Playing Catch Up!

There's been a BIG change in our life, which means I need to actually change my list and update a few things. By the end of this year, my husband and I will be living in Italy! I feel like I'm doing fairly well at completing my list. I need to start reading more books and doing a few more things, but besides that...I like how it looks!

(001) Get a new passport (by January 2011)
Okay, so I didn't do this by January '11, but it is in the hands of the government right now, and should hopefully be here sometime soon!

(014) Read a book a month (9/34)
10. How to Bake a Perfect Life by Barbara O'Neal
11. Baby Proof by Emily Giffin
12. Love the one Your With  by Emily Giffin


(040) Make a newlywed map
Done! I love our map. One thing I may need to change is to get it laminated. The humidity here is making it wrinkle against the foam core board.

(066) Host 10 game nights (1/10)
2. Held one with our friends. We started out playing Taboo and then it turned into a big chat fest.

(076) Create a cookbook of our favorite recipes
It's totally in process! We have the notebook and it's full of recipes, I just want to get a few more in there before I cross this one off. 


(077) Bake and give away a dozen different baked goods (3/12)
4. Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies for #OperationLaya
5. Cookies for iambaker.net

(080) For one week, make meals that can only be made with ingredients already in our pantry
We had pantry week at the beginning of March, and it's still going on!

(087) Purge my closet once a year (1/3)
We purged before our yard sale and got rid of so much stuff!

(089) Mail Christmas cards by December 15 (0/3)
Again, since this is my list, I can change stuff if necessary. Due to unforeseen circumstances, our Christmas cards didn't go out until....Valentine's Day. But it worked for us and I think it's going to stick!

(090) Send out Valentine cards each year (1/3)
See number 89 :)

(100) Take a bubble bath with candles at least once a month (5/34)
6. migraines in February
7. migraine in March

Marking More Off!

 

(014) Read a book a month 

First Comes Love: I'm a sucker for cute titles and fun book covers, so this was right up my alley. I found I related to the character more at the beginning of the book, since she was a newlywed and was the only one without children in her group of friends. Once she actually got pregnant it was interesting to read just to hear about her experience.

English American: Again, this book was perfect for me since I love England and I'm an American. It's about a girl who was born in America, but adopted to a British family. It was very interesting, entertaining, and a great read.

Something Borrowed: My friend (Ali at His Birdie's Nest) found out I had never read anything by Emily Giffen and so she sent me three of her books! I finally got around to reading Something Borrowed and I loved it. Now I'm reading Something Blue!

(074) Take a cake decorating class
I'm taking the Wilton Decorating Basics class right now and I love it!






(075) Try one new recipe a month
Pesto. Our garden was overflowing with basil so I made several cups of pesto! I froze some in ice trays, so hopefully they'll be good this winter.

Salsa. See below.

(079) Make salsa from scratch
Done and done. It's a family recipe, but once I find it (it's in my kitchen and I'm in my living room!) I'll post it.  

(100) Take a bubble bath with candles at least once a month
 I took one last month and read part of my book while relaxing in the tub!

**Changed 009 (Go to an Oktoberfest to Replicate "The Kiss" in Times Square

Movies, books, food, and links!

Getting My Learn On

(014) Read a book a month 

4. Savannah Comes Undone
This was the second book in the trio and it was a very quick read. Nothing spectacular about it.

5. The Best Day of Someone Else's Life
This book took a little getting into before it got good, but I really enjoyed it. A great chick-lit read and especially entertaining if you just got married, you're about to tie the knot, or you're a repeat bridesmaid!

*I need to step up my book reading; I should have seven complete by now...

Entertainment
(065) Watch 26 Movies I've never seen starting with each letter of the alphabet  
B. Bounty Hunter 
*Saw this at the $1 theater and thought it was entertaining. I'm happy I didn't pay full price to see it, though. 

F. Fake Identity
*I have a confession to make: I LOVE Val Kilmer. Well, I loved him in The Saint. This movie, on the other hand, was terrible. Like awful, real bad, don't even think about watching it. 

I. It's Complicated 
*Cute movie. I thought I'd be grossed out by the adults being all in love, but it was cute.

N. North by Northwest
My husband put this on and made me for us to watch last night and I really liked it! I have another confession to make: I thought all Alfred Hitchcock movies were scary based on the few I've seen. This was a classic suspense movie, though, and not scary at all! I liked it :)

T. Time Traveler's Wife
*I read the book last September and sobbed like a baby through the last half. I really enjoyed the book and contemplated not watching the movie, because I didn't want them to ruin how much I liked the book. The movie, I thought, was created very nicely and followed the book enough to satisfy my imagination.

W. When in Rome
*As far as chick flicks go, this one was awful. I wish I could say what I didn't like about it, but honestly, the whole movie was pretty lame in my opinion...

Domestic Goddess
(075) Try one new recipe a month 
14. Pasta with Tomato and Blue Cheese Sauce (Pioneer Woman)
*LOVED this dish and can't wait to make it again!

15. Twice Baked Potatoes (Pioneer Woman)
* Oh. My. Word. These were beyond delicious and unbelievably easy to make. I can't wait to have these again sometime. I also lightened it up by using fat free sour cream, Brummel and Brown butter, and not as many bacon bits. Delicious.

16. Margarita by Alton Brown
*Okay, I technically didn't make this, but I sure drank every last sip of it. My husband made this and it was hands down one, one of—if not the—best margarita I've ever tasted. Yes, it's time consuming and a sticky process, but the outcome is lip-smacking deliciousness.

