30 Before 30

I recently saw a pretty cool blog idea where the writer wrote a list of things she wanted to accomplish, and then came back a year later and checked off which ones she had done, adding a link to her blog post of said activity. I thought I would do the same...and then I started thinking...it's already November...by next November, I'll be on the eve of my 30th birthday (by "eve," I mean about four months away...if you know my husband, ask him a funny story about this). I also saw a friend who did a "30 before 30" list: things she wanted to accomplish before turning 30 (am I insulting your intelligence? pretty self explanatory?) So, why not combine my list of things I want to accomplish with this little, minor, not-a-big deal birth year and make it into a 30 before 30? I found no good reason not to, so here we go. Let's see if I can find 30 things I want to do...

I want to:

1. First and foremost, I want to be settled into a job. No more uncertainty of what I'm doing...whether it's working somewhere, or working on my own, I want it to be legit, I want to be able to get pregnant if we decide we're ready, I want to have health insurance, I want to feel financially....hmmm....not-on-the-verge-of-being-broke? I know this is a lot for #1, but I think they all are part of one big package.
2. Travel. There are too many places I want to go to: Germany (Mike, Uli & Hank!), Spain (Isa!), Hawaii (again, self-explanatory, but I want to be consistent with the parenthesis), Guatemala (grandma), Haiti (self explanatory). I'm not expecting all of these to happen before I turn 30. I'd be happy with one or two.
3. Become serious about some sort of work out: whether it be walking/hiking, or picking up rock climbing again, which I miss doing.
4. Develop my blog. This includes moving to Wordpress, as well as figuring out how to make Adsense make me more money. I think since I started blogging two years ago (almost exactly!), I've made about $12 bucks. I'm not saying I'm not happy with my earnings...but I'm also not saying I wouldn't mind more. I just need to figure out how to do that without changing what I write about or plastering my blog with ads.
5. Develop Jeff's art: portfolio, more art shows, website, you name it.
6. Earn my blue shirt from Corazon
7. Make it to Arizona to visit Courtney (this I technically want to cross off my list early in the year)
8. Develop Haiti Scholarships into a successful nonprofit
9. Jump out of a plane
10. Go camping
11. Go wine tasting
12. Eat healthier, regularly
13. Travel to Portland or Seattle
14. Learn to say no, when necessary
15. Have a romantic getaway weekend with Jeff (we've been talking about going to Solvang for a while now)

Hmm. I'm about 15 accomplishments short of 30.

I guess I could fill it in with 15 things I want to have before I turn 30...but that's too materialistic to be a serious goal.

Suggestions?

July 27, 2011

Things I did today:

• Yoga session
• Cleaned kitchen
• Went to visit Brookie at Starbucks/had lunch with Jeff
• Worked on website for Brookie & me (for the whole wedding ministry busy-ness), and wrote a couple intro blogs for it (this took a while...had to do a bit of research on how to do stuff on wordpress)
• Set up twitter/gmail for the above business
• Attended MCLE on immigration at Chapman
• Registered for a free Microfinance course (now I just need to actually take the classes...)
• Sent a few important emails and made some important phone calls

Things I didn't do/need to do:

• I'm not going to waste your time or mine spelling out the bazillion things I need to do...not until I can at least bring the list down to something reasonable :)

Updates and New Beginnings (Again)

(Disclaimer: it's a long one)

So many things to update on that I've actually been putting this off for a few days. Which, within the first line, leads me to digress already: I'm not sure why I feel the need to write; those that are close to me know what's going on, and I don't think I have too many random people following the intricacies of my life that I, for whatever reason, chose to post on the world wide web. Regardless, I feel I have the responsibility to let you all know what's been going on. So here we go.

WORK. I haven't written [too] much about my frustrations with TBM and my job because 1) I'm sure it gets old and most people seem to dislike their job to some degree; 2) it's minor complaining compared to what other people have to deal with in their lives; 3) as someone once said before, "be ye not so stupid" and don't write about your work on the internet unless you have permission to. So yeah, I wasn't so keen on the idea of my boss finding out about my blog while I was still working there and reading all the things I hated about the position (although I'm pretty sure he knew anyway).

