A New Way to Make New Year's Resolutions

We’ve unwrapped the gifts and played with our new toys.  We’ve all eaten well and enjoyed many (maybe many, many) cocktails.  Soon, we’ll be celebrating the dawn of a new year and with that comes the annual resolutions list.  If you’re like the rest of us, you resolve to make positive changes in your life because THIS...IS..THE...YEAR to (fill in the blank).  And, for most people, we fill in the blank with and resolve to lose weight.

So many people don’t even make New Year’s resolutions – they consider them to be a waste of time.  Most people  will break resolutions their before the year is out (a third won’t even make it to the end of January).  But we’re convinced you can accomplish your goals!  Whether your goal is to lose weight, stop smoking, take better care of your finances, or to learn a foreign language, we know you can do it!  Check out these tips to help keep your New Year’s Resolutions!

1. Write It and Measure It

 Writing down goals is one of the best ways to accomplish them, and so is figuring out the exact steps needed to get there.  Be as specific as you can.

2. Make Resolutions Manageable

The key to keeping resolutions is to make changes smaller and more gradual. So if your goal is to go from never running at all to finishing a marathon, start training gradually.  Join a running club or download a beginner’s running app to help you train. There are some really great ones available that are created by expert marathoners! Search "Couch to 5K" or "Couch to Half Marathon" (you get the idea!)

3. Break Up the Goal

Instead of resolving to lose 80 pounds in 2015 (which can be an overwhelming thought), set a goal to lose 5 to 8 pounds a month.  If you do that for a year, you’ll reach your goal weight!  Ready to stop smoking?  Remove a few cigarettes each time you open a new pack.  Small victories lead to lasting results.

4. Treat Yo' Self!

Plan benchmarks to help you reach your goals...and then reward yourself when you do! Lost those first five founds?  Treat yourself to a facial.  Down to ten cigarettes a day?  Buy yourself to that pair of shoes!  Regular rewards can help you reach those milestones faster than you previously thought possible.

(***Side note from a trainer: Don't always "reward" yourself with food. We are not canines, therefore our successes should not always be some "treat" to eat. However, if it's something you are truly craving and believe will satisfy an urge- go for it! Deprivation can be a very slippery slope! ~A)

   
5. Ask for Help

Your family and friends want you to be successful in everything you do.  If you need your mother not to pack dessert in a “to go” bag after Sunday dinner, ask her not to.  Stopping smoking is harder than you thought?  Speak with your doctor.  You don’t have to go at any of this alone.  Get your cheerleader involved!

6. Keep a Schedule

Whether your resolution is becoming more fit, eating healthier, or paying closer attention to your finances, make time to attend to those activities.  Schedule your workouts like you would a doctor’s appointment.  Take time to make a weekly menu and plan what foods you’ll eat each day.  Make time once a month to review bank statements and other financial paperwork.  You must devote time to those things you want to succeed.

Failing to plan is planning to fail.

7. Don’t Be Afraid to Scale Back

Working out five days a week too much to begin with?  Cutting down to a few cigarettes a day not working out just yet?  Saving $100 a month is creating a cash flow situation.  No problem.  Just make a quick adjustment.  Work out three days a week until you can move up to your goal of five days a week.  Instead of cutting down to a few cigarettes a day, try not smoking the car and after meals.  Instead of saving $100 a month, save $50 a month.  Even with the adjustment, you are still working towards your goals!

8. Be Forgiving

We are human – not perfect.  Slipups will happen.  Laziness will overtake us.  We will lose enthusiasm for our resolutions.  The key is to remember why you made your resolutions and to get back on track.  No matter what, keep moving towards your goals and you will reach them!

9.  Don’t consider these Resolutions...resolutions

The word “resolution” makes it feel like if we don’t get started in January, then we can’t do (fill in the blank).  Instead, think of resolutions as a “Things to Do” list.  Make a list of things you’d like to accomplish in 2015, knowing that you can start on that list and work on it the whole year long.  Maybe that approach will relieve some of the pressure associated with New Year’s Resolutions.

