one more month!

So I have just one more month left in my 30s and while there are a couple of things on here that I know for a fact I'm not going to force myself to complete in time, it's definitely been successful where the "big" things are concerned. I also recognize that the things that may have gotten in my proverbial way were all welcome additions to my 29th year. That's just life and I like to roll with the punches. I still have some big plans for the next few weeks and some even bigger ones for my 30th year (stay tuned), but I have some definite updates to make to my list before I lose track...

1. Start taking an exercise class at least once a week
   - This one has definitely fluctuated, but I've been better than usual about at least getting myself to the gym.
2. Go on at least 2 hikes
    - I've gone on one official hike so yay me! I'll have to ask Bettina what that place was called. I think it was maybe in the Palisades? Regardless, it was certainly pretty!
    -
3. Cook at least 3 different recipes from 3 different cultures...ideas welcome!
    1.

    2.

    3.
4. Work on my writing at least 4 days per month
    - Another one that has simply not happened, but I have been working on it a little so we have improvement if nothing else...
5. Try at least 5 foods I've never tried before

   - 1. Fried green tomatoes (verdict: pretty good, but I mean, c'mon, it's fried.)

   - 2. Caviar (verdict: not as bad as I thought it would be...)

   - 3. Real Acai in Brazil - like a yogurty-sorbet-type thing eaten with bananas and granola. Super good!

   - 4. Pamonha - both sweet and savory types exist (I had both) and it's kind of like a corn pudding or polenta of sorts. It's cooked and served in a corn husk and it delicious!

   - 5. Caju - this one is strange and you can only get it in Brazil or countries where they grow cashews. It's the fruit that the cashew nut comes from and can't be imported in other countries due to its delicate exterior. I will say, not my favorite, but interesting.
6. Successfully plant a variety of veggies in my vegetable garden and reap the "fruits" of my labor...
   - This one is sort of a fail. I meant to plant some new ones this year, but just haven't gotten around to it. However, this random bell pepper plant that I gave up for dead last season, pulled through not being watered or even remotely taken care of and now has a large pepper growing on it! That is some serious determination to live. Either that or it's some freaky sub-species that subsists on smog and dust...maybe I should leave the little tyke alone and see what mutant form it takes on next...
7. Go Vegan for one week
   - DONE! This was a total success.
8. Eat at (at least) 10 new places in LA
   - 1. La Provence in Brentwood - love this place. An adorable French cafe with delicious brunch choices, but I even go just for their amazing lattes and macarons now.
   - 2. Bigg Chill - froyo place that always has a line out the door. Not good! I don't understand. Give me Pinkberry or Yogurtland anyday.
   - 3. Scoops - now this is what I'm talking about! An ice cream shop that sells amazing flavors - made fresh every day so you never know what you'll get. We've sampled quite a few now and they have all been delish! Not the cutest spot so I won't say go for the decor, but definitely worth stopping by for a yummy treat.
   - 4. Bouchon - now this is gooood eats. Sash took me here for our anniversary dinner and not only is this place beautiful, but the food is fantastic and the bread...oh the bread. I think they've since opened a bakery and I can hear it calling my name.

   - 5. Hokkaido - chain restaurant of Asian fusion in a buffet-style setting. Nothing overly fancy or fussy, but decent food. Good for big groups especially.

   - 6. BAD Sushi - ok, I agree. Who the heck puts "bad" in the name of any restaurant? I know, they're asking for a beating. And while their sushi isn't the best I've ever had or anything like that, it was definitely good nonetheless. 

   - 7. Soot Bul Gui Rim 2 - worst name ever right? Well, it is in Korean so it's not very catchy and easy to remember for those with American vocabularies. That being said, the food was pretty delish if you are the Korean BBQ fan...which I totally am.

   - 8. The Glendon - super close to my house so I can't believe it took me so long to get there, but of course, it took friends visiting and choosing to get me there. Anyway, nice ambiance, great brunch and hello sweet potato tater tots and bottomless mimosas!

   - 9.

   - 10.

9. Paint at least 2 paintings 
10. Visit at least 10 new cities
   - 1. Atlanta, Georgia
   - 2. Savannah, Georgia
   - 3. Charleston, South Carolina
   - 4. Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

   - 5. Wilmington, North Carolina 

   - 6. Raleigh, North Carolina

   - 7. Temecula, California

   - 8. Pala, California

   - 9. San Diego, California (can you believe that I don't think I'd ever been here before??!)

