Good morning! Did you guys get any snow yesterday? So far we just have a dusting, it's mostly cold and windy. Is it bad that I'm hoping for at least one big snow this winter?

Yesterday's breakfast was so good. I had one of Jeanne's eggs fried in butter, a couple of slices of peach ham, a clementine and a small slice of banana bread. I ended up not eating more than a bite of the banana bread because I got overzealous with reheating it in the microwave. I think a loaf of banana bread is in my future.

Lunch was really late in the day so I kept it small. A shared chicken burrito, half of an avocado, and salsa.

Dinner took forever to cook, but it was so worth it. I made tandoori chicken burgers with yogurt cucumber sauce and naan. I topped the burgers with cucumber, red onion and cilantro. It was amazing. The chicken patties were tender and had a lot of Indian spice flavor to them. I also really liked the cumin in the cucumber sauce.

I didn't get a good photo of the burgers because it was 9pm and I didn't feel like pulling out the natural lights, but these were amazing. I'll definitely be making them again. You can find the recipe for the tandoori chicken burgers here. The only difference for me was the chicken. I used whole chicken breasts and ground them up in the food processor with the spices. The naan recipe is here.

I did not exercise yesterday and can tell it's going to be hard at first to get back into the swing of things. I woke up early to exercise and then waited for Josh and then just kept putting it off until we were both too tired. I think honestly we were both excited to get back to work and have a normal day that it took second seat to everything else. No excuses today though.

I'm almost done reading It Chooses You by Miranda July. Oh my. It's so very interested and surprisingly sad and deep. Miranda's comments about life, time and death feel so familiar to what goes on in my own head that it's comforting to read the  words from someone else. While writing or trying to write a screen play she decides to seek out the people from the LA Penny Saver for interviews. What she finds is a whole lot of crazy in a world that exists without the internet.

We've made it to the second day of the new year! Hooray for us!

Yesterday was the first day in awhile that I felt like a human being. This means that I diligently sat at my computer listening to Perpetuum Mobile on repeat while I worked on finishing design projects from 2011. I'm pretty sure that listening to any piece of music on repeat for any length of time is a sign of deep neurosis. I'm going to look into that. Productivity felt so good.

So did eating...

I'm calling this the breakfast of friends because everything here was given to me. I know some good people. The egg from my friend Jeanne's chickens. Fresh bread and clementines from bread master Sarah. And apple butter from my mom. I don't care for runny eggs, I like them fried crisp in butter and well done with lots of pepper.

Christmas tree is still up, I'm thinking I'll take it down next weekend. I just love the light, maybe I need to put twinkle lights up year round. The scrabble peace ornament is from my pal AshleyGee and it's one of my favorites this year. Thanks Ashley!

Dinner was at India Garden in Blacksburg. Their chicken tikka masala is exactly what I was craving. It's so sweet and creamy and perfect with naan. I emailed Josh earlier in the day and said "if I get my work done, we're going out!" and out we did.

I love Indian food, there is no craving like an Indian food craving, I could  eat this meal several times a week.

After dinner we went out to see The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo which was deeply disturbing and intriguing. I honestly loved the story, but there wasn't a lot left on the table as far as torturous scenes go. Rooney Mara was fantastic though. Have you read the books? I'm equal parts scared and interested in reading them.

It's so nice to start the year with a clean slate. I've cleared so much off my plate for the new year that it feels good to have time to write and be creative.  Today I start back with Insanity after being off for two weeks. I'm looking forward to the endorphins and sweat.

I hope you all had a lovely holiday and are gearing up for a new year tomorrow. I had a very spoiled Christmas, filled to the brim with good food, good company and more gifts than I deserved.

I'm ready for 2012, are you?  It seems there are two sets of people on new years, those that diligently create resolutions and goals, and those that are violently against it. I'm a resolution person, but if you've been reading any amount of time, you already knew that. Mostly, I just think it's fun to create a spread sheet of what I want more of and what I want less of.

Right off the top of my head, I want more contentment in the small things in my life. This past year, I was not content with contentment. I spent the year worrying that if I wasn't piling on the projects and giving light to all of my ideas that I wasn't moving forward. I was eager to skip steps and make things happen unnaturally for the sake of making something, anything, happen. That was a huge lesson.

I believe my health suffered because of this. Most notably that I've had a cold and now getting over a stomach virus in just two weeks.

As I sit here in my safe and quiet house, I realize how important this stability is to me. What I do is wonderful, I love passion, but I love knowing that I'm doing all that I can to maintain a happy home life for myself and my husband. That I'm doing what I can to keep myself healthy. And in this I find myself retreating, a lot. This year, I see myself saying no and passing on projects. I see myself riding the waves as they come. Taking the long road to my goals, rather than the "Let's make this happen now!" insanity that I put myself through last year. I see myself going with the flow and trusting that I can grow and move forward just while, and especially so, taking care of my home, health and happiness.

This year, I will be narrowing my projects down to one. business. which is my design/art/creative business. And working on my blogs. Other than that, I will be cooking more and eating more vegetables, and taking time to dance and have fun and most importantly, to just be.

