25. Learn to cook 52 new recipes & organize them in one place (48/52) -- in progress
I have been going buck wild with anti-recipe fury recently. Last week I was too lazy to properly measure things (dirtying all the measuring cups / spoons and then having to wash them seemed like a big deal at the time, OK) so I pulled out the steak marinade recipe and gathered the ingredients and then kind of eyeballed the measurements. It turned out totally fine, although I think I could've used less overall marinade. Perhaps a waste not to measure...
But then today I made some banana bread muffins with blueberries, and they called for applesauce but I didn't have it and then I briefly Internet-searched and AS is typically used in place of butter or oil but I just couldn't stomach a whole stick of butter in these muffins -- so I also kind of made up the muffin recipe as I went along -- omitted the AS / butter and only used about half the flour... and they turned out the bomb diggity. Which was a miracle, considering how exact baking is supposed to be -- and how straight awful I am in the kitchen. See here for multiple examples.
32. Attend at least one sports event a season (8/12) -- in progress
Since August, I've been to a Pirates game, a Harrisburg High football game and a Notre Dame football game. All three were fun -- ND probably the most. I've realized one a season is unlikely, because I am not a fan of basketball. But there have been plenty of opportunities in the summer to make up for that!
47. Save another $10,000 in my bank account -- accomplished
Not sure when this officially happened, but according to the numbers, it did. Turns out rarely buying things and freezing my booty off last winter turned into some sweet savings.
50. Put up curtains in Sunchase & next apartment -- accomplished
This is fudged, I admit. I never put up curtains in Sunchase or Carlisle and there were already curtains here. But: I have made a feeble attempt to decorate both this and the Carlisle apartment, so I am counting it as a win. I pretty much just need my friend Kelly to whip me into shape every so often and amp up my decorating motivation. A photo below of the fruits of my past visit to Winchester / a half-hour's worth of work yesterday:
56. Exercise 2-3 times a week (60/143) -- in progress
Yep. Every week since I last posted. I am in a good routine, even though some / most days I hate waking up at 7 a.m. and I've really not been feeling the locker room showers recently. They need fluffier towels.
72. Attend at least 10 free community events (6/10) -- in progress
Realized I forgot to blog about the Antique Baseball Tournament in Gettysburg in July. I took my mom and Adam down and we spent the afternoon there. It was hot as could be, but it was a lot of fun to watch them play in their 1865-era uniforms with those rules and no gloves. And Adam loved it -- he got a player's baseball card and his autograph, which was all he could talk about when he called my dad that night.
73. Volunteer for 50 hours (17/50) -- in progress
I got plugged in with a group called Healthy World Cafe, which is in the process of raising funds and support for a community kitchen in York. So we had a pop-up event at the Mother Earth Hands On Harvest Fair this weekend where we sold our (delicious, delicious) local food. So I spent four hours Friday night chopping veggies and fruits and tearing chicken from the bone... and then five hours Saturday serving food and hanging out. It was awesome. And I honestly can't get over how wildly delicious the food was.
80. Go to two alumni functions at JMU (2/2) -- accomplished
While I have not technically attended events planned for alumni, I have returned to JMU twice -- once last October and once last weekend. Last year was a very different experience because I still had friends in classes there. This year I just went down for breakfast at Little Grill and to see the campus. But I loved both trips -- and I still love JMU to death.
88. Make three new friends in Carlisle (2/3) -- in progress
It seems silly to list friends I now have, but I'd like to amend this to share the fact that I have been much better this year about expanding to circles outside of my work friends. With Healthy World Cafe and my membership at the gym and the church I've been to twice, I feel like a more well-rounded person -- not one who works and comes home and watches TV and sleeps and wakes up to do it again.
All in all, I am pumped for the month of October to see what else I can get in to.
No comments:
Post a Comment