Spring arriving!
I decided to start anew, to strip away what I had been taught.
- Georgia O'Keefe
This is what I feel like I'm doing. I've changed a bit in the last couple of weeks. And, to be honest, I feel better. I'm not saying that I wasn't feeling well before, but a recent change definitely is bringing me back to myself. I recognize me again, if that makes any sense. Not that I didn't think I was being myself before, I just wasn't altogether contented with some of my choices.
Anyway, I'm trying to be healthier, for one thing. Not that the last couple of days has been the best example - staying out partying and drinking late. But in general, I'm running and keeping to my schedule pretty well. I'm being conscious of food choices (and allowing myself to slip and not being too hard on myself when I do) (mmmm, poutine...). I'm even getting back to doing yoga first thing in the morning.
So I just got back from my 6km run today. I followed a route that my running trainer made for our long run on Wednesday. She made it for 8km, but I cut off the last two K again (as my running partner J and I did on Wednesday night), feeling content that I had done a good run. Now I'm hydrating, and I have more lovely afternoon left.
As I was running, I came across some distinctly spring smells - mainly that of warming, stale, half-rotted mud. The cardinal is singing his mating song, staking out his territory in our backyard. The scuds of snow are crystallized and slowly melting, and the exposed ground is dusty dead grass - the limp, light brown of ground just being exposed to the sun again. Puddles are scattered across sidewalks, crossing perpendicular to the flow of traffic, no footprints leading up to them, but trails of shoe-prints running away from them. The wet mucky ground off to the side of the pathways are sticky and dark brown, churned with feet as pedestrians or runners give right of way to oncoming fellow foot-traffic. And the gutters of the street are filled with gravel, sand, dried crusts of salt and stubborn icebergs of snowdrifts with their layer of dirt defending them from the onslaught of sun and warmth.
In honour of spring arriving early, I need to figure out what kind of nice meal I'll make tonight. One of the first things I did this morning was prepare a base for salad (i.e. washed and shredded some lettuce). I still have to head to the store to pick up my necessities for breakfast-making this week, so the possibilities are only limited by what I can buy at the store to supplement my already well-stocked pantry (as observed by my friend S this week). My friend D intrigued me by discussing falafel yesterday, so I've been looking at recipes. I'd prefer to make it by hand rather than a mix, because it seems so simple. Perhaps that is what I'll do - make (baked) falafels and quinoa tabbouleh. That will be lovely and fresh, and full of protein (something my friends L and R think I may be lacking... I have to check my dietitian book again). And that will let me use up my parsley as well. Unfortunate that I don't have any pickled turnips or eggplant though.
Well, off to enjoy the rest of my lovely afternoon. Hope you do too!