ipad2

giveaway.
not by me!
check out design for mankind. it's a great site.

and her amazing giveaway!

.11 for 2011. april update

1. Cut back on alcohol.  Both for health/weight and money savings.
2. Work out to my new dvds, the Exhale: Core Fusion Collection at least two times a week (ideally three times).  (added another DVD to the mix Abs & Arms)
3. Try at least one new restaurant a month.  (Jan-Jules Maes; Feb-Via Tribunali, Kingfish Cafe, Book Bindery, Eddies Trackside; March - Habesha; April - Quinn's, Salumi )
4. Read at least one book a month.  (Jan - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows; Feb - Cannibal Killers, The Time Traveler's Wife; March - The Lost Symbol, Moloka'i, The Tattoo; April - Honolulu, The Zahir )
5. Knit a scarf with nice yarn.    
6. Work on Darwin's training.  I've been slacking on working with her and really want to improve her recall. 
7. (I've been working on her recall and new tricks!)
8. Trim Darwin's toe nails more consistently.  Darwin hates when we trim her nails and so we usually go long periods without a nail trim.  She went to the boarder over Christmas and came back with nice short nails.  Now to keep them short.
9.  (still need to work on this!)
10. Go hiking (snow shoeing in the winter) at least once a month.  Besides the exercise aspect of it (for us and Darwin) it'll be good to explore the area.  Embrace our inner Pacific Northwesterner.  (Jan-Gold Creek snowshoe; Feb-Lake Wenatchee (failed snowshoeing); March-Hyak snowshoe; April-Larrabee State Park)
11. Call home at least once a month.  
12. Limit my shopping (clothes/shoes) to $500 or less for the year. ($316 left! winter boots + gift cards = $70, BR jeans = $20, Goodwill (Gap and Lucky) jeans=$27, skinny jeans, 2 blouses and a hoodie (Forever 21) = $52, flannel and puffy vest(Target) = $15)
13. Do at least one house cleaning activity during the week (sweeping, mopping, clean the bathroom, etc).  Jason likes to do all the cleaning on the weekend.  It'd be nice to have one less thing/area to clean so we can have more weekend time.

.11 for 2011 update.

1. Cut back on alcohol.  Both for health/weight and money savings.
2. Work out to my new dvds, the Exhale: Core Fusion Collection at least two times a week (ideally three times).  (added another DVD to the mix Abs & Arms)
3. Try at least one new restaurant a month.  (Jan-Jules Maes; Feb-Via Tribunali, Kingfish Cafe, Book Bindery, Eddies Trackside; March - Habesha, )
4. Read at least one book a month.  (Jan-Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows; Feb-Cannibal Killers, The Time Traveler's Wife; March-The Lost Symbol, Moloka'i, The Tattoo)
5. Knit a scarf with nice yarn.    
6. Work on Darwin's training.  I've been slacking on working with her and really want to improve her recall.  
7. Trim Darwin's toe nails more consistently.  Darwin hates when we trim her nails and so we usually go long periods without a nail trim.  She went to the boarder over Christmas and came back with nice short nails.  Now to keep them short.
8. Go hiking (snow shoeing in the winter) at least once a month.  Besides the exercise aspect of it (for us and Darwin) it'll be good to explore the area.  Embrace our inner Pacific Northwesterner.  (Jan-Gold Creek snowshoe; Feb-Lake Wenatchee (failed snowshoeing); March-Hyak snowshoe)
9. Call home at least once a month.  
10. Limit my shopping (clothes/shoes) to $500 or less for the year. ($316 left! winter boots + gift cards = $70, BR jeans = $20, Goodwill (Gap and Lucky) jeans=$27, skinny jeans, 2 blouses and a hoodie (Forever 21) = $52, flannel and puffy vest(Target) = $15)
11. Do at least one house cleaning activity during the week (sweeping, mopping, clean the bathroom, etc).  Jason likes to do all the cleaning on the weekend.  It'd be nice to have one less thing/area to clean so we can have more weekend time.

.11 for 2011. update

1. Cut back on alcohol.  Both for health/weight and money savings.
2. Work out to my new dvds, the Exhale: Core Fusion Collection at least two times a week (ideally three times).  (added another DVD to the mix Abs & Arms)
3. Try at least one new restaurant a month.  (Jan-Jules Maes; Feb-Via Tribunali, Kingfish Cafe, Book Bindery, Eddies Trackside)
4. Read at least one book a month.  (Jan-Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows; Feb-Cannibal Killers, The Time Traveler's Wife; March-The Lost Symbol)
5. Knit a scarf with nice yarn.    
6. Work on Darwin's training.  I've been slacking on working with her and really want to improve her recall.  
7. Trim Darwin's toe nails more consistently.  Darwin hates when we trim her nails and so we usually go long periods without a nail trim.  She went to the boarder over Christmas and came back with nice short nails.  Now to keep them short.
8. Go hiking (snow shoeing in the winter) at least once a month.  Besides the exercise aspect of it (for us and Darwin) it'll be good to explore the area.  Embrace our inner Pacific Northwesterner.  (Jan-Gold Creek snowshoe; Feb-Lake Wenatchee (failed snowshoeing); March-Hyak snowshoe)
9. Call home at least once a month.  
10. Limit my shopping (clothes/shoes) to $500 or less for the year. ($383 left! winter boots + gift cards = $70, BR jeans = $20, Goodwill (Gap and Lucky) jeans=$27)
11. Do at least one house cleaning activity during the week (sweeping, mopping, clean the bathroom, etc).  Jason likes to do all the cleaning on the weekend.  It'd be nice to have one less thing/area to clean so we can have more weekend time.

.11 for 2011. update

1. Cut back on alcohol.  Both for health/weight and money savings.
2. Work out to my new dvds, the Exhale: Core Fusion Collection at least two times a week (ideally three times).  (so far so good!)
3. Try at least one new restaurant a month.  (Jan-Jules Maes; Feb-Via Tribunali, Kingfish Cafe, Book Bindery, Eddies Trackside)
4. Read at least one book a month.  (Jan-Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows; Feb-Cannibal Killers)
5. Knit a scarf with nice yarn.    
6. Work on Darwin's training.  I've been slacking on working with her and really want to improve her recall.  
7. Trim Darwin's toe nails more consistently.  Darwin hates when we trim her nails and so we usually go long periods without a nail trim.  She went to the boarder over Christmas and came back with nice short nails.  Now to keep them short.
8. Go hiking (snow shoeing in the winter) at least once a month.  Besides the exercise aspect of it (for us and Darwin) it'll be good to explore the area.  Embrace our inner Pacific Northwesterner.  (Jan-Gold Creek snowshoe; Feb-Lake Wenatchee (failed snowshoeing))
9. Call home at least once a month.  
10. Limit my shopping (clothes/shoes) to $500 or less for the year. ($410 left! winter boots + gift cards = $70, BR jeans = $20)
11. Do at least one house cleaning activity during the week (sweeping, mopping, clean the bathroom, etc).  Jason likes to do all the cleaning on the weekend.  It'd be nice to have one less thing/area to clean so we can have more weekend time.

.11 for 2011.

So I did a 29 by 30 list last year for my 30th birthday, and while I didn't cross everything off, I did get a fair share done.  I was inspired by Erica's 11 in 2011 and thought I'd set goals for this year.  Resolutions, goals, call it what you will, but these are mine.

1. Cut back on alcohol (even though research says abstaining "significantly shortens life"and someone who drinks one to three drinks has the lowest mortality rate).  Both for health/weight  and money savings.
2. Work out to my new dvds, the Exhale: Core Fusion Collection at least two times a week (ideally three times).  I just got this as a Christmas gift and have used it 3 times and man what a work out!
3. Try at least one new restaurant a month.  We always end up at the same places and always say we should try new places, now we'll HAVE to!  
4. Read at least one book a month.  I do read, but Jason says I'm a binger when I read.  I'll find something I really like (Twilight series, Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series, etc) and stay up all night reading nonstop, then I don't read anything for weeks. (Jan-Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows)
5. Knit a scarf with nice yarn.  I had knit a scarf on my 29 by 30 list and crossed it off!  But I used cheaper yarn, and seem to have accumulated a lot of cheap yarn.  I went and bought fancy alpaca/wool yarn at the end of last year, but have been too scared to use it in case I mess up!  
6. Work on Darwin's training.  I've been slacking on working with her and really want to improve her recall.  
7. Trim Darwin's toe nails more consistently.  Darwin hates when we trim her nails and so we usually go long periods without a nail trim.  She went to the boarder over Christmas and came back with nice short nails.  Now to keep them short.
8. Go hiking (snow shoeing in the winter) at least once a month.  Besides the exercise aspect of it (for us and Darwin) it'll be good to explore the area.  Embrace our inner Pacific Northwesterner.  (Jan-Gold Creek snowshoe)
9. Call home at least once a month.  When I first moved to Seattle almost 4.5 years ago (WOAH it's been almost 4.5 years) my dad would call ALL the time.  Now, not so often.  Don't get me wrong, we email and call randomly, but I'm not prone to being the caller, usually I'm the callee. It doesn't really help  I'm not much of a phone person, but I should make the effort to call not just on holidays or when I need something (some snacks from Hawaii can't be found in Seattle).  
10. Limit my shopping (clothes/shoes) to $500 or less for the year.  I'm not sure how much I normally spend on clothes/shoes in a year, but this year I'll have a budget.  Besides being good for savings, we don't really have the space at home for much more clothes or shoes. ($410 left! winter boots + gift cards = $70, BR jeans = $20)
11. Do at least one house cleaning activity during the week (sweeping, mopping, clean the bathroom, etc).  Jason likes to do all the cleaning on the weekend.  It'd be nice to have one less thing/area to clean so we can have more weekend time.

nerd

I am nerding out looking at blogs with gift wrapping ideas.  I love wrapping presents!  I actually hated it as a kid because I was the designated gift wrapper of the family.  I remember wrapping boxes of Crown Royal for my dad to give to his workers and even wrapping my own gifts from my family (lame).
Check out some of these ideas:
Make a bow from old magazine pages.

image via how about orange


and another version here

image via craftster

A whole blog dedicated to gift wrapping!

image via the gifted blog

image via the gifted blog

And finally a cute way I can use up all the cheap yarn I have!

image via bugs and fishes