I want more fresh fruit and vegetable juices.  I believe in juicing and how good it makes me feel.

I want  to complain and worry less.

I want more exercise.

I want to take the long road and be okay with the journey.

I want to stop worrying, finally, about what other people think.

I want more sewing, painting and illustrating.

I want less social media.

I want more cooking.

I want less driving.

I want to make realistic and attainable goals.

Happy New Year!

First things first:

Poor kitty. I can't begin to tell you how much he loves his Christmas sweater. This is a horrible thing to do to your cat, I just couldn't help myself. It's too bad he's so darn cute. I'm turning into a crazy cat lady.

This week went by in a flash. Half of it was spent traveling while the other half has been been tending to sickness. I'm sad because the week started out so strong with exercise and now it's taking a lot of effort to get off the couch just to make myself some tea.

I'm determined to get stuff done this weekend, the clock is ticking and there's so much to get done. boo to Christmas sickies! I don't anticipate much exercise until I feel better, but until then, Christmas cat says hello...

Today marks week four, day two of consistent exercise with Insanity. That is, 6.5 workouts, most of them are 40 minutes long. And I'm reminding myself that I've been here before. In the spring, I made it 14 weeks. I was seeing improvement and then it stopped. I don't remember why exactly (something to go back and read) but I'm telling myself that this doesn't stop when the calendar fills up or when 60 days are over. If I'm being honest, it will take a full year of consistent exercise for me to really be in a better place physically. Probably two. And then for the rest of my life.

In the past three weeks, my food intake has been hit or miss. I've been experimenting with different calorie counts, and I think I've found one that will work for me. On myfitnesspal (lorriebee) you work with net calories. This means if your net calorie goal is 1,400 and you burn 500 calories, you can eat 1,900 calories in a day. I think this is a great tool, but for some reason I've been struggling with the notion of eating all of my burned calories.

Myfitnesspal gives you an estimated calories burned, but I'm not convinced it's accurate. I think I'm burning 400-600 calories during Insanity. But when I log it in, it's usually more. And then I'd see this insane amount of food I could still eat. And for some reason that triggered me to eat beyond hunger.

So to calm my tender brain I've decided, which some research and calculating, that I will consume 1,600 calories a day regardless of how much I burn during exercise. Of course there will be some ups and downs with that number, but I feel good with that. I'm burning about 400 calories, six days a week, so that is a net of about 1,100-1,300 calories which is totally in the weight loss zone for me.

I also feel like 1,600 calories is a very reasonable amount of food for me. I can wrap my head around it and not be obsessive. I can move the numbers around easily to accommodate my day. It feels flexible to me.

If I know I'm going out to dinner or to an event in the evening. I can still have a 200 calorie breakfast and 400 calorie lunch with 1,000 calories to work with in the evening. Or if I'm in the mood for a bigger, 500-600 calorie breakfast/brunch sort of thing. I can make that happen too. It goes with my new mantra "I can have what I want, but I can't have everything I want" which simply means that yes, if I want to go out to dinner with my husband, I can do that. But, it doesn't mean I need to go out to eat twice in a day and then snack all day and have dessert after every meal. I just don't need that much food.

Yesterday was my first day trying out my new set calorie count and it went so well. I even showed a two pound loss on the scale this morning from it. I woke up and had a serving of mexican chili for breakfast, and again for lunch. I measured it and estimated the calories. I hate two teas with milk and sugar. A small treat. And dinner was teriyaki chicken. I didn't feel obsessive about anything and when I hit the 1,600 calorie mark I felt comfortable and done for the day.

I know this probably sounds like the ramblings of a man-woman, but I needed to share. Mainly to work through these fears I have of sharing and acting. I'm trying to change my inner dialogue and making this a positive journey. Not one of self defeating agony. Last night I was in that bed staring at my clothes hanging in the closet and I visualized what it would be like to fit in all of them, effortlessly. And then I visualized them being too big. I imagined that the sweaters looked like deflated balloons where my arms used to go. I realized in that moment that I can make all of these things happen, there is nothing stopping me.

Take today to talk about 12 things you would like to accomplish in 2012. These 12 things can be 12 resolutions, 12 changes in your life, 12 wines you'd like to drink, 12 cities you'd like to visit, or 12 monthly goals. The decision is yours. Good luck and have fun!

How will you resound?

1) I want to stop living in the future. This doesn't mean I won't plan or set goals, it means that I will stop thinking about everything as a future activity with no date in sight for completion. Often times, I get paralyzed by things that aren't happening and tasks that are set for unnamed dates in the future. I want to push myself to be in the moment of my actions. To immerse myself into activities 100%. When I'm exercising, I want to be there. I want to give everything. I don't want to be in my head planning out tomorrow or who I need to email or designs I need to finish. I want to give every bit of myself to that moment. I want to stop thinking about 170lbs in the future. Or the days when I will be different. Or projects that I plan to get to eventually. When I'm working on a project, I want to be there with it, pushing my work, and acting as if that work is the most important one I will do.

2) I want to learn to make croissants. And then I want to put chocolate in them.

