I am a list maker totally and completely. When I make New Year's Resolutions, it's not even the accomplishing that makes me happy - it's just the list making. I LOVE making new lists, even if they become obsolete in a matter of seconds. And so, I found this idea for "30 before 30" - starting at age 25, I've written 30 things I'd like to accomplish by age 30. Unlike most people's ambitious goals of seeing foreign countries or risking one's life in skydiving/bungee jumping/etc., mine are more "goals to help me become a more ME me" by age 30. Or at least...I hope so! Whether I will even accomplish a single goal on here is yet to be seen. But in the mean time, I just LOVE the process!
Personal
1. Find my perfect perfume
2. Do 50 real push ups in a row
3. Create a living will
4. Get a real hair cut
5. Go 1 month without sugar
6. Find a consistent way to journal/blog/share my thoughts
Purchases
7. Own sharp knives
8. Do a "no spend month"
9. Buy flowers from an outdoor market
10. Buy a piano
11. Commission or buy a big piece of art
12. Buy a house
Crafts/Cooking
13. Make a quit
14. Take a craft or home improvement class
15. Sell jewelry I have made (or something else)
16. Do one major home improvement project
17. Perfect a chocolate chip cookie recipe
18. Make a fish recipe that we like and eat occasionally
Hobbies/Travel
19. Be part of a book club
20. Read 50 books in one year
21. Have professional family pictures taken outside
22. Grow a garden
23. Go on a family vacation somewhere where we don't have family
24. Go camping
Service/Relationships
25. Find a name for the temple
26. Remember family birthdays for one year
27. Find a way to do service
28. Have a walking buddy or play group
29. Donate blood
30. Host a party with multiple families
Monday, April 27, 2015
Saturday, March 21, 2015
Roy's Video Post
We've taken a few videos of Roy (mostly from Shenli's much superior phone!), but I have been too lazy to upload them thus far. I was going to post most of them, because I figured we took good videos. But holy cow, I went back and watched them all, and they are boring!! I guess that's because at the beginning, even just seeing Roy smile or move his head was exciting. But now that he moves and makes all sorts of noises, the early stuff is so dull. So these are just some of the more exciting movies lately.
Roy giggling. He used to do this so rarely. But now he does it constantly, even when we're not tickling him!
This is Roy's 'dinosaur face' (no reason why I call it that). He wrinkles up his nose and sniffles.
Roy eating cheerios. This wasn't his first time eating (that was boring), but now that he has eating relatively down, it's so fun.
He LOVES the kitchen for whatever reason. He screams and laughs while scooting around it all the time.
Wednesday, March 18, 2015
Birthday Cheesecake
I love love love that my birthday comes in March. It's almost always the beginning of spring, and so I feel rejuvenated, excited, and motivated to really celebrate! Lately we haven't been celebrating much of holidays (like Christmas, V-day) since Roy makes things just a bit different around these parts. But I really wanted a fun birthday "extravaganza" this year (Is that selfish? Probably...) and so I made every effort to really do the things I/we wanted to. This post should be about cheesecake, but I just want to break down my birthday anyway!
Step 1. Go to Tucanos. I wasn't super sure I wanted this to be my birthday meal, since it isn't exactly my favorite (I don't love buffets since my ideal meal involves having leftovers). But Shenli and I both have March birthdays so we get two of the buy1get1 birthday coupons. So we take our friends, and split the check between boys & girls, and we both get a sweet deal of a meal! This time was particularly good for some reason. The meat was super hot and flavorful, we were practically the only people in the restaurant (4:30 is a great time to go!) and Roy was happy the whole time (except when they sang Happy Birthday super loudly to the neighbor table...).
Step 2. Then right after, go to Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. Shenli had never been to a chocolate store before, and I had some birthday money, so we stopped in! I got a truffle and Shenli got a pecan caramel cluster. His was SO amazing, we'll probably go back for more of those!
Step 3. Take advantage of every free birthday gift. I've apparently signed up for WAY too many store emails, because I got so many of these this year. I didn't use any of the "must buy to get your free gift" ones, but there were plenty of straight-up free ones! I got a free Krispy Kreme (and then bought a dozen more...), a free jamba juice, free makeup at Ulta, and a free Redbox! That made for a fantastic birthday.
