Friday, December 31, 2010

2010 To "Do" List Warp-Up

I started out 2010 with my one little word to live by: “Do.” My list of things that I wanted to do in 2010 was pretty intense, but overall, I think I did pretty darn good. In honor of the close of the year, here is my wrap up of what I as able to ‘Do”:

* Learn something new - I am not so sure I learned something new every week, but I did stick to the list and learned a bit more of sign language, took a class on using my sewing machine, not only learned how to quilt, but completed one, and also took my camera out more and started reading the manual.

* Try new recipes – Maybe not one a month, but here is a list of the new recipes I did make this year: French onion Soup, Chicken Picata, Twice Baked Potatoes, Truly the Best Frosting I Have Ever Tasted, Chicken Fried Steak (from her book, but the Round Steak recipe found here is close), The yummiest Mashed Potatoes I Have Ever Tasted , Friend Mozzarella Sticks, Butter Toffee, Creamy Pesto Chicken (I forget where I got this recipe), A delicious pulled pork with apple cider vinegar (I can’t remember where this one was from either), and even though I have eaten plenty of it, I have never made it myself, so I count my Mother-in-Law’s Rocky Road candy. My crowning achievement of the year was learning how to properly make gravy for the very first time! I was SO proud when the gravy actually came out the right consistency (and tasted good too)! So, though they may not have been one per month, I did make at least 12 new recipes this year!

I have found new love for my kitchen after cooking all of this yumminess. I was not disappointed in a single recipe. In honor of my new found love, Santa was very good to me this year and brought me lots of new kitchen gadgets to try out next year. I think I will continue this part of my to “Do” list for years to come.

* Read more – Though I didn’t necessarily get through a lot of classics I have not read before, I did get through a lot of books. I joined a book club and the first four months I have been to during 2010 involved Jane Austen classics that I have ready over and over already. But I read them again for the meetup and got a refresher, so I count them! The books I did read this year were: Classics: Daniel Deronda , The House of Mirth, Dangerous Liaisons, Pride and Prejudice (re-read), Mansfield Park (re-read), Sense and Sensibility (re-read), and Emma (re-read). Modern: Eat, Pray, Love, The Help, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest.

I also consider it a pretty big accomplishment that I decided to tackled Clarissa this year, of which, I am about half way through. It really must be THE longest book in the world and something like 8000 pages. I am determined to finish this one soon. Not that it's bad, it just is really really really LONG.

* Take more pictures
- I think I had the hardest time with this one this year. Although I did have a LOT more camera clicks this year because I went to a lot of model events, and did start a business which actually brought in some paying photography jobs, I found that I am not pulling out my camera for the everyday stuff I was hoping to capture. My hope is that everyone gets so used to me carrying it around with me everywhere that it becomes part of me. A friend I don’t see very often saw me earlier this year at an event and said hello to me in passing when I arrived. I came back later with my camera and he said “Oh there you are! It was hard to recognize you at first without your camera.” That’s who I want to be all the time!

* Move more – Another tough one. Although I did not establish any regular routine, I do take the dog out for a walk more often after work now. I did walk a gazzilion miles while on vacation on the East Coast (especially New York, and I did lose 20 pounds over the course of the year and have managed to keep it off through the holidays, EVEN with the all the awesome cooking going on in my household (refer above).


So goodbye to 2010. I believe I checked off quite a bit from my to “Do” list. Now I have to think of a new word for 2011 in the next few hours!

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