Today Is A Day To Accomplish A Lot

This morning, I woke up pretty early for me. It was in the 6 o'clock hour. If only I could go to bed at a reasonable hour every night, like last night, I could wake up early without an alarm clock. I didn't actually go running this morning, but it wasn't my fault. But there will be running tomorrow morning. I guess it's not the end of the world to run every other day when it's just starting to become a part of the routine.


This morning I was doing lots of activities though, so I stayed up instead of falling back asleep, which is prolly what would happen were I in Chicago. This afternoon, I get to bake lots and lots o' cookies. I really liked the recipe I made last time, so I'll be making chocolate and peanut butter chip cookies. Homemade cookies are always the best don't you think?


It is Lent season and I have decided to give up alcohol. Not just wine, not just vodka and tequila, but all of it. I won't even use it for cooking purposes. I don't drink that much. I don't really do anything except in moderation, but I had to pick something, and so alcohol got chosen. But I'm glad to be observing Lent this year. It makes sense to me. I celebrated Mardi Gras, my church observes it, and I should be a part of it too.


I'm off now to do more research for the series of posts I'm doing on my rant-y blog. The protests in the Middle East and Africa are of serious interest to me right now, so it's worth the time spent to look up all the info. And I should have just enough time between that research and baking cookies time to apply for some jobs. I love days where I feel productive (even though I didn't go running).

Creating Things Day Nineteen - Warm Tilapia Salad

When Easy got home from work today, he was hungry, but didn't want leftovers since that's what he had for lunch.

Salad was the trick seeing as how neither of us wanted to head to the grocery store and call a food delivery.

He had some frozen tilapia fillets in the microwave. I feel some kind of way about frozen fish in the microwave, but it happened and I didn't stop it.

I had some romaine lettuce hearts that I chopped up to make the salad (they are tasty and far less expensive than bags of salad).

I had the chopped lettuce, shredded carrots, Mexican style (from Kraft) shredded cheese, grated Parmesan cheese, and cheese and garlic croutons all tossed together.

I cut up the fish and placed it on top of the mixed salad. Then ranch dressing for him and creamy Italian dressing for me.

It was really good. Better than I expected considering the fish came from the microwave. Since Easy was sick, we had tea and orange juice with our salad.

Creating Things Day Eighteen - Baked Chicken Thighs and Roasted Asparagus

On my last night here in St. Louis (for at least a while), I figured I should cook the rest of the food in the refrigerator.

Easy has little no to cooking skills, so leaving fresh meat/produce in his fridge would only go to waste. And there were chicken thighs and fresh asparagus sitting in the fridge.

I like baked chicken, but I rarely bake it just by itself unless it's a whole chicken. Seeing as how the chicken thighs are not a whole chicken, I needed extras.

Easy loves soup. He can't cook, remember, so his love of soup is expressed through canned soup. He recently bought a whole bunch of soup. One of those soups unfortunately was the cream of chicken condensed soup for Campbell's.

I love that soup. I make it and add rice and corn and it's delicious. Other than that, it's uses include cooking and cooking.

Easy doesn't want to eat the soup because he tried it once by itself and didn't enjoy the gloppiness of it.

I made him dinner one day last week with the cream of chicken soup for chicken legs and he loved it, so I figured I'd try again with thighs.

And of course, almost everything I make in this house has chicken broth in it. I just does. Don't judge me.

So first I had to clean the chicken. Seriously people, if you buy chicken with skin and bones, please clean your chicken before you start cooking it and thinking of serving it to people you love and cherish.

Then I seasoned it. Next came sauteing in the large skillet to sear the chicken and crisp up the skin.

I took the chicken out of the large pan and then made a quick sauce. First make a roux, then add the cream of chicken soup and chicken broth (and white wine if you have it).

I add the chicken back to the sauce and pop it all in a baking dish. Into the oven (375 degrees) for about 35 min. It only takes that long because the chicken is already 3/4 cooked.

In the last 10 minutes, put the asparagus which you've trimmed, drizzled with EVOO, salt, and pepper, onto a baking sheet and into the oven. Something new I tried was using the rest of the shredded Parmesan cheese from the cheesy garlic bread I made over the asparagus. It will melt over the top, but not mess up your baking sheet. I promise.

The food should come out bubbly and delicious. And it's a perfect use for all that unwanted Cream of Chicken soup. At least when one doesn't know how to make rice.

Creating Things Day Seventeen - Lasagne

I've decided that for now, I'm going to focus on food for my making things each day. I just really don't have the funds right now to make crafts. Perhaps that will come back when I get a job.

But I made a great lasagna. I mentioned to my girl Top that I made lasagna tonight for dinner. She got excited for Easy because he's never had my lasagna before.

She knows how good it is. I've made a couple different versions of it for her and even taught her how to make it (yay for webcams, she was in DC at the time).

This lasagna is a basic recipe, you just need the sauce, the noodles, the cheese, and you add in whatever else you want.