Step 4. Watch a kid movie and eat delicious cheesecake and popcorn. We watched Big Hero 6 (LOVED it) with friends and ate this triple chocolate cheesecake. Oh man, so good. Definitely rich, but a great dessert to share with friends! I used this amazing recipe from Easy Baked. I actually bought ingredients for 3 desserts: key lime pie, lemon bundt cake, and this cheesecake because I wasn't sure what I wanted. And while super chocolate desserts aren't usually my favorite (I LOVE fruit desserts, and my birthday is usually the only time I get to make them), this was a winner for sure. I do think I prefer regular white cheesecakes, but this was too fun to pass up!
Step 1. Go to Tucanos. I wasn't super sure I wanted this to be my birthday meal, since it isn't exactly my favorite (I don't love buffets since my ideal meal involves having leftovers). But Shenli and I both have March birthdays so we get two of the buy1get1 birthday coupons. So we take our friends, and split the check between boys & girls, and we both get a sweet deal of a meal! This time was particularly good for some reason. The meat was super hot and flavorful, we were practically the only people in the restaurant (4:30 is a great time to go!) and Roy was happy the whole time (except when they sang Happy Birthday super loudly to the neighbor table...).
Family picture for March - check!
Step 2. Then right after, go to Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. Shenli had never been to a chocolate store before, and I had some birthday money, so we stopped in! I got a truffle and Shenli got a pecan caramel cluster. His was SO amazing, we'll probably go back for more of those!
Step 3. Take advantage of every free birthday gift. I've apparently signed up for WAY too many store emails, because I got so many of these this year. I didn't use any of the "must buy to get your free gift" ones, but there were plenty of straight-up free ones! I got a free Krispy Kreme (and then bought a dozen more...), a free jamba juice, free makeup at Ulta, and a free Redbox! That made for a fantastic birthday.
Step 4. Watch a kid movie and eat delicious cheesecake and popcorn. We watched Big Hero 6 (LOVED it) with friends and ate this triple chocolate cheesecake. Oh man, so good. Definitely rich, but a great dessert to share with friends! I used this amazing recipe from Easy Baked. I actually bought ingredients for 3 desserts: key lime pie, lemon bundt cake, and this cheesecake because I wasn't sure what I wanted. And while super chocolate desserts aren't usually my favorite (I LOVE fruit desserts, and my birthday is usually the only time I get to make them), this was a winner for sure. I do think I prefer regular white cheesecakes, but this was too fun to pass up!
I have to say, I think it photographed quite well too, at least before I cut into it
Sunday, March 15, 2015
Our House in Pictures
I really love seeing other peoples' houses, and dreaming they were mine. Unfortunately (for me, and anyone else who loves dreaming about other peoples' houses), my own apartment is...not that great. When we moved here (last July, so it's not really that new anyway), we took a major upgrade in the way of two bedrooms, ground floor with no one above us, a washer/dryer, and location. But we took a MAJOR downgrade in the form of 1993 (old apt) vs. 1887??? (new apt). Actually I think it's more like 1970, but still! The color scheme of our new apartment is olive green. The carpet is green, the countertops in both kitchen and bathroom are green, and the oven used to be green! But the oven actually broke around Christmastime, so now we have a nice new white oven!
And (excuses excuses...) we haven't purchased that much furniture/decor, mostly because I'm terrible at decorating, but also because I think it's hard to purchase decor until we live in a nice/real/normal house and have color schemes the way we want and know we'll be settled for a while! So until then...here is our semi-decent apartment!
*p.s. these are unedited, unstyled, normal pictures of our house. It is clean, but I made no extra effort to hide things we normally keep out, and as you can see, Roy gets to be in every picture. Haha!
And (excuses excuses...) we haven't purchased that much furniture/decor, mostly because I'm terrible at decorating, but also because I think it's hard to purchase decor until we live in a nice/real/normal house and have color schemes the way we want and know we'll be settled for a while! So until then...here is our semi-decent apartment!
*p.s. these are unedited, unstyled, normal pictures of our house. It is clean, but I made no extra effort to hide things we normally keep out, and as you can see, Roy gets to be in every picture. Haha!
I had plans to make curtains at one point... and yes, no pantry
We did get a new oven, but the green olive hood is still going strong
Oh hi marbled olive green counters
Roy's room and storage room. Lucky boy.
I made those little sea creature pictures! Out of paper and cardboard, classy
This would be the "storage" part of the room :D
The "banister wall" as I call it. Or "jail" as Shenli calls it
Oh hi darling boy!
Our room is my favorite for its cleanliness and my least favorite for its lack of interest
Family room/office/Roy's play room. I am standing at our front door taking this picture
Those out of control cords aren't normally there, promise!
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