this little life of mine

To remind you of the way this works, here’s how to play:

First — post your list of New Years’ Resolutions in a post at your blog (or in the comments here, if you don’t have a blog).

Second — every week, on Wednesday, write a new post about how you’re doing with each of your goals … you’ll have to list them, again, each week, as people won’t remember what you’re working towards, otherwise. Be brief in your updates, as there may be several blogs to visit! ((come give a quick update here at Should Be Reading, if you don’t have a blog)).

Third — after you’ve written your update, come back to Should Be Reading, and share your link so that we –the other New Beginnings participants– can stop by your blog and encourage you!

Important! … It would be absolutely great if you could visit at least ONE other participant’s blog  on Wednesdays and leave a comment on their post to share some encouragement for their efforts! Show your support! That’s what this event is all about — standing by each other to finally reach our goals!

1. Health and Fitness
o   Get down to size 12 (currently at 16).  I bought a pair of size 14 jean shorts at Forever 21 last week and I can almost get them on! They go up, but they're super tight and I can't button them. Still it's a step in the right direction!
o   Try three new recipes per month (one of which will be vegetarian). I whipped up a curried tofu and veggies w/ couscous dish on Sunday using the coconut milk left over from last week's thai coconut shrimp. I had to make the "baked teriyaki tofu" required in the recipe because I only bought extra firm tofu. Luckily I found a great recipe online and had all the ingredients, so I was aable to make the baked tofu to use in the curry tofu recipe. So does that actually count as two vegetarian recipes?
o   Hit the gym four days per week.  Only managed three days last week, but they were three very intense days with my trainer, so I'm not feeling too guilty for getting a mani on Tuesday and grocery shopping on Friday!

2. Writing  - During the month of April I am participating in Script Frenzy, so all the writing I do will be on the RavensEarth I graphic novel.
o   Write 1st draft of book 1 of Falcon's Gate Trilogy. 
o   Write 1st draft of book 2 of Falcon's Gate Trilogy during NaNoWriMo. Begins November 1st and continues through November 30th. 
o   Write some poetry.

3. Photography
o   Take more artistic photos. I took pictures of food, before shots of the backyard, a black and white picture of waterdrops on leaves, and shots of the covers of the books I'm sharing for Teaser Tuesday, but I'm not sure how "artisitc" they were.
o   Spend more time composing photos rather than just “point and shoot”.
o   Go "old school": take some pictures using film with manual 35mm camera.
 
4. Homefront
o   Organize stuff. Not much organizing done this week.
o   Reduce clutter. I cleaned out my wallet. Surely that counts for something?!
o   Work on landscaping project(s). Daniel from Madrone Landscaping will be coming out to start working on our backyard makeover TODAY!! I can't wait to go home and see what got done today! 

5. Fun Stuff
o   Go to the beach more often. Not yet, but hopefully soon!
o   Learn to surf (or at least body board). Nothing here yet, either.
o   Get new ink. I'm planning to get inked in August during my trip to Vegas. I'm debating between butterflies, birds or angels.

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

1. Grab your current read

2. Open to a random page

3. Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

4. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

5. Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

This week I'm reading the amazingly wonderful The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson! I am thrilled to have this book to follow up Wake, which I didn't really enjoy very much. This book is just AWESOME! Check it out (yes I'm cheating again, I can't help it):

"Jenna - "

"When were you going to tell me!" I yell. I shove my hand out in front of me. "What is this?"

Last weekend I cooked a delicious Thai Coconut Shrimp dish from the latest Clean Eating magazine:

It was supposed to be quick - 20 minutes from start to finish according to the magazine - but they lied! With all the cleaning, chopping and cooking of the veggies, whipping up the sauce, the cooking the shrimp, it took me almost an hour! It was delicious, though, and I'll probably make it again, although I think I'll get cooked shrimp instead of raw.

Anyway, I ended up with an almost full can of tomato paste and half a can of coconut milk left over. Since I hate wasting food, I am using them up this weekend. The tomato paste I used with the Bear Creek "Darn Good" chili, which is perfect for today since it's cold and blustery and is supposed to rain ...

 ... and used the rest of the coconut milk in a vegetarian curry tofu & veggie recipe. Unfortunetly when I was grocery shopping on Friday, I bought extra firm tofu instead of the baked teriyaki tofu the recipe calls for. At first I thought all was lost, and I would have to dump the coconut milk after all, then I did a quick web search for "baked teriyaki tofu" and found this great easy recipe! Yay! I have the extra firm tofu, teriyaki and soy sauce, so I'm good to go again!

This will make enough for a couple quick dinners this week, AND I didn't have to throw out any food!  Yay for using leftovers!!!

To remind you of the way this works, here’s how to play:

First — post your list of New Years’ Resolutions in a post at your blog (or in the comments here, if you don’t have a blog).

Second — every week, on Wednesday, write a new post about how you’re doing with each of your goals … you’ll have to list them, again, each week, as people won’t remember what you’re working towards, otherwise. Be brief in your updates, as there may be several blogs to visit! ((come give a quick update here at Should Be Reading, if you don’t have a blog)).

Third — after you’ve written your update, come back to Should Be Reading, and share your link so that we –the other New Beginnings participants– can stop by your blog and encourage you!

Important! … It would be absolutely great if you could visit at least ONE other participant’s blog  on Wednesdays and leave a comment on their post to share some encouragement for their efforts! Show your support! That’s what this event is all about — standing by each other to finally reach our goals!

1. Health and Fitness
o   Get down to size 12 (currently at 16). About the same here.
o   Try three new recipes per month (one of which will be vegetarian).Last Sunday I made the Thai Coconut Shrimp and Banana Roll-ups from the May/June 2010 issue of Clean Eating magazine.
o   Hit the gym four days per week. Done!

2. Writing Pretty much put all these on hold to work on my RavensEarth graphic novel for Script Frenzy during the month of April.
o   Write 1st draft of book 1 of Falcon's Gate Trilogy. 
o   Write 1st draft of book 2 of Falcon's Gate Trilogy during NaNoWriMo. Begins November 1st and continues through November 30th.     o   Write some poetry.

3. Photography
o   Take more artistic photos.I did take a pretty nice picture of a jay sitting on our fence on Thursday, but that's about it.    o   Spend more time composing photos rather than just “point and shoot”. Nothing here.
o   Go "old school": take some pictures using film with manual 35mm camera. Nothing here.
 
4. Homefront
o   Organize stuff. Nothing.
o   Reduce clutter.Nothing.
o   Work on landscaping project(s). Over the past couple weeks, I met with two different local landscapers regarding our backyard, and after reviewing each design I have made a decision! I called both gentlemen to let them know, and now I'm just looking forward to having a brand new backyard!

5. Fun Stuff
o   Go to the beach more often. Not yet, but soon. Very soon!
o   Learn to surf (or at least body board). Nothing here.
o   Get new ink. I'm planning this for my summer Vegas trip, but still haven't settled on a design.

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

1. Grab your current read

2. Open to a random page

3. Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

4. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

5. Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

I've had this book - Wake by Lisa McMann - sitting in the middle of my TBR pile for probably a year now. I started reading it, but lost interest, put it down, and picked up another. Now, I'm trying to get through my stack of TBRs again, and thought since this was the oldest book on it, I'd better go for it. I'm still finding it a rather difficult read, but I'm determined to get through it this time! I'm currently on page 39, but I chose a couple lines from page 79 for this week's teaser:

Janie watches all this from around the corner of the shed. She doesn't want to see it.