Life. Or, that silly little thing that gets in the way of all your plans: A lookback on 2011.

me at the beginning of 2011. i was in mexico when i made my new years reolutions. lookin' fresh and ready for the roller coaster ride of a year ahead of me.

 I have a habit of setting goals for myself. I think it's because I love to make lists, and I love the idea of bettering myself in all sorts of ways. Sometimes they are healthy, attainable goals- like getting rid of products and using cheap homemade alternatives, like I talked about in my post yesterday. But lots of times I just bite off way more than I can chew, assuming that everything is going to go according to plan and nothing tricky or difficult is going to get in the way.

The good thing is, I don't feel too bad about myself when I don't achieve all the goals I set for myself, because I know that I did my best under the circumstances.

So, I want to look back at some of the goals I set for myself at the beginning of 2011. I accomplished some of them, and a lot of them I never really got around to completing. But you know what? That's life. If I've ever had a year where life got in the way of all my plans and good intentions, 2011 was that year. Life totally kicked my ass, actually. It didn't just send me down a road I wasn't planning on going down, it sent me to an entire different dimension.

Anyways, here were my new years resolutions of 2011:
1. Continue to strive for happiness (above all other things). I think I did this pretty well. There were a lot of times throughout 2011 that I threw caution to the wind and did something that was going to make me happy despite how unconventional it might have been. I took a lot of risks and had a great time. After Linn died I found it difficult to know or remember what made me happy, but I think I did the right thing in taking the last 2 months of the year to just be with myself and remember.
2. Maintain a weight of 120 pounds. I did this all year, until Linn died. then I blew up a bit. Now I'm working on getting back down. No more alcohol and eddas cheesy bread for me!
3. Be more outgoing and make several new friends. I think I pulled this off pretty well. I got really close with everyone I went on the Greece trip with, and now I'm good friends with all my coworkers at Brooklyn. In 2011 I also got much closer to my friends from Eddas.
4. Spend more carefully and save more money. I accomplished this in that I got a job and took a personal finance class, but I didn't actually save much.
5. Continue going on dates, playing games, laughing, joking, and loving with Stewart. Hmm. Well, Stewart and I had a great spring semester together, although shortly after I returned from Greece we broke up. Luckily, we stayed very close friends and lived together for the rest of 2011. So I guess I accomplished this.
6. Find more things to be passionate about. I love a lot of things, but I don't know that I found anything new to be passionate about this year. Unless Pinterest counts.
7. Always be reading a book. I'm in the middle of several books right now, but unfortunately I haven't read much since I got back from Greece. I'd like to start again. I feel like before shit went crazy last year I had so much time and I was doing so many things at once. School, working out, blogging, reading, socializing, traveling... I hope I remember how to do that again.
8. Worry less. Hm. I think I definitely became more apt to try risks, but new fears were also introduced into my life. But that's the way it goes, right? I think a small dose of fear is healthy. It keeps us from doing stupid things.
9. Do more creative things. I think I accomplished this. I learned to play some new songs on the piano, and spent a lot of time singing. I also wrote a few poems and started a couple stories. My film production class last semester also provided a great creative outlet. When linn died, I wrote a lot and also constructed a lovely 20 page scrapbook that helped me to take my crazed, grieving energy and focus it into something that turned out to be beautiful and healing.
10. Write 300 blog posts. Obviously I failed at this, but I don't really care. One of those things where life got in the way :)
11. Start compiling recipes and cooking new ones from online, cookbooks, magazines, etc. I think I accomplished this. With the help of foodgawker and pinterest, I was very cuisine-inspired last year. My favorite dishes included alton brown's chicken pot pie, that absolutely divine crazy feta recipe I posted, the pioneer woman's burgundy mushrooms, some feta saganaki I made when I returned from Greece, and pdubs brined turkey. A church down the street gave me a turkey for thanksgiving, and I was really excited to cook it because I had never tried before. Totally easier than the movies make it out to be.

