I failed.

My goal for 2012 was to read 20 books. Two weeks until the clock struck midnight and I realized I was two books behind. So I checked out American Women in World War II. But I barely even got through the first chapter. I failed. I only read 18 books this past year. Here's a run through of a few of the 8 books I read in the second half of the year.

 Divergent- Veronica Roth

This book was another story similar to the Hunger Games. A dystopian future where at 16 you must choose where you will live and what one specific value you will follow for the rest of your life based on a test where the administrators can peer into your brain. Corrupt government and all that jazz. It was a good read and quick as well, but I didn't read the others in the series simply because it didn't intrigue me as much as the Hunger Games did. The main character seemed too childish for me to be that interested in, yet I always find these worlds eerily possible. See: A Handmaid's Tale.

French Women Don't Get Fat- Mireille Guiliano

This book was really popular a few years ago when the "secrets" of the French diet were explained to us Americans. It was interesting. I feel like the French are such a passionate culture. They throw themselves into their food, art, love, everything. So I wanted to see what she had to say about their food culture. It was a little different than what I had learned about the French so far. Her main points are to enjoy small amounts of high quality foods, walk places, and drink water. Guiliano gave recipes throughout the book as well. Although there's no way I would probably ever follow this lifestyle, I did feel like I should appreciate food more often and choose the things I eat with a little more thought about quality and freshness.

The Handmaid's Tale- Margaret Atwood

I rated this book two stars. It is an interesting and scarily close future where women are only valued for their reproductive abilities. They are not allowed to read or learn, or even to see their families. The world suffered an infertility crisis it seems with a lot of radiation poisoning or chemical problems. Because of that, these handmaids are doled out to each house, with the hopes that the man of the house can get them pregnant. If they can't, the women are seen as failures and exiled to clean up radiation and banned from the city. I gave this book such a low rating because it disappointed me. It is such an interesting theme and idea for a novel, yet I just felt that more could have been done with it. Granted, it was written in 1985, but I felt the novel could have been more political, more severe and harsh. I just had nagging questions throughout the book and was frustrated with some of the writing.

Let's Pretend This Never Happened- Jenny Lawson

This was maybe the best book I read all year. I was cracking up reading some of her stories and captions on some of her pictures. I didn't even know that Jenny Lawson was a blogger before I came across this book (I think it was recommended in a magazine or something), and I can't believe I had never discovered her blog before! She is truly hilarious, yet also made me cry when she was talking about how you can never go home again. I would recommend this book to everyone with a dry sense of humor who likes a few messed up stories about growing up. So funny.

So in 2013 my goal is to read another 20 books. I would have increased it had I reached my goal last year, but I didn't. Now that I have even less time to read, it really will be a challenge, but I am determined to do it. Again, find me on Goodreads to see my lists!

Blessings, Challenges, and Hopes

Yeah, the New Year is old news, but I'm always behind. I thought it'd be nice to look back on this past year and reflect on some of the fantastic blessings I have received, challenges I have grown and overcome, and think about some hopes for 2013. I tend to try and look at what good things have happened and ignore the rest. But I just realized that I should never discount the tough spots. The challenges are what make life interesting, what make you grow and learn as a person, and what change you. It was a good exploration into my year and how it was spent.

Blessings of 2012

- My marriage. I was so happy to celebrate our one year anniversary, and all year I've loved sharing my life with my husband. We have such a goofy bond and are always there for each other. We are family and a great team.
- Going home last February. I was so lucky that I was able to go home for a couple weeks last February. Sometimes you just need to go home and this was one of those times. I spent lazy days with my family, met my new niece, and just treasured being around my favorite people. It was refreshing and comforting and everything that going home is except magnified 4,286,465 times.

(A poorly lit picture of my brother and me. He wasn't nearly as happy to see me as I was him.)

- Getting my dog back. I am so happy Cammi is living with me now. I always hoped that when I "grew up" that I'd be able to keep her. Even though I always considered her my dog, she was such an important member of the family to everyone. I know my family back home misses her, but don't worry- she's enjoying her "retirement home" here in California.
- My job. Being employed feels great! I am so happy to be able to gain some experience and it's a huge financial help to our family. I love being around people every day, learning new things and forming bonds with these crazy tots.
- Visits. I had Annie, Renay, my dad and brother, and my in-laws all visit throughout this year. It was awesome! I got to explore this city some more and spend time with people I love that I don't get to see anywhere nearly enough.