Tonight I used a marinara sauce with diced tomatoes added in. I used Colby, Jack, and Mexican cheese blends in addition to the ricotta-Parmesan-egg mixture.

I used ground Italian sausage meat and ground turkey mixed. I also used one large portobello mushroom and yellow bell pepper, sliced and diced. Oh, and of course spinach sauteed in butter.

The steps are as follows:

1. Coat a large skillet with butter or oil or cooking spray, whatever you have on hand. Brown the meat in a skillet over medium-high heat.
2. Once the meat is done, remove it from the skillet. Add another tablespoon of butter or whatever fat you're using. Now saute the vegetables, excluding the spinach.
3. Once the veggies are done, remove them from the skillet. Add another tablespoon of butter or whatever and saute the spinach. Remove that once it's done.
4. Add the diced tomatoes and chicken stock and wine and whatever other liquid you'll add to your sauce. Stir together and bring to a boil. Then add the tomato sauce. Cook that until it's all mixed and reduced the the desired volume.
5. Mix 15 oz. ricotta cheese with two large eggs and about a 1/2 cup each of mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses.
6. Prepare lasagna noodles per directions on whatever box they come in.
7. Layer the lasagna in the pan. I follow the basic pattern of sauce-noodle-ricotta mix-veggies-meat-shredded cheese-sauce-noodle, you get the idea. The last layer on top has sauce put onto the shredded cheese, then the noodles, then the last of the sauce, then more shredded cheese.
8. Stick it in a 375 degree oven for 50 min. Make an aluminum foil tent so the cheese doesn't stick. Then cook for 5 min uncovered. If you have a lot of veggies in the lasagna, let it sit another 10 min because it will be really liquid-y if you don't.

This also reheats and freezes very well. I would recommend if you know you're going to freeze it, to just freeze the whole pan before you ever put it in the oven. Add 15-20 min to the cooking time if you freeze it.

I didn't put too many quantities of anything except the ricotta cheese because you can use as little or as much as you want of any other ingredients. I would suggest a 9 * 13 pan that's at least 2.5 inches deep if you want three layers of noodles.

That's the basic recipe I followed to make our lasagna. Lots of steps, but actually really easy. You mostly just need a lot of dishes to hold all the parts til you put it together.

It was soooooooo good.

Since Easy has caught whatever throat thing I have had the last week, we had chamomile tea with dinner instead of our usual glass of wine. And that actually tasted really good.

Tomorrow's dinner idea? Baked chicken thighs and roasted asparagus. The wonders that can be done with a can of cream of chicken soup will soon be unfolded...

I Know, I Know, I Was Supposed to Be Back

And I had every intention to pick back up my habit of blogging daily.

But, I got sick.

I've had the most horrendous sore throat for about a week. Literally, tomorrow evening, it will be exactly one week.

Does anyone know what that feels like? It sucks!

Luckily, it didn't ruin my Valentine's Day. I will post tomorrow about how that went.

Then I'll do a post about being sick and how Easy and I took another step in getting to know each other. Here's an intro. He's the type of person who always has good intentions but doesn't always have the knowledge to carry that through. But it was a learning experience for us both.

But first, I'll finally do Day Seventeen of Creating Things. Tonight for dinner I made lasagna. And I didn't take a picture of it. Sorry.

Creating Things Day Sixteen - Baked Chicken And Mashed Potatoes

Pretty much, the only things I'm able to make here in St. Louis at the Bachelor Pad is food and drink.

Voices around the blogosphere are going "duh!", especially if you've read my last few posts.

But I learned that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, so I cook, ha ha.

Tonight, I'm making baked chicken and mashed potatoes for dinner.

Easy like potatoes a lot. Thank goodness we started dating after I was done with my no-carb phase.

I forgot to take pictures when I first started cooking, so I'll just have to type what I did.

I'm making breasts with the bone in. More flavor + cheaper price = no brainer.

I seasoned them with olive oil, cumin, salt, pepper, and thyme.

I sauteed the meaty side in a pan with a bit of butter and olive oil so it will be crispy even without skin.

Then I put the breasts in an aluminum foil lined glass pan with a bit of salted water and chicken broth in the bottom.

I covered the pan and stuck it in a 375 degree oven.

Here is the chicken in the oven. I pulled back the aluminum foil so you can see the tasty looking chicken with all the seasoning on it.

To make the potatoes, I just started by putting five potatoes in a pot full of water.

Here's a picture of the potatoes in the pot. Exciting, right?

I turned the chicken over after about 30 min on one side. Can't serve undercooked chicken.

I also took this opportunity to take the potatoes off the stove.

I peeled them and started smashing them.

No way I could mash them, no tools to do so in the Bachelor Pad.

I added butter, milk, and some Colby cheese. And of course, it tastes great.

It looks great too. Here's the picture.

The chicken was finished on the second side, then I turned it one more time.

I wanted to make sure it got finished.

