Goals

Since yesterday was the beginning of a whole new month, it occurred to me that I haven’t given you guys an update regarding my February goals. I had two goals: try at least two new vegetables and to do the Jackie Warner workout three times a week.

Regarding the vegetable goal, it was a great success. I tried cauliflower. It was a pretty tasty dish . . . at least the way I cooked it. I plan on cooking it in different ways in the future.

In my brief hiatus from blogging, I also tried another veggie . . . parsnip!

I honestly wasn’t expecting to like parsnip. I roasted it in the oven with some red pepper and paprika (can you tell I like things spicy?) to make parsnip fries.

I really liked them! They had kind of a sweet taste that I really enjoyed. I have actually eaten these about three or four times since I first tried them a couple of weeks ago. I really need to continue trying new veggies. Sometimes I am pleasantly surprised.

I did not succeed at the goal of doing the Jackie Warner DVD three times a week. The first couple of weeks, I did what I needed to do. But over the second half of the month, I slowly stopped doing Jackie Warner at all. I think it’s because I was getting bored with the workouts. I was able to move through all the workouts with way too much ease. I decided to make the workout a little tougher by increasing the weight I was using. I was using 5 pound and 3 pound hand weights for the workout. On Monday, I used 8 pound and 5 pound hand weights for the workout. I haven’t used the 8 pound weights in forever . . . since I used to do regular strength training. Increasing the weights really made a difference. I had to struggle with the workout and I actually broke a sweat. My muscles were quivering afterwards. It is now four days later and my muscles are still sore from the increased weights. I don’t think there is one muscle that isn’t still sore. Guess that means it worked.

Besides the fact that Spring is that much closer, March also means it’s time to set some new goals!

One goal I am setting for this month is to eat out no more than once a week. (Starbucks doesn’t count as eating out, right. ) I feel like a reason my weight loss has stalled is because my husband and I have been eating out too much. I try to get healthier options, but I do think that sometimes I tend to eat more when I’m eating out. For instance, my husband and I ordered fajitas from a local Mexican restaurant last night. I had the best intentions: I was going to stop at two fajitas (usually  I have three) and I was going to have a small portion of chips and salsa. I did stop at two fajitas, but I overdid it on chips and salsa. I ate way too many of them. I definitely ate past the point of fullness, which is what I am trying to stop.

A second goal for the month of March is to try at least two new workouts . . . or at least do a new workout DVD that I haven’t done in years. I have quite a lot of those. I tend to get in workout ruts (like Jackie Warner) and it would be great to make my muscles work a bit harder.

What are some of your goals right now? Tried any new veggies lately?

Date Night

Last night I had a great date night with Corey.

He graciously allowed me to choose the restaurant and I was in the mood for something new (and light). Believe it or not, I have quite a few restaurants bookmarked in my Favorites folder to remind me about them. Does anyone else do that?

Last night we ended up at the 5 seasons brewing company. Their website stated that the chef policy was to use all natural, local, and organic ingredients. I loved that policy! I am always looking for new restaurants that use only local ingredients and they seem to be lacking.

The food did not disappoint. I started with the hummus and homemade toast points.

The hummus was delicious, as were the toast points. The only issue I had was that they only gave a few toast points for a huge portion of hummus.

Look at that waste! The waiter did offer to bring me some more toast points. However, they didn’t come until about ten or fifteen minutes after our food did. By that point, I was too busy eating my main course.

For my main course, I ordered the honey curry grilled chicken sandwich on homemade foccacia bread with sweet potato fries.

Holy vegetables! The sandwich came with roasted red pepper and arugula. I also added some goat cheese and grilled onions.

These vegetables tasted so unbelievably fresh. Usually grilled onions at restaurants are soaked in oil. But I didn’t taste anything but onion.

I also loved the fact that the sandwich was overflowing with veggies. Usually there is a lot of bread and not enough of the good stuff with restaurant sandwiches. I liked that the veggies were taking over my plate. Corey had a great time taking lots of pics of me eating my sandwich. Here is one of the least embarrassing ones.

I will definitely go back to this restaurant again. There were lots of other items on the menu that I wanted to try. Next time . . .

