Happy New Year!!

It’s 2014 and I’m incredibly excited for this year!

I make resolutions each year because I tend to be somewhat successful with them. Maybe not the exact way I envisioned in the resolution, but a change in behavior happens in some way.

2013 was the year of the migraine for me. I got a migraine on January 3rd and it stayed with me through the 6th. At that point I had to acknowledge that I had migraines and I needed to see my doctor. We spent the rest of the year trying to figure out what might be causing them and what I could take or do to control them.

I’m now on excellent medicine and I’m having to do a complete diet overhaul to reduce them significantly. I’m not quite sure why foods I’ve eaten all my life are now causing me problems, but they are. So a forced diet change for medical reasons makes going on a diet in 2014 kind of an easy resolution to keep.

I’m testing for my black belt in women’s self-defense in May. To do that, I also have to complete certain fitness challenges along the way, which means I’m not allowed to say “oh, I don’t feel like working out today” or “I’ll just skip my workout today.” No. That means I have to work out most days, even if it’s a lighter workout.

Over the past couple of years, I’ve turned my reading habit/hobby into a job of proofreading for some of my favorite authors. That means that much of my free time is spent being paid to read and catch errors. I need to find a hobby again. It’s been a decade since I’ve done any kind of cross-stitching, but I want to use that as my creative hobby outlet. I also used to journal as a hobby, but since writing is also my job, I wanted to pick something completely different. Cross stitch is perfect. It can be done in little bits.

As for writing, my goal is to try to get at least the current novella I’m working on, a novel, and a Christmas novella released this year. Hopefully I can get a second novel written and ready to be released in 2015.

My resolutions for 2014:

1. Change of diet (tyramine-free, gluten-free [or at least much reduced], MSG-free, processed-sugar free [once again, at least much reduced])
2. Reduce the need for migraine-rescue medicine to no more than once a week, max twice a week
3. Exercise 5 times a week
4. Hold plank position for at least 60 seconds
5. Take the time to cross-stitch 1-2x a week
6. Novella, novel, and Christmas novella written and released this year with a second novel written in the Douglas Lake series for publication in 2015

I’m planning on taking control of 2014 and making it incredible. It’ll take a ton of hard work, but I know it’s worth it.

Oh, and if you happen to have any great links for crockpot recipes or any kind of recipes that’ll work for my new diet, please feel free to hook me up.