- Friends. So January through July I knew absolutely nobody (besides my husband) in San Diego. It was pretty rough. But finally I had my only friend come back after going back home for her husband's deployment in July and she introduced me to some other people she had met. Now we are all our own group of friends and it is so great! You truly don't understand how important friends, even acquaintances are until they are not around. And these guys are so generous and sweet and fun. I feel really lucky that I got to meet them.

Challenges of 2012

- My marriage. Sure it was the first thing I considered a blessing, but we have also had our challenges as well. Most days it is so easy to just be with each other, other days you actually have to work at a relationship (who knew?!). You really just have to remember to respect each other and be nice even on the days you feel completely overwhelmed and frustrated, just like you would with a best friend. I am so proud of how far we have come together. Most of the time- all we have is each other out here!
- My job. Whew. Although I feel very blessed to be employed right now after a year of searching for work, it has been a pretty interesting change. My job itself is challenging: there's a lot to remember, it requires loads of patience, and is physically tiring most days. It was also a challenge just adjusting to working full time when I had been used to having plenty of time at home to pay bills, do laundry, make special dinners, keep things spic and span, and spend time with friends. Throw in that I was adjusting to this during the Holidays and a couple family visitors and I was a little overwhelmed. Pretty sure that I have the hang of it now.
- Anxiety. I've always been an anxious person. This year however held it's own in terms of battling anxiety. It draped a dark curtain the larger part of my year and was probably the most difficult thing I had to deal with this year. I've learned more about it, how to manage it differently, and have been working on it. Progress.

Hopes for 2013

- Give back. There is so much that I am incredibly lucky to have. I need to give back to the world some of the blessings I have received. Rus and I already signed up for Habitat for Humanity and went through the orientation meeting. I have also offered to volunteer again at Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. And I'm trying to think of some other good ideas on how to share some of the good in this life that I've already been given.
- Just do it. Do more and act more. A lot of times Rus and I put off going to go on adventures and explore because we work a lot and are excited to be lazy by the time the weekend rolls around (if Rus even gets a weekend). But I want to get out there more often, see things and do things that I've always put on my "someday" list but never actually do because I always think there's tomorrow. But there won't always be!
- Floss more. Because for some reason I just can't get that habit down!

Come on 2013, let's see how this goes...

Merry Christmas

I hope everybody had such a wonderful day filled with loved ones, food, laughter, and warmth. Last night, we got together with our San Diego family and had food and fun. Having friends here makes the holidays away from home so much easier.

We declared today a lazy day before we have to go back to work tomorrow. We opened presents, went on a short walk around the neighborhood with my dog, took a nap with my dog, and cleaned up a little. Rus opened his Keurig I got him and was so thrilled. The coffee from the sampler packs really are great!

Simple and cozy.

 Merry Christmas, everybody!

Thanksgiving

Was Thanksgiving really two weeks ago? Time has been flying by. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday and has been for a long time. I love cooking for people any night, but putting a few days worth of effort into one meal is definitely a special occasion. I love every part of it.

This Thanksgiving was much less stressful than last Thanksgiving, even though I had to work the day before and the day after. I seemed to time everything right this time around and worry about it less. The night before, I made all the desserts and chopped vegetables. I was in bed by 11. Nothing like last year's 4 a.m. bed time and 7 a.m. wake up. I did, however, wake up at 6, but that was only because I was so excited to have a relaxing morning with my Starbucks Thanksgiving roast coffee and the Macy's parade.

We had a small group of six and it was so enjoyable.

For appetizers I made a veggie turkey with dip (found on Pinterest) along with a couple cheeseballs (one salami, and the other cheese, sauces, and pecans) with crackers. I knew we'd stuff ourselves if I had made more, so I tried to keep it light. There was also cranberry sangria. I love this drink and I am positive it will be a yearly thing.

