Bye Bye Bucket List 2013, Hello Bucket List 2014

Hey y'all. It's 2014! In 50 years we'll all be living on the moon.

It's always interesting to look back at your entire year when a new one begins. The past 6 months have been pretty hard for me, so I wasn't feeling so great about how 2013 went down. But looking to my sidebar of goals, I completed almost all of them! I even got a beach cruiser!

While I can be happy about the goals I set and achieved -- and all of the things I learned outside of the goals this year -- I think I can do better. Getting a dog, planning a party and growing a garden are all admirable goals. But does it ultimately make me a better person? Or just busier?

I am constantly striving to find the line between "being real" on this blog and "being positive". I don't think the two are mutually exclusive. Part of the reason I stopped writing on this blog for a few months was because my life suddenly had more trials and I didn't know how to talk about them on here. But I think it's good to show people that your life isn't perfect, and it doesn't wrap up in a little bow. 2013 may be over, but I am still dealing with things and looking forward to events I hoped for last year. So my goals this year are going to be a little more personal.

I'm grateful that this new year has given me a fresh start so I can do better next year! So in light of all those things, here are my goals for 2014:

1. Keep a gratitude journal using the Happier app. Write down at least one good thing daily. I tend to lean towards pessimistic thinking, so this will help be me cultivate gratitude and optimism. This ties in with another 2014 goal: think good thoughts.

2. Build up a 3-month savings. Matt and I had some financial issues this year, and we're learning how to budget our student-level income. I really feel like we could benefit from building up good savings. We've already gotten pretty good about managing our money, but now we need to add savings to that! One good thing we did in 2013 was finally get a joint checking account. That was a lifesaver.

3. Go on an East Coast road trip with Jeannette. This is a Christmas present. I'm looking forward to going on manageable and exhilarating trips that help me learn about the world. Experiences, not things!  We're planning on starting in Georgia and moving north until who knows where! The North Pole?

4. Read the Book of Mormon from cover to cover. It needs to happen, and it's also our ward goal.

5. Continue in the arts. I love art! I am considering going back to school so I can become a curator, but that might not happen this year. The art lessons are going great, so I'm hoping to expand that this year. Or maybe I'll get an internship at a local museum. Either way, I need to keep art in my life because it makes me feel awesome. I'm excited about this goal!

6. Explore fertility options. We have been trying to get pregnant for about 8 months now, which is fairly normal. I'm not too worried yet, but there are things I can do to move that along. I stayed silent about it for a long time because it's a very personal issue. But after talking to a couple of people, it seems like getting support and advice from others helps me. Any advice about this would be greatly appreciated, since being a mother is a lifelong dream for me.

7. Exist. Hey, every bucket list needs a goal that is for sure going to happen. 1 for 7 already! Booyah!

I would love to hear what your goals are for this year! Please share them with me.

By the way, would you like to know what I did in 2013?

Learned the art of sleeping well
Went to the Bahamas
Moved 3 times
Learned how to love my husband better
Moved into a duplex with good friends
Took the leap and got a new job! Matt started working with me a few months later.
Started my own private art lesson business
Got a credit card
Helped my in-laws restore their 100-year-old house
Witnessed 2 siblings get married
Welcomed in multiple nieces and nephews
Supported Matt in his dream of starting a fishing business
Forgot that I love to work out! That's gonna have to change this year
Curated a children's art show at the Springville Museum of Art
Taught summer art classes there, too
Went to Texas for an art conference
Helped raise money for the Philippines with Matt and his mission friends
Reminded myself that it's ok to fail at things
Learned how to make boba, eggrolls, and freezer meals
Started thinking about starting a family
Had my first Christmas with Matt's family
Found out that I might be one of "those" dog people
Learned how to trust in God more

Florida and the Bahamas

YOLO.

I hate the term, but I love the sentiment.

You only live once, so why not spend all your money to hang out on pristine Florida beaches and cruise to the Bahamas with your friends?

YOLO, guys. YOLO.

Ok I'll stop using that dirty word now.

But for reals, we were in heaven for like 10 days in August. We rented a house through airBNB from this Russian lady. It had a pool and a little eating area where we had dinner every night. We went to the beach almost every day and soaked up the sun. And Matt surprised me for my birthday with tickets to the Killers concert in Miami! Oh man, I am hard to get excited, but I think I jumped up and down in sheer joy when all my favorite songs came on.

