slacker

I feel like I'm not doing very well on my list lately. I NEED TO GET ORGANIZIZED!! I'm puttering out! And there's no real reason. I mean I'm "busy" but I'm going to get even busier so that can't be my excuse. Well, here are some updates and then I think I'll make a serious To Do List.

39. Walking
It was definitely above 60 degrees this weekend, although maybe not necessarily by the lake, and not at the time of day I walked (7:30-8:30pm). But Saturday I walked around the lakefront, drooled over the million dollar lakefront condos per usual, and then decided to stop for a drink (yes by myself!) at this bar Bad Genie and read this book of my sister's: Story of My life by Jay McInerney. It reads like Catcher in the Rye set in the coked out '80s from a female point of view. Good stuff! Then Sunday, John and I walked around the lakefront, again, I drooled over the million dollar condo highrise.

45. Recipes 4/4
Shrimp and Beef Mexi Kabobs - 4.22
This is sort of a halvsies recipe as I kinda made it up...the marinade I looked up though. We grilled out yesterday and I made these 'bobs with onions and peppers along with a mexican salad with black beans, corn, avocado, green onions, etc.
I use the other "half" of my recipe when I somehow get on top of #50 and the artichoke hearts.

51. Guilty Pleasure food
This sweet bakery business is killing me. You seriously don't realize how much bakery you stuff into your mouth on a daily basis until you cut it out of your diet. What I wouldn't give for a bagel right now...seriously.

75. Treats to work 3/8
Like I've mentioned, we have happy half hour at work every Friday and people sign up to bring booze and snacks. Well last Friday, no one signed up the lame-o's! So John, Mandsi, Nicole and I pulled together and purchased some vino, beer, spinach dip and hummus. It was sparse, but at least it happened! Because we need happy hour at work?? ha!

80. Budget
Ugh, no comment :\

95. 10 Books 1/10
Well I started Story of My Life on Saturday at the bar and finished it Sunday night. Yeah. And reading Atlas Shrugged has been at LEAST three years in the making. Yikes.

101. Wedding
My first maid of honor duty went very well! Monica, her mom, and I had a ton of fun at the expo! AND it inspired me to create this in depth binder of invitation information. I came up with all kinds of details and quotes and websites and examples, and then created six mockups. It was so much fun to do and, when I presented to Monica and Tim this past Friday, she said she was speechless...which is very rare in Monica's case ;) Then on Sunday, Monica, a fellow bridesmaid, and I tried on dressed at David's Bridal. Always a good time :)


TO DO LIST!

•I need to get on spring photos. The leaf buds are already forming and I'm totally gonna miss it!
•I have to do something about this Pilates business...I have to rewatch the dvd, write down the exercises, and DOOOOOOO THEM!!!
•I need to organize my project list and figure out what I'm going to work on this summer once tv doesn't dictate my every waking moment :\
•I need to decorate my bedroom before it gets too hot up there!
•I HAAAAVE to do one of the following or combine them into one huge task: inspirational note/cd/hipster geocache.
•I should figure out my budget...but I'll leave that to the new quarter reassessment
•Finish these [one] books I've still got going...come ON Katie, look alive!

Let's see if I can at least pull off ONE of these tasks. Jeez.

Ok so that's the best of my flower porn up there. (the larger version is here. Hope you enjoy. It's like if Robert Mapplethorpe and Georgia O'Keefe had a love child?

More updates!

17. Surprise John (3/33)
And what a surprise indeed! Well, his birthday just so happens to be tomorrow, but I'm busy all day and won't be able to spend it with him. So! I got a few gift cards to places we used to frequent on our Days O' Fun (breakfast at Webb's, Target, coffee at Barnes & Noble), I also put my ticket stub to 300 in there as he really wants to see it too...along with our Bee's punchcard from when we used to go all the time. I also wrote a little clue poem thing to lead him to the graphic novel compilation Flight...which he can read whilst sipping his Starbucks coffee :) In addition to this little things, I got him two tickets to The Music of Led Zeppelin by the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. VERY cool! He reeeeeally wanted tickets to this! In any case, if you haven't noticed from this gushing and gift giving, we're heading down a good road here. We had a rough heart to heart this past Sunday, which revealed a lot of anxiousness and dismay. But apparently it was the best conversation we could have had because, ever since that night, things have been so nice. Very relaxed and comfortable and I dare say splendid? Hopefully we'll stay on the right track!

30. New restaurants (5/10)
Speaking of birthdays, my sister and I took our stepdad to Cafe Hollander for his birthday! It was SO delicious! I had a roast turkey sandwich with gruyere, hot giardiniera, red onions and blackberry jam...oh man so good!

51. Guilty pleasure food Sweet bakery!
Man almighty this has been a hard month!! Everywhere I turn sweet bakery is looming and staring at me. I never thought I'd be so tempted by muffins, scones, donuts, and coffee cake!!! It's awful! May can't come soon enough. And speaking of temptation, that will be another hard one because I think I'm giving up candy. I've been all over candy lately like hot guys on the Lost island.

