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Author: Jessica Marie

Professional copywriter, NASM certified personal trainer, mom of 2

Resolutions Smesolutions

I may have mentioned before that I’m not a huge fan of New Year’s resolutions. I think that it’s important to recognize that you are fully capable of making a resolution right this second, this very day of the year, this singular moment before the next bite reaches your mouth. I think that the “I’ll start on Monday” mentality is, please forgive me, lazy. It’s a giant excuse not to take control of your own habits, bodies, responsibilities and health that you have full authority over. I like to keep in the practice of making resolutions the second I think of them. I don’t wait until Monday, I begin with my next meal or transaction.

However, I do appreciate the freshness that the New Year offers. The feeling of vitality all around you, the fresh outlook, that sense of starting over. Plus every business everywhere capitalizes on the New Year, so you might as well take advantage of those gym fee waivers and exercise equipment sales if you’re going that route.

I would like to offer a few tips from my own experience at forming New Year’s resolutions every year since I’ve understood the concept. Hey, just because I don’t agree with waiting until the New Year to tackle your ambitions doesn’t mean that I don’t like to use the date as a great time to re-evaluate where I’m going. So, my advice is to try to:

1. Practice your New Year’s resolutions a week or more in advance. This gives you a chance to work out the kinks, rework your schedule, and adjust the picture before you even start. If you plunge ahead on Jan 1 without any practice, it’s all too easy to fall for the all-or-nothing cop-out. My resolution for 2011 is to read through the Bible and I started in November so that I have plenty of “padding” for those days I know I’ll miss. Given enough time, I was able to find this Bible podcast and these complementary sermons that I can listen to while I’m working. Through this early trial, I also figured out that reading two Bible companions in tandem with the Bible readings is overkill and I know I cannot dedicate myself to that much cross-referencing and reading right now.

2. Jot down every obstacle you can foresee on one side of a piece of paper. On the other side, brainstorm solutions for overcoming those obstacles. Without a Plan B, failure will be that much easier. On the other hand, if you know exactly what your action plan will be, you won’t hesitate to keep going. There WILL be obstacles.

3. Write about your efforts, vocalize your goals, and gather your cheerleaders. If you keep your resolutions inside your head, you have only yourself to hold you accountable. When you put your plan in print, you are solidifying it and making it real. You are reminded of your efforts with every glance where memory may have failed you. Start a blog centered around your resolutions like her, write a few goals on a Post-it® attached to your computer screen, or enlist a friend to check in on you. The more you talk about it, the more concrete the idea will be in your mind.

4. Visualize yourself successfully completely your goals with every inch of your being. Taste the sweat, hear the crowd cheering and those compliments, touch the rope at the finish line, see yourself in your new fitted clothes and experience the entire thing down to the sensory details. If in your mind you’ve already succeeded, then you know for sure that success is not impossible. And once you immerse yourself in that feeling of accomplishment, nothing will stop you from getting there. It feels too good.

5. Do some research. It’s a whole lot easier to jump into something on Jan 1 when you know what will be expected of you. Print off that 5k training plan, read others’ success stories, track your spending for a month or two before implementing a budget, and become familiar with the terms and equipment at the gym so you can nail your resolutions head-on, without hesitation. Know exactly what you’re getting yourself into–or out of!

6. But don’t over-plan! You are not likely to be successful at losing weight if you immediately plan to track every morsel down to the almond, subscribe to three magazines, join every online weight loss community you come across, buy piles of complicated equipment, join a gym and forgo entire food groups unless you have some sort of rare iron-clad dedication. You’re setting yourself up for failure if you plan to form a million new habits at once. The most successful dieters use baby steps to achieve their goals. Implement one new measurable strategy per week such as drinking two extra glasses of water, walking 2,000 extra steps, putting away 25 extra dollars, sending out three extra resumes, or using a smaller dinner plate. Continue with what works, chuck what doesn’t. I can practically guarantee that by December, or maybe even July, you will reap the rewards of all those baby steps put together.

7. Don’t let your imperfections or shortcomings derail your entire plan. Who says you can’t change or rewrite your goals in February to better suit your lifestyle? Certainly not me!

The Writing Structure and its Builders

Great writers know that reading is one of the most important things that they can do to improve their craft. And here’s another reason why. It’s not always the content itself that inspires writing, but the form the writing takes. I remember reading a book in high school and the teacher asked us to write about one thing we learned from the book. I wrote about how the book opened me up to a completely different style of writing.

The book in question was written completely in vignettes. It didn’t read like a regular book with a build-up, climax, and falling action. The vignettes were sort of scattered, but still contributed to the overall story. I remember thinking: “this is truly brilliant.” I can do that! That’s how my mind works anyhow, in bits and scattered chunks.

