sometimes lists aren't good enough

so here's the deal: i didn't so well with my list. and you know what? i don't really care. because this past year was so full of fabulousity that no list could contain it. and there's no way to know at the beginning of a year where you'll be by the end of the year. and all the adventures that get you there? sometimes you just can't imagine what those are going to be. with those thoughts in mind, i present you with some of the reasons why being 32 was better than my birthday list could possibly show. it's not all-inclusive and it's not in any specific order, but it's a good glimpse into the greatness of the past year.

i got to spend the year living with a fabulous roommate. rooming with marlana is a lot of fun. we get along really well, we don't drive each too crazy and she bought me a set of eyeball salt and pepper shakers. really, do i need to say more? she's fabulousity personified.

i got to see my oldest niece graduate kindergarten. living 2.5 hours from my family is hard, and i don't like being so removed from the little day-to-day activities. so being able to be home for alicia's kindergarten graduation was great fun. even if it does mean she's growing up too fast.

and i got to help my youngest niece celebrate her fist birthday! were there too many kids at the party for my enjoyment? sure. but as far as first birthday parties go? not too shabby.

i got to crochet like a crazy woman & give away a lot of yarned creations. this year i spent some quality time remembering how much fun it is to crochet. i taught myself some new stitches, picked up some new techniques and even created a few patterns on my own. and the best part? i gave almost every piece of crocheted goodness away to my family & friends. i trust they're all in happy homes and that whoever is caring for them enjoys them as much i enjoyed making them. :)

i learned why a tulip tree is called a tulip tree. just because i grew up in a house with a tulip tree doesn't mean i'd ever actually seen the tulips before. :)

i also learned that i really enjoy photographing cemetery statues. when brian asked if i'd ever been to crown hill (the cemetery situated on the highest ground in the city) and offered to take me - i said yes because i wanted to spend the day with him, not because i was particularly stoked about hanging out in a cemetery. and then we got there. and we started taking pictures. and i realized i'd never been in a cemetery with a focus on the artwork that's there. it turns out that if i let myself sort of forget that there are rows and rows of dead people underneath me - i kinda like cemeteries. who knew?

i found amazing friendship in an unexpected place. when i accepted the job at the craft store, i was expecting to enjoy myself, to be challenged by the new environment and to meet some nice coworkers along the way. i was not, however, expecting to find someone whose company brings me as much joy as brian does. he & i make a good team both at work and outside of work, and i love him dearly.

origami! i made a couple hundred pieces of folded paper goodness for erin's daughter to hang from her bedroom ceiling, and it was great fun. as i was folding each one i just kept imagining her face when she opened the box. i wish i could have seen that. :)

i got to take cupcakes to april on her anniversary. april and i started our jobs at the newspaper within a month of each other. summer of 2011 marked her 10-year anniversary, and i was so happy i got to go up and help her celebrate! 10 years is a big deal. cupcakes with candy eyes seemed like the least i could do.

i got to decorate a birthday cake for my brother. speaking of cakey goodness - being able to decorate a pirate ship cake for jonathan? yup, that was a high point of the year, too. i don't remember why he & laure were in town - but i'm glad we got to spend some together while they were. :)

i got to spend christmas with my family. and speaking of spending time with family - let's not forget christmas. :) working retail means i can't really request time off around christmas. and that means my window of opportunity is small and easily thwarted by poor weather (like 2010's little ice storm on christmas eve). this year my schedule and the weather worked together quite nicely to give me a couple days home with the family. they're a lovely group, as is quite obvious in the above photo, no?

i got the most awesome hair accessory ever. and speaking of christmas (after this one, i won't start with "and speaking of ..." again. honest.) - brian made me the coolest hair accessory ever. we'd seen these really great hair flowers in LA with day of the dead skulls in the center. but they were expensive, and we knew we could make one ourselves. or, rather, i could buy the supplies and brian could make it. so that's what he did. and it is awesome. i wore it out to dinner on new year's eve, too. because i decided is was still a poinsettia-worthy holiday. :)

i got a great pair of mustache socks. two pairs, really. ;) my friend dave has this uncanny knack for sending the coolest things, and these socks were for no reason at all except he wanted to. and THAT is why i love mail.

