Take part in and have lots of fun doing Brene Brown's six week e-course.

Take a day trip to the beach

I love the beach - it makes me so very happy.  Were I know live, the closest ocean is about an hour and a half away while some of the nicer beaches are between two and a half and four hours away.  I think that sometimes I get so busy with life, that I forget to do things which are fun.  A few hours in the car and I could be running my toes through gorgeous sand, feeling the spray from the water on my face. So this summer, I wanted to make sure that I do fun things on purpose - hello my day trip to the beach.


Complete and enjoy residential school

Last week I had residential school. I must be honest, I was not looking forward to this one little bit but as its a requirement for my degree I had to go.  I am glad to report that it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. We had a fabulous tutor and I was part of a great team.


Enjoy the rest of summer!

• I have currently lost fifteen pounds so far so my summer goal is to lose another fifteen pounds by August 31st.
• Take a day trip to the beach  **Done**
• Spring clean the junk room
• Take part in Race for Life 2013  **Done**
• Go for a walk twice a week at the least
• Read one book
• Sign the contract on my new home
• Complete and enjoy residential school  **Done**
• Try a new recipe
• Practise social-media free Sundays
• Complete TMA 05
• Complete TMA 06
• Create and start study plan for exam

• Play tennis - I've wanted to take it up again for a while now
• Have a BBQ
• Go to a Pilates class
• Book a holiday for later in the year
• Spent an afternoon on a blanket reading a book and enjoying a picnic - alone or with friends
• Eat dinner outside as often as possible
• Go to the theatre
• Have a fondue night
• Go to an outdoor movie
• Visit a farmers market

1. Take care of myself emotionally & physically - including focusing on living my personal boundaries
2. Focus my energy on doing well at Uni and at work 
3. Nourish and grow my relationships with friends & family
4. Be open to opportunity and possibility
5. Have more fun, try new things and be happy in who I am

1. Take care of myself emotionally & physically - including focusing on living my personal boundaries
2. Focus my energy on doing well at Uni and at work 
3. Nourish and grow my relationships with friends & family
4. Be open to opportunity and possibility
5. Have more fun, try new things and be happy in who I am

1. Take care of myself emotionally & physically - including focusing on living my personal boundaries
2. Focus my energy on doing well at Uni and at work 
3. Nourish and grow my relationships with friends & family
4. Be open to opportunity and possibility
5. Have more fun, try new things and be happy in who I am

1. Take care of myself emotionally & physically - including focusing on living my personal boundaries
2. Focus my energy on doing well at Uni and at work 
3. Nourish and my relationships with friends & family
4. Be open to opportunity and possibility
5. Have more fun, try new things and be happy in who I am 

I'm late. Most of these sort of posts are done in the first few days of January however I wanted to spend a little more time looking at what my plans are for 2013 and how I want to achieve them.  I don't want these plans to swept under the carpet in a few months time because they didn't fit into what I actually want to achieve for this year, or because my expectations on myself were too high.  I want them to be specific, realistic, and broken down into a month by month plan to keep them achievable.

The first week of 2013 I decided that I was going to spend some time fasting and praying about the year ahead. I spent a lot of time thinking and praying about my life and I realised that this year I wanted to shift my focus to being different in my daily life.  I want to make small changes each month that will impact that daily life.  These changes will cover my priorities and will help me to focus my energy on the right things for me. I am so excited about what 2013 will bring.


These are the five priorities I set for this year:

1. Take care of myself emotionally & physically - including focusing on living my personal boundaries
2. Focus my energy on doing well at Uni and at work 
3. Nourish and my relationships with friends & family
4. Be open to opportunity and possibility
5. Have more fun, try new things and be happy in who I am 

• Spend time in God's word each day - For me, this is very important to me. I know that it would be more ideal for me to do this first thing in the morning but I know that if I set up my intention as such it would not be long before the snooze button wins out. 

• Blog twice a week - I think that starting with twice a week is a good place to start.

• Create a study planner and include some rest time - I have realised that being organised is key to doing well at Uni. I also understand the importance of blocking out free time in which I can rest and have some fun. 

• Maintain focus on my health journey - I plan to ensure that no matter what happens this month that I will be going to each and every weigh in. I also want to remember the importance of celebrating success along the way.

• Find a new job - This is a big deal for me at the moment. While I know I probably wont be working in that new job by the end of January, I do intend to be already applying for new roles.  

Do you make resolutions or goals at this time of year?

