30x30: Month 13 and Beyond

So, here's the deal: I didn't actually do all 30 things on my 30x30 list. I did a lot, though! Almost twenty things before February 7, 2013, aka my 30th birthday.

1. I made turkey breakfast sausage - well, turkey sausage that we ate at breakfast, but it was technically turkey chorizo. Lots of paprika and chili powder. Quite delicious.
2. I made croissants for our annual New Year's Day brunch.
3. I brewed some ginger beer.
4. I made some duck prosciutto using this recipe.
5. We ate the duck prosciutto while we watched The Godfather Trilogy with some friends.
6. I taught a class on pickling and preserving.
7. I went back to Europe.
8. I completed Project 365, though as of this writing I still have a few photos to edit and upload to complete that set.
9. I cleaned up my Google Reader.
10. I read 30 books. Possibly my favorite part of this whole project.
11. I purged my cookbook collection (and sold a bunch of them at Harvard Bookstore before donating the rest).
12. I got a hamper for our bedroom.
13. I cleaned out under the guest bed.
14. I cleaned out a big trunk full of crap in our basement.
15. I condensed and organized our DVD collection.
16. I switched to using homemade, natural cleaning products.
17. I got curtains for the living room.
18. I did two chinups in a row.
19. I didn't run a 10k in under an hour, but I did complete a half marathon, so I'm calling it done.

There are still things on the list that I want to do, so I'm just segueing the whole project into a Mighty Life List, that is, a list of goals and ideas for leading a more awesome life. It seems likely that the list will never be finished, and that's ok. The point is to do more awesome things. You can find the work-in-progress list right here, and there's a new tab at the top of the page, too.  So ANYWAY, let's get back to business as usual around here, huh?

Photo is from a recent snowstorm, but not the one we are currently experiencing. That one left some pretty fluffy white stuff, this one is leaving nothing but sleet and slush. I tell you what I am ready for the sun to come back.

30x30: Month 9

Here is a picture of my celebratory beer from lunch today. You know why? Because I FINISHED A HALF MARATHON. At the moment I'm pretty sure my knees are about to explode but I FINISHED it and I didn't even cry. I wanted to, but I didn't. Woot! So I'm officially swapping out "finish a half marathon" for my "run a 10k in an hour" goal. Which brings me back to the list, on which I owe you an update.

SO.

Culinary goals: 2/6
I still have to make croissants, make sausage and throw two dinner parties. But I've checked off two out of six!

Professional goals: 1/4
I taught a class! But I still have some pretty heavy hitters on this list. I'm pretty sure these ones are not all going to happen.

Personal goals: 4/10
I've gone to Europe, cleaned up my google reader, purged my cookbook collection (and my whole book shelf, actually), and watched the Godfather Trilogy. I'm on day 278 of Project 365 and I'm on book 25 of 30, and I've managed to do a first pass at our wedding photos. I still have to deal with my 401(k) and my wedding dress and learn to use my camera's manual setting.

House Stuff: 6/7
The only thing left on this list is to figure out if my sewing machine is working or not, but not only did I buy curtains for the living room instead of making them, but I re-arranged the entire room, including a rug and some new shelves and a new TV stand. Basically our living room is now the coolest room in our house.

Fitnessy Things: 2/3
I still have to find a yoga studio, but I did two chinups and I'm trading out running goals: instead of a 10k in under an hour, FINISH A HALF MARATHON. Which I did. Today. So I'm going to go take some more ibuprofen.

Total: 15/30. Sweet, 3/4 of the time is up and I've accomplished half the goals. Hm. Looks like I'm going to have a busy couple of months.

30x30: Month Four

Sorry, guys, this has not been a great month for checking things off the list. Look at this pretty picture of some radishes I grew to distract you from my failure!

Culinary Projects
Nothing new to report.

Professional Projects
Nothing new to report.

Personal Projects
Progress, but nothing checked off yet. Read two more books (Fall of Giants by Ken Follett and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot), which brings me to 12. Also still working on Project 365.

House Stuff
Nothing new to report.