Now I am watching the Oscars with my hubby. I have seen every nominee up for Best Picture, except for the Fighter. I have to say that I absolutely loved King’s Speech and True Grit. Those are two of my favorites. The only two movies that don’t really deserve to be nominated (in my opinion) are Social Network and The Kids Are All Right. Both of those movies are pretty good, don’t get me wrong. But are they Oscar worthy? Not so much. But Toy Story 3 . . . there’s a different story.

Trader Joe’s convert

I should never be allowed to enter Trader Joe’s on my own. Today I went there because I needed one thing; I came out with eight.

I said once that I wasn’t sure what the appeal was to Trader Joe’s. I think I finally get it. I could browse that store for hours. I originally went there because I needed tuna fish. Believe it or not, the tuna fish at Trader Joe’s is more natural than any other store, even Whole Foods. If I eat regular canned tuna, there are often certain fillers that can make me sick. Trader Joe’s canned tuna doesn’t have that.

But when I arrived at the store, that kind of flew out the window. There are so many cool things there! Did you know they have peanut butter cream cheese?? How crazy is that? I will be trying that.

Check out that haul!

So I ended up buying a roasted seaweed snack (total impulse buy), strawberry cream cheese, pomegranate seeds, hummus with horseradish (yummy!), peanut butter filled pretzels, some hot and sweet mustard, and a container of Fage 2% yogurt with honey. If you look in the back, under the mustard, you will see the tuna . .  . the only thing I actually went there to buy.

I cracked open the bag of peanut butter filled pretzels on the way home. They were delicious! I was torn between the hummus with horseradish and the guacamole hummus. The horseradish thing kind of got to me. Has anyone tried the guacamole hummus? I think I will try that one next time . . . along with the peanut butter cream cheese.

I have no idea why I picked up the roasted seaweed. Maybe it was because it was just 99 cents. Maybe I just wanted to try something new. I cracked open the roasted seaweed this evening.

Fail.

The taste wasn’t too bad at first. But then there was an aftertaste. Yech, not good.

At least I tried something new, right? Does that count as one of my new veggies that I wanted to try? Guess that might be kind of stretch.

What is your favorite Trader Joe’s item? I am always looking for new ideas.

Courage

I tried cauliflower for the first time tonight.

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that a goal I had set for myself was to try at least two new vegetables before the end of February. Since there are only two weeks left in February, I figured I should get on that. Truth be told, I have had a bag of frozen cauliflower in my freezer for well over a week, but I have been too chicken to use it. I decided that tonight was the night!

I used this recipe from Kylie at Hungry Spoon. I knew when I saw this recipe that it would be the perfect way to introduce the vegetable.

The verdict? They weren’t half bad! For the most part, I couldn’t even tell that it was cauliflower. The mixture was a little too soft which made it hard to form into patties. But after baking for about 20 minutes, they did harden up a bit. Of course I topped them with ketchup because ketchup makes everything better.

I served the dijon cauliflower patties with chicken breast stuffed with spinach and cheese. Yummy!

And as you can see in the background, I also had some corn to go along with it. It was a tasty meal and I am glad I finally had the courage to try the cauliflower.

Fresh Start to the Week

This weekend was really relaxing (except for the whole working on Saturday thing). After work on Saturday, I decided to head to my grandmother’s house (she lives an hour away) and spend some time with her. We are really close and every once in a while I will go spend some good quality time with her. I am glad our tradition of spending the weekend together did not end when I got married.

I have to say that I did not take one single picture the entire time I was there. It was just one of those nights where I wanted to take a break from my blogging duties and just relax.

I will say that grandmother’s house = comfort food. I had real butter (and lots of it), macaroni and cheese and lots of bites of some burnt pound cake (not all of it was ruined). And last night, my husband and I ordered take out. In addition to a Greek wrap with fries, I ordered a massive slice of red velvet cake from Marietta Diner, a local restaurant that is practically an institution and has amazing food.

I LOVE red velvet and I think it’s been years since I’ve tasted one of their cake slices. Don’t worry, I didn’t eat the entire thing. I probably ate almost half of it before a massive stomach ache hit. That’s what happens when you eat too much comfort food. I ended up throwing the rest of the cake away. As wonderful as that cake was (seriously delicious), I knew my body couldn’t take any more sugar.

