Making New Year's Resolutions Stick

Ok. Now that Christmas is over, we shift the focus to the next big holiday, which is New Year’s.  New Year’s parties are on many people’s holiday to-do lists and it’s an annual favorite celebration amongst the masses.  A traditional part of New Year’s celebrating has been setting New Year goals or resolutions.  Many of us participate in this annual resolution making, and make big plans to become a whole new person as soon as that ball drops on New Year’s Eve.  A recent survey has shown, however, that most resolutions that are created for New Year’s are given up and completely abandoned within six months.  Here’s some great tips for you as you make your New Year’s resolutions to help you create goals that you can not only live with but are much more likely to stick!

Going Way Too Big:  Even though it may fall into the category of “it seemed like a good idea at the time,” setting goals that are too gigantic or unrealistic may set you up for nearly immediate failure.  There is nothing wrong with having lofty aspirations, however, your goals may be much more attainable if you break them down into smaller, more palatable changes that are more readily adjusted to. 

Relying Too Much on Sheer Willpower:  If you rely on willpower alone to achieve your goals you may soon be in trouble.  It’s human nature to fall off the wagon as soon as a stressful situation arises or get overwhelmed by the challenges of daily living.  Willpower isn’t enough to make real changes; you have to have behavioral changes to back it up.  Making your lifestyle changes enjoyable is a much better alternative because then you don’t feel deprived and all too ready to fall back into your old habits when inevitable challenging days arise.

Think Positively:  It takes a lot of mental energy to retrain your brain into making real change.  Watch yourself and eliminate negative self-talk.  Tell yourself that you know you can succeed at your goal–even if it is only in the smallest increments, perhaps just a day at a time.  Visualize frequently how great you will feel and the positive effects that attaining your goal will have on your life.  If you do find yourself in a funk and are thinking negatively, train your brain to focus on the negative impact that not attaining your set goal will have in your life.  Sometimes thinking about these ramifications can be positively motivating as well.

Plan Ahead:  No matter what your resolutions are, planning ahead will help you to not come up with an array of excuses as to why you aren’t starting now to move forward.  If your goal is to work out regularly in a gym, make sure you have a membership at a gym that is convenient.  If you are trying to eat more healthfully, throw out your junk food and fill your refrigerator with healthful options.  Make sure whatever obstacles you foresee that may delay you on your journey are removed.

Leave Past Failures Behind:  No matter what your track record is, no matter how many times your resolutions haven’t worked, today is a new day and you have to learn to let go of the past and not let it influence the here and now.  A good strategy to embrace is to accept before you begin that you will fail now and then and that is part of the journey.  Knowing that you will have setbacks and having the ability to pull yourself back up and continue to move forward is huge.

Go Public and Get a Partner:  Letting your friends and loved ones know what your goals are makes you more accountable.  Let people know what your intentions are and this will give you one more incentive to keep persisting when things get hard.  Having a friend or loved one that is in your corner is also a good way to buoy yourself up when you are having a weak moment or a bad day.  Another good idea is to find a friend with similar goals as yourself and work together to attain them.  Being able to talk about the challenges you may face on a day-to-day basis is great when you are working as a team, plus a partnership approach injects a level of fun and camaraderie into the effort as well.

Reward Yourself Along the Way:  At various milestones during your journey, have incentives or rewards that motivate you.  Buy yourself a new outfit for so much weight loss or consistent days spent working out in a gym.  Giving yourself a pat on the back for sticking with your goals is a huge help in attaining them and a well-deserved reward for your effort.

Saying goodbye to the old year and welcoming the new one brings with it many opportunities for growth and improvement.  With a bit of planning and foresight you can use your New Year’s resolutions to make your life much better and brighter in 2012!

It seems like just yesterday that we were all dressing up in our Halloween costumes and venturing out for trick or treating adventures as well as for costume parties–now already, it’s time to start making our Christmas lists and start checking things off of them too!  No matter how well you make your holiday plans, the planning and shopping days seem to literally evaporate right before your eyes.  When you have a good idea and a game plan, it’s time to act on it while it’s fresh in your mind and before all the good stuff is gone.  Shopping and gift buying is all part of the holiday season, whether you enjoy it or not.  The more things you get done early, the more relaxed you can be to enjoy all the festivities that will be in full force a month from now.  Don’t we all say that ‘next year’ we are going to shop earlier?  Let this holiday season be your year to get some things done right now!