i planted a garden. my dad made me two garden boxes, and i planted them full of vegetables. lettuces, tomatoes, cucumbers, spinach, watermelon, radishes, green beans. so much good stuff. i suppose, technically, this one was on the goal list, so maybe it doesn't belong here? but i had so much fun with the garden. i enjoyed the whole process of helping build the boxes, going and buying the dirt, mixing it with the peat moss and then actually planting the seeds/plants. i even kept up with the weeding most of the summer! it was more than just planting vegetables (which was the goal on the list) - it was a garden. my garden. and i enjoyed it very much.

i got to see burt bloom. when i moved down here, april bought me a fabulous little striped succulent that makes me think of a tim burton creation. it took burt almost a year, but he bloomed! and every day i looked at the blooms i thought of april and how beautiful she is and how sweet our friendship is.

i got to collaborate on art projects. from photographs to crocheted pieces, i've really enjoyed helping brian with some of his art projects this year. it's fun to be able to contribute at the base level of a project, knowing that he's going to turn it into something completely different. i give him something simple and he gives back something so complex and intricate. i'm glad i get to be a part of it.

i learned a lot about gluten-free baking. in fairness, i think we all want what we can't have. but when what you can't have is wheat and everyone bakes with wheat flour? yeah. no cookies, cakes or pies for you. so this year, i did some experimenting with gluten-free baking. and cooking, but the baking's the most fun. not all the experiments were successful, but for the most part i'd say they weren't too shabby. and i like the challenge. and the smiles that result.

i got to eat lettuce that was growing in a cup. i'm aware that this seems very inconsequential compared to other things on this list - but c'mon! it was lettuce that was growing in a cup! perhaps the lesson here is that being silly is a lot of fun. and you can't always plan silly. you just gotta seize the opportunities as they present themselves.

photo day with april! when we worked together, april and i did a stint of photo lunches where we'd go someone near the office on our lunch break just to take photos. that got tricky once i switched departments and such, but this year we were able to schedule a day to get together and shoot photos. and it was superb.

i shot a lot of photos. with april, with brian, with marlana, by myself ... lots of photos. there's magic in taking photos. i mean, you're literally making a copy of what's in front of you. you're taking a slice out of today's reality (while still leaving it intact) and you have it to look at again tomorrow. it's ... magic.

i learned i like a good glass of wine. this photo is actually a poor representation of my learned love of wine, as i actually greatly prefer red wine to white. but in this photo, the wine is sitting on my patio table. and coupled with my enjoyment of wine is my enjoyment of drinking it out on the patio while staring at the stars and daydreaming about life and love and everything in between. drinking a glass of wine helps me breath deeply and exhale the stress of life.

i got to visit los angeles. when beth saw an episode of cupcake wars that referenced a tim burton art exhibit, she told me about it. when i found that episode online, i proclaimed to facebook that i wanted to go. when brian said he would go with me, i booked tickets. and the trip was phenomenal. the exhibit was great, but i wouldn't call it the best part of the vacation. just being there, taking hundreds of photos, milling around the little shops in the historical district, seeing the day of the dead processional, parading a cupcake around macarthur park ... the whole experience was an absolute highlight to the year. so much laughter. so much fun.

i got to host thanksgiving dinner. again, being 2.5 hours from my family is hard. but this year my parents came down for thanksgiving dinner, and being able to host was a lot of fun. what started as a simple dinner quickly turned into a challenge to create an entire traditional thanksgiving feast that was gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free and seed-free. and you know what? it was awesome.

in fact, i'd say the entire year was awesome. so what if i didn't see a bunch of movies or read a book or make ethiopian flatbread (mmmmm ... injera). i took pictures of donkeys, saw my first drag show and colored on the carpet with permanent markers. i learned that brown sugar and mustard are a good combination and that making time for the people i love is always worth the effort.

i've not given a single thought to making a goal list for next year. but here's hoping i enjoy 33 as much as i did 32.

32g: final wrap-up

alright, a final wrap-up on my list of goals for this past year. :)

1. finish The One With 31 book: done! i do love having that book binding machine. it makes keeping a goal book so easy. :)

2. create a book to track my 32 goals: done! "create" and "finish" are two different things, right? i need to get some photos into the book, and update a couple of last-minute successes. and add a cover. and bind it. but it's started ... that counts, right?

