Ready, Set, GO!

It is Monday. It is the first Monday of the new year. And for the past couple of days I've been getting ready.

I am set.

And that means it's time to GO!

Yes, I have officially kicked off my new healthy eating plan and lifestyle. I'm excited -- in fact I woke up several times during the night thinking about it. I've been reading blogs and looking at recipes, I've been getting some needed motivation and pumping up my hubby to be excited about this too.

I got up and did a weigh in. Sigh. I reminded myself that I've got to start somewhere. And honestly? I'm down a few pounds from a week or so ago (although I don't know how it happened!) so I really can't complain. Still -- I have a long way to go.

I exercised this morning and on the Fast Walk with Leslie Sansone DVD she talked to a couple women who had lost a lot of weight -- one lost 65 pounds in 7 1/2 months. One lost 100 pounds ... the third had lost 110 (the first 100 in 9 months!) I know they weren't just exercising. They were making healthy food choices and most importantly -- they were sticking to it!

I came out in the kitchen and was pleased to find that their wasn't any bread. There weren't any cookies or potato chips in the pantry. The Christmas candy is gone (well -- there are a few pieces left in a box of Russell Stover's but I'm tossing them) and so are the bagels from the weekend.

There is no junk in the fridge. We have apples, oranges, and bananas. I just made a delicious green smoothie (banana, strawberries, blueberries, and spinach) that I'm drinking while I type this. But the big news is ...

I threw out an entire pan of brownies (and I didn't even sneak a taste before I dumped them in the garbage!)

Now that's progress.

I'm off to grab a shower and then cut up veggies and do some menu planning. I have a "to do" list a mile long that will hopefully keep me out of the kitchen but with the huge salad I'm planning for lunch, I don't think snacking is going to be a problem!

Be on the lookout for some of the new recipes I'm going to be trying and my weekly menu plans!

A New Year, A Fresh Start

I love New Year's Day -- in fact I'd venture to say it's my favorite "holiday". As much as I love Thanksgiving and being with family and the reflection of all that we are blessed with and Christmas, with its emphasis on loving one another and giving, New Year is all about me.

Me, me, me!

While I'm joking about the selfish side of New Year, it actually is the self-help lover's day of renewal. A fresh start ... out with the old, in with the new. And I'm totally into that.

These days even though it's more fashionable NOT to make resolutions (probably because so few follow through) I really do have a lot of goals and aspirations for where I'd like to be at this time next year and let's face it, New Year's is as good a place to start as any.

So with that in mind, I've decided the main areas I'm choosing to focus on in 2011 are HEALTH and CAREER.

When it comes to health, I'm no different than most -- I want and need to lose weight. I want to bring my body back to a state of wellness and fitness. That's going to involve some major lifestyle changes. I've talked about it before on this blog but honestly haven't followed through as I'd like. As much as I'm inclined to, I'm not going to beat myself up about it. My intention is to simply let go of past mistakes and be serious about eating better, getting daily exercise, and taking better care of myself emotionally and mentally as well.

With that said, I'm not starting my "diet" today. I'm still in prep mode at this point. We just arrived home last night from a holiday with our family so I don't have the house stocked with healthy food (or purged of the unhealthy stuff!), meals have yet to be planned or recipes prepared, and the exercise room still needs to be put back together (after the water problems we had before we left.) So it will probably be a Monday, January 3rd start for us (hubby is joining me for the "Healthy in 2011" quest.) My goal for today and tomorrow is to just get ready for Monday!

My career goals are simple as well -- I intend to start an online business (or two, or maybe even three ...) After moving last year I felt as though I'd been given a second chance to think about what I wanted to be doing with my everyday life. My former career path kind of fell apart due to some health concerns and then with moving, I ended up leaving my "rebound" job as I like to think of it that I wasn't really crazy about to begin with.

That leaves me unemployed and at a crossroads. I can either look for a regular J-O-B or I can create my own. I'm leaning towards self-employment since the type of job I'm looking for is rather scarce these days (entry level, few skills required, high paying, and with a very flexible schedule ... yeah ... you don't find a lot of those jobs listed!)

AND -- I have always wanted to be my own boss. I know it probably sounds crazy since it's so much easier to let someone else worry about business details and just be the worker-bee that shows up every day, does whatever is on the daily slate, and has a dependable paycheck directly deposited into the bank every other week. But I've never been one to take the path of least resistance (darn it!)

Now that we're settled into our new house and I've run out of excuses for getting started (company, holidays, etc.) I do have a few areas I'd like to pursue. It's time to get serious about getting one of these business ideas off the ground. If one goes well, I'll expand to another. If the first doesn't pan out, I'll give the next idea a shot.

Either way, I'm going to focus on using my time wisely with prosperity in mind. Between getting healthy and focusing on building a business, I expect that 2011 is going to be VERY busy.

I like busy. I am good when I'm busy. I'm excited about being busy!

So here's to a very healthy and prosperous new year. For me. And I'm hoping for you too!

Christmas Busyness ...

I've been busy ... but not completely with all-things-Christmas. I've been crocheting a lot, making little gifts that I want to give people (and not really intended for Christmas, just because I wanted to do it.) And there have been some errands to run, lunch with friends, and yesterday I spent baking cookies for my sweet hubby to bring in to work.

There have been cards to write and trips to the post office. And phone calls. Lots of phone calls (some to friends and others to figure out why I'm running low on funds in my mom's checking account and trying to make address changes obviously not made when we moved.)

