January's Intention

An ice-defying fountain downtown; a little photography fun on New Year's Eve.

Simon and Garfunkel's "The Only Living Boy in New York" is my current soundtrack for this blog post, courtesy of a "sunny winter days" playlist on 8tracks.com, which is a brilliant online "mix-tape" website. I'm pretty sure the website will provide the soundtrack for my whole year; I can always find a playlist to suit my particular mood and be exposed to great new music at the same time. That's not a plug or ad, by the way, it is simply one of my new favorite things!

Anyway. Onto this month's focus: Intentional Wellness.

That is exactly like it sounds: my particular focus for January is personal wellness, most specifically physical wellness. Now, for the record, this blog is not intended to be a weight loss or health blog (*psst* Its an intentional living blog), but it my come off that way as I work on January's focus. If reading about health and wellness isn't your thing, I encourage to come back in February where my monthly focus will transition to another aspect of life (still deciding on the focus, although I've narrowed it down to a couple).

To help my in my Intentional Wellness journey, I've picked up the book "The Lean," by Kathy Freston. It is a guide to lasting wellness and aims to build healthy habits. I'm going to be candid with you about why I picked this book specifically: Ms. Freston gradually leads her readers to embrace a healthy vegan lifestyle. My husband and I are both vegetarians, and this year we aspire to go "vegan at home." The great thing about this book though, is that it is also about so much more, and it walks you through a 30-day process of adopting healthy habits. She also packs in the facts and research to support each step she suggests, which I love.

I'll be blogging regularly as I go through each day. My health is of critical importance to me, and it is integral to leading a life that I love, which is why it gets all the attention this first month.

Now, in addition to following the 30-day wellness plan, I'm going to start running again. Last spring I ran two 5Ks, and I loved them both. It was invigorating, as well as both life- and self-affirming. Running last spring really just made me feel good and feel grateful for what my body is capable of. Over the hot, hot summer and busy first semester of teaching, I gradually stopped running altogether, but instead of swimming in regret over them, I'm just going to pick it back up and hopefully build up my endurance for some 5Ks this spring. I can't wait!

Finally, as I blog about all this health stuff and embracing the very physical aspect of life, I'll also be trying to keep up with Project365, which I'm attempting for the first time this year. To that end:

January 1st: A message from my love

(Yeah, that's him in the background.)

&

January 2nd: Meet Ringo. Yes, his face really is that

big and beautiful.

Tell me, what kind of intentions are you setting for 2014?