50 things that made my year

I got this idea from Tim, who was inspired by another blogger. They both went to 100, but I found 50 to be… well, easier.

In no particular order, fifty things that made my year in 2014:

1. ringing in 2014 in Fort Kickass
2. yoga
3. headstands and the other cool stuff I’m learning to do with my body. That sounds dirty.
4. construction of the Green Line finally finished and now I get to take the train to work
5. my resolutions for the year: eat more cheese and eat more burritos. Massive successes.
6. that time the White House had a real-life Big Block of Cheese Day
7. that genius burrito Kickstarter campaign
8. the even more amazing Reading Rainbow campaign
9. we got rid of our janky old car
10. I learned to knit
11. PuppyCam happened again
12. that time Enli and I encountered a squirrel in the yard carrying an entire egg roll in its mouth.
13. RiffTrax Live was perhaps a life-changing experience.
14. Clay Aiken ran for Congress, his opponent died, and he still lost.
15. Finally took Darren to the original motherland of Bagley, WI. It was kind of sad, but I’m glad we made it there anyway.
16. So many office happy hours.
17. Peanut Butter Oreos
18. I started making my own BBQ sauce and life may never be the same.
19. The horrible upstairs neighbors broke up and moved out.
20. that time I saw Derek Jeter in real life and spent the rest of the day singing Derek Jeter’s Taco Hole.
21. Sharknado 2 and the existence of the Sharknado theme song
22. the day of my oldest brother’s wedding, I learned that my Twinkle is gonna be a dad (in like 2 1/2 months, whaaaat!)
23. So, yeah: Cody got married, Tyler got engaged, Kyle and Jenna are having a baby. I’m piggybacking off my brothers and their Big Life Events.
24. that time a bunch of us only worked until noon and then went to a baseball game
25. playing Goldeneye for the first time in probably 15 years
26. midterm elections happened and I got to experience the joy of not voting for Mike McFadden.
27. we went to a hunting-themed wedding where the groom wore a camouflage tuxedo jacket and it made my life.
28. I watched so much good TV, thanks in large part to Netflix. Psych, Twin Peaks, all of Gilmore Girls, yet another West Wing rewatch… to name a few.
29. the OMG Literally Dead Instagram account
30. spending a day swimming and bar-hopping with Brenna, and more friends joining in
31. lunch on the “patio” at the Blue Door with Kate, in the rain
32. so many birthday cupcakes!
33. I finally read The Princess Bride
34. Other “made my year” books I read: Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, Hyperbole and a Half, Let’s Pretend This Never Happened, The Ocean at the End of the Lane
35. mom gave us copies of her pregnancy notes so I scanned ’em.
36. watching Enli and Winston wrestle
37. I saw a very impressive Beatles tribute show
38. I made cheese
39. yet another excellent day at the State Fair
40. we put in new seats at the Orpheum and it was crazytown.
41. I crocheted several adorable things for Fetus Johnston.
42. these ladies
43. this guy
44. these little monsters
45. air plants and my ability to actually keep them alive
46. when Kelsey’s question for Nick Offerman ended up on the Tonight Show.
47. this picture of me and my dad
48. all the things that made (and continue to make) me laugh really hard, like this gif.
49. meeting a bunch of new friends
50. many, many excellent cups of coffee.

we like, we like to party

I’m all sick and stuff, which happens every friggin’ year during my holiday break, and Darren very well may be headed down the same street. So thanks mostly to that but also in part to laziness and the bitter cold, we’re staying in for New Year’s Eve. He had to work, but while he was gone I put together an epic holiday feast. A few little milestones happen in 2015 (we both turn 30, plus our 5th wedding anniversary), so we might as well go into it well-fed. Bonus: cooking a multi-course meal is on my 30-by-30 list.

So! Our New Year’s Eve dinner:

• bread (I used this recipe) with seasoned olive oil for dipping
• salad
• potato soup
• steak seasoned with kona rub from the Capital Grille, and roasted potatoes – we had a bag of potatoes that needed to be used, okay?
• peach pie – Darren’s favorite. Not homemade, but constructed using refrigerated crusts and canned filling with some extra seasoning.

