Hopefully you’ve gotten a specific goal in your mind and have found someone you can share your goal with. If not you may want to read part 1. If you haven’t found someone that you feel like you can share your resolution with, you can probably find a group on the internet that can help you. It really helps to talk about your successes and setbacks with someone along the way.

I love sparkpeople for this. It’s free and you can track your food and get information on various health goals. Plus they have groups you can join for just about any interest you have. Many even have challenges that you can join to give you some motivation. They are groups that are focused on debt reduction and much more. Check it out and see if they have a group to support your resolution.

Now that you have a detailed map written down, make a list of small rewards you can give yourself each time you obtain a mini goal. The trick is to select things that support your goal. If you lost 2 pounds, don’t reward yourself with a high calorie treat. Same goes with shopping as a reward to sticking to your budget. Try rewarding yourself with some time to read a book or take a nice warm bath. If it’s a beautiful day take a walk outside with your dog. Make a date with a friend to hang out or something that you don’t get to do as often as you’d like.

In addition to rewards you need to be prepared to forgive yourself if you have a setback. Don’t let one moment of weakness take your resolution away. One slip does not mean you should stop. Just get up the next day, look at your resolution road map and remember why you chose to do this. Then get back in there and give it your best. You can do anything you set your mind to!

Posted by Myriam under Occasions | No Comments »

It’s that time of the year. Everyone makes at least one New Year’s resolution even if they don’t admit it. Seeing the calendar start over again feels like the perfect time to wipe the slate clean and have a fresh start. We all make them but how many of us actually keep them? Unfortunately not so many. Here are some ideas that will help you keep yours this year.

Make realistic goals or you may be setting yourself up for failure. This doesn’t mean only make easy goals, but you may need to break down a large goal into attainable smaller goals. This way you get a feeling of accomplishment at each step that you complete on your way to your big goal.

On the flip side don’t have to many goals that aren’t related to each other. For instance it’s ok to have a weight loss goal with smaller goals of writing down all the food you eat and exercise 5 times a week. Don’t try to quit smoking, drinking, lose weight, and find the love of your life all at the same time. There is no way you can reach your goals if you have too many.

Write your resolution down and create a timeline to go with it. Specific goals work better than generalized, vague ones. Instead of ‘I want to be healthier’ try ‘I will exercise 5 times a week’ or ‘I will eat 5 servings of veggies everyday’.

Once you have a goal in mind make a printout of it and put it on your bathroom mirror or on a sticky attached to your monitor. You can also make a vision college with images that remind you of what it is your want to attain. Or find a photo that reminds you of your goal. What you want to do is keep that goal in the forefront of your mind. That makes it easier for you to stick with it.

One of the best things you can do is find a friend who has a similar goal and support each other in it. This could be someone to go to the gym with or to check in with before you make purchase that puts you over your budget. They don’t even need to be in the same state as you, you can always check in over email or im.

Find easy ways to help you meet your goal like serving dinner on your Noritake salad plates instead of using the larger dinner plate. It will fool you into thinking you ate more than you did.

Posted by Myriam under Winter Entertaining | No Comments »

We can all remember waking up on Christmas morning when we were little. It’s always magical to wake up with the sun and run in to see what Santa left you under the tree. But we’re the grownups now and while that doesn’t dampen the excitement, it does mean we need to think about making breakfast!

If you’re a planner you can put on a slow cooker of cranberry-orange oatmeal in the slow cooker. Serve it with some toasted pecans and extra dried cranberries on the side. If you normally pour milk over your oatmeal, try using orange juice instead. Another great variation is to make a spiced oatmeal, top with eggnog and freshly grated nutmeg.

If eggs are more your style try making a southwest breakfast casserole that has eggs, sausage, peppers and cheese. It needs to cook for 8 hours, so you can put it together the night before and wake up to a hearty breakfast. You could also cook up a quiche a day or two before and serve it warm or at room temperature with some sliced oranges, pears, and apples.

Of course you can make waffles or pancakes. They don’t take that much time to make from scratch and the varieties are endless. Try making gingerbread waffles or chocolate chip pancakes topped with minty crushed candy canes.

If you want something sweet that’s even easier French toast may be the answer. My favorite holiday variation is to mix the eggs with eggnog and nutmeg.  Then dip the thick sliced bread in. You could also use slices of stollen or panettone to soak up the custard for an interesting twist.

Muffins are always a favorite in my house. I try to freeze a few from my weekly batch so I can just heat up homemade muffins whenever I need them. Gingerbread, cranberry-apple, apple topped with candied walnuts, chocolate-banana, the sky’s the limit. Take a look on foodgawker.com and do a search on muffins. I’m sure you’ll find a few combination you would have never thought of.

