400 Day Update

Hello Day 400! Well, I missed the 200 and 300 day update and all of my progress posts in between...Let’s see if I can do better in the next 100 days.

I sit on my porch (#74 is still far from being accomplished) trying to figure out where to start. We had a whirlwind of a summer with almost every weekend booked going on various trips or having friends and family visit. I am not really sure where the time went. I am still convinced that July did not happen. I mean I seriously do not know where the time went. But none the less, 2014 has come and gone and we are fully into 2015. I might still have trouble believing it is already the end of March. I have been so consumed in my job that the weekend rolls around and I just collapse. What once was an adventure almost every weekend is now a Netflix or DVR marathon. 

Let’s see what I have accomplished since my last post, to make me feel a little better…

Accomplished:

25. Go to Yosemite

30. Go Wakeboarding and actually get up

92. Open an investment account

19. Go to a Giants game

90. Pay off one student loan

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

77. Buy a new dining table

20. Walk across the Golden Gate Bridge (again)

16 down...85 to go (I basically need to complete 1 task a week for the rest of the challenge)

In progress:

-I have taken all of the photos for #36 and just need to frame them together

-The self portrait goal (#88) was not a fully thought out goal. I need to use a tripod for that and it takes up so much room in our tiny apartment. It also makes for a really awkward story when people come over...I think this one is going to be unaccomplished (but can I just replace it with one of my additional accomplishments?? Yes. Okay, thanks.)

-Even though I created the goal to pay off one student loan (#90), I have been motivated to pay off my other one and will be making my last student loan payment next month.

-I finally picked up my Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy again and hope that I can finish just 1 novel in the near future! (#82)

-I started my 1000 piece puzzle (#81)! Man, I picked a challenging one. I think 60% of the pieces are in...but I have the hardest parts left...

Next ones to tackle in the next 100 days:

-Watercolor (#68)

-Paint a canvas (#69)

-Bake bread from scratch (#6)…I really miss baking and need to start doing it more. It was therapeutic and relaxing for me. 

-Take a ferry to Angel Island (#21)

-Join a local library (#58)

-Make use of our patio (#74)

-Make a habit to eat dinner at the dining room table instead of in front of the TV (#78)

I want to continue to work towards:

-Filling a sketchbook (#67)

-Learning conversational Spanish (#65)

-Reading 5 novels (#82)

-A better and more consistent fitness routine (#39, #40, #41)

Additional accomplishments:
104. Entered a photo in a county fair (and won!)

100 Day Update

Wow, I can't believe it has been 100 days since I posted my list. It's been fun working towards a new set of goals everyday. I don't think I was fully prepared for life after college...thinking about it though, I am not really sure anyone is. I grew up knowing that I was going to go to college, graduate, get married and have kids. I don't think I anticipated that the graduation to marriage thing potentially would have a larger gap than I expected, which I am okay with, I just didn't come up with an "in-between" plan. I like plans. Plans and lists. Lists and plans. Sometimes spontaneity.  

I think this list is a great way for me to focus on personal things that I want to accomplish in the next couple of years. I feel like I have made a lot of progress in the first portion of this challenge to myself. Some are still a work in progress, and some I haven't even touched (which are the same ones that have been on random to-do lists for years...who really wants to organize their iTunes?)

Even though I have checked a lot off of my list, I haven't been able to fully cross them off because I haven't written a post about them. The couch post took me awhile of gathering old pictures, so hopefully the upcoming posts will be published faster.

This is where I am at so far:

Accomplished:
75. Buy a new couch
28. Stay in a bed and breakfast
49. "Spring clean" to closet and dressers
86. Take a digital photography class
18. See Bay Lights
42. Hike once a week for two months
83. Get a haircut
61. Frame and hang diploma

In progress:
 - I have printed and hung my list on my door so I can always see it and be inspired.
- I have come up with a fitness calendar to schedule out physical therapy (#39), walks (#40), and the gym (#41). After that, I will move on to training for a 5K. Did I mention I hate running?
- I have taken the spring photo for the seasons photos frame (#36). This task might harder to accomplish (or see any change) since we don't really have seasons in California.
- I began taking a photo at the same place every month, but I need to choose a location a little closer. Getting across the Golden Gate Bridge every month isn't that feasible (#35).
- I took a self portrait everyday for about a month or more (#88). I am going to figure out how to modify this goal, maybe a picture once a month or once a week. Because right now, I can just tell that I look tired without makeup and my hair done and brighter with makeup on and no frizzy hair.
- I am getting more and more frustrated with my student loans and am doing everything I can to get those paid off (#90).
- I bought a sketchbook and have begun drawing. Apparently I am better at drawing cats than flowers at this point (#67).
- We bought tickets to a Giants vs. Padres game in September with our friends from San Diego (#19)

Additional Accomplishments:
102. Was in a photography show
103. Learned how to play bocce ball

Here's to the next 100 days! Cheers!

75. Buy a new couch

This is the story of my $20 couch. It was the first thing I bought for my first apartment and the first thing I ever bought off of Craigslist. 

I got it the summer before my second year of college. My friends and I were leaving the dorms and moving into an apartment. Big step into adulthood. Most of the apartment was hand me downs from our parents, but we needed to get a couch. I found this awesome gem on Craigslist and it was only 10 minutes north of San Luis Obsipo. So here started the tradition of finding a guy with a truck and paying him with food and beer.

Every year we moved the couch from the apartment, to the local storage unit for the summer. And this couch was HEAVY! It was solid and took falls like a champ (which you will see in a minute).

And as you can see, this couch wasn’t the prettiest thing you have ever seen. We tried to be classy and cover it with some black fabric from the LA Fashion District and cute pillows. Looking back it was not classy.

But the best thing about this couch was it was the comfiest couch to sleep on! Our friend crashed at our place on this couch for over a week during our sophomore year of college and we all had our share of great naps on this couch.

After graduation, Ryan and I moved the couch to the Bay Area. Everyone told us we needed to get rid of it, but we had a small issue with our cats. You see, when Ryan first got the cats he had a crappy leather couch and let them scratch it. But once you let them scratch one couch, they scratch all couches.

It got so bad that I had to sew old sheets onto the two worst spots to prevent them from eating the couch foam.

We finally had enough of adjusting the fabric everyday and resewing the holes. We decided to get an Ikea couch because it was the most affordable and if the cats did scratch it, we could buy a new cover. 

But somehow, they finally discovered the scratching wave that we got them over a year ago and love scratching that, rather than just using it for naps.

We love our new couch! We can’t believe that it took us this long to buy a new one.

Date Completed: January 25, 2014 [ yes, my I published my list on February 17, but I am going to give myself this one because I started creating my list on August 5, 2013 and this was a major accomplishment for me. I'll do an extra one to make up for it ;-) ]

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.