Magical

So I was wandering through the store the other day and I saw this for sale and on a whim I grabbed it. When I was a little girl I love Disney movies. I still remember my mom and I heading to the theater to see "Beauty and the Beast" and it was such a magical moment. I own all the classics and when I am feeling nostalgic I will watch "Cinderella", "Sleeping Beauty" or "Beauty and the Beast"(which is still my favorite by the way). I have been a little saddened in the recent years to see nothing but computer animated Pixar movies coming out. Don't get me wrong those are great movies and I saw "Up" and loved it. But there is nothing quite like seeing a hand drawn animated musical.

I had heard about "The Princess and the Frog" and I was pleased and somewhat intrigued that it was going to be a traditional Disney movie. I didn't however go to see it. I did decide to pick it up and this morning as the hubby slept in, I watched it. I have to say that I am in love. It totally took me back my childhood. When the hubby did finally wake up he found me laughing out loud on the couch.

I will also admit that I had visions of future kiddos in my head too. The hubby is from New Orleans so the idea that the movie has the street cars, the beautiful houses, the music, the french quarter, gumbo and of course the best part, beignets! I can already see the kids loving it because it has so much of what they will grow up with on visits to the family.

Overall I loved and am very pleased that I added it to our video library!

Check in!

Well here it is 3 weeks after my last post. I clearly was a little too optimistic when I thought about how often I would post. I have at least been going full steam ahead with my list. I haven't tackled any of the biggies yet, mostly concentrating on the daily ones.

The daily things have been the hardest to accomplish because it means that I have to change my habits. The stretching and the vitamins have been the easiest probably because they make me feel better almost immediately. The sunscreen is hard because I spend most of my day in the dark theater so it just doesn't occur to me. The flossing I just need to do it!

So on to the other stuff; last Sunday I had a lovely brunch with my mom. We ate a local french bistro and sat and chatted for 2 hours while sipping cappuccino, it was divine. We haven't spent that much time just catching up in much too long.

I have been very busy at work but did find sometime to try a new recipe. I wanted something easy, tasty and would hopefully produce a lot of leftovers. I found the answer on my Everyday Italian dvd's that I got for Christmas, garlic and citrus chicken. You take a whole chicken and remove the giblets, stuff it full of garlic and orange and lemon wedges. Cook for a couple of hours and voila! You get this...

It was wonderful! Very tasty, moist and easy! It did take time though mostly just waiting while it cooks.

My next cooking project happened just the other night, the hubs was at work but I decided to make it anyway. It came from the cookbook "The Art of Simple Food" by Alice Waters. The was poached salmon, I have poached salmon before but never just in boiling water like this called for. You take white wine, fresh herbs, and some salt and pepper. Mix that in too boiling water and then throw in the fish for about 6 mins. Supper easy.

It was however only ok. It was very moist but didn't have great flavor. My baked salmon is way better, it did have some variations on the recipe so I will play around with those to see if I can give it more flavor because the cooking time just can't be beat!

One last accomplishment, I finished "Golden Compass" by Phillip Pullman. It is the first of a trilogy called "His Dark Materials"

This came off my bookshelf so I am still sticking with that goal as well. It was pretty good. Its definitely a book for a young readers but I still found it engaging. It is very fantasy based and I love the daemons that represent the human soul. I am well into book 2 already.

Sorry about the really long post. If I can just get into the habit blogging more regularly than I can be better about keeping them shorter.

Neglectful...

So here it is 3 weeks later and I have not blogged again. Not very good for a new blog... I think about the blog, there just never seems to be time lately to sit down and do a decent blog post. Have no fear though I have been keeping track of my 101 things and even have a few pictures to go with it. Work has slowed down considerably though and I hope to have some stuff up in the next few days!

101 things in 1001 days!

So this list is the reason that I finally got my butt in gear with the blog. I don't know about you but I always have this on going list in my head of things that I want to do, be better about or do to improve myself and my life. And then as life gets busy they are pushed to the back and forgotten. I was so inspired about creating this list and then having a place to reference it regularly, also whether anyone reads this or not it makes me feel like I have to keep myself in check and actually accomplish these goals. I started the list about 4 days ago and already I find the list floating in the background. It makes me more likely to pause and try to accomplish a goal when I see the opportunity arise, let's hope this keeps up for the more than 2 years until I can complete it!