But this time I removed the aluminum foil so that the chicken could brown a bit more.

I like that flavor you get from nice browned chicken.

Here is a picture of the chicken. There's only one breast left in the pan, I had already made our plates by the time I remembered to take the picture.

Here's my plate with the chicken at potatoes. Looks tasty, right?

Creating Things Day Fourteen - A Savory Pasta Dish

This post was supposed to go up on Saturday, but like I said, I've been busy and am behind.

Easy had two gigs in one night and I didn't accompany him. Consequently, I was at his place by myself, and starving.

After surveying the Bachelor Pad, it was clear I didn't have too many options for feeding myself.

I saw a can of diced tomatoes, some frozen chicken tenders, the last of the wine we bought the other day, some linguine noodles from a previous time I made dinner here, and some chicken broth.

I decided to make myself a pasta dish. I forgot to take pictures though. Sorry.

I started out by sauteing the chicken in olive oil and butter. I seasoned it with black pepper, crushed red pepper, salt, and Italian seasoning.

Then I took the chicken out and made a sauce using the oil from cooking the chicken, the broth, the wine, and some butter.

Then I added the tomatoes and let the sauce reduce down. Then I dropped the pasta.

When the pasta was done, I drained it and added it and the chicken back to the sauce.

I finished it with a little lemon juice and sat down and enjoyed a really delicious dish.

Creating Things Day Eleven - Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies

I didn't get a chance to sit down and write this post until after midnight, but this is what I made yesterday, Wednesday, January 12, 2011.

I made cookies. I had been wanting to make cookies for about a week now.

It would be a waste to make them at my parents' house. All that healthy eating is not a good environment for cookies.

But I knew that making them in St. Louis when I came to see Easy.

But of course, as always with him, the day was delayed. So I didn't even get started on the cookies until the night was almost done.

And to add to it, I forgot to take pictures until the dough was already made up.

Can I take a moment to say this is the most work I've ever put into making cookies?

This is a true bachelor pad out here in St. Louis.

They have hardly anything needs for basic baking.

The biggest thing missing was a mixer. I had to mix the cookies by hand. With a fork. That's right a dinner fork!

But I finally got the dough mixed and added in the chips. Doesn't it look delicious?

The recipe was the basic Pillsbury recipe, but I substituted some of the chocolate chips for Reese's Peanut Butter Chips.

I love Reese's cups, so I thought the switch would be tasty.

I got the first set of cookies onto the cookie sheet and into the oven.

I'm not used to baking in this oven so the first batch looked just okay. They smelled wonderful and tasted great though.

Each successive batches (the recipe made a lot of cookies) looked even better.

Easy and I had a great dessert of cookies and milk.

The addition of the peanut butter chips was great for me since I'm not a huge fan of chocolate chip cookies.

I would definitely recommend that Pillsbury recipe (just don't tell them I used Nestle Tollhouse semi-sweet chips, lol).

Weekly Goals Accomplished? Part Eight

There are fourteen goals in total This covers the week 1/2-1/8 (Sun-Sat).

Family Member Goal: I'm supposed to reach out to a family member I haven't talked to or spent time with in the last month.
Accomplished?: Yup. Nothing too huge, just saying a quick hello on the phone.

Career Goal: Fill out at least 50 job applications.
Accomplished?: Yes, I think I made this, although I didn't keep count. It's just the hours I spent online, it had to add up to at least 50.

Career Goal: Do research on grad schools, and on how to acquire a clinic/scholarship program/homeless shelter.
Accomplished?: I did some follow up on the clinic. By-passing the info about filing forms with the IRS etc. to start planning the logistics of the clinic is a huge step for me.

Career Goal: Have an updated resume by the 10th of this month.
Accomplished?: Yes, this got done, but it doesn't count for this week since I didn't finish it til after the 8th.

Hobbies (Piano Playing) Goal: Spend at least one hour practicing the piano and/or studying music theory.
Accomplished?: Nope. I haven't been anywhere near my keyboard this past week.

Hobbies (Reading) Goal: Read at least one book in the last week.
Accomplished?: Nope. Those Charles Dickens books are slow reading... And I spend a lot of time on my Kindle playing games. I blame my hairdresser for letting me know they have games on the Kindle.

Hobbies (Writing) Goal: Work on novel at least once in the last two weeks.
Accomplished?: Technically yes, since I did it the week before last.

Hobbies (Gardening) Goal: Work on indoor garden plan at least once in the last week.
Accomplished?: Nope, but I'm certainly feeling the urge to get to work on this goal. I would've loved to have some fresh herbs to put into the turkey burgers I made today.

Hobbies (Yoga) Goal: Go to three yoga classes.
Accomplished?: Nope. I really should do better; it's just so cold outside.

Hobbies (Cooking) Goal: Make one new and one old recipe.
Accomplished?: Yes, I accomplished this one.

Hobbies (Cooking) Goal: Write down the recipe for everything I've made in the last week.
Accomplished?: I haven't done this. But I will do it next week.