This job was meant to be temporary, but it actually started looking like it would turn into something more permanent, and then it didn't. Woah, what does that even mean?! An attorney I used to work for ("TBM") was in need of a legal assistant since the one he had left him high and dry. I needed the money, so I agreed to work in his office part time doing administrative work. He later asked me to start working full time, and told me there was room for me to grow and possibly start a family law practice within his firm. Which sounded great, except that 1) there wasn't really enough time left in the week for me to "start a family law practice" while also keeping on top of all the other things I had to do (you know, important stuff, like correspondence and filing and making court and deposition appearances when him and the other attorney weren't available); and 2) I didn't really want to bust my ass to start a practice for someone else: if I'm going to put in the time and effort to learn a whole new area of law and make it work, I wanna make it work for me, not for someone else.

I could go on forever, but for your sake and mine, I'll just say that the administrative and "personal assistant" duties became a bit much for me to handle, and I realized that any promises made were not going to come to fruition. I was planning on putting in my two weeks notice when TBM let me know last Friday that he was gonna have to let me go due to some financial difficulties. It wasn't a huge shock, and aside from not having a steady check every two weeks (which is HUGE), I was actually relieved.

Here's why.

I've been thinking about what I want to do, or at least what I could enjoy doing, that would help bring some income into our household. I've got some business ideas floating around with Jeff, my friend Brooke, and an old colleague also, but I haven't been able to do anything with these ideas because I've been wasting forty hours a week at a pointless job. Sure, not having a source of steady income is scary as all hell, but I think it's something that needed to happen to make me do something for myself. I'm so used to things working out, and always being able to get things done with minimal effort, that I'm not used to having to work really hard at things. This is my challenge, and I'm nervous/excited to see how I deal with it.

One thing Jeff and I did have to laugh/cry about: I wrote before about how our lives seem to be a roller coaster, but one that never careens out of control: there's always a very delicate balance that keeps us holding on. I mentioned in the "Failure to Launch" blog (which I still have to respond to, thank you everyone for your very thoughtful comments!) how Jeff and I would be moving into his parents house. We were both so excited to be able to save up some money. But with the whole loss of income thing...it seems like we'll be, once again, just getting by. Thankfully we won't have to worry about paying rent, but we also won't have the income we had...which we were hoping to save up. Just so typically us :)

FOOD. Salads. They're kind of my jam right now. I grew up on salads that contained minimal ingredients, and figured that was the norm. I'm discovering that you can throw just about anything into a salad and make it delicious. Like almonds. Or bell peppers. Or feta cheese. Or cilantro! I know, they may seem obvious to you, but for whatever reason, they're new discoveries to me, and I'm excited about it. I think I've been pretty good the last few weeks on not over-indulging on stuff. I did have Mickey D's on Friday (right before I found out I was getting laid off), but that was because I had few alternatives, plus, it came out to about five bucks. Sigh.

This last picture is from dinner with Jeff's parents on Sunday. Holy glorious. Those potatoes? Yep, amazing. Foil paper, slice, salt, butter, put some onion chunks over them, smear some italian dressing over them, put them on the grill, and voila. Not pictured: stuffed chile. I don't know enough to give details, other than it was delicious. And it sent me into a food coma.

EXERCISE: I haven't been the greatest at this, but with being unemployed and Vegas being around the corner, I'm really gonna try to kick it up a notch. Jeff and I are trying to go on little walks before/after dinner, and I actually made it to the gym this morning! It was probably my most lame attempt at working out, but I at least made it there. Baby steps...

THINGS I WANT: Remember that iPhone case I wanted? Here's a reminder just in case. (Ha! iPhone "case"..."just in case"...get it?! wow...Lord help me...) Well....I GOT IT! Turns out Jeff wanted to give me some sort of compensation for helping him get his art show set up at Mesa, and it's absolutely fabulous. It's taking some getting used to, but I really like it. I still haven't dropped my phone, so I can't attest to it's protective powers, but hopefully they're good...because my phone falls quite a bit. Needless to say...I need to set up Jeff's next art show before my next installment of "Things I Want"...this could be great!

Unemployment accountability: I think I might go back to my old accountability reports from my last stint of unemployment. It shamed me into being productive, and I might need that up and running again. I think this post is long enough as is, so I might skip my accountability from the last couple days, but I am proud of everything I did yesterday and today, so I'm off to a much better start.

