Create or Learn Something Every Day
Last week’s ‘Create or learn every day’ goal was a success! Here’s what I created and learned last week…
Monday: Create - Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing design and background
Tuesday: Create – P&L Statement for Nicaragua Coffee Farm
My dad has been in the process, for the last couple years, of working on his coffee farm in Nicaragua. So after talking a few weeks ago, I decided it was high time he had a Profit & Loss statement to play with, so he can start making projections and really start planning for the future. Funsies!
Wednesday: Create – Pattern Making for Sewing a Skirt
I bought a cute skirt this summer that promptly ripped after a first wear. I was fairly annoyed because it wasn’t an easy fix like re-sewing a seam. Instead it was like the front of the fabric shredded! So in my anger at [cheap clothing store], I decided to just reconstruct the skirt into a pattern and make my own instead of returning it. I haven’t done a massive sewing project for oh… 12 years. So it’s been fun remembering things as I go.
Thursday: Create – an adventure with an impromptu solo day trip to the Oregon Coast
Don’t judge. You can create an adventure. Still counts as create/learn. :)
Friday: Learn – Creative Mornings
I attended this month’s Creative Mornings meetup at Pacific Northwest College of Arts. Julie Sabatier of podcast and radio show Destination DIY spoke about her process of story telling. Fun times.
On to week two!
What are you creating or learning?
Cook at Home Month
The month of January has officially been deemed the month of getting back into cooking at home. Sounds tame right? Well, then you add in a few “little” extra rules like no alcohol, no extra sugar/treats (except for cooking, so cookies = no, small amount in a recipe = yes), less dairy (this one might make a liar out of me), no coffee (1 cup of black tea per day allowed), no junk food/snacks, and only going out to eat once per week.
What the what?! Yes, January is [self-imposed] Be Healthier: Cook at Home month. So in the name of healthiness, it’s really not too challenging (like going raw for a month or doing a cleanse), instead it’s about refocusing on cooking at home, being healthy, and saving money. My once goal of going to more new restaurants turned into a bad habit of going out to eat almost every day, and with so much good/cheap eats in Portland, it’s an easy habit to continue. My one loophole since I work from home, is that coffee shops are ok, where I shall order the largest mug of tea available and stare longingly at the pastry case. Otherwise I would be homeward bound for the month!
How the first week went down:
For my bit of complaining, I’m eating fantastic meals, and having a lot of fun actually cooking every night, and wasting less time on the Internet (yes, seriously).
Breakfasts have been avocado banana smoothie, fresh-squeezed orange and grapefruit juice, green drink juice, avocado egg chipotle breakfast sandwich, oatmeal, banana peanut butter w/Amazing Grass smoothie, pear custard pie, and fruit/nuts.
Lunch and dinner has seen tasty kale, squash, chevre tacos, slow-cooker veggie & chickpea coconut curry and rice, tomato and feta dill orzo, Spanish tortilla, this delicious avocado citrus salad:
and all the tasty leftovers!
The downside? My limited caffeine intake of 1-2 cups of tea a day (& the resultant headaches) took four days to power through. I’m also missing restaurants, so picking my ONE restaurant for this week was a tough choice.
My only meal out this week. Making it count with a fav… (@ Dove Vivi) 4sq.com/xnQaLa
— Olivia Raymer (@poweredbytofu) January 7, 2012
January 31 at midnight, you’ll find me at Rum Club with an Old Fashioned followed by a bowl of cheese. Kidding… kind of.
What have you been cooking up lately?
Pacific Northwest Love #indie30
Prompt #13: For some people, no matter how much they love traveling, there’s always no place like home. Other travelers make their homes wherever they happen to be. Tell us about your home – where is it and why do you consider it your home?
“No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow” –Lin Yutang
What is home? I’m over again on my work blog for today’s 30 Days of Indie Travel prompt: My 169,680 Square Mile Home
Where is home to you?
Join the 30 Days of Indie Travel project and share your story.
30 Things Before 30 List
I’m turning 30 soon — well technically I have to turn 29 first, which gives me about 13 months to do a 30 before thirty list.
As mentioned, I decided to take a break from the 101 things in 1,001 days list. My clone started a 30 before thirty list, so like a good clone I’m copying her — let the listomania begin…
30 Before Thirty List
Buy a house– this was on my list before I bought a house!- Visit Iceland
- Run a half-marathon (ie. start running again)
- Attend a cooking class (@Sur La Table perhaps)
- Carve out a stellar mini-office for work [at home]
- Go raw for 1 week or do a cleanse ( hi mom, I know you’re going to leave me an inspirational comment)
- Start strength training
- Learn to ride my bike outside with my cycling shoes [without falling over]
- Go to 1 new restaurant (or coffee shop) per week 52 in total
- Do yoga six days a week for one month
- Learn the
Tittibhasana (Firefly)Pincha Mayurasana (Forearm stand) pose – (hijacked this one, sorry pal) - Get an iPhone (did Steve tell you that perchance?)
- Go actual backpacking (as-in: carrying a backpack in the forest, not schlepping around the globe)
- Take a silver jewelry class – crafter-alert!
- Road trip Hwy 101 south & stay in that lighthouse hostel near SF
- Try a new class that isn’t ‘my style’: belly dancing or zumba (cringe)
- Ask
2012 people their favorite book and read it - Try kiteboarding
- Volunteer again
- Get a car, scooter or new bicycle
- Visit a spa for a whole day or do a yoga/spa vacay with H
- Eat [hyper] local for one week
- Cook a 5-course meal, have a dinner party
- Buy awesome matching lingerie
- Start a grown-up alcohol collection and declare a signature drink (mojitos…)
- Buy a little black dress (note: not navy, grey, or a sundress… this one is going to be a challenge)
- Visit all 30 breweries in Portland
- Ask a guy out (I seriously have never done this, what is my problem!)
- — (I’ll add this before my 29th birthday)
- — (I’ll add this before my 29th birthday)
Well, well?
photo by 96dpi
Apartment Therapy Week 4 – Retail Therapy
What was that? Retail therapy? Yes, please! So today is the start of week four of the spring cure, and we’re almost half way! The kitchen and entryway are done, and now it’s on to the living room… so yeah, another week with not much to do. Loving the cure this time around, maybe I should have picked the “one room” option.
Week 4 To Do List:
- Clean up living room and related closets – closets? I wish!
- Declutter books and all media – did in 2007, and have since only added a lovely stack of travel guides. :)
- Cancel 75% of the catalogs you receive – I think the only catalogs I get are J.Crew and the occasional Crate & Barrel…
- Empty Outbox this week
- Confirm what you need to increase or decrease color in each room
- Identify what you need to increase or decrease softness in each room – bunnies?
- Cook three meals at home this week – does breakfast count?
- Send out your invitations
What I need to + / – on the color and softness scales in each room…
Area: color – to add (subtract)
Hallway/Entry: warm – nope
Kitchen: warm – hang orange pan on wall?
Dining room: warm – make space for my “office” stuff, possibly get a desk
Living room: warm/cool – already perfect!
Bathroom: cool/warm – change the framed artwork
Bedroom: cool – remove red pillows
Week 4 is even easier than week 3. Oh and I bought a super bright Gerbera daisy this weekend. I think it might need a Liberty of London planter to go in… hmmm….
Things I ♥: travel, food (I'm a pescatarian), the Pacific Northwest, bikes (I ride an orange mixte), beer (IPAs), summer, coffee, lists, and kittehs. Travel enthusiast, dabbler, and product manager at BootsnAll Travel Network.
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