Hobbies (Travelling) Goal: Leave Chicago once a week, leave Illinois once a month, leave the Midwest once a season, and leave USA once a year.
Accomplished?: Bowling on Friday and shopping during the week got me out of Chicago. Hadn't left Illinois yet, but I will this week. I've got til March to get out of the Midwest, and I've got til October to get out of the country.

Hobbies (Bowling) Goal: Improve league bowling average and lower handicap.
Accomplished?: Well, my average went up to 100, but my handicap didn't lower. I'll take that as a goal accomplished because that extra pin of handicap was useful to help my team win all three games of league bowling on Friday.

Hobbies (New Things) Goal: Try something brand new.
Accomplished?: All those crafts I've been making are certainly brand new. I'm feeling quite creative this past week.

I got 9 of my goals completed this week. That is pretty good, more than half. Still a work in progress. If I ever get all fourteen, I may just have a small heart attack.

Creating Things Day Nine - Delicious Turkey Burgers

Today, I made a sandwich, just like I threatened to a couple of days ago.

I decided to make turkey burgers. Since my family has been eating healthier, I've found a way to actually like them.

I don't know that my preparation technique is all that healthy, but it certainly tastes good!

I started out with this ground turkey.

Then I put it into a bowl to add the spices.

What spices did I use? An awful lot of them. I had to do it to make the bland turkey taste good to me.

I added fresh ground sea salt, fresh ground black pepper, cayenne pepper, crushed red pepper, paprika, parsley flakes, Worcestershire sauce, light olive oil, garlic powder, onion powder, and a dash of hot sauce.

Then I prepared my pan. I added a couple tablespoons of butter, a couple tablespoons of light olive oil, and a couple tablespoons of pure canola oil.

I told you this wasn't necessarily healthy. Just healthier than fast food.

I made the patties while I waited for the oil to heat up.

I learned from Rachael Ray that a pound of meat should be quartered into four patties.

Why they never look that big in fast food restaurants? Don't even get me started.

Once the oil was ready to go, I put my patties in. All those different seasonings made the oil a funny color, but it smelled amazing.

I cooked the first side, then flipped the burgers.

How do I make sure my burgers are juicy and delicious? I cover the pan of course.

The burgers were soon cooked and looking fabulous.

I know, that's only three patties. They are for my family to eat. But I want one right now.

I added a slice of provolone cheese to the burger patty and turned off the heat. I covered it to let the cheese melt.

Then I toasted some bread and got lettuce and mustard. Doesn't it look tasty?

It was delicious! Spicy, juicy, and much healthier and bigger than what you would get in McDonald's.

Seriously, the time it would take me to drive to McDonald's and go through the drive through was the time it took me to prepare and cook my burger. Healthy is better.

I'm Not Going To The Airport Today

I've been talking a lot about my excitement for Easy to come home.

I was supposed to be heading to the airport in a few hours to pick him up from O'Hare International Airport.

But that's not happening now. Why isn't that happening?

Because Easy doesn't get here until tomorrow.

The group he was in Europe with said they could either get a 5 am ride to the airport or stay at the hotel and get a taxi when it was time for their flight.

Easy opted to do the latter.

He arrived at the airport at 11:30 am or so to check in for his 1 pm flight.

Once there, he discovered that his flight was actually at 11:50 am and he was too late to check in.

They gave him two options: upgrade to first class on a flight later that day or wait til tomorrow to fly.

It was basically a choice between hundreds of dollars for one option and a few less hundreds of dollars for the other option.

He picked option #2.

So he'll be here tomorrow around 6:30 pm.

His mom called me at 9 in the morning to let me know he wasn't going to be here today.

Then Easy called me about an hour ago to fill in the details.

It really sucks that this happened. I'm already missing him so much and now he's yet still another day away.

It's no problem though, I will just push all the plans back another day.

There aren't big fancy plans, just normal plans.

Easy and I both know that I am not the most agreeable person when hungry, sleepy, tired, in pain, or cold.

So I'm taking steps to make sure I am none of those things when I pick him up from the airport.

And now I guess I'll just relax for today and try and figure out what I'm going to make.

I've got my eye on the ground turkey in he refrigerator.

Creating Things Day Three - Banana Nut Bread

I knew eventually I'd get around to making food as my daily creation. Today was the day.

I had a craving for something sweet. Since everyone in the house has switched to a lifestyle of healthier eating, sweets are harder to come by.

I figured the cheapest way was just to make something myself. Also, I would get to avoid going out in the cold.

I took a look around the kitchen to see what ingredients I had. Then I knew banana bread was the thing to make.

We have a ton of bananas in the house right now. I looked online for a bit to find a good recipe.

Once I found one, I got started. First, I had to assemble all the ingredients.

Then I had to puree the bananas, eggs, sour cream, and vanilla.

Then I had to sift all the dry ingredients.

After mixing the wet and dry ingredients, I had to fold in the nuts.