Post Halloween is a fantastic time to buy costumes for your kids dress up collection.  We know, as you probably do as well, that kids don’t need a holiday to put on a costume and instantly become a legendary character in their own minds.  Costumes are a fantastic Christmas gift idea for kids and will give them hours (yes…you heard that right….hours!) of imaginative playtime fun.  With many fantastic characters available, from your kids favorite TV shows, movies or cartoons you can be sure to find that perfect costume to get your child enthused and ready to dress up.  We also have some great occupational outfits from the ‘adult’ world that are exciting as well as stimulating for young minds.  Dressing as a fireman, police officer, army man, astronaut, race car driver, doctor or even a cheerleader can be extremely fun for a kid and give them a chance to pretend to be something more grown up.  Of course you wouldn’t want to forget some of the traditional dress up characters like stunning Disney Princesses, adventurous Superheroes as well as mysterious Ninja’s.  There are so many character possibilities that you may want to buy several costumes–your children will be delighted!

Don’t forget to enhance your child’s dress up experience with some fabulous costume accessories, too.   What is a Princess without her slippers and tiara or a Knight without his sword?  Make sure your child’s costume box has everything he needs to make his imagination truly come alive through experiencing a new character he finds within himself and expresses with the help of an appropriate outfit.   A costume is the perfect Christmas gift that your child will absolutely love to find underneath the Christmas tree this year.  With a costume, a child can be anything his imagination dictates–what better gift could there be this holiday season?  And the best part of all–no batteries are required! 

While you are making all these plans, you may also want to consider who is going to deliver the goods to your kids.  With a very special Santa suit, Santa himself can come to life right in your own living room!  With a special visit from a ‘real’ Santa, your Christmas can truly be a memorable and magical experience for all! 

Know the Story- Not so ancient legend has it that the tale went something like this.  Two guys named John Baur and Mark Summers were playing a rousing game of raquetball one day when suddenly one of the two men got a mild injury.  “Arrrrr,” he groaned.  And in that moment, a holiday was born.  The men were so amused by the pirate-like expression that came out under duress, that they immediately changed their names to “Old Chumbucket” and “Cap’n Slappy.”  The two friends, enthralled with their swashbuckling exchanges that day, decided an official holiday was in order and thereby designated September 19, “Talk Like A Pirate” day. If you’d like to read the entire "Talk Like a Pirate Day" story, click here. 

Learn the Lingo-Obviously, if you are going to have any fun at all on Talk Like A Pirate Day, you are going to need to know some basic pirate-speak.  Here are some of the essentials to get you started.

Shiver me timbers! (What a surprise!)
Me Hearties! (Friends)
Blimey (Wow)
Landlubber (A person who prefers life on land; a definite pirate insult)
Aye (Yes!)
Ahoy! (Hello!)
Davy Jones Locker (The bottom of the sea)

Lucky for all us folks who aren’t quite fluent in Pirate (yet), there are lots of handy English to Pirate translators available online.  This can be particularly fun to use for your emails to co-workers or friends on this special day.  Have fun with it and think of this as an educational experience in exploring a new language.

Dress Like a Pirate-Alright me fine mateys!  Now we need to address the important stuff.  If you are going to go around talking like a Pirate, it’s much more effective if you are dressed like one, too.  Today would be a great time to obtain and wear an authentic looking Pirate costume.  These are easily available for men, women and children and will definitely add an air of authenticity to your Pirate celebration.  That, and make sure you have a nice growling “Arrrrr.”

Get Great Accessories-To be a proper buccaneer you are going to need appropriate accessories to complete your Pirate look.  Head wraps, eye patches, earrings, hand hooks, swords, boots, hats and a bunch of gold doubloons will give you realistic Pirate flair.  You might even want to consider getting the old stand by first mate to the Cap’n of the Pirate ship, a colorful stuffed parrot designed to sit on your shoulder.  The right accessories are essential to create the perfect Pirate ensemble.

Get an Attitude-Decide what kind of Pirate you want to be and adopt the right swagger.  Pirates aren’t really known for their sweet gentility, so feel free to be a little growly and brusque, it’s the Pirate way.  Make sure you have a really great Pirate name for this special holiday, too.  Black Bart, Satan’s Doom or Neptune will create an air of authenticity about you as you wear your Pirate look.  A good Pirate name is a must; not too many Pirates were called Brad or Susan.

Enjoy Pirate Media-Talk Like a Pirate Day is the perfect day to haul out your favorite Pirate flicks and watch them again as part of your homage to Pirates.  Treasure Island and any of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies are a great place to start.  Don’t forget to invite your crew of Bucko’s over and make a Pirate movie night of it.

Enjoy Pirate Fare-When you think of Pirates and their eating habits, you are probably thinking of a filthy, drooling and beastly old sea dog eating a giant drumstick with one hand, a knife in the other and eating mostly with his fingers.  Pirates certainly weren’t known for their manners, and usually everything was washed down with a good dousing of Rum.  This is your perfect opportunity to eat your grub as messy as you like.  And of course, you can substitute more subdued Pirate beverages such as Pineapple or Coconut juice for the Rum if you prefer.  If a little of your brew dribbles down your chin, its all the better.