76. Birthday cards
I made a card for my stepdad and for John, both were hard because I'm used to making frilly girly ones...I had to butch these up a bit, but I think I did well. I also made a wedding card for a coworker...used my frilly girly skills to their strongest capacity!

And speaking of weddings, last but certainly not least:

101. Participate in a wedding
My bestest friend Monica just got engaged at long last!! And she asked lil old me to be her maid of honor!! TOO SWEET FOR WORDS! I am embarking on my very first maid of honor duty this Sunday when I drive down to Chicagoland with her mom to attend a bridal expo (the wedding is in a short seven months, so we gotta get crackin!). Frilly girliness awaits!

inspired

Lent is officially over and it definitely went out in triumphant glory! Like I mentioned in the last post, I went on Holy Thursday which was pretty amazing. It is quickly becoming my favorite Mass. The Archbishop washed the feet of some randomly selected parishioners and everything! Good Friday I went at noon, and then again to the Tenebrae service which were both so heart wrenching, the Veneration of the cross in particular, accompanied by the Palastrina-esque motet sung by the choir. Holy Saturday was the three hour Vigil, of course and it was as gorgeous as ever. Eight hours later, my final Mass: Easter Sunday! And what an absolutely perfect cap to my Lenten experience: upon walking into the Cathedral, the man handing out the programs asked my sister and I if we'd like to bring up the gifts.........!!!! So we would get to bring up the bread and wine....to the Archbishop of Milwaukee....on Easter Sunday. This was definitely one of the most awe-inspiring moments of my life! I will forever remember the beautiful smile on Archbishop Dolan's face as my sister and I walked up the long aisle of the Cathedral to the alter. And after sitting down, it all just hit me. And how amazing is it to have such an experience after really trying to put my heart and soul into Lent this year? I'd like to think that it was more than just a coincidence ;)

In other List news...
44. Recipes
4.4 (2/4) I made that mushroom risotto, which was pretty good, but not as good as the squash risotto I made a couple weeks ago. And what's funny is that with the squash I totally cheated on the rice portion...I didn't "toast" the rice, or add wine, or stir constantly, adding cups of broth water every few minutes. Instead, I did this with the mushroom recipe, and it didn't turn out as creamy or anything. I have a feeling it has something to do with the squash being creamy in and of itself. Well you live, you learn!
4.8 (3/4) Then yesterday morning I made a potato recipe for my fam for Easter brunch! Cubed red tatos with olive oil, fresh rosemary, some random other spices in my mom's cabinet (steak seasoning and such)...baked for quite some time. In fact, I baked them for at least 45 minutes and they were still nowhere near done, so we microwaved them for another 8mins or something ridiculous. Then, once finally finished baking, I topped them with a sauce I made of dijon, cider vinegar, sugar, and olive oil. And topped THAT with some dill and Parmesan cheese. TASTY!!

I know I mentioned something about taking part in the 26Things photography project...well I checked it out online and turns out they only come up with a list ever few months! And they had JUST finished up the list for March. BOO!!! So who KNOWS when the next one will be, but it probably won't be in April :( So I'm going to have to focus on another creative project. I took some photos of my Easter Lily this weekend and it's seriously flower porn. I mean because I was focusing on the lily's pistil/stigma/anther "sexual organs" (don't worry, I had to wikipedia those terms). So I'll post those one of these days...not on the list, but creative nonetheless.

I've got some birthday cards to make, so that's on the immediate to-do list. I should get on a cd today to drop off somewhere!

That's all I've got for today...carry on!

They say time heals all wounds

Wow! It's April already...life has taken me on one crazy journey this past month. So much has happened. For one, I haven't updated. And there's sort of a reason for that. What seemed to be very final and cut throat, morphed into this in-flux, mystifying situation with many more questions than answers. I guess what seemed dead was much more organic and alive than I gave it credit for. I won't go into too many details, but I'll say that things are never quite as they seem. Life has revealed some interesting stuff to me and I'm going to take advantage of it. With that said, I'm not going to change too much on my list...just two items. I'm keeping things open-ended and hoping for the best. I said this yesterday: "How do you know if you're going in the right direction if you don't go there?" So I'm taking a little walk. And I'm happy.

On to my update! A whole month's worth yipes! But here goes:

end February/all March/beginning April

17. Surprise John once a month: (2/33)
So, right away we've got this one. Too funny. Well, I'll just mention that I think my positive/optimistic response to his revelations on 3.22 was surprise enough!

30. New restaurant (4/10)
Open Flame (the best seafood I've had in Milwaukee so far!) 2.23
Benji’s (jewish deli although I had to have a tuna melt because it was a Friday! although my friend Katie bought me a corned beef sammie to eat the next day and it pretty much knocked my socks off) 3.2
Riverlane Inn (good seafood, but I still love O.F.) 3.24

39. Walking when it's above 60 degrees:
3.13 (70 degrees), 3.25 (75 degrees), 3.26 (80 flipping degrees)
The current temperature in Milwaukee? Oh that's right, it's 28 degrees and snowing. How's that for fabulous?

