Goal Check-In

Remember my 52 goals?! Yeah, what was I thinking!? Well, it's only March so I think I'm going to survive.


Last month I finally cleaned out/organized my car, got an oil change, etc. I took my small cd case and put some of my neglected favorites in there so that I have new tunes for March! I even bought new seat covers because mine were kinda falling apart. (Note: Never buy cheap vinyly-looking ones cause they'll start chipping and tearing.) I got these light grey fabric ones. At first I was like oh, so boring but they were really inexpensive and the material I like. Now that they've been on there for a while I really like them. They match the grey-interior of my car and are pretty comfy!


One of my goals was to "explore the mines." Well, I found out that "the mines" are actually the preserves--one in the same. So, woops. Been there, done that. We did try to go back to go biking but it was the coldest, windiest, out of the blue day every and I turned back after probably biking 1/4 of a mile. We had even packed a picnic lunch. We drove to a park nearby and tried to eat there instead but I was still FREEZING my butt off (did I mention I was wearing shorts?) so we ended up eating in my car. We stopped at a cemetery on the way home. All the flowers had blown over in the wind so I tried to pick them up and put them back. Is that weird? ha.




We also went back to Pizza Fusion and got this giant pizza!


AND, *fangirl time* I MET HENRY ROLLINS THIS WEEKEND!!! eeeeek!!! I know, I know, you're so jealous, right? I wish I had been insightful enough to include this in my 52 goals. Still need to meet MacGyver.


So, I'm 8 goals down and have the rest of March to pick up 4 more. Today I'm gonna work on cleaning my messy room and organizing my closet (which happens to be another goal). Wish me luck!!


Any goals you're working on?

Kristi(E)

February in Review

February was a huge blur to me. Lots of ups and downs.

New Foods:

Okay, maybe this isn't EXACTLY new but I am in love with tofu scramble! I got this 'gimme lean sausage' for Marc. It comes in a giant roll like cookie dough would so I molded it to look like breakfast sausage. Also, RYE BREAD RULES! IDK how I ate other bread for so long. Plus hashbrowns, always gotta give credit to potatoes.

Spanikopita! So awesome. And phyllo dough really isn't as scary as I thought it would be. The first few I made did not look like pretty triangles but I got the hang of it pretty quick. Just tons of chopped up spinach, walnuts, I think I put some garlic and lemon and olive oil. Delicious!!

Avocado salad! I took the picture of the label so I could try to recreate it. Found this at my college and it's totally awesome!

Again, rye pumpernickel bread. This was one of the best dinners ever. Maple tempeh sammies, maple/cheezy broccolli and mashed sweet potatoes. This is the recipe for the broccoli. I added brown sugar and butter to the mashed potatoes and Marc is the tempeh master so I'm not positive what he did there!

Pumpkin/Chickpea fritters, garlicy kale, and mac-n-chz! The chickpea recipe can be found here and for the kale, I sauteed some garlic in olive oil and then cooked up the kale until it wilted. I really loved it!

And last but not least, this was Marc's Valentine's Day present--lots and lots (really I think I made 40 that day) of vegan Reese's hearts!! Let me know if you want a tutorial.

Other happenings:

Quit my job.

Bought a Universal Pass!

Started curling my hair (it's growing it's growing!), doing my makeup, deciding to wear clothes I don't hate. Oh this shirt is really awesome, check Deadworry out on Etsy. You know, now that I'm not a full time student working 40 hours a week I'm beginning to find time for myself.

Netflix:

So I feel really dorky admitting this but I'm sort of in love with this show, it's kind of a ditsy lawyer show.

So this model Deb dies and comes back as Jane, a big time lawyer--who happens to work with her ex-boyfriend but can't tell him who she really is. The first two seasons are on Netflix, the third you can find on the internet *coughcough and they've been signed for a fourth season this summer. So someone other than myself has to watch this show right!? It's on Lifetime but I really like it.

**SO I accidentally just closed out of my Internet browses instead of a tab. SOOO happy that blogger saves drafts. Geesh!

Watched this Ellen Page movie Mouth to Mouth. She has played some serious social commentaries in her youth. If you haven't seen Hard Candy you may not know what I mean but geez! Also, it looks like these two movies came out around the same time. She shaves her head in Mouth to Mouth and her head is shaved throughout all of Hard Candy. Tada. Private Investigator. I need to add a trigger warning to both of these movies. sex/violence.

This movie was so terrible! Basically, Nicholas Cage thinks he's a vampire. We are reading Dracula in one of my classes and my teacher mentioned this movie. I actually watched it the night of the maple tempeh sandwiches so at least dinner was good. However, if you've seen that youtube video of Nicholas Cage yelling in all of his films, the one where he yells the alphabet--that scene is from this film.