The Walking Dead: One thing I did do yesterday was go to Barns & Nobel and buy Volume 13 of The Walking Dead. As if I didn't have OCD issues on my own, this comic makes it nearly impossible to put down. I read volumes 11 & 12 on Sunday at Jeff's parent's house, and although we had volume 14...we were missing volume 13. So I went to B&N yesterday...then sat in the parking lot of Trader Joe's reading about a third of it before I forced myself to go buy stuff for dinner and go home before finishing it. Which I did. Then I finished Volume 14. Holy cow. The father-son relationship reminds me so much of Roland and Jake from The Dark Tower, which I love. I actually keep wanting to call Carl, Jake. It'll be interesting to see what they keep for season 2 of the show. And I'm hoping volume 15 comes out soon...

Well, I hope that wasn't entirely boring. One thing I'm excited about with this whole unemployment thing is working on more substantive blog posts...so hopefully that works out to your advantage :)

Accountability Updates

I think I've done a little better at making slightly smarter decisions when it comes to what I'm eating, at least much better than I was in the weeks preceding my last update. I knew our 4th of July BBQ's would be filled with hot dogs, chips, dips, etc., so I took broccoli over to Erika's & Julian's house and fixed that up as a side dish, and bought a fruit platter instead of chips and salsa (thank goodness Erika and Julian already had chips and salsa there though...). Honestly, eating that broccoli was super delicious. I had also brought some sweet potatoes (or maybe they were yams...I'm still not sure) for us to fix, and to my overly-exaggerated disappointment (Jeff, thank you for putting up with my dramatic antics), that didn't quite work out.

My 4th of July downfall: Albertson's chocolate chip cookies. Law-school-extern-buddy-turned-friend-turned-coworker-turned-friend, Rama, told me they were the best. And indeed, in the words of Nacho Libre, they are the beeeeest. And so is mint chocolate chip ice cream. Anyhow, I had three too many chocolate chips cookies on the 4th.

BUT, I did go on a nice long walk on Sunday morning, and did a full yoga session on Monday. That evens out, right?

Tuesday night Jeff and I made a conscious effort to go on a little walk around The Lab and The Camp before Suman's show, and today I rediscovered how delicious super fresh salads are. I think I'm jumping back on to the healthy band wagon...

Accountability Updates

So, just realized that it's been over 20 days since my last accountability report (well, technically 21, so just barely over 20...but "over 20" sounds more dramatic). In that post I had made it my goal to get through a whole pilates session that week. It's been over 2o days...fine, 21....and I have to confess I haven't even looked at a pilates video. I did a short session of yoga this weekend, and that's been about it. Am I disappointed in myself? Yes. Am I surprised? No. I honestly don't know what I need to do to motivate myself to find the time to work out. I get home from work and I have a list of about twenty things on my "to-do" list, and working out is never a priority. I also miss rock climbing. I'm hoping Jeff and I can head out with Pat and Charlie in a couple weeks.

I've been failing on the eating healthy area too. I've been doing a little traveling during the day for work, which means I stop by a drive through and pick up some form of grossness or another. But not tonight. Cooking up a pretty nice meal tonight.

I really need to figure out how to do everything in a day that I want to do: work at work, work on my side projects which make me happy, work out, cook healthy dinner, relax. Taking suggestions.

Also, I mentioned before how I had ordered a couple cookbooks. I was super excited when I got them, and now I'm not sure what to do with them. They're both super cool, but a lot of the information is wasted on someone who doesn't have more than a tiny balcony and can't even grow basil in it. And, like most cook books, the recipes sound awesome, but intimidating, with ingredients I've never even heard of. So. Add that to what I want to do in my normal day: explore new recipes!

Accountability Updates

I had In n Out for lunch yesterday. And I didn't even go for the protein style version of the burger. Then I had chicken tortilla soup for dinner....from El Pollo Loco. I know. FAIL.

BUT, I have been doing a little yoga here and there, and yesterday I tried a little pilates on Netflix instant watch. Holy-way-more-intense-than-yoga! My legs are actually a little sore today, and I don't think I even made half way through the forty minute routine. My goal this week is to make it through the whole session at least once. I will confess that one problem I had was in keeping up: it's way faster than yoga, and my coordination is sorely lacking...so I haven't had the easiest of times keeping up with the routine, ha.

We had a pretty busy weekend, which means no hikes or climbing (but plenty of fun, which hopefully I'll write about later). I really miss how much time we spent outdoors in April. July should be a little more mellow during the weekends, so hopefully we can pick up where we left off (we still have to explore Blackstar Canyon, and do more outdoor climbing).