45./46. New recipes:
Feb:
*Pumpkin and sausage pasta 2.20 (4/4) - I made this twice it was so delicious! Just amazing!
Mar:
*Corn Chowder 3.5 (1/4)
Cold Sesame Noodles 3.21 (2/4)
Squash Risotto 3.26 (3/4) - also incredibly tasty so I made it twice...tonight I'm trying a mushroom risotto!
*Hot Potato Salad / Creamed Spinach sides ?date? (4/4)
Apr:
Mandsi's Kielbasa dish (kielbasa, napa cabbage, sweet onions with a sweet relish/hot mustard/horseradish/fennel sauce) 4.1 (1/4)

*...also from Christmas recipe books (4/50)

50. Atypical Produce:
Feb: zucchini .5/33
(ok so I never made it...but I had made a Zucchini Gratin dish RIGHT before Feb started so I'll count halvsies and make it up later!)
Mar: bean sprouts 1.5/33
(added them to my cold sesame noodles at the last minute!)
April: artichoke hearts
(have a few recipes in mind!)

51. Guilty food
Feb: fried foods...a success!
Mar: chips...a success!
Apr: This month's is sweet bakery, but this also includes bagels...a hard one!

54. Hair cut: (1/12)
Spring: 3.14

58. Organize paperwork
Done and done...I even took home all the stuff from my work drawer! So exciting.

68. Vacation from list (1/12)
Although I fulfilled most of my monthly duties, I think my general absence from this blog counts as a vacay...

72. Give away Beanie Babies
Crossing this one off the list is a big one for me. I've had these mini Beanie Babies for like 7-8 years or something. I got them for free when I worked at McDonald's. And of course, greedy 20 year old Katie wanted to make money off of them one day. Well times have changed and I always wanted to give them to someone who would really appreciate them (that and they really aren't worth anything at all!) So a couple weeks ago, I find out my boss is going on this missionary trip to Africa this summer. She asked everyone if they had anything to donate, including toys for the African students. Perfection!!! So I had about 27 of the little guys and I handed them over to her the other day. Good stuff!

75. Bring treats into work (2/8)
Our first 5th floor Happy Half Hour 3.9 (brought 3 bottles of vino)
Spring CKYP Luncheon 3.15 (brought "famous" buffalo chicken dip)

76. Home-made Birthday cards
Bekky - 2.28
Jean - 3.1
Joel - 3.16
(I also made a thankyou card for my mom and a sympathy card for a security guard here who's fiancé passed away)

87. New band (3/33)
Feb: Röyksopp
Mar: the Good, the Bad and the Queen
Apr: The Brian Jonestown Massacre

93. Lent
Well I've tried to participate as best I could. My "almsgiving" turned out to be volunteering my services at the St. John's soup kitchen via the CK Culture Committee. I went to the Ash Wed service of course, along with one church service every weekend, but only one Stations of the Cross which I sort of regret. It's quite an endeavor (particularly on the quads...who knew?!), but definitely something I'd like to participate in more next year. This week is Holy Week of course, and I plan to attend the 7:30 mass on Holy Thursday (Last Supper), the noon service as well as the evening Tenebrae service on Good Friday, the 3 hour Easter Vigil on Saturday, and finally the 8:00 Easter Sunday service followed by a lovely Easter brunch at my parents (salmon crepes!!!) After that I'll be able to cross off this item!

Miscellaneous:
Stuff I continue to do regularly: aspirin mask, weekly grocery list, $250 in savings, $1 a day (starting today! oops!), and sticking to budget (eh sort of...I'm good with the groceries, but the rest isn't where I'd like to be just yet)

TO DO LIST!:
-The 26 project - I'm going to check the website sometime this week or next
-Donate blood (the plan is 4.20 via work)
-Inspirational Note/soundtrack - I'll figure this out sometime this week as it is Holy Week!
-Books: finish He’s Scared She’s Scared to count toward my ten books
-Take spring photos (yesterday would have been a perfect stormy spring photo opp, blah)

And finally...

New items to the list:
These two are OUT: 99 & 100....I’m not pushin the envelope there anymore. Not that I was in the first place. But my Big Goals don't have to be either of these things. The other John related items, however, I’m going to ever so optimistically leave for now :)

What's IN?
new 15. Create INKYTNMO* Scrapbook!
* - INKYTNMO = Indiana Kentucky Tennessee Missouri road trip Memorial week!
new 62. Decorate bedroom so it looks like I sleep there!


I will update my list after posting. And speaking of posting, excuse the length here! Hopefully I will be able to update more often now that my life has settled down a touch. I really hope to get on some of these more creative/inspirational type projects sooner than later! Until then!