Fitness
Nothing new to report, except that Julia and I ran the 5 mile Boston Run to Remember (and had someone take a sweaty, red-faced picture at the end). I finished in 50:20, which is just a touch slower than I need to run a 6.2 mile race in under an hour. So! Theoretical progress on that front, anyway.

New goals met this month: 0 (sigh)
Total goals met so far: 7

30x30: Month Three

Month three? THREE? Already? Geez, 29, why don't you just fly by already?

Ahem. Shall we proceed?

Culinary Projects
Check it out! I'm brewing ginger beer! I followed the instructions in Wild Fermentation (which, despite its terrible cover design, is a really great book, just take it with a grain of hippie salt, mmkay?). Grated ginger and sugar and water kept in a warm place (next to my coffee machine) and given regular feedings (more ginger and sugar) until it started to bubble (which took about a week). Last night I mixed the bug with a larger quantity of ginger/sugar/water mixture, put it up in a few recycled soda bottles and stuck it in a corner of the living room to ferment. It should be ready right around memorial day - dark and stormies for everyone!

Professional Projects
Nothing to report. Sigh. This is going to be the category that gets me in the end, isn't it?

Personal Projects
Still carrying on with Project 365, and now that Instagram is available for Android, I started using that, too. Two more books read, A Dance with Dragons (yay, I'm caught up and now I can move on!) and A Visit from the Goon Squad (a lovely book that you should all read). That brings me up to ten books, which is 30% of my goal. Sweet!



House Stuff
Not-ugly hamper, hello and welcome. Thanks for being so much nicer than white plastic.

Funny story: we put the two ugly white plastic hampers we had been using out on the curb with a sign that said "free," which is what you do in college towns with perfectly good stuff that you don't need anymore. Usually your perfectly good stuff is gone within a couple of hours (I'm pretty sure elves take it). An hour after we put the hampers out, Adam peeked out the window and said yay, they're gone! I said I thought perhaps our elderly, Sicilian land lady Maria had taken them and put them in the basement (she lives upstairs) since, as I mentioned, they're still perfectly good stuff. And elderly Sicilian ladies don't throw away perfectly good stuff. He went downstairs to check and yes. Hampers in the basement. Heh heh heh.

Fitnessy Type Things
Still working on chin ups, still running, still haven't tried a new yoga studio.

New goals met this month: 2
Total goals met so far: 7

30x30 Update: Month Two

Update two is only a week and a half late! Sorry about that, but the actual month-iversary hit on my last day of work and the night before I flew to Paris.  ANYWAY let's see what I've done, eh?

Culinary Projects: Duck prosciutto! (see above.) Except I've decided that calling it duck prosciutto is silly, because prosciutto is a ham, which is a leg, and this is a cured duck breast. It was delicious. I used this recipe from Bon Appetit.

Professional Projects: None of the specifically listed goals, however, I've left my catering job for a job at the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts. It's an office job (assisting with job placements and things of that nature) and it's part time to start, but I'm really excited about it.



Personal Projects: Yes! We watched the Godfather Trilogy on April first. All the way through, oof. We propped up the tv on a box since we had no fewer than TWELVE people crammed into our not-that-big living room. I liked Part II the best, and I see why people hate on the third one so much (Sofia Coppola may be the worst actress of all time).



Also I went to Paris with my mom and my sister which was, in a word, delicious. We pretty much walked around and ate every 3 hours. In my opinion, there is no better way to fill your vacation days. All my Paris photos are here, if you care to take a look.

I'm still doing pretty well with Project 365, and I've read 4 more books (No Cheating No Dying, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords and A Feast for Crows.

House Stuff: I guess the hamper we ordered is on its way, because they charged our credit card. Other than that, no progress. Sigh.

Fitnessy Things: Well, I can still only do one chin-up. And now that I've left my super physical kitchen job, I'm a little worried that my arms are going to wilt, so I better stay on top of this one. And I've run two 5k races, one of which I finished in 30:06 and the second one in 28:11, so I hope I'm getting better. Except then I was hobbled by a cold for a week before we left for France and I didn't get a chance to run again until this morning... which was brutal. Time to get back on that bandwagon!

New goals met this month: 3
Total goals met so far: 5

30x30: Month One

Well, folks, we're one month in to my personal challenge of 30 things to get done by the time I'm 30.

