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!

You only know the light, when you've spent a little time in the dark

So I didn't want to use this blog for my deepest and darkest emotions, but desperate times call for desperate measures? Perhaps you were able to tell from my last post that my world was on shaky ground. And now knowing that John was my entire world at the time...well, that makes it all that much shakier.

John broke up with me a couple Fridays ago...two days after Valentine's Day...one day after I had written my last post about getting up early and standing in the cold, so that I could sneak into his place and delivery a special Valentine's treat. Speaking of Valentine's Day, I hear that it's a popular breakup time of year! Well, I was one of the lucky ones I guess.

I felt completely devastated. No, devastated doesn't even begin to describe how I felt. I felt devastated, humiliated, betrayed, and completely and utterly alone.

Alone, that is, until my sister took over. In a haze at his place, I had thrown all my belongings into a large plastic Target bag as tears streamed down my face and he distantly said things I don't really remember. He dropped me off and we exchanged pathetic "see ya's" as I closed Little Black Car's door for possibly the last time. I dragged myself into my apartment, dropped everything, and sobbed all of John's ridiculous nonsense to my wonderful sister who just sat there and listened despite her boiling rage toward him. Eventually I went to bed, woke up the next morning with a screaming headache, and realized that, no, it was not a dream.

For the next two days, my completely fabulous family put my shattered world back together. They helped me realize that John was NOT my whole world. That I had so much more just waiting for me to grab on to. And ever so slowly, I started to believe them.

Monday morning, as I began to feel a little better, my mom called my cell and sadly uttered the words: "Grandma died this morning." I broke down once again, but not because my grandma died...she had been sick for the past year and is now in a much much better place. But rather because life is completely ridiculous. Four years ago, after six months of looking, I had yet to find a job post-college. That fall, I got into an accident where I severely damaged my best friend's husband's ATV and paid for it despite my obviously low funds. Four days later I totaled the car my parents handed down to me for college graduation. Meanwhile we put to sleep my very most favorite and dearly loved cat of nearly 20 years. Then the day before Thanksgiving, my father commit suicide...and this lead to a nearly year long bitter legal issue between his partner and my sister and I over my dad's life insurance policy. Where am I going with this? I'm not really sure, I just wanted to point out how ridiculous life is. And while in no way does my current situation even compare to how awful life was four years ago, it reminded me of pain. And how lucky I had been to avoid that kind of pain for nearly a half a decade. I will say that when John said those fateful words: "I'm breaking up with you"...it did remind me of the morning my mom told me about my dad. Like everything coming unhinged.

The positive spin here is that over the next week, I was able to help my mom out with my grandma's funeral arrangements to the best of my ability. I was able to give back to her a fraction of what she gave me that horrible weekend where I seriously thought my soul had died. It felt wonderful to be there for her as she was there for me, holding my hand and telling me exactly how I would feel over the next few days and weeks (and boy has she been spot on thus far!). And yet, even though her own mom had just passed away, she continued to be there for me in my struggle. One minute I'm on top of it all, totally confident that I am my own person and that I don't need John in my life...but the next minute, everything feels like it's crumbling around me and I don't know how I'll ever be able to move on from it all. But my mom is there. And so is my sister...the most patient person for whom I could ask. And so are all my dear friends, who have offered so much diverse advice, but have also been there to simply lend an ear and a shoulder. To them I am eternally grateful...without them, I'd be so lost.

And now I'm here. I have officially spent two days here at work with John ten feet from me. The first day was awful. He was happy and all over the place...it was seriously hell. I felt so crushed like the past year and a half was meaningless...that I meant absolutely nothing to him and that every single thing I had ever done for him (and man almighty there was a lot back there) was me pouring my heart into a sieve. All the feelings I had faced came flooding back: all of our memories together, the songs we shared, his hilarious and awesome family with whom I became friends, his daughter who I had started to love just as much as him, our now defunct trip to Arizona in two weeks, all the gifts we had given each other, all of the mementos I had saved....all meaningless. I cried in the stairwell for awhile until I decided to take my patheticness home for the day where I cried some more. But over the next three day weekend, I listened to more advice, I went to my grandma's funeral, I tried to be inspired and lifted by good things surrounding me, and I picked myself back up once again. Today was the second day I spent ten feet away from him and it was good. Very good. I felt liberated from a lot of the torment from the past week. I see a light at the end of the tunnel...a light I would never have been able to see if I hadn't spent some time in the dark.