On a good-ish note, this has been my usual breakfast for the last couple months or so:

What is this mess, you may ask. And I don't blame you. Fresh fruit (banana and cantaloupe in this case, although it's usually a banana and orange or something), granola, and yogurt. I mentioned earlier that I transitioned to vanilla yogurt, making my way from strawberry to plain. After I finish what seems like five pounds of vanilla yogurt I'll try out the plain stuff. I wasn't a huge fan of the vanilla stuff when I first started eating it, and now kind of enjoy it, so I'm hoping the same goes for what I'm sure won't be as pleasant plain yogurt.

Accountability Updates, Pre-Memorial Day Weekend

I did yoga this week! Not the most intense of work outs, but still better than not doing anything (maybe that's just my excuse). On Tuesday I did a yoga workout that was recommended on Netflix instant watch: Crunch: Candlelight Yoga! Haha, yeah, I thought it sounded pretty lame too, but there were several reviews raving about how great it was, so I thought I would give it a try. It was actually really soothing, and just what I needed after my self-induced stressful day at work. Candlelights, mellow background music, aaaaaand I almost fell asleep a time or two. It definitely wasn't an intense workout, but I think it's a good introduction to yoga if you've never done it.

On Wednesday I decided to try another recommended video that was on youtube, and that looked a little more intense. This one lacked the production and editing of the first one, including a lack of soothing music and candlelights. And this is where I stepped things up a notch: iPhone APP TO THE RESCUE! Cue ambiance. I was gonna go with "Portuguese Forest," but the toad or frog or whatever it is was a little distracting. "Bright Sunny Morning" worked out pretty well. (Wow. Yep. I put soothing background noise while doing yoga. Who am I??)

So that was the extent of my activity for the week.

We didn't cook anything too exciting this week. We made pasta the other night and both realized we got really used to having veggies with our meals. It felt weird not eating veggies with our dinner. I think that's a good sign.

I've been eating way more fresh fruit than I used to. Usually a banana and orange/cutie for breakfast with granola and yogurt. Speaking of yogurt...I usually buy the strawberry yogurt, until I realized that plain is probably a better way to go. I didn't wanna quit strawberry cold turkey though...so I'm trying out vanilla for now (baby steps). Not a huge fan. Also, who knew you couldn't even buy yogurt without checking labels and researching? Eating healthier is more time consuming than it should be.

I mentioned before how Jeff and I bought stuff at the farmer's market a few weeks ago. I realized the problem of shopping at the farmer's market is that stuff is WAY fresh, as in...it doesn't last very long. For a household of two...it's almost wasteful to buy a bunch of stuff at the farmer's market only for it to spoil before we get a chance to eat it. Not sure how people make that work. I'm thinking we just have to buy on the day of, which means going to the store more frequently. Hmmmm.

Accountability Updates: Workout #fail.

Food wise, we're still doing pretty good. I've been really good about having healthier snacks...trail mix (the real kind), and lots of fresh fruit in the mornings at work. Lunch is a little more difficult, since it's either a sandwich from home (which gets boring after a while) or eating out...I will say, and this is pretty impressive for me, that I haven't broken down and gone to McDonald's or Carl's or Jack's in quite a while (I believe In n Out is a whole different ball game...and even that has only been once recently), so that's something to be proud of.

So...ranch dip isn't the best, but it's better when you have it

with veggies instead of chips!

One of our dinners last week.

Fixed green beans for the first time (yeah, seriously): so easy and delicious!

Thanks to In Defense of Food, I'm starting to get a little paranoid about the food we buy. No more white bread for this household. I might even start looking at the ingredients in stuff before I buy it...crazy talk I tell you!

As for working out...or any sort of activity really...the busyness has started to encroach on that. April was great because every weekend was free and available for Jeff and I to go and do our own adventures. May has been plagued by busy schedules on the weekends (my own fault...I blame no one but myself for constantly booking my calendar more than I should), and June has weddings and birthdays and other such celebrations which I'm really looking forward to. What this means is that I need to grow a pair and either go to the gym in the mornings before work (but my bed is soooo comfy and warm!) or workout after I get home from work (but I'm sooooo tired after staring at a computer for 8 hours!). So yeah....I need to figure out the right balance here. I know I don't need to work out for a long time each day...I just need to start setting aside at least ten minutes every day to do SOMETHING. But I always forget to find those ten minutes in my day...