Here's what I've done so far! That is to say, not much.

Culinary Projects: Nope, not a one.

Professional Projects: Um, yeah, none of these either.

Personal Projects: Finally, progress!
I've been going strong for a month with Project 365 and you can follow my photos in this set on Flickr. I'm trying not to be so serious about it this time around (see the weird/terrible photo I took on the bus the other day. It's literally of the seat in front of me) and I hope that makes it easier in the long run. I don't have to be a capital letters ARTIST every day, I just have to snap a photo. That said, I would like to improve, too.

And I've read four books (Best Food Writing 2010, Swamplandia!, A New Turn in the South, A Game of Thrones), so I'm 13.33% done with my goal to read 30 books.

House Stuff: Two things accomplished, one on back order.
Top photo is a before & after of our living room bookshelf once we got all the dvds into a binder and recycled the cases. Hooray, less clutter! We started using natural cleaning supplies for the house (the all purpose cleaner and the grease cutter, though I think I'm going to keep using bleach if there's been raw chicken out on the counter). Also, a hamper for the bedroom is on back order but hopefully it will be here by next month's update.

Fitnessy Things: I did one chin-up! And then instead of falling off the bar I held on for a second, which I think counts as a fraction of chin-up number two.

Total Goals Met: 2. Ahem.

30 by 30

Today is my birthday. I am 29 years old. For the last month I have been realizing that there is a list of things I’ve been meaning to get done and it seemed like a good idea to write them down. So here it is, friends. Thirty things to do by thirty. I’ve got a year to get it done.

I’ve organized it into categories, and I’ll blog about things as I accomplish them. Have you ever made a list like this? What do you think of mine? And do you have any book recommendations?

Culinary Projects
Make sausage. Probably turkey breakfast sausage.
Dinner Party 1: gussied up American food. I have a menu in my head that starts with buffalo brussels sprouts and ends with a giant hostess cupcake.
Dinner Party 2: food and wine pairings. Roasted lamb and a big fat red. Oysters and champagne. The classics.
Make croissants. Danish and croissant were both on one day at school and I ended up making danish... and I’ve been making them ever since. I’d like to try croissants, too.
Brew some gingerbeer.
Make duck prosciutto. There’s a wet-cure recipe from Bon Appetit that looks like something I can handle.

Professional
Join IACP
Take the CCP exam (and, you know, hopefully pass)
Read "On Food and Cooking." All the way through
Teach a cooking class.

Personal Projects
Go back to Europe. Kind of a cheat, since I’ve got a trip to Paris planned (with my mom and my sister!) in April.
Complete Project 365. I made it to 270 or something last time, but then I got distracted/married.
Learn to use my camera's manual setting
Find a way to sell or give my wedding dress to someone who needs one. I don’t know how, but I don’t need it anymore.
Watch the Godfather trilogy. Because I’ve never seen it.
Clean up my google reader and delete the dead blogs or the ones I don't read anymore
Read 30 books. Looking for suggestions. What’s your favorite read?
Purge cookbook collection. The ones I don't use are getting donated. It's time to curate instead of collect.
Figure out what to do with the 401(k) I left at my old job almost two years ago. Roll it over into something? I don’t know.
Put together a wedding album. You know, from our wedding a year and a half ago. That we already paid for. Heh.

House Stuff
Get not-ugly hampers for the bedroom so I can take the ugly ones out of the guest room.
Clean out under the guest bed and throw away some crap.
Clean out the giant black trunk in the basement and throw away some crap.
Move DVDs to sleeve books and chuck the cases to make space on book shelves.
Make the switch to using homemade, more natural cleaning supplies
Figure out if my sewing machine is broken or not, and if it is, fix it.
Once sewing machine is fixed, make curtains for the living room.

Fitnessy Type Things
Find a yoga studio I like. There are 2 or 3 within a ten minute walk of my house. Surely one of them will be a fit.
Do two chin-ups in a row. Right now I can do 3/4 of a chin-up, but that's it.
Run a 10k in under an hour. Last year I did it in 1:03 and change, but it was 85 degrees that day. I can do better.