21 Candles and Resolutions in Review

         Friday I celebrated my 21st birthday...Finally! I celebrated with a nice lunch with Lei and dinner with Mackenzie and my parents that night. Liz, who is away, surprised my by leaving a gift with Lei to give me on my birthday. It was totally unexpected, and totally proving of how well she knows me. The gift is a pretty leather journal with my name engraved on the front. Giving a writer a journal is like giving a painter a blank canvas. It's a challange; it's an opportunity. The past few days, I've been tossing around in my mind what I'd like to do with the journal. I debated writing a diary again, which I've done routinely in the past, but I feel like I already have that outlet through my blog. Another idea I came up with was to use it to write poems and short stories. But, honestly I prefer to type those rather than scribble over and over on paper.

          A long time ago, in my church youth group, we made collages on composition notebooks for a "happiness journal." On the first few pages, I listed 100 things that made me happy (I'm sure the list has changed in the past 8 years or so). Then, each day or as often as possible, I wrote 10 things that made me happy that day. In a way, it is a condensed diary. The happiness journal makes you focus on the positive points of each day, and it doesn't take a whole lot of time or commitment. I remeber enjoying it at the time, so I decided to revive this practice. I plan on writing my 100 things tonight because such a beautiful journal would be a sad thing to waste. Plus, with classes picking up speed I think focusing on the happy things in life is a good idea.
          So as I'm making another resolution, it's a good time to reflect on the one's I've already set.

1.       Be proactive on making plans with friends.

2.       Make time for pleasure reading.

3.       Take Monti for more walks.

4.       Go with the flow.

5.       Remember family.

           For the first, I'm going to say success. Over break, I had a bunch of little dates with my girlfriends. I have been slipping up on my "pleasure reading" resolution, however. With all the readings for my Macbeth class, I didn't take a lot of time to finish the books and magazines I've been reading for enjoyment. Another resolution setback, there has been one snowstorm after the next and frigid temps in between...which has been making my walk Monti goal a bit difficult. I did suit up for some long walks a few times over break, but I have to admit I've been falling short of what I intended. Today was a high of 15 so no long walks, and a snow storm is coming Wednesday. I guess I'll have to refresh my resloution after that.
          As far as my "go with the flow" resolution, I've had some successes and some failures. I think that is pobably the most difficult one for me because it doesn't involve a deliberate action. What's hard is remebering the resolution in the moment. But at least recognizing I did lose my cool on few occasions is a step. Lastly, I'm calling my last resolution about remebering family a success. I had a long-overdue conversation with my Grandmom today, and I bought cute thank you cards to send for my birthday and Christmas gifts. Okay, so some resolutions are something to brag about and some need some work. But I am keeping them in mind!

How are you keeping up with your New Year's Resolutions?
Stay warm,
Annie

My Mom has been baking cakes and decorating them as a hobby lately.
I love the way she made my favorite kind of cake, chocolate with caramel frosting, so pretty and personal.

Break's Over

                 In precisely five days, Southern Connecticut State University will commence its spring semester. And every time before classes start, my anxiety sets in. Today, I was in a funk. I was hyper-sensitive and took a nap in the middle of the day, which is uncharacteristic of me (at least the napping part). I couldn’t put my finger on the mood, and then I realized: Back to school angst. Usually, I see it coming, but this time was different. I’m excited to move back in with my friends and our new roommate, Jay, and I’ve been handling my winter class pretty smoothly, so it’s not a fear of being back in the classroom.

One semester as an English major. With a pile like this, wouldn't you freak out a little too?!

                I guess it’s just the change—like the universe shifts or something. Okay, maybe I’m dramatizing a little, but every year is a new schedule and a new routine. You get used to the minimal-worries of living at home, and BAM, they pile you with stress. I find the first few weeks are the hardest (with the exception of a few syllabus days). You have to get used to how each professor grades, figure out which reading needs to be in depth and which can be skimmed over, decide where to sit, which breaks to stay for and which ones to hike home on. It’s intimidating! Once I can break into a routine, the work’s easy, but getting into the rhythm of things is tough. So every pre-semester, I sink into the funk. This time, I’m coping by focusing on the positives—moving back into the apartment, seeing my school friends, and just living in New Haven.

Typing my blog as my stack of books looms in the background.

