Last week of the Year!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas. It always goes by so fast though! As I look ahead to the New Year, I can’t believe another year has flown by! My oldest son graduated from 8th grade and started high school, my daughter got her ears pierced this year and played t-ball, my son Mark has surpassed me in height and excelled in Middle School. It’s this time of the year when I realize I didn’t take enough time to enjoy each moment. Sometimes you just get into a routine with school, homework, work, cooking, cleaning and before you know it months have gone by!

So here are a few resolutions I will be making this year:

Of course, always on the list, is to lose more weight. I did pretty good by the middle of the year, I was down 27 pounds, but I will not lie, I’m pretty sure I’m 10 pounds up from that. (I hate when that happens!)

I would love to revamp my blog this year, organize my recipes better so they are easier to find.

Still profile weight loss success stories. If you’ve lost weight I would love to hear from you and post a story

Try more ethnic foods. We had lunch catered at my office last week, and believe it or not, I had Indian food for the very first time, and I loved it! My favorite is a dish my sister makes which is chicken tiki masala. So good! Other countries I would like to cook from, are Vietnam, Greece, and Thailand.

I would also like to increase my spice cabinet. Cardamom, real vanilla beans, smoked paprika, etc…

And on a more personal note, spend more time talking with my kids, go out on dates with my husband (no kids!) and see friends and family more.

What are your new years resolutions? Do you make any? Do you follow through?

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On another note, this may be of interest to some of you. Did you know right now, there is an effort to find a food blogger to accompany 2 chefs from Pei Wei Asian Diner on an a 15 day, 5 country tour to taste foods and for the chefs to get some new ideas? Thailand, Vietnam, China, Japan and Korea!!! Check out the article HERE

Here is an excerpt from the article about this great opportunity:

The company is calling for applications from wannabe food and travel bloggers for its Blog Asia opportunity. Pei Wei will contract the winner to travel with Justice (one of the chefs of Pei Wei) for 15 days from late February to early March, eating everything he eats and documenting through stories, pictures, and video.

“One of the more unique attributes about Pei Wei that our guests find appealing is that we offer dishes and flavors from five countries across Asia,” says Terry Haley, vice president of marketing for Pei Wei. “Blog Asia allows us to really give them more of an insider’s perspective of where those dishes are coming from, and how our chefs experience them overseas and then bring them back to enjoy it.”

Asian Blog applicants must include a bio and sample blog posts, and the company suggests including photo and video samples as well. Haley says Pei Wei will be looking for a blogger who can relate to, engage with, and entertain the everyday Pei Wei consumer.

So, get your passport ready and apply! What a great experience that would be, huh?

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And one more thing. I have the privilege of helping out a company called eKwipper build the lifestyle section of their site with recipes, articles about food, chefs, travel, etc…So, if you are a food blogger and would like to submit something you’ve posted already taht fits any of those categories, just e-mail me the links at slim-shoppin@comcast.net and you get full credit. It’s a super fun project and I am having a great time with it!

Have a wonderful day!