17. Blueberry Pie 
*See above, because I didn't make this one either. It was also extremely tasty and surprisingly not as bad for you as most pies are. He substituted Splenda for part of the sugar, too. Mmmmm...so yummy.

(082) Get my grandma’s recipes
*I got her recipes, but now I want to make a recipe book with them, so I'm not marking this complete, yet. 


Good Will
(084) Pay for a stranger’s meal/coffee once a year 
1. While I was home I got coffee at Satellite Cafe and left a $10 after I paid for my coffee and asked the drive-through attendant to pay for the next couple cars' orders after I left. 


Leftovers
(098) Get three people to make lists of their own (0/3)
1. JoJo's Life in the 505
2. Kristin's 101 in 1001 Days
3. Amanda (my sister in law)! *Amanda, let me know when you get yours up and running so I can add a link here :)

Check!

(005) Go to three food festivals 
Vidalia Onion Festival in Vidalia, Georgia. So first of all, it's pronounced "Veh-dawl-ee-ah," and their "festival" was quite lame, if I do say so myself. The highlight of the day was getting a bloomin' onion and hanging out with friends:

(014) Read a book a month

Best Friends Forever by  Jennifer Weiner. I really like Weiner's other books, but this one didn't entice me as much as the others. It was okay, but nothing spectacular.

Size 12 is Not Fat by Meg Cabot. Okay, so several years ago—heck, even maybe last year—this book would've been right up my alley. It's chick lit at it's best...or at least mediocre chick lit, but either I'm growing out of this style of writing or the plot and book in general just didn't do it for me. It was good, but I guess not my cup of tea. I think I'm in a book funk, because the last two books I've read haven't captivated me the way novels used to...

(039) Send thank you notes by May 1, 2010
Woohoo! I sent these out on time :) I have pictures of me sending them...somewhere...

(059) Try a new haircut

Yup! Done and done. I cut off around 7 inches of hair :)

(075) Try one new recipe a month
12. Banana Blueberry Muffins. I used this recipe from Tasty Kitchen and they were delicious! I'll take pictures the next time I make them...

  13. Chewy Coconut M&M Cookies. (used the recipe found here)

(077) Bake and give away a dozen different baked goods
I made cookies and sent them to Kenny in a care package. 

(081) Bake at least 10 different cupcake

 I made Nutella Banana Cupcakes! 

(085) Have a yard sale

 The first week Kenny was gone my friends and I had a yard sale at my house!

(087) Purge my closet once a year (1/3)  
I had a lot purge for the yard sale :) 

CHECK!

Are you ready? Because I have a whole slew of things to completely mark off and kinda mark off (some are still in progress). Here we go!

#14 (1)
I finished Savannah from Savannah. For some reason it was a slow read for me. Now I'm looking for a new book to start reading. I have Twilight, but I don't think I'm ready to read it quite yet.

#36 - Get Married
CHECK!!! Kenny and I tied the knot on February 20, 2010, and the day was absolutely perfect!

#37 - Have S.E.X.
Check :)

#42 - Get a Dog
We got a dog soon after we got back from our honeymoon. Her name is Bella and she's an absolute sweetheart!

#46 - Pay Off Credit Card
This is in progress, but I'm going to actively start paying that sucker off.

#63 - Spend a Day Unplugged
I spent a week unplugged on our honeymoon and it was incredible.

#72 - Learn how to Skype
I signed up for an account and have already Skyped with my parents and in-laws!

#75 - Try a New Recipe
(3) I made a mango-avocado salsa that was AWESOME!

In progress

I figured it was time to get this party started! Here's what I've been up to:

#14
I'm currently reading this book:



















#65
I watched Julie and Julia, which took care of the letter "J"


















#75
Last night we made Slow Cooker Lasagna (Weight Watcher friendly) recipe below

Sorry for the silly picture. I forgot to take a photo till we after we ate. This was a good recipe and I'll most likely make it again, but I'll tweak it to make it more flavorful. As it is, it's a very bland, meat and sauce lasagna, and I like it with a little more flavor.






Slow Cooker Lasagna (8 Weight Watcher Points)

Ingredients

	1 pound(s) uncooked lean ground beef (with 7% fat)
	1 small onion(s), chopped
	1 medium garlic clove(s), minced
	28 oz canned crushed tomatoes
	15 oz canned tomato sauce
	1 tsp table salt
	1 tsp dried oregano
	1/2 tsp dried basil
	1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes, or to taste
	1 cup(s) part-skim ricotta cheese
	1 1/2 cup(s) part-skim mozzarella cheese, shredded, divided
	6 item(s) dry lasagna noodles, no-cook
	1/2 cup(s) shredded Parmesan cheese, strong-flavored like Romano or Parmigiano Reggiano

Instructions

• Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add beef, onion and garlic; cook, stirring frequently, breaking up meat with a wooden spoon as it cooks, about 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, salt, oregano, basil and red pepper flakes; simmer 5 minutes to allow flavors to blend.
  
  
• Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, stir together ricotta cheese and 1 cup of mozzarella cheese.
  
  
• Spoon 1/3 of beef mixture into a 5-quart slow cooker. Break 3 lasagna sheets in half and arrange over beef mixture; top with half of ricotta mixture. Repeat with another layer and finish with remaining 1/3 of beef mixture.
  
  
• Cover slow cooker and cook on low setting for 4 to 6 hours. Remove cover; turn off heat and season to taste, if desired.
  
  
• In a small bowl, combine remaining 1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese; sprinkle over beef mixture. Cover and set aside until cheese melts and lasagna firms up, about 10 minutes. Yields 1/6th of dish per serving.