Spring! Wonderful spring!

It's official. I have survived my first Utah winter.

It's spring, and both me and my surrounding world are starting to crawl out of our caves. My so-called friends have all told me to stop being so excited, that it snows here until May. I say we've hit 50 degrees and that is cause for celebration.

HAPPY DANCE!!!

How is my March going so far? Pretty well. In addition to a great weekend in Las Vegas -- which already got a whole blog post -- I had one incredible girls night out, which included lots of vino and the best Mediterranean food I've had so far in Salt Lake.

Me and my wonderful sister-in-law

Catherine and Heather

Not my best picture, but it does feature the lovely Joelle 

Have I mentioned that my husband just happens to have an awesome sister that is exactly my age? It's like gaining a twin at 29. Robert is actually three years younger than me, which means Heather and I would have been friends in high school and Robert would have worshipped us from afar.

My March has also been about leaving this feeling behind...

... and enjoying the magical feeling of spring that e.e. cummings described as "mud-luscious" and "puddle-wonderful." At the risk of sounding trite, it really is magical to see the snow melt and watch everything start to come to life again. All my neighbors have been out in their gardens and the kids are riding their bikes up and down the street everyday.  I got in the spirit and planted some flowers in front of my house too.

Someone asked me what kind of flowers I planted. I said, "yellow ones." Not a gardner. 

This month, I also had the immense pleasure of judging 4th - 8th grade projects at Utah History Day.  That's right. Apparently my philosophy and library science degrees make me enough of an expert on history that I get to judge others. Sadly, I had Wikipedia open to rate the "historical accuracy" portion on certain topics like the March of the Mill Children. Other topics, like Jackie Robinson, I was solid.

Despite my lack of qualifications, I had a great day interviewing the kids and evaluating their projects. A word of advice: if you are ever losing faith in the future of America, take a day and judge an educational contest that kids are not forced to be a part of. It will restore your faith in humanity like that. *FINGER SNAP*

Molding young minds and trying not to make anyone cry. 

I also made two new discoveries in March that make my life a little more bright and shiny.

#1 - House of Cards.

I'm sure many of you are already addicted to this show, but it is the best thing I've watched in a long time. Mercifully, it is also on Netflix so I get to watch two whole seasons marathon-style. Kevin Spacey is incredible in this role and I covet everything Robin Wright wears as scheming first lady Claire Underwood.

The hair, the dress, the bag. Claire is understated perfection. 

#2 The Lose It App

My friend Kinza turned me on to this app, and I am totally addicted. I have never been a calorie counter, but I've just hit the point in my life where not watching my weight is no longer an option. When I met Robert, I was working out over an hour a day and post-divorce skinny. If you've gone through divorce or any other major loss, you know what I'm talking about. I didn't even want to eat.

Now, fortunately and unfortunately, I am super happy and 10 pounds heavier. This has got to stop.

Not the happiness, just the weight gain

Enter the Lose It app. Like millions of other apps, it allows you to track how many calories you eat and what it will take to get down to your goal weight. What I love about Lose It though is the social aspect. You can invite your friends to join and cheer each other on when you see them run for an hour or limit themselves to one cookie. It's brilliant. The only problem is that if a friend gets lazy and stops using the app, it looks like they haven't eaten in 13 days (looking at you, Joelle).

Anyway, my goal is to lose 6 pounds, and Lose It tells me that will happen by May 8th. I'll keep you posted, but not with annoying weight loss photos or workout pics at the gym. I hate those.

March, you ruled. April, you're up!