Enjoy Music like a Pirate-Sing it raucous, sing it loud and sing it very off pitch.  If you are going to really sound like a Pirate you have to be a bit gauche.  “We pillage, we plunder we rifle and loot, drink up me hearties yo ho!  We kidnap and ravage and don’t give a hoot, drink up me hearties yo ho!”  That’ll get you started, but don’t try to make a career out of this Pirate singing gig, you may quickly lose your crew.

Get Into It-There are a surprising number of fun resources available for Talk Like a Pirate Day that are going to make it really fun and easy to get into it.  Google is on board and has a Google Pirate Search engine that you may want to try.  Your Facebook page can be translated into Pirate language as well.  There are many apps available to enhance your experience as a swashbuckler so have fun with them!

Pay your Pirate Forward-Sadly, all good things must come to an end, and Talk Like a Pirate Day lasts only for one day.  Any efforts to continue on in Pirate mode beyond this probably aren’t going to go over very well, so this isn’t recommended.  Even still, you can probably find other uses for your Pirate look down the line, the very soonest being on Halloween!  A Pirate look makes a fantastic Halloween costume!

Have a lot of fun on Talk Like a Pirate Day.  Makin’ conversation like a slimy ol’ bilge rat is going to give you plenty to Yo ho ho about.

As the kids get geared up to head back to school, relish the opportunity of finding yourself back into a more structured routine. Having a pre-set schedule has a charm it’s own, and it won’t be long before your kids have settled nicely into their new groove. A few weeks after school starts, the days will become noticeably shorter, and the air will start to take on a bit of autumn chill in the afternoons and evenings. It’s definitely time to start looking forward to your favorite things about fall, from football games to Halloween! This is also the perfect time to beat the rush and start making plans for your perfect Halloween costume!

Labor Day weekend marks the end of one thing, but it’s also the beginning of another. Welcome and look forward to all the fun things the fall months have to offer with excitement as well as anticipation. Autumn is a season that has much to be enjoyed as well as relished. In the meantime, say goodbye to your summer by making this the greatest Labor Day weekend ever!

Learn About Our Nation’s History:  A great way to engage your children in both learning about the history of the Fourth of July as well as to have some fun is to play a game of Fourth of July trivia.  Assemble an assortment of fun facts, history and trivia about Independence Day and quiz the kids or play a game that is focused around the information you have gathered.  Your kids will love learning the facts about the holiday and will get excited about why we celebrate the Fourth of July.

Dress Patriotically:  Whether you are attending a family or community Fourth of July event, you are bound to get into the spirit of the day all the more with an appropriate patriotic costume.  Colonial costumes are a fun choice or you can dress up as the traditional Uncle Sam.  Other unique costume choices for your Independence Day celebration are the Statue of Liberty, or any assortment of political figures, perhaps even George Washington.  Of course a very easy way to get into the spirit of the day is to just dress up in the colors red, white and blue from head to toe—use your imagination and be creative.  Don’t forget to wear your stars and stripes!

Create Neighborhood traditions:  Create a neighborhood tradition for your Fourth of July that everyone on your block is going to look forward to.  Have a neighborhood potluck or BBQ with all of the trimmings.  This is a great time to have a watermelon-eating contest or a chili cook off to get your neighborhood chefs motivated.   Have the kids decorate their bicycles in red, white and blue colors and have a bike parade.  Buy some inexpensive and small American Flags at a novelty store and attach them to everyone on your street’s mailbox.  This Fourth of July event is bound to become an event that your entire neighborhood looks forward to.

Uncle Sam Photo:  This is a fun tradition that the entire family can participate in.  Have everyone in the family make an Uncle Sam hat and take a traditional family portrait-Fourth of July style.  You can get very crafty with this if you like by adding spinners, glitter, etc. to the hats.  Start an album with your Fourth of July photographs including the pictures that you take during other fun activities that you do that day.  This family album will begin a fun tradition that you can keep adding to on a yearly basis.  Over time the photo album will become something your entire family will certainly cherish.

Take a Patriotic Vacation:  There are some very fun as well as traditional locations that you and your entire family can visit over the Fourth of July.  If you want to make the most of your family vacation and celebrate the holiday weekend in a patriotic fashion consider visiting one of our nations more historic locales.  New York City, Washington D.C., Philadelphia as well as Colonial Williamsburg, VA are some cities to consider visiting.  Immersing yourself in the local 4th of July festivities of one of these heritage rich cities is bound to be memorable for all your family members. 

