I am a creature of habit, as boring as that may sound. I'm not great at being spontaneous most of the time. I have a very set routine before I go to bed - everything must be done in order. I have a system for getting stuff done at work. I'm happy with eating the same breakfast almost every day (English muffin with peanut butter and banana). I plan my meals and my outfits on Sundays for the week ahead. Some people thrive on chaos and excitement, but I need order and structure and routine to feel safe, comfortable and happy.

Lately, I've been wanting to shake things up. Not in a "ditch everyone, quit my job, shave my head, and spend a year stumbling around the Middle East" kind of way.

But I've been craving a little change of scene. I think it's the end (hopefully? soonish? PLEASE??) of winter and the beginning of spring that makes these feelings kick in. A new season, new beginnings...it just makes me think about changes.

It starts with jotting down ideas to reorganize a hall closet, and then all of a sudden I'm drafting a plot for a novel or a business plan outline, or trying on drastically different hair colours and styles in one of those online simulator things, or printing out a training plan to run a full marathon, and everything I've been doing feels boring and wrong, and all I can think about is making waves, getting crazy, doing something new and different.

It happens every year. I stifle it and ignore it, and eventually it goes away. The sun comes back, the snow melts, patios and beaches beckon, I get busy and stop plotting for a while. I change my mind. I don't have the time/money/perseverance/drive to do __________.

What I need to do is figure out a way not to smother my little spark. Fan it a bit, add a little fuel, see what happens. Learn how to finally stop making plans in my head and start getting them down on paper, nurturing them and letting them grow. I need to learn how to get comfortable with the idea of change. Doing something is always better than doing nothing, right?

Somewhere along the line, I discovered I love cooking. The girl who once went through an entire apartment lease without turning the oven on once now enjoys preparing food for fun.

I like finding recipes that sound good, usually accompanied by some mouth-watering photography, and pinning them for later. I like turning on some tunes, getting all my ingredients together, mixing everything up, and sampling the finished product with my boys. Eli is a good cooking buddy and loves to run around the kitchen with me, playing with cookie cutters, wrestling the dog, and dancing. Some of my happiest moments are hanging out with him in the kitchen, just watching him bop around while I make some food: simple, happy stuff.

ELI! How are you 16 months old already? It feels like you should still be a tiny baby, but it also seems like you've always been here.

These days, you're growing like a weed, you're curious about everything, you're mischievous and you're chatting up a storm. It seems like you say a new word every day. You love to make people laugh  - you know what makes me and your dad laugh, and you'll do it over and over, looking at us to make sure we're entertained.

You're running everywhere now. You'll actually help tidy up, which is nice. If we ask you to put something away in your basket, you do it, then clap. Very helpful. You love animals and you get excited every time you see any critter. You're really good at making animal sounds too and you've expanded your repertoire past the same old farm animals to things like snakes, owls, and monkeys.

You adore music and dancing and you still love bathtime and being read to. You'll also pull a stack of books out of your baskets and read them for a surprisingly long time. Now that the weather isn't as crazy and cold you're able to get out more to play in the yard and go for walks in your stroller, and you're great at pointing out things like birds and trucks.

The only challenge with you is mealtime. You're developing a little bit of pickiness - one day you love sweet potatoes, the next day, forget it. I made Nutella crepes on the weekend and figured that would be the best thing ever and you wouldn't eat a bite. Things you consistently like to eat are bananas, cereal, yogurt, rolls, avocados, cheese, and blueberries. Everything else is 50/50. I've figured out that I can hide pretty much anything, including veggies, in your yogurt and you'll eat it.

You're starting to mimic things we say, so we've started to really make an effort to keep the bad words to a minimum. You want to do everything yourself - walking instead of being carried, using your spoon instead of being fed, carrying things at the grocery store - you are very independent. You're very social, not even the tiniest bit shy, and such a chatterbox.

Happy 16 months (and one day), big E. You make us laugh and bring us joy every single day!