10.  Relax.

You have a whole year to accomplish your goals.  You didn’t gain weight overnight.  You won’t lose the weight overnight.  You’ve been smoking for a while.  You’ll need some time to develop a new habit and lifestyle.  Success will happen.  Just relax and let the new habits settle in.

“If you try anything, if you try to lose weight, or to improve yourself, or to love, or to make the world a better place, you have already achieved something wonderful, before you even begin. Forget failure. If things don't work out the way you want, hold your head up high and be proud. And try again. And again. And again!” ― Sarah Dessen

> Happy New Year to you and your family!

~O

The Best (Newer) Christmas Movies

Ok, so, this list of movies shines light on the new Christmas classics.  We know there are more – arguably better – Christmas movies out there.  It really isn’t Christmas until we see “It’s a Wonderful Life” or “A Christmas Story” but these over-looked gems have proven to be classics over the years and never miss putting us in the Christmas spirit! 

Get a blanket, make some hot chocolate, turn the Christmas tree lights on and all other lights off…It’s movie time!

In no particular order we give you our Top Three Newer Christmas movies (and yes, we checked it twice J)!

1.      Elf

Buddy the Elf is a human who was raised at the North Pole.  He talks with Santa and agrees it’s time he go to New York to look for his dad.  Watching a 6 foot tall elf with the mentality of a Christmas elf navigate New York City trying to fit in is the best new idea for a Christmas movie we’ve seen in a loooong time!  It’s easy to get into the Christmas spirit when you see someone live it so enthusiastically!

2.      Christmas with The Kranks

When a daughter leaves to spend Christmas in Peru with the Peace Corps, her parents decide to skip Christmas, save money and go on a cruise.  No parties, no ugly sweaters, no cards and no decoration…a total boycott.  However, the neighbors are not willing to let these modern day Scrooges get away with turning their backs on Christmas and put up a fight to save their Christmas spirit.  It’s a short fight because the daughter calls back the day before they leave to say she’ll be home for Christmas after all. 

3.      Surviving Christmas

A lonely millionaire pays a family $250,000 to allow him to spend Christmas with them…in the home that he grew up in.  They are a middle class family and accept the money against their better judgment.  It’s fun to watch the millionaire force the family into going to buy a tree or to sing Christmas carols when they really don’t want to.  Things become complicated when the eldest child of his newly purchased family arrives.  Things become even more complicated when his fiancé and her wealthy parents come to visit.  This movie gives you a glimpse into what it would be like to live in your childhood home again.

We hope you’ll watch one – or all of the movies on this list!  We chose these movies because based on their stories, performances, and spirit factor.  If we’re wrong, leave us a comment and tell us what we missed!

Merry Christmas Movie Watching!

Where are those flying cars we were promised?

I think it's fair to say that most people who work in the DC Metro area commute.

I think it's even fair to say that the devil himself must have been the mastermind behind the hot mess that is I-95 and her pals, 395 and 495.

But mostly I think it's perfectly fair to say that, in all my years upon this Earth, my mind is unable to take the years of education and life lessons and then wrap itself around the absolute madness that exists on I-95 north OR south (at any given point in the day) that results in the absolute gridlock which occurs between Arlington and Fredericksburg!

What fresh Hades is that?! I mean, I get it. There are roughly 7 billion people on this planet...but are they all commuting at the same time every day?? Between these two particular points?!

Before I began working in Northern Virginia I must admit I suffered from the occasional bout of road rage (or often, if I'm being honest.) I tailgated, screamed, hit my steering wheel in frustration at the person in the left lane gong the exact speed limit who just WON'T MOVE! But over the recent tenure I've spent commuting I have actually mellowed on my driving habits. It's some sort of commuter hypnosis. I've accepted my fate.

Don't even get me started on holiday traffic...wow.

I have to believe most of my highway brothers and sisters feel the same way, for I see them beside me, sitting, waiting, glossy-eyed and weary, praying for everyone to just GO!