Yum.

I was hoping to go to a New Year’s Day yoga class in the morning, but the state of my sinuses seems to be working against me there.

Tonight when the clock hits 12, I’ll be watching Roseanne on Netflix, working on one more 2014-centric blog  post, and eating a slice of pie. And possibly also sneezing. Happy New Year!

2014, as she happened.

Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

I made two resolutions: 1) eat more cheese. 2) eat more burritos. Yes I did keep them, thank you very much. I might even make the same resolutions for 2015.

Did anyone close to you give birth?

Someone people I’m FB friends with, but not real-life friends. SOON THOUGH. Soooooooon.

Did anyone close to you die?

Not as of today, and it better stay that way.

What countries did you visit?

Alas, I only got as far as Wisconsin.

What would you like to have in 2015 that you lacked in 2014?

Okay, I always say more money, but that will be true until I win the lottery (which will be never because I don’t play the lottery). More travel, too.

What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Another year has passed without a fetus. Win.
OH AND I learned to do a headstand.

What was your biggest failure?

I didn’t get around to paying off my Macy’s card. So close! Fuck you, Macy’s.

What was the best thing you bought?

Subaru!

Whose behavior merited celebration?

I’m drawing a blank here.

Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

Uh, basically all the police at this point, and the whole justice system.

Where did most of your money go?

The shaggin’ wagon, which I love, but goddamn if we haven’t spent a lot of money on it.

What did you get really, really, really excited about?

Yoga.

What song will always remind you of 2014?

I don’t think there is one. I feel like there’s rarely a song that will always make me think of a specific year. One exception is Grand Theft Autumn, which takes me right back to 2004.
Although, “I Don’t Give A Shit About Anything” by The Drug Budget might get the job done.

Compared to this time last year, are you:
Happier or Sadder?

Happier.

Thinner or fatter?

I think thinner? Maybe I’m the same, but with more abs.* Not fatter though, so that’s nice.
*My abs are only visible when I flex, and even then it’s only the top two. Don’t be too impressed.

Richer or poorer?

I got a raise a few months ago, so richer by default.

What do you wish you’d done more of?

Adventuring.

What do you wish you’d done less of?

Drinking, although I’ve improved.

How will you be spending Christmas?

Christmas Eve with my family as always. Although we still don’t know whether or not Darren will be able to come. Stupid work.

Did you fall in love in 2014?

Only with things. Obviously I still love Darren and my friends and my pets, but I already fell in love with all of them.

How many one-night stands?

The likelihood of me having a one night stand is extremely slim.

What was your favorite TV program?

Hmm…  I’d have to say The Mindy Project.

Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?

Newp.

What was the best book you read?

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling.

What was your greatest musical discovery?

The Drug Budget has been around for a lot longer, but I first heard them play on NYE. Quite good. Quite.

What did you want and get?

A new car!

What did you want and not get?

A bigger apartment.

What were your favorite films of this year?

New films? Guardians of the Galaxy was the only movie I’ve in the theatre this year. I guess I still have two weeks to change that…

What did you do on your birthday?

We went to dinner at Flame (RIP) and I had a really amazing burger, but I also paid for a single trip through the salad bar just so I could get a shitload of those cheesy hashbrowns. I will miss you, cheesy hashbrowns. Then we went to the bar, which was not planned as a birthday thing but y’know. Wingin’ it.

How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2014?

If I could live in leggings and tunics (or long, flowy cardigans) I’d be a happy camper.

What kept you sane?

Yoga and Netflix. Not at the same time.

Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

Taran Killam. Or maybe Chris Pratt.

What political issue stirred you the most?

Bitches trying get all up in my uterus.

Who did you miss?

My mom.

Who was the best new person you met?

Probably Mat. Yay Mat!

Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2014:

Something boring about making sure your income tax withholding is correct. No shit.

Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:

Life is a playground, but it takes a lot of work.

this post is about coffee, not headstands

The summer before I went to college, I worked as a barista. Obviously not a long stint, but the importance of a good espresso was – and is – a big deal at that particular coffee shop, so I learned quickly. That was the summer my affinity for fancy espresso drinks truly blossomed.

In the eleven years since that summer (omg WUT), I’d been an off-and-on coffee fan. Sometime in the last couple years I settled firmly in the “on” camp, and I intend to stay here. My love of espresso-based beverages, however, never waned. But somewhat recently, I developed a latte obsession that just won’t quit. In the interest of not spending a dick-load of money at coffee shops, I promised myself I’d only purchase one latte a week.

Well, I don’t want to only drink one latte a week. Obviously the best way to solve this problem is to purchase an espresso maker, right? I say yes. I looked at little stove-top guys, but I kinda really wanted a milk steamer. I then set my sights on this guy, which is also available at Target. I figured it would be a great Christmas gift. I’d worry about the counter space when the time came.

But then, fortune smiled upon me. Every year, or almost every year, my office building hosts a sample sale. The companies that show up are always the same (I don’t remember if they’re building tenants or what), and they unload their wares at low, low prices. In the past I’ve picked up various baking items I needed, or replaced worn out kitchen equipment. This year’s sample sale happened yesterday, and I purchased just two things: new drip pans for my stove (yes, I rent, but they were $3 and there are some things that I’d rather just deal with myself), and this stove-top cappuccino/latte maker. It was only $15, guys! I’m pretty excited. It basically works on pure science, and possibly witchcraft. I tested it out once last night, but the manual says to make and discard three pots before you consume one, so I didn’t actually get to taste it. I can say for sure that it was super easy, really quick, and it looked delicious. I plan on running the other two discard-pots tonight, and then I’ll probably make myself a nice evening latte. Mmm, satisfying.

this is turning into the headstand chronicles

So in addition to working on my tripod headstand (poorly illustrated in the post below), I also want (/wanted. spoiler alert: totally did it) to learn to do a bound headstand. That’s the one where you keep your forearms on the floor and wrap your hands around the back of your head, forming a triangle. I can do it against a wall no problem, so after doing that for a bit I started bringing my feet away from the wall to work on balance.

Again though, my issue is knowing exactly where my feet are when they’re above me. This time Darren told me (should’ve had him do that yesterday for the tripod version, derp), but I need to be able to discern it for myself. One step at a time!

Thanks to the internet, I’ve been able to break down all my headstand-doing into step-by-step processes.

With the tripod, once you get your head and hands positioned properly, you balance your knees on your elbows (as shown two posts ago) and then push your legs into the air.

For the bound headstand, once your head and arms are in place, you do sort of a downward facing dog with the rest of your body and then slowly walk your feet toward your torso, then tuck in a knee. Then you have to muscle your other leg into the tuck, and then unroll your legs upward. I managed it a couple times tonight, with the wall behind me in case I started to fall in that direction.

Really, headstands are something pretty much anyone can pull off if they put a little effort in. But I’m pretty excited about it anyway. What other awesome things can I make my body do?

okay so my form needs work…

…which just means I need to work on getting my legs straight up in the air, but I can do this now:

Today I was like “it’s been a while since I tried to do crow, I wonder if I can?”

And I did. So then I thought, “what comes after crow?”

I plan to eventually turn this into an actual headstand. It’s good to have goals.

“Life is great. Cheese makes it better.”

I made cheese!

I’ve long been aware that basic cheese making is incredibly simple, but as with most of my ambitions it took a while before I got around to trying it.

Recipes for basic farmer’s cheese (which is the same as paneer) are all over the internet. All you need is milk, lemons, and cheesecloth. A fine mesh strainer would probably do fine in place of the cheesecloth, but I actually used both.

Seriously, all you do is slowly heat the milk to gentle boiling, then turn the heat down and add lemon juice (I used a bit more than 1/4 cup). The juice separates the whey from the milk solids. Then you strain it all through your cheesecloth and squeeze out the remaining liquid.

I lined my mesh strainer with cheesecloth and set it over a bowl to catch the whey. I’m freezing the whey to use in bread and soups. I salted my milk while it heated up, otherwise unsalted whey has several more uses.

