Saturday, January 2, 2010

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig...



Got in yesterday evening and promptly went to bed. The flight from England was 9.5 hours, and while we were fortunate to be upgraded to more comfortable seats- that is still a long time to be confined on an airplane.

Today we unpacked, did laundry and paid bills. Tomorrow I will spend some time scheming our new years resolution: lose weight.

The biggest challenge will be finding a happy medium between my passion for cooking and my need to get fit. I am going to make a heartfelt attempt to post healthy recipes here, although I am contemplating a once-a-week splurge. One day a week I should be able to eat whatever I want, right?

If there is one thing I know about making positive changes that stick, it is that we must make small changes and not grand sweeping ones. A little more exercise...a little less junk food. My goal is to lose 5lbs per month. I will let you know how that goes.

On the plane home I read an article in the Wall Street Journal about New Years Resolutions. Even though only 18% of people who make resolutions stick to them after 2 years, simply making a resolution improves your chances of success by ten fold. There are many ways to ensure success:
  • Make sure that your goal is specific and realistic
  • Write it down
  • Enlist friends and family to share in your journey, or to simply ask how it is going!
  • Predict the roadblocks and setbacks and plan ahead for these.
  • Be gentle with yourself - allow yourself to begin again. You don't have to be perfect!

On another note....I made a commitment early this year to donate all money earned by the Home Cook N Blog to charity. We didn't make a killing, but Simon and I matched the $20 earned by my blog last year and donated $40 to the American Lung Association in rememberence of Simon's father who passed away in 2008 from Lung Cancer. Thank you to everyone who used the search engine I had provided on my site and who clicked on the ad boxes!

**the beautiful pen and ink drawing on this post is by UK artist, Mike Budden. Please take a moment to enjoy his site at http://www.mikebudden.co.uk/pen_and_ink_magic_001.htm

I really like his bird prints!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

GOOD LUCK! with your Resolution...and Happy new Year

Five Points to Balance said...

As easy as it is to come up with resolutions in January... by August these ambitious thoughts become wishful thinking. I am not calling mine resolutions, but maps...that way I am headed for a destination, but I may get off track and have to choose a different route to get there. Good luck, I know with each other's support we are gonna get far this year. Love ya- PJ