On our cruise we also went to the beach every day. I wish we would have gotten to see a little more of the Bahamas, but we didn't want to go on any of the excursions. Matt, Cari and Johnson all served in the Philippines, and there were so many Filipinos working on the ship. We made friends with one of them, who became our waiter every night. He told his friends about the 3 tall white Americans who knew Visaya, and they told there friends, and pretty soon they had talked to almost ever Filipino on the ship. It was pretty cool to see them speaking a crazy language that almost no one in America knows.

At our first stop, we found our way to the beach and listened to island music on the beach for hours. In Nassau we went to this amazing pristine beach with beautiful waves and lots of men shouting to us about renting wave runners. On the private Norwegian island, we rented snorkels and snorkeled around a bay with artifacts from an old ship wreck.

At night on the ships we would swim, go to fancy dinner with the Filipinos, watch amazingly cheesy cruise shows with dancers and hosts and lame jokes and awesomeness. And we may have gotten WAY into playing BINGO. YOLO.

The best part about vacation is that you get to forget about the duties and worries of normal life for a few days, which I'm grateful for. And I got to spend some quality time with my busy husband. Plus, it's always great to go to a new part of the world and find out how other people live. That part of traveling is invaluable to me.

Now we're back and working hard. I'm starting to like my new writing job a lot more, and Matt is focusing on his fishing business. He even has Groupons and AmazonLocal and CityDeals accounts where a lot of his business has come from! We help out Matt's sister and brother-in-law at their new old house at night. They bought a 100 year old house and are fixing it up! It's pretty fun.

2013 Bucket List Challenge: Plant Something

This post is a part of the 2013 Bucket List series, in which I tell the whole world my goals so I have to complete them. You can read the original post here. Here is an update on one of my 2013 goals:

Look at my plants! I might be the last person anyone would expect to grow a garden, especially since I live in an apartment complex with more concrete than soil. But the best part about this bucket list thing is that I'm challenging myself to do things I never would have tried before. It's not that I hated gardening before, I just never saw myself as the kind of person who could make things grow.  It never crossed my mind. Let's just consider this a trial run for motherhood. If I keep these plants alive, maybe I'll have a chance with some babehs?

So where did this all come from? Last month I read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver, and it basically changed my life. Her family of four decided to pick up house in desert Arizona and move home to their farm on the east coast. They were tired of eating food with unpronounceable ingredients, so they decided to do a one-year home-grown food challenge. That's right...they grew (almost) all their own food, and bought local + organic when they couldn't grow their own. She laid out the process so passionately that I'm completely open to doing the challenge myself one day. It's probably not going to happen anytime soon, mostly because I just love Chipotle too much.  And Matt just really, really (really) loves steak. But, I'm working my way up to it (see: Coconut Juice). 

The next step in this bizarre food journey is to start growing my own things. When the zombie apocalypse comes, I figured it might be handy to already know how to grow my own food. I could run a racket! 

Since the growing season is right now, I had to act fast! I headed over to the Farmer's Market on Saturday and picked up a wee little roma tomato plant from a happy hippie in a wooden trellis. On my trip to Home Depot to pick up gardening supplies, I couldn't resist snatching up a red pepper plant. I came home, perched myself on the porch, and started digging. I may have Googled a few things, but for the most part, I'm learning as I go. After 20 minutes and some arm work, I had my own little garden! 

I told my mother in law about my newfound desire to grow all the things, and she was so excited! Her backyard is full of plants she grew and planted herself, including green onions, tomatoes, peas, herbs, flowers, trees, and so on and so forth. They even keep chickens and bees! It's a modern-day garden of eden back there, and I'm slowly starting to appreciate that more and more. After family dinner on Sunday, she pulled me aside and handed me a cherry tomato plant she grew herself. So now I have three little plants to call my own. I'm basically in heaven.

If anyone has any advice or words of encouragement, I could use it! I'm just starting out and merely excited that nothing's died yet. 

Below are some rogue pictures of the Farmer's Market. There isn't any produce yet, but it's fun to walk around. Notice the wooden trellis I was talking about on the bottom picture. If you're looking for something to plant, get something from this guy! He's so nice and doles out advice to novices like me freely. And each plant is only $2 (and organic). 

I'm Paula Dean, Y'all!

Y'all. I'm like the art version of Paula Dean. I want art in in all my creations, in all its forms, in everything I breathe. Instead of butter, I need art. I'm Paula Dean, y'all. 

So...I've got another project in the works, and it's all about art. Bet you didn't see that coming.

Utah County is sorely lacking in art lessons, so I will now be offering private art lessons and children's art parties to awesome people who love art. I'm super excited! And I made a blog, so just hustle your butt over and check it out.

2013 Bucket List Challenge: Get Something Published

This post is a part of the 2013 Bucket List series, in which I tell the whole world my goals so I have to complete them. You can read the original post here. Here is an update on one of my 2013 goals:

If you lived in Provo, and were looking for some sort of Provo-related news and entertainment, you could go to provobuzz.com and most likely see an article written by me.

That's right, ladies and gentlemen! My semi-life-long dream of being published somewhere has finally come true. I realize that I write for this blog all the time, but there's something so validating about having an actual website tell you you're allowed to contribute. It's a great feeling. 

Just in case my mother is worrying at this point about my ability to make a living like a real adult, I'm not quitting my day job for this. I'll be contributing one article a week. But hey, it's something. And I get to write about the town I have lived in for seven years. I know this place like the back of my hand...literally. One time Matt blindfolded me and drove me around the city so I wouldn't catch on to his romantic anniversary plans, and I could tell where we were at every turn. 

Anyway...

Writing content for a website that people actually read is a little daunting. I feel like I can write almost whatever I want on here because the readers are mostly people I know and love. This is not the case for Provo Buzz, and I'm worried that I'll get some hate mail at some point. Until then, I'm loving this image:

My year of the Bucket List Challenge is shaping up to be pretty awesome. 

2013 Bucket List Update: A Little History of the World

This post is a part of the 2013 Bucket List series, in which I tell the whole world my goals so I have to complete them. You can read the original post here. Here is an update on one of my 2013 goals:

Read all the books I got for Christmas

Remember when I had goals? Yeah, me too. Remember when I vowed to read all the books I received as Christmas gifts? And that it's the end of March and that goal had come to a screeching halt? Remember how I guilted myself into finishing this book for the sake of crossing it off my list? Please tell me I'm not the only person who does that.

The only reason the fact that I finished reading a book is getting its own blog post is because it happened. And it was a miracle. 

A wee little baby Christmas miracle. Also, the book was pretty good. You should read this book if...

- you have the worst memory and don't remember the order that stuff happened

- you have room in your brain for facts like how we got the Alphabet and weekends and whatnot

- you need some generational perspective

- you really really like reading about war. like, a lot of war. why is there so much war?

- you want to read an abridged, child-like account of the entire world from the beginning of time

- you're awesome

You should NOT read this book if...

- you're a genius and you already know everything

- you need to learn about stuff from 1935 - present day

- reading about war makes you sad

- you like reading about awesome female people

Artist: Michael Vincent Manalo

Michael Vincent Manalo
The Fish Tales II
Digital Photomanipulation

You know what I see? Two beings, stuck in a tempest, who are too afraid to face their problem and figure out a way to fix it. So they just ignore it. 

2013 Bucket List: Books I've Read Update

This post is a part of the 2013 Bucket List series, in which I tell the whole world my goals so I have to complete them. You can read the original post here. Here is an update on one of my 2013 goals:

Read all the books I got for Christmas

This hasn't happened yet.

Too many things.

Good thing I have a whole year to do this! Of all the goals, I've had the hardest time completing this one. I've been sitting around so much, and the other goals got me moving and motivated. This goal just doesn't fit into my life right now. Maybe in the summer when I can sit by a pool or and need something to do, this will get done.

Right now, this is what my reading list looks like:

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain (1/3 done)

What's A Dog For? by John Homans (haven't opened)

Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling  (haven't opened)

A Little History of the World by E.H. Gombrich (1/3 done)

What are you reading?

2013 Bucket List: Cruise Savings Update

This post is a part of the 2013 Bucket List series, in which I tell the whole world my goals so I have to complete them. You can read the original post here. Here is an update on one of my 2013 goals:

Save enough money for a summer cruise

To see the first cruise update post, go here. 

We have paid off the last of our debt (YES!) and bought the cruise already. Now we're saving up for our flight there and a hotel. A few weeks ago we thought we were going to tack on going to Costa Rica to see our brother and his family while they live there, but we just don't have the money for that. Not fun news, but I'm ok with it because we still get to go on an awesome cruise.

One of my gifts for Christmas was a subscription to Oprah Magazine. I guess Matt got the hint when I posted it on one of my gift guides haha. It finally came, and I immediately ran to snuggle in bed and read the whole thing from cover to cover in one sitting. Something about reading O makes me feel better about life...that B just gets me. Anyway, I read in O that the excitement of planning a trip really early can last for months. And boy, am I feeling that right now. We've been planning this for so long, and every time I sit down and look at pictures I feel a lot better about living in tundra.

So, planning a trip far in advance can help you get through the winter! Try it!

2013 Bucket List: January Workout Recap

I did it! I made my goal for the first month. Granted, it was only two weeks, but I still made (and even exceeded) my goal of 170 minutes. 

I think it's pretty reasonable to ask myself to work out three times a week. And since I'm getting back into it, I'm letting myself count really physical days at work. 

For example, last month we were putting up a show. I was walking around the museum all day, lifting heavy pieces of art and pushing carts around. I came home at the end of the day physically exhausted. That counts for 30 minutes in my book. Maybe once I become too legit to quit, it won't count anymore. But for now, I'm giving myself reasonable goals. 

Part of the reason I'm sharing my workout history with you guys so I have some accountability. But I'm also really curious about how other people workout (how often, what activities, what gets you motivated). Please share in the comments section!  

2013 Bucket List: Green Smoothie Freezer Bags

This post is a part of the 2013 Bucket List series, in which I tell the whole world my goals so I have to complete them. You can read the original post here. Here is an update on one of my 2013 goals:

Try out meal-planning

Update: 

I've heard so much about the benefits green smoothies that I wanted to try them myself. I've seen so many recipes, but I was lazy, so I just threw bags together of things I had at home. The basic recipe is fruit + spinach. I made four bags in advance so I wouldn't have to find the ingredients in the morning. Each morning I just threw the contents of the bag into the blender and blended until smooth. 

I have to admit that this didn't work quite like I planned it. I put way too many things in the bag, so the smoothies were huge. I also didn't test out the recipe to see if I'd like the taste...turned out I didn't. I couldn't get past how much spinach I put inside. 

But hey, at least I tried. 

I did feel really great the days I downed the whole drink, though. Instead of sugary cereal that leaves me wanting more food in an hour, I felt more full and energized. It also felt great to get a lot of healthiness out of the way in the beginning of the day so I could splurge on yummier food for lunch or dinner. 

When I do this again, I'll definitely try out recipes until I find one I like enough to duplicate multiple times. And I'll stick to the portions that are tried and true. 

Do you guys do green smoothies in the morning? What's your favorite recipe? I need help! 

2013 Bucket List: Mexican Chicken + Rice

This post is a part of the 2013 Bucket List series, in which I tell the whole world my goals so I have to complete them. You can read the original post here. Here is an update on one of my 2013 goals:

Try out monthly meal-planning

Cooking is hard. I love the result but never think to plan any meals. I have encountered a bunch of meal-planning pins on Pinterest, so I'm going to try them out and document the journey.

Update: 

I found this recipe on Pinterest and made it for Sunday dinner to put over rice. It literally couldn't be easier to make, and it's so good I'm making it again. 

The finished meal is rice with Mexican Chicken on top, with shredded cheese and sour cream. 

Mexican Chicken:

1 can diced tomatoes

1 can black beans

1 can pinto beans

1 can yellow corn

1 container of salsa

3-4 frozen chicken breasts

6 cups cooked rice (add 1/2 tbsp oil and dash of salt when cooking)

1 cup shredded cheese

1 small container sour cream

Stick the first 6 ingredients in your crock pot. I like to cook it for 8 hours to let the ingredients simmer, but you can choose whatever setting you like. 

30 minutes before the crock pot is set to finish cooking, boil water on a pot and cook the rice with the oil and a dash of salt. This makes some tasty rice! 

Dish rice + chicken in a bowl and garnish with shredded cheese and a dollop of sour cream. 

Super easy. Can you tell that I am drawn to the easy recipes? I like to make this recipe and divvy it out in tupperware, then freeze them for lunches. I just stick a frozen tupperware in my lunch bag and let it thaw until lunch. It takes about 5 minutes to heat back up in the microwave, but it's better than school lunch! 

Once these goals are completed, I'll probably add a few more goals to the list. If you would like to join me in the 2013 Bucket List Challenge, please put a link of this post in your blog, then comment on it so I know you're in!

Confession: I'm Scared of My Gym

Guys. Do you have a workout that makes you feel like a champion? I'm talking about the kind of workout that you've done so much you could probably host a perky YouTube video and get like....100 likes. 

Wanna know what mine is?

The elliptical.

I. have. that. shiz. down.

When I walk into the gym, I swagger up to that beast and stare it down like there's no tomorrow. I hop on, tune into some Kardashians if I'm lucky to find them, and rock it out like nobody's business. For like an hour. When I step off, I feel awesome. And then I walk on out of there and ignore the rest of the machines like I'm 13 and I have crushes on all of them.

When it comes to doing other stuff at the gym, I feel like that kid in kickball who always gets picked last. I'm always worried I'll look dumb using the other machines, so I don't even try.

I realize to get in shape you need to work your muscles on other things besides an elliptical. My brain gets it.

But it's not all my fault. The gym I frequent seems to be disproportionately populated by men whose spirit animals are 'roided out bulldogs, and orange women who strip to their neon skivvies during a 5-minute mile. They don't even stop their treadmills. They do that douchebag step-to-the-side move. and proceed to strip. 

Every ten minutes they all seem to meet at the water fountain and flirt.

This is what I'm dealing with here. It's too much pressure.

So in the spirit of "doing what you've never done to achieve what you've never achieved" (ie. an alright body), I've turned to internet workouts to get my body moving.

Workouts I can do in my living room while my husband watches a movie in our bedroom. Workouts that can let me feel like an idiot in the privacy of my own home. Workouts that will help me tone and stretch and huff and puff on my own time in weird weird clothing. 

The goal? To graduate from one-trick-pony elliptical status to champion I'm-not-embarrassed-to-work-out-at-my-own-gym status. 

I'm slowly finding new workouts that make me feel like an elephant doing ballet. But it's better than nothing.

We'll see what happens.

For tonight, voila.

2013 Bucket List: Homemade Chicken Soup

This post is a part of the 2013 Bucket List series, in which I tell the whole world my goals so I have to complete them. You can read the original post here. Here is an update on one of my 2013 goals:

Try out monthly meal-planning

Cooking is hard. I love the result but never think to plan any meals. I have encountered a bunch of meal-planning pins on Pinterest, so I'm going to try them out and document the journey.

Update: 

I was originally planning on doing freezer meals, but I decided to build up my bank of tried and true recipes before I get all crazy on freezer meals. I'll be posting one recipe at a time to make them easier to find.

Homemade Chicken Soup

7 cups water

1 leftover rotisserie chicken

1 cup chopped carrots

1 bunch celery

1/2 cup cilantro

2-3 cups uncooked bowtie pasta

salt (to taste)

lemon pepper (to taste)

Boil water in the largest pot you can find to fit your chicken. Stick the chicken in and let it simmer until the water is yellow and delicious looking. 

Chop carrots, celery + cilantro and put in a separate pot. Cover with 2 cans of chicken broth and cook on medium. 

Remove chicken from pot and tear off any leftover meat. Put the meat back in the pot, and throw the chicken away.

Pour vegetables + broth into the chicken stock and add pasta. Cook on low until pasta is al dente. Add salt + lemon pepper to taste. 

This soup was so easy to make, and great if you have rotisserie leftovers. And it's about 1,000 times better than canned chicken noodle soup. 

Once these goals are completed, I'll probably add a few more goals to the list. If you would like to join me in the 2013 Bucket List Challenge, please put a link of this post in your blog, then comment on the same post so I know you're in! 

2013 Bucket List: NEW GOAL!

This post is a part of the 2013 Bucket List series, in which I tell the whole world my goals so I have to complete them. You can read the original post here. Here is an update on one of my 2013 goals:

I feel like I'm far enough in my current goals that I can add another one to the list.

