I lied. It’s 35 degrees outside right now…Ok, so maybe it’s not spring just yet, but several things in the past couple of weeks have made me feel like it’s just around the corner. I’ve always said that I don’t have a favorite season of the year, but rather, a favorite period between seasons. It’s an important distinction, really. Especially when it comes to weather in the Midwest, it’s easy to feel like it’s either sweltering hot or bone-chilling cold outside. It’s times like these that give you a hint of one season one day and a hint of the next the following day. Today it was drizzly and foggy when I woke up, but my walk to Whole Foods for lunch (Pizza Wednesday special!) was incredibly pleasant. And to top it all off, I didn’t have to don that heavy winter coat and wish that I had chosen a lighter jacket the rest of the day (that happens quite often in a city with constantly changing weather).

Besides the obvious implication that the weather is changing, the change in seasons has induced other changes. On Monday night, my boyfriend and I decided to rearrange our living room. I’m somewhat notorious for making changes to my apartment, but since I moved in with Manny over 14 months ago, we have only made minor changes like hanging a different painting on a wall or adding knick-knacks somewhere on our shelves (complete with buddhas and lucky elephants). Just as many women do when moving into a bachelor pad environment, I made many small changes when I first moved in, but haven’t really felt the need to do some larger rearrangement since then. SO–with Manny’s motivation, we FLIP FLOPPED the living room. It’s nice to have a different wall to stare at and ponder if I have the energy to go out for a run and the puppy seems to like more floor space to lay around on (that girl is always fighting sleep, I swear). My favorite part of this “new wall” is a small tapestry that used to be my grandmother’s that we hung in the center of an empty gold-painted frame. It reads ‘Uff Da’, which is a Scandinavian phrase that means many things–it can mean “oh my god, what a horrible day”. It can be said when lifting a heavy box. It can be said at times of excitement and anxiousness. It can mean absolutely anything you want it to mean, but I have a feeling it will bring different thoughts to mind each night when I sit on the couch and think about my day.

One of the other changes that has allowed me to alter my life in some way is the ability to run my long distance jog on the weekends outside! YES–outside! Luckily, in the past couple of weeks I’ve had my pick of a fairly mild Saturday or Sunday to dedicated to running 8+ miles around the city. My first escapade outside took me from Pilsen, to Buckingham Fountain along the lake, through downtown and back south to Pilsen. This is a route that I had never run before and it was such a great feeling to allow my body to take me somewhere that might sound far mentally, but is not farther than my body is willing to take me physically. Last week I did an 8-mile loop north to Division, down Western Ave, and back through Pilsen. I’m absolutely loving this mixture of gym time during the week and outdoor freedom on the weekends. The sticky, humid gym with it’s measly treadmill-to-runner ratio makes me thankful for my outdoor runs on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon.

Oh ya, and I don’t [entirely] dread walking the pup at night anymore!!! Those -20 degree windchills froze both me and the pup there for a few weeks and romping in the snow after the blizzard covered BarkLee from head to toe so much that you couldn’t even see her! An evening stroll around the neighborhood is so much more enjoyable when you don’t have to put layers on just to walk around the block. 🙂 I’m looking forward to more spring strolls through the sunset air. Yesterday was probably the first evening when I felt like I wasn’t trudging to the gym through pitch black skies. It was still light out when I got out of work, which made heading to the gym so much easier. Longer days are coming!

The spring is going to put a spring in my step, I can tell. Looking forward to more runs outdoors, more motivation to go out to restaurants I’ve been wanting to try all winter, and either revamping the apartment in a whole new way or looking into moving into a new place altogether. The itch has begun!

-J