Thanks in the New Year

I hope everyone had a wonderful New Year celebration and that 2011 will be a year full of good health, happiness and many new blessings!  Do you believe that I've lived my entire life in New York City but I never went to Times Square to watch the ball drop. Like many of you, I watch it on TV. When I was working as an RN I usually worked the night shift on New Year's Eve and I would walk around to wish all my patients better health in the upcoming year. Naturally, my yearly resolutions since then have always revolved around trying to keep myself healthy, by eating more vegetables and fresh fruit, and less meat and processed foods, and of course exercising more!  I also try to find gratitude in each day, to enjoy life and to keep learning new things. They are all very basic resolutions, but ones I have been keeping fairly well from year to year, except for exercising -- that one I will concentrate a little more on this year!

Eating more locally grown and in-season produce, preferably organically grown, is a goal this year, and this calender made by my friend will help me to do just that! She made all the beautiful fruit and vegetable illustrations by hand using stencils and assorted scrapbook papers, which you can see in the photo collage below. Each month lists the fruits and vegetables that are harvested locally in New York State during those months.  (All photos will enlarge by clicking on them once, and then again when they open on a new page)

Thanks Rosemary!  I love it!  If you'd like to learn more about the advantages of eating locally grown, sustainably produced food, the Sustainable Table web site is an excellent resource for more information.

I also want to thank Cynthia Nelson, of the food blog "Tastes Like Home" for the wonderful assortment of herbal teas from The Tea Spot and the "tuffy tea steeper" that I won on her blog! My husband and I like to relax with a cup of herbal tea after dinner every evening and talk about our day. The Tea Spot makes a wonderful variety of loose teas, both herbal and regular teas, and they have many different types of tea steeper's. Ten percent of their profits are donated to cancer wellness charities!

Cynthia is a gem of a person -- you can't help but feel her natural warmth and cheerfulness in everything she writes on her blogs and various publications where she is a freelance writer. She was born in Guyana, but has lived in Barbados for many years, and her recipes have African, Indian, Chinese, and Portuguese roots. All are absolutely delicious and beautifully photographed. I've learned so many new wonderful food and spice combinations by reading her blog. She has just published her first cookbook aptly called Tastes Like Home! (click on the link to learn more about it!)
If you ever visited the Caribbean and fell in love with the cuisine you tasted there, and would like to try to reproduce it at home, Cynthia's cookbook is a must have authentic reference.
Thanks so much Cynthia -- we have been enjoying our tea!

Another thank you goes out to Lisa, author of one of my favorite blogs called: "Grandma's Briefs"!  I met Lisa when she e-mailed me last year and asked if I would like to become one of her blog's "Grilled Grandmas," a delightful feature where she interviews a different grandmother every month. I've been reading her blog ever since!  Lisa is a wonderfully talented writer and I am always impressed with the variety of subjects she discourses on on her multi layered blog. Lisa became a first time, long distance grandmother in 2008, the same year that I did, and she is also expecting a new grandson in the Spring of 2011.  It will be a very happy year for both of us!  

I won the above Hallmark recordable book on her blog during the Christmas season. Hallmark makes many varieties of recordable books, both classic stories and new. This book is one for a child to record in their voice for his or her grandmother.

While my grandson just turned two, and is a little young as yet to record this alone, I will bring it with me the next time I visit him and help him say the words with me. I think my heart will melt every time I hear him say the words on this page!  Thanks, Lisa!  I could not think of a better gift to give a new grandma, or Nonna, as I'm called.

I have so much in life to be thankful for and good friends, both in real life and those I've made through blogging, are one of the things I am so grateful for this year! You have made 2010 a wonderful year and I look forward to sharing 2011 with you all! 

A few questions: 

How do you exercise every day?  What were your resolutions for 2011?