BTW: a few things I love today

1. Adorable dog leashes (at the end of which is an adorable bubs): http://www.designspongeonline.com/2009/08/found-my-animal.html

2. Adorable travel bags: http://www.travelteq.com/  (BTW keep the website up for a while, the music on the page is an awesome "secret soor-prize!")

3. Delicious recipes for red velvet cupcakes (I would like ten of these minis for breakfast!)    http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/red_velvet_cupcakes_with_cream_cheese_frosting/

4. Fresh snow on a Friday!!!

New Year's Re-Soul-utions

I'm sure your gym, like mine, is full of "New Years Resolutioners," hitting the gym hard, determined that THIS YEAR is going to be their year that they drop [insert number] lbs.  I applaud them for trying, but let's face it, most of us (author included) have a difficult time sticking to the resolutions we make for ourselves.  Why is that?  Pressure to succeed?  Unrealistic expectations?  Weakness?  Probably a little bit of all of those...


2009 was a great, great year for me.  One of the best I've had in a very long time, in fact.  And for that, I'm so grateful.  But there are also things that I realized about myself, things I need to change, accomplish, strive for, that  I didn't get to do in 2009, things that aren't about making more money or losing five pounds.  This year, I want LESS.


Less stuff.  No more junk.  No more "stuff."   My mantra will be that "If it doesn't provide me joy, make me laugh, or keep me alive/human in some way, why does it exist in my life?"  No more junk. That goes for what I eat too, I'm actually starting to be scared by the things I read... what's in our foods, personal products.  Just shocking.  No more stuff.  


Less noise.  I want to read more and watch less TV.  Swim more instead of focusing on the "Calories Burned" feature of the treadmill.  I also want to learn to turn off my inner voice and that might require some yoga.  A real effort this time, because God knows that I've tried.  But I haven't REALLY tried.  So I'm going to try.  Again.  


Less anxiety.  I always feel like I'm running around because I try to jam too much stuff into my day.  It's unnecessary and makes me irritable.  Work, working out, cleaning, socializing, all of these are important things but they cannot get done all at the same time on the same day within the same time frame.  So I'm going to give myself a break and just say "no" more often.  "If it doesn't provide me joy, make me laugh, or keep me alive/human in some way, why does it exist in my life?" 


LESS.  


Joy to you all this new year.  I hope your ReSOULution is a successful one.