Sick day, foggy day

It's been one of those weeks where the weather seems to mimic my physical state. After getting home from a week-long trip to Texas to visit Matt's family and some of our friends, I promptly developed a sinus infection that has kept me housebound most of the week. I must say, there's something that feels sinful about staying home from work three out of five days the week I get back from vacation.

The good news is that I've been fairly productive while I've been home. Wednesday I organized the kitchen (somewhat) and today I made a homemade tomato cheddar soup that ought to feed Matt and me for the next six weeks. The kitchen thing is a little frustrating. I want to do so much with it, and our entire apartment for that matter, in terms of decoration and design, but knowing that we'll only be here a few more months makes that prospect seem pretty unattractive and too involved. Also, there's only so much you can do with this much wood paneling and seventies decor. I tend to hit a wall pretty quickly when I start decorating here. Suggestions?

My productivity has been sandwiched between long bouts of sitting on the couch sipping hot chocolate and listening to Freakonomics Radio, reading my most favorite blogs, Instagraming like a mad woman, and taking daily naps (I'm going to miss those next week). Oh, I also haven't showered or put on actual pants in like three days. This might be okay if I hadn't ventured out into the world at all but I've had to refill my stockpiles of supplies for my stay-cation. I really didn't need to divulge that information, but over-sharing has seemed to be one of the side effects of this infection (just ask Matt about my proclamation about mucus the other morning. Ah, I'm sorry!)

Okay, I could ramble on for days but Bravo isn't going to watch itself now, is it?

Slouching Towards Progress

I sat down today and made a list of things that I want to do/improve upon this year. I guess it might be a little late for resolutions, but I don't want to think of these as resolutions, per se, since that word tends to conjure up visions of lofty goals that get abandoned by mid-January (I guess I've avoided that debacle by making my list in mid-January ;). I'll instead look at this list as a set of aspirations, many of which I've already made some headway on, or are things I used to do regularly but have slacked on for one reason or another. I'm sure there will be many new aspirations to add throughout the year, but I'll start here.

- Read more (for pleasure) (I'm already off to a good start with this one since I finished a few books last week on our Texas trip.)
- Write more. Writing has been so therapeutic for me throughout my life, so I'm not sure why I tend to forget or ignore that fact.
- Keep eating healthily and move towards an even healthier diet. Keep the focus on whole foods rather than a particular diet or health trend. (Matt is off to a great start with this one by weaning himself off of Diet Coke. I've been doing... okay. A case of sinusitis has temporarily thrown the progress I've made under the bus. But I'll get back to it as soon as my head doesn't feel like it might explode at any moment.)
- Take more photos. Not just with my phone, but my camera! (I never thought I'd have to remind myself to do this.)
- Organize/decorate the apartment. (Real Simple Magazine, be my guide!)
- Keep growing out my hair (Okay, these are starting to feel kind of shallow. Whatever.)
- Clean out my closet
- Get more creative and daring with fashion. (Being a student has taken its toll on my wardrobe and desire to be stylish. But I feel I can revive my formerly fashionable self.)
- Move somewhere new (Austin, probably.)
- Avoid any and all marathons on Bravo such as, but not limited to, The Real Housewives of (wherever), Gallery Girls, and/or Million Dollar Listing.
- Get involved in the community. I've taken a bit of a hiatus from this to focus on self-care the past few months, but I feel ready to get back out there.
- Attempt container gardening once again (in what will hopefully NOT be one of the hottest summers on record in Kansas).
- Use the stove/oven more and microwave less. (Use the fact that things kept inexplicably catching fire in the microwave yesterday as motivation.)
- More tea, less coffee.

Wish me luck.

Along these same lines, you should check out the most recent This American Life episode, "Self Improvement Kick", especially if you love Elna Baker as much as I do.