Did anyone NOT watch the Superbowl last night? I think Corey and I were just about the only ones in the country not watching the game. Instead, we watched Social Network as part of my mission to see all of the Oscar nominees for best picture. It was an excellent movie. Even Justin Timberlake did a great job in it. I’m not sure if I’m rooting for it for Best Picture though. I think Black Swan was better. I know that King’s Speech is getting a lot of buzz and is expected to win, so I would like to see that one.

After all of the fattening food I ate this weekend, I wanted to start today right. I have never been one to promise that I will do better on Monday (at least, not anymore). I typically eat healthy even on the weekends, with the occasional splurge just like during the week. But after my eats this weekend, I knew what I needed to start my week off right: lots of fruits and veggies!

I started the day with a nice apple bowl for breakfast.

I microwaved an apple with some cinnamon and a little bit of maple syrup until it was soft. I topped the apples with some peanut butter granola, blueberries, Rice Krispies, and ricotta cheese. It was super tasty and filling! And the best part was that my breakfast snapped, crackled, and popped.

Lunch was a delicious noodle bowl.

It had spinach fettuccine, pasta sauce, grilled chicken, and some broccoli. It was a very red and green lunch . . . like Christmas in a bowl!

An afternoon snack was a couple of handfuls of honey roasted peanuts.

These things are so good! I am contemplating making some homemade honey roasted peanut butter with them.

Dinner was taco salad.

I had some beef seasoned with homemade taco seasoning, spinach, cheese, salsa and a special ingredient . .  . broccoli. I know that seems like a weird addition. The meat did make the broccoli a bit soggy, but it was still tasty. And of course I had some tortilla chips for dippin’.

I have to admit that I did not feel like working out at ALL. I felt lazy and out of sorts. But I kept telling myself to just do something and it would make me feel better. I planned on doing the elliptical for an hour, but I ended up doing fifteen minutes. That was all I could push myself to do at that moment. Ordinarily, I would feel guilty about not doing more, but I have learned that any activity is good activity.

All in all, it was a good beginning to the week. Hope everyone’s Monday went just as well.

Scrambled Egg Muffins

I was in the mood for something a little different for breakfast this morning. I could live off the eggs and bacon that I have on countless mornings. But this morning I realized that I haven’t been eating as many veggies as I need to. Plus it is my day off (yay!) so I had a little more time to devote to cooking. So while I was thinking up ways to add veggies to my beloved eggs, I thought of many options. Omelet . . . frittata . . . and then I came to scrambled egg muffins. I love anything in muffin form!

I have to admit that I was crossing my fingers with this recipe. I was afraid that it would be a massive fail and I would have to come up with a backup recipe. (French toast, anyone??)

When these came out of the oven, they didn’t all look perfect. One of them fell a little bit and a few of them ran over the tins a little bit.

But never fear: this is a great recipe that is cheesy, full of veggies, and full of flavor. Feel free to experiment with other veggies. I did create a recipe that only makes four muffins. I did this because I am the only one who eats eggs in this house and 12 muffins seemed a bit much. Also a full batch of muffins would have pretty much wiped out my egg supply. And I was not ready for that. Feel free to triple the recipe if you want to make a full batch.

Scrambled Egg Muffins (makes 4 muffins)

2 eggs
2 egg whites
3 slices all natural bacon, cooked and crumbled into tiny pieces
2 oz. cheese of your choice (I used American)
1/8 c. red pepper, finely chopped
1/8 c. onion, chopped
1/4 c. chopped fresh spinach
1/8 tsp. black pepper
1/8 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. garlic powder
several dashes of hot sauce (optional) <— like I could have an egg dish without hot sauce

Beat eggs and egg whites. Mix in veggies, spices, cooked bacon, and cheese. Pour evenly into four muffin tins. Make sure the muffin tins are well greased or they will stick. Bake for 18-22 minutes or until no longer runny. Be very careful not to overbake! Enjoy.

And here is a little kitchen tip from me to you: if you aren’t using all 12 of the muffins tins, fill the tins that you are not using with water. This will prevent the empty tins from burning. It works so well!