In college, we read poems and then copied their forms or subjects in our own way. Recently, I read a book that I’ve mentioned before called Wear More Cashmere. The style of that book and its celebration of womanhood has spawned some amazing writing ideas inside of me, but that I would like to express in my own way.

I can’t wait to get started!

Sugar Sugar Everywhere

I’m so excited for Christmas. My home has been decked out for weeks, the sugar cookies have come and gone, about half of the gifts have been wrapped and placed under the tree. Every evening I come home and turn on a Christmas CD while I try to figure out what’s for dinner. I love showing people how much thought I’ve put into celebrating them as a person by choosing gifts with meaning. I’ve taken my son to see many-a-Santa (but he’s two, so he hasn’t quite caught on that he looks different each time). The snow is falling in pure white blankets. The goodwill is so thick in the air you can almost taste it. But instead of taste it, you stop to check the calories…

I’m here to petition that we do not take the cheer out of the holiday treats. Everywhere around me, I keep hearing people grumbling and then taking fistfuls of treats almost reluctantly. At my lunch break exercise class, there was moaning during the walking lunges about how we’d better treat ourselves to extra pecan pie for this. There’s something just so wrong with this picture. We shouldn’t be lamenting these bountiful gifts from friends, family, business vendors, etc.

Please, by all means, have fun with the outpouring of Christmas suga’. Grab a few chocolate-covered pretzels and really enjoy each roll across the tongue. This is a rare once-a-year treat. Take an extra lap around the building before grabbing a cookie if you must, but please grab a cookie! Maybe not ten, but at least one or two. The more you fight it, the worse off you’re going to be anyway. This is a time to celebrate, to enjoy, to indulge. What’s to celebrate if you’re too busy worrying about that monster chocolate cake you just bit into?

Singing Lessons

I have an endearing story about my dad singing to my sisters and me when we were babies. He would just repeat Silent Night over and over because that was the only song he knew all the words to. He wasn’t that much of a hands-on dad when it came to discipline (unless we were bothering him specifically) or day-to-day affairs, but he sure loved his girls. Especially when we were all cuddled into his arms about to fall asleep. Awwwwwww. I don’t quite remember this but I certainly appreciate the stories and the devotion.

I, of course, sing to my son the requisite “Hush Little Baby” and “Twinkle Twinkle” but am in the market for a new tune. I was just listening to an updated version of Amazing Grace and hadn’t even thought of that one! Swing Low Sweet Chariot. I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing. Sweet Child of Mine. Landslide. I am totally missing some good tunes! I need to get listening and bolster my playlist.

It’s All on the Menu

The best smart-eating tip I can offer: you gotta plan out the menu people!

And these are my best strategies for menu planning:

1. Make a list of all the common meals you make for yourself or your family. You can do this with snacks and drinks too. I want to add my very own list to this blog very soon so I have my own record. Because sometimes when it’s time to go to the grocery store, you just plumb can’t think of anything to make. Continue adding to this list as you add new recipes to your repertoire.

2. Do a search at Cooking Light or SparkRecipes for more healthful versions of your favorites or try to do a few heart-healthy swaps (light sour cream versus the full-fat version). I bought a Taste of Home Comfort Food Diet cookbook that improves upon a good share of our family favorites in one book. Printing real recipes with actual nutrition labels also helps keep you honest about each serving.

3. Now go back through that meal list and place notes next to each meal listing the ingredients you’ll need for each recipe.

4. Each week, plot out every breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack. This is not as hard as it sounds. It’s perfectly OK to have nutritious waffles with blueberries all week so you need only buy those two things. For snacks, all you need is a carton of eggs for a hard-boiled snack or a bag of apples and bottle of peanut butter. Add the ingredients for these meals to your weekly shopping list.

5. I always find it helpful to jot down the meals and snacks I’ve planned on a white board or scrap of paper so I don’t forget by Thursday what I actually had in mind. I scratch the meals off as I go.

This one simple meal-planning strategy sounds way too easy, but it really works. And as a bonus, it keeps our grocery bills much lower than ever!

The Party’s at My House

I think I was reading someone else’s blog entry about having a wine and cheese party that got me thinking about having a girls’ night sometime soon myself. Something to replenish those bonds and give us girls something to talk about. Ok, I was just looking for any excuse to get all the girlies I adore the most together. And banish awkward silences.

Then, something about indie film screening came into my inbox not two seconds later like surrendipity.

A few days later, this fantastic party favor idea (including wine party favor options) graced my inbox.

And there you have it: fate has arranged a fully-planned party for me. How does New Year’s Eve sound?

The Great Remote Search

I’m not the lazy type that searches the entire house for the remote just to change the TV channels from the couch. Oh no. But for the past two days I’ve been in a real bind. I’ve wanted to work out to several different fitness DVDs, but I can’t find the DVD remote. The actual box itself can only do so much. What about when I want to get to the third workout on that Turbo Jam DVD? I. just. can’t. get to it! Ugh.