And the traffic stalls all occur in the exact same spots every single day...religiously...like clockwork.We give those spots names: "No Reason Whatsoever" (the exit of the HOV near Quantico), "Geico" (the merge at Hwy. 17), and such.

Just once it would be a blessing to sail home at a consistent speed above 55. Just once I would like to leave work at 4 pm and march through my door before 6. And just once it would be nice for the slow (insert any car here...ahem, Prius) driver to drive in the right hand lane, instead of doing 63 mph in the left (seriously people, move over and stop contributing to road rage!) Just once it would be nice to leave work on a Friday afternoon and not have to pack food for the three hour ride home!

...and if anyone has access to a genie which will grant me one of those wishes, I'll take that ocean front home in Arizona too!

disclaimer: we realize not all Prius drivers are the culprits of the aforementioned slowness. It is just this author's experience.

~A

I Know Why the Silver Bells Jingle Early

…at least in the eyes of this die-hard fan o’ Christmas

We’ve all been complaining about how early the holiday season is coming.  Each year, we can barely finish overeating Halloween candy before the stores have wrapped the first pole with garland.  It’s like Thanksgiving is becoming a has-been holiday.  …and I know why!

First, let’s just give in and remember that capitalism rules everything around us.  So, yes, the earlier the stores are able to awaken those holiday feelings in us, the better for their bottom line.  They’re in business to get your business – and you’re money.  So we can’t fault ‘em.  If it looks like a Christmas duck ...

BUT!!!  Why do we allow them to pull us in with the early playing of holiday music?  Why do we watch the Countdown to Christmas on the cable networks that begins a few days after Halloween?  I feel like if we didn’t watch those movies, they wouldn’t air them.  After all, isn’t the consumer, customer, or viewer always right?

The reason we hum along to Christmas music being played in November and watch the really sappy holiday movie is because – and read this part carefully – we want to.  There it is, out in the open.  Secretly, we want the holiday season here early.  We have to pretend we don’t because the masses are opposed to people shopping on Black Friday and businesses dragging us away from our Turkey comas but…we want all of that.  And here’s why.

This really is THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR!!!!!

People are nicer.  TV shows are movies are suddenly about unexpected and unimaginable miracles and lost loves found instead of ax murderers, demonic possessions, and natural disasters.  Kids get their most wanted toys and romance hangs in the air like mistletoe (not because of mistletoe).  It’s cold outside and houses are warmer and getting into a pair of soft fleece jammies is almost as comforting as sipping a mug of hot chocolate.  Is there anything more beautiful than the glow of Christmas lights in a dark room?  Aren’t the best memories made while doing the annual Christmas baking?

And the thing is, we look forward to feeling these feelings all year!  THAT’S why people put their Christmas trees up before Thanksgiving.  They want to enjoy those feelings and smell those smells and see those lights for as long as they can!

So, we have to give those people who start decorating and celebrating earlier than us a bit of a break.  They are literally bursting at the seams to unwrap the traditions they’ve kept in storage all year.  Can you blame them, really?  What better joy is there that savoring a bite of Red Velvet Cake while watching a Christmas movie and catching the twinkle of the lights on the tree out of the corner of your eye?

When did it become "Thanks-mas?"

I'm just going to say it.

If there was a "dislike" button, I'd push it.

I don't like the TV networks and stores rushing me into the holiday season!

...and I'm not alone.

Yes.  I love Christmas.  I love the colder air and the feeling of being cozy inside your warm house fragranced by cinnamon apple candles.  I love the hearty, stick-to-your-ribs meals you tend to eat in the winter, and all of the stews, soups, goulashes, casseroles, and hybrids therein.  I love how romantic we all feel watching snow fall from the other side of a frosted window.

I love watching all of the traditional holiday programming on TV.  At 43 years old, I still make my hot chocolate and get my blanket (now it's asnuggie) and wait eagerly on the sofa to watch "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and "Frosty's Winter Wonderland."  I love getting the family together to watch one of our all-time favorite Christmas movies "A Christmas Vacation," and now we all look forward to a new holiday classic "Elf." 