And on that note, this light is me. Me and all my potential. Which brings me to this blog and my list. Obviously there is a good chunk of my 101 Things list that involves John. And you know, the dark thought DID occur to me whilst making said list: what if we break up? Well that bridge is here and it is time to cross. I will come up with new amendments to my list. There are about twenty or so that I need to fix or completely delete and redevelop. I will tackle that action in a few days. I need some new ideas and it'll help me tremendously to focus on them, on me, for awhile. I do have potential. I had potential with John, but I have it just as much without him too. And now I see that.

keepin it cuban

4/4 - Note: all of the numbering prior to and including this entry is off because I changed my list. Carry on!

A few more updates! Life has been topsy turvey lately, but my list is keeping me sane I guess... Oh and please try not to gag at this first one! ;)

#16 Surprise John (1/33)
A little ironic considering my week, but I surprised...or at least tried to surprise John yesterday for Valentine's Day. I bought a red shadow box and put a bunch of mementos and a couple photos of us inside with pushpins (totally stole this idea from HIS last years' Vday gift to ME!!) Then I taped lyrics to "our songs" along the frame of the box. I also got a red retro vase a put a red, orange, and purple rose inside (kinda representing me, him and Grace). I wrapped the shadowbox in a Captain America tshirt I got from Target. I followed my "hand made cards" task and made a Valentine's card for him too. AAAANYWAY, that morning I walked over to his condo building and like a flipping STALKER, waited for a car to drive out of the garage so I could "sneak in". Ahhh it would be so much easier to surprise him if I had a key.... ;) I quietly left the package and flowers by his door and ran out and off to work. When he got to work, he said that he found the gifts, and read the card, but didn't open the bag because he was rushing out the door. I was a little bummed, but oh well. He had a present for later. I think he liked it all? Not sure if he was "surprised" per se?

#29 Ten new restaurants (1/10)
Last night I did Vday with the ladies and had dinner at Cubanitas on Milwaukee St. OhmyFABULOUS!!! In case you're curious, their specialty, the Cuban Sandwich, is roast pork, sliced ham, swiss cheese, mustard, and a thin dill pickle pressed on Cuban bread (flown in!) so it’s all melty and gooey...man almighty I want to DIE just thinking about it! With it I got sweet plantains...equally as to die for. Seriously. I also had a mojito...I'd be a fool not to! They definitely have the best mojitos in the city. With Cheesecake Factory at a close second interestingly enough... So my first restaurant out of ten, I give an A+! I can't wait to go back for that sandwich. Also, I wanted to try one of my friends' fried plantains, but because of my fried food ban this month, I refrained. Next time though!

#44 & 45 Four new recipes (3/4) and (1/50) recipes from Christmas Cookbooks
I made a Chicken and Orzo recipe from Rachael Ray's "Comfort Foods" book. I know I just gushed about food, but man, this dish was fab too! Diced chicken, garlic and onion, chicken stock, fresh thyme and orzo basically simmering in a pot for 20 minutes...then you had a ton of an Italian shredded cheese mix and black pepper. So wonderful and totally the epitome of comfort food, which I needed this week :)

Fifteen minutes till I'm OUTTA here...and I'm starving of course!

Onwards and Upwards

After the emotionally draining evening I just had, where I feel like my entire life is turned upside down and I don't even know where I'm going anymore, I guess the one place I still have control over is my own life. I mean me as an individual. Relatively speaking. Ok even that feels like it's been torn into a million jagged pieces. In any case, I'll cut the drama down a touch and just get to the 101 Things UPDATE! Perhaps I'll feel a bit better...

#41 Nasonex
I shall hopefully BEE doin better with my tasting problem in a week! I asked my doc about it yesterday at my physical and he was all about giving me two free samples. Sweet. I seriously hope to BEE able to drink red wine again...love that buzz...ha ha? lame.

#43 Chicken Pox Vaccine
I also asked the doc about whether or not I should get this vaccine...he suggested that when I go in to get my cholesterol checked, I should get this checked out as well...I mean check to see if I've actually had a mild case of the chicken pox (as far as I know, I haven't??) That biznass is next Monday...good stuff.

#44 New recipes! (2/4 for the month)
I made this SCRUMPTIOUS red cabbage and kielbasa "stoup" recipe I found in Rachael Ray's magazine the other day...fantastic!
I also made buffalo chicken dip for my parents' Super Bowl party...HUGE hit...especially when I brought the leftovers into work the following week. Tonight is a chicken and orzo recipe from one of my Christmas cookbooks, so that'll take care of #45.

#54 Aspirin mask
The aspirin and moisturizing lotion has been purchased...BOGO aspirin at Walgreens helped tremendously!

