Resolving...Again!

Whew! Finally made it through the holidays!  Loved every minute with my family and friends, but with all the traveling, graduations, present buying (and second guessing) and apocalypse, its nice to move into the new year.

Which brings me to the latest topic of every conversation, resolutions.  Last years resolution was really more about stepping outside my comfort zone.  I'd always wanted to learn how to ballroom dance, but lets be honest I'm not a dancer.  Remember Elaine from Seinfeld dancing?  Yeah that's me.  Still it was something that has been in my head for years, so I decided to "suck it up" and signed up 3 months of lessons at the local Arthur Murray dance studio....You know what?  I actually liked it!  While I will never be a professional, I'm not exactly Elaine.  I still tend to lead more than I should, I'll probably never be completely relaxed, but I can dance AND carry on a conversation, so how's that for progress?

For the most part I'm very happy with my life.  Its busy at times but I think I do pretty well balancing my on-the-life with some good sit-on-my-butt time.  My closets are decluttered (2010 Resolution), my doctor is happy with my weight (I'm not) and exercise habits (2009 Resolution).

I've decided that instead of making a NEW New Years Resolution, I am going to revisit some old ones for a little....fine tuning.

Exercise - I run several times a week year round.   Running makes me happy.  It is a great way to clear my head, keeps my jean size in the single digits, and is just a great way to exercise.  The problem (if you can call it that) is all I really do is run.  I will sometimes cycle in the summertime, but I don't lift weights or go to the gym or do anything else except run.  So this year I'm going to shake things up.

I signed up my first sprint triathlon in August 2013.  Swim, Bike, Run!  They say that swimming is the best exercise you can do, its full body, great cardio, toning, and blah blah blah, but what it means to me is breaking out of my running mode.  I'm obviously going to need to not only swim, but swim for .6 miles. GULP!

Yoga, more specifically Bikram Yoga.  I first did Bikram Yoga in 2011 when I was in physical therapy for a running injury (hmmm surprise??).  The PT recommended I start doing yoga, so I found a Groupon for Bikram Yoga.  OMG! I loved it.  I felt great, my knee felt great, and I was back running after a few months....then I stopped.  So I'm going to start Bikram Yoga again.

Eat Better - I don't do TOO bad of a job of eating healthy (2009 Resolution), but I can always do better.  I'm not sure how I'm going to get over my weakness for burgers and fries and my roommate (Miss Size 6 and can eat anything) might go missing if she orders my favorite pizza this month but for the rest of January my eating goals will be:

• 1 fresh vegetable juice a day 
• Eliminate sugar, alcohol, and caffeine
• Nothing fried

Family/Friends - With my travel schedule it can be hard to make time to see family or visit extended family, especially when you sometimes have less than 36 hours a week at home.  Well last year even though I took a great vacation, I still carried over quite a few vacation hours to this year.  So this year I'm going to make a bigger effort to visit family, see friends I haven't seen in a while, host a couple of dinners for my local friends, and run more with my runner friends.

Beauty - Take my makeup off every night (2011 Resolution).  If I want to age gracefully I need to take better care of my skin.

Work - I already work too much, but I love it, so I'm not going to resolve to work less.  What I am going to resolve to do is clear out my Inbox (2011 Resolution) at the end of every week.  I'm good about responding, but when I'm bad about is filing.   So I've been spending some time creating mail folders that are actually meaningful instead of keeping thing in "Misc".  I kept my 2011 Resolution for about a week before abandoning it altogether so lets see how I do this year.

What about you? What are some of your resolutions?  

Dining While Traveling

A little while ago I read a CNN article about women business travelers not liking solo dining.  The basic feeling is that most women don’t feel comfortable or may feel they look like an unwanted spinster if they dine alone.  To me that seems crazy because if a woman feels comfortable enough to travel on her own, then why would dining alone be outside her comfort zone?

Me?  I LOVE eating new foods, so eating alone doesn't bother me.  Don’t get me wrong I love dining with others, but the thought of dining alone doesn’t keep me in the hotel room while I’m traveling.

Eat Alone

One of the things I really like about traveling is eating locally.  Usually I’m gone for a week at a time, so I try to eat at a nice restaurant at least once per trip.  If I’m not sure where to eat, I will ask the concierge for a recommendation and a reservation for me.  Other times I will search through Yelp for a customer rated recommendation.  If I’m reading a really good book, I might take it with me, if not I will just sit on my own, enjoy my dinner, think over my day, and plot to take over the world.

On the days where I have more work to do in the evening, I will usually find a restaurant close to the hotel and eat there.  Depending on how much time I have, I might eat at the restaurant bar area (quicker service) or get a table. 

Facebook/Linked-In/Corporate Contacts

Is there a Facebook friend that lives or is from the same area you will be in?  Reach out to them to make an introduction for you.  I have made several new friends by having dinner with friends-of-friends from Facebook.  Usually they know THE best local place to go and you always have at least one mutual interest…. your mutual friend.

Use Linked-In and Corporate contacts to broaden your network circle and develop more business contacts.  Maybe you are going to Chicago and you’ve talked with some of the Chicago team on a conference call.  Reach out and see if they are interested in a dinner one night.  Strengthening relationships across teams is never a bad idea.

Invite for a Bite

I discovered InviteForABite.com through the CNN article I mentioned and of course signed up!  Invite for Bite is a website for women-only (this is not a dating site), who are traveling for business or pleasure and do not wish to dine alone.  You simply search for a dinner invite in the area you will be traveling and meet with other women travelers.  Don't be afraid to be adventurous and create a new invite for others to find. 

I posted an IFAB invite while I was in Dallas, Texas and someone actually responded!  It was great fun making a new friend.  We tried a new restaurant and realized we had a lot in common, work, family, kids, and of course meeting new people.  I look forward to more IFAB dinners and hope to see my new friend again.

There are many alternatives to dining while on the road and while its always safer in numbers, sometimes you need to strike out on your own to expand your comfort zone.