Toodle-Loo 2012, Hellllllooo 2013!!

Good morning Beautiful,

I wanted to write a quick blog post before I start my day. What do I have planned?? Well I have to fit in this post, a 5km run, laundry, cleaning, packing, some studying, and a 2 hour drive to London, ON all before 5:30pm. I think I'm running a bit behind already, it was totally the Dawson's Creek episode I watched. I knew that wasn't a good idea.. anywho...

First off I wanted to kind of recap my year. A lot has happened this year, a lot more than I could have ever anticipated, that's for sure. Let's see what comes to mind...

1. I started running. I had never run before this year, especially not outside. Now I hate the treadmill and prefer to run outside.
2. I ran 6 races including my first half-marathon. What? A 10km race was so incredibly huge to me at this time last year, as if I ran 21.1km at one time.... it still boggles my mind.
3. I stopped eating grains/gluten/dairy/processed foods for the most part (I'm not perfect and so I would say that I eat a solid paleo diet about 75% of the time).
4. I lost a lot of body fat and became more toned than I have ever been.
5. I enrolled in a Holistic Nutritionist course through the Canadian School of Natural Nutrition. Never thought I'd go back to school again!!
6. I started a savings plan to ensure I have a good financial future ahead of me.
7. I started a plan to get completely debt free with the assistance of my financial planner.
8. My bloggy turned 1!! :) It's also been really interesting to see how it's taken off and how people are responding to it so far, it's amazing!!

Those are the top 8 things that come to mind when I talk about 2012. That's kind of a big year! For me it is at least... Now to tell you what 2013 already has in store for me.

Last night I was speaking with Michelle from Push.Pump.Progress. and she convinced me to sign up for 13 in 2013. What is that? Well I've committed to 13 different races in 2013. I know... what the hell am I thinking? I did 6 this past year and now I'm more than doubling it? The good news is it doesn't have to be a certain kind of race, I could do 13 5km races if I wanted to... so no pressure to run another half-marathon (which I'm not doing this year). So that's a biggie... and I wanted to share. If you're interested in joining, registration closes tonight but you can click on the badge on the right hand side of my blog to see what it's all about and join in the all the fun! Ok so... Here is what I'm planning for 2013... I'm being realistic, I'm not setting myself up for failure, there's a lot I need to focus on this year.

1. Run 13 races in 2013.
2. Focus on school, map out a plan of what I want to get done by when and stick to it no matter what.
3. Start keeping my food journal again. I feel so much better when I'm tracking what I'm eating, so I actually started that last night.
4. Don't drink EVERY weekend. Seriously. I know, at my age (24) partying is pretty much the norm. I am actually feeling the need to party less and less which is good for my waistline and good for my wallet.
5. Save, save, save! Money that is. I have a plan with my financial planner and he knows what I'm saving for. But I'm also now wanting to save for a pretty pair of shoes by August and ya, I just want to have more $$ in the bank!
6. Exercise! My body has already changed so much for the better since this time last year, and I want to see how much further I can push it! Jenny and I are holding each other accountable at work on our lunch workouts, and I'm sure I'll be racing with Jenny sometimes, but I'm also going to be racing a lot with Michelle, which is good because she runs faster than me. :)
7. Oh yes, I will also be doing The Power of Movement with some fellow bloggers in March as well as the GoodLife Spin For Kids in March (the same weekend, two different days actually), but more on that later.

There you have it folks. That is what I plan on doing in 2013. Not too big, not too small, just right :).

Now because it's the end of the year and I've been doing this blog for now 1.5 years, but only really seriously since January last year I wanted to have a little "Semi-1 year Anniversary" giveaway! The lovely Suzanne over at Nutrition Snob on Etsy provided me with an amazing sweater that says "Strong Is The New Skinny", and it's awesome! Here is a picture of me wearing it!

She was so generous and jumped all over the opportunity to have a giveaway on my blog.... she's so adorable and her clothes are amazing. Check out the Rafflecopter below for how you can enter!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Just a little "thank you" for reading my blog and interacting and being awesome!

Ok, I'm off to get things done before I need to leave to go to London! Happy New Years everyone!! Make it safe and fun!! :)

xoxo S