Hello and welcome to January! In a usual year, this would conclude one of my favorite seasons. My favorite months are October through January. I love the start of the holidays, and then January is about starting fresh, my birthday, and cold wintry days and nights! (as cold as Houston can get…)

However, in 2012, January is a bit different. I’m not resolving to run big races, picking out a winter 10K, or packing our calendar full of travels (no travels for me until June!). January is for concluding this pregnancy well and getting ready for our newest beginning yet coming in March.

I usually am not big on resolutions that are very specific. One year I resolved to drink more water, and I did. One year I wanted to simply run more and get stronger, and I did that.

This year, I resolve to roll with the punches.

In the almost 30 weeks of this pregnancy so far (75% done!), being flexible and not having expectations has been really helpful. Trusting that my body is doing what it’s supposed to do, and listening to cues to slow down or speed up has been the best thing I could do. You just can’t fight your body.

It would have been very easy to get caught up in things out of our control. Not knowing if we are having a boy or girl has helped us not be able to fret over specifics in the nursery and specific plans. We’ll get it all done.

Trusting that our house will sell when the time is right and we’ll find a house perfect for us is something out of our control right now, even though we are winding down on the weeks left to comfortably move and get settled. Believe me–this could be very stressful, but our attitude of “what happens happens” has helped us stay calm.

So for 2012, the theme is going to be to stay calm as much as we can. And probably take all the help we can get! Who wants to come over in April and walk the dog or hold the baby?

With just a few days left in 2011, I wanted to look back at some of my personal highlights of the year. 2011 was a great year! We took some great trips to new places for me (Aspen, Chicago, Atlanta, Long Island), along with other trips to places we’d been, we got pregnant, and I even ran some short races last Spring.

(man to be  skinny again)

I started a new job last April and really enjoy it and my new routine.

And I continued to cook up tasty treats in the kitchen. Highlights include challah, pizza and our first apple pie.

I had my most viewed day on the blog on March 1, 2011 when a Zucchini Bread was featured by a big vegan blog.

Lily kept us busy and in shape making us chase her up and down our three story house all day long. She will be two in a few weeks! Then she’ll become a big sister and not be the only center of attention. 2012 might be a rough one for her.

We have high hopes for a great 2012 too! New baby, hopefully a new house, and probably a new car. Better start saving our pennies.

And as for this blog, 2010 and the beginning of 2011 was definitely about growth each month, and then my numbers dropped some but loyal readers stayed. I’ll continue to write if you continue to read. The posts turned into less about my everyday life and training for a race and more about special recipes or stories. I hope it still is a nice little break to entertain and educate you, and I always appreciate having readers! Even if I post less frequently as I slow down over the next few weeks and become occupied with real life, I am sure that I won’t give it up and will still post.

Thanks for reading, and see you in the new year!

1. I’m on vacation at the beach this weekend. Just like last year. But not as cool as Christmas 2009. That was a really great trip!

2. After our New Year’s trip to Austin for a wedding, I am done traveling for many, many months!

3. We got a Cuisinart Immersion blender and a new vacuum for Hanukkah. Exciting things come with plugs.

4. I don’t miss wine or deli meat or raw fish at all, but I really miss wearing normal clothes and shopping at normal stores.

5. My new year’s resolution is going to be to go with the flow. No making grand plans, no guessing how things will go, just going with the flow. Doesn’t mean I’m not a planner, just not going to be rigid. Many things for 2012 are going to be out of our control, and I don’t want to set ourselves up for not being flexible.

Posting will be light next week. Have a Merry Christmas or a fun holiday weekend!

A few weeks ago, I downloaded a movie on my iPhone for some upcoming trips. I ended up never watching it, and it had a day left before it expired. Better get to watching! A friend recommended this movie since I like learning about healthy living things, so I watched. It is called “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead”  and is the story of an Australian man who goes on a 60-day juice fast in America while driving across the country.

He spends 30 days in New York City talking to strangers, observing food patterns, then 30 days driving coast to coast. He only drank juice made in his hotel or trunk of his car using a Breville juicer. He did have doctor supervision, and a camera crew along the way.

The first hour of the movie is about him, and the second hour is about a truck driver he met in Iowa who took the challenge too. Both men were morbidly obese, on many medications, and very sedentary. They made life changes and lost half their weight.

Things I took away from the film:

• I want to buy a juicer (although, I remember not registering for one because they are very loud and messy, and just another one-purpose countertop appliance).
• It takes a lot of fruits and vegetables to make a glass of juice.
• You need a recipe, or it will look like sludge.
• Going back to the basics of plain fruits and vegetables is best for your health.

There is a little chain going around the blogs I read where a blogger can write about seven of her own posts that fit each category. I was tagged by my blogger friend, Liz, which was great because I was hoping to write this post anyway. I love looking back at my own posts.

1. Most Beautiful Post

I am taking the physical beautiful meaning of this, and picking our recent trip to Aspen. I like all of my posts about our travels, but think the mountains and flowers and snow was great about this trip.

2. Most Popular

This post from tagged in March by Angela’s blog Oh She Glows where she did a series of vegan recipes from around the web. My Zucchini Bread was featured that I made last Fall, and it led a lot of traffic to my site. Yay, that was a good day. I re-made the bread because I thought the photos weren’t very good, and the second version was picked up by Food Gawker, giving it also a really good day.

3. Most Controversial

I don’t really have any posts that “stir the pot” too much, but this was one of my favorites where I wrote about my opinions of Oprah’s Vegan show.

I recently wrote a post called “Remembering” about a local family at the school I work at who was in a terrible accident and the parents died and two of the three kids are now paralyzed. I posted it on my blog and posted a link on our school Facebook wall (where other tributes and messages were posted before the family page was set up), and it was taken down.

4. Most Helpful

Back when I started blogging, I liked to write “how to” posts. Then I ran out of things I could instruct others on doing. Haha. But really, one of my favorite posts on the “how to” page is “How to become a morning exerciser.” That whole realization that morning is better than after work for me was part of the journey to blogging and telling stories.

5. Surprise Success

Again, thanks to sites like FoodGawker and TasteSpotting, some of my recipe posts have gotten nice attention. I only started submitting pictures to those in February. One recipe that had a great photo shoot was my Pita Chips. They are very simple, and always at my grandparents house, but the pictures turned out really great.

6. Not Enough Attention

A recipe that I was bummed didn’t get picked up by one of the photo sites was my Strawberry Walnut Bread. I loved this bread and thought the pictures were good too, but it just got average day of traffic.

Of course, I think my Lily posts should get lots of attention. She is just so cute.

7. Most Proud

I am absolutely most proud of my half marathon and the two recaps I wrote for it. That was such an accomplishment, and I hope to one day run another half. Since running that race, I have pretty much quit the sport. Oh well! Good memories.

That’s it! Are there any posts you remember that I wrote that would fit in these categories?

If you’d like to participate, you’re it!