Happy New Year!! We returned home yesterday from a wonderful trip to Colorado where we immensely enjoyed our time with Andy’s side of the family and my siblings. We genuinely could not have had a better time…well, that’s not entirely true. The girls, and then Andy all came down sick. That managed to put a damper on some of our fun but it didn’t stop us from enjoying the company and delicious food we were spoiled with (almost everyone on Andy’s side are amazing cooks and we were spoiled accordingly!).

As an added bonus my sister came through Denver while we were there. And (for those of you who don’t know) my brother lives there. I believe it had been at least three years since the three of us were all together at the same time. My mom requested a picture (NO selfies!) and we obliged:If the silver hair doesn’t give us away as siblings, I don’t know what would.

I did not originally intend on posting a New-Year’s resolution to the world this year but seeing as how I’ve completed my resolutions the last two years, I thought I would take a crack at posting my thoughts for the coming year. (And I DID officially complete the last one! I finished those last two books after all before the end of December.) It seems being publicly accountable keeps me motivated. Even if no one else reads this and even less people (less than zero?) care, at I least I know it’s “out there” and feel like I need to follow through.

#1 – Save the environment. Okay this may seem a little lofty but I have two measurable ways I can contribute: 1. Bring re-usable bags grocery shopping consistently. This goal may seem weird but it really annoys me that I own so many cloth shopping bags and FORGET them 92% of the time.  I heard somewhere that you have to do something 21 times in order for it to become a habit. Actually – I heard that from a grocery store worker when I was lamenting out loud that I forgotten my bags – yet AGAIN. Maybe if I make it my resolution, I will actually make it happen. 2. Bring my coffee travel-mugs any time I order a drink at a coffee shop. No need to use paper cups when we have so many travel mugs at home!

#2 – I’m changing how we eat. We recently purchased some local, grass-fed beef. I even visited the farm they are from (I know – how very Portlandia of me!). This is a change in two ways 1. We very rarely ate beef in the past and 2. This is higher quality, happy meat. He had little cow friends, roamed happily, and was killed humanely. Oh – and his meat is 97% fat free. If we are going to invest in high quality meat, we’re going to eat less meat over-all to offset the cost. So here is my (rough) meal plan to try for this year: Beef once a week, Fish 1-2 nights a week, Vegetarian 2-3 nights a week, and 1-2 nights of poultry. These are estimates. I realize if we have leftovers from beef night that we will have beef twice that week, but this is how meal planning will be structured over-all. We have a handful of vegetarian favorites but 2-3 nights a week is a big change so as we find new recipes we like, I’ll try to share. In fact, we’re trying one tonight! And if you have one (or more!) you love, PLEASE share!

These might not seem like big goals but to look at the bigger picture they directly affect the environment, our household budget, and our health so I fancy them relatively important….at least in our little corner of the world. 🙂