Yesterday was a phone day. I spent 3 hours (yes, 3 as in three) on the phone with an old friend who was feeling kind of down. Truth was, I was feeling a little down too. Sometimes all the merriment of preparing for Christmas can get to you. I'm hoping she felt better when we got off the phone -- I know I did!

One thing that she said that really brightened my day came up when I was relaying a story about how my father had picked up a man stranded in the Blizzard of '77 and drove him as far to his house as the roads would allow. The man didn't really have good protective weather gear on and was going to have to brave the blizzard to make it up the road the rest of the way home. I had recently given my father a scarf I had made -- my first ever crochet project and it seems my father cherished it. He gave the man his scarf but insisted on exchanging contact information and asked that the man return the scarf. When he didn't (in a timely enough manner apparently) my father went to his house and got it!

We laughed about how I was so into crocheting then (I must have been telling her that I had a few projects going now) and I told her that on Thanksgiving my brother had sent me a picture of himself in the woods where he was hunting. I think I had sent him a text wishing him a Happy Turkey Day and encouraging him to stay warm. He replied, "All is well, have hat sis made me." And on his head was a hat I had made him for Christmas some 30 years ago. I couldn't believe he still had it -- and wore it!

Well, my friend then shared that her husband (we've all been friends forever) still wore the hat I made for him some 30 years ago each and every day! She said he often puts it on and says "Thanks Barbie! Warm again today." I was flabbergasted. He still has that hat? Again -- I couldn't believe it.

I guess what struck me is how some gifts stay with us. I'll be honest, I don't remember giving the hats to my brother or our friend. I know that I've made a zillion hats and slippers over the years and liked to give them as gifts. It just really has touched my heart as I'm finding myself getting back into crochet that things I made years ago are still around and still being used!

Now the whole reason I wrote this post was not to talk about crochet or gift giving. It was because I felt guilty not having written anything in the past few days. The truth is that I rather like coming to my blog and seeing the pictures of my Christmas ornaments first thing. They make me happy (I made all the ornaments that are shown in the pictures -- well, except the balls.) I realized I love handmade things and especially like to see handmade things USED year after year.

So for the moment I'm giving up seeing pictures of my Christmas tree on the upper fold of the blog. Maybe later today I'll get a chance to take some pictures of ornaments we've picked up during our travels this year ... they make me happy too!

Moral of the post: Make gifts from the heart and with your hands ... as they bless others you just might find yourself blessed as well. Merry Christmas!

Wordless Wednesday -- The Tree Is Up!!

Winter Day Smoothie

Oh, the weather outside is frightful, but my smoothie's so delightful ...

Yes, even on cold blustery days there is nothing quite as wonderful as a nice cold smoothie to jumpstart my day. Today I mixed it up a bit and mixed tropical with earthy for a truly yummy combination.

Now it might not look like much ... brown is not the color you'd expect for a "green" smoothie but the blueberries and blackberries mix with the green to make a rich brown color -- but let me assure you, it's delicious.

Give it a try when you're in need of a pick-me-up!




Winter Day Smoothie

1 medium banana
1/2 cup chunks of pineapple
1 cup frozen blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries
2 handfuls baby spinach
splash orange juice
1 cup of crushed ice

Start out putting the banana, pineapple and berries into blender and blend to to a smooth consistency. Add the spinach and continue to blend until all ingredients are creamy. Add a splash of orange juice and the ice and blend to a smoothie/milkshake consistency. Pour into a glass and pop in a straw to enjoy!

There Are No Knit Sweaters In My Future ...

I'm trying to learn to knit. Now a pair of wrist warmers may not seem like much of a challenge to most but it represents (to me anyway) hours and hours of focused frustration. LOL.

Seriously.

I got together with a woman I met through the internet (via Meetup Groups) who gave me a few pointers and helped to get me started with this knitting project. I've only done crochet prior to this and to be honest, these wrist warmers represent my second attempt at knitting. I have made a dish cloth prior to this ... which I refuse to use since it's such a prized trophy of my accomplishment! (It's stuffed in a bag under my bed.)

I made so many mistakes the first time around with this that I ended up ripping it out and starting over. In fact, I probably started over at least 10 times. I realized that with crochet, I'm comfortable with what the end result should be -- I have a pretty good sense of how to tweak my stitches if need be, how to detect mistakes early on, and how to rip out only that which needs to be ripped out if it should come to that. With knitting, I don't realize I've made a mistake until it becomes blaringly obvious. I don't know how to fudge to get back on track virtually unnoticed, and I don't know how to rip out and then get the stitches back on the needle without going back to the very beginning.

I wonder how long I'll stick with knitting.

For the moment, I am at least going to try to finish up these simple wrist warmers. I'd like to give them to my mom (maybe for Christmas.) They really are just rectangles of ribbing. The long sides get stitched together next to the wrist and then again above the thumb to make for "fingerless gloves."

Here's what I've got so far. I really do love the colors although the picture doesn't really show it off well. This one is close to being done (maybe another inch or so left to knit before starting on the second one.) I would like to get this project finished up in the next day or so as I've got crochet projects going that I'd also like to finish (and start!)


Note: I used Red Heart Yarn "Aspen Print" medium weight worsted yarn. Size 7 Needles. The pattern was a simple ribbing stitch ... CO 32 (or 38 for a larger hand/wrist) and then K2, P2 across for each row until the desired length is reached.

Wordless Wednesday -- Reflections of Boston at Night