Spring Goals 2017

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Top o' the morning to you. Happy Saint Patrick's Day. And happy birthday to my Grandmom, who is no longer with us. I miss celebrating our birthdays together!

Today is spring goals day since spring starts on Monday even though there are massive piles of frozen snow and many streets down a lane or two still here in Philly. I'm not a winter hater, but I prefer my winter in January and February. March, not so much.

I've been doing seasonal goals for a few years. The past two seasons I am feeling a little blah with this system, so I'm going to see how it goes and if I need to change it up.

1. Shore work: paint third floor rooms at the shore; replace ground floor porch railings and paint concrete on the porch; paint trim on main floor in house; evaluate air conditioner in the efficiency.

2. Get back to a Monday or Wednesday night zumba class.

3. 30 days of yoga.

4. Check out a new Farmers' Market.

5. Go through clothes and get rid of anything I didn't wear this winter.


Any goals for spring?

Fall goals - how did I do? Spoiler alert: shitty

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So, how did I do...not well. This should be called the Had Good Intentions goal list. LOL

1. Whale watching. Crossed off 9/24 - we saw a humpback whale!

2. Pick a pre-cruise hotel. Jill and I both have a favorite, we will decide soon. I'm giving it a pass.

3. Dinner at Abe Fisher. FAIL. I had reservations for 9/26...we ended up staying at the shore. I also had reservations for 12/10, but MFD had second degree burns on his hands so I cancelled those. 

4. Mutter Museum. FAIL. I totally forgot this was on here. 

5. Take a cooking class.FAIL. I've been looking at Sur La Table but nothing has motivated me to spend the $50-80 yet. 

6. Bake french bread. FAIL. No excuse offered. 

7. College football game. FAIL. I had tickets to the Temple Game on 10/21 but gave mine away so I could go to the shore. 

8. Donate to Covenant House and PanCan Network since we'll miss the walk in honor of my grandmom when we're on our trip. Done and done. I got hooked up with a wish list for Covenant House thanks to Laura's contact at Holiday Express and got them two baby strollers. I also donated to PanCan in my Grandmom's memory before we left for Ireland. 

9. Purge and reorganize entire house, little by little. Carry through fall and over winter. IN PROGRESS. I'm doing it, little by little. 

10. Try six new recipes: breakfast, lunch, dinner, appetizer, dessert, freezable meal. HALF PASS HALF FAIL. Breakfast - breakfast casserole; lunch - , dinner - , appetizer - green chile chicken dip, dessert, freezable meal - I made a mexican quinoa casserole and froze it. It reheats well for lunches. 

How did you do with your fall goals?

Winter goals 2016

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I'm going to be short and sweet here. Tomorrow check back in to see how I did on my fall goals - spoiler alert: terrible. 

1. Complete a 30 day challenge. 

2. Get the tattoo on my back redone. I haven't had a needle on my skin like that in over 16 years. 

3. Grounds for Sculpture. 

4. Purge and reorganize entire house, little by little. Carry through fall and over winter. 

5. Bake french bread. If it doesn't get done this time I am never allowed to put it on another goal list for the rest of my life. 

6. Figure out the lower porch railing replacement/clean up at the shore. 

7. Mutter Museum. 

8. Book airfare for cruise. 

9. Walk over the Brooklyn Bridge. 

10. See a play on Broadway.

What's on your to do list this winter?

Summer Goal Report

How did I do?

1. Adapt to doing food prep on Monday nights and shift house maintenance schedule to accommodate shore weekends. This took me until mid-July, but I got the hang of not doing all of my food prep on Sundays. 

2. Finalize Europe bookings. Hell yes I did. We are now going to Scotland at the end of our Ireland trip instead of Paris and we're all set for hotels and flights throughout the trip. My dad booked the car in Ireland as well and to/from airport transport here in the US. Dunzo. Meeting of the minds on packing happened earlier in September as well.

3. Finish basement reorganization project for the love of God. Fail. I have this on my calendar two dates in October to see if I can get it done. 

4. Purge summer clothes. Done. Vietnam Vets picked up at the beginning of June and I'm working on another pile in the spare room now. 