For my turkey this year, I made an herb and butter rub and stuck half an apple and onion inside, then roasted it in a bag. No brines this year- seemed like too much work and I was curious to try different ways of roasting.
We ate:
Turkey
Mashed Potatoes
Sweet Potato Casserole
Corn
Gravy
Cranberry Sauce
And rolls
Our friends brought broccoli casserole

Note the totally inappropriate amount of mashed potatoes we had. I way overshot that estimate! I had enough for 20 people.

For desserts I made:
Pecan Pie
Apple Pie
Pumpkin Pie
Snickerdoodle Cookies
and Cranberry Lemon Squares

I was so proud of my pie crust designs. But we hardly ate any of it. We were so stuffed from dinner! I made a lot of the same recipes as last year because they turned out so classic and delicious. 

I absolutely love hosting Thanksgiving despite the stress and work, and I hope I am able to do it every year. A house full of loved ones with a delicious meal makes me feel entirely blessed.

Writing Challenge

I want to make an effort to write more. I decided to create a "writing challenge" for myself where I journal everyday for 30 days. I bought this journal with the intent to write or heck, even doodle, more often. But then I refrained from writing in it to save it for when I had a special idea. Does anyone else do that? Try to make your journal (or blog!) perfect, inspiring, and creative? I ended up never writing anything simply because I never thought my ideas were worth writing about. But lately I've been thinking that I want to write more to practice being a little more creative and confident with my thoughts and/or opinions.

The rules I plan to follow for my challenge are pretty simple. I can write or draw whatever I feel like, whether it's totally uninspiring, boring, or brilliant- whatever. As long as I keep writing or doodling until I fill up one page and as long as I do it everyday for 30 days. I even pinned some journaling ideas on my "Reading and Writing" board on Pinterest for days where I feel totally stuck. Hopefully that leads me to have some more confidence blogging as well. 

"The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt." -Sylvia Plath

In other news: we moved into a new house (love it), I dyed my hair red (like it), and finally got a job (can't wait to start)!

Dresser Re-do

My first major DIY was accomplished this summer. Rus and I had borrowed our friends' dresser while they were on deployment, and when they came back we needed to find a decent one quick. I decided I'd like to paint one myself so we searched for cheapies on Craigslist. We found this ugly little thing being sold by a very nice woman for $20.

I had never repainted a piece of furniture before, so I assumed it was basic: sanding, priming, painting. What I didn't realize was that there were all different kinds of primer and painter and sealer. Luckily, I found this tutorial over at Centsational Girl. I followed her rules of oil based primer, latex paint, then water based sealer. I replaced the hardware on my dresser and added a floral stencil pattern to make it special. At first, I couldn't decide if I wanted to paint it teal or coral. After a lot of debating (a lot. I am horrible about these kinds of decisions) I went with the coral. I figured why not paint something bright and daring while we have no other furniture to match it with! So it is very girly, but I'm very proud of it. Here it is all finished!

The dresser was previously painted very poorly and unevenly which made sanding it off a tough job. At times, the paint even melted and became gummy underneath the sander. My step mom told me to go get paint stripper which ended up changing my whole attitude about the project. After struggling with the sanding and countless ruined sandpaper pads for a few days, this bubbled all the paint up so that I could scrape it right off! Then I wiped off the wood with mineral spirits before proceeding, but I'm not quite sure that did much. After I got the thick paint off, sanding was ridiculously easier.

The whole thing took me $80 and a couple of weeks. It could only take you days but I let several days go in between coats because I was paranoid of dents in the paint. If you'd like an easy to follow tutorial I would definitely recommend Centsational Girl's. Other than stumbling on the sanding (which was the fault of me and my dresser), I followed her directions and it came out great. It was a fun project and now I have my eye on our kitchen table and chairs...

Torrey Pines Hiking

Every now and then Rus and I will get a little fed up whenever we don't take advantage of what all California has to give. So I thought I'd look for some hiking trails to get us out and active. Torrey Pines was on everybody's list for best hiking in Southern California and for a good reason too. It was beautiful!  

We ended up taking a 4 mile hike that had amazing views all around. The cliffs were beautiful. All the cacti and plants were really cool. And the ocean... so turquoise. These pictures really don't even do it justice.