3. watch all netflix-available Vincent D'Onofrio movies: bwhahaha! nope! netflix had 41 vincent d'onofrio movies available. i watched ... drum roll please ... 12. that's right, 12. and i'm okay with that. as it turns out, a lot of his movies from the 80's and early 90's? not so impressive. there are a few newer ones i still wouldn't mind seeing. but i think i'll keep d'onofrio as my law & order hero, and leave my movie obsessions to johnny deep and alan alda.

4. watch half of marlana's movies: nope, didn't do this one, either. i watched three of marlana's movies, and i enjoyed two of them. movie-watching just wasn't my strong suit this year.

5. finish watching all netflix-available episodes of The Office: now this one i accomplished. twice. ;)

6. watch Law & Order: Trial by Jury: nope, never even had a single disc of the show delivered to the house.

7. post items on etsy: nope, and this one still scares me.

8. plant vegetables: done, done, done! i had tomatoes, cucumbers, a variety of greens, carrots, jalapenos, bell peppers and radishes that all grew successfully. less successful were the green beans, watermelon and squash. but all in all, not a bad year in the garden.

9. play every game in the house: oh, most definitely not. when the year started i identified 54 games. of those, i played 12.and that doesn't take into the account the news i've gotten. i'm looking to move this spring, though, and i may pare down some of my game collection. nothing major, but the ones i haven't played in years (if ever). just a thought.

10. decorate my bedroom: well, no. i mean, there is a stripe of white foamcore running around the room - but i'm pretty sure that's not really considered a decoration.

11. cut my fabric stash in half: definitely not. i worked on exactly ONE sewing project this year, and it's not done, yet.

12. finish a quilt front or back: this one i accomplished. i finished the front for my t-shirt quilt! okay, i guess that means i worked on two sewing projects this year, as i wasn't counting my half-finished quilts in the previous goal. but, still.

13. cut my yarn stash in half: hahahahaha. okay, here's the thing. as i started projects with the yarn i already had - i needed to buy more to finish those projects. and then i needed to buy more because i was having so much fun crocheting. i did a LOT of crocheting this year. and i don't even slightly regret not accomplishing this goal. i had so much fun adding to the stash to work on projects that i don't even care. :)

14. complete a pattern from ravelry: i heart ravelry. :) i'm not sure i could count how many of their free patterns i was inspired by this year. so much fun.

15. finish the tree scarf: done! apparently a neighbor stopped marlana to tell her he liked it. in the course of the conversation she learned the fellow who runs our homeowners' association is a crotchety old man who complains about everything. but so far, no request for us to remove the tree scarf. yay!

16. make some jewelry: nope, don't think so. i did make some beaded spiders, though, which helped use up some of the beads. and enjoying working with the beads was really more the point than what i made with them anyway.

17. save money for a stand mixer: yeah, not so much. i had a decent stash for awhile, but it all got used on other wants & needs. i've started a new stash with some christmas money. hopefully i can get a stand mixer before getting distracted and spending that money on a food processor or pizza or something. ;)

18. try six recipes from Baked Explorations: done! i made a devil's food cake, angel frosting, grasshopper bars, a chocolate cake, almond buttercream frosting and a chocolate glaze. yes, that only amounted to three different desserts - but i still say it counts. :) they were tasty, that much i know.

19. use my madeleine pan: nope.

20. use my tart pan: yes! for a very tasty pumpkin custard. mmmmmm.

21. make injera: nope.

22. use my ice cream maker: yes! i made a very tasty cake batter ice cream.

23. make pierogi: nope.

24. succeed at meringues: nope. but, in fairness, i didn't fail at them either. i simply didn't try. ;)

25. eat pizza at Bazbeaux: yup! marlana and i went to celebrate my birthday last january. tasty pizza and a muffaletta to go. yum!

26. end the year weighing less than i do now: yes! from last year's birthday to this year's birthday i lost 28.7 pounds. part of that was really gradual and slow as i paid no attention for the first 7 or 8 months. but most of it has come off since september, when i decided to focus on losing some weight before taking a trip to LA. currently, i'm not so motivated anymore - except that i really don't want to regain what i lost. and i just booked a trip to new york city ... so maybe that'll help, too. ;)

27. regrow/replace Bill: yup, bill's dead. and the only thing his pot turned into was an ash tray at thanksgiving. now it's just sitting empty in the garage. looking lonely.