Who doesn't like a show about cupcakes? Unfortunately there's only about six episodes on Netflix but still good for a quiet afternoon/evening.

Also, I hate to post this but my rat Steve died this month :( Now Murphy is all alone but he doesn't seem to care. He took all the bedding and shoved it into the 'house' and seems to be enjoying his status as king of the castle. *cue scene from Borat*

Yup. This was basically my February. Worked on school and figuring out how to be 'me' again now that I'm not completely bombarded with work. Really want to apply to be a substitute but since it's almost summer they're not doing the training classes again until August. Still think I'm going to sign up. No real jobs who like 'people like me' in my current city of residence. Want to give myself some more time before I rush into another job I hate for the sake of 'paying the bills'. Being an adult. Didn't know how good I had it when I was snuggled up on my bookshelf bed reading Goosebumps :]

Never be a professional blogger

Because I currently am still too busy (be it in reality or just in my head) to put together pretty posts about pretty things.

But I will still blog. :)

Today is the first day of me actually coming up with a schedule for the day. There's a lot of things I want to accomplish this year that won't get done via sitting on the couch watching Netflix all day.

This morning I made oatmeal--I actually kind of like it but think it's an every-few-days type of breakfast. It's good if you add cinnamon and fruit--my favorite topping is blueberries!! I think they add the most flavor--and some color :-p

Was purusing blogs and stopped at Jenna Marble's blog (if you don't know who she is, youtube her now! She's hilarious). She uploaded a blog about how to cook artichokes (the whole thing) and now I'm really excited to make that one day this week. She eats vegan six days a week--for health and the overall feeling of awesome, which I think is great!!

Did Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred Part 1 today--breaking it up half before and half after lunch because I'm kinda sick and halfway through the cardio my lungs are ready to give out (so out of shape for a skinny person).

Gonna try to start teaching myself Spanish today so that I can attempt to test out of it so I can graduate (ha). I took it back in 9th grade but that was sooo long ago now (time really does fly). Eight years ago!

Going to finish cleaning my wreck of a room (it just goes from spotless to covered in clothes - both dirty and clean - in an instant, literally. Update my IPOD and finish reading Frankenstein for class. Well, maybe the SparkNotes version of Frankenstein. I downloaded the e-book because it was free but I've found that I just can not concentrate enough to read it on my computer without the actual book in my hand feeling like I've made progress as the pages add up from the right side over onto the left side. (mandatory reading =bleck). I read the beginning and it seemed really interesting, I just don't want to go out and buy the actual book. The next book I have to read is Dracula so I'm gonna see if I can pick it up from the library. (Also free on e-book but again, don't know if I can concentrate-my mind just wanders!!)

The fall schedule for USF is up and now I have to decide--do I graduate in the Fall but have to start paying back my loans next summer or do I space out my classes and graduate in the Spring so that I have more time to save for my loan--although may also have more loan to pay back because of the extra classes and driving. Decisions >.<

yup.

No job = No regrets

It's officially been a week since I quit my job. I basically went through the stages of grief...pleased to say I have completely accepted it and couldn't be happier!

This week I did a lot of this:

A lot of this:

Some of this:

And not so much this:

However, this week I hope to do these things instead:

A lot of this (hellooo New Year's Goals)

A decent amount of this:

And maybe still a bit of this:

Hope you guys had a great Valentine's Day!! I totally took pictures for a vegan Reeses tutorial--guess I'll just post the heart shaped chocolatey peanutbuttery goodness another time.

Finally getting into the swing of not being lazy and being the productive person I've been missing for the last couple of years.

No more endless hours of work means no more excuses!

xo

kristi(E)

First day of the rest of my ... month or two?

It's official-I quit my job! Cold turkey. Working customer service in a retail business is just not for me (even though I stuck through it for almost three years--and three Black Fridays). I just really needed a mental health break. I was questioning my actions which any person with student loan debt would probably do but when I checked my bank account to crunch some numbers and figure out the consequences of my decision, my tax return was there!! I feel like it was a sign that I'm doing the right thing. Here's your buffer, Kristie. Take the rest of the month off and figure things out.

So that's what I'm doing!! :D

FREEDOM!

The only cons is not saving any more money and having to eventually go find a different job. However, at least at the moment I'm not going any FURTHER into debt. Thanks, taxes. Geesh.

Today I'm going to go visit my grandparents-something I rarely get to do due to my busy schedule. I'm really excited to go there and not feel rushed to get to work in an hour. :)

I might even bring one of these:

During my break I'm also going to try to brush up on my Spanish...I'm not positive how useful it will be but it could come in handy when looking for a job (in Florida).

Hope your day is muy bien!

Yea, I have a long way to go.

