Dessert, Wine, and a GPS- how to plan on making 2015 one heckofa year.

I don’t want to miss the opportunity to write about the New Year since everyone and their mom (hi ma!) likes to offer some kind of insight around this time:

New Year, New You.  

Resolutions to Change Your Life.  

How to Make 2015 YOUR Year.

The thing is, I don’t know how to change your life.  I’ve got my own over here I’m trying to figure out.  I could tell you 5 foods to eat in 2015, how to get rid of those love handles, or what kind of bikini bottom to wear onstage but I don’t know if that’s what you need.  

I have no idea what will make you happier or more successful in 2015.

That’s going to take some work on your end. 

I took a look at 15 (I couldn’t quite handle 2, 015) things that could potentially enhance my quality of life in  the New Year.  I already know I’m probably going to tackle a career change, plan a wedding, apply for house mortgages, and car loans so what small things can I implement that will make these big changes enjoyable?

These are mine, yours will be different.  

I am Courtney, an easily anxious, energetic woman that really enjoys peanut butter and procrastinates showering. We are different and your goals will, and should, be different.  

These will change my life, yours will change yours.

1. Buy a $30 bottle of wine.  

I am 27 and I work hard.  I am going to cheers myself with a quality beverage and enjoy the flavors of the best fruit known to mankind.

2. Write.

I love this shite...words and finding out where they should go.  However, I think of it in a way similar to cleaning- hard to get started but loving the result.  Ello swiffer.

3. Make (with an OVEN and/or STOVE) dinner once a week.  

I typically grab oats, egg whites, or the leftover chicken my fiancé has made for dinner.  I feel a sense of nourished accomplishment when I put something together that takes more than a microwave.  So call me Julia and hand me that spatula, I’m going to do it.

4. Buy and use skin cream. 

 I’m Irish and I tanned in artificial UV rays for about 5 years. ‘nough said.

5. Go out to dinner by myself.  

I want to sit and enjoy my company.  If you see a blond ponytail giggling to herself over lobster tail, just walk by (and perhaps give a heads up about the butter on my chin.)

6. Check my voicemail.  

I have a voicemail notification 99% of the time.  And I don’t check it.  I literally look at a little red notification 364 days out of the year.  And it gives me anxiety.  JUST CHECK IT.

7. Eat a dessert that isn’t non/low fat.  

I always opt for the lighter option- I will eat something that can be considered “decadent” by a grownup palate in 2015.

8. Stretch.  

In the grocery line, at the bank, watching TV.  I’m more comfortable when I do…it’s time to straddle, squat, lean, and lower and it's time to do it regularly.

9. Write letters.  

I love sending and getting paper freaking envelopes.  I’m sharpening my quill now.

10. Date my fiancé.  

The best thing in my entire life was falling in love with this big, friendly giant of a man…I will date him in the new year and I will date him hard.

11. Clean my car.  

Even once would be more than what it got in 2014.

12. Smile at strangers.  

For a cheerful person I usually give the guy looking my way the most unattractive look I can muster.  Chill, he’s probably looking at the corvette behind you, just smile.

13. Get gas before the tank light comes on.  

I know how much better I feel when I do yet I NEVER do.  Why? Irving here I come.

14. Play with my dog.  

I pet her, snuggle her, and Instagram her, but I don’t often PLAY.  She is only here for so long and legitimately only cares about 1 thing- loving us.  Time to make that tail wag.

15. Trust my GPS.  

I usually think I am smarter than GoogleMaps.  I’m not and I get lost and angry.  2015 will be the year of direction (heh).

What will change your life?  What will make your days easier or more fulfilling?  What will allow you to breathe a bit more and worry a little less?

We all have the big goals, the life changing events, and the monumental moments.  To help us enjoy, appreciate, and feel GOOD in the everyday I suggest taking a look at the Little.  The small stuff.  The mundane. 

I can see the appeal of those articles promising to change your life…but they don’t know you.  They don’t know what needs changing.  Take a little lookski at yourself and don’t stress about making it the best year of your life…let’s just start with making it pretty damn good.

Planking with a Puppy on Your Head

I pushed an ear out of my mouth and attempted to wipe a dripping line of slobber off my neck.

WOOOF!

She was relentless.  I was too.

I stiffened my plank as a paw landed on my shoulder blade.  She nudged, I held on.  15 seconds left.

A headbutt to the face then a literal butt to the face.

The timer hit my goal and I dropped to the ground, much to her excitement.  The barking began and got aggressively louder as I walked to the dumbbell on my living room floor.

 I realized the slobber was not unique to my neck and my hand slipped on the wet piece of metal. 

Seinfeld was on as a hopeful distraction to the bouncing ball of fur.  A load of laundry was in the wash. Sweet potatoes in the oven.  If all went as planned I would finish my workout as the timer went off and would fold laundry while they cooled.

It didn't and the oven began to buzz mid squat.

The smell of taters putting the pawed princess in a spud-induced frenzy.

Sweets out, back to the squat, barking resuming.

This was far, far from the workout I had planned for this particular Tuesday.  I had my gym bag packed the night prior, exercise plan from my coach printed, and pre-workout consumed at perfect timing.

But life is not perfect and I was home bound after the work day, my plan to hit the gym dismantled.

Sigh.