Spring is just around the corner. I know this not because the days are getting longer, not because there's a bouquet of tulips on my desk, not because the snowbanks are extra filthy, but because I have been getting emails from different retailers EVERY DANG DAY, chockablock full of adorable spring clothes. Pinks and lavenders and greens, ladies frolicking around in cute cropped pants and flats and crisp white shirts. I die. Get me out of these Sorels and into some capris RTFM.

Spring fashion is tricky, especially here in Nova Scotia, where we don't really have spring. We have winter, winter, winter, and then it rains and smells like pig poop for a day or two and then it's blazing hot. This transition happens sometime in June. So traditional springtime things like Easter egg hunts are difficult. Last Easter we had a snowstorm. It's rough.


But a girl can dream of a magical place where there are four seasons, and seasonally-appropriate new outfits for each season, right?

This year's spring wish list looks a bit like this:

1. Cropped jeans - I have been on the hunt for a pair of mint green jeans, which I think would be great with a white or chambray shirt. I don't know, am I too old for mint green jeans? I have the same question about mint green nail polish. Is there an age limit for these things? There are also some print ones I've seen that I like, but drawing attention to my lower body is something I've been trying to avoid for the past TWENTY YEARS so we'll see.

From Gap

2. A striped shirt - Yeah, posted here about my obsession with stripes before, don't care, I take it all back. More stripes, please.

From Banana Republic

3. A new umbrella. I hate umbrellas. Little flashback for you: let's talk about my first umbrella I received as a wee pup. I waited and waited for a rainy day so I could use my new umbrella. It rained, I went outside, I struggled to get the umbrella open, and when I finally got it open, IT STOPPED RAINING and I cried. One of my dad's favourite stories. He tells it a lot better than I do. Anyway, I would like a cute umbrella to help me get from my car to work and vice versa without looking like a drowned rat.

From Asos

4. Something with a ruffle. Nothing too flouncy, just a simple little ruff (we're calling them ruffs now, got it?)

From Old Navy

5. A couple simple dresses. In spring and summer, nothing's easier than throwing on a shift dress and heading out the door. You're good to go in 30 seconds.

From J.Crew

From H&M

Sephora

Inspired by Thought Catalog's post yesterday, here are 15 things I need from March. Take heed, March, I'm coming for ya.

1. Our passports to fiiiiinally arrive so we can book a vacation for April. Sun, sand, surf STAT.
2. To stop being a gluttonous animal when I get home from work. By 5pm I'm so hungry I get home and actually start going through the fridge and cupboards eating handfuls of whatever I can get my mitts on and it's disgusting. I think I've finally figured out where I'm going wrong with my eating during the day, so hopefully I'll have this in check.
3. More sun. Sup, daylight savings.
4. Less snow. It's March - you can stop with that any time now.
5. More runs outside. Dreadmill season, it's time to GTFO. Just let me be able to navigate the neighbourhood without falling on a patch of ice and shattering my brittle bones.
6. To make a decision about my hair. My bangs are way past "needs a trim" status and are just downright belligerent now. I need to choose: grow them out or cut them one more time? I don't know if I'm up for dealing with sweaty, greasy bangs over the summer. But I feel like the more of my face that's covered by hair, the less sunscreen I'll need? I don't know.
7. No more colds for Eli. Little snuffaluffagus is on #4 of the winter right now, and that seems like more of his fair share. A bit less mucus would be great.
8. To win one basketball game. Just one. It doesn't even need to be a blowout.
9. To be able to wear shoes that aren't boots and a coat that isn't made of wool or stuffed with duck feathers. I don't want to be able to go coatless and in sandals. That's just silly. But a couple days of just putting on flats and a denim jacket, would that be too much to ask?
10. A bouquet of tulips. This is the first item on this list that's actually likely to happen, because I'm probably going to buy some today.
11. New music on my ipod. I've been back on Jay-Z's greatest hits this week, which is fine and dandy, but it feels like a long time since any good new albums have been released.

I guess my list is going to consist of 11 things, not 15, because I just ran out of steam and Eli woke up from his nap.

What do you hope to get out of March this year?