Thriving Forward

Hi! Happy Monday!!

How was your weekend? Saturday was a good mix of everything I love in a weekend: kundalini yoga in the morning followed by coffee with the girls, groceries, tidying up the house and then chillaxin' with a movie. Derek was out with friends, so I had the house to myself.....it was kinda nice to have a lonely girl night!

On Sunday, I slept in 'til 10 a.m.! It was absolutely blissful!!! I had a family reunion and potluck in the afternoon, so I spent the rest of the morning whipping up my Festive Sweet Potato Salad - I added a chopped apple and it was fantastic - and Tosca Reno's Ooey Gooey Banana Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding. Both of these dishes are healthy AND clean and I got lots of compliments on both. WIN!!! I had just enough salad left to bring with me to work today and this was all the bread pudding I brought home ----- um, it didn't quite make it 'til today ;-)

As you may recall from my post last week, one of my goals was to fully embrace the Eat Clean Diet. So far, I'm doing great and I already notice a difference in how my body feels. My stomach no longer feels bloated and unsettled like it did over the holidays when I was enjoying every sweet treat and cheese tray that was passed my way.

To compliment my clean eating goals, I've also signed up to follow the Thrive Forward program that's been developed by Brendan Brazier (creator of Vega).

This is a FREE online program, personalized to your interests and goals, that will show you how to improve your health through plant-based nutrition. Now I'm a vegetarian, so this is  perfect for me, but this program will still provide a wealth of information for you meat eaters too!! The program includes written e-books, video lessons, email tips, recipes, meal plans and tons of really valuable information to kickstart your journey to a clean eating lifestyle. Now, I feel like I already 'get' the general idea of how to eat clean, but what I really, really love about this program is that it touches on so many other topics such as longevity, sleep, stress, libido, weight, sustainability, etc. When you sign up for the program, you are asked to select three topics most relevant to your interests - I did that - but I will definitely be reading EVERYTHING because there is just so much information about the way food and nutrition affect all aspects of our lives.

If you're interesting in checking out the Thrive Forward program, it's not too late! Click here and sign up today. Let me know what you think - we can support each other as we clean up our diets and become the best we can be!!

Food for Thought:

Source

 

What is something that you're 110% committed to right now?

 

Have a great day my friends,

 

Andrea

xoxo

 



New Year, New Goals

Well Happy New Year my friends! How was your holiday season? I hope it was filled with loved ones and fun times and lots of wonderful memories.

Our December was really busy and I was really happy to have some time off of work to rest up and recharge with the ones that I love most. I started back to work yesterday and I have to admit that it's kind of nice to get back into a routine.

While I was off, I found myself thinking about what I wanted to say to you all about my goals for the upcoming year. I don't "do" resolutions because I think the word just sets us up for failure. I prefer to set attainable, realistic goals that I can work towards. They may be easy to achieve or an ongoing work in progress all year long. Resolutions on the other hand usually get ditched by mid-January.

 I didn't do a fabulous job at meeting my goals last year. I set a big list up on January 1st and then they got pushed under a bunch of papers in my office never to be seen again.

This year I've decided to break things down a little better in the hopes of setting myself up for success. I do have some BIG goals for the year, but I also want to keep focused by setting daily, weekly and monthly goals, so I can feel like I'm constantly moving forward instead of getting stuck in a rut with no idea where I should be heading.

I'm sure my list of goals is going to change as time passes, but as of today, this is what my goals are lookin' like:

BIG Goals for 2013

*Get involved in a charity - I participate in a few fundraisers, but am not a passionate supporter of any one charity. I really want to get involved with one of the cancer societies, a breakfast club or an animal rescue.

* Re-organize & re-decorate each room in my house - I'm ready for a change.

*Pursue freelance writing opportunities. - As you know, I did two pieces for VegNews.com and I really enjoyed creating material for an online publication that I personally enjoy. I am hoping to make connections with more of my favourite publications this year.

*Make a budget, stick to it and start growing our nest egg into something more substantial.

*Continue working on the blog. - I'd like to work on improving my photography skills this year and maybe, just maybe, get my own unique design layout????

Goals for January

*Fully embrace the Eat Clean Diet. - I have the vegetarian cookbook, I'm ready for the change after a very indulgent holiday and I know the concept. No excuses, I'm going to "JUST DO IT"!

*Workout 4 days per week. - Remember back when I was working out 5, 6 & 7 days per week while following the LiveFit trainer?! Well those days are long gone ---- I didn't work out once over the holidays (unless playing Just Dance 4 with my 5 year old neice counts?!) and I feel like a bit of a lazy ass.

*Start planning and budgeting the reno of our bathroom. - It's the only room in the house that we haven't done anything to and it's just plain nasty.

*Plan 4 date nights per month with Derek. - I need more quality time with my man.

*Clean out my kitchen cupboards. - Seriously, does a family of 2 people really need 18 mugs; especially since one of those people does not drink coffee or tea?! I am going to purge my cupboards, donate my discards to the local Salvation Army and clean my kitchen from top to bottom.

Because I'm a visual person, I love the idea of creating a vision board to keep sight of all of my goals. If you've been a long-time follower here on Vegvacious, you've probably seen me say that I'm going to create a vision board many times. It has yet to happen {womp womp} I saw that the Fitnessista created a virtual vision board on Pinterest and I totally copied her because it's easy and it's clean --- trust me, I can leave glue and sparkles in the strangest of places when I get into a crafy kinda mood. If you'd like to see what my board looks like so far, check it out here.

Do you have any goals or resolutions for 2013?

Have a great day,

Andrea
xoxo