Zest & Zip. Fun & Flare.

I'm craving fresh air and citrus. The clean smell of pine and seaspray. The feel of cold wind on my face.

This desire for zest and zip hits me every winter, but this year it's set in much earlier than usual.

I'm out of sorts lately. Maybe it's the strange sleep schedule I've been keeping, or the shortening winter days (made shorter by my strange sleep schedule of staying up all night, dropping into bed at dawn, and sleeping until after noon). Or maybe it's the way I've been binge-reading the last two books in the Hunger Games trilogy, making me feel like I'm living in two worlds at once, even my dreams soaked in that fictional world.

Or maybe it's that my body feels stiff and my mind sluggish from not playing roller derby or exercising for weeks. Or maybe it's a cluttered feeling in my head created and mirrored back to me by every dirty and disheveled room in my house.

Perhaps I'm not drinking enough water, and it can't help that I haven't been taking my vitamins. Maybe it's too many hours spent on the computer without enough time outside to balance me out.

Quite possibly, it's all of these.

** ** **

I love the self-portrait at the top of this post. It's out of focus and overexposed, I know. But I love the sunflare peeking around the side of my head. I love how the blurriness softens the enormous pimple that was on my chin that week. I love that behind me, even though you can't see it, is the wide open Pacific ocean. I love that my hair looks like orange fire with streaks of purple and white. I love how alive and happy I look.

I took that photo a few weeks ago on the Washington coast. Right before a gorgeous day flared out to twilight, a dear friend and I romped around the beach, dancing and being silly, taking pictures of ourselves.  I've been back for two weeks now, and I've been deep in the throes of creative entrepreneurship since then. So deep that I still haven't fully unpacked. My old nemeses of laundry and dirty dishes have called in reinforcements and are threatening to take over the kitchen, the basement, and my bedroom. In the war that we call housekeeping, the bathrooms are in constant danger of falling to the enemy (the enemy being filth and general disorder). If you don't hear from me for another week, please send reinforcements, preferably someone who knows how to wield a mop.

This weekend I'm planning to sweep things clean, literally and figuratively. I'll tidy up the house, go for a walk, drink extra water, take my vitamins, eat some oranges. I'll do the laundry, stretch out my cranky muscles, make myself get up before 10 so I can stop dwelling in darkness like a vampire. I'll wash the dishes and cook a meal. Maybe I'll strap on my roller skates and work up a sweat. Maybe I'll pretend that I'm back on that beach at sunset and run around like a goofball, creating my own fun and flare.

Comments

[kelly barton]

love.

[Kira]

Jenna, oh the cranky housing cleaning needs. It is so hard to get back into a routine after being away for awhile. Thank you for sharing your struggles, it helps because I go through so many of the same.

[magdalena]

Can totally understand the Hunger Games binge!