on the last day of the year I woke up in San Antonio and made myself get up and head out into the warmth and humidity. I went and got coffee and breakfast and then walked around letting my hair naturally curl in all of that humidity. It was thick and felt as if the world was going to open any moment and burst. San Antonio wasn’t the only place wanting to burst open that day. In the midst of winter everywhere else there in the southwest is a little oasis of something that feels a little bit like spring and even though it was just a few hours it did some good to walk around seeing Petunia’s all hung up against the back drop of Christmas.

Petunia’s are a reminder of Spring and Spring brings warmth to the cold winter bones and somewhere there is hope there in Spring. If there is anything I am rather persistent on holding out for hope. Hope for whatever this year brings, hope that another spring will come and summer will be long and wistful.

My crew ended the last day flying into Chicago and there we ended. Weather dictated that we where to celebrate there and so we huddled in our hotel lobby and the bar, talking mainly nonsense, playing pool and staying up passed our bedtimes and watching the fireworks outside our hotel.

I don’t really make resolutions for a new year, if I do I like to make them more for my birthday. It makes more sense to me then. I do though tend to do a few things to start the year out, reset with the winter months before spring comes and takes me back outdoor and I forgot myself. So a few of the things that I do like to do is:

No alcohol for the whole month of January. Last year I extended this all the way to April.

No social media for the whole month as well. No Facebook, instagram, YouTube. I have actually really enjoyed this and ended up not getting on social media until about May last year. I end up having more time to read, to focus on writing, I am less anxious and all around typically feel so much more relaxed. I will say that last year when I took myself off of instagram it refocused on how I used it and why I used it and what I was wanting out of it. Mostly it to be used specifically for this blog. I just don’t like having it be all consuming. Breaking from it helps my creativity, I will say I did start enjoying instagram a little more this last year. But…I am ready for another break from all of it. So you won’t see me there for the next month.

I also try to take out the excess sugars from my diet. I meal prep my meals for a good month making sure everything is just about home cooked. I make sure everything I cook is able to be frozen in the freezer and I have several meals to choose from for my work trips. I came across a couple different articles about how much sugar we here in the U.S typically consume and its rather alarming. click here. I am sure I will be going thru withdrawals the next couple of weeks. I’ll be making sure I get a good amount of protein in my diet to help ward off the snack crave while working, I will also be subbing tea for my lattes this month. I don’t like sugar in my teas or milks so this will be better if I can get it to stick.

Happy New Year!

with love,

jess