bohemian season: January and everything

Almost February? Already? Wow. Here's all the stuff about January. And everything.

I have January-itis right now. That condition where you made grand plans for the new year and then at the end of January realize that you and your oversized ambitions were insane and feel a bit depressed, you know?

I suppose I shouldn't be so hard on myself. I have the tendency to DREAM BIG and I keep forgetting that mothers of toddlers need to dream small and be ready to drop those dreams at a moment's notice and get down in the floor and have a tickle session. I'm still struggling with how to let things go and be okay with this season of life, this season of making messes and cleaning messes over and over in a circle.

This week Will got a cold and started climbing out of his crib for the first time. I thought my head was going to explode. Change is hard for me. I resemble a toddler more than I want to admit. We've got two toddlers living in this house and one of them is me. Uh-oh.

Speaking of Uh-Oh, that's my little guy's word lately. He's saying it and saying it. Which is good, because he doesn't say much we understand.

Bookish stuff (follow me on Goodreads if you want more)

Palace of Spies by Sarah Zettel - I really loved this book. I didn't expect to love it. It's YA. It's about British royal stuff a long dusty time ago. And the cover is really pink. But I ended up loving it beyond rational explanation.

Currently reading The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon. It had high marks on my library web site and got my attention. It's intriguing and different and kooky and weird - big on alternative world-building. It hasn't captured my heart yet, the characters - I just haven't fallen in love with them.

Reading The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. Whoah. This is an eye-opening book. It's a little slow for my book-crack-craving-brain these days. I find myself wanting the Cliff Notes. But there are valuable nuggets in here. The summary (so far, because I'm not done reading it yet):

Most of your life is an accumulation of your habits - stuff you do every day without thinking about it.
You don't think about your habits, you just do 'em. That is both scary and freeing.
Because if you can change your habits to positive ones, then you start going in positive directions, on auto-pilot, no struggling to "do your new year's resolutions". Sounds goooood, right?
And you CAN change your habits. Whoopee!
Now I just have to keep reading to hear how to do that…
Oh, and other interesting things you'll discover in the book - smart advertising people know how your habits work, and they're using it against you to get you to buy their stuff, over and over and over. Now when my new lipstick has a minty smell, I know why. If you want to know why, read The Power of Habit.

Reading The Heavy by Dara Lynn-Weiss. Oh ho ho, my friends, this book deserves a post all it's own. Let's just say:

I didn't go looking for this book. I stumbled across it at the library and it interested me.
It's about a mom who has an obese 7 year old and ends up putting her on a restricted calorie diet to get her to lose weight and move into the healthy range.
You get into interesting territory here, not only on body image, diet, etc, but also parenting.
I have a child who is in the high 90s percentage wise on the weight charts. This is something I've tried not to worry about, but honestly, I am kind of worried about as he hasn't grown out of it.
I have had body, weight, food issues since my teens. I have no idea what I weigh. I refused to know my own weight the ENTIRE time I was pregnant. I have no clue how much weight I gained or lost since then. I hate thinking about and talking about diets, calories, weight, etc. A number on the scale can send me into a tailspin.
And yet if I don't pay it some mind, my muffin tops threaten to take over the civilized world - or at least my jeans.
So this an interesting book. Full of controversy. And for me, because of the above facts, full of things to think about personally. Maybe I'll share more in a later post?

Girly stuff

Bling. I bought myself a Hippie Bling bracelet by Kim and Kozi and I love it. Silly things, but I love silly things.

Speaking of silly things, I really want some of this Mermaid perfume. How can one not, after this review on Making Magique?

Pedicures (the kind where someone else does them, and massages your legs and feet) are from heaven, don't you think? I got one this week with toes painted a shade of nude. I like nude polish lately. It feels beachy and bohemian, while also sophisticated and lady like and minimalist. Quite a change from my stoplight yellow and indigo blue polish days.

Ballet. I've been doing these Ballet Beautiful workouts featuring Mary Helen Bowers via Amazon Prime. They are so minimalist and white and sophisticated. I feel so ladylike. I get to fantasize about being a ballerina, when I'm the farthest thing from it. But oh, these workouts BURN.

(Also, am I the only one confused by the conflicting fitness advice? To "transform" the body, one group of people advise working the accessory muscles aka tiny underworked muscles in the body for long lean muscles without bulk. The other group advises doing heavy intense weight bearing exercise with the largest muscles of the body - gluteus maximus, yeah. Which one is best? Which one really works? I kind of think they may both be on to something, which is why I do kettlebells too.)

Try and stop me.

Sunday nights you can't peel me away from Downton Abbey and Monday nights you can't peel me away from The Bachelor. Well, I say that, but it's just been kind of "meh" so far. I'm waiting for the really crazy ladies to show their stuff. That IS why I watch The Bachelor, btw, for the crazy ladies. It's always useful to compare yourself to someone crazier than you, to be able to say "well… I'm not THAT crazy…"

Speaking of The Bachelor, if you're into it (ugh, like me) then you might like these Bachelor recap blog posts on Oh Jones.

I'm also addicted to Hart of Dixie and Reign on the CW. The CW could make a show about a talking monkey who goes to High School and I'd watch it. It's embarrassing. What is their demographic, like 12-25 year olds? Guess I'm young at heart. Anyway. Reign. Historically accurate? No. Plot? Ridiculous. Costumes? So much fun. And I like the cast. I mean really, Anne Shirley as the Evil Queen of France? And she's soooooo good too.

Bloggish stuff