Morning thoughts and resolutions for the new year

I am experiencing a very blissful morning. I got the best night's sleep I've gotten here since getting back and woke up just as reruns of my favorite show, Gilmore Girls came on. i am lying in bed, feeling the nice breeze of my fan, drinking coffee and planning my day. I've only been back at work 2 days, but for some reason I felt like I really deserved an undeserved break. Luckily (not for my bank account!), two of my classes don't start until next week so I'm still on a semi-vacation which gives me time to catch up on my doing nothing. Although, I am adding more reading, gym time, and healthy cooking to that so I'll be slightly busier.

I haven't posted about New Year's Resolutions like many other bloggers. It's probably because I kinda hate New Year's, although I like the idea of resolutions. And I made some resolutions without thinking about them going along with the holiday, but I guess even I got into the New Year's spirit so I thought I'd share them even though they couldn't get more cliché.

1. Keep our apartment cleaner. As my friend L. put it once, Italo and I are like two little kids in the kitchen who don't want to take responsibility for the messes we make. We both think we're master chefs which means there's no one to clean up at the end of the meal since we both did the cooking. We get into the nasty habit of cooking dinner at night and leaving the dishes for the next day. I really want to stop that because in our tiny kitchen, one dish, let alone many that not put away makes it very cluttered. I also want all of our books, work things, and clothes where they belong. This is my resolution, but it pertains to us both. Luckily, Italo is right along with me on this one. My next one is slowly breaking him down, though.

2. Eat healthier foods. My last 2 years of high school and my first two years of college, I was a health nut. I tried to eat all organic foods and snacked on nuts and freeze dried berries. I was also a vegetarian so I lived on tofu, beans, cheese, fruits and vegetables. I loved eating like that (minus the vegetarian thing now) and I'm not sure what happened. I looked back on the last 6 months in Chile and realized my eating habits had gone to shit so now I'm determined to bring healthy back. That means absolutely no deliciously disgusting Chilean white bread. It also means no more bleached grains like pasta and rice and no more (or very, very little) red meat. I can't do the no carbs thing because I'm a carb addict, but I can cut way back. So far, I've only bought whole grain pasta and the rest has been legumes, fruit, veggies, eggs and cheese. I've also switched my quick dinner recipes from Rachel Ray to Ellie Krieger (her recipes are easy and delish!). I've been making and storing snacks incase Italo or I get hungry between meals (hummus, roasted chickpeas, almonds, yogurt popsicles, etc). Drinking less beer and other alcohol on the weekends is a must, too. The one thing I cannot and will not give up is red wine. It is too wonderful and inexpensive here and I love it too much. After 3 and a half days of this new diet, I feel great. I have more energy and I just feel happier. Italo was starving the first 2 days, but now he's into it. He's lost about 5 pounds (I hate that about men!) just because he's not eating white bread so I think he's pretty motivated, too. I'm also being really creative with our dinners so he doesn't miss the breads and pastas. All in all, I think I'm on the right path with this resolution

3. Exercise More. I know, I know. EVERYONE vows to workout more at the start of each year. I'm doing it too. This is another thing I used to be adamant about. I want to get back into the routines I was in before. I'm not worried too much about being heart healthy because I walk everywhere and now that my discount metro pass ran out, I'll be walking even more. I'd just like to get back into my strength training routines and be able to mix it up. I found some pretty cool variations for cardio and strength training in some fitness magazines and I'm going to get a new gym membership so I can do my trusty elliptical workout. Italo and I have also been saving to buy bikes (and helmets!) so we can do cerro San Cristóbal and Santa Lucía on the weekends. I'm terrified to ride my bike in this city, but I'll have to overcome it. In general, I want to be more active. I miss that drive to workout everyday I had in college. I'm trying to get it back.

4. Be better at keeping in touch with friends and family. I haven't been very good at writing some people on a regular basis and they told me that when I was home. I can be pretty bad about responding to emails and messages sometime and I have no excuse. It's not that I don't want to keep in touch, I just get distracted and forget sometimes. I promised I would be better because I miss these people a lot while I'm here and I'd like them to know that. So far, i've been doing a good job about it and I hope I can keep it up.

5. Prepare better classes for my students. It took me a while to take my job seriously, but just before Christmas, I started really getting into my lesson planning and enjoying my classes more. I'd like to continue with that and make them even better and more organized. Since teaching English looks like my occupation for a while, I want to feel like I'm good at my job and I'd like for my students to know that I'm trying. So far this semester, I have some great students so it shouldn't be hard.

6. Read more books people recommend to me. I have a lot of friends and family members who constantly recommend great books to me. Some of them even give me the books. I am always very grateful and have every intention of reading the books, but I seldom get around to it. I am going to change that. Especially because two people in particular always read the books I recommend so I need to stop being lazy and do the same. Yesterday, I finally started Cider House Rules by John Irving given to me by a certain A.H. I've read A Prayer for Owen Meany (it's on my top 5 favorite books list) and The World According to Garp so I really have no excuse for not reading his other books. Then, I'm going to start on another one and another one and hopefully another one and so on...

7. Spend more quality time with my man. For those of you who know me, you know I spend a lot of time with Italo, but during the week, it can become very routine-like since we both work. True to my astrological sign (Sagittarius), I hate getting locked into a routine, especially when it involves love, so I want to change that. I want to be able to devote time every day just to hanging out and doing new things. And actually, I think this diet and exercise thing goes along with this resolution. It's been fun grocery shopping and cooking together the past few days and once we get bikes, it means another shared hobby (aside from eating!). We went for a bike ride when we were in Virginia and it was the first time we'd done that. I loved it! Italo's first love was a bicycle (ok, not really), but I wouldn't be surprised to see him tear up talking about his old bike, and I just loved that we were doing something together that he was so passionate about.

OK, I had more resolutions than I thought! Also, Happy new year to everyone!

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random comment because I don't want to post another blog, but for anyone in the U.S., I have to recommend the movie Doubt. I went to see it with my parents and sister and we were all extremely impressed. It was by far the best movie I've seen in a long time. it's pretty impressive that my whole family thought that since we all have different tastes in movies.