48. Hang pictures up

Done!

Checkout my handiwork:

Well, it wasn't all me. I got the frames, painted some of them, and figured what was going to be hung where. The hubby hammered in the nails.

We had a lot of nice white walls in our place. I liked them. They looked clean, and they made our small home feel larger than it is. But the place was.... bare. So I took this one wall, which is bound by two windows, and made a little display! I think it warms up the place and gives it more personality.

Let me walk you through the pictures of our lives, starting in at the left and progressing to the right.
Wood frame: cool kitchen towel my mom gave me, with one of my favorite verses. I'm also an animal lover.
Black frame: picture of USC endzone in the Coliseum. I love Trojan football, especially since I attended during a few national championship years.
Red frame: pretty card I had held on to, and thought would look nice here.
White frame: picture of Don Quixote my husband had.
Wood frame: decoupaged wedding invitation and announcement. My hubby's great uncle made this himself, including the frame!
Metal frame: painting of Priest Lake, a favorite childhood vacation spot of my husband.
Wood frame: picture of my husband and me.

This was a pretty fun project, and easy too.

To see my whole "50 Goals in 500 Days" list, click here.

11. Bake something and Give it to Neighbors

Done!

For Christmas, we decided to give delicious vegan baked goods to all of our friends and family. This was a huge undertaking, which we didn't realize at the time. Since I am the one who bakes, it led to me having quite a few frantic and stressing days.

The problem was that it was difficult to find recipes that travel well, utilized the ingredients we had, and could easily be made in large quantities. Plus I had to account for a few diabetics, which meant using agave nectar in lieu of sugar.

I ended up making brownies, coconut bars, lemon cookies, oatmeal and dried cranberry cookies, and mint chocolate chip cookies.

The initial batch of cooking went well, but when filling the tins, I found I didn't have enough cookies. So I used what I had, and then had to make more! That was frustrating because I'd been so happy to be done with the baking.

It all turned out just fine, though. We ended up having extra cookies, so I made little boxes of them for the neighbors, thereby accomplishing #11 on my list! So all the effort was worth it, right?

I've decided that for next Christmas I will give many family members aprons, which I will sew myself. I plan on getting started in the summer. Then they can make their own Christmas cookies!

To see my entire "50 Goals in 500 Days" list, click here.

6. Go Vegan for a month

Done!

Well, I've actually been 99% vegan for a few months now. I've just slacked on blogging about it. I've been a vegetarian for a few years now, eating no meat or eggs, and very little dairy, plus avoiding many products that have been tested on animals or are made from animals . That made the transition to a vegan lifestyle relatively easy.

Some challenges were:
1. Companies put dairy and egg in so many processed products because it is cheaper to do so. Even many vegetarian foods are not vegan. I really had to turn up the label reading!
2. Social situations. When people are preparing food for me, it's kind of awkward to broach the subject, especially as this is a new experience for me and for those around me.

Some great experiences were:
1. My hubby being willing to have a vegan household. (He still eats cheese when we're eating somewhere else).
2. Making and tasting some new, yummy vegan food.
3. Pizza without cheese. It isn't greasy or heavy, and I don't feel gross after eating it! I prefer this to pizza with vegan cheese, really.
4. Being proud of myself for taking a stand against the inhumane treatment of animals, taking a step to healthier living, and engaging in an environmentally sustainable lifestyle.
5. Feeling better!

Here's a picture of some delicious vegan chocolate chip cookies, from this recipe:

To view my "50 Goals in 500 Days" list, click here.

23. send out Christmas cards (on time!)

DONE

Well, my Christmas cards were sent out in a timely manner, even if my post about them is done a little late :-) There's really not much to say about them, except that the fact that anything was sent out at all is due in a large part to my amazing hubby. He got us out to the store to get holiday paper (we wrote a letter and mailed that out), he wrote the letter, and he was a major part in the stuffing/sealing/mailing. All I did was print the labels and help put stamps on them!

To see my original "50 Goals in 500 Days" list, click here.

7. Make Vegan Ice Cream- Recipe Included!

DONE!

I made coconut milk ice cream using this recipe from Novel Eats, and it was delicious! Here's a shot of the ingredients mixing in my ice cream maker:

A few tips:
1. Put the ice cream maker on the mixer and hook up the white mixing attachment BEFORE putting in the ingredients. This is because if your ice cream maker is nice and cold, the ingredients can freeze to it and then the white mixing part won't be able to move around, and you're SOL. We made this mistake once, it's not good.
2. Definitely add peanut butter or some other flavoring. We've included dried coconut, chocolate chips, etc... The basic recipe is kind of bland. It's good, but added flavors are better. If you're adding something chunky, add it in during the second half of mixing.
3. We used light coconut milk. It still tasted plenty rich and satisfying.

That's it! Enjoy! This stuff is delicious.

To see my original "50 Goals in 500 Days" list, click here.

9. Make Vegan pumpkin pie

DONE

I have now made this delicious cruelty-free pumpkin pie not once, but twice! Everyone (including non-vegans) should make this pie because:
1. It is incredibly easy to make
2. The only dirty dishes it creates are the blender, some measuring utensils, and the pie pan
3. It's delicious, and relatively healthy for pie
It is healthy and easy to make because it does not have a pie crust. Seriously, though, the filling is so good, you don't miss the crust. I made this pie for a couple different gatherings, and it was quite the hit.
Sadly, I do not have a picture of the pie :-( But to remedy this problem, I am giving you a bonus: an apple tart picture! So here is my delicious apple tart, right before it went in the oven:
I'm having trouble posting the recipe here, so look for it in a future post!

To see my original "50 Goals in 500 Days" list, click here.

