My “cold spell” away from blogging/blogs period lasted way longer than I expected it to…I’ve observed throughout my life that when I’m knocked out of my routine by something, it has a domino effect and everything starts to go. So, cold = more couch time, different foods, no exercising, less pretty much everything, followed by a “need to get back into the swing of things” period.

But, I didn’t just have a cold…some other things also conspired to change my routine. To name a few…

1. My mother came out for a brief visit. She lives in California, so we don’t get to see each other often. Per usual we got in a mother-daughter shopping trip (look for these clothes in future “what I wore” posts!).

2. Last week, mr. strivingcynic and I went to see Margaret Atwood speak at Princeton University. We were so excited at the prospect of seeing her (major gratitude to Princeton for having events like this free and open to the public) and so sure the lecture hall would be packed, that we got there an hour early (the hall was empty but people arrived right after us).  The lecture hall did fill up as time went by, though.

Aside from my fear I would cough my way through the lecture (I kept the cough drops going and tried to take advantage of audience laughter to cough), we had a great time. It was a really interesting talk about zombies and other literary monsters. Another interesting thing for me, I learned about the lecture because I follow Atwood on Twitter and she mentioned it there. So glad I joined (and she wished a special hello to her Twitter followers).

3. I got a little older. My 41st birthday was last week. Funny how when I first started this blog almost two years ago, I had posts devoted to my turning 40…and once that happened, very few about turning 41. But, the day has come…and, I’m cool with it (like I have a choice).

Looking back at this last year, I’ve had a lot of fun and adventures…going to Cape May, England, San Diego; seeing Bruce Springsteen in concert, the play Chicago, and seeing Margaret Atwood speak. I got a new computer, an iPad, and some new books and clothes (and have begun thinking about a new car…), not to mention my beloved Keurig coffee maker (a Christmas present from mr. sc) and our kitchen improvements. I got out into the social media world more, read about 30 books, saw at least 5-7 movies (probably more..I should probably start keeping a list of them, too). I worked my way up to running 10 miles (couldn’t manage it yesterday–but I’ll get back there soon). I’ve had many wonderful times with my family and friends (and blends).

4. And as usual, I’ve been thinking about where I want my life to go…yes, I could be more organized and more on top of things, but I’ve got an idea of where I’d like to focus some energy (to be discussed in another post…shame on me for “teasing”..but there you go.

Anyway, I feel much more caught up. For now!