A new year, a new perspective!

Hi friends! Happy 2013!! Hope you all had a wonderful New Year's Eve! My in laws came over and we ordered in Chinese food, played scratch tickets(the booklet kind), had chocolate fondue, and watched the count down. Fun, but pretty low key. We normally don't go out, but stay home and have people over, or just hubby and I chill out :)

Today I really didn't do much of anything. I procrastinated. I have a busy week ahead and just had no mojo to attack my to do list. I did however make a yummy dinner :)

                         Quinoa with roasted asparagus and Corn Flake crusted Dijon salmon!

I've been pondering the New Year's resolutions thing and trying to figure out what goals I want to set out this year and I came to the realization of a few things. I'm not a big resolutions person. I do have goals in my life that I want to accomplish but not just because it's a new year, and not on a fixed timeline. I'm too hard on myself if I don't stick to them perfectly and start feeling the why bother bandwagon start.

That being said, I do feel like it's a fresh new year! 

I feel the past several months, my stress level has been at the max. When I can't keep on top of every little thing that needs to get done I feel cranky and out of control. 

I am a busy person, but I need to figure out to manage the time I have more effectively and I also need to let go the need to be super woman. I need to find peace in days when I have run out of time and still have a list of things to do instead of letting it eat at me. I also need to focus on what I need to do for me instead of putting myself last. Clean the kitchen or finish responding to emails or go workout and have a hot bath? Normally it's the always the first two. 

So here are things I would like to work on this year;

• Exercise on a regular basis. Especially now that I have a free gym membership!
• Eat healthy, home cooked meals and really cut eating out to no more than a few times a month. We do it WAY too much, mostly for the  convenience. It's hurting our wallets and our health. I'm back to tracking using Spark People. I tried WW again, but for whatever reason I'm just not feeling it. I like seeing the breakdown of everything and being able to enter my calories burned with my Polar.
• Be kinder to myself. Be more patient with myself. Be more accountable to myself. I often bend over backwards for others putting myself last.
• Do my own thing, my own way, for myself. Sometimes I find myself comparing my accomplishments to others, my blog, my recipes, my workouts and I start thinking I'm not doing it as well, or I'm not losing weight fast enough, or I'm not keeping up with others achievements as well as I could. I need to get back to doing what feels right and what I know is working for me. I read a lot, I have been to Dr's. I know what I need to do for me and have to step back from falling into the comparisons game. 
• Blog 3x week. I enjoy it, it helps keep me accountable to my health, and I need the support! My plan is to blog Mon/Wed/Fri this year.

So I started off the year right! I've been cooking at home, been eating healthy and proper portions (except one night of indulging on Purdy's) I've been drinking lots of water and taking my vitamins. I feel good. The scale is moving down, and I feel happy I'm going in the right direction!

I have full blood work being done Tuesday, and I have scheduled in gym time for this week :) 

Here is a peak of some recent eats;

I meal planned last week and although we didn't stick to it exactly we did eat off of the list for most of the week. We have a lot going on this week so instead of listing what I'm making for each night of the week I just made a list of meals to choose from with food we have on hand so we can pick a meal that will work for that night. I also cooked up some potatoes, quinoa and eggs to have on hand for a quick meal prep.

Tomorrow I'm back to working at the Rec center. I've been off from there for 2wks, and have been just doing dog chow. My FIL got a new job starting next week so they will have their own place now, so that will make things feel more back to normal for us. 

After work, Lilly has to go back to CARE center tomorrow for more blood work. Her creatine levels are still off. They are trying to figure out why. It's been such a long go with her since her Addison's crisis in September. We have been at CARE every two weeks since. I'm praying for good news tomorrow! 

I still have to have treatment on my varicose veins ASAP. Unfortunately with them not being covered my AB health care, and Lilly still needing vet care, I've had to put it off. Hopefully I will be able to have them done in February.

Well I'm off to watch Revenge and BL! I haven't watched once since Jillian has been gone. So happy she is back :)  

I saw this on the BL facebook page today. It summed up my 2013 Motto.

Do you set New Year's Resolutions for yourself? If so what are some of yours? Do you usually keep them?