Accountability Updates

So I still think Jeff and I are doing pretty good. We have a lot of cooking to explore, especially with vegetables we're unfamiliar with. We finally made it to the Farmer's Market in Irvine last weekend which was great, but it definitely made me realize how much is out and that I have no idea what half of it is. We walked around with Mason and Jasna, bought some fruits and veggies, and the most delicious (and sweet) cake I think I've had in a while. I also bought a dozen eggs without realizing that I already had a dozen at home. Oops.

Jeff looked up a great recipe for chicken kebabs with tzatziki sauce. After he finished prepping them (pictured above) it dawned on me that he put cucumbers on the skewers....and I thought to myself "huh, I don't think I've ever tried to cook cucumbers before." In my most innocent-not-trying-to-be-shitty-or-criticize-your-cooking-because-you're-already-doing-all-the-cooking voice I asked him if the recipe called for cucumbers or zucchini's on the kebabs...his face turned to one of panic and I felt like I had just crushed all his cooking illusions. Alas, the recipe did call for zucchinis...but you know what we found out? Cooked cucumbers aren't all that bad. They don't quite "cook," per se...but they weren't bad...still edible :) And the chicken and tzatziki sauce was AMAZING.

On Wednesday night I really wanted [Jeff] to make salmon. We need to up the amount of fish we include in our menu. But the store I went to only had salmon for $20 a pound. As delicious as it looked...I couldn't bring myself to do it. So I bought steaks instead. You can't win them all. I did fix corn and asparagus to go along with it, so I think that upped the healthy factor in that meal.

Yesterday I was in Tecate, Mexico, working on a house build with Corazon, and on my way home I was tempted to just stop by and get something quick. Instead...I made some quick tuna lettuce wraps at home. Not the most filling, but still better than a hamburger.

A couple random tid bits:

• Our friend Abby gave up coffee, and she was telling me how she feels like she has so much more energy NOW then before. It got Jeff and I thinking on whether we should try the same. We don't drink the quantity per day that Abby does, but we still heavily rely on our cup of coffee in the morning to get us going. To the point that we WILL get headaches later on if we don't have it. I'm not sure we're ready to give it up yet, but at least we've started the process of thinking about it :) I'm also trying to at least cut back my creamer and sugar intake in my coffee. That's a good enough challenge for me, for now.
• This is completely random, but kind of in tandem with the whole coffee thing: I now have toothpaste and a toothbrush in my desk at work, and I'm using it! Hopefully I won't end up going from one extreme to the other and scrubbing my gums until they bleed like Cate Blanchett's character in Hanna (that scene gave me the heebie jeebies (thank you to Jeff for correcting my previous ESL spelling of 'heevie jevies')).
• I'm currently reading In Defense of Food and it's been getting me to really think about what we eat and why we eat it. It's exciting.

As far as physical activity, I did a couple mini-work outs at home, nothing too crazy. It seems that I'll be doing some yoga in the coming weeks though, which is exciting.

Accountability Updates

I've been eating a lot of salads this week. And having healthy/fruity snacks in between meals. And I did a minor work out yesterday before work, and some pull ups today.

Excited to go to the Farmer's Market tomorrow!

But for now...I think I'm having some milk and cookies....

Resolution Updates

For a couple who really wasn't very good at eating well...I think we're slowly but surely coming around. I've also been changing little things...like getting brown rice instead of white rice, whole wheat bread and pasta, etc. Yesterday, for example, instead of stopping by Mickey D's on my lunch I stopped by Grower's Direct and got a bunch of fruits and snacks. It's the little things, right?

Last week we tried making eggplant for the first time...interesting...

Salad and feta cheese never disappoint!

This might be the craziest salad I've ever ordered. It was out of my comfort zone, but figured I should go for it.

No regrets. I still don't know what the stringy red stuff was though...so feel free to enlighten me.

Finally got a chance to cook dinner at home again tonight.

Tried and true recipe with a few changes. Fresh parmesan HAS to be good for you.

As far as activity levels, we went camping in Joshua Tree this weekend to do some rock climbing, so I think that covers activity for a few days.

I had no idea where to go from this point.

So close and yet so far. Good thing I was attached to a rope.

My continuous encouragement.

One of the few pictures I actually took.

I need to learn some photography skillz.