5. Sugar scrub twice a week. Yes. With my favorite sugar scrub from Blue Eden in OCNJ.

6. Attend zumba class at new studio. Fail. Hell I failed attending my regular zumba classes. 

7. Try Thursday night yoga class. Fail. I did sign up to attend both six and seven in October, does that count? 

8. Try two new restaurants and two new recipes (one on the grill). I tried La Calaca Feliz in Philly and Ike's Seafood and a host of other new restaurants at the shore. I tried cilantro lime cauliflower and personal portobello pesto pizzas. 

9. Walk or ride my bike the entire length of the boardwalk in Ocean City. Done! 

10. Visit Philadelphia Museum of Art Sculpture Garden. Done. 

Fall goals 2016

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Here we are, back in the land of changing leaves, scarves, the best scented candles, and dreams of a full Thanksgiving table. Fall is back. Just kidding it's still around 80 and sunny but the mornings and evenings are cool and I dig it.

I'll be sharing how I did on my summer goals in the coming days, but here are my fall goals:

1. Whale watching.

2. Pick a pre-cruise hotel.

3. Dinner at Abe Fisher.

4. Mutter Museum.

5. Take a cooking class.

6. Bake french bread.

7. College football game.

8. Donate to Covenant House and PanCan Network since we'll miss the walk in honor of my grandmom when we're on our trip.

9. Purge and reorganize entire house, little by little. Carry through fall and over winter.

10. Try six new recipes: breakfast, lunch, dinner, appetizer, dessert, freezable meal.

What are your fall goals?

Summer Goals 2016

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I don't like combining my goals, so I'll post how I did on my spring 2016 goals this weekend. Today belongs to my Summer Wish List since summer's calendar start is Monday.

1. Adapt to doing food prep on Monday nights and shift house maintenance schedule to accommodate shore weekends.

2. Finalize Europe bookings.

3. Finish basement reorganization project for the love of God.

4. Purge summer clothes.

5. Sugar scrub twice a week.

6. Attend zumba class at new studio.

7. Try Thursday night yoga class.

8. Try two new restaurants and two new recipes (one on the grill).

9. Walk or ride my bike the entire length of the boardwalk in Ocean City.

10. Visit Philadelphia Museum of Art Sculpture Garden.

What's on your summer wish list?

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Winter Goals Report

I'm late I'm late I'm late. I already shared my spring goals here. This is the report on my winter goals, which can basically be summed up with a grade of D-. There's always next season! My winter season goals were: 

1. Make mozzarella cheese at home. Fail. I got into a thing where I was positive I needed a certain type of milk. Further research let me know I could use almost any milk, but the time ran out. 

2. Weights 3x/week and walking once a week. I abandoned my program and need to get back up to speed. The only way I can do that is slowly! Fail. I got back into zumba and walking, but not weights yet. 

3. Eat at Abe Fisher. Fail. I meant to go before my birthday but time got away from me. 

4. Reconfigure basement rooms and how we're using them. This will require purging and reorganization. Pass, even though it's still in progress. Hampered by ceiling leak and pipe replacement and the decision to paint before I reconfigure.

5. See sunrise in Cape Town. No good place to it in Cape Town, but I did it in Mabula. So pass. 

6. Bake a carrot cake. Fail. 

7. Get shore house listed and rented out for the summer. All rented for July and August and the end of June. 

8. Monthly massage - actually use the membership I have at Hand & Stone. I did go in December, February, and March. So I'm giving it a pass. 

9. Try five recipes I have pinned on pinterest. pear, cranberry, and gingersnap crumble; jalapeno popper quinoa bites; leftover hambone soup; honey soy chicken drumsticks; corned beef and cabbage soup

10. Go up to the Liberty One observation deck. Fail. And I work right next door to it. LOL

Happy weekend, friends! 

Spring Goals 2016

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Happy Friday my fabulous friends! I am a seasonal goal setter - I find that when I set seasonal goals, I tend to accomplish more because a month is a short time to me. I also stretch myself a little more and put things I both feel like I have to do and want to do on my seasonal goal lists. Sara at Journey of Doing and I decided to do a seasonal goal linkup, and this is the first one. I hope you'll join us going forward.

Let me ask you - would you prefer to have the linkup be close to the calendar date of the season like this one (spring begins on Monday on the calendar), or would you have liked to do a spring goals link up in the beginning of March? And following that, would you do a summer goals link up at the end of May or closer to June 21, when summer begins on the calendar? Let us know what works best with how you work!