My favorite part was when we took the trail that led down to the beach. It was a little more climbing and rocky than other parts of the trails.When we got down to the beach we walked the rest of the way back to where we started. The beach was scattered with smooth stones and red jellyfish. 

The water was actually a lot warmer for some reason than it is around Coronado and I was so tempted to just run right in. I think we were out roaming around this place for three hours, but we saw so much that it seemed like all afternoon. I can't even come up with the words to describe how majestic this places is, so I will let the pictures speak for themselves. There is something so grounding about seeing what beauty this planet has to offer.

Reading catch up

Well it's a little more than half way through the year and I am right on track with my goal of reading 20 books. I've read 12 so far, which according to Goodreads means I am 7% ahead. Yay for slight over-achievement. Some books were winners and some not as much. But here is a round up of what all I have read so far.

Bossypants- Tina Fey

This book was pretty funny. I really loved how she made it such a hilarious book yet still put in some serious stuff regarding sexism, the so called "Mommy Wars" (her breastfeeding rant), and how hard it can be to work in the public light. I was cracking up reading her letter to her daughter and her take on how women are expected to look. The only part I that got a little slow for me was the middle where she was talking a lot about 30 Rock. I'm sure that would have been more interesting for me if I watched the show, but I never got into it. Overall I really enjoyed it. Tina Fey just seems like one of those people you could easily make friends with and always laugh around. She seems so smart, funny and nice!

The Hunger Games Series- Suzanne Collins

LOVED these books. Couldn't put them down. We usually just rent from the library but we bought all three of these books. Surprisingly, the first one wasn't the one that hooked me. It was only after I saw the movie that I decided to read the others. Catching Fire was my absolute favorite. I finished it in two days. I really didn't want to get pulled into the Hunger Games trend, but in the end I really liked that it featured a strong female character who wasn't obsessed with finding a boyfriend. This series really pulled me in and I haven't been pulled into a series since Harry Potter in the fifth grade. I absolutely cannot wait for the other movies to come out.

The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous and Broke- Suze Orman

This book is absolutely fantastic for understanding personal finances. Buying a car, a home, saving for retirement and investments are all things that I've always thought were too complicated and confusing. She lays it all out, tells you which is the best way to go for your situation, and explains it all extremely clearly. She is also very realistic as well. I ended up going through the whole book and taking 17 pages of notes, front and back. I plan on typing them up and sharing them with my brother- her information was that good. She just made everything so much clearer. I would recommend this book to everyone. It's a pretty good book to buy.

Manning Up- Kay Hymowitz

This book was pretty interesting. It is all about how women's rights, "girl-power" of the 90s, and women gaining power in the work force has made men decide they don't want to grow up. I have noticed the man-child trend for a long time- from cartoons and sitcoms depicting the husband to be an incompetent kid (Family Guy, Everybody Loves Raymond, The King of Queens, etc). I even wrote a paper on it in college. Not only have I thought this was an unfair stereotype to men, but it was also unfair to women as well, showing that we pretty much are expected to be the only ones who can take care of it all.  This book was all about this, which I loved reading more information on- it really is a curious phenomenon and I am still unsure whether it has as large of an impact as it claims. She basically said that since women have proven that we can "have it all" guys just let us and live forever as a video game playing, responsibility shirking, fart joke making man-child. It was interesting, but I would have liked for her to maybe explain more on how this might change, or get a little deeper into the psyche of the "man-child".

The Sweet Life in Paris- David Lebovitz

Five years ago I went to Paris with a high school group for 3 days and my dad for a week after. Which, anybody who has been to Paris will tell you, is like a quick minute. There is just so much there! I loved learning about all the history and architecture. You could walk around all day completely in a state of wonder. However, I feel like I really missed out being there for such a short time and also being there so young (I hadn't even discovered my love of wine yet!) It didn't help that the last five days I was there, I was completely exhausted and very homesick. (I had been around Europe for two weeks prior, ha! that's nothing now). David talked about how he picked up and moved to Paris and what all he learned from being there. He also included recipes. But what I loved most was reading about the different things in the culture. This book had me yearning to go back to experience more, be more open to tasting things, and throw myself into the lifestyle. I will definitely pick this book up next time I go to Paris and make sure to read it again to refresh my memory on their lifestyles and different courtesies.

