Life Update: January

I can't believe that this month will be over tomorrow! I feel that the month went by fairly quickly, but slower than months in 2013. 

I started the month with a blog post, where I had mentioned how great 2013 had been and that I hoped the 'good' would carry over to 2014. Sadly, this wasn't the case. There was a lot of good this month, but also a lot of not so good. Reflecting back on the month...the good that happened isn't the first to come to mind.

I really struggled this month. And while I am not struggling as much, I am still struggling. I'm trying to find ways to remain hopeful and positive. It's challenging. 

But who wants to hear about negative stuff? No one! And quite frankly, I don't particularly want to write about negative stuff.

After the holidays, I didn't have to be back to work until January 5. I was able to spend a couple of extra days out of the city and prepare myself for the month ahead. Due to weather, our office was actually closed on January 5 and 6- yea two extra days off! I spent them in my apartment reading and watching tv. It was great.

 

Work takes over my life for the month of January. I had 20 work days (including the two snow days) this month. I had 18 work related meeting this month...that's crazy.

 

Remember when I worked on a commercial? The event was this past weekend. $30,000 was raised and everyone had a lot of fun at the event. After the event, I went out with some co-workers...it was nice to socialize with them outside of work.

Due to the weather, a number of social activities were cancelled, so on a personal level, it was a quiet month. Surprisingly, I was only social three times this month...that is so unlike me!

I had dinner with a friend...it was nice to see her and catch up. We went to one of my favourite restaurants, so the food was amazing!

 

I have mentioned before that I am a member of Beta Sigma Phi Sorority. Our chapter meeting, program and social this month were cancelled due to weather. But we were invited to visit another chapter. Chapter visitation is where one chapter invites another chapter to join them for a social activity and it's an opportunity to get to know people outside of our chapter.

 

We ended up doing belly dancing! Our instructor gave us a history on belly dancing, which was kind of interesting. Did you know that belly dancing was originally for women only? They would gather in caves, kitchens, etc to celebrate and just start dancing.

 

It was a lot of fun and it was nice to meet new people, but I had a blast with the girls from my chapter. We spent most of the night laughing. 

The highlight of the month was celebrating a friends 30th birthday! Last year, she had a murder mystery dinner party. This year, she had a pajama party! It was such a relaxed, low key night. I loved it! Everyone was told to wear pj's and show up hungry. She is an amazing cook and served a ton of food. After everyone arrived and had plates full of food, she started the screening of her favourite movie, Doctor Zhivago. 

I had never seen the movie before. It was really interesting...but really long! One of the girls there was actually from Russia. It was fun to watch it with her...she was able to tell us what the signs meant and give us a bit of history on Russia and the events in the movie.We were allowed to talk during the movie and we hung out a bit after the movie. It was a REALLY fun night!

 

A couple of blog keeping items:

• Today is the last day to enter Sew Crafty Angel's Birthday Giveaway. $850 is up for grabs! You can enter here. 
• If you are into all things beauty, check out Blushed on a Budget
• Lauren, Melissa and Leslie are all awesome.
• Are you reading Smart, Pretty & Awkward yet???

Work will be busy in February, but I have a lot of fun things planned...my birthday is next month! I have a few things planned throughout the month to celebrate. I'm looking forward to it...should be a fun month!