accomplishments this week

• 3 whole days without sugar (although I’m not sure this really counts since I’m pretty sure I still have sugar in my system from the plethora of cookies I ate Sunday night)

• ran 4 miles yesterday

• did not twist my ankle when I stepped on one of those little spiky balls that fall off of sweet gum trees on my run yesterday

• learned a Taylor Swift song on my guitar (oh T. Swift, I just love your music even though I might be too old to be such a huge fan!)

thoughts

I read this today:

what is a blog for if not a modern diary for the details of your days, the thoughts in your mind, the dreams in your heart, the goals you have set, the photos that illustrate who you are, the person you inspire to be, the documentation of the right now.

So how do I balance blogging, journaling, emailing, etc? I like it but I guess I just blog when I can, journal when I can, email when I can...all I can do is the best I can!

I've become an airplane journal writer. Lately that's the only time I write. Better than nothing, of course, and I feel like I've been on planes more in the last few months. So I guess I'll see you in March, journal!

First date of 2011

Last night I went on my first date of 2011. Don't worry that it was with a married man and two of my bff's. Yep, Brother Streiff (our ward executive secretary or clerk or whatever they call him) took Wendy, Naco, and me shooting and to dinner at In N Out. It was a whole lot of fun. Brother Streiff is awesome and ever since I missed our last ward camping trip (which always involves shooting), he's been telling me he will take me shooting. So last night we met at his house and he took us to a shooting range in Laguna Niguel, where we met up with Dusty and shot a lot of guns. Those guys have some really nice guns. We looked awesome in our protective glasses and headphones. All that shooting (and the fact that I went running and didn't have time for dinner) really worked up our appetites so Brother Streiff treated us to In N Out before we went home. Why are all the good ones taken? :)

So far, so good

So far, I’m a big fan of 2011. I started the year off in Palm Springs with a bunch of friends in a super-sweet house we rented. Lots of fun was had including Just Dance 2, party hats and noisemakers, sardines (the game not the fish), pancake batter in an aerosol can (I did not partake but it was certainly intriguing), my first run of 2011, an awesome and exhilarating but dangerous hike followed by a great burger (I’m a sucker for a great burger), games, hot tub, fire pit…the list goes on!

I got a new roommate. Nat moved out, which Naco and I were super sad about. She is living with her parents in Irvine for a month to save money before she leaves next month for a mission in ROMANIA!! She’s awesome and we miss her already but she’ll be a great missionary so I’m excited for her. Enter…Anne. She’s a cool chick from south county, 25 years old, a redhead (who cares if it’s not natural, right?), funny, listens to cool music, and I’m still finding out more. And, drum roll, please...she has a WII!! I’m pretty stoked about that. Last Friday night Wendy and I spent several hours playing Mario World (we suck) and then after Wendy left, Naco and I spent another hour or so playing! (Yes, that’s right, I said that’s what I did on a Friday night. I have no shame.)

Last Saturday was another busy day of fun. I drove out to Wildomar in the morning for Andrea’s (cousin) bridal shower. To be completely honest (and it’s my blog so why wouldn’t I be?), I’m not a fan of showers but this one wasn’t bad. I got to see my family, the food was yummy (brunch), and I snuck upstairs to visit with my amazing Grandad for awhile. I was there for less than two hours before I had to rush off so that I could make it to Betsy and Nick’s sealing in the Newport Beach Temple. Love them. Betsy and I were roommates and are still great friends. And she just had her twin baby boys, Asher and Judah, a few days ago! I visited Betsy in the hospital but didn't get to see the boys...maybe tonight! The rest of the day was spent cleaning (including washing the downstairs wood floors on my hands and knees), putting away Christmas décor, and grocery shopping. Then that night we went to Durty Nelly’s for karaoke! Anyone that knows me should know that I love me some karaoke. We had a big group there and had a blast. Five of the guys sang a Backstreet Boys song, which was amazing, April rescued some poor drunk people by jumping onstage and busting out some Beastie Boys, and I sang my all-time favorite karaoke song, Me & Bobby McGee.

Last Sunday Nacolynn and I signed up to feed the missionaries. Naco made awesome Navajo tacos, I made birthday cake. Friends, guitar, Wii, etc. I already mentioned this in my recipe post so I’ll leave it at that.

I saw my first concert of 2011 on Monday night with Wendy, Chris, Brittany, and Alex. The main band was Foster the People. They were really good. The show was at The Detroit Bar in Costa Mesa – love that place!

Wednesday was Wes’ bday dinner at Shik Do Rak in Irvine. It’s a Korean restaurant. We had little grills at our table and cooked several kinds of meat, ate with chopsticks, and finished with cake, candles, and melted ice cream! Wes, John, and I tried to go to a movie after dinner but the power was out at the theater (of all the luck) so we just watched a movie at my house instead (thanks to Anne’s Netflix account on the Wii).

Thursday night I went to my first beach bonfire of 2011. Whitney is moving to Utah to take an awesome job so we had one last hoorah for her. Can you believe I wore flip flops and a cardigan and wasn’t really that cold? Thank goodness for my fave hot drink ever, non-fat herbal chai tea latte from Coffee Bean! It’s a lifesaver, I tell ya!

