenges to push myself a little this month and hopefully ingrain some new habits. They aren't a very hard investment which is good since I am pretty busy in general right now and didn't want to feel overwhelmed.
- My first challenge is a Green Smoothie Challenge! I am pushing myself to drink 3-4 green smoothies a week. Currently I am on a kick of spinach, mango and pineapple smoothies but I have also done spinach and various berries. I have yet to branch out into other greens instead of spinach, though I did make one avocado, pineapple and coconut milk smoothie which still counts as green in my book. Once I found some good green smoothie tips and got my proportions all sorted out, this challenge came easy! No more swamp water concoctions for me.
- My second challenge is a Hula Hooping Challenge! One of my friends posted this hooping challenge to Facebook and I really liked it, but I can't commit to 30 minutes of hooping every day. Especially on days where I have a circus or pole class after work, by the time I get home I'm wiped out already! Instead I told myself I simply need to hoop every day this month, no matter what the time span. I haven't hooped in a long time so just getting in the groove regularly is really helpful, even if I'm only managing to do it for 10 minutes! Unfortunately...I already technically failed this one since I missed a day last weekend. :( Completely forgot about it. One mistake doesn't mean giving up and I'm soldiering on to finish it with a 99.9% success rate.
- The final challenge is a Squat Challenge! This one was not planned originally, but a fitness group on Ravelry I'm a member of is doing a group squat challenge for April and I couldn't resist joining in. When the month is out, I'll have completed 2,035 squats--yowza! I am mostly doing them with just bodyweight, but if I happen to be in the gym doing squats on the same day as challenge squats are assigned, my back squats count towards the day's challenge total I decided. Mostly because if I do a bunch of squats in the gym I am not re-doing them all again at home later.
Other new things: took an aerial rope workshop yesterday; just started watching Mad Men; changed the background on my phone. (Scintillating, I know.)
What's new in your life?