March: 5 Things

(this is an old bracket, 2016 teams haven’t been decided yet)

March: 5 Things to Try This Month

Each month, I’m going to blog about five things I am going to try throughout the month – and I encourage you to try them too. (Obviously some of these may only be geared towards girls, like pain your nails, etc. but you get my drift.)

Consider it a way to break your normal mold, to try new things, be adventurous, better yourself and just overall expand your horizons.

1. The Blonde Side is a sports column, so of course, I’m going to suggest you make a March Madness bracket. I have created a FREE bracket with CBS sports – there may be a prize at the end, TBD, but it will be fun and super bragging rights. And I seriously don’t care if you pick winners based on team colors or if it’s a city you don’t like. Just check it out.
2. Pay someone a compliment or write a thank you note. My best version of this is to write an actual handwritten note, but I realize many of you will refuse to do that (hello, guys), so I’m giving you variations. Too often we get caught up in complaining (myself included), so write a friend or colleague a thank you note or offer a word of encouragement (i.e. there should be no other point than to say thank you or job well done). Maybe it’s as simple as saying something nice to someone on social media (in a non-flirty/creepy way) or sending an email to a restaurant thanking them for the good service (mention your server by name so they get the credit they deserve!).
3. Get into the spirit of St. Patrick’s Day and bake something fun. And no, I don’t care if
   

   Image via thenovicechefblog.com

   you’re Irish or not (just don’t pretend you are on the day of). Here are a few Lucky Charm recipes from Huffington Post, and of course you can search Pinterest for more ideas as well. And please show me what you made – I love little projects like this, plus I’m a sucker for a sweet treat! I think this is the one I’ll try to make – it looks easy enough, right? Just want to brag – I’ll actually be in Dublin over St. Patrick’s Day, so there’s that. 

4. Go play tennis. The thing about tennis is that it’s usually free (you’d be surprised how many free courts are near you or maybe at a friend’s apartment complex) or at least super cheap. For instance, at Memorial Park here in Houston, you can rent a court for a few bucks and rent a racket and balls if you need. Or invite a friend who already has the gear so you can save money that way. Some sources say you can burn almost 450 calories during just one hour of tennis.
5. I’m a writer, so this one should be a no-brainer as far as a suggestion, but READ. Seriously, spend 30 uninterrupted minutes (as in, turn your phone off or leave it inside and go read outside), and it can be anything you want. Try to keep from reading on your laptop or on your iPad because you’ll be tempted to log into FB or leave a comment on a blog or something. Grab a magazine, an old book you used to love, or even print out a few articles on the web and read those.

Even though I don’t read a lot of “girly” blogs, shout out to Lauren Conrad for giving me this idea. 

So what are the five things on your list this month or what did you check off that I listed above?