Friends & Family | Little Choices

Archive for the ‘ Friends & Family ’ Category

New Years Resolutions

This post comes a bit late, considering the first quarter of the year is already over but since resolutions last all year there is never a bad time to stay on top of the goals you set. I don’t make resolutions anymore. I figure I’d rather focus on positive ways to improve myself than negative things that I don’t like about myself, which is basically what resolutions are. So, I have decided to do some new things in 2013 and I have listed my “resolution list” below.

1. Schedule and take the PMI CAPM Exam – Scheduled for April 23, wish me luck!

2. Schedule and take the GMAT Exam

3. Join a photography group in the Sacramento Area – Sacramento Outdoor Photography meet up group, I have yet to attend a meet-up but I will!

4. Throw a dinner party

5. Drink the recommended ounces of water a day for at least 1 month – March 2013. It has been harder than I expected but I am developing a very healthy habit

6. organize and transfer my iTunes library to my new computer

7. Subscribe to 1 magazine – National Geographic Traveler is currently satisfying my traveler’s itch

8. Attend a Cirque du Soleil performance

9. Work up to running 5 miles without stopping

10. Try Happy Hour at 10 new places

1. Blackbird restaurant (January – as a celebration for my first promotion at work)

2. Blue Cue Bar (March – on a fun night out with friends)

3. Lau Brau Eatery (March – on a weekend causal double date)

4. The Porch Restaurant (February – for a late brunch, just the two of us)

10.

11. Spend a day with each of my brothers

12. Buy one piece of furniture I love – We made an awesome coffee table that I am in love with, which technically I did buy all the parts for so I am going to count it!

13. get a facial

14. Attend a professional hockey game

15. Read 20 new books

1. Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter (March) – Such an amazing ending and the sweetest man in any story

2. In the Shadow of the Cypress by Thomas Steinbeck (January) – A great look into the culture of the Chinese and their California settlements in California. Plus there is hidden treasure!

3. Looking for Alaska John Green (February/March) – The first love of a boy and how damaging small words can be to a small child

4. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls (February) – The most amazing account of what some children live through and retain their optimism and innocence

5. Bossy Pants by Tina Fey (March) – Tina Fey talking about being a woman, comedy, family, being unfit for life…she’s awesome.

6. Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (February) – the most visually stunning book you’ll read this year, I had to return to certain passages to get the full effect

7. The Kitchen Boy by Robert Alexander (March) – a very interesting account of Russian history with an interesting twist

8. Little Bee by Chris Cleave – Currently reading

9. Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese

10. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

11. That Old Cape Magic by Richard Russo (January) – A frustrating man who lets go of his marriage and then tries to save it

12. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman

13. The Fault in Out Stars by John Green

14. The Prestige by Christopher Priest

15. IQ84 by Haruki Murakami

16. This is How You Lose Her by Junot Diaz

17.

18.

19.

20.

16. Take a portrait that can be used for professional reasons – Scheduled for April 5

17. Watch 10 classic films

1. North by Northwest

2. Annie Hall

3. Roman Holiday

4. China Town

5. Cleopatra

6. Cool Hand Luke

7. Duck Soup

8. A Streetcar Named Desire

9. The Lady from Shanghai

10. The Blue Dahlia

18. Find out my blood type

19. Give away (and don’t replace) 10 pieces of clothing that I no longer wear – In March I did some Spring cleaning and got rid of many tank tops that I had held onto since high school. plus some other stuff that didn’t fit any more.

20. Take a weekend trip…but where to?!?!

21. Double my savings account by December 1 – I am proud to say that I am already more than half-way to doubling my savings account! I am very excited about this!

I will continue updating throughout the year to make sure I reach my goals and (hopefully) give everyone some good ideas for your own yearly goals.

2013: 03/22
CATEGORY: Friends & Family
My Events
Leave a comment

2012 in Pictures: I

The Year in Pictures

Packed the little Honda for the big move to California. It’s a long drive alone and a big thanks

goes out the Heather and Don Wilson for putting me up in Eugene on my way.