   - 10. Goiania, Brazil

11. Try acupuncture as a remedy for my allergies and acid reflux in hopes that I can ditch the pills
   - Yup! I've gone to one appointment and have another coming up soon. Don't know if I can confirm it yet, but I went in for the first one during a particularly painful bout of acid stomach and by the end of the hour long appointment, I was feeling much better. Oddly, the acupuncturist said that the areas to treat allergies and acid reflux are quite similar. Coincidence?
    - Update: have since gone again and found it relaxing and overall helpful. Hopefully I'll someday be able to go a little more regularly to see if the results can be longer-lasting, but I definitely think there is something to be said for it.
12. Learn how to more professionally use my camera in manual mode
    - I've definitely had a little more practice, but I would like to still get better.
13. Study my family's genealogy and learn more about my own personal history
   - Yes. In a big way. This is probably a post of its own...
14. Study Farsi and learn a little more than food terms and good manners ;)
15. Send 15 hand-written cards/letters in the good, old-fashioned post
16. Visit some sort of farm (thinking maybe cherries) where I can pick my own fruit off the trees
   - Oddly, I did visit one (nearby a potential wedding venue), however, I forgot this was on my list and didn't pick anything! Shoot!
    - Not in the way I meant to, but I did go back to this farm to get our pumpkins this Halloween and they were grown right there in the patch. Probably a stretch, but hey. Still a farm. ;)
17. Watch the sun rise...honestly, I don't know the last time I saw one.
   - Have been up early enough to watch the sun rise three times already. I wouldn't say that it's a practice I like in general. ;)
18. Leave 10 anonymous "smiles" in 10 library books for future readers to find
19. Give five people one of my favorite books and tell them why I love it and why I hope they will too
20. Read at least 20 books in 2011
   1. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
   2. The Winter Rose by Jennifer Donnelly

   3. The Paris Wife by Paula McLain

   4. Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross

   5. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

   6. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley

   7. Things I've Been Silent About by Azar Nafisi

   8. Bossypants by Tina Fey

   9. The Oracle of Stamboul by Michael David Lukas

   10. Dead End Gene Pool by Wendy Burden

   11. Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

   12. The Blind Contessa's New Machine by Carey Wallace

   13. Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

   14. My Name is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira

   15. Peyton Place by Grace Metalious

   16. Dreams of Joy by Lisa See

   17. Ape House by Sara Gruen

   18. Incantation by Alice Hoffman

   19. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

   20. The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb by Melanie Benjamin
   21. Two Kisses for Maddy by Matthew Logelin

   22. Little Princes: One Man's Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal by Conor Grennan

   23. Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger

   24. Beauty Queens by Libba Bray
21. Refurbish an old piece of furniture and turn it in to something beautiful
22. Take the hundreds of printed recipes I have, organize them and create a cookbook with my favorites
23. Go on a hot air balloon ride
   - Oh did I ever! See the post entitled "engaged." ;)
24. Watch every movie that has won the Oscar for Best Picture
   - This is definitely taking more time than I thought, but I've made a dent.
25. Find a new way to store and organize all of my books so that they don't succeed in their plan to take over our house.
26. Go horseback riding
   - Yup and soooo fun! Definitely would love to go again.
27. Redecorate our bedroom
    - Still in MAJOR progress, but our lovely new bed just arrived last week! Yay!
28. Pay off any looming credit debts
   - Pretty good on this front and just hoping that wedding planning doesn't produce any new ones. :)
29. Go to the movies at a drive-in theater
30. Volunteer at least 50 hours in 2011
   - I need to count these up, but I am definitely much more than halfway there! I've volunteered on two school murals and continue to volunteer weekly at the elementary school with The Young Storytellers Foundation.
     - Update: Will do a bigger post on this, but I'm pretty sure I've succeeded on this front.
29 is turning out to be a pretty awesome year in life. :)

a little more than halfway in...

