101 Things in 1001 Days

It’s a new year.

Hello again. I am not very consistent with this whole blogging thing. It’s a work in progress and I honestly had no idea what I was getting into when I started this blog more than a year and a half ago, but I strive to bring you quality posts.

2013 came and went. I didn’t feel like I accomplished much. It was a huge adjustment year for me. I was figuring out my first professional job, living on my own in the real world, and living with my boyfriend. They don't prepare you for all of that in college. I also did a whole 9 blog posts...sad day. Now that I am starting to figure all that other stuff out, I want to get out of this rut I have been in. I don’t want that to feel like that again in 2014.

I was inspired by Mackenzie Horan of Design Darling to create a list of 101 things to do in 1001 days (that’s 2.74 years if you don’t want to do the math). I have never been one that has kept, or actually made New Year's resolutions, but this seemed to be be a way to have a longer time period to attain goals that are always on my mind.

Because I love lists, I divided the list into seven sections: Food and Cooking, Traveling and Exploring, Health and Fitness, Cleaning and Organizing, Personal, Financial, and Blogging.

Start Date: February 17, 2014

End Date: November 14, 2016

Food and Cooking

1. Try eating out at 5 new cuisines

2. Try cooking 5 new cuisines

3. Cook at least one recipe from all of my cookbooks

4. Make a turkey dinner with all the fixings

5. Cook something with fresh fava beans

6. Bake bread from scratch

7. Make fresh pasta

8. Make fresh ravioli

9. Make a homemade pie

10. Make creme brûlée 

11. Make homemade waffles

12. Make dolmas

13. Make pickles

14. Jar jam

15. Host a dinner party

Traveling and Exploring

16. Do 25 of the 50 cards in the City Walks: San Francisco Deck

17. Hike to Sutro Tower

18. See Bay Lights

19. Go to a Giants game

20. Walk across the Golden Gate Bridge

21. Take a ferry to Angel Island

22. Go star gazing

23. Watch a meteor shower

24. Go wine tasting in Napa

25. Go to Yosemite

26. Go to Seattle 

27. Go to NYC and eat at a Jewish deli

28. Stay in a bed and breakfast

29. Go berry or apple picking

30. Go wakeboarding and actually get up

31. Go skiing

32. Watch the sunrise and sunset in the same day

33. Visit the snow and sand in one day

34. See world's tallest/biggest something random

35. Take a photo of the same place every month for year and then turn it into a calendar for the next year

36. Photograph a landscape from the same location, capturing all four seasons & frame them together

Health and Fitness

37. Walk 10,000 steps a day for a month

38. Drink 64 oz water a day for a month

39. Do physical therapy exercises for my back twice a day for three months

40. Go on walks after dinner at least once a week for two months

41. Go to the gym 3 times a week for three months

42. Hike once a week for two months

43. Sign up for ballet class

44. Do a 5K

45. Do 30 day plank challenge 

46. Run a 7.5 minute mile

47. Do 20 push-ups at once

48. Improve posture

Cleaning and Organizing

49. “Spring clean” the closet and dressers

50. Clean out dining room and living room

51. Clean out desk

52. Clean out bathroom

53. Go through old magazines and recycle

54. Organize all of the magazine tear outs and recipes

55. Organize iTunes

56. Organize photos

57. Go through old documents on old computer

Personal

58. Join a local library

59. Research new computer

60. Invest and buy new computer

61. Frame and hang my diploma

62. Get to work before 8:30 for 4 weeks in a row

63. Start enjoying breakfast at home with a cup of tea before work

64. Do hair and makeup everyday before work

65. Learn conversational spanish

66. Have a romantic date night/day once a week

67. Fill a sketchbook 

68. Watercolor

69. Paint a canvas

70. Learn how to do nail art

71. Learn how to arrange flowers

72. Successfully grow and keep an herb garden

73. Successfully grow and keep a succulent garden

74. Make use of our patio

75. Buy a new couch

76. Buy a new coffee table

77. Buy a new dining room table

78. Make a habit to eat dinner at the dining room table instead of in front of the tv

79. Go thrifting/flea market and find something I need/have been looking for

80. Volunteer at a food bank

81. Start and finish at least a 1000 piece puzzle

82. Read 5 novels

83. Get a haircut

84. Buy everyday earrings that don't turn my ears green

85. Send out Christmas cards

86. Take a digital photography class

87. Document one month of my life in photos.

88. Take a self portrait photo everyday

89. Inspire someone to create their own list

Financial 

90. Pay off one student loan

91. Save 6 months of salary

92. Open an investment account

Blogging

93. Set a blogging schedule and stick to it.

94. Start a weekly series on my blog

95. Create blog logo

96. Create blog color scheme

97. Redesign page layouts of blog

98. Gain 100 followers on blog

99. Learn HTML/CSS

100. Decide on buying domain name and web hosting and switching to Wordpress

101. Blog about every accomplishment.

What would be on your list?

