Lemme get off the soapbox, gimme a second... one stiletto at a time here...
Anyway, I've got to say with this March going out like a lamb (or a purring kitten, whichever) it does so almost mercifully. If you, glorious reader, were to take this March and compare it to (my) last March, you'd see a stark contrast. No one moved, no one died, and no one sprained their ankle so bad it could still be felt a full year later as the "twinges of nostalgia" of a St. Patrick's day gone awry. No boys to confuse my ideally romantic mind, no worries about coming up with money to pay for a new lifestyle, and certainly no worries about my weight.
I'll have the jury omit that last statement from the record, thank you.
Karaoke Night
In the end it was sust a simple, easy, breezy, beautiful (Covergirl) month that started with a lot of snow and ended with a day in the mid-50's. Take what you can get and make the most of it, yeah?
Naked and Famous concert in Madison
The month started with The Oscars and two of my bests (@markstyleme and @caitcd) getting engaged, though obviously none of those three things in any particular order of importance. I mean, c'mon... we all know how I feel about movies; the full trailer for Maleficent practically sent me into hysterics. And though there was the initial shock of the engagements, and the subsequent "Well what about me?" speech I internalized until blogging about it, now I couldn't be happier for all parties involved. And if it gets me in a suit, who am I to complain anyway?
::tosses hair::
It did certainly get me thinking about where I was a year ago at this time. I mean, last year when I wrote the update it was a two-parter about how St. Patrick's day kicked essentially the worst week of my life. Honestly, I can't even fathom that shit happening again in such close proximity because having one thing after another, both physically and emotionally, I almost couldn't take it. So really this year was like... the best March ever? It more than held a candle to last year, it torched it.
Naked and Famous
And that also isn't to say that anything truly remarkable happened this month, because it didn't. The massive Sandhill cranes came back to the apartment complex to wreak havoc on sliding glass doors and cars they can see their reflections in, my hair finally reached a length that my bangs can be pulled back into a 'lil baby ponytail, and I saw the Naked and Famous again with @markstyleme. But like I mentioned before, I didn't leap like a fairy through a parking lot at midnight and bust my ankle, I didn't have another grandparent pass away (aren't any left, natch) and I've already moved out and didn't feel like continuing the almost yearly tradition of "onward and upward!"
Evil Devil Bird from Hell
But the concert was fantastic, the birds will go away soon enough, and my ponytail will get longer. Look at this optimism! Hey-o! I finally got off my ass and stopped thinking about exercising and actually started doing it. 2012 saw a shift in me as I got into shape for the first time in my life, and sadly by the end of the year I had lapsed on all of my improvement tricks. I'm the poster child for laying in bed at night and thinking "I'm gonna get into such AMAZING shape that my six-pack could grate CHEESE! After I get some sleep though..." and then miraculously that feeling doesn't exist in the morning.
In the morning, the feeling as I stumble into the bathroom without a shirt on and look into the mirror is "Meh, good enough." The big deterrent for getting in shape is the soreness, and that part never gets any easier. So I started with the pushups (10 of them... holy shit, stop the press...) and the ab-wheel (I call it that because I don't know the name, but it's not that gimmicky "6 PACK IN 6 DAYS!" kind of thing (only got 10 extensions in as well (best not to over-do it...))) And while I wasn't sore the next day, the day after that I was HELLA sore. But as the days go on and you start exerting a little more effort, you start going further.
It's been two weeks and I'm up to 30 push-ups (although the last 10 are on my knees (at least I'm trying!)) and 30 of the ab-wheel extensions. Which I'm actually proud of, because in 2012 I never pushed myself past 20 so that's something. Today when I left Starbucks I thought to myself "You should start running today. If you're sore, just get it all out of the way now." So I went home and figured out how to put iTunes playlists on my Galaxy SIII (only took me two years to figure that one out, what a dick) then laced up and took off.
When all is said and done, I've started running again and I've started exercising again, getting the initial soreness our of the way and paving the road to what I hope will be a better looking body. And even if it doesn't look better, maybe it will feel better. Because that whole "true beauty is on the inside" bullshit might actually hold sway. Who knew? You're only as good as you feel, or young as you feel if I want to be more accurate. We can always do with feeling a little better and a little younger.
Right now my knees disagree.
Finally I would just like to note something @klreynol sent me earlier in the month. I'm not the kind of person that gives compliments out "just because;" I never have been, who knows if I ever will be. I think of compliments and I think of nice things to say, but I rarely hand them out willy-nilly. It's not the worst thing in the world, there are people who do it and people who don't, but I wish I could be better about it. In particular, I need to be better about sharing my gratitude to the people who know me at my core. My values, what I believe in, etc. etc., because when they do something that hits me at just the right time and in just the right way, mountains should be moved for them in return.
She sent me that when I was feeling particularly low this month, either knowing it or not. It looked different when she sent it to me and I recreated it to "gussy it up" if you will, but the words hit me like a truck. And they not only got me to smile and feel a little bit stronger in a way I can only describe as "in my heart," those words got me to turn to my book and attack it with a fervor sorely missing the last couple months. I want to talk so much about my book but I really do have to let that blog simmer a bit longer. Good things come to those who wait and it will be a good one. I pinkie promise!
It's not that I think I'm a hero, I in fact think I am far from it. And it's also not that I believe she looks at me as a hero, because whether she does or does not, that isn't the point. The point is that you aren't the villain for having feelings, and sometimes I think we all need to be reminded of that. And @klreynol? Whenever I can, I will move mountains for you. After almost 16 years of friendship, that should be a given; soulmates or not (c;
So what else happened in March? I thought Paolo had allergies or something worse because he licked bald spots on his tummy, but it turned out he was constipated and gave birth to an 11 inch turd (you're welcome.) The zipper on my favorite jeans broke, started stalking (I use the term loosely... hehe...he) someone I've had the hots for for a long time, and celebrated being 3 years single (not because of the stalking, mind you.) Discovered I could be "signed off on" as a General Manager for my company WITHOUT having to move right away, nailed a contest at work to the proverbial wall, and for the first time (hopefully not the last) had a friend commission me for a painting.
All in all it was a great month, and with midnight tonight comes the end (in my eyes (nevermind Spring already started)) of winter. It was rough, it was ugly, but the sweet can never be as sweet without the sour. Toodles gang (c:
