Weekend Project: Organize Closet

Yay! I finally organized my closet. As you can see from the top "before" picture, I desperately needed to do this chore. I still need to get a bulletin board to put up on the wall by my jackets and handbags that I can use to hang my necklaces on. I would also like to figure out some way to hang up some of my scarves to have them more visible and available. What is it about organizing some little part of your life that gives such a sense of peace and accomplishment?

P.S. - Can anyone tell me how to fix the spaces between the images in this post?

7. Bake a Pie

For Thanksgiving this year, I volunteered to bake a pie since I hadn't crossed No. 7 off of my list yet. My colleague, Kathy, gave me the pecans from her Aunt's tree down in Texas. Jackie helped me shell them, and I just might be the worst pecan-sheller in the world. But, the pie still managed to turn out fine--I didn't even get a chance to take a picture of the final product because I forgot my camera when I went down to my parents' house this weekend. The pie crust recipe made enough for two pies, so I'll have to make another one sometime this week...I'll let you know how it goes. : )

P.S. Sorry for the poor image quality--I'm still learning how to use my camera...

My Bucket List

1. Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.
2. Ice skating at Rockefeller Center.
3. Go back to visit all of the places that I have lived.
4. Run a marathon.
5. Go to culinary school.
6. Be the best at what I do.
7. Bake a pie. (11/27/08)
8. Spend New Year's Eve in Times Square.
9. Flip a house.
10. Skiing in the Swiss Alps.
11. Spend a week at a spa with my girlies.
12. Wine tasting in Napa Valley.
13. Visit Greece and Italy (cruise?).
14. Set up a scholarship fund for young women looking to find a cure for dimentia or diabetes.
15. Have a syndicated column.
16. Write a novel (children's?).
17. Work for something I believe in.
18. Go on a cruise.
19. Work on a project with Donald Trump.
20. Attend the winter olympics.
21. Go to a game in Yankees stadium. (8/2/07)
22. Knicks game in Madison Square Garden.
23. Rangers game in Madison Square Garden!
24. Yankees vs. Red Sox (5/8/10)
25. Attend fall Fashion Week with my sisters.
26. Graduate from college! (12/5/09)
27. Get my MBA or Master's in Marketing.
28. Get a PhD in American literature.
29. Washington D.C.
30. Boston (5/5/10-5/9/10)
31. Chicago
32. Philadelphia
33. New York City (8/1/07-8/8/07)
34. Ireland (3/14/09-3/17/09)
35. Egypt
36. Notre Dame football game
37. Syracuse lacrosse game
38. Cherry Blossom Festival in D.C.
39. Seattle
40. Own a little piece of land
41. Read through the "College Bound Reading List"
42. Oxford - Eagle & Child Pub (3/26/09)
43. Go on a safari in South Africa
44. Bungee jumping
45. Brazilian
46. Get a puppy and train her.
47. Spend a month living in the French countryside.
48. Do a better job of keeping in touch/staying close to my family.
49. Prague
50. Meet Martha Stewart
51. Take the train from Reno to Denver.
52. Moscow (yay furs and communist modern architecture!) and St. Petersburg
53. Alaskan cruise
54. Grand Canyon (backpacking/camping trip?)
55. Mesa Verde Cliff Dwellings
56. Israel
57. Paris
58. London (3/19/09)
59. Attend a Presidential inauguration
60. Prince Edward Island
61. St. Patrick's Day in Dublin (3/17/09)
62. Australia and New Zealand
63. Rio de Janeiro
64. Fall in love (I don't know an exact date...)
65. Visit every baseball park in the U.S.
66. Become fluent in at least one other language
67. Start my own business
68. Rose Parade
69. Cook my way through an entire cook book
70. Have a baby
71. Go to Spring Training
72. Read through all works by C.S. Lewis

Let me know if you have any ideas for things I should add!

"Brunch"

I find it amusing that Jen and I go to "brunch" on the weekends at 9 or 9:30 in the morning. It's really breakfast (I'm pretty sure that brunch is really a 10:30-11 affair), but it's so much girlier to call it brunch I suppose. This morning, we hit up the Stone House Cafe which I had never been to before, believe it or not. It is an adorable little cafe. I can't wait to visit again when it's warmer outside so that I can sit outside and enjoy their beautiful patio. I had the chorizo omelet (which was amazing) and Jen had the french toast with a side of corned beef hash (most of which ended up going home in a box for Karl). The service was great (the hostess complimented me on my sunglasses) with the exception of our waitress who was a tad bit on the witchy side. But, hey--I would be if I had to work with people before 10am on Saturday morning, too.

I also got to talk to Jess today! She is having a great time over in Cambridge--I can't wait to go visit her (*fingers crossed*)! I need to go into Verizon and see if I'm going to get charged like mad for these international texts & calls...

If

by Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!

My Next Phone

The Blackberry Storm.

Thank you to Blackberry for letting me have my cake and eat it, too.

The Decline of Democracy

"Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." - Benjamin Franklin

Feeling Nostalgic...

...and I have been since A called me out of the blue about a month ago. I had a dream about my grandmother that night, and I decided to use my free plane ticket from Southwest to go visit her this summer. There's something about Autumn that makes me so homesick for Michigan. I wish that I could go visit right now while the leaves are still turning colors, but I'll have to wait until summer...I need to make sure that I enjoy this summer as it will be my last as a student (!). I feel so restless right now. I feel like I'm "in between" but I don't want to live my life like I am. If I had my druthers, I would just pick up and move to Seattle right now, but I need to wait it out one more year and finish school. : (

Sometimes I wonder whether I'll ever end up back in Michigan. I really love it there, but could I really be happy living in a small town like Plainwell or Kalamazoo? What would my career possibilities look like? I do so want to live in a place where the seasons change...

Maybe I'm just feeling antsy and restless because I've been living in this area for four years now...