So yesterday marked 7 months into my 29th year so I thought it was about time to see how I'm doing on this little list of mine. I will say I've forgotten about it a little lately, but I've had bigger fish to fry. So let's take a little look:

1. Start taking an exercise class at least once a week
   - I have actually been pretty good about this and have even been taking 2 or 3 most weeks! Now that I have even more motivation coming up, I'll hopefully stick to the pattern. ;) Loving pilates pro/reformer classes.
2. Go on at least 2 hikes
    - I've gone on one official hike so yay me! I'll have to ask Bettina what that place was called. I think it was maybe in the Palisades? Regardless, it was certainly pretty!

3. Cook at least 3 different recipes from 3 different cultures...ideas welcome!
4. Work on my writing at least 4 days per month
5. Try at least 5 foods I've never tried before

   - 1. Fried green tomatoes (verdict: pretty good, but I mean, c'mon, it's fried.)

   - 2.

   - 3.

   - 4.

   - 5.
6. Successfully plant a variety of veggies in my vegetable garden and reap the "fruits" of my labor...
   - This one is sort of a fail. I meant to plant some new ones this year, but just haven't gotten around to it. However, this random bell pepper plant that I gave up for dead last season, pulled through not being watered or even remotely taken care of and now has a large pepper growing on it! That is some serious determination to live. Either that or it's some freaky sub-species that subsists on smog and dust...maybe I should leave the little tyke alone and see what mutant form it takes on next...
7. Go Vegan for one week
   - DONE! This was a total success.
8. Eat at (at least) 10 new places in LA
   - 1. La Provence in Brentwood - love this place. An adorable French cafe with delicious brunch choices, but I even go just for their amazing lattes and macarons now.
   - 2. Bigg Chill - froyo place that always has a line out the door. Not good! I don't understand. Give me Pinkberry or Yogurtland anyday.
   - 3. Scoops - now this is what I'm talking about! An ice cream shop that sells amazing flavors - made fresh every day so you never know what you'll get. We've sampled quite a few now and they have all been delish! Not the cutest spot so I won't say go for the decor, but definitely worth stopping by for a yummy treat.
   - 4. Bouchon - now this is gooood eats. Sash took me here for our anniversary dinner and not only is this place beautiful, but the food is fantastic and the bread...oh the bread. I think they've since opened a bakery and I can hear it calling my name.

   - 5.

   - 6.

   - 7.

   - 8.

   - 9.

   - 10.

9. Paint at least 2 paintings
   - Hmm, not yet though I do have some ideas!
10. Visit at least 10 new cities
   - 1. Atlanta, Georgia
   - 2. Savannah, Georgia
   - 3. Charleston, South Carolina
   - 4. Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

   - 5. Wilmington, North Carolina 

   - 6. Raleigh, North Carolina

   - 7. Temecula, California

   - 8.

   - 9.

   - 10.

11. Try acupuncture as a remedy for my allergies and acid reflux in hopes that I can ditch the pills
   - Yup! I've gone to one appointment and have another coming up soon. Don't know if I can confirm it yet, but I went in for the first one during a particularly painful bout of acid stomach and by the end of the hour long appointment, I was feeling much better. Oddly, the acupuncturist said that the areas to treat allergies and acid reflux are quite similar. Coincidence?
12. Learn how to more professionally use my camera in manual mode
13. Study my family's genealogy and learn more about my own personal history
   - Yes. In a big way. This is probably a post of its own...
14. Study Farsi and learn a little more than food terms and good manners ;)
15. Send 15 hand-written cards/letters in the good, old-fashioned post
16. Visit some sort of farm (thinking maybe cherries) where I can pick my own fruit off the trees
   - Oddly, I did visit one (nearby a potential wedding venue), however, I forgot this was on my list and didn't pick anything! Shoot!
17. Watch the sun rise...honestly, I don't know the last time I saw one.
   - Have been up early enough to watch the sun rise three times already. I wouldn't say that it's a practice I like in general. ;)
18. Leave 10 anonymous "smiles" in 10 library books for future readers to find
19. Give five people one of my favorite books and tell them why I love it and why I hope they will too
20. Read at least 20 books in 2011
   1. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

   2. The Winter Rose by Jennifer Donnelly

   3. The Paris Wife by Paula McLain

   4. Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross

   5. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

   6. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley

   7. Things I've Been Silent About by Azar Nafisi

   8. Bossypants by Tina Fey

   9. The Oracle of Stamboul by Michael David Lukas

   10. Dead End Gene Pool by Wendy Burden

   11. Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

   12. The Blind Contessa's New Machine by Carey Wallace

   13. Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

   14. My Name is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira

   15. Peyton Place by Grace Metalious

   16. Dreams of Joy by Lisa See

   17.

