beating the winter blahs

this past weekend was one of the coldest that we've had for awhile. And yet, I managed to enjoy the weekend quite a lot. Here were my methods for making the best of things despite the weather:

• check things off your to-do list. this included finally making a trip to donate our old TV/media stand and some other items, putting away piles of laundry, and getting some work done.
• bake bread from scratch. fresh-baked bread is so amazingly delicious and comforting.
• don't get overly sucked into the "screens" - by which I mean TV and computers and phones and all those gadgets with their crisp flashy LED displays. Saturday night, after the bread baking and cooking up a simple dinner of salmon and salad, we had a bananagrams marathon and it felt much more fulfilling than zoning out with mindless web or channel surfing.
• don't be ashamed to soak up the sun. as in, like a cat, I plopped myself in the spot where the sunlight was streaming in on Sunday afternoon, for probably a good half hour or so. And that's about all I did, bask in the sun, while wearing sunglasses (it was quite blinding, even while indoors!). It was just so warm and soothing... plus, how else can I get vitamin D if it is zero degrees outside??
• celebrate victories. The Steelers won!! Pittsburgh is going to the Superbowl!! We just watched the games at home, due to aversion of being in the cold plus attempting to finish aforementioned work. So while I was very excited with the win, it was a quiet victory being the only Steelers fan in the household. But afterward, I played fight songs and danced around while waving my terrible towel. Sure, my husband rolled his eyes at me... but I have to celebrate the hometown pride! Plus, that "black and yellow" song is very catchy :)

hope everyone is managing to stay warm and upbeat in their own way! January is almost done!!