A New Year, A New Start

What I'm obsessing with lately is getting back to me.  Over the holidays, I tend to let everything go a bit and focus on spending time with family, which unfortunately means eating and drinking too much and my only workouts being walking through the mall while I shop for gifts.  It's important to have that time with family and friends, and I absolutely love it, but now that the month of parties and excess are over, I can't wait to get back to me.  What does that mean?  It means eating clean, working out, building my business, writing, the stuff I do for me.

Kombucha Gingerade

This January 1, eating clean meant starting with some Kombucha.  I love the gingerade flavor and I drink it whenever I have had a little too much fun the night before (think New Year's Eve).  It rebalances your body's acidity, is full of probiotics to help digestion and helps you detox by cleaning the liver.  I also have autoimmune disease, so this elixer help me to strengthens my immune system which clears my eczema, helps my thyroid, and releaves my general inflammations.  I keep a bunch of these in my fridge and try to have a few a week.  I would get bored if I drank the same thing every day, but three times a week and whenever I've had too much to drink the night before, and I'm good to go!  The rest of eating clean is just that, lots of organic protein with a base of fruits and vegetables.  Nothing processed, nothing refined.  Just the stuff that comes from the Earth to me with few steps in between.  Clean.

As for working out, I run and practice yoga.  This January, I'm keeping myself motivated by running in the Broad Street Run, so I need to train.  I've never run a long distance race before, so this is going to take some training.  Not to mention I haven't run since late October and I don't own a treadmill, it's all outside.  My goal is clock in 120 miles by Valentines Day, then focus on speedwork and kick in the real training.  My yoga practice has been even more neglected than my running.  I used to practice 3-4 times a week for 1.5 hours each.  I was strong, flexible, had no back problems, and felt great.  Unfortunately, I let that slip a lot, but I'm starting this year right.  I went to a one hour class yesterday and man am I sore!  I love being able to feel the muscles I've worked the day before.  I feel it in my whole arms, shoulders, chest, neck, back, glutes and obliques.  My abs and legs get worked when I run, so those don't hurt today.  Next time I'll go to the 1.5 hour class and hopefully I'll feel that in my legs, too.  So far so good!

Another thing that I haven't focused on over the holidays is a.muse!  After working 3 big events in the 6 weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, then traveling twice in late November and then getting ready for Christmas and New Year's, I really took some extended time off from my business.  In some ways I needed it because I would otherwise burn out, but really I can't wait to get back to putting on some work clothes and hitting the city for some meetings!  I've made some great connections this past year and am really looking forward to where my company can go.  It really is like a child, you birth this business with an idea in your head, then it slowly takes on a life of it's own.  I'm finding that a.muse has her own idea of what she wants and I just love watching her grow up! 

The last thing I want to be sure I do more of this year is write, and there are two primary places I need to focus on, this blog and my gratitude journal.  I'm committing to writing 3 times a week about the life of a.muse, and everyday writing in my gratitude journal.  I choose 5 things everyday that I am thankful for and write them down in a journal.  It really changes your focus in life and makes you notice more in your daily life.  I start finding myself acknowledging moments during the day as "this is going in my gratitude journal." It's a great way to live.

Okay, so that's my new start.  My New Year's Wish is that  everyone starts focusing on their own goals in this new year and we can all be better today than we were yesterday.  And keep checking back, I'll be writing 3 times a week!

Gratefully,
Sue

#20Acts

I know it's been a while since I've posted, but I've been busy....  We have been mindlessly preparing for the holidays: baking cookies, shopping for presents, decorating the house, sending out Christmas cards, shopping for party dresses, it's all so fun and sweet.

In between all of that, we've been taveling a bit, looking at colleges for my teenage daughter while visiting family in New England; and then we flew to Park City, UT to visit family there.

