March 2025 Recap

March went so fast!! I know it’s because a large chunk of the month was dedicated to preparing for travel, traveling, or resetting after travel. At first I felt like the rest of the month was kind of a wash- nothing particularly exciting stood out in my mind. Fortunately, I have my time logs/ trackers to remind that I did indeed do something with the remaining 21 days of the month that we weren’t in London. 😉

Actually, there was a surprising amount of good stuff! Again, thinking broadly about the month, it doesn’t register instantly as a WOW month (besides the big trip!! which was definitely WOW worthy). But when I reviewed my tracker, I found, huh! The non-travel part of the month actually was quite high in “little joys”. I like to see those smaller things on my list and reflect on the fact that these things honestly, truly bring me a lot of happiness. I don’t think I want to be someone who is only happy about things like a big trip to London. 🙂

Accomplish List

• finished London planning. For some reason, planning this trip felt… significant. Maybe because we haven’t done quite as many “big city” trips? Or because our scheduled events made it a bit like a Tetris game to fit in the rest?
• completed my big volunteer role task for the boys swim team (senior scholarship applications and interviews)
• submitted our family’s UK ETA visa thing online
• lots of work work, projects, etc.
• dealt with some doctor back-and-forths re: my back, pharmacy runs, etc
• finished up PT (for now)
• drove Asher to lifeguarding course on opposite side of town
• packed for London, did all the pre-travel stuff
• made a master packing spreadsheet! (✅ from my 2025 goals list!)
• we bought new sheets!
• cleaned my office (aim 1x/month ✅)
• ordered tennis spirit wear
• got a haircut
• did a mass iphone photo cleanout from 3 years of photos!
• took Asher to the orthodontist
• multiple phone calls w/ vet when Charlie got diarrhea just a couple days before our trip… (fortunately resolved but was trying to plan ahead if continued so my sister-in-law wouldn’t have to deal with it!)
• successfully executed a great trip to London!!
• FINALLY had decorative glass installed in 2 cabinet doors in our kitchen!! omg this had been on the list since 2019 when we remodeled our kitchen! Literally just had open spaces in the cabinet doors since then, lol! FINALLY DONE!!! 🎉

Happy/ Gratitude List

• a spontaneous nap on the living room floor
• completing the swim scholarship stuff and realizing ALL the interviews would fit in one evening, versus 2 evenings as I’d originally thought
• paper travel guidebooks (online travel resources are great but I still love a good guidebook too!)
• hearing both Lisa’s and Elisabeth’s voice on the phone this month!
• that Sarah is alive and ultimately okay after her very scary cardiac event
• a nice evening in bed while Ivan at soccer reading about London and then watching part of 1st Harry Potter movie
• getting packed way in advance
• phone call w/ my mom
• a cozy rainy evening
• a really good chicken sandwich
• home streaming workout options
• a new green jacket I bought this spring which I truly LOVE
• realizing I left a favorite pair of boots at the gym in mid-February and going back in early March and finding them in the lost and found!! (It hadn’t snowed for a bit so I didn’t notice for a while!!)
• Ivan’s homemade nachos + pico de gallo
• a visit from mom and dad
• Ethan joining us to go out to dinner
• Ivan’s cousin driving Asher to/from lifeguarding class all weekend!
• that our London plans came together really well in the end! I was so happy with how it all turned out.
• Ethan safely driving Asher home from far side of town after lifeguarding class
• some unseasonably warm weather
• playing with Charlie in the yard
• Charlie, in general. The amount of absolute JOY he brings me on a daily basis is kind of shocking. Haha.
• a fun kickboxing workout
• my niece texting me a detailed video “tour” of her new room makeover which was sooo cute and made me smile
• watching Ted Lasso w/ the boys (and news of an upcoming 4th season!!)
• how funny and cute Charlie looks if I ever leave him in the car for a minute while I run into the gas station, etc. LOL. His little head looks so funny popping up from the front seat, like a little furry person!! haha.
• catching part of the original Beauty and the Beast on TV one night
• a haircut I really needed
• Ethan choosing to volunteer at the senior center for a few hours on his unexpected no school day, then go out to lunch and golfing with friends. It made me so happy to see him choose a fun-filled, non-screen day.
• the hot tub at night
• reading by the fire
• the convenience of our corner Kwip Trip gas station
• Ivan went shopping with Asher and brought me home a super cute new top which is so me!
• that Ivan dealt with taking Asher shopping for new shoes he needed before London
• the birds are back! Love hearing all the chirping in the mornings.

