Happy New Year!

I'm sitting in the middle of a messy house, eating chocolates left over from Christmas, and wondering what I'm going to resolve for 2013. I like New Years. I'm a fan of beginnings. They seem so filled with promise. And I love resolutions. Not accomplishing them really. Just thinking them up. I'm good at thinking them up. This year, I'm resolving to be more mindful. More awake. Oh and to blog more.

I've been on vacation for the last 10 days and much of it was spent with family. My older brother and his family came in town from Christmas day until that Friday. I spent Christmas Eve with my parents and then every day from Christmas up until Friday with my brother and his family. I was home on Friday, outside of meeting some friends for drinks. On Saturday, my little brother and his fiancee came into town. I spent Saturday night and all day Sunday with them. I had planned to spend part of the day yesterday with them but I woke up feeling odd. I wanted to hermit up. So I read all day yesterday. I read until past midnight, the kind of New Years that only I can get behind. I loved staying in while everyone else was out celebrating. It was wonderful.

Today I'm relaxing with a cup of tea. I spent part of the morning outside scraping ice from the driveway. I keep talking about buying a rowing machine to lose weight when all I really need is a shovel, an ice scraper, and some persistent ice. I worked for about 30 minutes with no luck. But I worked up quite the sweat. Now I'm catching up on my email, blogs, and planning out my 2013. I have plans I tell you. Big plans. Here's to a wonderful New Year! I hope you have a wonderful coming year filled with big plans and exciting things.

Resolving to be less Resolute

Every year at this time I sit down and write out my resolutions. And sadly they are always the same resolutions: lose weight, get more organized, write more...etc. Since I use the same ones every year you can safely assume that I only follow them for about three weeks until I slip up, decided that it isn't going to work, and return to my normal habits. Every year is the same.

This year though I have decided not to be so general. Lose weight is an incredibly general idea. It normally means dieting for me, which I hate. So this year I actually have a plan of attack. I won't say that I want to lose weight. Instead I'll say that I plan to write down what I eat each day. Starting today. Five years ago I decided that I was going to lose weight and I bought a food journal. I wrote down everything I ate, walked more, and managed to lose 60 pounds. I maintained the exercise but stopped writing things down about three years ago. And slowly gained back 50 of those pounds. So I know that a food journal works. I'll just go back to that. Not with the idea that I will lose weight but with the idea that I will make food journaling a habit. If I lose weight, great. If not I have developed a habit that will improve my overall heath.

I keep a paper journal just because I find it more convenient, but for anyone who would prefer an electronic version I recommend SparkPeople. This site is free and allows you to track both food and exercise. Plus you just have to let them know what you eat and they keep track of the calories for you.

As for getting organized, I am also creating a plan. Rather then the vague statement "I'll get organized" my plan is to focus on each room of the house. My first will be my library. That is the one that needs the most work. I'll be starting tonight with three boxes: one to keep, one to give away, and one to toss. And if I keep doing that each day, I should be leaner in two weeks or so. Then I just have to focus on making organization a habit. Putting things in their place rather than just leave them on the counter to do later. We'll see how it goes. But I'm focused on daily improvement, not just some general ideas of what to improve.