Then I added the mixture to the pan and put it in the oven.

After waiting 70 minutes, I took the bread out of the oven and let it cool. It turned out sooooo good!

I felt so good about the baking, that I decided to make dinner. Butter poached salmon, mushroom and green onion rice, and spicy sweet corn. Very delicious!

Weekly Goals Accomplished? Part Six

I know this week is almost done, but I'm just now getting around to putting this up for last week. There are fourteen goals in total This covers the week 12/12-12/18 (Sun-Sat).

Family Member Goal: I'm supposed to reach out to a family member I haven't talked to or spent time with in the last month.
Accomplished?: No. And I really should get on this one. It is the holiday season after all. Even more so because I didn't do it last week.

Career Goal: Fill out at least 50 job applications.
Accomplished?: This goal I have accomplished two weeks in a row. I guess it makes a difference to have internet access. Although, the access wasn't compromised because I spent half of last week in St. Louis.

Career Goal: Do research on grad schools, and on how to acquire a clinic/scholarship program/homeless shelter.
Accomplished?: I didn't actually do anything for this goal last week. I just wasn't in the mood. But next week, I'll be looking up GRE information. Michelle and were just discussing it yesterday.

Career Goal: Have an updated resume by the 10th of this month.
Accomplished?: I completed this goal for the month.

Hobbies (Piano Playing) Goal: Spend at least one hour practicing the piano and/or studying music theory.
Accomplished?: I accomplished this goal. I wasn't really playing holiday music though, I was playing musical music. I'm trying to memorize this one song.

Hobbies (Reading) Goal: Read at least one book in the last week.
Accomplished?: I finally finished Great Expectations! And I started reading another Dickens classic, "The Old Curiosity Shop." I doubt I'll get through it in just a week.

Hobbies (Writing) Goal: Work on novel at least once in the last two weeks.
Accomplished?: I scrapped the one I was working on before because I just wasn't feeling the storyline anymore. So I started working out all new characters. I've got a compelling protagonist, friends becoming enemies, enemies becoming friends. Did anyone catch the Family Guy reference? Anyone at all?

Hobbies (Gardening) Goal: Work on indoor garden plan at least once in the last week.
Accomplished?: Nope. I know, why have a goal on the list if I'm never going to accomplish it?

Hobbies (Yoga) Goal: Go to three yoga classes.
Accomplished?: I didn't make this one, I was in St. Louis for half the week. I only went to one class.

Hobbies (Cooking) Goal: Make one new and one old recipe.
Accomplished?: I made the roasted asparagus that everyone loves for Easy while I was in St. Louis. He has the weirdest taste in fruits and veggies, so I couldn't make my usual spaghetti sauce for the linguine. I ended up coming up with a great recipe for marinara consequently.

Hobbies (Cooking) Goal: Write down the recipe for everything I've made in the last week.
Accomplished?: I didn't exactly get it done during the week, but I did get all the recipes down that I made in the week.

Hobbies (Travelling) Goal: Leave Chicago once a week, leave Illinois once a month, leave the Midwest once a season, and leave USA once a year.
Accomplished?: I left Chicago for bowling, I left Illinois to go down to St. Louis. I didn't leave the Midwest last week (but I did this week!). Still working on getting out of the country by next October.

Hobbies (Bowling) Goal: Improve league bowling average and lower handicap.
Accomplished?: This wasn't accomplished this past week. My average and handicap stayed the same. But I think I will have improved after my scores from last week's league are calculated in.

Hobbies (New Things) Goal: Try something brand new.
Accomplished?: That marinara sauce was brand new for me. I cannot remember ever having tomato sauce before that only had tomatoes in it. It messed with my head for a while, but I worked it out! I'm just glad I'm able to make food that both Easy and I love since we have such different textural preferences.

I got 9 of my goals completed this week. That isn't as good as my record, but it is better than my average!

Getting Ready For Christmas

The tree is up and decorated, sort of.

We haven't put any ornaments on it, but it has lights and a tree topper.

It's just so much work to put the whole tree together and then have to take it back down again in just a short time.

It's not like we have any small children around. I'm the youngest person that will be in the house for the holiday, and I'm 26.

Granted, it is because of me that we even put the tree up. I'm the Christmas fanatic in the house.

Here is our tree.

And here are the ornaments we haven't yet put on the tree and cards we've received but not hung up.

So, we are doing other things to get ready for the holidays. Stocking up on egg nog, apple cider, and hot cocoa is a must.

Also, there is shopping for other people and their children.

Last night, we gave these two dresses to a family friend for her two daughters. I loved those dresses and was glad she loved them too.

I have some gifts to wrap for some of my kids at church.

Tomorrow, my mother and I will prep for Christmas dinner.

My family has been low key for most of the 2010 holidays, except for Thanksgiving, so we will do the same for Christmas.

We will probably have cornish hens and wild rice dressing.

I am doing something for myself though for Christmas. I'm finally dyeing my locks!