April 22-24th, 2011

So I think I found a solution to my fast and cheap dilemma: Native Foods Cafe. It's right down the street from my work, so I decided to check it out during my lunch on Friday. SCORE. For $10 I got a delicious chicken wrap with possibly the most amazing iced tea I've ever had. I'm not sure that my selections in the future will be "healthy" per se, given that they have nachos and cheesy fries on the menu, BUT they are made with organic and local ingredients..."whenever possible." Gotta love fine print. But for sure it's less processed than the crap I would otherwise eat. All their stuff is made fresh every day, which is a nice change.

Saturday we went on an outdoor rock climb at Ortega Falls. It was my first serious outdoor climb and it was absolutely amazing. I was scared shitless when I first got there, and had serious doubts about my ability to make it through the day, but by miracles and endless encouragement from Jeff and the boys, I survived! I only did three climbs, but my body is sore today beyond belief. The climbs, individually, are much longer than what I'm used to in the gym, and they're definitely more challenging physically. My greatest accomplishment: not giving up, haha. There were definitely parts of a climb where I got stuck and had no idea how I was going to keep moving up, and towards the end my arms just felt like noodles. But I was able to shove my shoe or arm into some crevice or crack and finagle my way up. I think I fell in love with those rocks on Saturday. It made me more excited than nervous for our upcoming trip to Joshua tree this weekend.

On a side note, I love how much time Jeff and I have been spending out doors these past few weekends. I've kept most of my Haiti-tan, and it's just nice to enjoy the outdoors. Saturday I wasn't climbing most of the time since we all switched turns and took breaks, but it was nice to just BE outside...enjoying the sun and waterfall...I can't believe I haven't done stuff like this more often before. #fail.

Dinner that night was Wahoo's due to our sheer exhaustion, but I did forego my desire of chicken and cheese enchilada's and instead went for the bonzai bowl--but only because Jeff was there to keep me from ordering fatty enchiladas. Not sure how much healthier a bonzai bowl is...but just minus cheese has to be something, right? Maybe I'm just trying to make myself feel better about myself. Oh well.

Today wasn't a good day in either the eating or active part on our resolution, although I think yesterday's workout was enough for the weekend. Since we went climbing all day yesterday we never made it to the farmer's market which I've been itching to go to, so we had few options as to what to cook today. Hopefully we'll be able to re-stock and cook some good stuff at home this week. ALSO, I ordered a couple cook books last week and I'm excited to start cooking off of those....I'm dorkily excited about that.

Home Cooking!

Accountability.

Let's see...since Monday we cooked at home Tuesday and Wednesday night, and tonight I tutored so I had dinner with my amazing family that I haven't seen in over a month, but Jeff fixed a quick meal at home as well.

Monday we went on a walk after dinner. On Tuesday Jeff made pasta with kielbasa and veggies, so yummy. We went to the spa....which isn't necessarily working out...but it's not sitting on the couch either...so...? We'll just call it a draw.

And last night, maybe not the most healthy (or cheap) dinner, but we copied the Giacobbe's and made home made pizza and bruschetta!

Getting ingredients ready for bruschetta

Prepping the pizza!

Jeff's masterpiece :)

Stone Pale? Yes, please.

Finishing touches for Double Tomato Bruschetta

Not gonna lie...some of the best bruschetta I've had. It's all in the bread!

March 6-10, 2011

I'm getting worse and worse at doing this, but it's all of your faults for not holding me accountable! And mine for not making the time..

I don't think I have the time or energy to really go through the last four days...let's just say they've been busy, but here's what I remember:

• Went to Dr.'s appt.
• Picked up art donations (huge thank you shout out to San Clemente Art Supply):
• Walked Lilo--such a beautiful day yesterday for a walk in Dana Point:

• Visited Brookie
• HBA Program Committee meeting
• Office work
• Bought stuff for trip to Haiti...started making a pile of all the stuff I have to pack
• Went to DMV to pay for replacement ID
• Met with Dana to catch up and borrow her backpack for my trip
• Church with my mom
• Dinner with Julian & Erika
• Finally called my grandmother in Guatemala! It only took hearing news of an earthquake to make me finally make time...I need to be better at that.
• Went to mass for Ash Wednesday...spent the rest of the day telling people that I knew there was something on my forehead...but thanks for the heads up!