It’s pretty tasty, especially with honey. I’m going to put some on tacos tomorrow.

Pictures after the jump!

dessert and downward-facing dog

I made truffles last night. Making truffles was one of the easy items on my 30 by 30 list, so it doesn’t make for a particularly interesting blog post. But there were a few other things on the list that I didn’t write about for the same reason, so here’s something.

I used this recipe from Instructables. To flavor the cream, I followed the second method and put ground coffee into a tea ball to infuse it while it heated. I ran into a minor problem though, because I only had half the amount of chocolate the recipe called for and was too lazy to go buy more. The taste turned out fine – great even – but it meant that when I rolled the ganache into balls they were melty as hell. So I have wonky truffles. I popped ’em in the freezer and then rolled ’em in cocoa. Tasty wonky truffles accomplished.

So ugly, but pretty yummy.

Oh, surprise! I actually did another thing.

I mentioned in my last post that I’ve been going to yoga classes at Tula Yoga & Wellness. This afternoon I attended an aerial yoga workshop, which is a prerequisite for their regular aerial classes.

It. Was. Awesome.

The sling is a prop, so not everything is done off the ground. Spinal alignment is a big focus. That said, we spent plenty of time in the air. And upside down! We definitely did this:

photo by Tula Yoga & Wellness, via FB

(FYI, These photos aren’t from today).

Savasana is done in the sling and it’s super comfortable. I could have fallen asleep.

photo by Tula Yoga & Wellness, via FB.

I’m looking forward to future aerial classes. These ones have a fixed price (whereas most of their other classes are donation-based) so I might not be able to afford it quite as often as I’d like, but that’s okay. Variety is the spice of life, and all that.

Apologies in advance if I become a full-blown yoga fanatic. I promise I’ll talk about other things too. Probably.

photo by Tula Yoga & Wellness, via FB.

Fair Day and other things

It’s nearly September and I’m a little hurt by that. I do love fall, but it’s a bit spoiled by what comes after. That said, the end of summer means one big thing: the Great Minnesota Get Together. That’d be the State Fair for you non-Minnesotans. As has been tradition for the past decade plus, I went with Kate, Kelsey, their father, and of course Robin. Kate’s boyfriend joined us for the first few hours and did very well.

We spent about 14 hours there, although about an hour of that was spent taking our customary nap/break behind the dairy building. At the end of the day, it all comes down to one thing: the food list. What did we eat this year? Let’s see…

• Cinnamon rolls w/ milk (or coffee)
• Mini donuts
• Footlong
• Beef sticks
• Giant turkey sandwich
• All-you-can-drink milk
• Lemonade
• Beer gelato
• Four beer flights
• Fried green tomatoes
• Pretzel curds
• Oven fresh brownie w/ milk
• 1919 root beer
• Sweet corn
• Corn & blue cheese fritters
• Coconut macaroons
• Cream puffs w/ milk
• Sweet corn ice cream
• Lobster roll w/ fries
• Dairy barn sundaes (or a cone)
• Deep fried Snickers
• Porketta wings
• (Kelsey and Robin had schnitzel strips without us)
• Another footlong
• Red velvet funnel cake

Over all the summer has been pretty standard. The annual Ladies Cabin Weekend happened at the end of July. My oldest brother, Cody, got married at the beginning of August, then Darren and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary a few days later. Probably the most exciting thing is learning that I’m going to be an aunt again – Kyle and Jenna are expecting a wee one in March. Hooray! I’m going to teach him (or her) all about Doctor Who and musical theatre. Nerd child.

I started going to yoga last week and it’s one of the best thing’s I’ve done for myself. Once upon a time I did Core Power’s free week, but most studios are so expensive to join and even drop-in classes are spendy. Since then I’ve practiced a little at home, but mostly just in the form of simple stretching. Tula Yoga & Wellness in St. Paul is donation-based, so you can take most of their classes for as little as $5. They also have aerial yoga which I am excited to try eventually. /accidental commercial