After about 6 months of excessive hot chocolate drinking, hibernation and plodding through slush puddles and what seems like hundreds of inches of snow, we emerge from our condos and apartments bleary eyed and slightly paler than we were around Labor Day. But now that temperatures are creeping up and the parks are starting to fill up with runners and little league games, there’s no better time than now to spruce up the ‘ol condo and take advantage of all that spring in the big city offers. Here are a few tips on how to fully embrace spring in the big city:
1. Open up! – If you live in a condo/apartment, chances are your front door opens to a hallway, meaning that you’re getting very little fresh air into your home during the winter unless you keep your windows open during the blizzards and sub-freezing temperatures. Now that we’re getting into great weather, open those windows wide and take the opportunity to get some fresh air circulating through your place.
2. Do More with Less – Us city folk naturally have to do more with a lot less space than most. We’re usually pretty vigilant about doing more with less, yet during the winter months we tend to accumulate a lot of extra “stuff” that inevitably clutters and messes with a home’s “feng shui.” The onset of spring presents a great opportunity to bring more balance to our lives/homes by “spring cleaning” and also looking at what we really “need.” Growing up we would use “spring cleaning” as an opportunity to give back to the community by looking to donate our toys, video games or lightly used clothes that no longer fit to local community centers. This serves the dual purpose of giving back and keeping with the spirit of spring’s promise of new beginnings/fresh starts
3. Get up, get out and do something! – Now that you’ve got fresh air in your apartment and you’re feeling extra good about yourself for giving back to the community while sprucing up your place…there’s no better time to get up, get out and do something!! Here are a few of my favorite things to do in the city when I can finally trade my coat in for short sleeves:
A. Seeing how us city slickers rarely have backyards, we often don’t benefit from being able to have homegrown (and pesticide) free fruits and vegetables. Most cities host farmers markets in parks where local independent farmers sell fresh produce. Take it as an opportunity to take a stroll through the park on a nice sunny day, listen to some great live music, buy some locally grown fruits and veggies and indulge in a few treats.
B. You’ve had a long and hard week at the office. It doesn’t get much better than sleeping in on a Saturday and heading out to a hip local eatery to sit outside with friends for brunch. This solves multiple purposes and offers several benefits: 1.) If you sleep in, chances are you’ll be pretty hungry when you wake up 2.) Breakfast indoors = $15 . Sitting outside and eating that $15 breakfast under clear blue sunny skies after the worse winter in recent memory = Priceless!! 3.) It’s always important to remember the most important people in your life. The work week can be hectic so I like to use these opportunities to catch up with family and friends. Everything is better when you’re around the people closest to you
C. Break a sweat! Call up some of your buddies for a game of basketball, take your kids to the park and chase them around or go for a nice walk around town yourself. I like to use Spring as an opportunity to enjoy the great weather and work off those Christmas cookies
The snow has melted and it looks like Spring has finally started up here in the Northeast…So roll up your sleeves, get dirty, give back, get out, see family, see friends and laugh a lot! T minus less than four months until Labor Day. Yikes!
*Flickr photo courtesy of: bengal*foam