3) I want to leave obesity in my 20's.

4)  I want to read fewer tweets and status updates and more books. I want to judge people less by what they say on social media sites.

5) I want to start saving for Paris. (followed by #7, of course) And learn to speak French.

6) I want to pay off my debts and buy a new car.

7) I want to waste less. Less garbage and plastic bags.

8. I want a better garden.

9) I want to appreciate and celebrate my life and those around me.

10) I want to write, a lot.

11) I want to narrow down my projects and businesses. In 2012 all my projects will be under one roof. I will have one etsy store, one way to find my work, and one business name for my design.

12) I want to be okay with saying no and I want to do it more often. I want to stand up for myself and my time.

What is the best meal or best food that you have eaten all year? Did you make it? Did you get it at a restaurant? Do your best to describe the food and the experience with us.

How will you resound?

This one is really hard. I had so many good meals while traveling this year. From jerk chicken in the caribbean, to lamb burgers with tzatziki sauce here in Floyd or fire cheese in DC with the ladies. I ate really well this year.

My favorite home cooked meal is this:

Cashew chicken! This year I mastered Chinese food. The closest Chinese takeout place in 35 minutes away and one of Josh's favorite meals happens to be Kung Pao, so I set out to make my own at home. I make some sort of Chinese dish every week and I'm always surprised at how close I get to the real thing. Not only is it very close, it's a lot better. So much so, that I don't even like going out for Chinese food anymore because I'm always disappointed. Not to mention, it's so much better for us. I use less oil and lots of fresh vegetables.

Today is a bit of a choose your own adventure: write (paint, draw, photograph, record, etc.) about your best experience this year. If that's not your cup of joe, write about your worst experience. Feeling chatty? Share both your best and worst moments.

How will you resound?

There are several best moments this year. The best ones were traveling with Josh, taking a real vacation that involved not much more than walking to dinner, traveling to California for the first time, hosting friends at my house, being hosted at other homes and for the whole of the year finding and sharing time with people who just "get" me and vice versa. I find comfort in my relationships with other people.

I wouldn't say there was a definitive worst moment of the year. Thankfully, for the most part 2011 was smooth sailing. My biggest lesson this year came in a difficult way and that came by giving red flag people the benefit of the doubt repeatedly. I believe (and still do) that most people are good. I like to believe that most people have the best intentions. And then their are others who live purely on the surface. They don't have relationships with other people, they bring me and everyone else down, they try to fix my life and wave their magic wands so that I can be "better", they analyze me in a negative way (and most other people), and they get involved in my life and then quickly pull away. They throw stones at how I live my life with my husband.

My lesson is, is that I'm not always crazy and overly sensitive when I have red flag feelings about people, I don't always have to get involved with these people. I don't have to give them permission to bring me down. It's okay to simply say no and move on. There are people who think that my life "isn't together" because I'm not on the exterior, always a together person. We don't drive a fancy car because we are waiting for our current car to die, this bothers some people. We didn't buy the fanciest or most expensive house in town. This means that we are "poor" and our house is "too small" to entertain. My husband doesn't shave every day and has wild and crazy hair, this means he is "irresponsible and not a real adult". We don't have children so we are "selfish". We work from home and this means we are "unemployed". Yes, these people exist, and yes, I finally understand what it means to have civil relationships all the while giving them a big "f-you" and moving on.  It feels Awesome, with a capital A.

For the past 8 days, we've talked about our year. For the next 7 days (with a break in between for a special prompt), we're going to talk about the best things of 2011, then we'll round out the month planning for 2012.

Today, please post your best photo of the year. It doesn't have to be the best technically, it doesn't have to be the best visually, but it should be a photo that you consider the best. Does it have special meaning? Is it of a significant event or moment? Share it with us!

What if you don't have a photo? That's OK, share an explanation of a "missed shot," or a photo you wish you could have taken had you had your camera with you or if your camera would have cooperated.

How will you resound?

As tingling, cliche and cheesy as this photo is, it's one of my favorites. I'm still not sure how or why I thought having someone come to our house to take photos was a good ideas, but my husband went right along with it all.

It's my favorite on a few levels. One because I'm not afraid of having my photo taken at "this weight". I don't feel a need to wait until I'm not fat to wear nice clothes, put makeup on and make the most of what I've got. It represents to me, that while there are many changes I want to make in my life, I'm not waiting until I'm thin to do them.

What's your trademark phrase? Not sure? How about a quote or saying that you repeat often? Bonus points if it's new for 2011, but we won't be upset if it's been around longer than that. Try to put it in context for us if it's a little abstract

How will you resound? Follow along here.

This is easy: Bless.

Or blessings, or bless his heart or praise be. Tongue in cheek, of course. I think most ridiculous situations or people in life can benefit from a good, old-fashioned, southern, bless. You know when you're talking about someone and their crazy antics with another person and you really want to say "have they lost their ever loving mind!??! what in the hell were they thinking?!!?" but instead, I find that all I ever really need to say is "bless their heart" and the other person gets it. It also acknowledges the fact that we all screw up and sometimes we just need the blessings and forgiveness of others to move on.