This morning, I had two of the muffins with a piece of buttered toast.

Great breakfast!

So many movies, so little time

And now . . . here are my meals from yesterday and today. Join the “What I Ate Wednesday” over at Peas and Crayons! And her blog isn’t half bad either.

Yesterday was a great day with my husband, even with my disappointment over getting pancakes instead of waffles.

Ever since I saw the list of Oscar nominees for best picture, I have had the urge to see as many of the nominees as possible. That may be because every year I have no idea who to root for since I usually have seen hardly any of the nominees. That’s not surprising since my taste usually falls in the romantic comedy category . . . not exactly Oscar worthy.

Since I have not seen even one of the nominees, I have a lot of catching up to do. So yesterday Corey and I went to see not one, but two movies. We saw 127 hours and Black Swan. They were both pretty good movies. 127 hours made me uncomfortable in certain parts because he was so close to dying. And I had to look away at the infamous arm self-amputation scene. Black Swan was odd and more than a little dark, but still a good movie. I can see why both James Franco and Natalie Portman were nominated. I may be biased because I have had a crush on James Franco ever since he appeared on General Hospital. I told you guys I was a fan of soap operas.

In between movies, I went to the mall so I could get a bra fitting at Intimacy. It was kind of a waste of time. I did get an idea of my true size, but the woman didn’t even tell me. I had to look for myself, among all the bras she was bringing into the fitting room. She was mainly just trying to get me to buy something. At $145 a bra, no thank you! I have a budget after all. Even if I did use credit cards (which I don’t), I wouldn’t have put one of those expensive bras on it.

We had lunch at Jason’s Deli. I love that place! It’s one of the precious few sandwich places that I can eat without getting a migraine. No MSG baby!

I got a turkey on whole wheat bread with organic greens and roasted pepper hummus. It was pretty good, but I think I like their guacamole better than the hummus. It was such a big sandwich that I saved half to eat for later.

The star of the show though was the tomato basil soup I purchased along with my sandwich. Tomato is my favorite kind of soup, but I don’t usually get it here because I like their Southwestern Chicken Chili so much.

This was hands down the best soup I have ever tasted. It was so creamy and I could taste how fresh the tomatoes were. I was so sad when I was done with my soup.

What is your favorite soup?

The best part of lunch was the free soft serve!

I’m not afraid to say that this one of the reasons why I love this place so much.

Yesterday I actually slept in kind of late and we didn’t eat breakfast until after 10:30. Because of that, our whole eating schedule was thrown off. We had lunch late and then neither of us were in the mood for dinner. I ended up eating a light snack of cheese toast and a piece of chicken sausage around 9:30.

It seemed like the weekend just kind of flew by . . . especially because I worked on Saturday and then had to be back at work today. Argh. And Callie woke up early and started whining so she woke us up earlier than necessary. I don’t know what her issue was but we have a rule that we don’t get up to take her out until the alarm goes off (even if she’s whining). Because of this, she doesn’t whine too early before the alarm because she knows that is the signal to get up. She is such a smart dog!

I started the day with some leftover Gingerbread Walnut Pancakes.

Mmm . . . I love leftovers!

The work day was kind of slow. I had what seemed like a lot of work to do, but no immediate and pressing deadlines for anything. The day passed quickly anyway. For lunch, I had some spinach fettuccine, pasta sauce, and grilled chicken.

I don’t think I will get this pasta again. It tastes just like regular pasta, so the flavor is fine. However, it seems like no matter how long you cook it, it still tastes a little undercooked. Ironically, it seems to be more cooked the next day and it seems to soften a little when you reheat it.

My snacks included a couple of clementines,

a bagel with some Naturally Nutty Butter Toffee Peanut Butter,

bagel half times two

and the second pack of Biscoff cookies that my husband brought me from his trip (or should I say the airplane?).

I can’t believe I held onto these for two whole days before eating them. Talk about self-control!

Today was rainy and much colder than the weekend (which was a very warm 70 degrees). But I wanted to do another round of 10K training when I got home. My husband is going out of town (AGAIN) tomorrow so I wanted to go for a jog with him and Callie. It was drizzling most of the time and I had to walk the whole time (instead of jog) because my legs were shaking or something. But we still walked for around 40 minutes and it was nice to relax with Corey and discuss our day. It was truly the best part of my day.

