2014.

This year is going to be amazing for so many reasons. 

--I (finally) get to marry the love of my life. August 23. I will be registering for gifts soon.

--After getting married, like a week after we get married, we will be moving to Europe for six months. So pumped. So many new experiences. And the perfect start for our life together.

--I love knowing a new year brings a new start and a blank slate for accomplishments.

While I have compiled a list of monthly goals I would like to achieve; wedding to dos, number of workouts each week, healthier steps to complete, I am going to stick to one main all encompassing goal for the year.

Take more pictures.

I loved taking pictures in high school and college. Not anything fancy or artistic, just capturing moments with my friends, family, and important events. Since graduating from Purdue, I have been failing horribly at having my camera, or even my phone, ready at the opportune moment. We have gorgeous frames I have yet to fill, and with our trip to France, vacation to D.C, engagement, and a number of friends weddings this year alone there is no reason for me to be picture-less! This year we have friends wedding in Cabo, a family wedding in Colorado, our own wedding (and bachelor/bachelorette parties), and an adventure abroad just to name a few highlights. My resolution is to finally commemorate some special moments my fiance, family, friends and myself experience in the next 365 days. It supports my other goals of enjoying small moments, participating in more events, and taking better care of myself and loved ones as well. Don't you just love an all in one resolution? I am truly excited to become more adventurous and maybe fine tune some photography skills, my camera is charging as I type! Let's make 2014 the best year yet.

Clean It Up After The Holidays

Oh. My. Gosh. I do believe I am done travelling for the next few days. Words cannot describe how relieved I am. My schedule has been frantic for the last two and a half weeks and I feel a mess because of it. If there is anything I cannot stand, it is feeling out of control and overwhelmed. I have been doing much better at going with the flow and enjoying small moments but, honestly, all I want to do right now is clean and organize everything, get my butt back in shape, and maybe even find a minute to relax. The good news is I have accumulated a somewhat massive to do list which should embody most everything I am looking to accomplish! The bad news is, I am fighting my gnat like attention span to get it done. So how can we clean up our routine after such holiday madness???

1. Keep good food, eat good food. I always get made fun of due to my obsession with regular grocery shopping. Last night, after travelling three hours back to the city and being utterly exhausted, I headed to Trader Joe's. I grabbed some produce, salmon, and chicken to get through the next few days.

2. A cleanse will do you good. Honestly, I'm not a huge fan of juice cleanses. They get pricey, I get cranky. Disaster. However, when your system is rebelling against you and you are just craving pure nutrition, do some juicing. I have a coupon for some Suja juices from Whole Foods. I will pick them up this week and spend a day relaxing (napping and watching tv...) and sipping on juices to help my system recover a bit.

3. Write it down. ALL of it. A lot of people do regular food journals. I am not one of them. If I'm out, I will check out nutritional information on MyFitnessPal app periodically. I do like to meal plan though. I think more clearly when I can see things on paper, plus this helps me not overspend and throw away groceries each week. Something I have been guilty of far too often this month. I also encourage you to do a huge "brain dump" whenever you have a moment. I am so at fault for being quite scatter brained when I really began wedding planning. Adding that to my full routine was beyond overwhelming and left me freaking out from anxiety attacks. Now, I have a note book, my calendar, and I use the notes app on my iPhone to write anything and everything down as soon as it enters my mind. Just be sure to compile the lists every day or two! This has helped me a lot.

4. Goals. Think goals are too cheesy for you? Tell yourself you are writing an ideal long term to do list. Same concept, but the rephrasing may help. I love trying to improve and better myself. Why not?

5. Plan your workouts by the week. My workout schedule did not happen at all last week. At least, not how I wanted it to. Now, I feel bloated and have some catching up to do. But that's okay. This week, I am aiming for five hour long workouts and one yoga session. I have specific workout written down for each day. I may switch the workouts around if I need to, flexibility is key.

6. Don't forget about the money! Often we go financially overboard around the holidays, with the best intentions. Luckily, I had a lot of gift cards and my spending didn't get too crazy. I do need to tone it down though, thus I am buying my juices with a coupon. Yay saving money! The days of the check book register are over, and you don't need to go all anal retentive spread sheet if that isn't your style. I've started a few and never follow up... You do need to log into your account at least a few times a week, know how much you spend on groceries and gas, and reel in your shopping habits.

7. Too much of anything is bad. This will be my final thought on the subject. Excess gives me anxiety. Think about it, it's applicable no matter what. Too much food, good or bad. Being obsessive about food, exercise, or pinching every last penny. Too much worrying or feeling your daily life should only be going a certain way. Life owes you nothing.  Buying too much, thinking Pinterest inspired outfits and knickknacks should fill every corner of your living space. There's something very beautiful about living a more simple life. Clean, delicious food. Orderly living space. Well used and maintained belongings. That, to me, sounds like perfection. 

Getting Back on Track, by Switching Things Up

I mentioned earlier how I have been longing for a change in my routine. My workouts have become methodical and difficult to get through because they don't hold my interest. My daily routine needs some excitement and variety in order for me to keep up my healthy lifestyle. 

(Source: http://thinkingmomsrevolution.com/where-the-magic-happens/) 

I believe by now we've all seen this little gem made popular on pinterest and many other sites. No? Well according to online articles, health magazines, and personal experience; this picture may capture the essence of success. I have a secret for you, I am scared of running. Not just scared, thinking about running gives me anxiety. Why? No clue. However, I am determined to improve myself, my fitness, and the way I have been going about my day to day life. Because that's where the magic happens. I've picked some key points I want to improve upon inspired by this logic. Won't you join me?

1. Run 20 minutes, twice a week. Why? It is a form of exercise I am uncomfortable performing, and without a good reason. I went for a 20+ minute run/walk yesterday so I'm off to a good start.
2. Decrease my caffeine intake. One cup of coffee in the morning, a cup of caffeinated tea or coffee at lunch. Maximum. My dependence on caffeine is embarrassing.
3. Eat clean for the next week. No cheating. This long holiday weekend was kind of a set back for me health wise. This means no chocolate, added sugars, or artificial beverages (I'm looking at you Coke Zero) for seven days. Today was day one.
4. Exercise first thing in the morning at least twice a week. I have to get to work relatively early so this is sometimes tricky, but it sure beats having to work out as soon as I get home each night. I've already had some success with this but look forward to improving on it.

5. Drink more water. I have a serious need for an insane amount of water. As in liters and liters of water each day, a very unfortunate problem when you have limited bathroom breaks at work! Lately, I have been struggling to drink water because it's been so boring. I picked up some lemon and mint at the store this week to add in and keep me guzzling more.

6. Stick to my meal planning. I was thrown off by this today as I dropped my homemade salad all over the floor, but I hurried over to Mariano's to get another salad from their salad bar to compensate.

7. Do many types of exercise each week to prevent boredom. I tried to follow fitness plans online, or even my own. However, I've realized some days you come home and want to swap yoga or weights for that 45 minutes of cardio you have planned. And that's okay.

What would your goals be? I will be updating you on my progress, and would love to hear suggestions for more ways to keep it interesting.