28 before 29

It is time again for my birthday list!  Lets have a moment of truth shall we?  My 27 before 28 list sucked.  I was shooting for another galaxy instead of the stars!  Needless to say that it didn't get done.  As a matter of fact I think I did three.  Yeah three.  The three easiest ones even.  I gotta remember that I have a procrastination problem.  And a motivation problem.  I am great at getting our laundry done and the dishes and that but the extras?  They are way way back in my mind.  Then I feel bad for not getting it done.  The crap cylce begins again.  So I am going about this next one completely differently.  These are things I really truly think I could get done.  That I really truly WANT to get done.  Not just ones that will impress people.  Ones that will impress me!  So onward and upward!

28 before 29

1. Volunteer 3 hours a week

2. Hike Mt. Timpanogos

3. Take 4 weekend get-aways with the kids

4. Finish the Home Ec course

5. Don't eat out for a full 30 days

6. Take a dance class

7. Learn to make jam

8. Have my mom teach me to make her suckers/candy

9. Make a decoration for every major holiday

10. Learn a new skill i.e: new cooking technique, painting technique, computer coding.  It doesn't matter as long as it is new to me.

11. Finish piecing our quilt

12. Start and finish the kids quilts

13. Document our everyday life in some way- I mean a hard copy not just with the blog.  Maybe project life?

14. Run a 5k

15. Sponsor a favorite blog

16. Participate in S.O.S on Harpers Happenings every week.  

17. Make tortillas from scratch

18. Take a yoga class every week

19. Do a camp out in the back yard with the kids

20. Change my name!!!!!

21. Learn to make cheese

22. Make a pin hole camera.  Take and develop four rolls of film.

23. Take swim lessons

24. Send the kids Gus mail  at least once a month

25. Get Etsy shop up and running

26. Alter at least one piece of clothing every month

27. Paint my nails every week

28. Be able to do the crow yoga position

marking it off my list!

So yeah that lovely picture right there (ha) is the sign of me checking off one thing on my 27before28 list.  Also off of my April goals.  What?!  It still needs some tweaking before I can actually post a recipe but I made that bad boy and I am taking credit for that pie!

And about the pie?  It is a peach and berry pie and it tasted crazy good!  Like whoa!  

Chocolat!

I am still trying to find the fourth Harry Potter in hardback at a thrift store.  I am being a little stubborn to say the least.  I can't continue on without it but I am too dang cheap to buy it full price!!  SO in the meantime I have distracted myself by reading Chocolat by Joann Harris.  I love the movie so much!  Not surprisingly the book is pretty different than the movie.  It is just as good though.  I don't want to ruin any of the book so I won't tell you any of the differences- just trust me that it is a good read.  It was pretty fast too.  That was nice!  I love a good quick read.  I will tell you that Pantouffe is a rabbit!  Not a kangaroo!  See these are the things you will find out when you read the book!

And just for fun:

So I think that my book count is officially at 9!  Only 3 more to go and I can cross read 12 books off of my 27 before 28 list.  That only leaves like 26 more to go.....

March Goals

photo credit

I have a few goals for March.  I am not the best on follow through!  So I am hoping that I can tick some things off my little list.  I am trying to split up my 27 before 28 list over the next 3 months.  Or else none of it is going to get done!  On to the March goals:

* start making our quilt for our bed

*make a pinhole camera

*plan a road trip to the Grand Canyon for May

*make a kick-a pie from scratch and blog it

*finish at least two Harry Potter books 

*send 3 letters/packages the snail mail way!

*start the Home Ec course!

*order and paint a paint-by-number

*get 3 blankets done for the Road Home

A longish list but pretty do-able if I get on it!  Wish me luck!

The Forgotten Garden

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton is a beautiful book!  I loved every minute of reading it.  The book is comprised of one story that is told in 3 different time periods.  It takes a few minutes to get a hang of the skipping from one time to another every chapter but once you do it is worth the read!  

The story is about a little girl named Nell that turns up on a dock in Australia with a suitcase and a book of fairytales.  She has no idea who she is so the dock master and his wife take her in and raise her as their own.  She leads a happy life until on her 21st birthday her "father" tells her that she is not really their daughter.  Nell turns her back on her life and starts on a life long journey to find out who she is.  Once she passes on her granddaughter takes up the mystery and is taken to England to find out the truth.  