Dinner was a simple baked chicken strips and sweet potato fries (fresh, not frozen).

Can you tell that I love orange vegetables? I have eaten a lot of sweet potatoes lately.

Now I am relaxing with my hubby and catching up on some White Collar and Royal Pains. Love those shows.

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Pizza for Breakfast and Breakfast for Dinner

Today was a snow day for just about the entire state of Georgia.

cemetery covered in snow

We don’t get much snow here, so when we get a lot of it the whole state kind of shuts down. We got roughly 5 inches of snow and I was so thankful that today was my day off. I didn’t have anywhere to be so I could just enjoy the day.

Our street covered in snow (and ice)

I started with a recipe that I saw on Katie’s blog and I have seen it replicated a couple of times now. It’s called Pizzert. I am all about pizza for breakfast! For my recipe, I used half white and half wheat flour, some honey as my sweetener, applesauce, nonfat milk, and some blackberries as my fruit.

Yummy! It was so easy and filling (and tasty). I topped my slices with some Naturally Nutty vanilla almond butter. I ate half of the Pizzert and will save the other half for a quick breakfast later this week. On another note, I ran out of vanilla almond butter today so I quickly went on their website and ordered some more. I love their vanilla almond butter and I need some more STAT!

After breakfast (and a little frolicking in the snow with Callie), I wanted a good workout. Most days, I procrastinate and procrastinate until it’s the end of the day and I don’t feel like doing it. I wanted to get my workout done early, so I would have the rest of the day to play.

I did Jackie Warner’s total body circuit (43 minutes) and I tried the Biggest Loser Last Chance workout that was available from Exercise On Demand. Thank goodness for this feature because I get to try so many new workouts that way! As usual, the Jackie Warner DVD totally kicked my butt. But I feel myself getting stronger day by day. Today, I was actually able to complete most of the exercises (though not without a fair amount of huffing and puffing).

Today was a first for the Biggest Loser workout. I wanted a quick cardio workout just to balance everything out. The workout was 10 minutes (not including cool down). I have to say that I didn’t think I would like it at first. The first minute or two seemed to be a little too easy, especially the warm-up. The warm-up didn’t get my heart rate up that much. But before long, I was sweating and huffing and puffing and I was falling in love with the work out a little bit. I think that next time, I may do the cardio before the strength though. My legs were kind of exhausted from the many squats and lunges from my earlier workout, so I struggled with the jumps and squats of Biggest Loser. What I especially love is this workout is not run by Jillian Michaels or Bob Harper. It is run by real past contestants who have real bodies. I will keep this workout in mind next time I am short on time, but want to do something. Just because a workout isn’t 45 minutes doesn’t mean you aren’t getting benefits. Do you have a preference for doing strength before cardio? Or vice versa?

After my workout and a very long shower, I was ready for lunch. My body was craving salads. I don’t often crave veggies, so I won’t refuse my body what it needs.

I kind of threw a lot of stuff into a bowl: spinach, grape tomatoes, yellow pepper, a small handful of cashews, some corn, a link of spicy Italian chicken sausage I bought at Whole Foods yesterday, and I topped it with a couple of tablespoons of hummus. Mmm . . . it was tasty! It had protein, veggies, and healthy fats. Just what my body needed. Along with the salad, I had an unpictured piece of organic bread with the rest of my vanilla almond butter.

That salad was full of so much stuff that it actually kept me full for the rest of the afternoon. I love that! The rest of the afternoon was spent catching up on blogs and watching Law and Order: SVU.

Corey came home a little early from work and we decided to take Callie somewhere to play in the snow. The roads were horrible. Snow and ice everywhere. We decided to go to a cemetery that is next door and play there. I’m sure that sounds weird, but we walk along the path there all the time and it is a beautiful area.

Rewarding Callie with her favorite treat: cheese!

