27 at 27 Update and the 30 Day Plank Challenge

1. Visit a place I've never been.  

2. Take a Class. 

3. Write a rough draft of a novel or short story. 

4. Get in the shape I want to be in. So I've thought a lot about this goal and realized that this isn't something to be met in a year. This is an ongoing process. So instead I am officially changing number 4 to Exercise at least twice a week. I can't say that I have exercised twice a week every week this year, but I think I did pretty good though. Before my Zumba class ended, I was attending at least one (if not two) Zumba classes a week and a yoga class. I haven't become a total couch potato like I used to be so I consider this a success. Also, I have completed my goal of planking for 5 minutes! 

5. Eat healthier.  Now that we're nearing the end of the year, I can officially say that I have eaten healthier foods this year. I now cook broccoli and asparagus on a regular basis. Below is a dinner I made not too long ago of chicken, broccoli and quinoa. 

This is not to say that I eat all healthy foods. I do still enjoy my fried chicken salads, waffle fries and American Deli wings quite frequently. But I'm getting there.

6. Try a new vegetable. 

7. Go to a concert. 

8. Save more money than I did last year.  It's official, I have managed to put more money into my savings account than I did last year. Now, if only I could keep it going without taking any money out.

9. See a play. 

10. Try my hand at photography. 

11. Do a wine tasting. I haven't gotten the chance to do an official wine tasting, but I did attend a wine and chocolate party. We tried three different wines with various chocolates and cheeses. It counts!

12. Eat at a restaurant I've never eaten at before.  


13. Try new kinds of sushi. 

14. Run a 5K.  

15. Watch Breaking Bad. 

16. Make a craft and attempt to sell it on Etsy. 

17. Make a T-shirt quilt. 

18. Attempt a new activity. 

19. Have at least one themed party.   

20. Bake a new kind of pie. 

21. Make a crafty map of the United States. 

22. Learn how to curl my hair.  Being a hair stylist may not be in my future, but I think I've learned just enough about my styling wand to get by. I've curled my hair several times this year and it looks pretty good if I do say so myself. At least, most of the time.

23. Go to a drag queen show. 

24. Go glamping. 

25. Do something that scares me. 

26. Re-organize my closet area.   

27. Blog more!  I think it's safe to say that I have blogged more this year than I ever have, which is a bit sad considering the number of posts I have :) . Hopefully one day I will find my niche and post at least once a week.

Less than two months to go with 5 challenges left!

27 at 27 Update

1. Visit a place I've never been.  

2. Take a Class. Photography 1 complete!

3. Write a rough draft of a novel or short story. 

4. Get in the shape I want to be in. 

5. Eat healthier. 

6. Try a new vegetable. 

7. Go to a concert. A few weekends ago I attended a Shania Twain concert. It was not quite what I expected. She was definitely not the Shania Twain I remember (what with the blonde hair and Vegas-style outfit choices) but it was entertaining. And she sang all of my favorites, which is the most important thing.

8. Save more money than I did last year. 

9. See a play. 

10. Try my hand at photography. Kinda killed two birds with one stone on this one by taking my class. It's still a work in progress but I'm improving!

11. Do a wine tasting. 

12. Eat at a restaurant I've never eaten at before.  


13. Try new kinds of sushi. 

14. Run a 5K.  

15. Watch Breaking Bad. 

16. Make a craft and attempt to sell it on Etsy. 

17. Make a T-shirt quilt. 

18. Attempt a new activity. 

19. Have at least one themed party.   

20. Bake a new kind of pie. 

21. Make a crafty map of the United States. 

22. Learn how to curl my hair. 

23. Go to a drag queen show. 

24. Go glamping. 

25. Do something that scares me. 

26. Re-organize my closet area.   

27. Blog more! 

I have around 4 months left. I'm worried about some of the items on the list, but I'm going to try my best!

Photography!

As part of my 27 at 27, I decided to take a photography class at a local college. The classes are offered on week nights at 7. I've had to re-arrange my fitness schedule, but other than that, it works out great. Well, except that I've had to kill 2-3 hours the last few weeks on Tuesday evenings between work at class. (My class is just down the road from my job and I live 35 minutes away so I felt it pointless to drive home just to come back.) My last class is tonight, but I start Photography 2 in a few weeks!!

I've finally learned how to use my camera, at least the basics, and have taken some pretty cool shots. 

I know I still have a ways to go before I can call myself a photographer, but hopefully I will get there someday. 