   18.

   19.

   20.
21. Refurbish an old piece of furniture and turn it in to something beautiful
22. Take the hundreds of printed recipes I have, organize them and create a cookbook with my favorites
23. Go on a hot air balloon ride
   - Oh did I ever! See the post entitled "engaged." ;)
24. Watch every movie that has won the Oscar for Best Picture
   - This is definitely taking more time than I thought, but I've made a dent.
25. Find a new way to store and organize all of my books so that they don't succeed in their plan to take over our house.
26. Go horseback riding
   - Yup and soooo fun! Definitely would love to go again.

27. Redecorate our bedroom
28. Pay off any looming credit debts
   - Pretty good on this front though I just somehow managed to get myself a red light traffic ticket notice that was sent to an address I haven't lived at in 3 years! Thus accruing unnecessary fees. Ugh...I'm praying the photo evidence they are sending me will not be sufficient and I can somehow contest. Ridiculousness...
29. Go to the movies at a drive-in theater
30. Volunteer at least 50 hours in 2011
   - I need to count these up, but I am definitely much more than halfway there! I've volunteered on two school murals and continue to volunteer weekly at the elementary school with The Young Storytellers Foundation.

29 is turning out to be a pretty awesome year in life. :)

a temporary vegan, part 1

Part One: A Vegan Breakfast

As promised in my 30 before 30 list, I decided to try veganism for a week. Knowing the issues that could arise by cutting out all "fun food" essentially, I carefully chose a week where I knew I'd have limited events and thus decrease my chances of going out to eat, etc. I also chose to do it from Sunday through the following Saturday so that I had the Saturday before to prepare. That actually didn't even end up happening and instead we went grocery shopping Sunday afternoon (though we did make a late night shop on Saturday real quick to pick up a few things for the next day's first vegan breakfast) since I had sort of packed our Saturday full of fun adventures.

More on that later...

Sunday breakfast, my choice: vegan hash

The best part about this short foray into veggie-land was that I went into it overly prepared. I knew I'd be setting myself (and Sasha) up for failure if I didn't plan, so instead, I knew everything I wanted to buy to make this totally do-able.


On weekdays, Sasha makes breakfast in the mornings before he goes to work (unlike me who prefers a quick coffee and oatmeal or toast at my desk) so I knew we needed options there to make his life easy otherwise he'd quickly break down and out would come the milk and cream cheese. Sorry cows!

Sunday breakfast, Sash's choice: hash browns and vegan sausage

For breakfast then I made sure we had soy and almond milks in the house (we usually do anyway) for cereal, oatmeal was still totally a go-to option, swapped out the normal bread/bagels for Ezekiel bread, and skipped our normal choice of Greek yogurt for the soy and coconut versions. Oh and even though our creamer is non-dairy, I was still worried that it was somehow not vegan so I bought the soy option there too.

Verdict:
- Almond and Soy Milk: we are already fans of both though I will say I don't like almond milk in cereal. It's just too thick especially if you're used to non-fat or 1% like I am. However, it's a tasty beverage on occasion. Soy is preferable in cereal due to its thin consistency, but in my opinion when it comes to cookies, neither option soaks into a cookie when dipped quite like good ol' cow's milk. That being said, I don't eat a lot of cookies with milk so this experiment was purely circumstantial and I can easily do without regular milk.
- Ezekiel Bread: totally good and oh-so-much-better for you! It's a little different texture, but if you toast it you barely notice.
- Tofutti: I didn't eat this, but Sasha swears it's a pretty fair swap for cream cheese.
- Earth's Best: hey, it's margarine - totally fine.
- Vegan Sausage: I forget what brand we bought here. I will say that fake meat is fine, but I don't love it really and can easily just do without.

My work day breakfast: Ezekial bread toasted with raspberry rhubarb jam. Yum!

More on Vegan week soon!

even if you have nothing else to give, you can still give your time

A pic I took of one of my kids' scripts.