I'm excited for how it will look. I let my hair dresser pick the color. I hope it's not too bright, but I do want it to be noticeable.

The color is called plum brown. That will be a reddish-purple-y brown. I'm really excited because I've been wanting to dye my hair for a while now.

I will post a picture tomorrow after I get back from the hair dresser.

So all there's left to do now is watch Home Alone once more.

I love that scene where the kids are singing "O Holy Night" in the church and the old guy who scares Kevin inspires him to protect his house from the burglars.

Weekly Goals Accomplished? Part Five

I skipped two weeks because I just wasn't spending a lot of time blogging. There are fourteen goals in total. This covers the week 12/05-12/11 (Sun-Sat).

Family Member Goal: I'm supposed to reach out to a family member I haven't talked to or spent time with in the last month.
Accomplished?: No. And I really should get on this one. It is the holiday season after all.

Career Goal: Fill out at least 50 job applications.
Accomplished?: This goal I have finally accomplished! I switched my schedule around to avoid my internet-killing brother. So I should do a better job of reaching this goal from here on out.

Career Goal: Do research on grad schools, and on how to acquire a clinic/scholarship program/homeless shelter.
Accomplished?: I have done research on the clinic. There are a lot of extra steps that need to be taken, but having a solid checklist to go by is helpful. I have also come up with a solid list of grad school programs that I may potentially want to apply to.

Career Goal: Have an updated resume by the 10th of this month.
Accomplished?: I have updated my resume by adding in my forgotten certification in CPR. Also, I"m finalizing my references list.

Hobbies (Piano Playing) Goal: Spend at least one hour practicing the piano and/or studying music theory.
Accomplished?: I finally accomplished this goal. I do love playing holiday music.

Hobbies (Reading) Goal: Read at least one book in the last week.
Accomplished?: I've finally been reading again on my Kindle instead of just playing Every Word or Mine Sweeper. But I'm re-reading Great Expectations and that is going to take awhile. I'm about 1/3 of the way through it.

Hobbies (Writing) Goal: Work on novel at least once in the last two weeks.
Accomplished?: Nah. I just don't know what to do with the characters I've created. I may have to start from scratch.

Hobbies (Gardening) Goal: Work on indoor garden plan at least once in the last week.
Accomplished?: Not really. I'll get a half for this one because I've at least decided to start with an herb garden.

Hobbies (Yoga) Goal: Go to three yoga classes.
Accomplished?: I was able to accomplish the goal. It was really hard to go to five classes a week. I tried, but it was a toll on my body. I think it will take more time to work up to the great goal. For now I'll stick with three times a week.

Hobbies (Cooking) Goal: Make one new and one old recipe.
Accomplished?: I stumbled upon a great new recipe for home fries. It's just a spin on something I've tried before that didn't work out. I made them as a healthy alternative to french fries to go with turkey burgers. I normally hate turkey burgers, but have found a way to make them and enjoy them. Score one for healthy eating.

Hobbies (Cooking) Goal: Write down the recipe for everything I've made in the last week.
Accomplished?: I haven't cooked too much this week, but I did manage to write down all the recipes.

Hobbies (Travelling) Goal: Leave Chicago once a week, leave Illinois once a month, leave the Midwest once a season, and leave USA once a year.
Accomplished?: Chicago was left a couple of times this week, but only to head to the south suburbs. Still counts though! I left Illinois in November, and I'm set to do it again next week. It's almost officially winter, and I don't see me leaving the Midwest, but I'm gonna see. And I still have until next October to leave the country.

Hobbies (Bowling) Goal: Improve league bowling average and lower handicap.
Accomplished?: This was accomplished. My new average is 99, and my handicap has lowered to 90.

Hobbies (New Things) Goal: Try something brand new.
Accomplished?: Technically, I accomplished this because I have developed a brand new way to bowl. It's a stretch I know, but considering how different it was from what I was doing before and the vast improvement in my score, it should count.


I got 10 1/2 of my goals completed this week. That is a new record. Maybe in a few weeks I'll get all of them!

Of course now I need to edit a few of them, particularly the ones about grad school and my future career plans. I need a more detailed goals list.

But I'll worry about that next week.

Weekly Goals Accomplished? Part Four

I had from Sunday to Saturday so hopefully I got everything done! There are fourteen goals in total. This covers 11-14 to 11-20


Family Member Goal: I'm supposed to reach out to a family member I haven't talked to or spent time with in the last month.
Accomplished?: No. I intended to, but never got around to it.

Career Goal: Fill out at least 50 job applications.
Accomplished?: Close, but no cigar.

Career Goal: Do research on grad schools, and on how to acquire a clinic/scholarship program/homeless shelter.
Accomplished?: Um... No.

Career Goal: Have an updated resume by the 10th of this month.
Accomplished?: This was finished by the 11th of this month.

Hobbies (Piano Playing) Goal: Spend at least one hour practicing the piano and/or studying music theory.
Accomplished?: Not a whole hour, but some time was spent.

