Another New Year's Resolution Post

Hi everyone! So, we're about halfway through January. Did you make any New Year's Resolutions? If so, how are they going? If they're going well, GREAT! Keep up the good work! As you may remember in my last post, Why You Should, and Ways to Drink Green Tea, I have resolved to drink 3 cups of green tea per day. So far, I have been completely successful. So, I wanted to just share how I've managed to be successful so far, and whether you want to keep up a resolution better, or you just want to make a change in your life, hopefully these tips will help.

So, my first tip is: Mark things on a calendar. Everytime you complete a goal, or something that is part of a goal, mark it on a calendar, and keep it where you an see it. For me, it reminds me to finish my goals each day, and is a way of congratulating myself on all the successful days I've already had. I find that this gives me a lot of motivation not to give up. I have a color coded system and I mark a tick mark on each day for each cup of green tea I drink in one day in green, every time I publish a blog post in brown, every time I work out at home in orange, every time I go to the gym in red, and every time I go roller skating in blue. Granted only the green tea was an official resolution. The rest of those things were just things that I've been wanting to do more. But seeing it all right there on my closet door reminds me to keep at it, and shows me how often, or not, I've been doing each thing. If you don't have a calendar that you wouldn't mind marking up, then check out this free printable calendar that you can mark up to your heart's content! You can even decorate it with your favorite animal rights stickers. Again, if you want some ideas for resolutions, especially ones that are directly related to animal activism, check out my blog post from last year about New Year's resolutions.

Next, I have a tip for those of you who want to get in shape, work out more, lose weight, be healthier etc. Guess what? It doesn't involve joining a gym. In my blog post, 5 Ways to be Vegan and a Little Less Poor, the last thing I talked about was an app called Punchcard. This app allows you to earn mPOINTS, which can be traded in for gift cards and things. (Again, FYI, the $1 Amazon card is the best value.) But there are several really helpful mPOINTS apps that allow you to track your fitness activities or help you train more effectively. Runtastic Situps, Runtastic Pushups, Runtastic Squats, and Runtastic Pullups are all free apps that provide a training program for building muscle by doing those activities. They all reward you mPOINTS for each day you use the app, and each day you do 3 activities in one day. This can be any combination of training sessions and / or quick log sessions. These apps can also be synced with myfitnesspal, for those of you who use it for fitness, food, and weight tracking. Nexercise is another app that gives you mPOINTS for working out, and it allows you to log past workouts, so if you use one of the Runtastic apps, and then also log the activity on Nexercise, you're essentially getting paid twice for the same workout. Granted, you won't be making a ton of money off of it, (don't quit your day job,) but a little extra money, or Amazon cards, never hurts. So, I guess that would also be helpful if you've resolved to make more money. Sort of.

Thanks for reading everybody! I hope this has been really helpful. What resolutions did you make, if you made any? How well have you been keeping up with them? If you try out any of my suggestions, I would love to know how well they work out for you! Have a fabulous 2015!

New Year's Resolutions and Contest

So everyone, there aren't necessarily a ton of things that I've resolved to do this year. I don't want to just have an ever-growing list of things that I'll never do just because I've resolved to do them. I don't really have any health resolutions. I mean, I'm already vegan. What else is there? I guess I could theoretically resolve to stop cheating my gluten-free diet, but I don't really have an ethical problem with gluten, and they make magic pills that can help you digest gluten occasionally.

I have resolved to post more on this blog, especially Vegan College Cookbook reviews, which I guess could be food-related, and thus health-related, but that's really a stretch. But I got a seriously nicer camera for Christmas, so the photo quality on this blog should be improving! YAY! I have also resolved to be more active for the causes and charities I care about, especially animal welfare. But I guess because everyone needs one resolution that they don't mind not keeping, I also resolve to keep my room cleaner. Ha ha ha! Oh, that's a good one. So, that's not an exhaustive list of my resolutions, but too many of them would require context explanations that it's not worth bothering to mention them.

I hope you've made some resolutions that you plan on keeping. Though, as a tip, make them realistic. For example, I would not resolve to be the #1 Pop star in America by the end of the year. First of all, pop isn't even my favorite genre. Like, at all. But that's beside the point. However, I also wouldn't make them so boring or non-specific that they're not motivational, such as resolving to be "a better person" or resolving to smell more flowers. Unless of course, that's your thing. And then, by all means, smell away. I hope you're not allergic to pollen. Basically, make sure it's something that can be accomplished to your satisfaction. If you're really not sure what you want to resolve, but you want to resolve SOMETHING, here's a list of suggestions:

• Plant a new tree or shrub by the end of the year.
• You can buy a tree already sprouted (as long as you have permission from the powers that be,) or if you're up for a bigger challenge, try starting out all the way from a seed. Avocados are a good choice if you aren't sure what to go with. First of all, you can make yourself some yummy guacamole to get the pit to start out with. Second, the plants themselves are very pretty.
•  Plant a veggie garden.
• The best part about planting your own garden is picking what veggies you want to grow. Then you get really inexpensive, fresh food once it's grown. If you don't really have a yard to plant a garden in, like if you live in a dorm or apartment, or maybe your parents don't want you to dig up their nicely manicured lawn, you can plant window-box gardens, or potted plants. Those are great for smaller plants or herbs. I'd recommend rosemary and basil if you're not sure what to go with, but you want something small.
• Complete 5 Actions per month at Peta2.
• This one is really easy because the people over at PETA have already dome the hard work for you by making posters, collecting email addresses and researching the details, etc. Plus, you earn points by doing all those things and you can get yourself free stuff with the points. Who doesn't love free stuff?
• Go Cruelty-Free!
• Maybe you already only EAT vegan, but you haven't made the switch with cosmetics, clothes, etc. There are so many great brands of cruelty-free products, and many of them are really affordable. 
• Go Vegan!
• If you haven't already done this one, it really has never been easier. There are so many recipes out there thanks to the internet, and veganizing existing recipes is also super-simple with the amazing options that are out there.
• Go Vegetarian!
• If for some reason, you can't go vegan yet, or would prefer to make the switch more gradually, this is a good baby step. Again, it's never been easier!  
• Go Organic!
• This one can be a bit pricey. But it's certainly more healthful than eating junk food. Though I guess they do make organic "junk" food. Eh. Whatever. Aldis and Costco have a surprising amount of organic options, which are inexpensive.
• Convince your Family / Friends to do Meatless Mondays.
• Maybe they won't go 100% vegan or even vegetarian. But there are a lot of doctors and specialists saying that giving up meat at least 1 day a week has a ton of health benefits. This might mean that you have to cook diner once a week, but I'm sure you've got some ideas that you're dying to try, right?
• Try one new vegan recipe per month.
• This could involve a bit of pre-planning, but trying new things can be a lot of fun, and if you have the Vegan College Cookbook, it can be really affordable too. 
• Stay Positive / Be Thankful.
• The holidays are coming to a close, and it's easy to get out of the habit of being thankful for small things in life, and to take the things you have for granted. One thing that I have found helpful is to get a notebook or journal and write down things that I'm thankful for / happy about. For example, a friend of mine recently had been struggling with depression, and I encouraged him to write down 5 things a day to be thankful for. You can write more or less things, and do it as frequently as you'd like. If 5 things a day is too much, you could do 3 things a day, or 5 things twice a week. The important thing is not to quit when you forget a day. Even if you forget a week. If you're ever feeling down or discouraged, read back through the things you've written, and you're likely to feel a lot better. Everyone I've ever gotten to do this has found it extremely helpful.

If you have any other good ideas for general resolutions you'd like to share, please leave a comment! I'd love to hear what you have to say.

So, whatever you've resolved, here is a motivational picture.

This is my cat, C3PO, who I adopted from my local animal shelter. He had already had one leg amputated when I found him, but he gets along without it pretty well, even if he looks kind of ridiculous when he runs. Anyway, the other day, he climbed on top of our giant old TV that was given away, and was acting like he had achieved the most amazing accomplishment possible. It was pretty much adoreable. This was just an excuse to post a picture of my cat.

Alright. So here's the contest part:

First, you must follow this blog by at least one method if you do not already. Next, using the contact form located in the right sidebar, send me your name and email address, and at least 1 activism-related resolution. The winner will be randomly selected by computer, but if your resolution is just "I resolve to be more active" or something like that, then you won't qualify. And trust me. You want to win. Why? Because here's what the winner gets (approximately $25 value):

•  2 stickers from Sevenly, a company which funds a huge variety of humanitarian organizations by selling super-cool shirts and other apparel
• 3 magnets made from Sevenly stickers that are great for lockers or mini-fridges
• 15 magnets made from PETA stickers that are also great for lockers or mini-fridges. 
• 1 customized bracelet made by me. You choose colors and specify size. The bracelet will appear similar to this one in my web store, only it will say "ACTIVIST" instead of a name. 
• The winner will also be featured on this blog with a photo, short biographical description, and their resolution. (The winner will be contacted for the photo and description, as well as the details of the bracelet after being selected. This will act as a conformation method.)

All entries must be received before February 1st 2014. There also must be more than 10 qualifying entries, or the contest will be canceled. If there are a large number of participants, I may add runner-up places with smaller but still awesome prizes. In the event of cancellation, a consolation prize will be available to any participants. I reserve the right to change the rules and awards at any time. I'm sorry if you don't think the prizes are cool. I'm a poor college student, remember?

Happy New Year, Everyone! Good luck! Feel free to comment and tell me what a great idea this is. Tell all your friends about this contest and encourage them to enter as well! Who knows. Maybe they'll share with you if they win.

*************** UPDATE: CONTEST IS CLOSED.

Rolling Phone

Ah ha ha ha! The title of this post was such a lame joke. Alright now, I'm over it.

Here is a little something-something, mostly because I really haven't run across anything stunning to post recently. A while a ago, I mentioned Sevenly, a group that creates apparel designs, the proceeds of which benefit many different humanitarian charities. When you purchase their products, they give you a sticker for free!

The part of the sticker that peels off basically asks you to put it on your phone, so I did. I actually get comments on it all the time. The sticker back also asks you to take a picture of yourself with your freshly stickered phone, and post it on their Facebook page, which I also did. So I figured I'd share the pictures with you all, and you could tell me which ones you like the best! (Please note, I did not have access to any fancy cameras, so I just used a plain old boring digital camera. My apologies to any photographers out there!) I am, by the way, also wearing a Sevenly shirt. The proceeds of this particular shirt went to providing orphaned Jamaican babies with food, water, and diapers. The last item of note is my phone itself. It's a Nokia phone. You know, the kind that are virtually indestructible? The ones that have whole pages of internet memes dedicated to them because of their amazing capabilities not to break. Yeah. That's because it's my 8th phone. So far, it's outlived almost all of them.

Ok, so before anyone says that I look angry in these pictures, let me inform you that I am in a tree. That means that these photos were taken from the ground. Let me also mention that I have almost complete mono-lids. That means that my eye lids crease in such a way that when my eyes are open, you can hardly see the crease at all, making my eyelids look very small, which has a tendency to make people look more serious, even when they are not. The fact that the pictures were taken from the ground really exaggerated that feature. Now, I hope you all feel a little bit smarter about anatomy.