I've always been very passionate about volunteering. I love helping people of course, but there's something more than that. When you take a couple hours out of your day to do something for someone else, you're completely transported. I don't care what the project is. The feeling is the same.

For instance, I volunteer every semester for the Young Storytellers organization (check it out here: http://youngstorytellers.com). For that one hour, every Wednesday that I leave my job and go to an elementary school and work with a child, I don't think of myself or my responsibilities even once. What a gift. It's honestly rejuvenating. The program itself is awesome - I work with my "mentee" for about 7 weeks on a script of his/her choosing, work with the other mentors on teaching the whole group of 10 kids about storytelling and writing in general and then at the end of the program, we bring actors to their school who in turn act out all of the kids' screenplays. It's truly amazing to see their faces at the end when they see their imaginings come to life on the stage. I gain new insight on things just by being surrounded by kids, get to spread the love I have for reading and writing, and simultaneously I help a child realize his/her potential. How amazing is that? I love it and have been with the organization for 2 years now.

Which brings me to accounting for one of the things on my 30 before 30 list - at least 50 hours of volunteer work this year. Even though it's much more than the hours I'm going to allot myself here, I think for this session of YST, I'll say I get 10 hours of service. An hour a week, plus a few hours for "The Big Show" and not to mention the typing and editing of my kid's script at the end.

So for now, I'm 10 hours into my goal. Not too shabby and I have a bunch more projects in the works. Next week begins another so I'll keep you all posted!

In the meantime, get out there and volunteer! No matter what you choose to get involved in, you'll never be sorry you did. And, if you ever need help getting started or need an idea of what to do, feel free to ask me! I love this kind of thing so I'm more than happy to help.

One tip to get started: think of the things you like to do. Do you enjoy gardening or working outside, but live in an apartment and don't have a yard. Be good to yourself then while at the same time helping the environment. There are all sorts of tree-planting organizations out there (I know, I've done it before and it's awesome!) or maybe find a school that needs volunteers to help with their gardens. There are all sorts of projects out there for all kinds of people with all types of interests. Who ever said volunteering had to be all work and no play.

Have fun with it and be kind to your community. :)

and the best picture goes to...

...some pretty strange movies. Ha. I've seen a lot of these, but if I don't remember what it's about, I've decided not to count it. My I have a lot of movies to watch. Good thing I have Netflix!

• 2010 - "The King's Speech"
• 2009 - "The Hurt Locker"
• 2008 - "Slumdog Millionaire"
• 2007 - "No Country for Old Men"
• 2006 - "The Departed"
• 2005 - "Crash"
• 2004 - "Million Dollar Baby"
• 2003 - "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King"
• 2002 - "Chicago"
• 2001 - "A Beautiful Mind"
• 2000 - "Gladiator"
• 1999 - "American Beauty"
• 1998 - "Shakespeare in Love"
• 1997 - "Titanic"
• 1996 - "The English Patient"
• 1995 - "Braveheart"
• 1994 - "Forrest Gump"
• 1993 - "Schindler’s List"
• 1992 - "Unforgiven"
• 1991 - "The Silence of the Lambs"
• 1990 - "Dances With Wolves"
• 1989 - "Driving Miss Daisy"   watched on 4/23/11
• 1988 - "Rain Man"
• 1987 - "The Last Emperor"
• 1986 - "Platoon"
• 1985 - "Out of Africa"
• 1984 - "Amadeus"
• 1983 - "Terms of Endearment"

• 1982 - "Gandhi"
• 1981 - "Chariots of Fire"
• 1980 - "Ordinary People"
• 1979 - "Kramer vs. Kramer"
• 1978 - "The Deer Hunter"
• 1977 - "Annie Hall"
• 1976 - "Rocky"
• 1975 - "One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest"
• 1974 - "The Godfather Part II"
• 1973 - "The Sting"
• 1972 - "The Godfather"
• 1971 - "The French Connection"
• 1970 - "Patton"
• 1969 - "Midnight Cowboy"
• 1968 - "Oliver!"
• 1967 - "In the Heat of the Night"
• 1966 - "A Man for All Seasons"
• 1965 - "The Sound of Music"
• 1964 - "My Fair Lady"
• 1963 - "Tom Jones"
• 1962 - "Lawrence of Arabia"
• 1961 - "West Side Story"
• 1960 - "The Apartment"
• 1959 - "Ben-Hur"
• 1958 - "Gigi" watched on 7/24
• 1957 - "The Bridge on the River Kwai"
• 1956 - "Around the World in 80 Days"
• 1955 - "Marty"