The best way to get settled is to have great friends visit to play tourist with me! San Francisco was much less

intimidating with friends by your side!

First day of work!

So luck to be able to share holidays with great friends in the sunshine. Happy Easter.

First vacation: Stephen’s Birthday in Hendersonville, NC and my first chance to meet the best friends and wives.

Expecting a little Lucy to be the awesome aunti to!

The start to my cozy, happy home in California

The “repair” job that was done by the thiefs of my little Honda’s catalytic converter. So sad.

My new little Blossom. Worth every penny, but did cost my mom a trip to the Illuminated Ball, which is is not worth and I will be making up for over the next few years.

2013: 01/27
CATEGORY: Culture Shock
Friends & Family
My Events
Travel & Adventure
1 comment

Picture Update: hawaii with my Bro Part 2

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

In which I show you more pictures of my brother and me having fun in Kauai and you get jealous.

2012: 03/21
CATEGORY: Friends & Family
Photography
Travel & Adventure
1 comment

Picture Update: Hawaii with my Bro

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

In which I take a vacation with my brother and we let people guess what our connection to each other is.

Part 2 coming 3/19/12

2012: 03/19
CATEGORY: Friends & Family
Travel & Adventure
2 comments

Less Stuff More Happiness

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/graham_hill_less_stuff_more_happiness.html

Well would you look at that?!

2011: 12/12
CATEGORY: Friends & Family
My Events
1 comment

Making a Resolution 2012

Driving today, I tried to finalize my Christmas list. What to buy for people and what I wanted. What I could afford to buy and the fantasy if giving people more than they could ever wish for. And I decided that it’s way too easy to pick up some generic items and doll them out as needed. I want to give people things that wont go into a box in the garage. Or that they wont have to decide which item to get rid of in order to keep. Plus, I have more things than I know what to do with, as does my family. So I’d like to make 2012 a year of giving and getting less stuff.

So I will be writing about my re-gifting, donating, and hunt for more perishable items throughout the year. I find it is especially relevant to the holiday season though so I’ll start there.

First some ground rules:

1. I will never stop buying books, but…when I finish a book I will pass along the ones that I did not fall in love with. Books that I kinda-sorta liked have no place on my bookshelves. This will be the most painful thing for me to give away.

2. I will start by sorting though my clothes. anything unused for over a year MUST GO. Also, I will not, must not, buy items just because of the price. I will buy items I need.

3. While goodwill is the simplest option for donations I would like to be more specific in my giving. For example, any dresses that I have will go to Cinderella’s trunk, for girls without the money to buy retail prom, wedding, or occasion dresses. Habitat for Humanity has a re-store which is a great resource for all socioeconomic level families looking to furnish a home. There are many such specialized organizations like this and I will do my research to discover which is most appropriate.

Come back soon for Holiday giving advise that wont clutter those you love.

2011: 12/02
CATEGORY: Friends & Family
My Events
1 comment

September 18

Bet you thought I’d quit huh? Tricked ya!

I just got busy. Being 25 means I have lots to do you know…

Well, kind of. I did keep my goal of doing a new thing every day up until my birthday. September 15 I ate ice cream for breakfast – not frozen yogurt, and not sorbet, really fatty fudge filled cookie topped ice cream. YUM! I couldn’t eat sweets again for a few days but it was worth it. September 16, I picked up my boyfriend, Stephen, from the airport. I’ve only ever retrieved my family members before, which is less spectacular because a) if you refuse you might not get picked up after your next trip (bummer), and b) you pretty much impatiently wait in the cell phone lot hoping that your pickup is a fast plane-exiter and didn’t check bags so you can get the heck out of there. But with a boyfriend, you park your car and wait at the top of the escalator, checking your phone every 5 seconds while thinking that all the men coming out of the airport slightly resemble him. We also took the new light rail (http://www.soundtransit.org/Schedules/Central-Link-light-rail.xml) into town, which was completed when I was away in China. It was pretty cool. A lot more relaxing to talk about flight comfort and evening plans without also navigating through parking garages. The 16th was also the first time I ever stayed in downtown Seattle with a boyfriend. After working in Hotels around the area it was nice to be on the receiving end of service. We even got a beautiful view of the city and water from our window. The only one I really planned was using the light rail but I think I’ll count them all.