Hobbies (Reading) Goal: Read at least one book in the last week.
Accomplished?: No, I swear I used to read a lot, I don't know what happened.

Hobbies (Writing) Goal: Work on novel at least once in the last two weeks.
Accomplished?: Haven't done this either.

Hobbies (Gardening) Goal: Work on indoor garden plan at least once in the last week.
Accomplished?: Nope

Hobbies (Yoga) Goal: Go to five yoga classes.
Accomplished?: I didn't make it to any yoga classes this week. I didn't get back til Wednesday night. Honestly I just didn't feel like it Thurs, Fri, or Saturday.

Hobbies (Cooking) Goal: Make one new and one old recipe.
Accomplished?: I did do this. I made a great dinner for Easy and I while I was in St. Louis on Tuesday. The cheesy shells I'd already made. But the chicken with a Chardonnay cream gravy was new.

Hobbies (Cooking) Goal: Write down the recipe for everything I've made in the last week.
Accomplished?: I did do this, just not on time, but it's done now, so that sort of counts.

Hobbies (Travelling) Goal: Leave Chicago once a week, leave Illinois once a month, leave the Midwest once
a season, and leave USA once a year.
Accomplished?: I was outside Chicago and Illinois by being in St. Louis from Sunday to Wednesday. I also left Chicago on Friday to go bowling in Dolton, IL. Still working on leaving the Midwest and the USA.

Hobbies (Bowling) Goal: Improve league bowling average and lower handicap.
Accomplished?: I have improved. After tonight, my team has moved into second place in our league! And my average is up to 95 while my handicap is down to 94.

Hobbies (New Things) Goal: Try something brand new.
Accomplished?: I was very upset about something, and I was able, for the first time ever, to fully speak my mind while not saying anything I would end up regretting. I was a fantastic feeling because I expressed my anger and disappointment without saying anything horrible. There was no mean streak to apologize for later.

6 out of 14 isn't bad. It's an improvement on last week. I am getting progressively better.

Weekly Goals Accomplished? Part Three

Last week, I only gave myself three days to get everything done. But this past week I had from Sunday to Saturday so hopefully I got everything done! There are fourteen goals in total. This goes from 11-07 to 11-13.

Let me just first say that I really didn't get much done at all. I was a bit busy in St. Louis. It was like emotional rehab. Sort of a one track mind last week.


Family Member Goal: I'm supposed to reach out to a family member I haven't talked to or spent time with in the last month.
Accomplished?: Not really...

Career Goal: Fill out at least 50 job applications.
Accomplished?: Um.. no.

Career Goal: Do research on grad schools, and on how to acquire a clinic/scholarship program/homeless shelter.
Accomplished?: This I actually did do! There are apparently some great grad programs in St. Louis...

Career Goal: Have an updated resume by the 10th of this month.
Accomplished?: I did accomplish this, although not until the 11th. But it's done and I have a fully updated resume!

Hobbies (Piano Playing) Goal: Spend at least one hour practicing the piano and/or studying music theory.
Accomplished?: I surprised myself by accomplishing this goal. But Easy has  keyboard, so I got in some practice. While I'm on the subject, he's actually pretty upset with me that I haven't played for him yet. I'll discuss that in my next blog post about Easy.

Hobbies (Reading) Goal: Read at least one book in the last week.
Accomplished?: Didn't read a book...

Hobbies (Writing) Goal: Work on novel at least once in the last two weeks.
Accomplished?: Um, didn't do this either.

Hobbies (Gardening) Goal: Work on indoor garden plan at least once in the last week.
Accomplished?: Nope.

Hobbies (Yoga) Goal: Go to five yoga classes.
Accomplished?: I went to one yoga class in Chicago. But while in St. Louis I went through my yoga routine twice.

Hobbies (Cooking) Goal: Make one new and one old recipe.
Accomplished?: I didn't do much cooking. But I can say for a fact that I accomplished this goal in the next week

Hobbies (Cooking) Goal: Write down the recipe for everything I've made in the last week.
Accomplished?: I finally finished my recipe template.

Hobbies (Travelling) Goal: Leave Chicago once a week, leave Illinois once a month, leave the Midwest once a season, and leave USA once a year.
Accomplished?: I've left Chicago and Illinois by heading to St. Louis. Still have until next month to leave the Midwest and I have until next October to leave the country.

Hobbies (Bowling) Goal: Improve league bowling average and lower handicap.
Accomplished?: I didn't do any bowling this week, so no improvement to speak of. But my team did beat my Dad's team in league bowling, two games out of three.

Hobbies (New Things) Goal: Try something brand new.
Accomplished?: I did this. I went to this great reggae spot in St. Louis I'd never been to on Wednesday night with Easy and Lion.

Weekly Goals Accomplished? Part Two

A couple days ago, I wrote about setting these weekly goals for myself to take a more proactive stance on building the life I want for myself. But since I started this late in the week, this first week only goes from Thursday to Saturday. There are fourteen goals in total. Let's see how I did!