While catching up on some blogs, I cam across Elsies 4 simple goals - so I thought I would join in the challenge.  The next four months are going to be busy ones and I already have things that are going to take place, but I thought it would be good to pick 4 goals to focus on between now and the end of the year.  Here are the "rules" -

1. Choose simple goals that will make your life richer and happier on a daily basis. Choose things you may not otherwise get done, but that are not difficult to accomplish.

2. Do not choose result oriented goals, choose activity oriented goals. for example.... instead of "lose 10 pounds", choose something like "eat fresh fruits and vegetables every day". Get what I'm saying? Positive actions instead of just the end result!

3. Choose goals that are personal that you believe will truly make your life richer just by doing them! They can be daily, weekly or one time experiences.

4. Choose a reward for each goal as it is accomplished! It can be a small or large reward- it's up to you.

5. Blog about your goals, each one as you achieve it and a big post when they are all finished before the new year! I'll be doing this too! Link back to this post if you want to and leave us links to your goal blogs in the comments of this (or any) post for a chance to be featured on ABM before the new year. We will be sharing some of our favourite reader goals with links to your blogs! *NOTE: Please feel free to use the image above on your own blogs if you like!

Here are my goals:


1. Do something creative every week - Art makes my soul happy. It helps me find balance when my life seems too crazy.  By carving out some time each week - I'm hoping to bring a little extra happiness and enjoyment into my life. It doesn't matter what I do, it just needs to bring me joy.

2. Do some sort of exercise activity twice a week - I need to get moving. This body of mine was created to move and be used. So, it doesn't matter what activity it is I just need to move with intention twice a week.

3. Complete the 30 day Joy Equation plan - I bought the Joy Equation about a year ago now and while I started it I didn't see it through. With all the changes that I have going on in my life and mind at the moment I want to take the time to work through this plan. So I am committing to do it - to see it through.

4. Keep a gratitude journal capturing all the blessings in my life - I am really trying to focus on the blessings in my life, even on the days where there feels like there are none.  This little book will take only a few minutes each evening to record my blessing, but I have a feeling it will be a beautiful treasure by the time it is full.

Why don't you join us in the challenge - it will be fun! 

I can't believe that we have already reached the half way mark for this year. Time sure is moving on quickly.  I am one of those people who likes setting goals, who enjoys making lists, ticking them off once completed and who tends to try to tackle too many goals/projects/ideas at once.  Reaching the end of the six month mark, I decided it was time to have a look at the goals I set in January. Which ones did I reach?  Which ones do I need to carry over and which ones are no longer right for me?

So I sat down and spent some time reflecting and brainstorming. I always love having projects on the go - probably too many at one time if I am being completely honest. And as expected, once I had completed my brainstorming, I had so many awesome, exciting goals that I would love to complete by December, however it quickly became clear that this may not be the best option.

I looked at my list and I asked myself one question - "Achieving which one of these goals will make the biggest difference to my life?" I realised that perhaps picking one main goal and two or three smaller goals would be more productive for me. 

The big one for me this month is going to be the setting of boundaries at work.

Work is the one place that I seem to really battle with maintaining balance - especially these past few days. I say yes to things that I shouldn't do because I don't want to disappoint and because I feel like I have to and I have things piled on me without standing up for myself and explaining just how much I already have on my plate.  These past few days have been particularly bad and I came away from work on Friday exhausted and with a very sore throat.  I had also spent most of the day holding back the tears, trying my hardest to keep it all together.  So I came home and did some thinking. I knew that I couldn't keep going like I was so I have created some boundaries that I am going to implement during June.

I know that this will definitely be one of those things that change as time goes on and I am OK with that - I just wanted to get something together to start off with. Like a skeleton draft I guess.  So here is what I have come up with so far:

1. Each day I will not only have my lunch break but I will take it away from my desk to ensure that I don't get interrupted.
2. I will not agree to pick up anyone else's work
3. I will speak up when I am being asked to take on more

I know its only three things, but it's a start right?
  

I tried Quinoa for the first time last weekend at my mom's, it was weird but not too bad. I love trying new things and I knew that it was healthy for me, so while my first taste of it didn't go down as a complete love I knew I had to give it another go.  And then I cam across the recipe below and after trying it, i knew I could make Quinoa a regular part of my menu rotation.

This salad is soooo easy to make and is ideal for both lunch at work or a quick dinner. Plus it makes about four decent size servings so you could have a few meals out of it - perfect for a single gal.  Enjoy!



BBQ Chicken Quinoa Salad

• 2 cups cooked quinoa
• 1 cup corn
• 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 cup shredded BBQ chicken
• BBQ sauce
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• cilantro for garnish
• avocado for garnish

Instructions