Callie playing with her new toy

Corey and I had fun watching Callie frolic and we were both taking lots of pictures. It was weird letting my husband take most of the pics, but he does have a degree in photography. So I guess he knows what he’s doing. My job was to stand in one spot and try not to slip on the ice. I am extremely clumsy, so we were both worried about that. But I’m happy to report there were no injuries! I do have to give credit where credit is due though. Some of the pictures in this blog post are mine, but others are his. His pictures came out beautiful!

I think Corey and I only spent about 15 or 20 minutes playing around with Callie. At that point, we were both turning to ice. We also didn’t want Callie to get hurt on the ice or get too cold. I’m sure she would have liked to play forever, but it just wasn’t possible.

When we got home, we wanted something quick. I had not had bacon or eggs in a few days and I had a serious craving. So breakfast for dinner it was!

I had an egg, bacon, and cheese sandwich on multigrain bread. Along with the sandwich, I had a second egg on the side. All that playing in the snow made me starving!

Because the roads (and interstates) are so bad, I’m not sure if I will go into work tomorrow. At the very least, I will go in late. I’ll see how it goes. I hate to miss work, but I don’t feel comfortable driving on roads where people are getting stuck and are barely able to go above 5 mph.

Is anyone a college football fan? I’m not really a football fan period, but my husband graduated from Auburn so he is kind of into the big game right now. I am feeling so sore from my workout today. Jackie Warner and Jillian Michaels have both worked my core something good over the past couple of days. Now I’m going to feign interest in this game a little bit longer and hope for better conditions on the road tomorrow! Good night everyone!

Eat more Veggies

First of all, I would just like to thank all of you for your encouraging words after yesterday’s post. All of your remarks really meant a lot to me. It means a lot to know that I am not alone in this struggle and I have so much support from the blogging community.

I did feel much better today. But for some reason, I haven’t been hungry first thing in the morning. Maybe I’m eating too late at night? I didn’t get hungry until 10:00 am (about half an hour before I was to leave for work), so I wanted something quick and light.

 

snap, crackle, pop!

 

Yes, I had Rice Krispies. I rarely have cereal for breakfast, mostly because it’s not super filling. But I figured lunch wasn’t that far away, so I would be fine. I did have a couple of clementines with my cereal though.

I forgot how good clementines are. Sweet and refreshing.

After breakfast, I went to work. It was so busy. It’s the busy season, I guess. Lots of patients! But the day passed quickly and before long, it was lunch time.

I had a sandwich with organic multigrain bread, a hamburger patty, a fried egg, and some spinach. I also put a little hot sauce on it. Weird combination, but it totally worked. I think sandwiches are a great way to get a few veggies in. I put spinach on every single one! Does anyone have any good sandwich ideas?

Snack was a combination of whole grain crackers, carrots, and white chocolate peanut butter.

I have to confess something. I’m not a huge fan of carrots and I only ate a few of them. I think I need more hummus. I like carrots and hummus. Carrots and peanut butter? Not so much. The crackers and the peanut butter were a great combination though.

I also had lots of red grapes.

I got off work at a decent time today and I was looking forward to a run! It was day 2 of my first week of 10K training. It was in the 40′s, but I wasn’t cold. The weather felt great!

I’m really proud of myself for working out at all. I was extremely tired, not to mention that I was thisclose to finishing my book, “The Hunger Games” (which I have finished at this time and it’s phenomenal). But I forced myself to put on my running clothes and I’m glad I did. It was a great way to decompress after my long day and it was nice to spend a little one-on-one time with my husband . . . and my dog, of course.

After our run, we were both starving. So we went to work on dinner.

We had a pork chop, some mashed potatoes, corn, and some zucchini that I roasted with olive oil and cajun seasoning. Yummy! Another confession: I have a love/hate relationship with zucchini. I’m really particular about how it’s cooked. I have to force myself to eat it, not because I hate the flavor, but because I’m not used to it. The spices I used tonight were new and I liked them. Are there any vegetables that you try to “make” yourself like?

By the way, how did you like the new yellow dishes and pretty placemat that I used for my food? I bought them at Crate and Barrel specifically so that I could enhance the pictures of my food on the blog. I love them! Expect to see more of them on the blog.

