Happy 2011!

I hope everybody had a happy and healthy start into 2011!
What is your resolution for the new year? Being healthier? Greener? More environmentally aware? Losing weight? Losing bad habits?
Mine for this year simply was to get healthy again. That's right - I was hit by the flu right around Christmas and just vegetated in bed for about a week. Yuck!
Honestly, at the end of the year I had that kind of feeling like what the heck is going on? Is the holistic, organic lifestyle working or what??? Why do I get the flu, and then so bad?

Then again, who knows how I would have felt if I didn't live so healthy... Don't even want to think about that, felt bad enough as it was :-)
In any case, I do start feeling better finally (yeah!) and wanted to share my mad scientist experience with you:
you know, when I had the flu, I was in really bad shape - my nose turned into a raw piece of meat (when I told this to my husband he laughed, saying what a nice analogy from a vegetarian. Haha!). Also, my usually full and hydrated lips turned into some kind of totally dry pieces of something, with the skin ripping off,  burning like hell and hurting all day, no matter what I did.
I spare you any more details, but these I think are the most common during winter, for everybody fighting a cold or flu.
Pure desperation got me in the kitchen, experimenting with different cures to help especially my super-dry lips.
I tried:
* a paste of baking soda and water
* salt peeling
* sugar peeling
* a paste of sugar and coconut oil
* pure coconut oil
* olive oil

And this is what kind of helped me a little bit: rubbing in the paste of sugar and coconut, and then applying pure olive oil. Olive oil also soothes rough noses :-)

I hope everybody else out there is and stays healthy. And for the green resolutions - just remember that every little step in the right direction helps. We can't be perfect (as my very wise father-in-law put it: no matter what you do, there's always people who do a better job), but we can start trying to make a difference!
Just at the end of the year I went to Starbucks with my older son  - usually we prefer the local stores, but that day only big chains were open. I didn't bring a cup, because the local stores serve in real cups. And then - SURPRISE! - the guy at the counter offered me my drink in a real cup when he heard that we were staying!
I didn't even know that option existed! I also looked around and saw nobody else with a real cup, even though the cafe was packed with people.
I jumped on that, saying to the staff that they should announce and offer this more clearly. I sure hope they will.

In any case, it's a good start. Again, every little bit helps! Oh, and if you can't live without your coffee-to-go, remember to bring your own cup, it'll save so much garbage over the course of the year.

To a green 2011!