New Year, new me. Just kidding. That’s absolutely not true. There is, however, a new outlook. Do you ever feel like every once in awhile you need to just organize your entire life? Coincidentally, this time, it’s now … when everyone else in the world is making their New Year’s Resolutions. You know, the ones they’ll give up on in a month (or less). Usually, when I get into life organization mode, it’s some time randomly during the year. I have this Aha! Moment when I feel like I’ve either been lazy, unorganized or unmotivated and I just can’t stand myself, or my state of mind. So I start organizing. I revisit my productivity apps, start making grand plans for motivation and and I get on this really great roll… until I don’t anymore.
In the spirit of the New Year — 2020, or should I say, the Roaring 20’s all over again — I’m going on a quest to get my whole life organized. Again. I should mention that I’m not really a resolutions kind of girl. It isn’t that I don’t believe in resolutions. It’s just that once you label said thing “resolution” there’s a tendency to quit somewhere mid January, or before you even start on January 3.
My top Life organizing Apps, in no particular order:
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ToDoist
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If you love lists, this is the ultimate list app. The best part? You can access it on desktop. There’s a free version that works amazingly. I, however, just upgraded to premium because, well, I wanted to play around with some of the added features
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Strides
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It’s basically a life goals tracker. You set your goals and cross them off once you’ve completed them.
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My Fitnesspal
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Calorie counter, recipe calorie calculator, and weight/measurements tracker.
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Autosleep (for apple watch)
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Yes, I sleep with my apple watch on. When I had a Fitbit, i slept with that on too. There’s something about knowing how many actual hours you’re sleeping, how restful your sleep was, and your resting heart rate that makes me feel so much better about myself.
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Life (Female Tracker)
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Let’s just say, I like to know, and I don’t want any surprises. Plus, this could have some real potential when I eventually get married and want to family plan.
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One Note (Microsoft Suite)
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It’s like a digital binder.
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Google Sheets
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I have expense sheets, Blog planner sheets, events planning and tracking sheets, vacation sheets. If it needs research or planning, I have a sheet for it.
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BRB eating Better For You Sheet Pan Carrot Cake while I get my life together.
Ingredients
- 3 cups carrots, grated
- 2 ½ cups Oat Flour
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon allspice (or for more flavor use Pumpkin Spice Mix)
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 2 1/2 cups date paste
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- ¾ cup unsweetened almond milk or Soy Milk
- 1 cup raisins
- ¼ cup shredded coconut
- 1 cup cubed pineapple, canned
- ½ cup walnuts coarsely chopped
- 1 Reduced Fat package cream cheese
- 1 cup icing sugar
- 1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract -- OR 1Tsp Orange Blossom Water
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350?F (180?C).
- Grease a sheet pan with cooking spray and line with parchment paper and set aside
- In a large bowl, sift together the oat flour, cinnamon, allspice (or pumpkin spice), salt, baking powder and baking soda.
- In a separate bowl beat together the date paste, eggs, and almond milk with an electric hand mixer until combined.
- Using the hand mixer, slowly add the set ingredients to the dry ingredients and beat on medium-low speed.
- Stir in the shredded carrots, raisins, pineapple, coconut and walnuts with a rubber spatula until combined.
- Pour the cake batter into the lined baking sheet. Bake for 25-10 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Cool the cake on a cooling rack before serving or frosting
- In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese until fluffy. Slowly add in the icing sugar ½ cup at a time until smooth. Add a tablespoon of milk if you feel the frosting is not creamy enough.
- Scoop the icing onto the cake and using the back of a spatula or spoon, spread the icing over the cake.
