Slaaaaaacker

Sorry for being an update slacker over here! I fell off the 101 Things wagon I guess. Good news is, I actually have done lots of the items here on the list, and they just need checking off! Let's get started:

Lunch It: I still go out a lot more than I'd like, but there have been at least a week or two where I've dutifully brought my lunch every day. Why are leftovers and turkey sandwiches so depressing?

Blog It: I've been a good little blogger over on Overjoyed! I have something up a few times a week, which I'm quite proud of. As far as Sweet Things goes, I've been thinking I might just delete that as a separate blog and post those posts and creations over on Overjoyed. It makes sense and it will be less work that way.

Trade It: We took all our old VHS tapes to this sweet mega music/movies/books trade in place over in West Nashville. We got store credit which we promptly spent on some new DVDs. Of course.

Give It: I went through all my old clothes and gave away a bunch of stuff to friends and people at church, and the leftovers to GoodWill. Good riddance, skinny clothes from high school! I kept a couple things I love to much to part with and that I vow to someday fit in again. I also kept a pile of sentimental-value t-shirts because I'm giving myself one year's worth of time to figure out how to make them into a t-shirt quilt. If not... I'll take some pictures of them and send them off too! As hard as it is for me, it feels good to purge. Now I have room for the clothes I actually wear. I just need to put them away...

Wash It: I took my car to the carwash! Yaaaay! I even got inside and vacuumed and picked up a bag full of trash and windexed the inside of my windows, thank you very much. I am going to TRY to keep my car clean. No, really.

Try It: Ben and I went to the Franklin Farmers' Market when his family was in town. It was a beautiful day and a great experience! Plus we talked to some people and might be trying out a CSA with a local farm this year. Cool beans!

Decorate It: It's official. The James Cookie Decorating Party is an annual event. We had our third one this past Christmas, and I think I can safely say we'll be carrying this on for many years to come.

That's all to report for now! I think next I'm going to tackle biking, some more cleaning and organizing, and maybe, if I dare, a wee bit more gardening. Don't hold your breath on that last one.

101 Books & 101 Movies: So Far

These are two of my list items, to read 101 books and watch 101 movies. I was initially going to make a list of the books and movies I wanted to check off, but that turned out to be a little ambition. Instead I'm just keeping track of the books and movies I actually get to! Here's my list to-date... this is roughly everything I can remember since I started the 101 Project. I keep thinking of things I forgot to list here so I'll just add them in the next time I update.

I'm a big book re-reader and movie re-watcher so I've actually read/watched many more than these, but for the purpose of this list I wanted to focus on the new things I've experienced. And for the record I only counted Twilight once on the movie list, even though I've seen it five times. So far.

Books
1. Prince Caspian, by C.S. Lewis
2. Voyage of the Dawn Treader, by C.S. Lewis
3. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
4. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, by Douglas Adams
5. Life, the Universe, and Everything, by Douglas Adams
6. Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer
7. New Moon, by Stephenie Meyer
8. Eclipse, by Stephenie Meyer
9. Breaking Dawn, by Stephenie Meyer
10. The Princess Bride, by William Goldman
11. Atonement, by Ian McEwan
12. Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist, by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan
13. The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd
14. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, by J.K. Rowling
15. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, by J.K. Rowling
16. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, by J.K. Rowling
17. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, by J.K. Rowling (in progress)
18. Musicophilia, by Oliver Sacks (in progress)


Movies
1. 3:10 to Yuma
2. Shoot 'Em Up
3. Be Kind Rewind
4. Thank You For Smoking
5. The Graduate
6. The Fugitive
7. Indiana Jones & the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
8. The Dark Knight
9. Corpse Bride
10. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
11. Prince Caspian
12. Once
13. Quantum of Solace
14. Twilight
15. Atonement
16. Wall-E
17. 27 Dresses
18. Children of Men
19. The X-Files: I Want to Believe
20. Get Smart
21. Brokeback Mountain
22. Becoming Jane
23. Baby Mama
24. Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist
25. Marley & Me

I Voted!

Today I voted! I even got a cute little sticker to prove it. It was much easier than I thought and I only had to wait for about three minutes before it was my turn. This whole early voting thing is great - why don't they do it everywhere, I wonder?

Anyway, I'm posting this here and not on my other blog because it was one of the things on my list, to research and vote in the 2008 presidential election. It was difficult for me. I have a hard time with conflict so watching coverage of the election and debates was scary. I wanted to stick my head under a pillow until it was all over - or until everyone decided to be nice and get along. I wasn't blown away by either candidate, honestly. My philosophy of voting was to think about the two or three things that are most important to me and then decide who I thought would be best able to lead in those areas. Working together with both parties as well as experience in certain areas were probably the two main things on my mind as I made my decision.

It was kinda cool, in a way. As I pushed the green "Vote" button I have to admit I got a little choked up thinking about what a privilege it was. Whatever you think about the state of our country and our leaders, there is no denying the many extraordinary freedoms we have in America, like helping to choose our elected officials through the voting process. I'm not sure how much my individual vote "counts" honestly - I can pretty much guarantee you that Davidson County will go Democrat, and much of the rest of the state will go Republican - but I am still glad I was part of the process!

So whoever you are and wherever you live, get out there and VOTE!

Time for Another Update!