So now I am still looking for more books to read. You can check out my list on Goodreads, if you are interested. Goodreads is so great for recommendations. A lot of the books on my list are backed up at the library so I'm often finding lesser known ones that are similar by using that website.

Wildfire

Wildfires are scary. A few days ago we got to experience a pretty serious one. We were laying around the apartment enjoying a lazy Sunday when all of the sudden we heard a helicopter extremely close to our apartment and smelled a campfire. We thought there might have been another brush fire on this hill behind our apartment. There was one last month when Annie visited, but it was so small it was contained before we even knew it was there. We jumped up and peered off our balcony where we saw a ton of smoke and started to hear the sirens of firetrucks. It was the hill behind us. So we ran out of our apartment to the stairs where we could see it and we were shocked. 

The fire was all over the hill. It was so smokey out. We watched for a little bit and I said, "Okay, let's go." And we hurried back inside. As we came in, ash started falling like snow all around. I told Rus we had to make a plan to evacuate in case that was what we needed to do. The helicopters were so loud, we had to yell sometimes. He went back out where some other people were gathered to keep close so he could hear when we needed to get out of there. I hopped in the shower and took the fastest one of my life. I kept going over and over what to take with us in my head but all I could come up with was a Xanax and our social security cards! When I got out, I ran outside to find Rus and check out the fire. Some people had already grabbed their families and left. Rus said that because of the wind, we probably wouldn't need to evacuate, he had heard a fireman say. 

It was still very smokey, but there was a lot less fire! We stood and watched it with our neighbors as the firemen got it under control. It took a while after that to get my adrenalin rush to go down. Thank goodness for the San Diego firefighters. I know fires happen a lot around here, but it was something we are definitely not used to. Later that day we decided to make an actual plan, our clothes still smelling like campfire. We listed out everything we need and important papers/memories that we need to grab next time that happens so we are a little more prepared.

It was a pretty scary situation but it was very lucky the wind was blowing the other way and not towards our building. And we were very grateful for those firemen risking their lives for everyone's safety.

However there is another fire that has been going on for days in the other part of the county. It is still going and has taken down homes and over 1000 acres. So please keep the people affected by this in your thoughts. They expect to get it under control by tomorrow morning. 

Creamy Sausage Pasta

This is a quick and easy pasta dish that we love to eat around here. I came up with it when I wanted some type of creamy sauce for my noodles but not alfredo, and I wasn't quite sure how I wanted to go about that. After several tries, I had it down. Here are the ingredients.

• Half of a box of pasta, I chose bow-ties (or farfalle if you're fancy)
• Half a link of smoked sausage
• Tablespoon of butter
• 2 Tablespoons of flour
• 1.5 cups of milk (give or take)
• 1/2 teaspoon of onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of Italian seasonings
• Couple shakes of cayenne pepper
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Parmesan cheese

Go ahead and start your pasta, cook and drain it while this is going. Slice up your sausage any way you like it and then brown it in a pan. Set the sausage on a paper towel to drain and if needed, pour most of the drippings off, leaving about one tablespoon of grease in the pan. 

This next part goes pretty quick so make sure you have the butter, flour and milk on hand. Toss some butter in (if you have less grease add a little more butter, you want about two tablespoons of these fats) on medium heat. Wait until it melts then add the two tablespoons of flour. Whisk it around and let it cook until it gets a little golden and pour your milk in the pan, continuing to whisk. It's like you're making a gravy. Try to get out any lumps. Bring the temperature up a little bit until the creamy mixture starts to thicken up. While it's getting there, add in all your spices. Add a few more shakes of the cayenne pepper if you like it spicy! Just keep cooking until it is your desired consistency. I like mine a little thinner but this one turned out thick because I was trying to rush and take pictures.

 

Taste it! You may need to add more spices or garlic to tweak it to your liking. After your pasta is drained, toss all your ingredients together and top with cheese.

Mmm, I love this meal. I usual serve it with garlic bread and salad. My husband loves the creaminess and spiciness together. It's such a simple meal but delicious, and the best part is it only takes about 20 minutes! This will serve two very hungry people or two normal appetites with leftovers for somebody to take plenty to lunch the next day.