Life Resolutions to Make an Impact

New Years is around the corner and with the champagne, singing, party hats and blowers come promises to write more birthday cards, lose those extra "15 pounds", or a myriad of other wishes that usually fizzle out before the year even gets a chance to get started.

Typically, I abstain from making these empty promises to myself, however this year has already been monumental for both Steven and I and I wanted to see how I can continue to up the bar.

We set out to get healthy in 2009 and, as you can tell from the blog earlier, it didn't work. We had momentum and fizzled within a good solid month. However, Jesus got us back on track and June 1, 2009, we finally had had enough. I was at a whopping 209lbs and Steven at a hefty 220lbs. We joined Medifast and got control of our eating habits, which were completely disgusting. We each dropped about 30lbs (we still have some more to go, but feel incredible) and have since changed our diet. Oh, and we swore off fast food restaurants forever (with one single exception - In N Out Burger).

Steve and I have decided to eat preservative-free, locally grown organic fruits and veggies, free-range, hand-eviscerated poultry and farm fresh eggs, etc. The preservative-free part is the hardest, especially since we like to go out and try new restaurants. If we lived in West Hollywood or LA, we'd find a myriad of organic, local farm only kind of restaurants. Unfortunately, we live in the South Bay, where our options are a little more limited.

I have also started looking into 100% all-natural beauty products. I have taken myself off of shampoo and am LOVING the transition, but I have also started looking into homemade soaps for my face/body, homemade lotions and oils, and want to eventually make my own scents. I currently use bareescentuals, but am hoping I can get my adult acne under control so I can eventually go au natural. (Maybe some lipgloss)

We have become recycling pros. Our trash is SIGNIFICANTLY lower since we started recycling the plastics and paper. I take the bottles and cans to a local recycling company and we usually use the money for a meal together, or a movie, or we just put it into savings.

Lastly, but most importantly, I have finally started building/rebuilding my relationship with Jesus. I always knew I needed to get back to basics with Him and just submit, but I was either too busy, or too blessed, or too pissed, or too proud, etc. I wanted to do things my way. I didn't trust Him, I didn't want Him, I didn't want to hear things that weren't in line with what I wanted. I only with I had done this sooner. But I'm here and trying so desperately to get to know Him again, to trust, and to obey Him.

All of this occurred this year and seeing how vigilant and dedicated we really are energizes me to continue making more positive decisions in my life, in our life, especially for the future.

And, while this may be a little early, I'm writing down my continuing life resolutions and the new ones I hope to add for 2010 (some we already do, but I'd like to make more of a conscious effort):

* Set up a condo-friendly compost.
* Eat out less often (and when we do eat out more wisely).
* Post more recipes of our farmer's market delights (to be posted on Steve's food blog).
* Walk everywhere we can, take the stairs more, park as far away from the entrance as possible.
* Buy more hand-made items (I have a new love for Etsy.com).
* Walk the dogs for 25 min every work day morning.
* Find more homeopathic/integrative medicine Doctors.
* Make our family business more green.

I hope that this perhaps encourages you to think outside the box in terms of a "new years resolution" that fizzles out and dies and perhaps think about something that changes you for the better and, perhaps, impacts the world.

Looking forward to updating you guys throughout the year.