This month is a month of birthdays in my family -- my mom, my dad, John and his nephew are all born in January. Needless to say there was a lot of celebrating. We started out with a picture perfect day in Omaha with my family. It was somehow 65 degrees and sunny so we ate brunch outside at Saddle Creek Breakfast Club and then spent the rest of the day at the Omaha Zoo. I haven't been there as a family in at least a decade so it was fun to see all our childhood favorites again with our parents. John's birthday was a low-key affair this year. His actual birthday was a Wednesday so we just carried on as normal, but on the Friday after we got takeout, made some drinks and a cake and watched Dazed and Confused because he was appalled I hadn't seen it before. What can I say? I've hardly seen any movies! The next day we met up with his family to celebrate both his birthday and his nephew's birthday with some sushi. It was my first time having vegetarian sushi, and it was delicious. I even think I like the veggie miso better! The last birthday celebration of the month is tonight with my family. We are having a joint dinner celebration for my mom, dad and John. We're brining a vegan paella, the rest of my family is making their own non-vegan food and we're all having the same cake recipe I made for John's birthday earlier because it was seriously the best cake I've ever baked. We always have very lively get togethers so I'm looking forward to it.
Unrelated to any birthday celebrations, I finally got to go out to dinner with my friends! We had been trying to arrange a holiday timed get together since prior to Christmas, but everyone's various illnesses and bad weather kept forcing us to cancel, even our grandma-status reservation of 4:30pm on a Sunday! Finally we were all healthy and warm again so we headed to a Monday night reservation at Sebastian's Table, an old favorite restaurant that recently reopened after years of being closed. If there's one thing my friends and I are good at it's racking up a sizable bill at tapas restaurants (or really any restaurant if we're being honest). I'm happy to confirm that the brussels sprouts are still delicious, the sangria is still just as good as ever and that their (vegan!) paella is fantastic. I don't get to see my friends a lot because we're all pretty busy with work and life and starting to get more and more spread out, but every time I do see them I have a fantastic time full of laughs and inappropriate jokes. I'm truly grateful for all of them.
Outside the social realm, I've been enjoying a few other random things this month. Just like last year, John and I are doing Yoga With Adriene's 30 day yoga series that she releases every January. We haven't been keeping up with every single day, but it's been so good to get back on the mat, start thinking about how I feel in my body and start to get some flexibility back. I am hoping we carry on the habit into the coming months. Alongside yoga, I have been doing workouts from Zanna Van Dijk's Sculpt Guide. I've really liked the structure and how you can choose you workouts each week. It keeps me from getting bored, and it's it's a nice boost of motivation to have a new workout guide to work my way through.
Another big change we tried out this month is Veganuary. I am quite pleased that it's actually been a lot easier than we thought it would be, especially when going out for meals. We found a lot of new favorite meals from this month's recipe adventure, discovered that pretty much all the veggie dishes we were eating at restaurants already are accidentally vegan and we're currently planning to remain vegan as much as possible from here on out!
Lastly, just some general feelings I've been loving. This month we've had several snow storms, and while that makes the outside unbearably cold, it also makes for a very beautiful, peaceful scene. I've been working at home a bit more because of the weather, and it's lovely to watch the snow fall while you're working. The home feels extra cozy and you get to enjoy all your favorite hearty meals like chili and casseroles. Just don't make me go out and scoop again please. The serenity of the winter wonderland outside also seems to have settled into me. I am feeling very at peace with just taking days to do nothing, or skipping a workout if I'm just too tired. We've been sleeping in a lot, breaking our routines more and just generally living how we feel rather than according to a plan. It's not how I typically feel at the beginning of the year (normally I'm raring to go with a to do list in hand), but I'm not mad about it. I've even somehow managed to make more decisions and plans for our wedding than at any point before this, as if somehow being more relaxed about everything has made my mind clearer about what I want, and more determined to actually make it happen. I'll take it!
Well that was quite the ramble. I hope you guys have a great last few days of the month, and I'll see you next time!
Post Comment
Post a Comment