28. paint Bill's pot: oh. guess i should have talked about his pot turning into an ash tray here. oh well. ;)

29. read an autobiography/memoir: i just can't focus on reading. i want to read. but i want to do other things more, and i think that's fair.

30. fast from the internet for three consecutive days, twice: wow. this is almost as funny as watching all the vincent d'onofrio movies. no. i did not fast from the internet. are you kidding me?

31. send mail to my nieces: i sent alicia a card, but not sami jo. good thing she's too little to care, eh?

32. make christmas cards AND send them: done! it was a very limited edition, however, so don't feel bad if you didn't get one. even though they were awesome. ;)

and no, i haven't finalized this year's list, yet. but we'll talk more about that later.

day off wrap up

with the exception of cleaning the office and taking photos at goodwill, the list is done. yup. the laundry is done (i even threw in a third load just for kicks), the dishes are done (i even swapped the christmas dishes for the winter dishes - which are in the dishwasher now), the tree scarf is up (and the neighbor across the street loves it!), the pizza place verified they do indeed offer gluten free pizza every day (and cheddar cheese is definitely an option), my christmas cards are off the tv and i took a three hour nap. oh yeah, it was a good day.

i narrowed my focus for the birthday list. there's no way i can get every goal accomplished by my birthday. i've spent way to much time distracted this year to do that. note: that is not a complaint or even an attempt at an excuse. it's just true, and i'm quite okay with it. as erin said recently, i've done a whole lot that's NOT on the list, and this year has been great. so i've pulled twelve goals that i figure are my best bets. in fairness, most of them are related to cooking/baking. but i had to go with the most likely, ya know? :)

i left in the goal about posting items on etsy. it still scares me. and i'm not sure what i'd post. i've got a few crocheted rose rings sitting around ... sigh. maybe i just need to admit i don't have the focus? i haven't crocheted since before LA. the big secret project isn't even done, yet. meh.

christmas cards

i figure i have one week to get cards in the mail to be delivered before christmas. one week. so today, i had an idea on how to make them using this stack of black/white photos i've got sitting around. photos that have been sitting around for years. literally, years. how do i know? because the only reason i have the stack is because i got doubles printed when i got the film developed. that's right - they were on film. i haven't shot on film in - that's right - years. so as i'm searching for the HDMI cable that i'm convinced came with my laptop (which i didn't find because it didn't come with my laptop), i find the box that has all my negatives and prints in it. except ... no prints. apparently at some point (the move to here, perhaps?) i tossed them. sigh. one week and i need a new plan.

51 days ... what?!

ummm ... we may have a problem. my birthday is in 51 days. 51 days! and i haven't recapped this list even once. so, at marlana's request, here's a look at how scary this is going to be. :)

1. finish The One With 31 book: done!

2. create a book to track my 32 goals: it's pretty up to date. just a couple of things need to be added - maybe some photos - it's going well.

3. watch all netflix-available Vincent D'Onofrio movies: okay, he's got 41 movies available on netflix. i've seen 12. that means i need to see 39 more in the next 51 days. ummm ... wow.

4. watch half of marlana's movies: i need watch 14 of her movies. i've watched ... drum roll please ... three. yeah.

5. finish watching all netflix-available episodes of The Office: done! easy.

6. watch Law & Order: Trial by Jury: yeah, haven't even thought about this one. but in fairness, i've been watching a lot less tv the past few months.

7. post items on etsy: nope, still too scary. plus, i've not made anything to post except for a few crocheted rose rings.

8. plant vegetables: done! tomatoes, radishes, lettuce, cucumbers, spinach, green beans, squash and asparagus.

9. play every game in the house: HA! i actually made a list of the games in the house. there were 54 when i started the list. i've played nine. and i've added at least two games to the stash.

10. decorate my bedroom: nope. unless the two photos & the cocktail umbrella stuck on the wall count?

11. cut my fabric stash in half: right ...

12. finish a quilt front or back: done! i finished the front of the t-shirt quilt.

13. cut my yarn stash in half: nope. pretty sure i have more yarn now than i did when i started. BUT, i've still been super productive with my yarn arts. i just accumulate as i make new projects.

14. complete a pattern from ravelry: done! several, actually.

15. finish the tree scarf: done! and i'm thinking if it's not too cold tomorrow, i might go put it on.