Without further ado, here are my spring goals:

1. Go whale watching.

2. Attend high tea.

3. Begin learning conversational French.

4. Visit the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

5. Go strawberry picking and make a strawberry pie.

6. Run through a timed cleaning of the shore house a few times and be sure I can get it done in two hours so I'm prepared for rental switchovers on the Saturdays I'll be cleaning it.

7. Improve my home improvement skills.

8. Check out the Chinese Lanterns in Franklin Square.

9. Wear bracelets every weekday and photograph for proof. I have a lot and I typically only wear them if I'm going somewhere.

10. Easter Sunrise on the beach.

Did you set spring goals? Link 'er up below:

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Tonight I'll be sleeping out on the sidewalk with Covenant House to raise awareness for the plight of homeless teens. Be sure to follow along on Instagram. If you haven't donated and you'd like to, you can do so here. 

Fall goals - how did I do?

WELL. How did I do? 

                    

1. Become Bob MFing Vila in the home improvement project arena. Not exactly, but I did get back to painting walls (haven't done that since we bought our house eons ago) and I learned how to use a hand sander. Boom. 

2. Get up 15 minutes earlier one weekday each week. Victory. Usually on Friday...it's easy, because I'm excited for the weekend. LOL

3. Attend Opera on the Mall and 20th Year high school reunion. Fellow classmates, did you get your tickets? Opera on the Mall was moved from its initial date due to rain, then on the new date I was sick. So, fail, but not for lack of trying. 

4. Participate in a Pancreatic Cancer Walk with my family in memory of my Grandmom. November 7. 

5. Finish using the remaining nail polishes in my arsenal - for those of you playing along at home, I have used a different nail polish without repeating every time I paint my nails or toes since January 1 thanks to an idea from Steph @ Insert Classy Here. My collection is large but I'm nearing the end. FINALLY freaking finished. It took me a year to get through these, only not using my polish twice (when I got gel manicures for trips). And I culled a lot. 

6. Outdoors:
       a) Clean old cushions and store. MFD took care of this. 
       b) Winterize flower beds. Done, quite late (December 5), but done nonetheless
       c) Yard cleanup/winterization. I did my part December 5, MFD did his the week following. Again, late, but finished. 

7. Check out the Schuylkill Banks Boardwalk. Fail. I will attempt this again in the spring. 

8. Gather whatever gear I need for Africa trip and make appointments for shots. I bought sun protective long sleeves for me & MFD for safari, as well as hats and scarves with anti-bug and anti-sun stuff. We have pants that will do. I got my hepatitis A shot. Typhoid is next. I need to get the prescriptions at the pharmacy too. 

9. Get miles situation straightened out and book flights for New Orleans using miles. Done November 6. 

10. Bake french bread. Fail again. I think this is a three time goal list fail? 

11. Wish The Boss a happy 66th birthday today. (dunzo)

Did you make any fall goals? How did you do? 

Winter Goals 2015

Even though it's been warm as hell in Philly, winter does officially begin on Monday. Winter is the second hardest season for me motivation-wise. Believe it or not, the first is summer. My winter season goals: 

1. Make mozzarella cheese at home.

2. Weights 3x/week and walking once a week. I abandoned my program and need to get back up to speed. The only way I can do that is slowly!

3. Eat at Abe Fisher.

4. Reconfigure basement rooms and how we're using them. This will require purging and reorganization.

5. See sunrise in Cape Town.

6. Bake a carrot cake.

7. Get shore house listed and rented out for the summer.

8. Monthly massage - actually use the membership I have at Hand & Stone.

9. Try five recipes I have pinned on pinterest.

10. Go up to the Liberty One observation deck.

What are your winter goals? 
I'll be reporting in on how I did on my fall goals tomorrow. 

Happy weekend, friends! 

fall goals 2015

Fall - the return of routine and to do lists, soup simmering on the stove and hot meals fresh out of the oven. Welcome back, favorite season. My seasonal goals:

                    

1. Become Bob MFing Vila in the home improvement project arena.

2. Get up 15 minutes earlier one weekday each week.

3. Attend Opera on the Mall and 20th Year high school reunion. Fellow classmates, did you get your tickets?

4. Participate in a Pancreatic Cancer Walk with my family in memory of my Grandmom.

5. Finish using the remaining nail polishes in my arsenal - for those of you playing along at home, I have used a different nail polish without repeating every time I paint my nails or toes since January 1 thanks to an idea from Steph @ Insert Classy Here. My collection is large but I'm nearing the end.

