So as I stood in line at the grocery store and this cook book stared me in the face I knew I had to have it.  I had to have it because less than 24 hours later I had found The Pioneer Woman’s site and had fallen head over heels in love with her site.. Not only for the couple super yummy recipes I had found on the site but also because of her personal blogging she has done on there to make you realize she is a real person just like the rest of us.

When The Pioneer Woman Cook book was sitting there looking at me and was on sale I knew it must come home with me.  I dug deep into reading on the way home and by the time I had gotten home I had already found the first recipe I wanted to cook.

I added homemade Mac and Cheese to the menu that night and I have to say it was a huge hit……

I decided I will cook one recipe a week out of my new favorite cook book and let me family fall even more in love with me.

What should I cook next week?

But this year I am changing it up.  I am not doing any resolutions… I am creating something that I feel will be much better.  I am going to change my lifestyle.  Make goals for myself.  And if I fall off that goal wagon I am going to pull myself back up onto the wagon and take the reins and continue on.   And this might sound just like resolutions to many but for me it is all about my mindset and finally starting to live the life I want to live.

Normally this is the part where I put in my list of resolutions and what I am going to do.  But instead I want to put in a list of my goals.  My personal goals, and my business goals.

Personal

• Start living a healthier life (this includes eating healthier and making healthier food choices, exercising on a more routine schedule)
• Build Little Hand Big Heart up to what I know it is meant to be (this includes speaking events, weekly blogging and getting Haylee more involved in it)
• Making our household run a little smoother…. With a good routine…. (you know I love my routines)
• Spending less time in the virtual world and more time in the real world
• Spend less money and follow a better budget (which means creating a budget to follow and sticking to it)

Business

• Start working on more website building (this is my true passion and I am ready to follow this passion)
• Doing less of what I don’t like to do in the VA world and doing more of what I enjoy in the online world

As you can probably tell from above my personal life has a lot more going on in it then my virtual life.  But I am ready to make 2013 more about me and less about everything else.  I am ready to make myself completely happy and joyful and do only what I love and enjoy doing.

I feel like 2013 is my year… For a few different reasons.  First that 13 has always been my favorite number.  Second that my days birthday was on the 13th day of June.. SO those two things together make me smile already.

I hope you have an amazing 2013 also and would love to hear what you having going on in 2013.

Bowflex was there.  And they were awesome.  They had two new products they were introducing and I loved being able to talk to them about them, try them out and just find out more about the products that I plan on buying in the future.  They had the Tread Climber there. And I have to say I loved it.  It was so awesome…  They also had the CoreBody Reformer there that was absolutely amazing.  I loved how it fit under a bed and out of the way….

Next favorite sponsor was Sodastream.  I have been considering getting one of these for a really really long time but I never ever could make up my mind.  I wanted to be able to see how it works and taste it before I purchased it.  I was able to do both.  So it is time for my family to purchase a SodaStream and see what a huge difference we can make while still enjoying that amazing taste.

And the last one that I love very much was Samsung.  I was able to check out and hear about some pretty awesome products.  I have to say my three favorites were the New Vacuum-Tube and Digital Amp Wireless Audio System with Dual Dock which was amazing and Jim is going to be getting this for Christmas! The New DV300F WiFi Dual LCD 16MP SMART Camera which rocked my world and the Galaxy S 3 smartphone. It was just super cool to see working and get to play around with. Makes it hard for me to decided to stick with the iPhone or go to the Galaxy.

I was so glad to meet such amazing companies and finally get to play with some pretty cool products. Oh and by the way. I am in no way an affiliate with any of these companies or products. Just wanted to share with you some pretty amazing products I checked out this weekend.

So I have decided to take the big leap and try this photo of the say stuff.   Mainly because I have not been blogging her near enough. And I would really like to start go get back into blogging.

Today’s challenge was up.  And however you interprate up.

My photo is a picture of what I look at above my desk every day and it is also that always lifts my spirits high.

Above my desk is a wall of the favorite men all in the military.

There is a picture of my Husband, My Father, My Grandfather and My Great Grandfather.  All serving in the Military and proud.

Also on the wall is a picture of the sub my father was on.  My Dad’s metals and also a plaque he received.  This wall makes me smile from ear to ear.

This is my first three Uppercase Living I have put in my home.  I love it already.  One is by the front door, one is above the entry way from the kitchen into my office and the daily bread is above the dining room table.

This has really helped me not only with my grocery bill but also with keeping more organized.

I use a weekly Meal Planner sheet from ListPlanit.com that has my menu on one side and my grocery list on the other so that when I am done shopping I can put my list up on the refrigerator for the family to see.

Normally for breakfast I either have Odwalla or I have a shakeology.

Lunches are normally a sandwich, or a hot pocket and some fruit.

Monday: Bow Tie Chicken Pasta

Tuesday: Pot Roast with onions, carrots, and potatos

Wednesday: Easy Tortellini Toss

Thursday: Meatloaf and Potatos

Friday: Chicken and Noodles and mashed potatos

Saturday: Pizza (we have company coming over)

Sunday: Lasagna Roll ups

Dec 31st 2011 ~ 220 lbs

That same day I found out my Grandma who raised me my whole life passed away.  So I was on a train within hours and on my way to Colorado.  So I had no time to plan what I was going to eat or anything like that.  I was worried because I had set a goal of the amount of weight I wanted to lose in 2012 and I was so worried that I would not be able to start out the year right.  While I was there we did a lot of eating out.  And I will be honest I did a lot of comfort eating.  Yah is I thought I was soothing my soul.  But I was not.

So when I got home a week later I did not set up on the scale.  I let that scale and my body be.  I watched what I ate this week and that was about it.  I was still in this slump from losing my Grandma.  I know it is not a excuse but…

This morning I jumped on the scale and I am so happy to report that I have a small amount of weight lose to report.

January 15th 2012 ~ 217 lbs

I know it is not a huge amount but I will take it.

My plan for this week is to work out three four days, drink at least 30 oz of water a day (I know not much but more than I am doing now), and to eat healthy.

This has worked so much better for me then my resolutions ever did.  Because normally after the first week I had messed something up and there went the resolutions.  But this year with goals in place if I miss something I just keep going and working toward my goals.  I have found that goals make things more life changing and resolutions are just my way of saying I am going to do something but never really following through.

One of the biggest things I have done is I created a family binder where I keep all my family life, business life and everything else.  You need to know anything about my family or my business it will all be found here.  I menu plan here, I do my grocery list, I keep track of the goals I am working on and what goals have been accomplished.   Pretty much this binder is my life and will help me accomplish and stick to the goals I have created.  This book seems to keep me organized and disciplined  and that is what I need to be to improve the way I live spirituality, physically and mentally.

What are you doing to change your life and the way you live?