Here are things I accomplished in 2011 that I didn't even fathom would happen:

1. Date Linn, who I secretly had a crush on since I met him in May of 2010.
2. Get a tattoo. In a very visible place, no less.
3. Be the guest of honor at a surprise party
4. Get roofied in Greece. Not exactly something I wanted to happen, but a crazy story and life experience, none the less.
5. Hike the Samarian Gorge. Something much better that happened in Greece.
6. Learn to cope with immeasurable loss.
7. Record a song
8. Work on foley for an independent film
9. Successfully live with my ex-boyfriend
10. Love something unconditionally, no matter how early it wakes me up with barking and gnawing on my fingers or how many times it pees on the carpet.
11.  Pull off catering for a camp after a sleep-deprived month in a different time zone.
12. Pull myself together and push through it all, coming out on the other side (mostly) unscathed.

Obviously this is a little late, but I wanted to talk about it anyways. New Years resolutions are funny. We can try and attain all these goals we set for ourselves, but I've found that most of the time life seems to get in the way. Hopefully its for the better.

I hope your new years resolutions are already working out :) I'm not sure if I'll make a list for this year (now that we're one sixth of the way through) but we'll see. Have a lovely weekend!

Love,
Em

20 things to do in my 20th year

 It's just a week and a day since my 20th birthday, and I've come up with the brilliant idea of writing down 20 things to do or experience before my 21st. ok, so... I didn't exactly "come up" with the idea, per se... i may have stolen it from the lovely lady over at Yes and Yes who came up with 32 things to do in her 32nd year. But I'm not going to steal any of hers! At least not intentionally. I'm not even going to look at what's on her list. I'm going to make mine first :)

1. Eat a habanero. This could be raw, whole, or cooked in some dish. No ditching the seeds though.
2. Do a one week fast- whole fruits and veggies on days 1, 2, 6, and 7; fresh fruit and veggie juice, water, and herbal tea on days 3 and 5, and water on day 4.
3. Drink ouzo in Greece
4. Get a puppy
5. Sell something handmade
6. Create the perfect chocolate chip cookie
7. Rent and actually use one of those silly work-out DVDs.
8. Make beer
9. Hike Pima Canyon, go camping there.
10. Create a sauce/condiment and name it MSoss.
11. Write a song
12. Go to Summerhaven at the top of Mt. Lemon, ride the ski-lift.
13. Take home-ec, make all the projects.
14.Spend a whole day without using my car (just walk, bike ride, etc)
15. Make this mac n cheese
16. Learn to play a new song on the piano- a recent, alt-folk song which I will also sing to.
17. Go on a grocery trip and attempt to use coupons to save an absurd amount of money
18. Take a photo a day for a month.
19. Beat Stewart at chinese checkers (this is his favorite game in the universe, and I have refused to play him at it since I met him in high school, because I want to get freaking awesome at it before I play him)
20. Make and record music with the people I love.

I may turn this post into a new page, so that I can cross things off as I go and keep track. I may also make a post for each thing I accomplish. This was really fun to write! If any of you feel so inclined as to write your own list of things to try/do, be sure to give me the link so I can check it out!!

love,
em

Fitness Plans!

 This blog has been spring, spring, spring lately! hope you guys aren't sick of it yet ;) luckily, this post is less about spring and more about summer! I'm all pumped to hit the gym even harder than I usually do and really shape up for bikini season. I'm going to the salt river with Stew and his bro Brian on May 7th as an early bday celebration, and so I want to be ready!

Here is the basic fitness plan I already follow. You can find a more detailed post here.
-30 minutes cardio 6 days a week, alternating treadmills and ellipticals. I'm averaging 2.25 miles on the treadmill and 3 miles on the ellipticals.
- arms and shoulders weights twice a week
-chest and back weights twice a week
-legs weights/exercises twice a week
-abs exercises 3 times a week
I also occasionally bike to school, although since stew has gotten his license back I've been doing less of that.