Bummer List

*Same standard disclaimer: Please know not all struggles and bummers are shareable here! This doesn’t mean they don’t exist, but for varying reasons I don’t always list everything here. So just mentally tack on some invisible bullet points at the end. 😉

• Sarah’s VTach episode!! So scary and terrible and life-altering for her…. sad. Spent a lot of time chatting with her, and also thinking about and feeling really sad for her over her loss of her passion, running.
• upsetting news/ online stuff/ comments/ etc.
• a specific extended family issue/ stressor… ongoing 🙃
• a particularly bad “back pain” day
• a school issue
• being told “I talk too fast”, which, in fairness, is true, but still always kind of feels like a personal attack, for some reason…. 😆
• some intermittent work stressors
• random things around our house/yard that need fixing or attention that annoy the crap out of me but also are hard to always fit in and prioritize and deal with on top of everything else… just an ongoing annoyance
• feeling a little off after Daylight Savings!
• both boys home sick different days
• too much missed school! Sick days, ortho appts, etc on top of pulling them for our trip…. oops
• an argument with a child about walking Charlie while we were out
• a crazy windstorm –> I could not sleep
• Charlie not sleeping well for several nights right before our trip due to GI issues
• still feeling annoyed with my wardrobe/ clothes and trying to better curate my wardrobe to only things I love and feel amazing, but am not really sure exactly how to get there!

Habits Overview:

Eh, kinda going to skip this recap this month. It just wasn’t a main focus and I was away a bunch. I did 10 strength workout, 5 cardio and 2 yoga workouts in the days before our trip, but didn’t really prioritize “everything else” that much. I can say though that I am still at 100% this year for tracking what I wear on my wardrobe tracker! Ha. Eventually I need to actually sit down and look at some of the data and see if I can make any changes or deductions from what I’ve tracked…

Books Read:

I also didn’t finish a single book! I read almost all of Harry Potter #2 (just a little left- will hopefully finish this weekend!), so I did read, but I just didn’t finish any books… so, no credit. 😉

I also recently started Matthew Perry’s book, Friends, Lovers and The Big Terrible Thing which is pretty captivating so far!

Things I Cooked:

Also going to breeze over this section…. lol. I did very little “real cooking” in March. We ate out a lot, we ate random stuff, and we were on vacation. I know I made tilapia and rice and veggies once, Ivan made nachos, we had scrambled eggs and beans in salsa verde for a few days, I remember making grilled cheese sandwiches… but this was not overall my finest culinary month. Oh well, here we all still here. 😉

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And now, April! What’s on the docket?

• Ethan getting his braces off!! 🎉
• in-person work days/events x2
• potential house guests (Ivan’s friend’s family) from Mexico?? (between you, me and the internet, I could really do without this… 😬😩)
• an awards ceremony at school
• college night
• tennis season (E)
• club swim (A)

Nothing else too significant! No travel, no other major events. A pretty heavy workload at the moment, though. Also, feels like I have just a little bit of a “lull” between spring break and summer stuff…I feel some pressure to utilize the time well and not squander it!

Big Goals?

• do our taxes. I mean, today’s only April 4th. I suppose we should do this now?? 😆😆
• plan Copenhagen
• help my mom finalize/edit and order her Storyworth book she wrote!

I also picked some things to focus on from my 2025 list, etc. For example:

• order 1 fun piano book!
• call about crack in our epoxy garage floor
• order an end table for next to our hot tub. I have been wanting to do this for-ever now. (Also, while I’m at it, order a new filter and some new little headrests for the hot tub (had to toss ours last fall after I left them in the sun and they got all wrinkled up!)
• and some other boring decluttering stuff I won’t list here.
• I might attempt to block out an entire weekend and clean out our whole storage room?! I don’t know. TBD.

*I specifically picked the above image because it shows a nice dichotomy between showers/ crummy weather and pretty flowers in a Wisconsin April. April is one of my least favorite months. Wisconsin just does not do spring well. 😆 The cold weather tends to liiiiiiinger way too long here. It will often “look” nice out, so you walk outside expecting a lovely spring day, but then, bam- it’s actually 37 degrees and the wind almost blows you over and it’s freezing and unpleasant. lol. I see a mix of sun, rain, a huge range of temperatures in the forecast… pretty typical! Fingers crossed we get more warm days than not!. 😉

Daily Gratitude:

I am grateful for the weekend! Boring one for a Friday, but TGIF is always a classic. 😉