In honor of Groundhog's day, and Punxsutawney Phil assuring us that spring is just around the corner, here's what I've been doing lately to try and boost my mood:
1. Spring Cleaning
It may not sound like much fun, but I swear there aren't many things that make me happier than a home that is freshly cleaned from ceiling fan to baseboard. And since this is something that's usually associated with late March / early April, just the act of doing it made me feel like it was springtime. It didn't hurt that the weather wasn't totally freezing, so I was able to open the patio door and let in some fresh air while vacuuming!
2. Fresh Flowers
Well Tom gets more credit for this than I do, since he's the one buying them, but they definitely help boost my mood. Lately Tom's been spoiling me with flowers so often, when he walked in with them yesterday, my first reaction was "But I already HAVE flowers!" (I actually didn't - I'd thrown them away the day before in the middle of my spring cleaning, which he'd remembered and I'd forgot!) I think Maia's enjoying the fresh flowers too, judging by the teeth marks on the leaves...
3. Getting Outside
This should be easier considering the weather has been okay lately, but I can't remember the last time I've taken a lunch break, and the walk to and from the T just isn't cutting it. This weekend Tom and I spent a bit of time outside, and even took a nice drive with the windows down! (Who cares that my seat heater was on - it still counts!). I had plans to go for a run outside too, but that one never happened. Goals for this weekend!
4. Baking Yummy things
Although this is more of a winter activity, just baking something new usually is enough to make me happy. This weekend I started off thinking I was going to make brownies, but I wasn't really in the mood for chocolate, so I settled on a blondie. Then to compound the happiness, I decided it needed some Maple Syrup. Yum. (Please come over and eat them. I make them, but I only ever want to really eat one or two...)
5. Focusing on Happy Things
So Nicole bought us both a 52 Lists journal that has a list we're supposed to fill out each week. They range from goals for the upcoming year, to favorite characters in books and TV shows. We're both slacking a bit right now (which is probably not a good idea considering we're only a month into 2016) but the list we're both working on now is a list of our happiest moments in our lives thus far. While this has definitely been harder than I expected it to be (so many years and memories to sort through!), it's been forcing me to think about things that do and have made me happy in my life.