the Winter Madness... dun dun DUNNN!

I know that I have referenced the 'winter madness' a few times, and as much as I would like to take credit for such a clever term, I stole it from the title of this 30 Rock episode. Ironically enough, the episode takes place in Boston, and even MORE ironically, the Patriots just made it to the Superbowl and this really is how their fans are! (Don't confuse me knowing something about a sports event as me caring about anything sports related. It's impossible to stay ignorant to these types of things while living in the most proud city in America.) Anyway, I love 30 Rock, hate the 'winter madness', and love to hate Boston, so I figured this little clip from the episode was fitting! Not to mention, the beginning of the episode starts with Liz proposing a trip to Miami to Jack, he agrees, but changes Miami to Boston (so he can go visit his love, Nancy Donovan). Wanted to go to Florida, but got stuck in Boston instead?! It's like they wrote an episode about my life... five years before it was happening! Whoa.

OK. I really want to talk about how you can treat 'winter madness', or at least what I do to try and keep it at bay. First, most of you might not have ever experienced this frigid, lonely state of being. If you live below North Carolina, I can almost guarantee that you haven't. I do not envy you! I would have never known this was even a real thing, if I had not experienced it myself. Basically, during the long, brutal months of winter (in New England, this can last from November-April), humans can become depressed form the lack of exposure to the sun/bright light. The technical term for 'winter madness' is Seasonal Affective Disorder (yes, the acronym is SAD! They also touch on this in 30 Rock. A coincidence? I think not.). It doesn't help that the sun is setting at around 4:30pm, and most winter days are extremely overcast, and dreary. I find that we do not see most of our friends during the winter months, because everyone is more likely to get home from work, and not leave the house again. Who wants to bundle back up to trek around in 12 degree weather? I can imagine that lack of social interaction can also contribute to SAD, turning everyone into frozen hermits. 

So, what do I do? 

I will admit, my first year in New England, I did not have an issue with SAD. I was driving 75 miles to work (ONE WAY), and I was more concerned about not killing myself driving in the snow everyday, to be bothered with being depressed. That makes total sense, right? Thankfully that job did not last very long, and once my second winter rolled around, I couldn't understand why I was so bummed alllll of the time. Eddy figured it out pretty quick. He has been here five years longer than me, and has acclimated to the extreme condition. Once I realized what the problem was, I think I moped around for another few weeks, then decided to do something about it. I am the kind of person that can't just decide to tackle one thing at a time, I have to make a list of twelve things and then attack them all at once! I decided I was going to: learn to cook, learn to knit, craft more, take a vacation, and do my nails once a week (if not twice a week). I'm insane, I know. I feel like I half-ass did all of these things, so now I kind of know how to do it all! Here is some proof that I did all of that, this time last year:

These eggplant pizzas were one of the first Pinterest recipes that I was brave enough to try! They were delicious and easy, and how can you be sad when you have pizza that doesn't make you feel guilty?! 

 After I had some practice, this was one of my more daring attempts at cooking. It is a BBQ shrimp, broccoli, and cheesy quinoa bowl. Yes, it was as delicious as it sounds, and you can make it here.

 We also started meal prepping for the week, so we didn't have to be worried about making our lunches every day. This helped with not being able to leave the house on Sundays (my job is closed on Sundays in the winter), because I knew I would be doing this all day. Honestly, once you figure out what you are doing in the kitchen, you'll find yourself smiling while you cook, therefore kicking SAD's butt!

See? I did teach myself to knit! This was the first functional, socially acceptable scarf that I totally constructed myself. I toyed with the idea of taking a knitting class, but ended up buying a How to Knit book instead, which proved much less expensive. This is a very simple, circle scarf, and honestly one of two things I have figured out how to knit in the past year. (The other thing are these really adorable winter headbands, that I will be showcasing later this week.) As much of a granny habit as this is, it really passed the time, and helps gives you something to look forward to finishing when you know you're going to be stuck inside. 

Craft more. I am still working on making this my life mantra, and making sure I craft one thing a week (I like to aim high, we'll see how it goes). This photo is the result of a day spent at JoAnn Fabrics, when I went to buy stuff to make myself some new plugs, and ended up buying a ton of little things to also make myself some novelty brooches. All it took to construct these brooches were: pin backs (you can get them in packages at any craft store), novelty buttons of your choice, and whatever adhesive you choose to attach the buttons to the pin back. EASY PEASY. For awhile I had my own little Etsy store, where I sold similar plugs to the ones shown here, and one of my resolutions this year is to revamp it, and have more diverse product. Seriously though, how can you be sad when you have such adorable new accessories to brighten up your drab winter wear? And you made them yourself!!

Now I know not everyone can just up and take a vacation, but if you are able to go out of town, try to schedule it during those brutal months! I recommend late February-early March, when you are really ready to rip your hair out. Last year, Eddy's band was planning a tour exactly during that time, so I took that opportunity to GTFO as fast as I could. I ended up riding with the band from Boston to Providence, Providence to NYC, staying in NYC for a few days with the ever so fierce, Christopher, and flying from NYC to Orlando. I am lucky enough to have parents that live in Central Florida, so all I was concerned with money-wise was making sure I could get to Disney World and Universal Studios (which I did). I don't think I need to explain myself any further, because no one is sad when they are at Disney!

These are some of my favorite nails I did last year (I know we all love a good Clueless reference). I wanted to dig these up because lately, the madness has been getting me down, and I have zero motivation to make my hands look adorable like this again. As crazy time consuming as this looks, it doubles as meditating for me, and somehow calms me down. I know this won't work for everyone, but maybe it will help you figure out what your meditation activity is, and you can focus on that when you're freaking out because your lips are so chapped, you want to cut them off. That happened to me a lot last year, just ask Eddy. Anyway, I decided to start small tonight, and actually straight up ripped off the nails that designlovefest posted on Instagram today (thanks for that inspiration, girl!). I got some new black nail polish, a beautiful matte top coat, and whipped up these little babies right quick:

They're supposed to be pink eyelashes, which is ridiculous, but I love them. Also, I think this matte top coat alone, might be the cure to my nail creativity blockage! It made everything look so much more sleek, and smooth. I love it! 

All in all, as much as I can try to steer you away from SAD, the reality is that it is already getting me! As I write this, I'm trying to motivate myself to at least make a list of things I want to do (I CAN'T EVEN MAKE A LIST). I did start looking on Pinterest today, and found a bunch of new recipes that I wanted to try, so that should count for something! Honestly, just writing these posts for the past two weeks has already made me feel happier, and has given me something to look forward to. Maybe that is why I haven't felt that motivated in other areas, because I am focusing on this too much? I'm going to have to get over that quick, or else I won't have anything to write about on here! What good will a DIY blog be, if I don't flippin' DIY anything?! I'm just kidding. I promise I will make something really awesome soon, and I will share the crap out of it with all of you beautiful people. I'll leave you with this last piece of advice, and I didn't want to include it because it involves blatantly spending money, but it is always guaranteed to work:

It doesn't have to be Lush products (but no one can be sad with Lush products!), it can be whatever will ease that cold chill of death you feel bite your face every time you step outside. NEVER BE ASHAMED TO TREAT YOSELF. 

What do you all do to stay busy, and beat the 'winter madness'? Any new TV shows or movies to recommend (preferable ones that will not make me cry)? Speaking of, I am going to scour Netflix. Stay warm, my babies <3