I am thankful for all of you that follow and support me. Here’s to a great year and an exciting 1001 days. For every goal that I achieve, I will share my experience of it. Hopefully there will be 101 posts coming at you, as well as delicious recipes and maybe the start of a series. 

Swedish Pancakes

I am sitting on my patio, sipping iced tea soaking in the last moments of summer. Okay, actually I am not sipping iced tea, I am drinking sparkling water, but this seems like more of an iced tea moment right now, so let's just pretend. The quiet breeze and crisp blue skies scream that fall is on its way in the Bay Area, but I just want to hold on to the long days and late sunsets for a little longer. Where did the time go this summer. Last time I posted it was June! What happened?!? I have been so busy at work the past few months, that I haven’t had time to blog at all. I have barely had time to get dinner on the table. Breakfast in my stomach before I leave is out of the question. I need to find the balance of work, blogging, and the simpler things in life because I have been a little bit too addicted to my phone lately.

This breakfast is the perfect opportunity for slowing down and taking it easy. I have been enjoying Swedish Pancakes since I was a wee one. It was even the dish I picked to be in my Brownie Troop's Cookbook. My father decided to include a delightfully embarrassing quote about my love for them. I mean, I was notorious for gobbling down two, before my mom had a bite of her first one. I apparently thought that boarding house rules applied...even though I ate the most and was the fastest.

Swedish Pancakes are traditionally served with jams or jellies, but my family always served them with fresh berries. Weekend breakfasts usually allowed for something more exciting than cereal and toast and this was my favorite pick. I especially loved when we were able to use the Boysenberries from our garden. My boyfriend’s family eats Swedish Pancakes every year for Christmas morning. In my opinion, that is not often enough. I need my fix more than once a year. But then again, I am a little crazy when it comes to Swedish Pancakes.

Collaborating with The Stern Grove Festival

I am super excited to announce that I will be collaborating with the Stern Grove Festival on Pinterest to create an awesome ideas board of "What to Bring" to the concerts.

The Stern Grove Festival had been going on for the last seventy six years. It was founded by Rosalie M. Stern, who gave the park to the City of San Francisco in honor of her late husband. She envisioned the park to host diverse performing arts events that would always be free to the public. This is still true today and every Sunday from June until August they host free performances beginning at 2 pm.

Photo by Scott Wall and courtesy of the Stern Grove Festival

I am looking forward to seeing the San Francisco Ballet at the end of July and will be attending the San Francisco Symphony next weekend. Check out the schedule for the rest of the summer here.

Photo by Scott Wall and courtesy of the Stern Grove Festival

For updates and to stay in the know, follow the Stern Grove Festival on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

In the coming weeks, I will be coming up with some great picnic recipes and sharing them with you. But while you wait, you can make the following for your picnic enjoyment.

Orzo with Roasted Vegetables

Watermelon and Feta Salad

Guacamole

Chocolate Chip Cookies

So if you are in the Bay Area, come experience this great historic event!

Photo by Scott Wall and courtesy of the Stern Grove Festival

The 76th Season Artwork is by Jeff Canham is courtesy of the Stern Grove Festival

Sunset Celebration Weekend

Last weekend was the Sunset Celebration Weekend at their headquarters in Menlo Park. I went last year with Ryan. It was a great little introduction to the Bay Area for us. We only went one day last year and saw the fabulous Joy the Baker do a presentation. This year, we had a better understanding of the whole event and went both days. I made it sound like so much fun that my parents even came from So Cal to see what it was all about. We had a great time going to different talks, checking out the Sunset Reimagine House, sampling the food trucks, and trying to stay out of the heat.  Here are some of the highlights from the weekend.

Got a retweet from GE. No big deal. :-)

Notebook ready for the day.

Susan Feniger made 4 recipes from her new street food cookbook. Sunset said that was a new record for 30 minutes.

Watched the ever-charming Fabio Viviani make fresh egg pasta and lazy meatballs. I actually let out a little yelp when he came out to check out his station. (He's better looking in person than I thought he would be). I really need to go to his restaurant in Moorpark next time I am in So Cal.

He even threw some pasta dough into the audience.

Strawberry Caprese Pasta

Happy Memorial Day Weekend! I hope that you all had a great weekend! I went to the California Delta with the boyfriend and his fam. Post to come later. What did you all do?

For the previous four memorial day weekends, I have gone to the Arroyo Grande Strawberry Weekend. It is a fun-filled weekend of food, sun, vendors, and of course strawberries. One year my friends and I decided to throw a strawberry festival after-party. We had strawberry shortcake, chocolate dipped strawberries, and of course strawberry margaritas.