From here on out it was easy. There are so many things I hadn’t done downtown until I had someone to show around. Watched the fish being thrown in the morning (http://www.pikeplacefish.com/), picked some flowers, ate clam chowder at Pike Place Chowder (http://www.pikeplacechowder.com/), Visited The Gum Wall (http://www.odditycentral.com/pics/the-seattle-gum-wall-a-sticky-attraction.html), went to Gameworks (http://www.gameworks.com/), took pictures in a photobooth. Okay I do that last one all the time, especially with Stephen, it’s my favorite. Stephen did a bunch of new things too, including going to his first Major League Soccer game! And he had the time of his life, he told me.

And then comes September 18. The Birthday. I honestly didn’t have much planned for the day, I was just happy. I love birthdays. So Much Fun. The whole family got up late, started making breakfast. I got crazy and went with pumpkin scones while Stephen, my mom and my dad made eggs, bacon, and fruit. My brother set the table and my friend Maya and her son, Will, entertained us all with stories and baby faces. The day went on to get even better from there but I’ve decided to count turning 25 as my last new thing.

It has been a fantastic 18 days full of lots of new things that I am happy to say I have now done. Time to move on to all those other things still waiting!

2011: 10/22
CATEGORY: Friends & Family
My Events
Travel & Adventure
1 comment

September 14

First Happy Birthday to my best friend Kira Gailey!! Hope you have a wonderful surprise awaiting you tonight!

Second my new thing today is going to be pouring the last piece of concrete with my dad and brother for our new BBQ patio on the side of the house. It is a lot of work and a lot of concrete and I really care about this project and am excited to be a part of it. Almost positive I will collapse at the end of the day today but it will be worth it to have a nice place to have a cookout with the family.

2011: 09/14
CATEGORY: Friends & Family
My Events
Leave a comment

September 10

Alright, today was a hard one. For starters, I didn’t have a lot of time. And to finish I really didn’t want to do the thing I planned to do.

I wore a husky T-shirt.

You might be surprised that this was so difficult for me, but keep in mind that I AM A COUGAR!!! I love the Cougs, I wish I could attend every Cougar Football Saturday, I will put my babies and all of my children’s babies in little tiny Future Cougar onesies. I also love football, and my mom’s side of the family are huskies. So we have Husky football tickets. In my opinion some football is better than no football and at least I can carry with my Cougar iPhone cover and smirk because there aren’t any bars close enough to run to during half-time. Silly Seattle.

I decided that I would for once not wear grey (which is by the way one of the Cougars colors) to the game in order to appear neutral. I would bite the bullet and combine purple and gold on my body. Luckily I went with a friend who is marrying a Husky, so my offense was dimmed by hers. But still, I finally wore the colors of UW to one of their football games and I lived. Thank the lord that that is over and done with.

Go Cougs!

2011: 09/14
CATEGORY: Friends & Family
My Events
Leave a comment

September 9

My new thing today was to learn to make one drink perfectly. My friend Mckenzie hosted a Mojito and Taco party at her house in Bellingham. It is a beautiful neighborhood and there were 5 wonderful women coming to enjoy each others time and company. McKenzie had drinks ready and waiting for us when we arrived so by the time I asked her how she made them and she showed me I already thought I was a pro. She tried different rums, modified a couple of recipes, muddled like a champ and when it was over taught me just the right touch for making the perfect classic Mojito.

1 oz. sugar fine or granulated

a handful of mint leaves

crushed ice

muddle, muddle, muddle

juice from half a lime, and/or lime syrup (about a 1/4 cup)

1 1/2 – 2 oz light rum (spiced is fine if you like that extra pepper taste, but we didn’t)

a splash of club soda to finish

Now if you are fancy you probably want to garnish your drink but, hey, we’re on a budget and we want to use the mint and limes for more drinks not silly little frills. Delicious.