• 1954 - "On the Waterfront"
• 1953 - "From Here to Eternity"
• 1952 - "The Greatest Show on Earth"
• 1951 - "An American in Paris"
• 1950 - "All About Eve"
• 1949 - "All the Kings Men"
• 1948 - "Hamlet"
• 1947 - "Gentleman's Agreement"
• 1946 - "The Best Years of Our Lives"
• 1945 - "The Lost Weekend"
• 1944 - "Going My Way"
• 1943 - "Casablanca" watched on 5/14/11
• 1942 - "Mrs. Miniver"
• 1941 - "How Green Was My Valley"
• 1940 - "Rebecca"
• 1939 - "Gone with the Wind"
• 1938 - "You Can't Take It with You"
• 1937 - "The Life of Emile Zola"
• 1936 - "The Great Ziegfeld"
• 1935 - "Mutiny on the Bounty"
• 1934 - "It Happened One Night"
• 1932/1933 - "Cavalcade"
• 1931/1932 - "Grand Hotel"
• 1930/1931 - "Cimarron"
• 1929/1930 - "All Quiet on the Western Front"
• 1928/1929 - "The Broadway Melody"
• 1927/1928 - "Wings"

30 before 30

So yah...this whole blog writing thing isn't going as consecutively as I'd hoped. That being said, I've been doing a lot of "thinking" about writing (ha) and have some big plans. It's just that there is a lot of research involved and organizing to do. But hopefully this post will give me some purpose for stopping by this here blog more frequently while still giving me time to concentrate my efforts on some of the other projects I've already started as well.

Today marks 3 months since I turned 29. So that leaves me 9 months to accomplish what I am about to begin. I like a healthy challenge and I like to set big goals. Dream big friends. What I am about to propose for myself is a nice, long list of things that I want to do before I turn the big 3-0. I just want to look back and know that I made good use of my time. I know I have already, but there is definitely still room for improvement. So here goes...

1. Start taking an exercise class at least once a week
    - So far so good on the pilates front
2. Go on at least 2 hikes
    - I'm not much of a hiker, but there are a few beautiful spots I'd love to try out! Anyone wanna go? ;)
3. Cook at least 3 different recipes from 3 different cultures...ideas welcome!
4. Work on my writing at least 4 days per month
5. Try at least 5 foods I've never tried before
6. Successfully plant a variety of veggies in my vegetable garden and reap the "fruits" of my labor...
7. Go Vegan for one week
8. Eat at (at least) 10 new places in LA
9. Paint at least 2 paintings
10. Visit at least 10 new cities
11. Try acupuncture as a remedy for my allergies and acid reflux in hopes that I can ditch the pills
12. Learn how to more professionally use my camera in manual mode
13. Study my family's genealogy and learn more about my own personal history
14. Study Farsi and learn a little more than food terms and good manners ;)
15. Send 15 hand-written cards/letters in the good, old-fashioned post
16. Visit some sort of farm (thinking maybe cherries) where I can pick my own fruit off the trees
17. Watch the sun rise...honestly, I don't know the last time I saw one.
18. Leave 10 anonymous "smiles" in 10 library books for future readers to find
19. Give five people one of my favorite books and tell them why I love it and why I hope they will too
20. Read at least 20 books in 2011
21. Refurbish an old piece of furniture and turn it in to something beautiful
22. Take the hundreds of printed recipes I have, organize them and create a cookbook with my favorites
23. Go on a hot air balloon ride
24. Watch every movie that has won the Oscar for Best Picture
25. Find a new way to store and organize all of my books so that they don't succeed in their plan to take over our house.
26. Go horseback riding
27. Redecorate our bedroom
28. Pay off any looming credit debts
29. Go to the movies at a drive-in theater
30. Volunteer at least 50 hours in 2011

I'll document my progress as the year goes on and hopefully I'll be able to get all of the above completed by January 11, 2012!