Day 48 Update

Almost to the benchmark of 50 days, and I'm still working on my list a little bit each day!
Here is where I am on my progress in February:

8.  Go Ice Skating:  Complete!  I think this is the first goal that I have finished completely.  Justin and I went skating in the Olympic speed skating oval in Lake Placid, NY.  The oval is outdoors, which was really cool.  I will post pictures later.

16.  Journal 5 times a month.  So far I am behind again.  I've journalled twice so far, but I'll make it up before the month is out.

20.  I have finished another adult novel:  The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold.  I'll post about it later

21. I've finished the first children's book for this goal by reading Over Sea and Under Stone, the first in The Dark is Rising Sequence by Susan Cooper.  I've also just finished the second book, although that won't go on my list.  I'll be writing a post about this one as well.

24.  Get a job.  No luck, but I've been continuing my search every day.

37. I have my "W" movie for the list: Whip It,  I'll post about it later

40.  So far I have had one night a week in which I am tv-free after 7 pm

42. Make 20 New Recipes:  I haven't tried a new one recently, but I went through all of my cookbooks and put post-its on recipes I want to try.

43. Keep Recipes I like in one binder.  I made good progress on this one so far.  I typed all of the loose and hand-written recipes I had in my binder onto actual binder pages.  Next I need to make a system for keeping track of the rest of my recipes.

44. Cook at home once a week.  I have been keeping up with this.  So far this month I have made Shepherd's Pie, chicken pot pie, and potato leek soup.

49.  Justin and I had a date night on Valentine's day.  We got dressed up and went out to eat at a really nice restaurant.

67.  Wii fit or yoga 3 times a week.  This did not work out this month and I'm going to try again next month

68.  Emergency car kit:  I have created a list of what I want, but have not bought it yet

72.  I took three good videos on my flip last weekend at the Empire State Games.  I'm not sure if I want to post any here yet.

83.  This is my two-week review although it is a little late, and i'll do another before the month is over.

85.  I cashed in my first jar of change today.  It was mostly pennies so I just got $16.00, but at least it's something.

Finally introduced to Jason Bourne

I finally watched the Bourne Identity as one of my movies.  I've been meaning to watch this for a long time.  I really enjoyed it.  It was a good action movie and makes me want to see the next movies.  It definitely felt like the start of  a series, and that there was  more to tell.

Day 26 update

Here is what I am working on or have completed now:

11. I have been working on my quilt. So far I have cut out all of my strips, and sewn the green and yellow strips together. Next up I'll be adding red strips.

16. I failed to write in my journal at all in January, so I'm going to make more of an effort to get my five entries in February

24. I have not gotten a job yet, but I've created a schedule for myself to check ads in different places every day.

35. So far I have cut out a few shows. I am not watching Models of the Runway after Project Runway. After last week's episode proved the show is getting really stupid, I'm going to stop watching Private Practice. I'm also seriously considering dropping Heroes. I know I'm way behind on giving up on that one

37. I have another movie to add to the list. I've finally watched the Bourne Identity.

40. I have been keeping up with this goal to stop watching tv after 7 once a week

44. I have been cooking once a week for my family. This past week I cooked Macaroni and Cheese.

46. I started my beer drinking goal last night. I had double dog double pale ale at the Cyber Cafe. It was very strong in both flavor and alcohol content, but I liked it.

49. The above was also mine and Justin's January date night. We went out to the Cyber Cafe to see a funk band. It wasn't quite our type of music, but it was entertaining and the singer was very talented. We had a couple of beers, but decided to go out for desert after the show. We went out for ice cream.

Shiver: My first YA book for the list

I just finished Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater for task number 22. This is a young adult novel about Grace, a girl who has always been fascinated about the wolves that roam the woods near her house. She is particularly attracted to one wolf with yellow eyes who saved her from his fellow wolves in an attack when she was younger.

Grace eventually finds out that this wolf is Sam, a werewolf. Wolves in this book are human in the warm summer months, and become wolves when cold hits.
Unfortunately, their summers are limited, and this may be Sam's last one.

Sam and Grace meet and are instantly in love. The book was good, but a little disappointing. It was slow moving, and the two characters were immediately in love, even citing their time as two different species as part of their long relationship. Sometimes the voice of the characters was good, and they were compelling, but at other times the language was too flowery. Sam especially was a little too emo and poetic for my tastes. It was a quick read, and especially at the end I was hooked into the plot, wanting to know what happened. I just had higher expectations for this one.

Fun at an Irish Pub

I got off to a good start on goal 45 the other day when I took Justin out to lunch at McGirk's Irish pub. We were celebrating Justin getting hired for his first teaching position, and we both enjoy pubs, so we decided to try out this local restaurant we hadn't been to before.

It is a nice place, that often hosts music. We decided we would like to go back there for dinner or later when it is busier and there is entertainment.

Justin had a buffalo chicken sandwich, and I had a reuben, but instead of sauerkraut it had coleslaw. We also both had a cup of their daily soup -- twice baked potato-- Which was delicious. I would definitely go back again.

I, Claudius

I started working towards goal number twenty today: Read 50 adult books I’ve never read before. I finished the remarkable I, Claudius by Robert Graves. Not knowing much about the history of Ancient Rome, I wasn't sure if I would find the subject of this novel boring or difficult to relate to. It was quite the opposite. The book is a fictional autobiography of the Roman Emperor Claudius, who was considered to be an idiot and an invalid by his family. He manages to survive several previous Emperor, all of his family to become emperor.

The book is fascinating because it is really less about Claudius than about his family members. We get his perspective on everyone from his manipulative grandmother Livia, his cruel uncle the Emperor Tiberius, and his nephew, the mad Caligula. I just found out there is a companion book that goes more into Claudius's reign, which I must read.

Another movie added to the list

An update on goal number 37

A for Adventureland. I enjoyed this movie quite a bit. The humor relied less on gags and more on the awkward characters, which was nice. Not the best movie I've ever seen, but I really loved seeing Martin Starr again, and Kristen Wiig is becoming a favorite of mine.