I feel like a cliche, but 2011 has been the best year of our lives. We’re feeling and looking the best we ever have, our kids and family are (mostly) healthy and happy, and we’ve had a tremendous number of opportunities for our family. Even tonight, as I pull my hair out during final edits of our book – I can’t help but be incredibly thankful and humbled by the fact that we have a book?!
As a recap to the awesome stuff that happened to us this year:
- We found a way of life that introduced us to health beyond our imagination
- We found a community of friends and family within that way of life who have become a valuable and important part of our lives
- Our boys all did well in school
- We added a family member, Sneakers the adorable kitten
- Stacy had some fantastic opportunities and successes in her professional career, which helped our family’s finances immensely
- Our family had surprising and awesome introduction into legit blogging and running a web site (because we were so warmly welcomed and embraced into the Paleo community)
- And then, on top of everything else – we got to fulfill a dream when a publisher offered us the opportunity to write a book for kids!
It’s hard to think that it could get any better, but with the plans we have for 2012 I know awesome stuff is ahead. I don’t like the idea of resolutions, I never have – but, here are our goals and plans for the next year:
We will start off the year with a very low carb Level 3 21 Day Sugar Detox, the kids will get fruit – but no “treats”.
I will be posting photos of every meal and make at least one weekly post on what eating this way actually looks like for me, it will be the same thing I did for my 30th.
Click the image or “like” the 21 Day Sugar Detox Facebook group to join us, Diane from Balanced Bites and Bill & Hayley from Primal Palate. I highly recommend you read this post from B&H, too. They’ve posted a shopping list and will have daily recipes! Plus, I love their break-down of what sugar is/does.
- Matt and I will return to the gym to be more flexible and strong next year than we were the height of this year
- Matt and I will focus on being a couple: we’ll have date night at least once a month and travel together (without the kids) at least twice (AHS12 and the LowCarbCruise)
- We’ll spend more time with local family and friends, invite them over for dinner and get out to see them more often
- We’ll visit local activities like Washington DC, U-pick farms, and farmer’s market regularly as a family
- We’ll travel and explore with the kids to visit as much northeast family and friends as we can
- Stacy will take more time off of work and not carryover a bazillion vacation hours next year (Austin Paleo F(x) and BlogHer Food would be awesome)
- Stacy will focus on accepting things she cannot change: she will spend less time in front of a computer (being a perfectionist) and try not to worry about what the world thinks of her, the book and the site
For us, this year was a lot about giving back. We wanted to really put out as much as we could, the best we could, so that anyone and everyone could benefit the way we did from living a Paleo lifestyle. We were fortunate that we benefited from a growing blog as a result. But next year needs to be about doing what we preach and incorporating more play into our lives. The hardest part will be not being afraid or guilty about missed e-mails, blog comments or imperfections.
Ok, and.. one more…
- I’d like to get into a size 10. I think that’s about 45 more pounds, which is a lot. Maybe unreasonable given I’ve already lost so much. But, really the goal is to just have the underwear “after” photos be less embarrassing when our book is launched!