A New Book is Out, Must be Tuesday

Have you ever wondered why most new books come out on Tuesday? 

Well, I have. But never before did I use my favorite trusty search engine to find out. Until today.

I glimpsed on Twitter where Felecia Day's new memoir is coming out today...Tuesday. And for once I actually wondered 'why Tuesday' enough to look it up.

According to one source, book sales (like TV ratings) are measured by Nielson. And Nielson measures weekly sales from Tuesday to Monday (for some unknown reason). 

Another source stated it was so that retailers didn't have to unpack new items on the release date (Monday) and that Tuesday was the next closet day or something.

Other blogs and articles say there is no reason. Or simply that no one knows. 

Regardless of the reason, I plan to go out and purchase a new book today. And memoir just happens to be on my 52 week reading challenge. Speaking of...

I have made fairly good progress with my reading list. I'm over halfway there (having read 29 of 52 books). The problem now is that I'm running out of categories that fit the books I most like to read. Chick-lit! 

Here's a list of the books I've read so far and my rating out of 5 stars!

Getting Rid of Bradly	Jennifer Crusie	3
A Rural Affair	Catherine Alliott	3
The DUFF	Kody Keplinger	4
Don't Turn Around Trilogy	Michelle Gagnon	3
Fangirl	Rainbow Rowell	5
Everlast	Chad Michael Murray	3
Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus	Mo Williems	5
When in Doubt, Add Butter	Beth Harbison	4
Hidden	Catherine McKenzie	3
Choose Us	Caylie Marcoe	4
Switched	Cassie Mae	4
The Gift	Deb Stover	4
Her Mistletoe Protector	Laura Scott	3
Love Thy Neighbor	Belle Aurora	3.5
Parting Chances	Caylie Marcoe	4
The First	Lisa M. Green	3
Shiver	Karen Robards	5
King Sized Beds and Happy Trails	Becca Anne	3.5
The Heir	Keira Cass	5
Beach Blanket Bad Boys	Linda Miller	4
What Alice Forgot	Liane Moriarty	4.5
Can You Keep a Secret	Sophie Kinsella	4
Day Shift	Charlaine Harris	4
Unexpectedly You	Cassie Mae	4
His Best Friend	Melanie Marks	2
A Dark Lure	Loreth Ann White	4.5
It's In His Heart	Shelly Alexander	4.5

Bear in mind that my rating is largely based on whether I personally liked the book, not simply if it was well written. For my reviews on these books, you can check out my Goodreads page. https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/18323405-mallory

Only 23 more to go! According to Goodreads I am two books behind schedule. Oh well! The rest of the list may be a bigger challenge, but I'm up for it.

Anyone know a good book that came out in 1987?

Dear Madam, Can you Change a Tire?

Women can do a lot of things. Anything we put our minds to.

But I realized last Monday that there are several important things I do not know how to do. And it's true that I didn't think of all of this just now (I already knew I didn't know how to change a tire) but being stranded on the side of the road will really get you contemplating.

I have had exactly two flat tires in my nearly 12 years of driving. The first happened about two miles from my house so it wasn't difficult to find someone to drive over and help me out.

The second happened today. On a highway. At 7:00 a.m. 30 minutes from my house.

As I sat there, looking at directions on how to use a carjack, I wondered/hoped someone would take pity on me and stop. After they didn't and I spent a bit second guessing myself and my ability to handle this crisis on my own, I called a co-worker to come and help me. He kindly obliged (and even took me to a gas station to put air in my spare tire after we discovered it was flat :/ ) and I really appreciated the help. 

But it left me wondering if I could have done it on my own. Now, in this instance, that probably would have been a no since I couldn't walk to a gas station and pump up that tire, but in a general sense... Could I change my own tire if there was no one to help? If no one stopped?

This also lead me to think about other things I don't currently know how to do. Like sewing a button on a shirt, running a lawn mower, repairing a leaky sink... I depend on other people to do certain things for me but what if the day comes when I am the only one around? Or I am the adult who is supposed to fix the problem?

I'm making it a goal to learn these skills (and others). If I do make a 30 under 30 list, I know what will be number 1.

Below is a Buzzfeed article I found on things every woman should know how to do. It's entertaining if nothing else:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/catesevilla/46-things-every-grown-woman-should-know#.ovlxpQWmP

Me Time

Last Thursday I took the day off from work. I had time I needed to use and thought, why not? I also didn't tell anyone I took off work as I was determined to have a little 'me time'. 