6. Outdoors:
       a) Clean old cushions and store.
       b) Winterize flower beds.
       c) Yard cleanup/winterization.

7. Check out the Schuylkill Banks Boardwalk.

8. Gather whatever gear I need for Africa trip and make appointments for shots.

9. Get miles situation straightened out and book flights for New Orleans using miles.

10. Bake french bread.

11. Wish The Boss a happy 66th birthday today. (dunzo)

What's on your to do list this fall?

Summer Goals - how did I do?

Summer 2015 ends calendar-wise in a few days. Here's how I did with my seasonal goals:

1. Make homemade cinnamon ice cream. Made on 7/11 and sweet Jesus it was delicious. 

2. Have dinner at Tallulah's Garden and Vetri. Tallulah's Garden on June 19, Vetri on September 4. 

3. Have lunch at Pizzeria Vetri. Lunch with Tara on August 4. 

4. Read an Agatha Christie Hercule Poirot book. I read The Mysterious Affair at Styles on vacation at the end of June. 

5. Purge and organize: utility closet. Done - second weekend in August. 

6. Visit Spruce Street Harbor Park. Done on September 4.

7. Visit The Clay Studio. Visited on July 28. 

8. Conquer fears: cook on the grill and swim in the lake. I've been grilling like a champ, mofos! I made myself do it once a week to truly conquer the fear. I was in the lake on two different weekends on floats but not swimming. I'm counting it. 

9. Increase weights and maintain exercise schedule. Fail. I actually had a falter with weights in general and dipped down to twice a week for the fuck it phase. I battled back into my routine but am still not as fluid with it as I was going into the summer. I'm working on it though.

10. Watch a sunrise and sunset in a beach town in the same day. Sunday 6/28 in Emerald Isle.

Did you make summer goals? How did you do?

Happy happy birthday today to my longest time friend Jen. We've been friends for going on 36 years. And tomorrow to my youngest brother Sean, who turns 21. Be safe and enjoy your first truly legal beer, brother. Love you both! 

I am travelling, please forgive delayed replies to comments. I'll catch you on the flip side. 

Spring Goals - How Did I Do?

1. Raise money for March for Babies for the March of Dimes. I raised $175 and team Eva the Diva as a whole raised over $2100 to support March of Dimes research and programs that help moms have full-term pregnancies and babies begin healthy lives. Thank you so much to my donors: Mom, Mare, Sister Arleen, and Heather!

2. Further pare down my wardrobe when I switch over my summer and winter clothes. There are a ton of shoes that must go. Dunzo. I donated three bags of clothes and shoes to Goodwill and a few boxes of other items. 

3. When Lent is over and I've completed my 46 days in a row of 40 minutes of exercise or more a day, formulate another plan and stick to it. Done. I've been doing weights Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and walking two other days. I'm also cognizant of being more active in general on the weekends although those are typically active rest days. Now it's just something I do. I'm happy with it and feeling stronger and healthier. Slow and steady.

4. Pantry and freezer clean out - use or toss. The time is now. I worked on this throughout May. The first week in June was my last cleanout week. 

5. Canoe. Done on Memorial Day weekend. Thanks Jack!

6. Yard and flower bed cleanup and flowerbed planting. Done, although I did a shitty job on the yard cleanup. 

7. Check out the Before I Die Board on Broad Street. I walked down there but it's no longer there. So fail but good try.

8. Try two new restaurants. The Kite and the Key on April 29. Tacconelli's on March 22. 

9. Go strawberry picking. I think this is on my list every year. I never do it. Fail.

10. Spend the morning in New Hope. I ran out of time for this one too. Fail.

Did you set spring goals? How did you do?

