#January Joy 31: Re-evaluate

 It is the last day of January, it went so fast. I want to keep on going. I mean, I want to keep on looking for the joy (but more on that coming soon). Florence's prompts, this being the last one, are over. I am so happy I jumped in and took the challenge because I feel like I've learnt a lot in one short month. First of all I learnt (remembered?) that I work best under pressure, when I have fixed goals and a date by which I should achieve them. I have set a calendar with things I'd like to accomplish, some of which I am so excited about, that I can't wait to tell you. One of those was taking the bull by the horns and finally presenting the NT2-II exam. It's over now (and as I write this I feel brain dead). Except it's not really over  because I am not sure whether I will pass it or not (listening and speaking were extremely hard). Anyhow, I think I will start using an agenda again. Or follow the advice of MayiCarles and get organized.

So... let's look back. I never showed you the result of the orange dye on my hair. I ended up choosing a blondish-copper kind of color instead of one of the red ones because I didn't want the color to be too old-lady-like. Since I had 1 year old highlights that were sun-bleached and had become very light, the color went in really well in those parts. The rest of my hair is still dark brown (though you see the reddish hue under the light), but now the contrast between the dark natural part, and the dyed parts is less harsh. I quite liked it.  We went on a date... for breakfast. Breakfast dates should be a must. They are absolutely the best, and breakfast food is so delicious.

We made a list of the places we'd like to travel to this year, we booked some tickets, and we were able to (unexpectedly) scratch London off that list. We went for (several) winter walks and I was happy to discover the first flowers of the year are already in bloom. Maybe they are crazy, but I like to think Spring is just around the corner. As for reducing my sugar intake... the complete sugar free diet lasted (only) for a week. But, but... I discovered that I can drink herbal teas without any sugar. I got a bunch of those (on sale) at Tesco and will drink black tea and coffee (which I am unable to drink without sugar) only every now and then as a special, rare treat. I don't like to go fully extreme on things because I am like teenagers, as soon as something is "forbidden" I want it even more. But we do keep an eye on labels and make sure there is no added sugar in the foodstuffs we buy. For instance, no more tomato sauce in a jar for us.  Banning sugar altogether was not going to work for me. After all the budget talk, we finally went to the bank and joined our accounts. And we are due to start our salsa lessons on February 5th. That's next week! Marcela might have convinced me to give running another try, with this program.

 All in all I loved January Joy. And here's why, in Rebecca's words:

"There’s always a reason to feel under the weather, a hard day at work, miserable weather, life not working out the way you had planned. #JanuaryJoy was about making time for yourself, finding joy in the little things, feeling proud of things you can do, making the most of new experiences and fitting in things you never manage to prioritise."