Goals for 2011

I don’t like the word “resolution” when it comes to the new year. Let’s face it, you resolve to do something and the resolution gets thrown out the window by the second week of January. There are several things I would like to accomplish in the next year. This year has been a pretty good year (I did start my blog this year, after all). But I have a feeling that next year will be even better.

1) Control sugar cravings. I am all for having things in moderation. But lately, my sweet tooth has gotten a bit out of control. I am trying to lose weight and I need to eat foods that are more nutritious. Plus, when I start to eat something sweet I have a hard time stopping. Maybe it would be nice to work on that as well.

2) Eat more veggies (and try new things). I have a hard time fitting veggies into my diet. Fruits are easier (maybe because they are sweet). I also didn’t grow up eating fresh veggies (or many veggies at all), so it can be hard to step out of my comfort zone. This year, I did try some new veggies for the first time: I tried fresh green beans, roasted asparagus, and even a rutabega! Now I just have to keep that momentum going.

roasted green beans

3) Push myself in my workouts (try new ones). I get bored easily with my workouts. That happens when you do the same workout over and over again. I need to try new workouts and more importantly than that, I need to try workouts that will challenge me. I haven’t done level 2 of 30 day shred since the first time I tried it. I think it’s because part of me doesn’t want to fail at a tougher workout. I want to push myself and really see what my body can do.

4) Travel more. My husband and I did hardly any travelling this year. There was a trip that we took to Los Angeles for my birthday in May. As fun as that was, I have been to Los Angeles about five times. I would like to go somewhere new, maybe Italy. That may be a bit optimistic, but we will see. My husband and I are determined not to use credit cards EVER, so the only way we will go on a trip is to save enough money for it. We do have a plan. I want to go to Italy very badly, but if we don’t save up enough money for that, I’m sure we will go somewhere else that is exciting. And to be honest, this may be the last year we are able to take a nice trip without having to worry about a baby.

5) Run (or walk) Peachtree Road Race (10K). Corey and I did this race in July of this year. It was our first time and I had a great time. Even though we finished, I really dragged through the race and had an awful time. I am not the fastest runner at ALL, but the reason I dragged was due to lack of training and improper nutrition. I haven’t been running much lately, but I intend to change that. I have had some issues with my knees this year, so this goal is contingent upon how my body reacts to running. I plan on downloading the Couch to 10K app to ease back into it.

at the starting line for my first (and only) 10K!

6) Do 20 real push-ups. I can’t do even one real push-up. I can barely do 20 “fake” push-ups. But I intend to build up my arm strength and change this. I want to feel empowered next year!

7) Cut back on T.V. Caitlin had an awesome post yesterday about how much TV she watches and why she wants to cut back on it. My husband and I DVR so many things and sometimes it seems that catching up on the DVR is more important than spending time with each other. There are some nights in which we need to cut off the TV and just talk to each other . . . or maybe read. I haven’t decided which. But seriously, I want to improve my relationship with my husband in the upcoming year and I think this is a great place to start.

8) Improve my photography on my blog. Believe it or not, my pictures have improved dramatically since I started the blog in August. But I want to improve upon them even further. Maybe a new camera for my birthday in May would help.

9) Take cooking classes. I am not a great cook. I like it fast and I like it easy. I also lack creativity, as well as technical skill. I would love to discover new recipes and new ways to cook. Plus, it would be a great way to spend time with Corey that doesn’t involve the television.

10) Learn to like myself. Okay, maybe this one should have been first. But I guess I’m saving the best for last. I don’t like myself. There, I said it. I realized today while my husband and I were shopping, that I don’t even like looking at myself in the mirror. I actually avoid it. I had gotten better at it, but I find that lately I use the “f” word more and more. I also negate every single compliment that my husband gives me, whether it’s about my appearance or not. Yes, I am trying to lose weight. But I have realized that if I don’t start to accept myself for who I am, then the weight will just creep back on. It happened before and it can happen again. But if I start to like myself again, then maybe once I lose weight I will actually be satisfied. Last time I reached my goal weight, I kept wanting to lose more and more. Looking back, I know that I was dependent on the number on the scale to make me happy. Once I realize that my happiness isn’t contingent on the number on the scale, then I will probably be a lot happier.

I suppose those goals will do for now. What are your goals for 2011?