21. Go to a shooting range (again)

DONE

Oh my gosh, apparently I don't even know what's on my list! Please see the post a few posts back that reviewed my recent shooting range visit. It goes to show how well I made my list: I want to do the stuff on it even without the motivation of crossing it off the list!

To see the original "50 Goals in 500 Days" list, click here.

45. Do a Full House Cleaning

DONE

This one took a lot of time over my winter break. I discovered two amazing cleaning supplies, though: magic eraser and bleach solution.

My friend suggested I use a magic eraser for scuffs on the kitchen floor, and that suggestion changed my life! The magic eraser cleaned every mark off the kitchen floor. It cleaned stains off the bathtub that I thought would outlive me! I don't know how it works, but it is definitely magical. I already had a clean house, and the magic eraser made marked improvements.

Growing up, we never used a bleach & water solution to clean. Well, my parents just didn't spend much time cleaning. I think that's part of the reason I'm so obsessed with it. I've eased into using bleach to clean, and I finally made a spray bottle of bleach solution as one last attempt to clean grout in the shower. I sprayed, opened windows to cut the smell, and then let it sit. After a few minutes, the grout looked a lot better. Plus the solution did most of the work, so I didn't have to scrub much! It was amazing.

The bummer about cleaning is that it's such a temporary thing. It is difficult for me to be understanding when the house inevitably gets dirty again. These two new supplies will help because they really make the place look a lot better when it is clean!

To see my original "50 Goals in 500 Days" list, click here.

#50: Paint a Picture

DONE!

Here is my artwork:

It's two birds sitting in a tree. I intended to paint this for my husband and give it to him as a bithday gift back in October, but that obviously didn't happen. So it was more of a "Happy New Year" gift. He likes birds, and we have a couple parakeets, so I thought he'd appreciate a bird picture.

To be honest, this thing took forever to paint. My formal art training ended in about 7th grade, so I have no idea how to paint efficiently. I guess art should be about efficiency, though. Well, I am glad that it is done and now proudly displayed in our home!

To see my original "50 Items in 500 Days" list, click here.

46. Reorganize closets in house

DONE

I went through all our closets, got rid of stuff, moved seldom used stuff to the garage, and organized what was left. Luckily Target had organization stuff on sale after Christmas! I love these metal shelves: they're a great deal at just $15, can hold a lot of weight, and last forever!

On the other part of the closet I tried to be resourceful and use cardboard boxes we already had, rather than buy new stuff. I think it'll last, though.

I'm happy to finally have the closets organized! I've already noticed an improvement in my quality of life.

Picture of the Paper Men

Here are our sweet targets, post shooting range.

Those Paper Men Had No Chance

So this past weekend my spouse and I had a fun adventure: we went shooting! Being in LA, of course this was at a range. It was at the LAX firing range, to be exact. It was so much fun!

We shot a couple different 9mm pistols. For those who don't know, a 9mm is on the smallish end of the handgun category. It's a pretty standard and popular gun. We tried a Glock, with wasn't that great, and then a Sig Sauer, which was easy to shoot and be accurate. A quick intro to guns: the heavier the gun and longer the barrel, the easier it is to be accurate and shoot the gun. The weight of the gun helps to absorb the recoil, and the longer barrel helps with aiming.

We spent about an hour at the range and went through 100 bullets between the two of us. It was kind of expensive, about $60. For those who're interested in just going occasionally, the Los Angeles Gun Club in downtown is a bit cheaper and is just as good of an experience. The LAX range would be ideal for regulars who purchase the club's annual membership, as that's likely the best deal in town if you go 2 or more times per month.

Wherever you end up going, I highly recommend that everyone go out and shoot a gun! It's fun and not at all difficult. The people who work in these places are really nice. Going to a range a few times is not going to make anyone a sharpshooter, but guns are a major part of our national culture and it is good to have a first-hand experience. I look forward to my next trip to a shooting range! I'll post a picture of our targets next week, so keep an eye out for that!

To Do List

Okay guys, I have accomplished a lot of the stuff on my to do list! That includes finishing painting a picture (longest project ever). But I've slacked in that I haven't taken pictures of my accomplishments, and we all know the post would be better with video evidence. So I have written it in my calendar to take pictures tomorrow, and the posts should be up sometime next week! Look forward to recaps of many exciting adventures!

2010: The Year of Enjoyment

Happy New Year everyone! As I look forward to an exciting new year, I have decided that, for me, 2010 will be my "Year of Enjoyment". First, let me summarize this past year. In 2009 I was very busy. There were a lot of changes in my life: moving, getting a new job, starting a post-bacc program, and getting a dog. Plus, we went on long vacations twice. Vacations are nice, but planning and being away from home are stressing. All of these activities combined with my high intensity temperament to make 2009 a whirlwind year. Not much time was devoted to stopping and smelling the roses.

2010 will be my year to smell roses. I will make a concerted effort to enjoy whatever I am doing, rather than focus on accomplishing it so that i can check it off my list. It is amazing how simply making this attitude shift has already improved my quality of life. On Monday evening I took the dog on our daily post-work walk. I truly enjoyed walking the dog and seeing a beautiful sunset over the ocean. Sorry if that sounds too hokey :-) It was quite a pleasant experience, though. I have also found that enjoying what I have rather than getting frustrated at what is missing transfers to many aspects of the home. I have chosen to be happy about the dishes my spouse washed rather than upset about the ones still left in the sink. I have chosen to appreciate the Southern California weather rather than complain about California's restrictive laws.

Now I don't know if I can maintain this attitude of enjoyment forever, but I'm liking it for now. The truth is nothing is perfect, so if I look for perfection I will always be dissappointed. Why not appreciate the positive aspects of what is in my life?