Goodbye 2012, Welcome 2013!

Happy New Year Everyone! As we say goodbye to 2012 and usher in the New Year, I've been reflecting on the past twelve months as I often do at this time of year. There are so many things that I'm thankful for that occurred in this past year but also some disappointments too, usually the result of lack of discipline or focus on my part. In December I started challenging myself in new ways to prepare for the New Year.  For example, I took 6 straight days of yoga classes (something I have never done before) with hubby attending the last one with me. He usually does yoga at his own gym so it was nice to have him as my 'guest' and work out together side-by-side. I typically go to yoga twice per week but never back to back days. As my membership to my local studio was quickly about to expire it was the perfect time to prove to myself that I could push through even when I was tired and did not feel like going. I feel so much better when I exercise every day so that helped re-establish an important daily ritual for me in 2013.

I encourage you to find something that you enjoy or even something new you've wanted to try and challenge yourself. Do you love running? Why not run every single day even if it's for 15 minutes, consistency is more important than distance. Maybe you're committing to better overall health this year including what you eat? Set aside the time to make homemade breakfast, lunch and dinner from scratch for a week and see how you feel! The smaller accomplishments always lead to bigger ones. For this reason I'm not a fan of  typical 'New Year's Resolutions' as people always declare grandiose changes for the new year that they often cannot attain. Starting small and working your way to bigger challenges gives you a sense of fulfillment and accomplishment that will continue to propel you in a positive direction.

Sometimes circumstances can bring us down and then we tend to associate those negative feelings with that particular year, deeming a certain year as good or bad as I've heard many people say about this past year. I try hard not to do that because our year or even this very day is what we make of it and out thoughts are the beginning of what we'll see come to fruition. In order to change our reality we need to change our thoughts. If we think it will be a bad year, it will. If we believe the new year holds great opportunities, it will!

For the past few weeks I've really been feeling as though 2013 will be MY year! Maybe it sounds silly, but I've never felt this way before and I'm really excited about it! Good things have already begun happening and it's as if everything that I've been working towards will finally come together this year. If you feel the same, declare it for yourself! The past fears that have held me back from achieving all that I've dreamed for myself will no longer stand in my way. I have my eyes on the prize and I just know the next twelve months will be filled with unwavering focus, determination and hard work but anything worth having is work that kind of dedication. I have some exciting things that I've been working on and can't wait to share with you in the coming months!

Each year, aside from business, financial, health/fitness and travel goals I'm looking to achieve, I also like to look at the areas of myself that I'd like to work on. Personal Growth is very important to me and there are some aspects of me that I need to polish. Without going into great detail, here are five of the specific areas I'd like to grow in this year.

1. Become a more patient person both with others and myself.

2. Stop pre-judging how an event or opportunity might play out and just go with the flow (in other words stop over-analyzing and enjoy the present moment).

3. Compare myself only with my past performance and not with others. After all, everyone's path is different.

4. Be more spontaneous! I'm a planner and this is always hard for me but one thing I know for sure is that my most joyful moments are when I'm doing something new, unexpected and spontaneous.

5. Add more discipline and structure into my life. One of the greatest things about being self-employed is that you can make your own schedule and often work from the comfort of your own home. While I've always been a disciplined and driven person, it's easy to fritter away time on projects that really aren't important sometimes, I think it's just the nature of working from a home office, or maybe it's just me. I have been lax in writing a daily schedule which makes it difficult to stay on track, but that's all about to change!

Are you excited about 2013? What goals or personal growth areas are challenging yourself with this year? I'd love to hear what's important to you to make this your best year yet!

Thanks for stopping by!

XO




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A Fresh Start

One of the things I enjoy most about ringing in the new year is the fresh beginning it provides. Every year on New Year's Eve day I reflect on my most proud accomplishments, the things I really enjoyed spending my time doing most as well as my goals that never came to be so I can figure out how to make them a reality the next time around. I think it's important to celebrate our successes but also learn from our mistakes so we can plan better for the future. As Oprah and Maya Angelou always say, "When we know better, we do better".

This year has been an interesting one, I've learned more about myself in this past year than I probably have in the last five. It is the first full year I spent alone in our home as my hubby pursued his Master's degree several states away at NYU. With that brought both challenges and triumphs as I realized many areas in which I was stronger than I knew myself to be. It also presented areas that I am weaker in and need to change my mindset on.

This year I also put my design business on hold and found full time work elsewhere to survive the struggling economy while still allowing myself to be creative with a few e-design jobs here and there. It hasn't been easy working for someone else again but when I prayed and asked the Lord 'why this job, why now?' of the many I interviewed with, I felt and heard the word 'discipline'. Apparently I needed discipline after years of working for myself from home. Sometimes in life, things happen not because of what we want, but rather what we need.