Summer Goals

Hello & happy Friday mon frers. Well, another season is upon us. Summer 2015 officially begins on Sunday. You know I do my seasonal goals - check back tomorrow for how I did on my spring goals - so you may have expected to see these today. I'm predictable, I know. I like it that way. My summer 2015 goals:

1. Make homemade cinnamon ice cream.

2. Have dinner at Tallulah's Garden and Vetri.

3. Have lunch at Pizzeria Vetri.

4. Read an Agatha Christie Hercule Poirot book. 

5. Purge and organize: utility closet. 

6. Visit Spruce Street Harbor Park. 

7. Visit The Clay Studio.

8. Conquer fears: cook on the grill and swim in the lake. 

9. Increase weights and maintain exercise schedule.

10. Watch a sunrise and sunset in a beach town in the same day. 

Happy happy birthday to my mom today! Love you Dalai Momma! And happy birthday to my cousin Ashley as well!

On a serious note, I wish for peace for the families of the Charleston victims, as well as the AME church community and the community at large. Hell, I wish for peace for all of us. We'll only get there if we can meet in the middle and stop being so ignorant and violent and cruel to each other. On the national scene and in my Facebook news feed, when a black person commits a crime it's described as animal behavior and there is rage and ideas that their actions are the reason people are rascist. When a white person commits a crime, they are described as mentally ill and we're sad about it or possibly worse - we're silent about it. Even though the motherfucker in this case was clearly a rascist and in fact killed those poor people because of the color of their skin. Judging by the lack of commentary I've seen on it, people must be largely okay with that. And that is fucked up. It is past time to have an honest discussion about race in this country. And God be with us all through that. 

Now back to BSing...what's on your summer to do list?

Spring Goals

Happy Friday! Even though snow is in today's forecast, according to the calendar it's the first day of spring which means it's time for me to share my seasonal goals with you. Here are some things I hope to accomplish this spring:

1. Raise money for March for Babies for the March of Dimes. I'm walking on Team Eva the Diva on April 26. Click here if you'd like to donate. Your gift will support March of Dimes research and programs that help moms have full-term pregnancies and babies begin healthy lives. And it will be used to bring comfort and information to families with a baby in newborn intensive care, like Eva was.

Image via Evan Leslie Images

2. Further pare down my wardrobe when I switch over my summer and winter clothes. There are a ton of shoes that must go.

3. When Lent is over and I've completed my 46 days in a row of 40 minutes of exercise or more a day, formulate another plan and stick to it.

4. Pantry and freezer clean out - use or toss. The time is now.

5. Canoe.

6. Yard and flower bed cleanup and flowerbed planting.

7. Check out the Before I Die Board on Broad Street.

8. Try two new restaurants.

9. Go strawberry picking.

10. Spend the morning in New Hope.

And you? What's on your agenda this spring?

Winter Goals - How Did I do?

The end of this week brings spring. I love that it's so soon after my birthday. Since MFD and I are still away on my birthday weekend trip, today I'm going to share how I did on my Winter Goals, originally posted on December 21.

1. Finally make a pie crust/pie from scratch. I failed to do this in my October Choose Your Own Adventure Food Theme Challenge and in my fall goals. Fail. I put it on my 40 before 40 list because that's the best chance of it getting done at this point. 

2. Host dinner party so people help us eat the turkey I have in the freezer. Done! February 7

3. Make a 40 by 40 list of uh, 40 things I want to do before I'm 40. I turn 38 in March. I need time for some of them. Done! Shared on Friday. 

4. Book Airfare for wild west trip. Done! First week of January.

5. Organize and catalog loose photos, including possibly using a pay to scan service. Done! Using container store boxes. 

6. Stick to my exercise schedule. Done! I'm really proud of this. As of today I have done 40 minutes of some type of exercise, sometimes broken up into two 20s, for 27 straight days.

7. Creative writing off the blog once a week. Done! Every week I've done this. Thanks to some help from the 642 Things to Write Journal. 

8. Try three new to me restaurants. Pho Saigon with Michelle on January 17, Cibo with Jill & Frank on January 24, Cafe Michelangelo for Lucy's party on January 31

9. Get the Be Nice Box project going. Ordered them on March 11. Kerry @ Till Then, Smile Often and Steph @ Insert Classy Here are going to join me and we'll post about it in April. Thanks ladies!

10. Go through beauty products - keep, toss, reorganize, share. Done! More than once this season.

Happy birthday to my long-time friend Andrea today!

Seasonal goals, I love you. My spring ones will be up on Friday. And I'll see you back here tomorrow for TWTW.