Then came word of a shooting in Newtown, CT last week and I just stopped.  I texted my daughter that I love her while she was at school and I stopped dead in my tracks.  How lucky am I to watch my daughter grow up to be so sweet and loving.  How lucky we are to be able to fly all over the country and visit our healthy family members.  How lucky are we to be able to spend the holidays exchanging gifts with loved ones.  Oh my blessings are too many to count.  I keep crying.

Its' so sad and incomprehensible that every time I think of it I cry.  I watched the president address the nation and I cried.  I woke up the next day and read some more about it and I cried.  I was out having brunch with some girlfriends on Sunday and when the conversation turned to the shooting I cried.  All this crying is getting us nowhere.

Thanks to Ann Curry and her idea of #20acts, I feel completed re-inspired.  The idea of doing 20 acts of kindness, 1 for each child lost, is just brilliant.  Some have upped it to 26 acts to include the teachers and that's even better.  I've decided to do 20 acts by the end of this year.  It's now December 18th and I was already planning on donating books to the library, one down.

I'll be tweeting each one as I go, follow me @SueJacquette and let's all join in on this.  Here are some ideas to get you inspired....

Donate food to a pantry
Donate books to a library
Visit a lonely neighbor
Help a neighbor with lawnwork
Pay for the person behind you in line
Fill up the meters of the cars parked around you
Be a designated driver
Send someone flowers just to brighten their day
Donate blood
Donate old clothes
Give your seat to someone else on the bus or train
Share a positive blog post
Donate money to your favorite charity
Talk with a homeless person
Bring in you neighbor's trash cans
Make dinner for you local firehouse
Send a care package to a loved one

The ideas are endless, but it really changes the perspective of this tragedy.  Thanks, Ann Curry!

The Evolution of a Blog

Like my profile says, I have a real Renaissance soul, and am passionate about many things.  While I may have started out wanting this blog to be about my business, I find myself always thinking of things I could be blogging about, but they are not always necessarily about events or event planning.  I think my business may evolve into a business more about "Inspired Living" with branches that deal with parties, style, healthy living, travel, and general lifestyle branding, so why not start with my blog.  At least I'll find it more interesting, too!  So here are some new tags you can expect from me:

Style
 - Obviously dealing with fashions, but could also be hairstyles, shopping tips, makeup finds, random pictures of outfits I love.  This is one that spills out into a lot of places in my life, because I like pretty. 

Healthy Living
 - This is what inspired me write this post.  I was running and thought of the things that I wish I knew when I started running. That made me think I should post that somewhere for people to know, which lead me to this post.  Healthy Living could be healthy recipes, workout tips, inspiration, updates on my training, anything!

Gluten Free
- I could have put this with Healthy Living, but I'm thinking it needs it's own tag.  You see, I have autoimmune disease and it's effected directly with consumption of Gluten.  Since I've been gluten free (January 1, 2012), I have felt better than I have in years.  I'm always learning about new recipes, finding new products (wait till I post about GF beer), and learning tips about managing this lifestyle.

Home Decorating
 - See Style, I like pretty.  I love filling my surrounding with pretty things.  Even though I don't love my house, I do love my home.  I'm constantly making changes to it.  Updating room and collecting inspiration for upcoming projects around my home. 

Cocktails
 - Part of Events, for sure, but I've been on a kick for seasonal cocktails.  I'll post some for you.

Overheard at the Dinner Party
 - Okay, so this is a catch all for all of the things I find interesting in life.  Stuff I would talk about at a dinner party.  It could be politics (though not political), news events, interesting articles I've read, a conversation to start, anything!

Travel
 - This is already a tag, but I'll be able to do more with it now.  We travel a lot and I've already got a blog  devoted to our families bigger vacations but I thought I could elaborate more here, especially when it comes to travel tips, or plans I'm making for upcoming trips.

Entertainment
 - I love art, film, books, music, and great television.  I'll share some of my favorites, including the books I'm currently reading for my book club!  You might get turned onto a movie that you've never heard of, or a killer running playlist of music, or find the next book you have to read!

I hope you enjoy this journey with me!

Love,
Sue
the muse of
a.muse inspired living