come on get happy

I am in a great mood. I haven't even been in a good mood lately, but today–today is different. It may be the fumes that are floating around our apartment, killing mold spores. It may be the first ever French-inspired recipe that I just made up on my own, designed to use up miscellaneous going-bad things in our tiny fridge. It may be that I have a great husband, and we spent a great day together.

I mentioned what my goals were for the year in a post not long ago: keeping myself from retail therapy, being more conscious about what I bring home and how it affect the environment–tied to both of these things is the goal of trying to like myself more (something none of us are really that great at).

I realize that it's only January 15, but I'm already feeling like a success at this. The nation-wide Soldes (huge sales EVERYWHERE) are happening, and I haven't let myself (read: Joe has been good at restraining me) go. Not even once. Not even if I said I was "just looking." There's still the part of me that says, "But you'll buy clothes later anyway–and you'd be SAVING MONEY!" That part of me is crying a lot lately.

The winning part of me says, "Hey spoiled, you have loads of clothes and thrift stores that will all feel new when you get back to the States in just a few months. It'll be like Christmas in July." I'm really proud of that part. What I don't buy, I won't pack. What I don't buy means we can focus on our main goal this semester: site-seeing in Nancy and traveling.

I'm trying to remind myself of this in the grocery, where I tend to really let myself go. Today, with Joe next to me, I walked out carrying only what we had decided was absolutely needed for the weekend. To keep myself in line, I'm tracking our grocery spending (to also track the recipes we use) over on my listography. If you are truly bored out of your mind, pop over there to see how our future is shaping up.

I mentioned the fumes in our apartment. We got tossed out for a few hours today so that Stephen, our very pleasant landlord, could fix our shower and go to town on the mold issue. The cleaner they used and left with us (since they cleaned the bathroom and we're to conquer the main room's diseased section) has a horrific smell–even worse than the Camembert in our fridge. I have candles lit. I was afraid the fumes would cause an explosion, but we're slowing moving from toxic chemical scent to gingerbread.

Since we were out, Joe and I took full advantage of the day. We took our Nancy Culture Cards, which get you into about everything for free, to the Musée des Beaux Arts, a fine arts museum that focuses on art and artists somehow connected to the Lorraine region. It was incredible to feel how much history we'd already started absorbing about our town–from knowing that battle scenes were depicting the epic Battle of 1477 to recognizing names of artists from our trip to the Musée de L'École.

We walked along the quiet aisles and rooms for about two hours and left with a much stronger appreciation of "Nancien" artists–particularly from the art nouveau era–and for the town's cultural offerings. We decided to keep the fun rolling and head out to a restaurant if we could find a good deal.

And how! There is a street in Nancy that is all restaurants–old houses crowded with eclectic staffs, tiny tables and bottles of wine. One offered a nine euro three-course meal. We couldn't pass that up, so we sat down and enjoyed our meal for another near two hours, talking about the coming year and how pieces are starting to come together.

Walking into the restaurant, I felt guilty. Here I was trying to be frugal, and instead we went to a sit-down restaurant. Then I remembered: we're cutting down on our materialistic side so that we can have the time and resources to enjoy the one-in-a-lifetime experiences. Not to far from now, we had commented during the meal, we'll be back to a land of steakhouses and more chains than "Mom and Pop" spirit.

Now we're home. Tomorrow's to-do list is written. The pizza dough is rising (and almost ready to be topped with ratatouille and Camembert–outstanding). Joe is napping. We're ready for a night of reading, "This American Life" and reveling in what this year has to hold.

How are your 2011 dreams shaping up? What has you feeling most revived while the landscape is still looking so, well, dead?


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