So, yes. I LOOOOOOOOOVE CHRISTMAS!!!!!  I'm a maniac for the season!  I even go on treasure hunts through the house to find my gifts.  I can't seem to outgrow it ("it" being Christmas).

But, I also love Thanksgiving.

I love the first real chill in the air that causes you to crave tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches.  I love the display of autumn wreaths on doors and the smell of burning leaves and fireplaces.  I love the easy feeling of a long drive down a scenic road.  I love sweater weather and sitting outside at high school football games.

I love the planning that goes with Thanksgiving, like finding the perfect cocktail recipe and Turkey Day family games.  I love making the feast menu with my mom and pulling out the "special" dishes.  I love seeing the family dressed in their Thanksgiving's Best, standing in the kitchen trying to sneak a crumb or a steal whole turkey leg.  I love it when the parents or grandparents let you taste something they're working on. 

But those feelings are not the same when the TV and radio are playing holiday entertainment and it's 70 degrees outside.  Some of the joy of Thanksgiving is stolen when, before the dinner is finished, people are talking about carpooling to the mall for early Black Friday shopping.

Instead of getting the urge to play in big stacks of leaves, you're getting the urge to buy and display holiday decorations.  The seasons misalign and you spend the holidays feeling rushed.  You forget to take that drive or go apple-pickin'.  No one will play football in the front yard on a cold, crisp day.  In my day, you spent the fall season enjoying all of those things and getting excited for the holiday season.

So, to the retail giants and media moguls I say, don't worry so much about making money.  Be the reason why so many families are making memories and respect the traditions.  "Yule" be better remembered.

~O

 

It's Fall Y'all!

It's fall!

The leaves are turning, the school buses are slowing traffic, and the kids are all aglow with homework and bedtimes. Ah yes, fall.

Fall also brings that exciting day where we can dress up, go to work, and get paid- in candy! From strangers, nonetheless! And by "work" we mean patrolling the neighborhood, and by "we can dress up" we mean the children. However, as most parents can confirm, the bounty of candy is fair game to all in the household!

Speaking of the bounty of candy: while it is certainly acceptable for the little ones to partake in their holiday haul, too much sugar is bad for their little bodies. What's a solution, you may ask? Well, as a matter of fact we have one! Her name is the Switch Witch and she swoops in and rescues little teeth and waistlines from the damages of their sugary prizes.

Have your kiddos keep a couple (or so) of their favorite treats, then place the remaining candy in a bag and place on the table at bedtime. Then, during the night, the Switch Witch swoops in on her broom (or in her robe and pj's) and switches out the candy for a toy (or other kid-coveted treasure!) Everyone wins!

Well, everyone wins unless mom and dad take the candy for themselves. Then it's the gyms and vitamin stores who win!

~A

Brand spanking new! Look at our sparkles!!

Thanks for clicking in and welcome to our blog! 

For our very first entry, we wanted to take some time to let you, the public - our adoring fans, know who we are. We are Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall’s Family, Morale, Welfare, and Recreation (FMWR) organization.  We have our hands in almost everything on the base like food (from burgers to pizza to fine catering), festivities (HoHopalooza, the annual Capital Classic Basketball Tournament), fitness (classes, courts, and cardio), and fun (bowling, trips, special events and more!). FMWR is made up of the activities that service you and your family like the Fort Myer and Fort McNair’s Officers’ Club (including the tennis courts and pools!) two Fitness Centers, the Bowling Center, The Community Activities Center, Library, the Auto Crafts Skill Center and Spates Community Club.

As you can tell, we love interacting with the public! This is why our social media sites are so very important; they keep us connected to you – our adoring fans! So in an effort to stay connected we’ve decided to begin blogging about various things, sometimes directly related to FMWR, sometimes we just want to discuss things we find interesting, and occasionally we may share a tip or story!

The authors contributing to the blogs are mostly members of our Marketing department, though sometimes we may sneak in a ghost writer or special guest.

We’re open for comments and suggestions, just keep ‘em PC ;)