What I didn't do:

• Immigration cases: I HAVE to get this done before I leave next week
• Write up on D&O insurance
• Misc blogs I'd like to write up
• HS Stuff I need to put together before I leave

March 3-5, 2011

What I did:

• All of our laundry!
• Cleaned the kitchen
• Changed bed sheets
• Emptied out another huge portion of the garage...one more trip and I'm all done and the garage is back to it's intended purpose!
• Met Karin for lunch on Thursday to turn in another pair of gift certificates for the silent auction
• Made important phone calls yesterday
• Lost my driver's license! Which means adding DMV to my to-do list for Monday, which is already out of control. I'm crossing fingers that alls I need to travel is my passport...
• Tutored on Thursday
• I finally wrote the letter on my small claims issue
• Wrote my March Charity of the Month blog!

What I didn't do:

• Immigration stuff (I HAVE to do this soon)
• HS stuff--again, HAVE to do this soon
• I'm sure there's more, but Jeff and I have spent almost four hours at Starbucks already and he's ready to go :)

March 2, 2011

Busy and exhausting day.

What I did:

• Dr.'s appointment at 7:45am. Led to more things on my to-do list.
• Walked Lilo
• Coffee with my attorney mentor, Monica, during which time I locked my keys in the car and had to call AAA TWICE since I missed them the first time they came by.
• Office work
• TVN
• Started laundry, picked up kitchen, made dinner
• Fixed slideshow again...I think I may have finally gotten it right this time, maybe
• Important email for HS
• On Tuesday I WENT TO THE GYM!
• I also met up with Katie on Tuesday night, which was aaaamazing. I miss you.
• Started to put together final fundraiser for our trip to Haiti

What I didn't do:

• Acceptance letters
• Letter
• Immigration stuff
• D&O write up

I need to revert back to college days when I could stay up late being productive...

February 28, 2011

Holy crap, how is it March tomorrow??

What I did:

• Half day at the office
• Did some phone research and make some important calls...which resulted in more calls being added to my to-do list
• Walked Lilo!
• Took stuff to Goodwill..I think my garage will be in working condition again by next week, which is fantastic news
• This weekend I worked a TON on the slideshow presentation for the HBA diner on Saturday, so hopefully I can wrap that up and be done with it by Wednesday
• Helped Karin finalize some silent auction stuff
• Worked on blogs for Haiti Scholarships
• Made dinner! Delicious pasta primavera and asparagus
• Went to church with my mom on Sunday, and watched Amazing Race with Jeff's family

What I didn't do:

• Work on acceptance letters for HS
• Write letter of support for small claims matter (which is no longer such a small claim...16 other couples are also trying to sue this wedding photographer)
• Work on immigration cases
• Research for 31 Bits
• Contact school organizations regarding Haiti Scholarships and student sponsorships
• Figure out what I need to get for my trip to Haiti...I can't believe it's in a little over two weeks, time has FLOWN by!
• Probably much much more...

February 23-24, 2011

Let's see...the 23rd was Wednesday....ok

What I did:

• Worked extensively on power point for Wally Davis Scholars (need to get that done this weekend), made about a dozen calls to past recipients who I'm pretty sure will never return my phone call.
• Office work all day Wednesday, half day yesterday
• Stopped by Miguel's office to pay off a loan (thanks again Miguel!)
• Lunch with my public interest ladies
• Interviewed in Riverside
• TVN on Wednesday night

What I didn't do:

• The usual...you all know what they are by now...sigh. I really need to have some productive time this weekend...
• Dinner last night...but Jeff did! He's kind of awesome :)

February 22, 2011

Much more productive day...

What I did:

• Half day at the office
• Worked on U-visa case quite a bit, filling out forms, met with clients, signed documents, made important calls
• Followed up on silent auction requests
• Worked on HBA scholarship powerpoint quite a bit also
• Looked for jobs
• Followed up on a previous job application
• Made dinner with Jeff

What I didn't do:

• I didn't apply to anything new
• Small claims case (need to get that done ASAP)
• I didn't walk Lilo :(
• Didn't work out
• Didn't work on my HS "to-do" list

My problem recently has been that once I get home, I get nothing done. I need to figure out how I can be more productive with my evenings...

February 21, 2011

It goes without saying that I've been terrible about posting lately. Having to work part time really cuts into my productivity on all other levels. I don't even get much done at home because I'm tired (ahem, lazy). I need to be better about finding the time to be productive with personal stuff, even if most of my time is wrapped up already.

I'm not going to do a "did" and "did not" list because it would require too much brain power to try to go through the last four days and remember what I didn't and didn't do. I know I accomplished a few things, and left many things undone. Let's start over again tonight :)