Another favorite of mine is breakfast burritos. I stuff mine with scrambled eggs and potatoes mixed with a smokey chipolte salsa. Make sweet quesadillas by spreading the tortillas with nutella and then toast them in your pan. It’s similar to a crepe.

No matter what you make serve it up on your best Noritake dinnerware. You’ll feel elegant even if you’re in your fuzzy slippers.

Posted by Myriam under Holiday Entertaining & Winter Entertaining | No Comments »

It’s easy to keep your head down, hold your breath, and just get through the holidays to the other side. Sometimes the season just doesn’t seem as much fun as it did when we were kids. We let our obligations remove us from the enjoyment.

Don’t try to do everything and don’t try to do more than you really can. We are all Martha Stewart wannabes, but remember that you don’t have a staff of people like she does.

Hanging out with your friends can help drag you back into the holiday spirit. Often the holidays become more about marking things off a list than really giving of yourself. Talk to your friends about volunteering together for the holidays. You could serve food at a mission or soup kitchen. They always need extra help around the holidays. Another option is to help out a food pantry by scheduling some time there. This year the food pantries have been hit hard serving more people than expected.

Of course, you can always donate money if time is not an option. The purpose of this is to get that spirit of loving your neighbors and helping those who need it, anyway you can.

If you are handy you could look into Habitat for humanity or another organization that helps elderly people do painting and repairs on their houses. Or maybe you want to start something that can last all year. Check out idealist.org for hundreds of opportunities you can search for by location and type of skills required. Another wonderful source is Volunteermatch.org.

You and your friends can also adopt a family to bring presents and Christmas dinner to. Children who would go without if you don’t help. Most of us have so much in our lives and it only makes it better when we share it with others.

Posted by Myriam under Holiday Entertaining & Occasions | No Comments »

I love to do a white elephant exchange at my holiday get togethers. You want to have at least 5 or 6 people to make it fun, but there is no limit to have many people can participate above that. Each person needs to bring a wrapped present so it’s a surprise for the person opening it. As people arrive you will put all the gifts on a table to be picked later.

It’s often more of a funny gift exchange that happens at most holiday work parties. You can do a gag gifts if you want, but you can also tell people a theme and to bring things they would really want to take home themselves. As in any gift exchange you will want to set a price range so everyone is on the same page.

Personally, I love the funny kind. In the past I’ve gotten usb fuzzy-bear-hand-warmers, a ceramic moose, and boxes of chocolates. Watching someone open a silly gift can really bring laughter back into this stressful season. You’ll be surprised at what becomes the most wanted gift!

The white elephant exchange starts with each person picking a number from a bowl. There will be a table with all the gifts wrapped up for people to select from so people don’t know what’s in them. After all it’s supposed to be a surprise.

The person who picked number one will pick a gift from the table, open it, and show it to everyone. The next person (#2) gets to decide if they want to ’steal’ number 1’s gift or pick one to unwrap themselves. If number 1’s gift is taken they choose another gift from the pile and starts all over.

There are a few rules and you may find that some people feel strongly about their variations. I say go by the host’s rules. Everyone has a rule that states that you can’t steal back a gift that was just stolen from you. Meaning if person 1 can’t immediately steal back their gift if person 2 took it. This continues throughout the numbers people selected.

One variation is that after all the gifts are open person 1 gets to decide if they want to keep their gift or steal someone else’s. If they steal one then that person steals one, and so on.

Most people agree that the third time a gift is stolen it’s out of the game and with a really large group of people it’s important. As you can see this game can take a long time if people keep stealing from one another. But that’s part of the fun!

Posted by Myriam under Gifts & Holiday Entertaining & Winter Entertaining | No Comments »

Show your friends that you’re thinking of them this holiday season without breaking the bank. It’s nice to buy presents for everyone if you can afford it, but there are ways to spend less money and still have a ton of fun.

The traditional secret Santa requires a little planning but it’s not too late. Each person only buys one present and everyone leaves with something just for them. I like secret Santa because you can match people together and all but assure that everyone’s holiday will be a little happier. Of course you can also leave it up to fate and have people draw form a bag (or you can download a program that duplicates it right on your computer).

Either way you can send out email to let people know who they are buying for. It’s best to have a price range. Usually under 20 dollars, but if someone is making something make sure they take their time into account too. In fact if your friends are crafty you could have a completely handmade exchange.

You can arrange your party around an exchange theme if you want. Exchange ornaments, liquors, funny shirts, anything that you think all of your friends would like. This year I’m focusing on handmade items for my friends. Check out instructables.com or http://blog.craftzine.com/ for great crafty ideas.

