Changes after my honeymoon to Paris

Well, traveling to Paris for our honeymoon really changed me. I realized some new things and I've had a lot to think about. I have written several posts already about what I learned about Europe, Paris and French Girls but here is what I am going to do about it.

1. Quit the clean plate club: from this day on, I will not have to finished off my entire plate.
2. Eat smaller portions of everything: also, from this day on, I will put smaller portions on my plate.
3. Eat in good restaurants once a month and never order out food again. 
4. Eat supper later: in France, they don't eat supper until 8:30-9pm which is completely against how we eat in North America. We usually eat supper between 5-6pm. We are going to start eating supper at 6:30pm. This also gives me a chance to cook as I get home around 5:15pm.
5. Drink wine more often: we already do drink wine at least once a month and with important meals, but we should have a few glasses of wine with supper every week. It's relaxing and it makes each meal special.
6. Eat real food: we hardly saw any packaged or processed foods in Paris and that really struck us. Why do we need engineered food? From now on, we are going to eat as real as we can get. This means butter instead of margarine, sea salt and homemade jams. In other words, Clean Eating.
7. Spend the time to cook: we love to cook and I miss doing it because I get home so late. In university I cooked every day after class and it was my way of starting the evening. I should do that again. This also means that we will stop buying any pre-made meals as they are full of salt.
8. Drink better coffee: I always thought that espresso was too strong for me. I was used to my watered-down American coffee with milk and sugar. That is until I tried an espresso with a cube of sugar. That is now my drink of choice!
9. Switch to cubed sugar: all of the sugar in Paris was either in cubes or sticks instead of a sugar bowl. I like this idea because the sugar is portioned so we bought some cubed sugar for our coffee.
10. Spend the money on good clothes: I saw lots of French girls wearing good clothes. They wore nice scarfs and good quality coats and shoes. If I save up money and spend it on more expensive, better quality items then this is better than 10 cheap shirts. 
11. Go out and do things in Ottawa: we need to be a part of the life here in the city. We want to be part of the Remembrance Day ceremonies on November 11th, go to ballet and opera performances at the NAC and see the fireworks on Parliament Hill for Canada Day.
12. Have French weeks: I really want to maintain my language level and that means committing to our French weeks. What we do is speak French for one week at home (all of the time, even over the phone) then we speak English for a week.
13. Get more exercise: not just in working out on the treadmill but also in everyday things. I will walk more on an everyday basis such as walking home from the bus station (15 minute walk) instead of taking a bus and I will take the stairs instead of the elevator at work. Little things like this. 
14. Just do it: are you thinking of going somewhere or doing something? What is holding you back? Those are questions I have been asking myself this year as part of the 2011 Experiment and it's a mantra that I want to continue.