The Big Finale:  No Fourth of July celebration would be complete without watching a fireworks display after dark.  Scout out your community’s local fireworks event or perhaps try a different venue out of town for a change.  Many beach communities have amazing fireworks displays that you can watch down on the pier.  Plan your holiday barbecue to coincide with your evening’s activities and get that perfect spot to watch the fireworks from after the sun goes down.  If you don’t live near the beach, many cities set off fireworks at local venues or community parks. 

No matter what you choose to do for your Fourth of July celebration, it’s a perfect opportunity to bond with your friends and family as well as to create memories that you will have for a lifetime.  Let your inner patriot fly free and make this Fourth of July be your best one yet! 

Candy, Chicks & Rock ‘n’ Roll can be found on billboards from coast to coast promoting the new animated movie coming out Friday called Hop.  It’s from the producers of Despicable Me and I for one can’t wait to see it!  We loved Despicable Me and I know this movie will be just as cute!

You just have to love the way they’re promoting this film – candy, chicks & rock ‘n’ roll is a great attention getter!  The movie is about E.B., the Easter Bunny’s rebel teenage son, who instead of wanting to take on the role of Easter Bunny decides to run off to Hollywood with dreams of becoming a drummer in a rock ‘n’ roll band.   The movie has some great characters besides E.B. – there’s Carlos, the “chick in charge” who’s trying to take over as the Easter Bunny and the Pink Berets who are sent by E.B.’s dad to bring him back to Easter Island.  

Illumination Entertainment knew what they were doing releasing the movie April 1st right in time for the Easter holiday madness, getting everyone in the “here comes Peter Cottontail” spirit!  I know my family will be right there in line after school on Friday to see Hop!    

However, between now and Easter we do have a little holiday called St Patrick’s Day, you might have heard of it?  I love St Patrick’s Day!  Between the parades, the parties and the celebrations it’s one heck of a fun holiday!  Bring on the Leprechauns, shamrocks and green beer!  St Patrick’s Day is next Thursday, March 17th and whether your Irish or not, head on out and celebrate!  Your corner pubs will probably be serving Irish food, playing Irish music and of course serving green beer!

Don’t forget to dress the part this St Patrick’s Day!   HalloweenExpress.com has everything you need from your luck of the Irish hats to deluxe Leprechaun costumes.  Surprise your friends and show up decked out as a little piece of Irish folklore!

With a Mardi Gras costume you can bet you’ll be the hit of the party.  The more sequins and feathers the better.  To make your party one to remember decorate in Mardi Gras colors of purple, green and gold.

Us everyday folk aren’t the only jesters to partake in a little Mardi Gras fun, even the Hollywood celebrities love Carnival!

Bridget Marquardt & Holly Madison

Elijah Wood

Kid Rock

Val Kilmer

Rupert Everett

A “Read Across America” event is soon likely to find its way to a library or school near you! Nearly 3.2 million elementary and secondary school teachers will be participating in this event as it is a great opportunity to amp up kid’s enthusiasm about books and get them excited about reading them as well. This year’s theme is deemed “Serve Up A Good Book.” Book fairs as well as “read aloud” events will be held in schools as well as libraries. Kids all over the country will be making pledges to commit themselves to reading goals as well. Learning to read is one of the most important things a child will ever learn to do. Encouraging even very young readers through fun events in your local community will inspire and motivate kids to learn about the world through books.

“Read Across America” not only honors Dr. Seuss and his characters, but other book characters will obviously be brought to light this day as well. You can wear your big striped hat and read with the Cat–or you may be equally as excited recreating another book character as part of your “Read Across American” fun. The important thing is to instill a desire to read amongst the young–as well as the not so young that will hopefully last a lifetime. When you can read a book your imagination can take you anywhere!

To help you get motivated, Halloween Express is sponsoring a contest targeted to schools, students and parents of school age children. Just send us your story on how you and/or your school celebrate Read Across Amerca and you can win $100 or $50 plus costume discounts for your school. CLICK HERE to learn more.

Tonight is the night for romantic dinners, flowers, cards and for some of you lovely ladies…possibly a wedding proposal?!   However, just because today is known as the “Lover’s Holiday”, doesn’t mean you have to be in a relationship to celebrate and enjoy Valentine’s Day. 

Who says you have to have a significant other to have fun today!  The holiday is supposed to be about spending time with someone you love, someone that means a lot to you.  That can be your best friend or neighbor or even your grandma or grandpa! 

Children even celebrate the holiday by making cards that say, “be my Valentine” and give them out to all their classmates and friends during their annual Valentine’s Day party at school.  We spent the weekend making Valentine’s Day boxes out of old shoe boxes and aluminum foil.  I’m beginning to think kids enjoy getting ready for the holiday a lot more than adults do!

So this year for Valentine’s Day, show that special someone how much they mean to you.  Take them out to dinner, pick them a bouquet of flowers or just stop by their house and let them know you’re thinking of them.  Show that special person in your life how much you love them!