the weekend + committing to...

happy monday, everyone! how were your weekends? mine was good--i got to spend time with my dear friend shun, who was in town from boston, and my family, who i don't get to see often enough. i also came back to sarasota with several clean loads of laundry (yes, i'm almost 27 and i still take my laundry to my parents' when i can) and minus one flip-flop. the sign of a good weekend? i think so.

oh, and the photo above is what i call cake carnage from my carrot masterpiece--which was pretty delicious, even if i do say so myself.

what do your weeks look like? mine is busy, but it's capped off by my 27th birthday on saturday. my good friend s.'s bridal shower is that day, and my friend k. is out of town until the 11th , so i'm not celebrating until next weekend, but i'm still looking forward to a week of little treats and saying "it's my birthday!" yes, 27 may be my scary age, but i'm still looking forward to a celebration with my favorite people.

so in the spirit of a new year for me, and a new month for us all, here are my commitments for the week:

+ no soda. i've been really, really bad about guzzling diet coke lately, and in spite of my prior commitment to quit it, i haven't been doing that well. it sends me running to the candy bowl and that is not good. so this time, for real: no soda. i think i'm going to try to get back to water, green tea, and coffee-only for awhile.

+  not stressing about 27 being my "scary age" and all the things that i think are supposed to come along with being in one's late twenties. it's not worth it. celebrate our youth, right?!

+ baking nigella's to-die-for brownies. (this is a fun one.) also, continuing to cook as much as possible at home.

+ focusing at work and completing another big project. i can do it.

+ cleaning my car, which is gross, and my apartment, which is also kind of gross.

so that's it for me this week. simple, but they're important to me. sometimes i worry that this list gets a little repetitive, but then i think that, often, the commitments i set for myself are ongoing--i can't expect to commit to completely giving up diet soda, and focusing at work and going to the gym are things that i should always do. i mean, right?

what are your current commitments?

photo of cake carnage by me.