Project 52 Update

It's the first of the month, so it's time for my Project 52 update!

COMPLETED

20. Take Nolan to his first hockey game. Nolan wasn’t interested with the game at all, but he had a good time and said he wants to go again. It was an intense game with lots of violence. I put him on my lap facing the crowd during the fights and he got distracted by the crowd and their cowbells. The entire way home he talked about how he wants to be a Zamboni driver when he grows up. Fail! He’s only three so we’ll keep working on him.

26. Go ice skating. A few days after the hockey game, we tried ice skating. He loved it, though he didn't have to do much of the work. He basically stood there while Jacob pushed him around the rink. I think we're going to practice with roller skates at home before we try again, but we definitely want to keep going.

35. Watch five Elvis movies before my trip to Graceland. I watched eight! Check out this post for my review.

36. Play in the snow with the kids. Again. It snowed Tuesday night. Since we weren’t sure how long it was going to stick around, we bundled up the boys and let them play past their bedtime.

 42. Take a child CPR class with Jacob. We took the class at our local fire station. I used to teach Kindergarten so I had to be CPR certified, but that was over ten years ago and so much has changed since then! If you haven't learned about CPR recently, I suggest a refresher course. Our firefighters are awesome and funny and it was a night well spent.

IN PROGRESS

2. Go on one date each month. Disneyland counts as a date, right? We had meals, we had a hotel, and we had tons and tons of child-less fun. That sounds like a date (or two, or three) to me!

3. Try five new restaurants. I tried three this month! We ate at The Bengal Barbecue in Adventureland at Disneyland. We were looking for something a little healthier than pizza or burgers, so we tried chicken, beef and vegetable skewers. I really loved the Bengal Beef Skewer in sweet zulu sauce and will definitely get it again on our next visit.

When we're hungry for a burger, we always go to our favorite place. I finally gave in and decided to try Five Guys. It was pretty good, especially the fries, but I'm ok not going back.

We also tried a little place called Boston's Deli & Pizza. Jacob and I split a calzone. I don't know what I was expecting, but a glob of feta cheese wasn't it. I wasn't a big fan of their pepperoni pizza either.

10. Read 24 books. I only read one book this month. ONE! And I'm still not done, so I don't even think it counts. I'm reading Stephen King’s 11/22/63. The beginning was so boring and it took me a long time to get into it. Plus it's 850 pages! I have 48 pages left. I will finish tonight. I will finish tonight. I will finish tonight.

18. Try one new recipe a month. My sister recommended this beef with snow peas stir fry recipe from The Pioneer Woman.  I didn't think it was good at all, but I don't really like any type of Asian food. My husband didn't mind it.

37. Have a weekly family dance party. We have been doing awesome with this one. I loaded up my old iPod with fun tunes and almost every day after dinner we turn  it on and dance in the dining room. It’s a nice transition between dinner and getting ready for bed and it helps the boys get their wiggles out. Milo absolutely loves it but Nolan gets so embarrassed! He’s not interested in dancing, but he will spin, run and slide all over the hardwood floor.

FAILING

14. Meet a blog friend. Leeann (from Join The Gossip) and I had plans to meet up while I was in Anaheim. She went above and beyond and drove up from LA for two hours in Friday night traffic. Unfortunately, because of the traffic, she was going to get to Downtown Disney a little too late for me. We had a 4:30am cab ride to the airport the next morning. Because we were so tired and I hurt my foot, I just couldn’t stay out that late. I know, I know. I’m totally lame and a horrible blog friend! She was so sweet to come all that way, but she insisted that her night wasn’t a total loss because she got to visit her parents instead. I still feel terrible. I should have just sucked it up!

15. Use our elliptical three times a week. I didn’t use it at all this month. In the beginning of the month, a few days before our trip to Disneyland, I felt like I pulled my right pec muscle rolling over in the middle of the night. It hurt to bend, twist, turn, pick up and hold my kids, etc. I got a strong anti-inflammatory and lots of Vicodin from my doctor, but she said it could take weeks to heal and to take it easy. It was pretty embarrassing holding my boobs down while riding Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at Disneyland! I also hurt my foot at Disneyland and it just started feeling back to normal a few days ago.


NOT GONNA HAPPEN

52. Get AC installed. Our tax return wasn't as much as we were expecting. Jacob got a promotion last year and even though we got to claim a new baby, we still had to pay quite a bit. Boo! Unless I find a really good deal, we'll probably skip it this year. I'd much rather go on vacation this fall. Sure, I say that now and we'll probably have the hottest summer on record!

Blog Award!

I got the Kreativ Blogger Award from my buddy Casey over at Poodleism. Thanks, girl!

So here’s how it works:
1} Link back to the person who gave you this award.
2} Complete the form.
3} Share 7 random thoughts about yourself.
4} Award 5 blogs and let them know in a comment or email.

The form:

1} Name your Favorite Song: There’s no way I can name just one. Can anybody? If so, I’m impressed. Right now I can’t stop listening to World News by Local Natives. The song is a year old, but my sister just showed it to me and I’m in love.