Family Member Goal: I'm supposed to reach out to a family member I haven't talked to or spent time with in the last month.
Accomplished?: I texted my younger cousin who is a freshman in college. She's super busy all the time, but I reached out to her. She responded, but it was the most delayed text ever, so I was glad to even hear from her.

Career Goal: Fill out at least 50 job applications
Accomplished?: I didn't fill out anywhere close to 50, but hopefully I will do better next week.

Career Goal: Do research on grad schools, and on how to acquire a clinic/scholarship program/homeless shelter
Accomplished?: I did some research on how to acquire a clinic. Very little. I need to do better.

Career Goal: Have an updated resume by the 10th of this month.
Accomplished?: I didn't finish it by Saturday, But I will get it done next week.

Hobbies (Piano Playing) Goal: Spend at least one hour practicing the piano and/or studying music theory.
Accomplished?: I didn't touch the keyboard, but I had a very busy couple of days.

Hobbies (Reading) Goal: Read at least one book in the last week.
Accomplished?: I didn't read a book, but I read some more of Great Expectations on my Kindle.

Hobbies (Writing) Goal: Work on novel at least once in the last two weeks.
Accomplished?: I didn't work on the novel, but I have another week before I officially didn't reach this goal.

Hobbies (Gardening) Goal: Work on indoor garden plan at least once in the last week.
Accomplished?: Nope, sorry.

Hobbies (Yoga) Goal: Go to five yoga classes.
Accomplished?: Not accomplished. That would've been crazy to do in only three days. I only went to 2 classes.

Hobbies (Cooking) Goal: Make one new and one old recipe.
Accomplished?: I didn't cook anything between Thursday and Saturday.

Hobbies (Cooking) Goal: Write down the recipe for everything I've made in the last week.
Accomplished?: I still haven't made my recipe template.

Hobbies (Travelling) Goal: Leave Chicago once a week, leave Illinois once a month, leave the Midwest once a season, and leave USA once a year.
Accomplished?: I did leave Chicago. We went to Crestwood, IL to see the movie. The rest I'm still working on.

Hobbies (Bowling) Goal: Improve league bowling average and lower handicap.
Accomplished?: My average really did improve and my handicap went down. And what's more, my team won all three of our league games. We kicked their asses!

Hobbies (New Things) Goal: Try something brand new.
Accomplished?: I accomplished this one! When we went to Grand Lux, my appetizer and meal were brand new to me. I'd never tried Philly cheesesteak spring rolls and they were delicious! And whatever salad that was I ordered was good too!

Okay, 5 out of 14. I will do better. And next week, I'll actually have 7 days so hopefully I will improve!

Weekly Goals Accomplished? Part One

If you read all those pages I recently added to my blog, you'll see that I've typed out concrete ideas I have for building the life I want. There are things I've decided I want to proactively seek out. I think it will be fun to make that extra step. And there's always that warm fuzzy feeling I get when I'm making real strides towards accomplishing a goal.

I'm thinking if I post this every Sunday or so, I'll be able to look back on the last week to see if I did what I was supposed to do. For the first post, I'll be looking at only Thursday to Saturday. But before I get into that, I'll just lay out the goals.

For my family, I'm setting a goal to reach out to a family member I haven't talked to or spent time with in a month. I can't make them have time for me, but I can do my part at least and reach out.

For my career, I'm setting a goal to fill out at least 50 job applications a week. That number may change over time. Also, I'd like to have spent part of one day doing research on my ultimate career goals and on my grad school search.

For my hobbies, I've got quite a number of goals, and I'm going to write them all out here. Bear with me.

For piano playing, I'd like to spend at least one hour each week practicing the piano and studying music theory.

For reading, I'd like to read at least one new book in a week. I've read waaaay more books than that in one week, but I sometimes go weeks without finishing a book, so that's now the goal.

For writing, I'd like to work on my novel at least once every two weeks. I want to do some character development, plot planning, or maybe even writing. With constant progress, maybe I'll stay in touch with the characters and really get some stuff done.

For gardening, I'm going to put together a plan to start a indoor garden. I think spending time doing that research or acquiring the tools I need to make it happen once a week will be a good start.

For yoga, the goal will be to get my butt to that yoga studio five times a week. That will mean making extra efforts to change my schedule and motivate myself.

For cooking, I'd like to make one dish I've made before, make one new dish, and write down the recipes for everything I make, with the exception of bowls of cold cereal.

For travelling, I want to leave the city once a week, the state once a month, the Midwest once a season, and the country once a year.

For bowling, I'd like to improve my average and lower my handicap every week.

And as far as trying new things, I have to do at least one brand new thing a week. It doesn't have to be huge, but it has to be new.

I know I've made a tall order for myself. I've made fourteen goals That's a lot to do every single week. Maybe I'll give up in two weeks. But for now, I'm excited to try!