Smooth Move

Hello all,
As you may recall I made a goal of eating only whole foods, nothing processed for the month of January. This goal led me right to the green smoothie. Smoothies have become my favorite breakfast, snack, dinner anything. They are SO easy, and delicious. Here's the how to:

Start with a base, juice, tea, milk any sort of liquid you like
Now start chucking in fruit and veggies: my favorites are spinach, kale, carrots, apples, oranges, kiwi, strawberries, pineapple, peaches, grapes. You starting to catch on? Anything that you have in your kitchen. 
Hit blend on that blender, vitamix, magic bullet whatever you have.
Then TA-DA! you have at least 2 servings of veggies and 2 servings of fruit and it's not even afternoon.
So take to the kitchen, drag out the blender, and start experimenting with smoothies. 

Green tea, spinach, blueberries, oranges

Green tea, spinach, kale, kiwi, strawberries, peaches, grapefruit

Green tea, spinach, cherries, pineapples, apples

GOOAAAALLLL!!!

Happy 2013! With the New Year comes new beginnings and new ideas to make this year the best one yet. A huge part of success is visualization and goal setting. If you don't know what you want, how will you get there?
Thought I would do a short little piece on goal setting. For me goal setting is one of those tasks that strikes fear in my heart and sends my brain to look for anything else to think about. Once I finally get it all out on paper it makes much more sense and I have a sense of clarity, even if it is a fleeting sense!
So let's jump in before I decide this is a bad idea!
Many people and goal setting tools tell you start big, think of your life in 10 years. What do you want your life to look like? Where are you? Who is with you? What do you spend your time doing?
No matter what your goals are there are some easy guidelines to follow:

• Use the present tense, this is all happening NOW
• Be quantifiable and specific. The more details the easier it is to break your big goal down into smaller, easier to manage goals. If you can't measure your goals it's not a goal.
• Always pick a by-when date. Set an end time, this keeps you accountable.
• Be affirmative and concise. Focus on the end result. Instead of I avoid running use I am a runner. 

For me once I know my big hairy goals I can break those down into smaller chunks. After 10 years is mapped out, go to 5, then 1 year. I even go so far as setting monthly goals for myself. Then from month to month I can know what I need to work on or where I am kicking ass!
I will share my January-March goals with you:
January: I complete a month long clean eating program, ingesting zero processed foods.
February: I log 10,000 steps everyday on my Fitbit
March: I cook a Sunday dinner for my friends and family every week.

Another tool I have found to be really helpful is a vision board. I really like this mostly cause I get to use my crafty side. Find pictures and words that relate to and motivate you to attain your 1, 5 and 10 year goals.  I hang my board in my bedroom so that I see it daily and it is a constant reminder. I attach a sticky note with my monthly goal to keep myself accountable there too.

So go ahead, sit down and make a vision for your life, you will be amazed at what will happen!