February – Just a Dash

Hello!

14 more days until my birthday but I’m not counting…

I wanted to really push myself and see if I could make the lifestyle change with the no-white diet and more exercise but that’s not going as well as I hoped. I’m eating all of the Easter treats that are out already ~~and just killing my “less sweets” diet~~ since they aren’t here for the rest of the year. However, besides the treats I am more aware of what I am eating. I wanted to see a difference by my birthday provided I took it seriously from Feb 1st. I still have time, but I’d probably be killing myself if I really took it seriously now. After all I do want to enjoy food and treats on my birthday. As you are seeing, I look forward to my birthday, for several reasons.

A new year is just that for me, another year. However, my birthday signals adding another year to my age. It’s me accepting I’m getting older and I feel more motivated to say I did something during a certain age than to say I did it that year. For example, after turning 21 I got my first tattoo. I can’t tell you what year I turned 21, I don’t pay attention to those things, I more remember the age range or what I was doing with my life at that time than the year. I signal the change of a new year on my birthday, and luckily for me it’s in February, so not too far off from the actual new year :). My husband would fly off to Vegas in a heartbeat to celebrate his, but I rather have a more laid back experience for mine.

I’m able to ring in this new year however I please. No pressure and I am the Queen. Within my household back home, whoever was celebrating a birthday, did NOTHING for the day. We were all “slaves” to the person. So of course that day was milked!! No chores, no arguing with them, no insults and whatever was asked of you was done humbly without protest. Who wouldn’t love that? Obviously, I’ve transferred the “royalty” treatment to my husband and myself and if he isn’t complaining then it doesn’t require change :P.

Most of all, I like to use my birthday as a fresh beginning. I take the month to do a lot of introspection – whatever I didn’t like about myself or habits that were forming and take note of the changes to be made within the coming year. I only intend to get better with age. To look back and see a progression of good habits forming and looking after myself mentally and physically. No regression whatsoever.

How do you celebrate your birthday? Do you have a tradition? I believe in traditions and looking at your birthday as a true celebration of life and living it to the fullest.

We’re finally in the best month of the year!

I told myself I had to write a post at the beginning of the month and I’m sticking to it. January is gone, and even though I haven’t had the best diet, and moving towards a healthier one, I’m happy. ~~Hopefully I won’t get so happy it starts to show in chubbiness LOL.~~ I’m happy because, I wanted this year to be about more growth and it’s happening. I’ve got major stuff going on and it’s keeping me busy – a good kind of busy. I’m learning new things, being more observant and also not being stuck in the house with winter blues. Even though I’m unable to work legally, my husband is happy that I’m not and quite frankly, being a housewife is a full time job when you have to be on top of everything. Once I was comfortable up here, my husband passed off all of the household duties to me. I make sure the grocery shopping is done, handle most of the utilities, clean and play chauffeur as we really value our bonding time when I take him to work. Some days I’m so on top of everything that I just relax and I enjoy the calm before the storm. Everyone needs them. But those days seem to also be in the past for me as this year we have a lot to accomplish and I will be the person in charge of all projects and meetings etc.

My shoe addiction has also been pretty crazy recently… four pairs in about 2-3 weeks is a lot for me but one should never pass up a good sale! I know this month may be a little crazy for me shopping wise because the good ol stores in the great U.S of A. have this thing about sending you special offers for your birthday that I kind of feel obliged to take part in. I mean, who doesn’t like a treat for their birthday? This year I’m hitting that quarter century mark and even though it plays on my mind mentally I’m glad I’m still healthy for my age and even look younger (I just pray that at 30 I look like 25 LOL). Like most people, when I thought of hitting this mark, I had many ideas in mind for what I would’ve wanted to accomplish but I can say that I’ve tossed that out the door and I’m just happy to be blessed with the life I have. It’s obvious that life doesn’t go as we expect it to go and we should often revisit what our goals are for our next year of life should be. Don’t get me wrong, still plan your 5 or 10 year goals but when the time comes and you go over what you’ve actually accomplished, it’s also time to see how you’ve grown as a person and how that has affected the way you view your life.

When I was 16 I got my navel pierced and I said to myself: “when I get 25 I’ll take it out. By then I should have one or two kids and a mommy shouldn’t have a navel ring… and even if I don’t have kids, 25 is still old so it has to come out!”. Well look at life… I’m now turning 25 and I’m like “hell no this shit ain’t coming out now! I look better than I did at 16!!!” Hahahahah! I will take it out whenever that kid comes though. I know they say age is just a number, but I intend to age gracefully and that means knowing my limits. Even if I manage to have two kids and a 2-pack (again, I don’t believe women should have hard 6-packs) I will not be wearing a navel ring – I’ve moved on to another phase in life and I know what I want from it. I’m sure with most females, when your birthday rolls around you start to try to see what has changed physically in the last year to usher in this new year of more sagging. I’m in the gym (for now) and I ~~somewhat~~ welcome that sagging because something else should be lifting even if I can’t see it.

As for the birthday celebrations, I don’t have any plans for the day itself but I know I’m going to make the most out of this month. I’ll be kicking it off by hanging with some awesome people at my favorite bar on Sunday for the Super Bowl, and even though I don’t know who I’m supposed to be backing or even give a crap about it, I will enjoy the atmosphere and know that I’m blessed to be surrounded by people who make my life happier :). I’d also like to get a massage and a facial to feel rejuvenated and tell me 16 year old self “Suck it!” 😀 – and I’ll put on a dress and make-up and have my hair done and feel like “a million dollaz” and party hard after a nice dinner if my old self isn’t too tired LOL.

Lately I’ve been having a few fashion obsessions and I’m hoping that my birthday treats will somehow support them – stripes and coloured pants – and my yearning for Spring is the driving force behind it all as I can’t dress as I’d like to in this somewhat cold weather. It’s hard being a Caribbean girl in the Pacific NW, I’m thankful for the mild winters but cold is cold when you come from a tropical climate. Anyway, enough on the complaints. I think I’ll be posting a bit this month and I hope you continue to enjoy reading :).

Tag: February

February – New Beginnings

Let the Celebrations begin!