Keep your New Year's Resolutions!

As one year is closing and another is on the horizon, many people take the new year as an opportunity to improve themselves. There’s something about a fresh start and clean slate that empowers one to make changes. 

I’m sure most of us would love a smaller waistline, healthier relationships with those we love, a cleaner house, less debt, more cash and a longer list of books we’ve read. Whatever the goal is we all have challenges in reaching them. I read a stat that said 75% of people abandon their New Year’s Resolutions. Here are a few tips to help you not become a statistic. 

1. Recognize the magnitude of making changes

If it were easy to make changes, all of us would be the people we aspire to be. Change is never easy even when know it’s necessary or worthwhile. When you set New Year’s Resolutions or goals, recognize that it is no easy task to change your life even if it’s something small. Making changes typically involve changing habits. It’s commonly said that it takes about 21 days to create a new habit. What means to me - is there a process to change. With this mind, if you fall off the path, you’ll know that’s a part of the process ad not a sign that what you are trying to change is too hard.

2. Change your mind first. 

Christian evangelist Joyce Meyer says, “where the mind goes, the body follows.” I think most of our actions start with a thought. Many times we try to make changes physically without ever addressing them mentally. You can do several things to help start changes mentally. Hang notes around your house or office with reminders of your goals. Stick post it notes in your car with motivational statements. Put reminder alerts on your cell phone or the screensaver on your computer. If you can get your mind on board, you’re body will likely follow. 

3. Tell someone your goal. 

We are more likely to make changes with moral support. Call a friend, tell a relative your goal. They don’t have to be an expert in the area you’re trying to improve or even know how you can reach your resolution. They simply need to be someone who check in on you time to time and ask you how it’s going. Sometimes someone we care about is going to ask how our exercise plan is going provides motivation to get up and hit the gym rather than the snooze button. 

I hope these tips help. Happy New Year’s! Happy Goal Reaching! 

Roasting My First Turkey

This Thanksgiving I stayed at school in St. Paul, Minnesota for the holiday. Flights were too expensive. And the short break throws off my academic swing. The Saturday of that weekend, another Resident Advisor, Anna, and I made a Thanksgiving Dinner for the students who were staying on campus for the holiday. Area Coordinator, Gaith also helped.

Here's how we roasted our first turkey.

We started by cleaning out the inside of the turkey.

Then we wiped the turkey off in Apple Cider Vinegar, lemon juice and oil. We used each one of the liquids separately. 

We wanted a non-traditional stuffing to jazz things up a bit. So, we chopped up pineapples, pears, apples and pomegranate. Gaith, who is from Jordan, grew up with pomegranate trees in his backyard.

We sliced a lemon, tossed in a few fresh cranberries, mixed all the fruit and stuffed the turkey. 

We seasoned the turkey with spices I had on hand like basil, lemon pepper and garlic powder. We then poured Raspberry Balsamic Vinaigrette on top for additional flavor. 

I wanted to see if turkey slowed cooked as well as a whole chicken so we set the oven on 250 and let it cooked for about five hours. 

What we got was a delicious, tender turkey. (We got busy getting the dinner ready and forgot to take a picture of the turkey before we sliced it, but you can use your imagination:)

This was Gaith's and mine first turkey, but from the smiles of the residents, I think we did a decent job. It's basically the same as baking a whole chicken. Try our recipe and see how it works for you.