Goals. Habit. Addiction...in a good way.

I'm going to confess, I am horrible at taking selfies.  I watch my kids take gorgeous photos of themselves and marvel. Sigh. I was out for a walk yesterday in 22 degree weather and wanted a pic of me all bundled up with the very picturesque Mercyhurst University in the background.  Well, you can see half of me bundled, and a very nice shot of the Hirt Academic building in the background.

But the good news is, despite the 1/2 selfie and cold weather, I managed to get in a four mile walk.  I'm still on my 10,000+ steps a day kick.  It's been a few years and I think it's time to admit, I'm a step-addict.  I traded my Fitbit Flex for a Fitbit Charge 2 this year.

I haven't missed my 10,000 step goal since I started January 1, 2014.  Just looked up my totals:

Totals

15,582,975 steps 6,814.95 miles

I wore my FitBit in Disney last  week and there were extra hours at the Magic Kingdom one night.  As I followed the excited kids, I glanced at my Fitbit and saw I was at 28,000 steps.  I felt this surge of excitement  myself, despite being exhausted (the family tends to keep me running at Disney...their mantra is Hurry Up, Mom!!)...I was going
to break 30,000!!  I've broken 25,000 steps, but 30,000 has been illusive. As I was tiredly basking in my breaking-my-record glow I glanced down again and...I was at zero steps.  I realized it was midnight.  Like Cinderella, the clock struck and messed up my night.  The good news is...I had a few thousand steps when I woke up the next morning.

Here's my point.  (Yes, I have one. LOL)

I set a goal in 2014...10,000 steps every day.  And some days it was tough, but I stuck to it.  I made myself walk even when I didn't feel like it.  And somewhere along the line, I didn't force myself any more.  I wanted to get out there and get those steps in.  My goals had become my habit.  And now, I've realized that my goal/habit has become an addiction.  LOL

Goals. Habit. Addiction.

That's how my writing came about.  At first I wanted to write, so I decided I had to write something—anything—every day.  Pretty soon writing was a habit.  And now, all these years later, it's an addiction.  LOL

It's no longer January, but it's never too late to make a resolution and set a goal! And when you do, I hope it becomes something you enjoy and make a permanent part of your life!

Holly

PS On Sale Today:

Just One Thing

A Day Late and a Bride Short

Jenny Gardiner: Checking in

hi!

A few housekeeping notes and then I'm going to link to a piece I just published that you might enjoy. It's serious, though, just so you know.

So anyhow, I just got the rights back to my parrot memoir, seen way below in it's original incarnation as Winging It: A Memoir of Caring for a Vengeful Parrot Who's Determined to Kill Me.

I've always wanted to offer this as an affordable ebook, since my publisher charged a crazy amount for it the whole time they had the rights. So I changed the title to Bite Me: A Parrot, A Family and a Whole Lot of Flesh Wounds, and the cover, and it's now a reasonable $2.99, so I hope you'll check it out if you've not before. Here's the new cover:

So hopefully in the next two weeks I'm also finally publishing the first in a new series--it's a flip on the old Roman Holiday movie, which I love. Here's a sneak preview of my cover:

He's a prince with a royal problem. She's a commoner with a getaway plan.

Oh, and I'm finally getting around to doing a newsletter! It'll be the first one in about 5 years! I'd sure love new subscribers, so if you'd like to check it out, please sign up here (and I promise I won't bug you all the time!).

And here's the link to my story, called Gramma in the Slamma. It's a cautionary tale:
http://wp.me/p4YI1f-2TT

Thanks and Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Sleeping with Ward Cleaver

Slim to None

Anywhere But Here

Winging It: A Memoir of Caring for a Vengeful Parrot Who's Determined to Kill Me

Accidentally on Purpose (written as Erin Delany)

Compromising Positions (written as Erin Delany)

I'm Not the Biggest Bitch in this Relationship (I'm a contributor)

And these shorts:
Idol Worship: A Lost Week with the Weirdos and Wannabes at American Idol Auditions

The Gall of It All: And None of the Three F's Rhymes with Duck

Naked Man On Main Street

find me on Facebook: fan page
find me on twitter here
find me on my website

Shhhh, don't tell anyone but I bought another cookbook...

If you ever wanted to know,
the 'Edmonds Cook Book'
is one of New Zealand's
iconic recipe collections.

My mother-in-law buys books on interior design. You know the ones - they show you how simple and effective it is to put together a collection of wooden spoons in an old glass jam jar, or a pile of interesting shells in a pretty white bowl... she has lots of those books. All about creating a calm, inviting, relaxing space. And she can do that 'collection of interesting things' really nicely. I can't. I just have piles of junk, books and papers everywhere and anywhere.

I like looking at her design books - but honestly, both my husband and I have a 'maximalist' approach to design rather than chic minimalism.

So in terms of lifestyle books, my weakness is cookbooks. I had to discover my inner kitchen diva quite early when I became vegetarian in my teens and wanted to cook my own meals. My first was success was pasta. A wonderful dancer from big-city Sydney told me to "put it in a pot and boil it, darling" - it was a revelation! And from such embarrassingly simple beginnings, a passion was born.

Not to mention a collection. Baking books, breakfast, dessert books, soup books, tomato books, vegetarian books... When I was traveling in my twenties, my souvenir of choice was a  recipe book of national cuisine for each country we visited - no matter if it wasn't vegetarian. it was finding one in English that was the trouble! But oh SO worth it! Traveling, for me anyway, is so much about the food! And having my collection now takes me back to those places and the fun we had there...

Of course, four kids later and there's not so much overseas travel happening at the moment. So for a while my collection hasn't grown. But a diet tweak a few months ago revived my needs and I'm back in the game!

My ideal cook book would be hard cover, with a colour picture for each recipe, easy to read font and with cute but insightful commentary for each recipe... because sometimes there's nothing more relaxing for me than to sit in bed late at night when I'm tired, just flicking through yummy recipes and feeling like I'm having an informal lesson with some funky, super-talented chef...

... My husband doesn't get it. He just cannot see how 'reading recipe books' can be fun... but cookbooks are like children's picture books for me - pretty to look at, with lots of useful, entertaining stuff as well.

So what about you?! What would be your relaxing picture book of choice - would it be interior design, gardening, cookery or what?!?

Natalie Anderson adores a happy ending, which is why she always reads the back of a book first - just to be sure. Along with happy endings, she loves peppermint filled dark chocolate, pineapple juice and extremely long showers. She lives in Christchurch, New Zealand with her gorgeous husband and four fabulous children.
If, like her, you love a happy ending, be sure to come and say hi on www.facebook/authornataliea and on Twitter @authornataliea, or her website/blog:www.natalie-anderson.com.