1. Call my sister twice a month just to chat (0/66)

2. Read 50 books for pleasure (0/50)

3. Start goal #2 from my “to be” read shelf, and don’t buy any new ones until it is empty (0/39)

4. Re-read “War and Peace”

5. Organize my recipes

6. Make jewelry at least once a month (0/33)

7. Learn to use my sewing machine

8. Make a cover for our living room chair with sewing machine

9. Start an Etsy store to try and sell my jewelry in

10. Start doing Pilates again

11. Do yard work every week (0/143)

12. Grow a vegetable garden

13. Finally get all of my boxes out of my parent’s basement

14. Reconnect with an old friend

15. Send my niece’s and nephew’s a postcard once a month (0/33)

16. Buy the lamp for our living room that I have been eyeing for a year now

17. Have our first baby

18. Have lunch with my mom twice a month (0/66)

19. Do something or go somewhere new once a month, without leaving my hometown (0/33)

20. Try a new recipe twice a month (0/66)

21. Get a library card

22. Change my name on my passport finally

23. Put the money I want to spend on an unnecessary purchase into savings instead six times (0/6)

24. Go camping twice with my husband (0/2)

25. Curb my sweet tooth

26. Send “just thinking of you cards” to my friends and family

27. Surprise my husband with a picnic lunch at his work

28. Go listen to a band that I have never heard before

29. Call my mother-in-law and stepmother-in-law just to chat

30. Email my family in Switzerland once a month (0/33)

31. Go a whole week without watching TV

32. Make a scrapbook of my high school dance team (started this 10 years ago)

33. Have big birthday bash for my 30th

34. Finally finish the wedding scrapbook

35. Have lunch with my dad, just the two of us

36. Go to a movie solo

37. Go to Houston to visit my mother-in-law

38. Wear sunscreen everyday (0/1001)

39. Go hiking at least 4 times each summer (0/8)

40. Blog twice a month (0/66)

41. Walk around the neighborhood just to get outside

42. Take cookies to the neighbors to introduce myself

43. Barbeque as often as possible in the summers

44. Take my mom to the spa for a day

45. Sit on my porch and just look at the beauty that I live in

46. Take my vitamins everyday (0/1001)

47. Write letters to my grandma, just to say hi

48. Eat eggplant six times to try and learn to like it (0/6)

49. Have a long weekend in Phoenix with my cousin and her daughters twice (0/2)

50. Put together picture albums

51. Join a book club either online or in person

52. Stain the living room chair so it matches the rest of the furniture

53. Send a care package to the troops

54. Remove contacts from old cell phones and donate them to a women’s shelter

55. Reconnect with friends from the past

56. Be able to do the splits again

57. Go to a dance class

58. Dress up just because I can

59. Buy some good hiking boots

60. Wake up early just to watch the sunrise

61. Stop to watch the sunset once a month (1/33)

62. Spend an evening by myself reading, no TV, no music, no phone

63. Play scrabble with Kirk once a month (0/33)

64. Have friends over for a game night

65. Go to an Isotopes (our local AAA Baseball team) game with Kirk and friends each summer (0/2)

66. Ride the Tram with Kirk and get dinner and drinks at the top

67. Make a will

68. Organize my office

69. Drink a glass of nice scotch and try to enjoy it

70. Enter a cake in the County Fair cake-decorating contest

71. Take me, myself, and I out to eat

72. Spend an entire day in my pj’s and not feel guilty about it

73. Do crunches everyday (0/1001)

74. Watch five football games when I am home by myself (0/5)

75. Take more pictures

76. Get all Christmas shopping done by Nov. 1 (0/2)

77. Send cards or care packages for St. Patty’s, Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Valentine’s Days to nieces and nephews (0/10)

78. Floss everyday (0/1001)

79. Get a massage

80. Have a Mardi Gras Party

81. Host Thanksgiving Dinner

82. Get all the important papers and documents into the safety deposit box

83. Give myself home Manicures and pedicures twice a month (0/66)

84. Volunteer

85. Re-watch all the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movies

86. Take my sister-in-law on a girl’s night out date

87. Organize a girl’s night out for all my friends once a month (0/33)

88. Go Skiing

89. Go snowshoeing

90. Pay off all the credit card debt

91. Buy a house

92. Take a trip with Kirk that is just for us and not visiting anyone

93. Start my 401k

94. Create an indoor herb garden

95. Finally get all of my music on my computer

96. Stretch everyday (0/1001)

97. Spend a night at a local hotel and Kirk and I play tourist for the day

98. Start composting

99. Get 4 facials (0/4)

100. Donate one old item for every new item of clothing I get

101. Create a new 101 list by day 1001

To create the list I spent about a week online looking at a lot of other list to get inspiration and direction. So thank you to the countless people who I have been invigorated by your goals to make them also mine.

My first big goal met, was the sunset! I was finishing up with my interns this evening and one of them said, "Wow, look at the sunset!". So I took them up to the roof of the theater and we watched the sun go down!

Teenagers can be so exhausting sometimes, but it never fails that they inspire and energize me!