Kristi(E)

January in Review

One month down, eleven to go...Right?

Well, in my last post I talked about my 52 goals. Let's see how that's going:

1) Visit Pizza Fusion- Check!

2) Contact Appointment - Check

3) Make moussaka for Dena (my boss) - Check

4) Brew dry tea - Check

I can't believe it took me so long to accomplish #4. I love tea!! Marc got me one of these for Christmas. You put the dry tea in, then the hot water and let it sit--then you sit it on the rim of your glass and the tea drips into it--it's really cool!

And #3 well, I've been telling my boss forever I'll bring her vegan food and moussaka is one of my absolute favorite dishes!! I love things that you mix together in a casserole dish and bake in the oven. If you're interested, I use the recipe found here.

So I am now a sucker for Teavana. *sigh

Also new for January:

*Moved into a killer new house with two other roommates (in addition to Marc).

*Actually had a couple of Saturdays off *phew

*Started walking/jogging (I really wanna run a 5k!)

New pet peeve:

Kids who walk into a quiet classroom blaring music through their headphones--and leave it on.

Favorite new food:

Vegan Cesar salad dressing!!

New Wish:

Summer 2012 Cross-country Roadtrip (I dream big)

Kristi(E)

My 52 Weeks Project

I'm doing a different sort of 52 weeks project. It came about when I was making my New Year's Resolutions. Of course, I had the normal first thoughts--eat healthier, work out more, get more organized. The problem with such broad resolutions is that when can you ever feel like you've accomplished them? Sure, you could have like a weekly task of making menus, going shopping, and packing healthy snacks to bring to work--yet your goal still isn't really accomplished until the end of the year. So yes, I have some abstract resolutions--take more pictures, do more arts/crafts, actually 'get ready' in the morning, blog more, keep a budget, make menus, workout, visit my grandparents more often...okay, I guess that's a lot!

I've actually been doing FAIRLY well with I would say half of those. I've been making menus and keeping a budget, working out, blogging, and visiting my grandparents. Working out and eating healthy is not always the easiest thing in the world to get started on, but once I actually do it I feel way better. Yesterday I ran 1/4 mile without stopping!!! I know some people can do way more than that but it was a great start for my previously somewhat sedentary life.

I'm the kind of person who 1) likes making lists and 2) likes the feeling of accomplishment when you get to cross things off your list. That's why I've made a list of 52 Goals for the year. Some of them are things I've been putting off forever that I really just need to do for myself like:

-Finish my Jillian Michaels DVDs-Clean out my closet/drawers and get rid of clothes I don't wear-Contact Appointment-New glasses-Be able to run a mile-Don't cut my hair-Stop biting my nails-Take a gym class at USF-Change my passwords to a positive goal of mine-Talk to an advisor about an internship-Get a tattoo-make DIY christmas giftsThese are all things I've been saying I'll do for literally all of 2011 to no avail.Then there are more fun goals that actually involve getting out of the house such as:-Go to Pizza Fusion (new pizza restaurant)-Explore the mines/preservers-Go to Daytona over the summer-Go on a ghost tour-Visit the new Dali museum-Go to Rocky Horror show-Sunset at the beach with subs-Go to a roller derby match-Disney movie marathon in bed!-boardgame night w/ my mom-bake vegan cookies w/ my grandma-go rock climbing-picnic @ the Disney Wilderness Preserve-tube down the Rainbow River-rent the 2 person surrey at Hillsborough River State Park-have a vegan bbq/cookout/party extravaganza-mystery dinner theaterAnd then some other stuff that's half things I've been saying I'll do forever and half just other random things I think it would be fun to do, make, or eat:-Have a yardsale-organize my car-actually get oil changes when I'm supposed to-organize my cd collection-save $5000 towards paying back my student loan-make a green smoothie-make the heart cutout sweater posted here-make moussaka for Dena (my boss)-make a Garfield cake for Marc-make a youtube video-reread the Harry Potter series-make a pressed flower book-make bike pattern friendship bracelet-send letters and pictures to my grandparents in massachusetts-make Hello Kitty pizzas-brew dry tea-learn to knit and knit something-learn a whole song on guitar..for real..the whole 5 minutes or so and be able to play it-beat a video game-finish altering all the clothes that have been sitting in a pile of "clothes I love but are too big for me"-send a care package to my aunt w/ my brotherSo, I just have to accomplish one of these a week. Some are silly, but I'll update you about the details after I've accomplished them. And yes, a couple of them are sort of abstract--the no nail biting and no hair cutting but I still put them on my 52 weeks goals.Oh yeah, and I'm currently on book 4 of Harry Potter so I think I can make it! :DWorking out also goes along with going to Daytona this summer. Beach body!! hahaHave a great Monday :)Kristi(E)