Have everyone bring their favorite holiday dish for a nice buffet spread and put out on your bright red Pimento sengware dinnerware to create the perfect table. Ahead of time mix a nice drink with a bottle of sparkling wine and Chambord in a pitcher for a festive red drink. Also grab some lime sparking water and add some cranberry juice for your non-alcoholic alternative that’s just as pretty.

Send out an evite about your little soirée and give all the pertinent details to your friends. No matter how you decide to exchange gifts you will all enjoy celebrating the holidays together.

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I love to give gifts and try to sprinkle them in all during the year. Buying gifts can be one of the hardest tasks during the holidays if you didn’t plan far enough ahead. One of the things I do is start filling up my gift closet the day after Christmas to prepare for next year. (And all the birthdays in between!) It also spreads the cost across the whole year. I don’t know about you but I have to buy for 4 birthdays in early January in addition to Christmas presents.

But it’s December now, and you can’t go back in time and have all your shopping done. Avoid breaking the bank with some of these inexpensive gift ideas.

Gifts from and for the kitchen are always welcome. Think about your friend and what they love to have in their kitchen. A collection of hot sauces for a chili pepper lover, fresh herb seeds or a few herb plants for the locavore in your life, or even a slow cooker for someone that’s having trouble fitting cooking into their schedule. An inexpensive slow cooker and/or rice cooker can really help out a spread-thin Mom everyday to cook for her whole family.

Don’t forget that a tin of holiday cookies or gingerbread can bring the holiday smells into a house that might otherwise go without. This is especially welcomed by elderly relatives or neighbors, students, and new parents. If you know that someone really likes your special muffins or another signature dish of yours, make a nice recipe card for them and include it in a basket of the ingredients to make the dish.

If you have a sick relative or even just an overwhelmed friend, you could fill their freezer with individual homemade microwave dinners. Make some extra for your freezer too and you’ll be assured to start the new year off eating right.

If you have a friend that was diagnosed with a gluten allergy, a great gluten free baking book like ‘Babycakes’ would be a huge help. A basket full of gluten-free holiday goodies would go pretty far too! It can be really hard to avoid wheat during the holidays, so you’ll really be giving them the holiday they didn’t think they would have this year.

The old stand by of coupons for one of their favorite home-cooked meals is still a perfect gift. The most important thing to keep in mind is that a gift supports the person’s lifestyle and hopefully makes it just a little bit easier.

Posted by Myriam under Gifts & Holiday Entertaining & Occasions | No Comments »

As you already know, I love to combine things. Almost any chore can be be made fun with a party and friends to work around. In fact, sometimes I even go grocery shopping with friends! Holiday cards can be a tough task for people like me who aren’t so good at getting things into the mail.

Selecting a card can be just as bad. So many boxed cards are geared to specific holiday traditions that aren’t necessarily appropriate for all of your friends. That’s why I’m having a holiday card making party this year.

You’ll need to get a few basic supplies at your local craft store. You can buy paper that is already cut and folded into a card size, or you could buy plain paper and make them in any size and shape you can think of. You can also buy ready made envelopes or make your own.

Pick up a few holiday themed stamps and colored stamp pads. If you have it in your budget, pick up a glue stamp pad and some glitter. It’s awesome to add somebling to your card. You could make paper snowflake cut outs and glue onto your card.

Still not feeling so inspired? Try looking at some of Martha’s cards, which are always breath taking.

This is a perfect party to have your friends bring the kids along. They love to create things and will inspire all your guests - including the adults. Have a sparkling cider or pour sparkling water into a glass half full of cranberry juice for some dressed up drinks for the kids. Go ahead and pop the cork on some champagne for the adults. Have a little Chambord to top the adults sparkly drink for an extra burst of flavor.

You may want to avoid the finger foods or you’ll find grease stains on your beautiful cards. If you think it’s a must, have the finger snacks before or after the card making session. I usually tend to have a cornbread topped chili pie or something thick that you eat with a fork. Of course, the kids should eat before they start making cards no matter what you are serving.

Ask everyone to bring Christmas stamps and you can address the cards and send them all off together in the morning. Have a nice dessert to celebrate your completed cards with. A super quick mousse can be made with a box of silken tofu, and a large handful of melted chocolate chips all blended in a food processor. Add a tablespoon of your favorite liquor and take it to the next level. I promise you, no one will know that it’s a healthy dessert and it takes less time to make than instant pudding!

Posted by Myriam under Children & Holiday Entertaining & Hostessing & Occasions & Party Food & Winter Entertaining | No Comments »