Winter's a good time to stay in and

...make positive changes! I've always been fond of the New Year and fresh starts. Every year I make resolutions and--believe it or not--I keep most of them. Why? I like to set achievable goals and self-improvements because, frankly, no one likes failure.

Failure is demoralizing, but small successes add up. Collective small accomplishments, and the sense of pride/increases in well-being/incremental improvements that come with them, can eventually lead to those big, sweeping goals and changes. And if they don't? You've STILL done something positive. You've still not-failed. And THAT, to me, is winning.

So my simple but meaningful resolutions for this year:

1. VITAMINS. Taking them, regularly, is a small effort that can have a big impact on my overall well-being and energy levels. And they're so easy to skip. So, in effort to stick to this resolution--and a few other things too--I have a motivational/accountability calendar. Stars for successes, and it hangs in the kitchen, so cannot be ignored.
   

   Photo: Not perfect, but not bad! #progress http://t.co/EpJxiWLysb
   — Cara Bertrand (@carabertrand) January 12, 2015

   
   
   
2. COMPOST. This is something we started several years ago, but husband and I got verrry lazy with in 2014. 2015 we're back at it and off to a good start.
   
   
3. Use fewer PLASTIC BAGS. I know, this isn't really a quantifiable one, since I don't really keep track. BUT making the resolution keeps me mindful about making conscious choices. So far, so good.
   
   
4. Go to more BOOK EVENTS. Not as an author (I go to pretty much any I'm invited to!), but as a guest. Just to be in the book community more, meet people, fan girl and all-around participate. I've been to two so far this month (see the blue stars on the calendar!), which is about as many non-author events as I attended all year last year. One a month would be great. I'm already ahead!
   
   
5. Late entry to the list, but a good one: USE FEWER CHEMICALS (on my body and elsewhere). A friend's post on Facebook inspired this one. She was starting with eliminating commercial deodorant and making her own. I'm not ready to give that up--yet--but it got me thinking. Lately, my skin has been the worst it's possibly ever been, or at least since high school. My friend's chemical detox got me thinking about the random time I bought an olive oil body scrub and used it on my face when I ran out of my Clean & Clear. While it lasted--never found it again--I thought my skin looked great. So, I decided my first experiment would be skin care because Lord knows it can't hardly get worse, or more expensive than the commercial products I've been using. SO, enter first two days of homemade olive oil, honey, sea salt face scrub:
   
   
   
   So far REALLY good.

What are YOUR resolutions? Got any homeopathic/non-chemical recipes for me? :)