2} Name your favorite dessert. Cheesecake. Pretty much any kind, but white chocolate raspberry is my favorite.

3} What ticks you off? When people are constantly late. Whether it's for work, an appointment, a movie, dinner, whatever. It's so selfish to make other people wait on you. I especially hate it when the constantly late people act like it's no big deal, like it's just their "thing". I should really start telling some friends that we're meeting 30 minutes earlier than I intend to. They'll probably still be ten minutes late.

4} When I'm upset: I vent to my husband about everyone and everything. If I'm upset with him, I need alone time. I veg out, read, watch tv, do something to take my mind off it and then I'm ready to talk it out.

5} What's your favorite pet? I acually don't have any pets right now. I guess I'd have to say my childhood dog, a chow named Lady.

6} Black or White? Black to wear, white in my home.

7} Biggest fear? Something happening to my kids or husband. This is something I fear every single day. I'm trying not to let it prevent us from living our lives!

Seven random thoughts/things about me:

1} I love candy conversation hearts, but only the original Necco flavors. Since they don't sell them in the store, I paid $10 for this box on Amazon. Absolutely outrageous, but I'm not mad about it. The white ones are worth it.

2} I don't like seafood, coffee or dark chocolate.

3} I'm currently reading Judy Blume books because I never did as a kid. Man, I missed out!

4} I love going to sporting events but I won't watch them on tv. I do watch the Olympics though. I also might watch baseball playoffs or the World Series, depending on the teams. I didn't even watch the Super Bowl. I caught the halftime show online though.

5} The three women I'd most like to meet are Tina Fey, Hillary Clinton and Rosie O'Donnell.

6} I won't go barefoot in a hotel room.

7} I would love to pick up and move to London. I love everything about that city and I want my kids to have little British accents.

The blogs I would like to pass the Kreativ Blogger award to are:

1} Precisely Holly
2} Peace, Love & Applesauce
3} Honey & Nutmeg
4} Krystal's Kitsch
5} Running Backwards In Stilettos

Project 52 Update

I’m going to check in once a month to show you how I’m doing on my Project 52 list. You can see the list in its entirety by clicking the tab above.  

COMPLETED

13. Find a good Twitter app. I’m using TweetDeck on my phone and computer and I love it.

32. Clean out my closet. I got rid of so much stuff! I gave a bag full of clothes to a friend and donated all this:

Here's our clean, organized closet.  

36. Play in the snow with the kids. Our snow storm really helped me out with that one. I think 8 inches qualifies! Now we don't have to drive up to the mountains.

39. Clean out my bathroom. Jacob and I are both pretty clean, but it's so nice to have our own sinks! I just really needed to purge. I had products from five years ago that I haven't touched since then. Remember? That's where I found these:

I purged and organized under the sink and bought this at Target to keep my countertop clutter free.

It doesn't stay very organized though. Milo learned how to open cupboards and drawers, so this happens just about every day:

IN PROGRESS

1. Lose 30 pounds. I’ve lost 5! I joined Weight Watchers online a few weeks ago. It's really helping me with portion control and snacking. I love that I can enter my usual recipes and figure out how many points our meals are. The iPhone apps are awesome too. I LOVE the barcode scanner. I use it all the time while shopping and it's prevented me from buying junk food more than once.

2. Go on one date each month. I'm counting my birthday as a date even though friends were there. It was a night out with drinks and without kids. That’s what matters!

5. Enroll Nolan in preschool. I started taking him to a drop off program. He goes from 9:30 to 11:30 one day a week. They do a craft, have circle time, eat a snack and then free play. I think it’s a good way to get my his feet wet.

8. Donate blood four times. I did this yesterday. If you follow me on Instagram (christinareads) you probably saw this gross picture. I thought making it black and white would make it less creepy. I don't know if that worked.

10. Read 24 books. I read FIVE this month. The Jungle, Roseannearchy, Of Mice And Men, Everything I Needed To Know About Being A Girl I Learned From Judy Blume, and It Gets Better. And I just started reading 11/22/63.

 11. Read at least four classics. Two so far! The Jungle and Of Mice And Men.

 

18. Try one new recipe a month. I made chicken gyros. Our pitas were pretty dry and wouldn't fold without ripping so we had to eat them open. They weren't terrible, but they weren't awesome either. I don't think I'll make them again.

 

40. Get more involved with my neighbors. I had another stay at home mom and her two boys over for a play date last week. She’s the only neighbor that has really reached out to me. I guess I need to make the effort with some other neighbors.

FAILING

15. Use our elliptical three times a week. Um. I haven't been on it once this entire month.

43. Make a new friend. I'm kinda sad about this one. I reconnected with a middle school friend on Facebook. We realized we have a ton in common and over the past two months we hung out about once a week, usually going to movies. But her husband got a job in Nevada and she up and left me last week. Bummer! Back to square one.