Thursday, January 8, 2009

Resolutions

So sorry for taking a long leave of absence from blogland...it has been a crazy few weeks, what with being snowed in for two weeks, flooding, wind storms, losing power, etc. We Oregonians have had such an unusually hard winter and it's barely January.

I'm trying to catch up over the next couple of days, but to start, how about some New Year's Resolutions? I've never been big on these, mostly because I always have something I'm working on or towards and don't need a special day to do it. But, since I've never had a blog before, I thought it would be fun to make some. Mine tends towards being pretty specific and not very huge, but they're important to me.

Goals for 2009:

Make one new recipe a week
--starting with ones from my two new cookbooks: Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics and Giada's Kitchen: New Italian Favorites

Try one new restaurant a month
--any ideas on this one? My only requirements are that it is in the Portland area, not super expensive, and not solely seafood. Some I've been wanting to try are Kenny & Zuke's Delicatessen, Le Pigeon, Petit Provence, and Old Town Pizza

Go to three classes a week at the gym
--went to Pilates this morning, always a favorite and it just makes my day that the teacher is a SJP look-alike. I'm going to be adventurous this year and try some kickboxing and dance classes even though I'm sure I'll feel silly.

Finish quilt
--I'm determined to be more comfortable sewing because I think it's a great skill and I'm pretty embarassed that just about every woman relative of mine is a stellar sewer and I have a borderline phobia of sewing machines. Silly, you say? Well, they go really fast and heaven forbid you get a finger up in there. This one's going to be a toughie.

Organize/prettify my room
--Now that I'm back home for a while, I want to put some time and effort into my room. It's basically unchanged since high school and needs some sprucing. I also need some kind of desk/table to put my computer and printer on. I want to buy something used but I'm not sure where to go. Help?

Read as many books as I can
--How's that for a concrete goal? Now that I have absolutely no school hanging over my head, I want to read all those books I meant to but never had the time or brain cells. I'm currently making my way through The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb, a 700-pager about Columbine that has been amazing so far. When I finish that, I'm looking forward to Certain Girls, Atonement, The Scarlet Letter, Gossip Girl: The Carlyles, The Thirteenth Tale, and The Little Lady Agency in the Big Apple. What are you reading this year?

Get my money's worth from my Blockbuster membership
--I'm trying to be better about my slow turn-around for my movies in the mail, but right now I'm working through LOST season 4 so I can be ready for season 5 on January 21st. Next on my list are some Hitchcocks, Fred & Gingers, P. Newmans, ones I missed on last year, The Duchess, Eagle Eye, Tropic Thunder, Prince Caspian, Hancock, Leatherheads, Wanted and the first season of Mad Men. What are you watching this year?

Completely eliminate plastic bags from my life
--follow-up post to come about organic stuff in general, but I'm doing pretty good on this one, just have to get more bags so the fam can get it on it. Heads up locals: Haggen's and Whole Foods give you a discount for every reusable bag you bring in. Score!

4 comments:

Aaron and Emily said...

I would highly recommend craigslist for your desk. I always buy that type of furniture on craigslist, and I get it either super cheap or free. Especially if you don't rush - I am sure you can find a free desk.

As for the sewing. As of half a year ago, I didn't even know how to turn the machine on. But I practiced alot, and it really was only scary in the beginning. And they don't make machines as scary as they used to, so you really have to try to stick your hand in there, and if you did, the needle would probably break (I have broken so many needles)... You'll be fine, you are a quick learner!

Your blog opened up a lot of discussion, I could go on about books and movies, but I will stop now.

Unknown said...

And we're back! Yes!!! Do you have goodwills out there? Craigslist is a good idea. We do goodwill on 1/2 off days and find great old furniture to fix up and then re-sell it... good times. That sounds like a fun project!

Leatherheads was a good movie, and I really want to read atonement... I hope you keep me posted on the books and movies... and shows? What shows you got going? other than of course catching up on LOST... (ps- the desmond one? have you seen it! OMG!!)

Aimee said...

Well, I am not much encouragement for you on the new recipes or restaurants, but I do like the books one. Let me know if you run out of ideas there :-) You can take comfort that I am one of your female relatives with no sewing skills - I just ask your mom or grandma to do it for me. I wonder whether we have any extra desks around, I think we might since Gabriella got her new bedroom set. But spelunking Craigslist might be more fun.

Charlotte said...

Lots of thoughts on your resolutions! I just made the Baked Sweet Potato "Fries" from Barefoot Contessa last night. Loved them! Side note -- Ina Garten's brother-in-law and family live here in Lake Oswego. Leah went to school all the way from kindergarten to UPS with Jessica Garten, Ina's niece, and I did the wedding video for her older niece.

That being said, I prefer Giada's books. A couple of the recipes out of "Giada's Kitchen" that I LOVE are the Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Lemon, Basil and Salmon and the Penne with Shrimp and Herbed Cream Sauce. Yum!

I'm actually trying NOT to eat out in restaurants as often, so I don't have any good ideas here, although we are planning on trying Kenny & Zuke's during our weekend getaway on the 25th.

As for the gym -- today I took 3 friends (with guest passes) to 24 Hour Fitness for the Zumba class. They all loved it! So if you ever want to try it with me, Britt, let me know. I do Zumba most Wed. & Friday mornings at 9:30 a.m. The Wednesday class is taught by one of the founders of Zumba, Gina Grant who is also the wife of former Blazer Brian Grant. She travels all over the world promoting Zumba and is in all the Zumba videos -- last week she was in China, lucky girl.

Good luck with the sewing. I used to sew all the time. Before I had kids, I made almost of of my clothes, but for some reason, I totally lost interest. Haven't sewed in years and don't even have any desire to. I'd rather scrapbook now.

Read more books is also one of my resolutions. I just finished "The Life Of Edgar Sawtelle" -- very well written, but super sad and depressing. I don't recommend it. I am keeping a list of the books/pages I read this year, just because I think it will encourage me to read more. I try to alternate fiction and non-fiction books to encourage me to learn more. I'm midway through "Hot, Flat and Crowded" by Thomas Friedman and I highly recommend it for anyone who wants to learn more about Global Warming, living green, etc. Very readable and I've already learned a ton. A bit depressing, but he says the 2nd half of the book is devoted to what we can do to make a difference.

I LOVE Lost. Thought last season was the best ever, and can't wait for next week! Let's have a Lost viewing party sometime!

I have personally eliminated plastic bags from my life, although Brent still forgets sometimes (even though I've equipped his car with several cloth bags...) Just about every one will give you a rebate -- I got .20 at Target today! Makes me feel good, and I love not having to deal with all the plastic bags.

Good luck with the resolutions! They all sound good.