16. make some jewelry: nope.

17. save money for a stand mixer: currently, no. i started saving money ... but it's all been used for other things.

18. try six recipes from Baked Explorations: halfway there: devil's food cake, angel frosting and grasshopper bars.

19. use my madeleine pan: no, but i do have several yummy looking recipes. :)

20. use my tart pan: done! the thanksgiving pumpkin custard was in my tart pan.

21. make injera: nope.

22. use my ice cream maker: done!

23. make pierogi: mmmm ... pierogi. but, no, i haven't made any.

24. succeed at meringues: HA!

25. eat pizza at Bazbeaux: done! marlana and i went for my birthday.

26. end the year weighing less than i do now: so far so good on this one. it would take more effort than i'm willing to put into it to tell you how much i've lost since my last birthday, but i know it's at least 25 pounds. i've lost about that much in the past 11 weeks.

27. regrow/replace Bill: yeah, bill's dead. and he's not been replaced. so ... yeah.

28. paint Bill's pot: nope.

29. read an autobiography/memoir: nope.

30. fast from the internet for three consecutive days, twice: hahahahahahahaha ... nope.

31. send mail to my nieces: i sent alicia a get well card a couple of months ago. so i'm halfway there.

32. make christmas cards AND send them: nope. but then, i never said they'd be out by christmas, right? :)

so ... yeah. 32 goals, and i've accomplished ... 12. awesome. it's gonna be a busy 51 days. :)

thanksgiving dessert

the oven went out on thanksgiving before i had a chance to finish baking the pumpkin custard tart. i had the tart shell baked, but not the custard. i was ready to toss the shell, but then decided i should at least try it first. i was nervous about it because i'd had to futz with it a lot to make it workable. but it was really tasty! so instead of tossing it, i took it for a drive to brian's today and used his oven to bake the custard. definitely a good choice. so good.

32g recap

i started a big update on where i'm at with my 32 goals for the year, then i decided i'm not posting it. why? two reasons. A: i've not made good progress on many of the goals. and 2: i'd hate for that lack of progress to reflect poorly on the year so far. we'll see where the next 5.5 months get me. :)

garden update

i'm pretty sure my fourth of july tomato won't live up to its name.




but at least it's working on it. progress is good.




speaking of progress, my cucumbers are coming along nicely.




and my purple spikes are starting to bloom!

growing jalapenos

change of plans

saturday night as i was leaving the store, the check engine light came on in my car. since automotive repair is not my area of expertise, i figured i'd spend my day off getting it checked out. so i got up early this morning to be at the shop when they opened (gotta love the first-come, first-served, no reservations mentality). halfway there, however, the light went off. i pulled over and re-started the car ... the light didn't come back on. so i took her for a bit of a drive and re-started the car again ... still no light. so i went and got the oil changed instead. and now i think i might lay down for a nap.

too loud for the hoa?

i have a scarf done for one of our trees. have i shown you that, yet? the scarf is striped in five bright colors. very bright. i love it. but i have to wonder if it's too loud for the home owners' association.



perhaps this yarn would be more acceptable?


i'm still going to sew the bright scarf onto the tree this fall, but i'm not going to work up the second one until i can safely judge the hoa's response.

blooming radishes

i planted two kinds of radishes: cherry belles and watermelon radishes. the cherry belles had a quick turnaround, about three weeks from planting to harvest. the watermelon radishes, however, are supposed to be in the ground for about ten weeks. ten weeks! now in fairness, they're supposed to end up being about 4" across - very large for a radish. but ten weeks? okay, i can be patient. but then they started blooming. blooming radishes? that seemed ... strange. so i pulled a couple of them up.



at about the same size as the cherry belles, they're definitely not as large as they should be, which is fair since they're supposed to be in the ground for another two weeks.


while the color inside is gorgeous, hopefully more time in the ground helps their texture. these ones were pretty tough. the spiciness was lovely, though. :)

it makes me giddy

when i watered the plants last night, my beans hadn't broken through the ground, yet. this evening when i got home, some were standing a good 2" high! they look happy and healthy, which makes me very happy.


i cut some lettuce and spinach tonight, too. and while i was out there, i couldn't help but pull the first couple of radishes. they were maybe 3/4" across. tiny. but ... they're my radishes! and they were tasty! :)