While I don't make resolutions, I do always create a fresh set of goals for myself. I've noticed over the past few years that I've created laundry lists of all the things I would love to accomplish and every year I fall short on many. I believe in dreaming big and shooting for the stars but sometimes when we create too many goals, we overwhelm ourselves and then instead get very little accomplished. So, this year I've made 3 key personal goals for myself that I believe are doable, but still enough of a stretch to keep me challenged. ;)

Like every classy woman, I'm constantly trying to improve myself and I've discovered some areas in my life that need the rough edges smoothed so I'll be focusing on those too to become a better me. One of those areas will be working to become a more patient person (with both myself and others, especially hubby). I also need to let Paul rub off on me a little more in the spontaneity department. I love to plan and organize, a natural born type A., however, I'm convinced that lightening up and trying more things that scare me will be key to enjoying life in a greater way. One of my downfalls is procrastination over things I don't enjoy and I want to change that this year. The time I spend thinking about how much I don't enjoy doing a particular task and distracting myself with something more interesting is the time I could have just completed the task in the first place. I'm not going to burden myself by expecting perfection, any progress is a beautiful thing!

What are your goals for the New Year?




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Perfect Timing

Hi Everyone! I hope you had a fabulous Christmas celebrating with family and friends remembering to relax and take time for yourself. I'm holding my promise to you of posting more frequently than I have been.

Since we're just 48 hours away from ringing in 2012, I thought it was appropriate to share the importance of action vs. perfection. How many times I haven't promised myself that I'll get back on a 5-day per week gym schedule when I 'have more time' to commit to it or that I'll paint and redecorate our master bedroom when I have a certain amount of money saved up to do so, I have a list of other promises that sound just like these. The truth is that ALL goals consist of mini milestones, no matter how small those steps might be. Momentum is a beautiful thing, each day presents an opportunity to move in the direction of what we desire most. I love this quote above because it reminds us that there really is never a 'perfect' time to do anything in life.

Several years ago, when a colleague-friend of mine found out I had recently got engaged she insisted on one piece of advice-don't hold off on having children by waiting for the 'perfect' time. She appeared sad as she recounted the years she had put off doing that very thing herself in search of that ultimate moment when they might be ready, would have the right amount of income and size of home for baby. After spending years on this quest, the time never made itself known and after many frustrating years, she found out that her insistence on the ideal conditions had left her dream unfulfilled. Every time that I find myself guilty of heading down the same path thought-wise, I remember her advice to me.

Don't let your dreams slip away because you are waiting for the 'perfect' moment to pursue them! Start now by creating your plan of action, schedule small appointments with yourself each day or week to work towards what you want to accomplish most.

Truly the BEST is yet to come! I wish you the greatest success and fulfillment in all you do for 2012! :)

Happy New Year Lovelies! XOXO

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Achieving Fitness Goals with the Help of a Friend

Back in early December I started thinking about some of my personal goals that I wanted to work towards in the new year. After sitting down and really put some thought into what was most important to me at this point in my life, I also started thinking about some of the tools and resources that I would need in order to achieve them too.

Every year one of my top goals is to maintain/stive towards optimal health and while I feel as though I'm in great health right now, as with everything in life there is always room for improvement. This year has been a challenging one and while I started off 2010 with very high expectations for myself in many areas, especially as it pertained to fitness, I let myself down. Between work, picking up a part time job to put extra money into my savings account and caring for the house solely while hubby pursues school out of state,  it would be easy to say that I really didn't have a whole lot of extra time. The truth though, is that I didn't make the time.

One positive thing about Paul being in NYC is that time we would have spent together I can now dedicate to exercise. This year there are no if's and's or but's. I have no excuses, having left my part time job to spend more time with my Interior Design clients, I DO have the time in the early mornings and evenings and am making it a priority! I don't want to let another year to go by where I feel guilty when I honestly think back at time I wasted, when if I had just planned right, I could have accomplished my goals.

This is where the help of a friend comes in. The timing couldn't have been more perfect when CSN Stores recently wrote to me again asking if, as one of their preferred bloggers, I wanted to do another review for them. As if I had to think about it, my answer of course was yes. They are ever so generously providing me with a whopping $130 to spend any way I want in exchange for a review of the item(s) I select. A big thank you to my friends at CSN stores, what a blessing! Let me just say that with over 200 stores, it was no easy task to narrow down my choices.

While I've been a fan of their website for a while, I can usually be found hunting down deals for both myself and my design clients for things like modern duvet covers, lighting, home decor such as gorgeous and unique accent pillows and great wall art finds. This time, however, my focus will be a little different. Since fitness is my mission, below are the fitness equipment items that I picked out which will help me achieve my goals of optimal health in 2011.

{Mini Trampoline for Detoxing, Strength & Balance}

{Balance Ball for Core Strength & Stretching}

{Weight lifting gloves to keep my hands looking ladylike. *wink*}

{Set of 2 Yoga Blocks for Stretching & Lengthening}

{Enamel Colander for straining & washing produce and because I've always wanted one}

So that's the line-up of goodies that I'll be ordering from CSN stores and once I've used each one I can't wait to share all the details with you. In my upcoming review post I'll provide product names, prices and of course my experience with each item, so stay tuned...

How about you? What's on your list to help you better acheive all of YOUR goals this year?

Wishing you a Happy Friday!

Warmly,
Karla

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