It is so wonderful!  Kate Morton does a beautiful job writing the story.  I highly recommend this book!

That is 4 books down and 8 to go!    

Yay books!

credit

In keeping with my resolution of knocking things off my 27 before 28 list I finished a book!  It is called A Discovery of Witches and was it ever a good one.  It is the first in the All Souls trilogy by 

Deborah Harkness.  The next doesn't come out until July 2012.  Of course that is so typical.  Why do you always have to wait 14 years for a sequel to a beloved book to come out?  WHY!?  Obviously, I can't wait!  I love books about mythical creatures and this one is chock full in a modern and cool way.  The main character is Diana Bishop and she is a witch.  Oh and she falls for a vampire.  Yeah it is awesome!  The story of Diana and Matthew (the vampire) is the best part of the book.  It is tender and sweet and crazy passionate.  If you enjoy a good mythical creature romance then this will be right up your alley.

The book starts out with Diana finding the Ashmole 782.  It is an old book about alchemy and is wanted by all the creatures.  They all think that it tells about the beginnings of the creatures.  Diana has always denied her powers as a witch and has no idea how she called the book to her.  Turns out she is a crazy powerful witch who doesn't know how to control her magic.  The story gets good!  The book is long but a pretty easy read.  Highly recommended!  It is available here on Amazon but you can also get it at Barnes and Noble.

3 books down and 9 more to go!  

Happy New Year!!

HI!!!

I hope everyone had a happy New Years!  Mine was great.  We spent the evening at a good friends playing fruit ninja and watching Dick Clarks Rocking New Year's Eve.  OH and of course we had excellent food- that is just a given.  Nicco lasted til midnight and Lola lasted until 11:28 and 30 seconds.  It was great and very relaxed.  Such a wonderful way to start 2012.  I hope the whole year is filled with happy memories.   2011 challenged me a lot.  I am ready for some sunshine!

I have been thinking about my New Years resolutions a lot.  I am mostly just sticking with my 27 before 28 list.  Those are really all the goals I need.  My goal is to stop procrastinating and actually get some of them done!  But of course I am adding a few to the mix- can't help myself and all!  the new additions are:

*create a crafty project every week.  This one was inspired by Emma of Food Coma.  She posted about how to make and keep resolutions here on A Beautiful Mess.

*Make mine and the kids space more cozy and put together.  This goes right along with my first resolution.  I have never really decorated my room or the kids room.  I figured that our time here was going to be short so why bother but I am feeling the need to nest.  I am hoping to thrift and DIY most of the decor.

*Hike 50 miles over the course 2012.  I love hiking and want to start back up.  This is more of a family goal.  We are hoping the kids can handle it!  Our first one is this Saturday if the weather holds up.

*Build up our savings!!!  I am awful at saving but it needs to get done.  It will give us more peace of mind.  And that is worth its weight in gold peeps!

*I am going to do my hair 4 out of 7 days as well.  4 is a pathetic number but I know it is do-able!  

*and last but certainly not least- Date my husband!  I want more mini dates and more big dates with him.  A weekly one to be more precise. 

I am resolved (haha) and ready for some action folks!

  

SO.....

this is a post I have been avoiding for like 6 months.  Back in June I put up my 27 before 28 list.  Number 16 is lose 50 pounds.  At the time I thought that this would be so so easy.  It was pretty much only 1 lb per week.  Well fast forward til today and I have lost 4 ounces.  That means that now I have to lose at least 2 lbs per week.  Not as easy as 1 pound per week but still so very do-able.  As long as there is no more procrastinating!  Or I will have to lose 4 lbs per week then 8 lbs per week etc.  Not my cup of tea.  I am sort of thinking that I am crazy for starting at the beginning of December but no better time than the present, eh?    

I am not totally positive how I am going to start losing weight yet.  This week I am going to focus on portion control and getting all the water in that I am suppose to drink.  I am also going to try a work out that was in this months Women's Health for exercise.  It is an interval training type workout that is only supposed to take 20 minutes.  Perfect for the holidays!!!  I am also open for any healthy suggestions and tips!   