My first movie of 2011 was Tron. I can’t say much about it because I fell asleep a few times. I hate it when that happens! I’m not sure what that says about the movie but in its defense, I will say that I had no desire to see the movie but went because that’s what everyone else wanted to see. Naco really liked it and I think Leni and Nat did, too.

Naco spent last week in NYC for her birthday. I’m so jealous! I really wanted to go but it wasn’t in the budget. She got home late last night and went straight to bed so I'll get to hear all about her adventures tonight. Wendy and I got her a gift that she’s going to love so I’m really excited to give it to her!

Resolutions…to be or not to be?

Last year I made a list of possible resolutions. I never finished it but kept it on my to do list all year so I looked at it often. Here’s what it said:

Figure out resolutions: B of M daily, temple weekly, read more, money/budget/debt, diet/exercise, GMAT, journal, work on time, blog monthly, half marathon?, research MBA, learn Spanish, practice guitar & piano

I think there were a few additions and deletions throughout the year but most of them just sat on the list staring at me. I won’t waste time with how I did in regard to each of those resolution ideas but I will say that it was helpful to look at the list often and be mindful of the things I wanted to improve or do in my life. And since I didn’t actually set the resolutions, I didn’t fail! Sad that I couldn’t even commit to making my resolutions, though, right?!?

There are some forever in my head goals that aren’t really resolution worthy: spend less, weigh less, get married. And then there are ridiculous goals that I know I won’t accomplish like exercise five times each week or write in my journal daily. So I think I’m going to set a few goals and revamp my resolution ideas list. Will any of these resolutions/goals make a big impact in my life? Probably not. They are really just resolutions made for the sake of making resolutions. But I will have fun and probably actually accomplish all three, which might help me to make some real resolutions in the future.

Goal #1: Try 30 new recipes

I have been trying a lot of new baking recipes lately. I really enjoy baking (and eating) so I could easily try 30 new recipes this year. My hope is that I will also try new cooking recipes (dinner, etc), too. I’ll keep you posted.

Goal #2: Read 12 books

Seems easy, right? Well, I assure you that last year I didn’t even read half of that. I used to read a lot and really enjoyed it. Then when I was in college, I didn’t want to read my textbooks so felt like I couldn’t read for pleasure, either. So I basically quit reading. It’s time to pick that habit back up.

Goal #3: Blog at least twice per month

January: done and done.

2011 New Recipe #1

Strawberry Yogurt Cake

Betty Crocker

1	box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® white cake mix
3/4	cup water
1/3	cup vegetable oil
3	egg whites
1	container (6 oz) Yoplait® Original 99% Fat Free strawberry yogurt
1	container Betty Crocker® Whipped vanilla frosting
1	quart (4 cups) strawberries

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1. Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pans). Generously grease and lightly flour bottoms and sides of two 8-inch or 9-inch round pans, or spray with baking spray with flour.
2. In large bowl, beat cake mix, water, oil, egg whites and yogurt with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds; beat on medium speed 2 minutes (batter will be lumpy). Pour into pans.
3. Bake 8-inch rounds 27 to 32 minutes, 9-inch rounds 25 to 30 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Run knife around sides of pans to loosen cakes; remove from pans to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 1 hour.
4. Spread 1/3 cup frosting over 1 cake layer to within 1/4 inch of edge. Cut about 10 strawberries into 1/4-inch slices; arrange on frosted layer. Top with second layer. Frost side and top of cake with remaining frosting. Cut remaining strawberries in half; arrange on top of cake. Store loosely covered in refrigerator.

Naco got a little recipe booklet for her birthday from Betty Crocker. Her birthday is the 15th and she's in New York this week to celebrate (jealous!). We signed up to feed the missionaries on Sunday and thought we'd add birthday cake and candles to the dinner. There were a lot of fun recipes but this one was the prettiest so we chose it. Wes and Naco both blew out candles. Good times. We had 10 people for dinner. Naco made delicious Navajo tacos. They were a big hit. Following dinner and dessert, we had a fun night playing Wii (thanks to new roomie, Anne!), guitar, practical jokes, etc.

The cake was very pretty and I got a new cake stand to put it on. Naco told me to take pictures of it but I was too lazy...or maybe I was trying to hurry, as usual. It basically looked just like the picture shown above minus the sprigs of green. Yummy cake but not one of my favorites. When I found the recipe online today, I read a few reviews that I wish I would have seen before I made it. Two good ideas: use two yogurts to make the cake more moist, use cool whip instead of frosting. Tip: if you use frosting, you might want two tubs instead of just one (I used 1 1/2). My mom is really good at frosting cakes and really making it last but I don't have the patience/talent for that!

My goal is to try 30 new recipes in 2011. Here's #1!

The not so good of 2010

Physically speaking, 2010 was kinda rough for me. The top three things that come to mind are:

1. my first black eye in May (courtesy of my friend, Amy, and a tennis racket)
2. stitches in my head in July (surfboard, waves, rocks, you get the idea)
3. concussion in December (four wheeler, MISCOMMUNICATION, ramp…still fun)

But I only had to go to the doctor for one of those incidents, woohoo! I don’t typically get hurt, have never had a broken bone (well maybe my little pinky toe my freshman year of college thanks to a stupid concrete thing in the parking lot while on a 3:00am pizza run…but that doesn’t count), so three pretty good injuries in one year is kind of a big deal in my world!

Next up: highlights of 2010. That will take a bit longer ‘cause there were a lot!