Hello, 2012!

Weighing my carrots for the IzoCleanze red juice

I know everybody hates resolutions. I definitely do. They’re way too lofty, unreasonable, blah blah blah.

Instead of having these crazy goals for a new year, I just take it as a time to clean up my brain, which inevitably results from the physical cleaning of my house, my car, and my file system. Having a mental timer go off every six months to do these things works for me, and I wanted to share the five ways of how I am welcoming the new year.

1. The cleaning of my system. You can laugh, it’s kind of gross, but I swear by the IzoCleanze. I’m easing into it by doing the partial cleanse, but will move into the full cleanse. I’m going to try to hang on for 7 days. In case you’re wondering, I didn’t start it because it’s a celebrity-endorsed cleanse; I actually didn’t know it was until after I did my first one. The holidays bring out the worst in my eating habits, and this past one was no exception – Popeye’s, Arby’s, about a million pounds of mom’s food, and lots of coffee and booze. What better way to start the year by going on a food regimen of juice and quinoa?

2. Re-organizing finances. I have a lot of travel plans I’d like to do for this year, but that isn’t going to happen magically. Not only did I find things to cut out of my budget, but I use mint.com to see exactly where my money is going. You can even set goals to help you allot funds. This idea may depress some, but let me assure you the bright colors of the pie charts can really take the edge off.

3. Planning calendars for both my consulting and creative projects. Like Mint, seeing my calendar puts perspective on how much I will be able to accomplish.

4. Starting an experiment I’ve been wanting to do since last year. In an earlier entry, I talked about crafting a product in order not to buy one made in China. It truly makes me sad that our domestic economy continues to decline simply because massive corporations want to save a buck. In any case, I’ve been wanting to try this more seriously for a year. So, I started a new blog today!

5. Cleaning/re-organizing my kitchen cabinets and utility closet. This prompted me to convert an old box into something nicer to hold  plastic and paper bags:

What’s Your Top 5?

I love to make lists. 

Who doesn’t? It makes your brain feel cleaner, and just the act of making one creates a sense of accomplishment!

But what kind of top five, you ask? Well, as much as I like listing my favorite foods, places, and bands, this one might be a tad more meaningful.

As my lovely colleague PaperclipFox has posted, life is indeed too short, and sometimes you don’t want to make your old laundry list of errands. To prevent daily life from becoming monotonous, I like to keep things interesting and challenging by keeping a list of top five of goals I want to accomplish in general. This means everything and anything – not just lofty, seemingly unattainable ones. The trick is to throw in one or two items that are achievable in the near future. This way, not only will you actually do it, but you’ll be able to rotate it out with another awesome project or destination. And voilà! You have just enhanced your life. For example, instead of “I want to travel the world”, consider “I would really love to visit wine country.” Or what about instead of “I will become a master chef”, how about narrowing it down to “Man, I need to learn how to make that delicious flan that my sister has perfected.” (Which is something on my list, actually.)

This is not to say that you can’t have really fantastic long-term goals. However, hopefully this tiny exercise will encourage you to pause for a minute to think about what you want. And as selfish as this sounds, I find it pretty healthy to do this  in order to not lose a total grip on yourself or what makes life fun!

So now, in visual form, I present to you my latest top five:

1. I must make this flan.

2. I plan on volunteering at the local animal shelter. I hope they’ll take my offer to take new photos of these poor animals in need! (Many thanks to my sister for letting me know this was even possible)

 3. I’ve wanted to go to Egypt since I was a kid.

4. I can’t add a photo for this because it does not yet exist, but I want to one day publish my own cookbook. Wheee!

5. I have never been to a Renaissance Festival, and I am in LUCK that Houston boasts the finest ever. So I’m going. This weekend.

This now concludes my list for the week…what’s on your list??