One last thing!  How should I blog it?  Would anyone even be interested in updates?  Weekly healthy recipes?  Pictures weekly?  Pounds lost per week?  Let me know what you all think.  I need all the help and support I can get.

Here is a current picture of myself for your viewing pleasure!

I am excited to start on my journey to a healthier weight! YAY!!

I cut my bangs!

The above photo is my attempt to seduce you all.  HAHA!  I can't help but crack up every time I look at it.  Do I look sick to any one else?  Yeah I swear I was going for "come hither" not "I just might lose my cookies".  I am working on the posing.

Any ways... the point of this post was to show you all my new bangs.  I cut those bad boys myself.  Um yeah you heard right I rocked some shears!  I had a three day weekend this past weekend and in between all the other crap I had to do I cut up my hair.  I was wicked nervous to get started.  Luckily I had my sister in law there by my side to rescue me if I got too nervous.  And this amazing tutorial from 

The Vintage Wife as my guide.  Man oh man was that first cut a rush!  Oh baby!  I just might need to find some tutorials for adding layers in next.  I will admit that I need to clean them up a bit more but all in all the end result is what I wanted.  The craziest part was that just adding bangs made me start trying a little harder when getting ready.  I have actually worn make-up everyday since doing this.  That is a crazy big deal for me!!  It is just what I needed!  The only issue I have had is that they seem to make me a bit more hot so in hindsight I should have probably waited until closer to the end of September to cut them.   

So I think this might count as # 22 on my 27 before 28 list!  One down 27 to go!

Two books....

For my birthday this year I posted a list of 27 things I want to accomplish before I turn 28.  

My 27 before 28.  One of them is to read 12 books.  That may seem super easy to most people but I get obsessed with finishing the book.  Everything comes 2nd to getting that next chapter read.  Feeding my children and bathing and forget about getting any dishes done!  I am sort of kidding but mostly not!  I have learned to avoid reading because of that very problem.  What can I say?  I love to read!  I love to sit down with a book and often times I fall in love with the characters and the scenery.  That happened with the 2 books I just read over the last two weeks.  I read the first two books in the Kane series by Rick Riordan. (a third is due out nexy spring!)  These books deal with Ancient Egypt.  Oh my my!  I love Ancient Egypt.  So much so that I think I was an Ancient Egyptian in a past life!  For reals!  I was freaking Nefertiti people!  Actually I probably wasn't.  A girl can wish though.  Anyways........  I highly recommend you read both the The Red Pyramid and 

The Throne of Fire.  Keeping in mind that they are Young Adult books.  They are meant for teenagers and you can tell when you read them but they are for sure worth the read!

So now all I need to do is read 10 more books and I can cross that off my list!

27 before 28

Hello there lovelies!  I have been thinking about doing a birthday post for a while now.  Instead of doing a post where I tell you about what we did and what I got for my brirthday I am going to post my list of 27 goals for the next year.  My 27 before 28!  I got the idea from the amazing Elsie over at a beautiful mess.  Which is a daily read of mine.  She is a little bit of a blog crush for me actually!  here is her  28 before 29 list from this year.   And on to my list!

27 before 28!!

1. change my name to Hemingway

2. see the Foo Fighters live

3. make a pinhole camera

4. learn to play the banjo

5. learn to bake a loaf of bread- that people will actually want to eat- from scratch.

6. go to Warp Tour

7. take the kids to the ocean

8. see the Grand Canyon

9. make a quilt for our bed

10. make 12 blankets for the road home

11. finish the Home Ec course

12. run a 5k

13. get certifed as a Zumba instructor

14. quit my day job

15. get Fox and Sparrows Etsy shop up and running

16. lose 50 pounds

17. make a backyard teepee

18. crochet a throw

19. learn to make a good chocolate frosting.

20. make a pie from scratch

21. read 12 books

22. cut my hair- well have some one cut it for me! 

23. start learning a new language- most likely spanish

24. get tattoos for the kids.

25. do a paint  by number

26. make a dream catcher

27. take a salsa class 

Some of them may seem silly and actually they aren't all goals but those are 27 things I want to get done before I turn 28.  Some are easy and some are a bit daunting!  It is going to be a great year!

*that picture has absolutely nothing to do with this post but it is my birthday post and one of my favorite pictures of myself so I get my way!