May, June, July, August, almost September?

I looked at my calendar today and realized it’s August 27th.
 

August 27th.

Where has the time gone? It feels like just yesterday I was changing a flat tire and flying through the air, yet now you’re telling me it’s almost September?! It’s been quite the spring and summer and almost fall. A lot has happened but a lot has stayed the same as well–nonetheless, I need to catch up. In life. And on this blog.

I do this thing with friends I haven’t talked to in a long time (ranges from 2 weeks to 8 months, give or take;-)) where I tell them to tell me 5 new things that have happened since we last talked and then I do the same. It seems simple or stupid, but I swear by it! It’s a great way to catch up as well as an opportunity for you yourself to pause and think about what’s new. (And really, it could be as simple as, “I watched a movie last night.” or as crazy as “I quit my job!”) So since I haven’t posted in 4, closer to 5, months, I’ll give you guys 5 new things. (And chances are, some of these things actually have their own blog posts associated with them–I just need to work backwards and write them after the fact.)

1. I went to Italy earlier this month (Milan, Lake Como and Cinque Terre) and had a fabulous time! Not a it-was-fun-but-I-was-ready-to-come-home-fabulous time, or a Italians-are-beautiful-and-Europe-is-amazing-this-is-so-much-fun-fabulous time, but a I’ve-been-bit-hard-by-the-travel-bug-and-why-don’t-I-do-this-more-often-and-why-am-I-back-home-now-fabulous time! It was a great trip for many reasons (that’s a blog post on it’s own!): I had some solo time, I spent time with friends and family and I spent time exploring a new part of the country with an old friend. It was incredible and I highly recommend you go! It was my third trip to Italy and I know I’ll still return. So, if I had been there twice already, why did I decide to go back for a third time? <segway to my second update>

2. I’ve attended 8 out of 9 weddings for 2012, with the most recent one taking place in Lake Como! Wedding season 2K12 has been something alright–something special and wonderful (as well as exhausting)! To all of the lovebirds whose weddings I was able to attend or participate in–congratulations! They’ve all been special and fun and memorable in their own ways! To those lovebirds whose weddings I wasn’t physically present at, know that I sent you positive vibes and can’t wait to create more memories with you as you enter this next chapter. And to those lovebirds who are newly or recently engaged as of this year—send me your wedding dates because 2012 is starting to fill up 😉

3. I’ve been reading! I’m the proud owner of not one, but two Kindles. With all of the travel I had coming up, I knew I didn’t want to be lugging books around. Who am I kidding–I’m the kind of traveler that hates carry-ons. Ideally, I’d walk onto a plane with a purse and a book. Less if it were possible. So I joined the e-reader world with the purchase of a Kindle Fire. While I wasn’t crazy about it being backlit, at this point I hadn’t done too much reading and it was more practical because I could use it to read on, I could watch Netflix on it, and it was the perfect size to use to look up recipes when I was cooking in the kitchen (which I haven’t done since I’ve blogged either. I know, I know, I’m horrible.) But then when the travel really started picking up, I found myself reading more, especially to overcome jetlag, and I needed something that was easier on my eyes—enter Kindle. Since then, the three of us have lived in relative harmony and survived a trip to Italy without breaking, dying or getting lost or stolen. Pretty impressive, eh? If you have any books to share or recommendations, send them my way!

4. I haven’t been running. At all. You know how they say once is chance, twice is coincident, three times and it’s for real? Well that’s what I was hoping would happen for me and running. I’ve done at least one (sometimes even two) half-marathons a year for the past two years—but 2012 came and the running stopped. Fortunately there’s a little over 3 months left in the year so I’m hoping I can get myself together and make some magic happen.

5. I’m doing a cleanse right now, which is what motivated me to write this blog. I’ve been so busy for the past few months (who am I kidding–I’m always busy!) that I haven’t been taking care of me when it comes to me time, healthy eating, proper rest, etc. So this next week is a little bit slower for me where I’m actually staying put over a long weekend that I decided I was going to make it a point to reset. I found this cleanse off of Pinterest and liked it because it seemed pretty natural and I would get to eat. While I’m doing the cleanse I hope to also rid myself of negative mental energy as well as physical clutter. I was telling my friend, Simon, that tonight and he had a brilliant idea.”Sejal, you’re going to get rid of 10 things right now. You’re going to give them to me and I’m going to take them to the dump or to Salvation Army tomorrow.” He expected resistance, he didn’t expect me to agree so quickly. Here’s what I got rid of today: a pair of shoes, a broken VCR, bootleg dvds of Friends and Lost, a board game (Life), a winter jacket, old printer cartridges, a stuffed animal, a sealed Lego set, 3 pairs of dandiya, and a toy bus. Since the VCR was already broken, he made me give one more thing away, so I came back with a basket full of clothes that I had accumulated in my room–things I meant to get rid of but never quite could. It actually felt good getting rid of it all, and then Simon told me he’d be back tomorrow and every day of the cleanse for 10 more things. As the week goes on, this is going to get really tough, that’s for sure! But hey, that’s what good friends are for, right?

The cleanse also motivated me to do things that I haven’t done in a while but have meaning to, such as blogging! “Oh I’ll just write tomorrow. Oh I’ll get back into it one of these days…” There are a few other things around the house I’ve been meaning to do that I’ll hopefully get to over the course of the next week (like editing photos, sending out cards, sorting through my mail, etc.) I might not finish them but at least make a plan to work on them.
So there you have it — 5 new things that I’ve been up to since I’ve blogged last. And I’m sure there are many more in between too, I’ll just have to retroactively blog to tell you all about it. I promise (yes, promise, we all know how big I am on those!), to be better about blogging moving forward. After all, this was my New Year’s resolution! So, what have you been up? What 5 things do you have to share with me?