I didn't want to waste the day by laying around watching Netflix all day, so I got my butt up at 8:00 a.m. and set out for our local park.

I haven't run a mile in quite some time so I wasn't sure I could even still do it. But I was determined to try. Our park has a track that runs around it. In total it is 1 1/10 miles. I started slow, walking a full lap around, snapping a few photos.

I ran the entire next lap (yay!) and then walked one more lap before heading back home to shower.

After showering, my grandmother and I went to get our nails done and then went to lunch at Applebees. I love their lunch combos. I had a club sandwich and French onion soup ($8). After lunch we went to Walmart to pick up a few things and then headed home.

Still wanting to be productive, I washed dishes and clothes and picked up a little around the basement. I even managed a blog entry! By the time all of this was done, it was time to start cooking dinner. I'd been craving pasta salad all day, so I started with an Italian dressing based recipe.

I cooked a pound of pasta (this lasted for three days FYI) and then added red and green peppers, parmesan cheese, Italian seasoning and Italian dressing. It's very simple and very delicious. 

For the main dish, I decided to cook something a bit healthier. I made a lemon chicken and asparagus stir fry. I also made white rice to go on the side. I know white rice isn't the healthiest, but I like it. :)

You can find the recipe here: 

http://www.skinnytaste.com/2014/03/chicken-and-asparagus-lemon-stir-fry.html

After dinner, I decided to do something I hadn't done in quite a while. I took a bubble bath. It seemed like a great way to end my day. I had mixed up some sangria earlier in the day (sangria I bought from Sam's mixed with blackberries) so I poured a glass and lit a candle and relaxed in my (admittedly too small) tub. 

I made the water a little too hot so it didn't last as long as it could have but it was still nice. I read a few chapters of my book and sipped my sangria. 

Note to self: when I get my own house, I will get a bigger tub. Preferably one with jets. :)

All in all, I'd say it was a great day. 

Cleaning Out My Closet

I'm sorry, mama. I never meant to hurt you...

Just kidding. This is about an actual closet.

Since I've been buying so many new clothes and shoes lately, I thought it would be a good idea to re-organize my closet. 

As you can see from the before picture below, my closet is really just racks hanging on the wall. Since I'm in the basement, a closet for clothes was never built. This is one of many reasons I should keep my closet tidy at all times. Whoever walks into my bedroom can see it.

As you may notice, I have a tendency to throw hangers on the floor when I take clothes off of them. Bad habit.

My first step to a better closet was to pull everything down. I put it all on my bed in piles. Shirts with shirts, jackets with jackets, dresses with dresses, etc. (Side note- I do not hang pants in my closet. I keep them in drawers.) I then went through all of the piles and picked out which clothes I really wanted to keep.The rest went into the Goodwill pile. A good rule of thumb is if you haven't worn it in the last year, you probably aren't going to. 

I read up on hangers and discovered that these thin velvet hangers are really good for space saving. They also grip your clothes so they do not fall off like they do with wire hangers. No clothes pins necessary! I ordered the hangers pictured below from Amazon ($24 for 50 hangers) and I also ordered the suit hangers as well ($25 for 50). I ended up ordering a total of 150 hangers to accommodate all of my clothes. (Yeah I know...) I also purchased a pack of finger clips from Amazon for my skirts. ($7.48 for 20). All of these items ship free with Amazon Prime. 

I hung everything back up starting at the back right with my big winter coats. Next I put dresses. This was necessary for me because my shoe rack is too tall for them to hang anywhere else. Next came long-sleeved shirts, then short sleeved, then sleeveless. Lastly, I put my cardigans on the very end. On the right side of the closet I hung my jackets and a few ugly Christmas sweaters. When it gets colder weather, I plan to unpack the rest of my non-ugly sweaters and switch them out with my sleeveless shirts.

I decided to organize each section by color as well. This makes it much easier to find things when I'm hurriedly looking for a specific article of clothing.

I have all of my bags a purses stacked in the top of my closet, along with various hats I've acquired (for parties mostly). The bigger Thirty-One totes hold all of my purses, while my grey and white polka dot bin holds my wallets. 

I think the velvet hangers really clean up the look of the closet and make it seem a bit more spacious than the plastic hangers. I'm glad I made the investment.

Not only does it look better, but re-organizing your closet once a year can really aid in getting rid of clothes you don't wear. Though it doesn't look like it, I actually got rid of a whole trash-bag of clothes this go around. 

Lord help me if I ever get my dream walk-in closet. ;)