#58 Plastic bins
Went to Target this weekend and bought three large but shallow plastic bins...I came home and WENT TO TOWN on organizing my room. It looks fab now! Plastic bins reside neatly under my bed. And I only have two cardboard boxes left...one containing my dufflebag (kinda random) and the second holding my photos which will be put into albums eventually anyway.

#59 Birthday cards
I also bought some nice scrapbooking paper at Target to construct these future home made birthday cards. I have three coming up in end of Feb/March so better get crackin on that.

#83 Concepts
A few weekends ago, I came in on Saturday to work on some new biz concepts. I actually had a ton of fun making them too! No word yet on whether this account is ours, but hopefully our production work is helping to persuade them ;) And speaking of concepts, we have a meeting in about twenty minutes and while you won't be able to notice my absence from this blog between now and when I start #90 below, just try to imagine!

#90 Gratitude o' the Day
I'm definitely keeping up with the gratitude a day plan. It's nice to survey my day right before I go to bed and try to weed out all of the negative to find that glimmer that made my day ;) ESPECIALLY on those really rough days.


And that's that! Keepin me busy that's for sure. As for the curve ball life threw me these past 24 hours plus, I once told several people about my current Life Motto...no, not 'The sweet ain't as sweet without the sour," although that applies here too...but rather "Occasionally you'll have to take a step backward in order to go forward." Like taking a crappy job in order to save money to go to school. Stuff of that nature. Well maybe it applies to relationships too. Maybe you do have to slow down in order to move ahead. It never makes sense now, but hindsight is 20/20 right? Ok I am officially done with metaphors, euphemisms and clichés for the day. Until next time!

It's Official!!

February 1st. Today marks that magical first day of my 2.75 year journey to a more, um...participatory...lifestyle. So to begin, I'll mention a few items I have in the works. Is that cheating?
10. Photograph neighborhood in all four seasons...
When it snowed a couple weekends ago, I definitely took advantage of the gorgeousness. I think I've decided to take various seasonal photos this year and then take another set next year to compare...maybe I'll get better ;) The Winter Album so far...
49. Atypical fruit or veggie...
How about zucchini...I can make some orzo zucchini recipe one of these days
50. Cut out "guilty pleasure food"...
Aaaaaaand....fried food. We'll start out with an easy decision.
56/58. Clean/organize apartment...
I'm well under way on this project...I've gotta buy plastic bins and whatnot, but I won't bore you with any more details here.
60. Projects list...
I started doing this at Barnes the other day. I have to take another look at everything to really have a solid schedule in mind.
83. Work concepts..
I've been all over this bad boy for the last week! I worked on both sets of 'new biz' concept opportunities offered to our group this week. Good stuff!!
85. "New-to-me" band
I did this yesterday as well, boo. But MAYBE it doesn't count because I haven't received the cd(s) in the mail yet. Will update when that happens.

Voila! This is fun! For me to do...probably not for you to read. Until next time!

101 Things in 1001 Days

I've been working ever so steadily on this list...I'm quoting some random internet stranger when I say that coming up with the first half was easy, it's the second half that takes forever! Currently the infamous list resides on the side of this page. There I will update it as often as possible. Meanwhile, I will follow in the footsteps of other OTODers and write up little posts re: each task once accomplished.

What does this list mean to me?
In other words, why am I doing this aside from my little plan to get organized? My 30th birthday is Jan 6, 2010. Over the last few years, well since I graduated college really, I've felt as though life is just zippin' on by and all I do is go to work, watch my fave tv shows, and sleep. I really want to change that before I turn 30. It would most definitely give me a better outlook once I get there....I mean instead of arriving at the big 3-0 and thinking to myself: what the hell have I even done with my life?

I wanted the end date to represent something, but I'd have to wait a couple months to start this list if I wanted my 30th birthday to ring in the completion. SO instead I'm just starting this Feb 1st and then the end date will be something like Oct 29th, 2009. I'll celebrate with some Halloween festivities?

The most daunting of all of the sections is the project categorgy (Bust Out Your Pinking Shears), we'll see how good I do there. Wait, positive thinking! My favorite tasks, however, run in the miscellaneous category (All That Other Junk). I'm also excited about the good will category (This is Katie, Can I Help You?)...definitely some fun tasks in that bad boy. I have a few of these tasks in-the-works more or less which I will mention Feb 1st. So yep! Good times!

In other news, I DID create a budget of sorts! I have to wait for the craziness of January to die down to really get a good idea of whether or not it'll work. I seriously hope I can stick to it though because if I do, I'll stand to save a ton of cash! And as you can see from my 101 list, I'm going to need it? Ouch.

