Leeann

I changed the goal from making all the cookies on that particular list to making 50 different kinds of cookies in general. So far I’ve done 2: chocolate chip and Reese’s peanut butter cup.

I did this without even remembering that it was on my list, haha. I learned Magic Loop & LOVE IT! Here’s a picture of the first things I made with it, Fetching fingerless gloves. :) (More knitting pictures at my blog!)

And I will be getting it in the week after Xmas or so, if all goes well. :)

Well, first I made a bag, but I have yet to finish seaming it because, as I’m learning, sewing seams = the biggest pain in the butt EVER. Then I made a hat, which you can see here, and which I LOVE. And I have a bunch of projects lined up next! Knitting is becoming a big part of my life & I’m very happy about that.

This is going to be a 2008 resolution. I already bake nearly a batch of cookies a week, so I think this is very doable (unlike some of my previous year-long project attempts). It will also be a chance for me to use some new ingredients, learn some new techniques, experiment, feed/hopefully impress my friends & family, and probably discover some new favorites. I’ve decided to wait until January for several reasons but I’m really looking forward to getting started!

The list is here, if you’re curious. As soon as I saw it I knew I had to try making them all. :)

Embroidery is probably one of the easiest & most satisfying things I’ve ever learned to do! I picked up Jenny Hart’s Stitch-It Kit a few weeks ago and since then I’ve stitched a cute cat design onto a tea towel and made a really beautiful pillowcase for my boyfriend.

Should be done in a couple weeks or so.

I think I can definitely check this off now, given that I’ve been doing totally insane amounts of cooking & baking lately. Recent delicious treats include an AMAZING coconut cheesecake, tasty vegetable samosas, fattoush, garlic paste, truly fantastic banana bread, chocolate chip cookies, and probably some other things I’m forgetting. The near future should include snickerdoodles, white beans with rosemary & olive oil, peanut butter cookies, & maybe a red lentil dish for a friend who’s never tried them before…

He’s already home from Scotland, so sending something would be a little silly. Instead I think I’m going to give him all the small gifts I wanted to send in a mailer envelope with a note about how seemingly incapable I am of ever making it to the damn post office…

Finished re-reading book 6 yesterday. I don’t know how but the ending gets more heartbreaking each time. Now I’m just dying for it to be July 21st already!!!!

I was doing a good job of this from January 1st all the way into the middle of April. I just lost steam, though, and haven’t been able to get back into it since. It was definitely good while it lasted: I learned a lot about both my old camera and the new one I acquired during the process. I started seeing many things in my daily life in a new light and took some pictures I really love that certainly wouldn’t have come about without trying this project.

Part of the problem was definitely my method of sharing—I made a LiveJournal community for my project. Seeemed like a good idea at first, but uploading and posting every photo using LJ’s less-than-spectacular ScrapBook system was a pain, to say the least. In the future I’ll either be using an easier sharing method (like Flickr) or not sharing at all, but I do intend to give this another shot!

Just finished re-reading #4 today.

I learned just the other day that there are more Sikhs in the world than Jews. It seems sad to me, then, that I know so much about what I consider to be the “major” religions (the Abrahamic ones, that is: Christianity, Judaism, & Islam) and so little about other faiths that shape the daily lives of millions and millions of people around the world. My friend Neda mentioned to me that a Sikh temple was recently built near where we live, so we’re hopefully going to go visit it sometime soon.

Oops, she’s already home from Germany!

I wrote to my aunt, a yoga instructor who is working on becoming some sort of certified ayurvedic practitioner, about wanting to read some books on ayurveda. She wrote back:

One that is especially interesting is by Maya Tiwari “Ayurveda: A Life In Balance”. Her recommendations are not so easy but that doesn’t mean the book isn’t worth reading. She is an Indian who grew up in Africa. [...] Robert Svoboda is an American who wrote the book “Prakriti: Your Ayurvedic Constitution”. This is an excellent book.

So there are some to add to my wishlist! This just seems like such a complicated topic and, even though I’ve been wanting to learn about it for ages, I hardly know where to start. Have any of you out there read either of those books, or do you have any of your own to recommend?

Hi everyone! I think/hope a lot of you remember me from the original goal, but for those who don’t, hi! My name’s Leeann and I’m a university student in Michigan. I’ve been doing yoga on and off for about 4 or 5 years now and I completed my 30-in-30 just over a month ago.

Since finishing the goal I fear I haven’t been too consistent with my practice. A combination of laziness, tons of homework, and…more laziness, I guess, has been standing in my way. Also when I was working on 30-in-30 I had a team to check in with every day, which helped keep me motivated. Now I’ve got to learn to motivate myself that way.

Yesterday, though, I went to a class at a really nice local studio with an old yogini friend of mine and I think her energy and excitement about yoga helped revive my love of it. Our class was wonderful and today I had a nice session on my own at home.

Here’s to some more consistency in the future, then, and my new related goal: read (or, more accurately, do) the book Happy Yoga (it’s a really great book given to me by the aforementioned friend and it focuses mainly on the spiritual/”inner” aspects of yoga. I really like what I’ve read of it but I need to start applying it!).

They weren’t as homemade or creative as I’d hoped (or as they were last year), but I’m going to consider this done. Despite the lack of construction paper, felt, or glitter glue (really, who has the time?), I wrote more than I’ve ever written in such cards and I meant every word. I also sent a few short ones to some unsuspecting acquaintances. Basically I’m pretty sure I did my duty and assured some people (though perhaps not enough…) that they’re loved like crazy. Hopefully next year I can break out the glitter glue again.

Well I can officially check this goal off!

Today’s practice wasn’t too brilliant, really—went along with a Yoga Today podcast and had to stop entirely too frequently to blow my nose (still recovering from that cold). Still, I’m glad to say I’ve done this. Thanks for all the support and best of luck to the rest of you! I’ll be continuing on at the alumni goal, hope to see you all there. :)

...but I might do it soon. The baking’s been out of control with cooking lagging slightly behind. Recently I’ve made zucchini bread, banana bread, tabbouli, an experimental Indian-inspired spicy Basmati rice (to which I’m going to add cooked red lentils tomorrow), and surely some other things I’m forgetting.

So I’m finally feeling most of the way better and am back on track with yoga. Today’s session was short and simple as I’m still feeling mildly congested. I felt very weak (especially in my arms) after a few days away but those familiar movements were surprisingly comforting once I got going. I’m looking forward to a longer, more intense, hopefully very satisfying practice tomorrow.