Sorry it has been a while since I wrote; August was CRAZY. Maybe the craziest month I've had in a while. All kinds of traveling and work and what not... Here's a few things I can check off the list:

Super Cute Haircut - Right before our big conference in Colorado I decided I couldn't take it any more. I went to a new girl, Liz, who gave me an AMAZING haircut which I LOVED! Only problem was, there really wasn't quite enough for Locks of Love, even if I'd gotten it really short. So that will have to wait until another time, I'm afraid. But this new do is extra awesome and I am glad the long hair is gone for now. Ta-da, here it is:

Library Card - I was so excited about this one; I love the library. A place full of free books to borrow... just feels good. I love everything about libraries and library books and I even went through the process of requesting holds from other branches... what books have I checked out recently, you ask? Well, a couple about baseball, a couple more about typography and fonts, one about entrepreneurship, that kind of thing. Oh, and the entire Gossip Girl series. What? Never mind, don't worry about it.

Whitewater Rafting - Now I have to confess, I didn't actually go whitewater rafting... nope, I went whitewater KAYAKING! We did this for Ben's birthday on the Cache la Poudre river in Colorado, and it was probably one of the most exciting things I've ever done. We had a blast and I only fell out once, which was terrifying and cold but I survived! Here is a picture of part of the canyon where we did the run (this is not us in the picture):

We've also taken up regular recreational kayaking too, here in the Nashville area. Last weekend we went on a nine mile trip on the Duck River with our friends Jon & Heather. It was very relaxing and a really nice stretch of river too - winding and tree lined, with some places with nice little ripply current.

Well, that covers it for now! I'm working on organizing my office at work and my craft room at home so hopefully those things will get a check point soon.

Just a Little Update, Yo

Hey there friends... just a few items I get to update, woo hoo!

1. Start scrapping business - I am declaring this officially started because I just finished my first official paying gig, creating a scrapbook for a couple I knew from STL, for their 35th wedding anniversary. It was tough but lots of fun and I'm really proud of it! I will be posting some pics on my scrapping blog here shortly.

2. Visit a US city I've never been to before - Well my parents might have to correct me, but I'm pretty sure last week I went to Boulder, CO for the first time. There's a chance we went there when I was little bitty on one of our Colorado trips, but since I can't remember, I'm considering this my first official visit. My coworker Justin and I had to take a trip to Estes Park, CO for work and on the way back down to Denver we stopped in Boulder. My friend Chris had initially recommended Boulder as a great city and even after just a few hours there I could see why. It was very creative, artsy, but sort of natural, too, which makes sense given its setting right at the base of the mountains. Hopefully when we go back for MIR here in a couple weeks I might get to make another stop.

3. New light fixture for the kitchen - Hallelujah, finally we got something to replace the dim, butt-ugly frosted plastic and gold trim atrocity that had been hanging over our kitchen table. Blech it was so awful! Our new one is nice, simple but pretty and thank goodness it has 5 bulbs so it gives great light. What a difference!

In progress items... my hair, still. I'm thinking next week, it might be time. That way I'll be free of it for MIR and I can practice styling it in the much more forgiving Colorado atmosphere. No humidity means for one glorious week my hair can be smooth, shiny, frizz-free, and eager to please. I can't wait!

I'm also trying to learn more about gardening, honestly I am. So far, the main take-away is that I suck at it and everything I plant is destined for swift death. The only living plants in my yard are perennials that were sown before we bought the house. And my two blackberry bushes are hanging on. Here's hoping!

My adventures in exercising were waylaid by my back injury, so I've been substituting adventures in chiropractor visits and stretching. I'm determined to get back on the elliptical asap. Because the deal is, item number one on the personal list doesn't get the greenlight until item number one on the health list gets conquered. That's some serious motivation. :)

Just a Little Longer...

So, there is one item on my list that is seriously bugging me right now... and that is growing my hair out long enough to donate to Locks of Love. I have done this twice in the past, and while I love going from long to short and back again, it is getting a little hard to handle right now!

I've always had a bit of a love-hate relationship with my own head of hair. On the one hand, it's nice and healthy and insanely thick. On the other hand it secretly wishes it was curly but it is, in fact, just kinda fluffy. Just airdrying it means I end up with a super frizzy mess with a few strands that made it all the way to wavy and the little bit by my temple that gets curly and the rest is just out of control.

So what I have is hair that, on the rare occasion I attempt it, takes probably close to an hour to blow dry and then still needs a good 20 minutes of TLC from the straightener. And if you've known me for more than one day, you know that I do not have an extra hour and a half available in my mornings. My inability to get out of bed means that I have to have wash and go hair... which means lots of ponytails and buns and braids and updos. Which is all fine and dandy except at times like now, when it has gotten really long... almost too long for one normal bun. So now I have to try and come up with these interesting ways to put it up every morning - headbands and twists and the occassional pigtail buns, which, while adorable, are borderline age inappropriate for an almost-25-year-old with a "real" job.

All this griping to say that I am not quite there... Locks of Love requires 10-inches, so I'm thinking another month and I might be there. In conclusion, I am done complaining and will take all helpful suggestions on ways I can wear my hair now or ways in which I should get it cut when the time comes!

Checkin' 'Em Off!

Well I've checked off "travel outside the US" and also "go to the beach" because I did both of those things while in ITALY with my sister! Yeah! I have pics and want to blog about that more, but just haven't had time yet.

Also, today I baked what turned out to be a BEAUTIFUL red velvet cake for my coworker Kristin's going away party. It was a challenge - probably because I picked an overly complicated Martha Stewart recipe - but I was really happy with how it came out. Here are some pics: