Happy New Year!

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New Year's resolutions are kind of bittersweet. I feel like we usually pick from the same 10 or so things  and eventually fizzle out by March. I talked previously about the blog 12 Months of Lent and I've been thinking about the concept ever since.

While I have several guessable resolutions this year (exercise more, eat cleaner, etc), I'm really excited to be giving Danne Dzenawagis' approach a try. I've thought it out this morning and have decided this is what the first half of my year will look like:

January: Exercise once every day. You can do pretty much anything for 30 days, right? My goal is to get to the gym for one hour every single day this month. Starting today!

February: No alcohol. Alcohol is literally a toxin. I hate hangovers and actually dislike a lot of alcohols anyway, so this shouldn't be too bad. I'll be interested to see how easy/difficult it is to give this up for an entire months. Notice I picked the shortest month to do so...

March: Cook at least one new meal a day. This will be exciting to try out a new recipe each day and I know my husband will love it. Doesn't have to be exotic, or a difficult recipe. Just something I've never made before.

April: Save every dime I make (obviously this excludes rent/utility money). I've significantly cut back on my spending since I started school, but I'd like to get better at putting money away. It's easy for me to look at a small paycheck and justify buying something instead of saving it...because it wouldn't make a huge difference. But every little bit helps!

May: No caffeine. I'm talking coffee, sugary Starbucks drinks sodas, etc. This month I'll be sticking to herbal teas, tons of sparkling water, and protein shakes as I see fit.

June:  Give up all simple carbs. This one is relatively easy, as I spent most of last year eliminating those from my diet as best as possible. I'm mainly hoping to exclude most breads and pastas, as well as simple sugars.

What are your New Year's resolutions?

xx