February Resolutions — This Life Is Belle

I've been a little late finalizing my new year’s resolutions due to our adventurous New Zealand road trip over the holidays. So this year I’m setting February resolutions for the year ahead. Better late than never!

MY GOALS FOR 2018...

Start French lessons, and give it my all.

Since we have taken the plunge and bought a house in France, I need to learn the language. Justin’s French is fluent, and over the years I’ve lazily relied on him to communicate for me. But now that must change, because it’s important to me to become part of the community wherever we live, and to make lasting friendships.

I must admit that I’m a bit intimidated by the challenge because my natural aptitude for picking up languages has been non-existent to date, and very few locals speak more than a few words of English!

Learn to drive a scooter.

Now that we are living in Bali for half the year, I need to bite the bullet and learn to drive a scooter. This is another instance where I’ve always just sat on the back of Justin’s bike and let him drive me around.

I had a scary car accident in my early twenties, and it has rattled my confidence driving ever since. I need to get over it.

Call (or write to) my grandmother more.

My grandmother is 95 years old and in legendary good health, but I can't take it for granted. Life without her is petty unimaginable to me, and yet I'm still hopeless at picking up the phone and calling her for a chat.

Actually, I’m going to call her right now...

Post content on the blog 3 times a week.

Getting this blog off the ground over the last year has been very fulfilling. I'm so grateful to everyone who takes the time (and interest!) to read it, and to comment.

Now I want to offer more regular and reliable content by posting 3 times a week on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. I'm excited to see where this takes the blog in 2018, and I hope it also helps me to connect with even more awesome people in the blogging community.

Restart my yoga practice.

I’ve been practicing yoga on and off since I was a teenager, but I stopped a couple of years ago when I was pregnant with Rosie and my belly was so big I couldn’t manage any of the poses! Then, last year, when I was starting to get my exercise routine back on track, I broke my foot.

This year I am committing to doing at least 50 yoga classes, hopefully more, to try to reestablish this habit that is so good for both my body and my mind.

Eat more vegetables, and eat less meat and bread.

I’m becoming uncomfortable with the amount of meat our family eats, from both an environmental and an ethical perspective. I also learned through elimination, when I did the 17-day diet program last year, that my body feels much healthier when I eat more vegetables and less bread.

So, this year I’m going to be doing a lot more cooking at home, creating new recipes that are made from whole, unprocessed foods, with a specific focus on eating a wider range of vegetables. I'll be sharing my best recipes on the blog too.