This is an overworked theme and one that’s been exhausted by Health and Fitness magazines, personal trainers, and exercise bloggers.  But…I will venture- sometimes I get asked the question, “how do you find the time?”

My helpful answer is sometimes, I don’t.

Sometimes I literally do not have time in my 24 hours to go to the gym for the workout I have planned.  Sometimes the tricks, tips, and suggestions by aforementioned sources do not work. 

Sometimes your kid gets sick and you need to pick them up early, feed them antibiotics on the hour, and get to the second kid’s school just in time for them to start throwing up in your Volvo.

Sometimes you have meetings until 7pm, a phone call with a crying friend that lasts until 9 and use the last ten minutes before your head hits the pillow to toss something in your piehole before you perish.

Sometimes you have a 12 hour work day, a doctor’s appointment at lunch, and get your car inspected before you get (another) ticket.

In my opinion, these aren't excuses, they’re life.  Other posts and articles may say there are NO excuses.  I say sometimes you don’t have the damn time.

What I have found, is that you may not have the time for your workout.  

But you do have the time to do something.  

Unless you are strapped to a chair with a straightjacket for 24 hours, there is usually time in your day to do something.

What is something?  For the day described above, something was a plank/squat duet while cooking sweet potatoes, doing laundry, watching Seinfeld, and being home for a puppy that was alone all day.

Something may be 10 quick air squats in the bathroom at work.

Something may be lunging down the hall in your office building.

Something may be going up and down the stairs 5 times every other hour.

Something may be parking in the furthest spot in the ginormous mall parking lot while you’re doing last minute holiday shopping.

Maybe it’s 10 pushups while making dinner.  Or tricep dips on your kitchen chair while sending emails.  Or stretching your hamstrings while waiting for your dog to pee.

My point is, there is ALWAYS time to do something to enhance your health. 

It may not be the leg workout you had planned.  It may not be 30 minutes of high intensity intervals.  It may not be the 5k you were planning on crushing. 

I am obviously an advocate for planned exercise regimens.  I think they're great and very effective.  I think everyone should have a "plan" of some sort.

But life often has a change in plans.  Life doesn't always fully understand I need a hack squat machine to build my derriere.

There are excuses, there are reasons to not go to the gym or accomplish your desired exercise.

There are not, however, reasons to fully and completely abandon your body as a vessel that can move.

Implement something in a day full of life's everythings.

Whether it's a sick kid, a doctor's appointment, a crying friend, or a 15 hour work day, comically acknowledge there's always something you can do.

Even if, there's a puppy on your head.

Preserving Your Hot Cross Buns- 5 tips to beat those holiday hangovers

I woke up yesterday with a full stomach, slight headache, and the furthest thing from any kind of pep in my step.  After a groan and a sigh, I clomped to the shower and turned it on with as much gusto as a slug on a summer sidewalk.  The next endeavor of putting on makeup, pulling a brush through my hair, and finding something other than drawstrings to put on my body was almost too much for my Monday self to handle.

Yesterday morning I was giving no kind of thanks to Thanksgiving.  

While the treats were delicious, the company incredible, and the laughs plentiful; my body was camped out in Struggle City.  I am used to treating my body like a machine- with timers, schedules, and well planned sustenance.  This blonde machine got unplugged the past few days and it’s taking its grand ol’ time to get back up to speed.

That puffy, fatigued feeling?  The one that makes you feel like a polar bear in slow motion?  We know it all too well during these festive months.  Instead of turning the entire season into a sleepy, sugared slumber, here are some tips I've learned to push through those ham hangovers and hot toddy haze.

1. Get over it.

You know what makes a headache worse? Thinking about it.  Put your britches on and get your little sugarplum in gear.  We all experience this food induced fuzziness- man-up and realize how gosh darn lucky you are to power through it.  Ya done?

2. H2-hOhoho.

That diet coke with crushed ice is quite possibly the best tasting beverage following a night of vino and midnight nachos but it’s not going to quench that thirst or de-puff those cheeks (north and south).  Grab the water the second your little chimichanga wakes up and don’t stop.

3. Move that nutcracker.

One of the hardest things to do when you’re feeling full is to well, get up.  Slap on the sneaks, get the Pandora playlist going, and just MOVE.  It doesn’t have to be an Olympic lift, a 5k PR, or even longer than 20 minutes.  Just get your body back in the rhythm of doing something more than lying horizontally.

4. Eat.

Huh? But I just did.  A lot.  And for a while. 

I have found it hugely beneficial to start with a very clean, healthy meal the morning after festive indulgence.  Remind your palate that there’s more to life than pie crust and beer (right?)  Don’t starve it and don’t continue to stuff it.  Find that eating equilibrium once again.

5. Early to Bed, Early to Rise…makes a woman healthy, wealthy, and forget about pies.

Sleep is the best makeup known to mankind.  Forget Covergirl or Neutrogena, good ol’ REM is where it’s at.  Hit the hay early and wake up rested.  Your skin, stomach, and head will thank you.

So...that’s what I've seen work in my experiences with merriment. 

There is no time like the holidays for food, fun, and indulgence.  But before you feel like a stale piece of fruitcake, take the steps to maintain the bodily balance you deserve.  There’s already one guy rockin’ a belly like a bowl full of jelly, no need for two;)