I have been feeling very sluggish lately. Plus, my clothes are starting to fit weird. Time to get back on the fitness wagon. I have started to cook healthier meals, but I need to do the physical activity, too. To motivate myself, I have created a goal that will make me visually represent how often I work out (or do activity at work that could replace working out).

I will be posting a monthly workout recap calendar to share my goals and progress. Hopefully, I will reach my goals each month and reward myself with something awesome. (Maybe you guys can help me figure out a good reward).

Here's an example of what the calendar will look like.

Once these goals are completed, I'll probably add a few more goals to the list. If you would like to join me in the 2013 Bucket List Challenge, please put a link of this post in your blog, then comment on it so I know you're in!

2013 Bucket List: Homemade Boba Tea

This post is a part of the 2013 Bucket List series, in which I tell the whole world my goals so I have to complete them. You can read the original post here. Here is an update on one of my 2013 goals:

Try out monthly meal-planning

Cooking is hard. I love the result but never think to plan any meals. I have encountered a bunch of meal-planning pins on Pinterest, so I'm going to try them out and document the journey.

Update: 

If you follow this blog, you've probably heard me talk about Boba Tea before. California is pretty culturally diverse, and I always heard people talking about Boba but never understood what it was...until I moved to whiteywhitesvilley, Utah. 

Life....

Boba Tea is an asian drink (usually tea + fruit juice + milk) with tapioca pearls (boba) at the bottom. If you get it at a shop it'll come in a fun drink with a plastic lid fused to the cup and a huge straw to suck the boba up. It's srsly delicious. 

Anyway, I found this great place in Orem and got addicted for a minute. Like all of my obsessions, it came in while a burning fire and left pretty quickly. Well, the fire came back with a vengeance one night at the book store. Luckily, the book store was by my all time favorite Boba place. I drove by, hoping to get a quick fix, and it was closed. Not night night closed. Like, closed closed. 

Like all things in Utah Valley, the store had started much like my obsessions (eager, excited to please), then burned out quickly when the owners realized it takes more than a wish and a dream to make a business stick in Utah Valley. The store was gone. 

(BTW, if I'm ever crazy enough to start a business in Provo, I will do everything I can to get the hipsters into it. The hipsters are the key to success. Without them, you're doomed.)

I was pretty sad for a minute until I realized there was an asian market down the street from my house. Lately I'm all about trying out new things. Perfect! I found a recipe on Pinterest and decided to make my own. "If the entire continent of Asia* can do it, so can I!" Firey obsession, check.

*gross exaggeration

I followed the recipe on this blog to get boba that would last a couple days in the fridge. It took 5 times as long as regular boba, and the next day the pearls were ruined. Just do the quick version. 

Here's a quick recipe for boba:

Ingredients:

1/2 cup boba (tapioca pearls)

1/2 cup sugar

6 cups water

1/4 cup milk

1/4 cup fruit juice (I used peach juice from a can of peaches)

Boil 4 cups of water on the stove. Put boba in water and boil for 5-10 minutes (until boba is soft to the core).

While boba is boiling, steep two bags of your favorite tea in water. I used herbal citrus tea. Let it cool in the fridge or freezer.

Pour boba into a strainer. Rinse with cold water until the boba is lukewarm. In a container, mix 2 cups warm water with sugar. Pour boba into the simple syrup mixture. If you want, you can leave the boba in the syrup for a few minutes to soak up the sugar.

In a glass, mix cooled tea with milk and fruit juice (you can use any kind of juice).

Use a spoon to transfer boba to your tea cup. Make sure you get some of the simple syrup to sweeten the tea. 

Enjoy! 

PS: The tea above was citrus herbal tea + peach juice from a can + simple syrup + milk + boba. 

How to Host A Favorite Things Party

(Most of) my favorite ladies with their loot!

This post is a part of the 2013 Bucket List series, in which I tell the whole world my goals so I have to complete them. You can read the original post here. 

This is the second post about the FTP. To get caught up, read this post  first, where I explain my goals and share invites + tips.

Here is an update on one of my 2013 goals:

Throw a Favorite Things party

We finally did it! The FTP finally happened! I've been wanting to do this party for months.