..........Until Feb 1st!

One man's good will is another man's Goodwill

Progress update: on my Monday day off I cleaned out all of my clothes drawers, as well as my closet, WHOOP! I have something like six bags full of stuff to donate to Goodwill. I'm actually letting go of my ebay enhanced collection of "tiny cute tshirts" from back when I was "tiny and cute"...heh. They'll all go to a good home...a home that contains at least one person under the age of 8.

I also went through a few boxes that were all around my bedroom as well as under the bed. A lot of my dad's things I completely tossed. He had pictures of my cousins and stuff that no one needs. I found all of his baby pictures too which was nice (kept those of course)...and a few pictures of when I was hideous...out! I found two sets of cuff links that looked like something Johnny would like, and when I gave them to him this morning, he was really stoked! He never got to meet my dad so it's nice that he'll have something of his...aside from me of course! ;)

I decided NOT to figure out my Budget last last Friday due to the fact that I have yet to receive a new paycheck. Makes "cents" doesn't it? heh. So on the 15th, I'll get that all squared away.

I have a running idea of various things I want to add to my 101 Things in 1001 Days list. One of those things would have been getting my room all situated and cleaned up and such...will I still be able to put it on there if its already done? Hmm. I've been doing really well with cooking this past week. Every day I've made something that involves more than four ingredients!! Healthy too!

So that's the update....relatively bore-o, but an update nonetheless.

My hPDA

Organization extravaganza has begun!! Made what-felt-like-an-hour-long stop at Office Depot (would've preferred Office Max or even Staples, but whatev) and bought all my supplies as seen here in all their shiny glory:


paper hole punch, 300 pk of plain white notecards,
50 pk of lined white notecards, 100 pk of lined assorted color notecards,
A-Z tabbed notecards, pkg of assorted color mini gel pens,
and 1 notebook from which I used plastic plaid cover;
along with a black binder to create back cover that I "borrowed"
from work and my scrapbook edge-rounder guy

The depressing part was when I found a Hipster PDA Mead Knockoff right next to all the notecards. Bah! And of COURSE it was way cheaper than all the supplies I purchased. Home-made is always better anyway I'm thinkin. When I got home, I just threw it all together and secured the dead tree of a mess with a carabiner from my backpack. And voila! Here ye be!





Now I've gotta actually fill it with stuff. I made ANOTHER list:




And so I'm ON it this weekend, probably tonight to geek up my life even more and spend my Friday night coming up with a budget? Guh right? Eh, it's all part of the plan.

Welcome to My Dark World

And so it begins.

My 2007 New Year's Resolution is to become more organized. Everyone could probably use a little more organization in their lives. I have a feeling that it not only lowers our stress levels much like petting a soft kitten, but also allows us to truly take advantage of what life has to offer. We suddenly have more time for our family, friends, and, what's that? Hobbies? You mean I can have hobbies? And now that I'm only roughly nine days away from turning 27...a mystifyingly bizarre age...perhaps I'm suffering from a mid-midlife crisis of some kind. Its cliché to whine about watching life just slip through my young fingers, but right now it feels true. Call me crazy. No wait! Read on and THEN call me crazy! (and you will)

And so, with New Year's Day only four days away, I've become...

Little Miss Organizized.

And what better way to start a blog dedicated to organization than to make a list of what this project will entail! Thus I give you* my very first Top [Fill in Number Here] List. This one's gonna be Six:

What I Hope To Accomplish Via This Project
(In No Particular Order of course!):

1. Create a Hipster PDA featured here

2. Organize my entire budget and stick to it gol'darnit!

3. Get a meal plan goin'...collect recipes and actually create a rough sketch of what I could eat the following week or two.

4. Organize my apartment: clean out closets and crevices

5. Undergo several artistic projects from scrapbooks to photography to graphic design

6. 101 Things in 1001 Days
featured here and here
This is where the above and the remainder of my organizing frenzy will fall. So I will apparently accomplish everything from health to relationships to entertainment and hobbies in roughly two years and nine months. Good times!


Like I said, I do look categorically insane right now, but trust me...this will be beneficial to all! And while technically this project is life-long, I will make a final-ish conclusion of its benefits/complete failure at the end of the two-year-nine-month period. THAT date To Be Announced!



* - I will probably use "you" an embarrassing amount throughout this project. But while this blog is supposed to help me, perhaps a few "you's" will stumble upon it and help will weasel its way into your lives.