However, this did force me to pull out my old bundle of ripped-out magazine workouts and put them to darn good use. You should see the stack I have. You know those file envelopes with like 8 file dividers? I have two of those jam-packed about 2-inches thick with every type of workout you can think of from capoeira to back-to-the-80s leg warmer workouts to tae bo, you name it! And I always have good intentions of using them (otherwise I wouldn’t horde them so), but somehow I just don’t.

It’s much easier for me to throw in a DVD and capitalize on the Chalene-style energy. Almost like I’m working out with someone else or in a class setting. I take less breaks and pump a whole lot harder. Those DVDs keep me a whole lot more accountable than a piece of paper I have to stop and read. But I did use the paper this time. And I liked it. Especially with my own music cranked up and the boys out of the house.

Post-Workout Shower

I have an odd conundrum that has to do with the post-workout shower. Ok, I admit I have gone places after a sweaty workout. I try to keep this social snafu to a minimum, but I assure you I never go to bed without a full lather-off. So, what do you do the next morning when your hair is all crazy kinked but you’re still shower fresh? I know a lot of people who will take another shower in the morning. I have done that too, especially in the sticky summer heat, but it seems like such a waste–of water and extra time. They do tell you to even skip a day of showering for the benefit of your hair and skin moisture levels, which I just won’t do. But double showering must do a real number on oil production.

So, if I take a shower in the morning and another shower post-workout that same day and don’t take one the following morning, I still come out with my socially-acceptable one shower a day. Whew, at least I can keep my social standing. But I still don’t know what to do about that hideous bed-head. It’s not the cute Jennifer Aniston-esque-beach-wave-bed-head. It’s the three-year-old-girl-after-a-day-of-craziness type.

Anyhow, so far, the only remedies I’ve come up with are clips to pin my hair back. It also helps if I wear a hat on my walk to work to flatten some of the bumps. Otherwise, cute pixie pigtails or a headband seem to do the trick. My hair’s too short right now to resort to the oft-used ponytail. I may have to grow it out just for that reason. But then I’m afraid I’ll get lazy and use the ponytail solution every day again like I’ve done before.

The Sketchbook Project

I am so excited to have found The Sketchbook Project during a recent bout of Internet “research.” Ok ok, you caught me. I was in the market to buy a real artist’s sketchbook and came across this cool new project to engulf myself in. You see, you get a sketchbook, fill it up with artwork and send it back in. Then, your art goes on a tour of the country. When the art tour is finished, the sketchbooks find a permanent home in the Brooklyn Art Library. They can be checked out like regular library books and the artist can keep track of how many times their book is viewed or “checked out.”

I chose “make mine a double” as my theme. Although today I see that “Happy Thoughts” has been added as a theme, and that would’ve been downright perfect. Oh well. I’ve already done a brainstorm of doubles and hope to turn those ideas into wonderful works of art.

As I’ve stated before, I have this abundance of creative energy building up inside of me and am in dire need of an expressive outlet for it. So thank the stars, it’s in the mail.

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The Stuffed Upper Crust

I’ve noticed more and more that people are being drawn to health foods when it comes to sharing snacks or meals with others. We’re all getting a little scared of going to parties where there is way too much to eat. They write about it in magazines all the time–how to not sabotage your diet in one fell swoop of the buffet table.

Snacks at work in a health-conscious department and even work-provided lunches are taking on a health spin. Make a calorie-light cupcake and watch them disappear. Bring in a calorie-dense cake and frown as you take most of it back home again. At church, at birthday celebrations, more and more people are leaning toward healthful fare. And everyone mumbles about donuts–so enticing no one can resist yet oh-so-naughty for the waist. And I almost feel guilty serving that sort of thing myself. As if I’m a devil’s advocate of sorts. Here, engorge yourself, until you’re uncomfortably stuffed and guilt-ridden. How hospitable is that?

We recently invited some friends over for dinner. Something people generally jump at the chance to enjoy, right? Well, they weren’t sure if they could make it because they’re trying to lose weight. Well, it’s a good thing I have a few healthy recipes under my belt and am sort of a health buff myself. Sort of. So, I can make them feel at home in my home and in their own skin. I know, it’s a gift.

As a side, would it be weird to host Thanksgiving this year and make it a health food affair with pre-portioned plates? I’m also fantasizing about that energized feeling after finishing a Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning, starting my day off on the right (and left) foot. But what’s with the parting gift–a fresh pumpkin pie? Shouldn’t we slim that down to a sugar-free, low-fat pie of some kind? We all know we’ll ruin our efforts later in the day, but why help us take an unhealthful turn right away?