Tuesday, January 1, 2013

New Years Resolutions

Believe it or not, I have never ever made a New Year's resolution. I am not exactly sure why, but I'm pretty sure it has something to do with the fact that I've been on a diet on and off since I was in the 8th grade. New Years resolutions would just add salt to the wounds and set myself up for a failure.

HOWEVER, 2012 was a pretty great year. It had its ups and downs but overall it was amazing. I went finished my junior year of college, I survived an awful student teaching experience while staying on Dean's list, I took a sweet vacation to Hilton Head with my awesome boyfriend, and the list goes on and on. I started my job at Starbucks which I absolutely love. I am a blessed woman.

During the trip to Hilton Head, Adriaan and I decided that it was time to change our lives. We used the trip as a jump start to a healthier way of living. We didn't eat salads for every meal in the trip or anything to that extreme. We ate cupcakes twice and consumed way more alcohol then we should have. But one thing that we did was try to make the trip about more than food. We rented bikes and rode all throughout the island. We took a hike in search of alligators (and found two!). We took walks together, browsed the little island shops, and talked and talked over cups of coffee. We swam in the ocean and just enjoyed the perfect weather. (Seriously, October is the PERFECT time to go to the beach. Less crowds, milder weather, still warm enough to enjoy the water) It was the best vacation of my life with the love of my life.

After that, I made a commitment to go to weight watchers and lose the weight that has been creeping up for so long. So far, I've stuck to it. Thanksgiving was a breeze but Christmas proved a little more difficult. The entire month of December has kind of been more maintenance that losing but I'm okay with that! I really am! I'm very excited to weigh in on Friday and find out how I actually did over the holidays.

Wow, I realize I'm very long-winded. The purpose of this post was to say that this year I'm actually going to make some resolutions. 2012 was an awesome year and I think 2013 has the potential to be even better. Here are some things that I want to try and do during this next year.

1. Continue to lose weight. I've lost about 20 pounds since October and want to continue this trend. I'd like to lose about 55 more. I'm not sure how many I can lose in one year, but I want to give counting points my all each week and see how my weight loss goals progress.

2. Take better care of my skin. My skin has gotten progressively worse these past few years. I have an insane amount of acne. I'm going to start washing my skin more and use a mask every week.

3. Try one new recipe a week. I love to cook and I love to lighten up dishes. Week 1's dish is already done - I made a stir fry with rice noodles. It was my first time cooking with rice noodles and I really enjoyed them! Pinterest is full of recipe ideas. Next week I'm going to try curried lentils.

4. Be more organized. Write due dates and deadlines in my planner and remember them! I got myself in a bit of trouble this semester when failing to remember due dates. Never again!