Happy Monday and good morning! A new week again, and the first one of March, which makes me very happy indeed.

The weather has improved quite a bit these days in London, with the sun shining and the temperatures rising little by little. I’ve had trouble finding my sunglasses (but I found them yesterday), so I’ve walked around pretty much blinded for the past few days. No more!

Last week was hectic. My workouts were on paused because the week before I woke up with pain on my neck, and for a couple of days I wasn’t able to turn my head to any side. Finally, I’m feeling my whole range of movements back and I feel like I can hit the gym again (which I’ll be doing tonight). I wish I could have a whole full month with no injuries or pains of any sort, because this is already getting old!

I’ve been very busy at work, getting ready for a trade show. We left the office at 2pm on Tuesday and went to set the stand at the show. On Wednesday and Thursday, I was going to make popcorn for the show visitors… Two full days, just making popcorn on one of those carts you see at fairs. It was fun, but quite hard, especially because whenever the kernels popped open, caramel also popped and I ended up with a few minor burns. Not fun at all! Anyway, you’ve read a bit about it in my last post, a few days ago.

Since I’ve been at the charity the past couple of weekends, I’ve been looking forward to this last weekend for about two weeks! I had a well defined plan: get in bed on Friday night and not get out until Monday morning.

On Friday, I went to a Halloween Jack gig. It was great! There were a lot of HJ fans and they did a great performance. At the end, we were all shouting for more, but the management didn’t let them play again. I took pictures with my phone to upload to their Instagram account, and left as soon as they finished, because I was missing my bed. It seems people were going out afterwards, but I declined as gracefully as I could.

I spent Saturday in bed, and watching TV, but mostly in bed. I had forgotten there was a plan to meet with the ski trip crew to watch the Ireland and England rugby match yesterday, but I really wasn’t feeling like it. Mainly, I didn’t want to be in a noisy pub drinking. I wanted peace and quiet. I also wanted to do grocery shopping and bake (I had promised a colleague I would bake for her charity bake sale today) and I wanted to do stuff around the house.

In the end, I wasted my morning in bed (time enjoyed wasting is not wasted time, they say), and then I got moving. I didn’t go to the pub to watch the game, and I’m glad I didn’t. I feel exhausted from my past couple of weeks, and even though I still don’t feel refreshed, I feel much better.

March is always a good month… It’s the arrival of spring, and my birthday as well (although I’m less and less happy about the latter each year!), and there’s also usually the ski trip to look forward to. This year, my birthday will be during the trip, which is also a relief as that means I don’t have to worry much about celebrating and getting people together. I really don’t like celebrating my birthday, there’s so much room for disappointment…

I think it’s because of my birthday that many times I consider March the start of my year, the nicer weather and all that makes me feel like new beginnings, like I need to focus again. January and February are just the trial period, and now it’s when s**t starts getting real. I feel I need to sort my priorities out.

Right now, the most important thing is to get in shape and to get strong. I don’t care about getting hot, I care more about having abs of steel, even if underneath a layer of fat (hey, precious stuff is always carried around padded, right?). I have some fitness goals that mostly revolve around achievements, about feeling strong and powerful.

The second thing is to find my centre again. I’ve been having this feeling of running after myself, trying to catch up for way too long. I need to find myself again, and keep me close. When all you take is small steps in the wrong direction, is very difficult to see how far you’re getting from where you want to be, it’s only one step at a time after all. Then suddenly, you check and you’re completely off, you don’t know how you got there, and don’t even know how to get back on track. I know it too well…

Right now, I have some money in the bank. It’s not a lot, of course, I’m never going to be well off, but it’s a tiny bit. I have two options, to save it, or to spend it. I really want to save this money, but I know it’s going to be impossible… First, the ski trip, then the wedding in Argentina, then a trip I need to make to Spain… Finally, my friends from uni want to meet up again, maybe in Paris, maybe in London. Between March and August, there’s going to be a lot of money to spend and honestly, I don’t want to.

Sure, I want to see all my friends, and I definitely want to go to my friend’s wedding, but now that I have a tiny bit saved, I don’t want to spend it already, I want to start having a nest where I can land if I need to. Does that make me selfish?

This week is going to be busy again… We’re getting ready for another event and a party we’re sponsoring soon, and I need to get banners (real ones, the ones you hang from buildings) designed and produced. Some day this week, I’m meeting Sean for lunch, we haven’t seen each other in ages! On Wednesday, the team has decided to go out for lunch to celebrate payday, and on Thursday, I’m meeting Oummou for a mani-pedi session (which will be my first ever), and a Sewing Bee evening. I’m also having lunch this week with a couple of friends more.

The next book club meeting (and post) should also be this week, although I haven’t finished the book yet. For some reason, I’m finding it difficult to engage with it. At least, it seems I might be commuting on my own again from now on, since both Brian and Oummou are changing their plans, so that means I’ll have some time in the mornings and evenings to read and even to plan my posts. I’ll probably end up just listening to music and reading BuzzFeed on the train, but one can hope… No, that’s right, getting our priorities straight! No BuzzFeed! I’m definitely reading and writing!

It’s time to move on, to realise the things that are there for me to get, and those that are not. Time to let go of those things that are dragging me down, and to reach out for those that are going to make me better, to boost me up. It’s March, after all, my month of new beginnings.