In the coming weeks the changes I'm going to make are:
-abs 6 days a week, rather than every other day
-1 or 2 additional leg exercises that especially focus on the backside ;)
-1 or 2 love handle workouts in addition to the chest and back workouts I do
-45 minutes of cardio 6 days a week
-hopefully 1 hike or other outdoor recreational activity a week.

I've also been slacking a bit on the diet front, going out for dinner waaay too much. I blame it on how busy my end of the semester schedule is! Get home from discussion section at 7 o clock and make dinner for two and then go to the gym and do homework? um, no. But all that has got to change! Feel free to join me with a couple of these- you'll feel spectacular!

-no alcohol. this shouldn't be too hard because I'm not the heaviest drinker as is. It just means more sober driving and less relying on stewie... and less buffy the vampire slayer/screwdriver marathons.
-no sugar! I've never done this before. I think it's going to make it really easy for the fat to just fall off. It's certainly not permanent, and there's no chance in hell I'll be using that aspartame/sucralose crap. vomit.
-no white bread or flour. I already do this, although occasionally I'll use white flour instead of whole wheat pastry flour when I'm trying a recipe for the first time. I'm going to try and not eat much bread or pasta at all though, and focus more on whole grains like lentils, brown rice, etc.
-no dairy. Easy peasy. the only thing I'll have to cut out is good cheese... which I'll miss, but it's not like I haven't lived without it before.

since I'm already a vegetarian, this means I'm basically reverting to my old vegan lifestyle with the addition of less flour/bread/pasta, no alcohol, and no sugar. Hellllo fresh fruits and veggies and grains and nuts that will make me feel SPECTACULAR!

so excited for this. do you have any goals for the upcoming bikini season?

30 Day Challenge- 29

Day 29- Goals for the next thirty days

I'm pretty excited for the next thirty days! Spring Break is in there, and that will be full of lots of fun and family and friends. Also, I will be turning in my second (and last) long essay for the semester so it will be nice to get that done and over with. Various other school things here and there but I'm not too worried about any of them... school has been pretty nice and non-threatening this semester haha. 

so goals, hmmmm.... I would like to adjust my sleep schedule/habits so that I wake up at 5:30 feeling alert and getting out of bed right away instead of hearing my alarm and convincing myself that waking up that early isn't really necessary. This article seems to provide a helpful method.

I'd also like to get out more and spend more time enjoying tucson. I'm so busy with schoolwork and chores and things that I rarely just go out for a cup of coffee or anything. Of course, this requires money, something which I am seriously lacking. Still though, I'd like to get out of the house- especially since glorious 75 degree weather has become the norm.

Keep the house clean! Now that our was-supposed-to-be-temporary-but-ended-up-being-2-months guest is finally gone, the place is ours again. As in, no one has commandeered our couch. This will make it much easier to keep the whole place cleaner, and it will also allow for us to hang out in the kitchen/living room without worrying about disturbing/dealing with someone else.

Find/start finding a place to live next fall. The complex I live in now is TERRIBLE. Seriously, they just majorly, majorly blow. I'd like to find a new place for next fall, ideally one with a shuttle to the university, a hot tub, and maybe a fitness center. Also, it should not appear to be made out of cardboard, have roaches, or refuse to perform any sort of maintenance. That would be swell.

Plan out the meals for the youth retreat this summer. I'm going to be on a tight schedule this summer (getting back from greece only a day or two before the retreat!) so the only way everything is going to go smoothly is if I am extremely well planned out beforehand. I already have a binder (complete with dividers! haha) and a general idea of what I'm going to do, but I want to plan out the schedule to the minute. I'm also going to make a lot of stuff beforehand and freeze it until the retreat. It's going to be a fun and exciting job, but definitely a lot of work and a little bit terrifying!

and that's about all i can think of right now. Thirty days isn't a very long time! hopefully everything will go smoothly :) hope your day is going wonderfully.

<3
Em