Savor these last few days off, everyone.
Love,
Annie

Double, double toil and trouble

          After two and a half hours dutifully spent typing at Starbucks (my third home) this morning, I was woefully only a little over halfway done with my Macbeth paper. As promised in my last post, I looked to baking for a much needed distraction. So when I got home I started looking up cookie recipes. I remembered we still had a can of pumpkin in the pantry left over from the holiday season, and due to my current health kick, I searched for recipes that substituted pumpkin for shortening. I found these "Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies" that fit the criteria.
         As I began to mix the ingredients, I felt fatally cursed like Macbeth. First, I mixed the pumpkin and brown sugar (right on track), but then as I added the spices I realized the nutmeg was practically empty (a travesty in CT, the nutmeg state). I haphazardly shook in pumpkin pie spice instead, but was afraid that since I already added cinnamon, which is also in pumpkin pie spice, the cookies would go on cinnamon overload. Next, when I added in the dry ingredients the dough began to feel uncharacteristically dry. Turns out I overlooked the direction to beat in egg whites before adding the flour. I mixed them in after, which caused the whites to sit in an unappetising fashion atop the dough like oil separated from water. The last step was to add the oatmeal--which I didn't even think about checking stock on because we always have oatmeal handy. Turns out, there was only about a half cup left, so I supplemented the lacking cup with instant steel cut oats, which looked like the arch nemesis of rolled oats.
          As I realized my cookies and I were star crossed lovers, I debated throwing out the dough and starting over with a new recipe, but I figured all I had to lose by going through with them was two extra pans to wash and a little pride. Plus, if they were awful I would have to make something else which would provide an extra buffer of welcomed procrastination time. So in they went.

I recommend these to the health conscious, under 75 calories per cookie

          By now you're expecting me to say that the cookies came out fabulous despite all the mishaps, and I decided to rewrite the recipe, naming it "Annie's steel cut and rolled oat pumpkin cookies." Well, they weren't a disaster, but also weren't amazing. Yet they were sweet and satisfying for a healthy treat. I'm happy I stuck it out.

For now, those damn witches are nagging me to finish my paper...

Until "tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,"
Annie (and I vow to cut the Shakespeare references after this post)

Snow Day

          This season, the winter gods have been generously dolling out the snow. And once again, CT is covered. It gets pretty tedious, worrying about shoveling out in order to get to work, school, the grocery store, or just about anywhere to get out of the house. But as droning as the tasks can get, I suppose in a way it unites us. It seems like all anyone talks about lately is the big storm coming up or the aftermath of the blizzard. Maybe what everyone needs is to remember the kid in them and take a trip down the sledding hill, or make a snow man. Sounds good in theory, but frankly, I think it's too damn cold.

Between his white fur and the fact that the snow's deeper than he is tall, we might just lose Monti!
Picture courtesy of my mom.

          But enough pessimism. Maybe for the next time I have the snowfall blues, I'll try and have a little fun with the kid in me. But today I settled for a good sweat. Normally, the gym isn't what I look to for relaxation, but after a stressful weekend of schoolwork and a day cooped up inside, a good workout did just the trick.
          Saturday and Sunday were my first two days of my weekend Shakespeare class, "Bringing Macbeth Alive." It's a lot of time in class, but who can resist getting three credits in three weekends (besides everyone who told me I was crazy for taking a class which required me to sit in it for eight hours a day)? Turns out, it's not so bad, and it feels like I'm easing back into school instead of being shocked with six classes the first week back. Tomorrow, I've got a paper to bang out. And to break things up I'm getting the urge to bake. Any ideas?

Stay warm.
Love,
Annie

2011 Resolutions

                So it’s a few days after New Year’s but I’ve been trying to think of some solid, thoughtful resolutions for 2011. It’s so tempting to go with cookie cutter goals like “go to the gym” or “clean more.” But I don’t think a resolution should be torturous. I know the only way I’m going to stick to something is if I actually want to do it. Quite frankly, I don’t love the gym. Sometimes I get on little kicks and go a lot, but I usually drag my feet. And plus, I don’t view myself as unhealthy; if I’m feeling out of shape, I’ll go for a long run. So that’s out. I don’t feel the need to resolve to get good grades because I drive myself insane doing that anyway (good news, I got a 4.0 this past semester). Cross that off.

                But there are things I enjoy doing and get fulfillment from that I often put off. One is seeing my friends. Often, unless plans fall into my lap I’m not proactive on planning little dates with them. Another thing is reading. Don’t get me wrong, I read a lot; especially during school. But with a pile of assigned reading I forget to read for me. Sometimes I am lucky enough to enjoy what I’m assigned, but it’s frequently dry and tedious, and I miss curling up to a pleasure reading book.

                One resolution I have is for my pup. In the winter, I view walking him as a chore instead of a mode of relaxation and enjoyment. I don’t, however, think it has to be that way. I’d like to set aside at least a half hour or so every few days to bundle up (for the next few months at least) and go at least around the block with Monti. He loves it, and I get a little exercise: See above for lack of gym resolution.

                I am a serial perfectionist, so one resolution this year is to lighten up a bit. I tend to act like it’s the end of the world if one thing doesn’t go the way I planned. A lot of the time, Mackenzie get’s the brunt of my tantrum, so I’m sure he’ll appreciate this resolution to go with the flow.

                 So I believe that makes four resolutions, which is a weird number so I’ll include one more to commit to in 2011. I love my family, and usually see them on the weekends and talk to my mom on the phone while away, but I also have a loving extended family. I get cards from my aunts and grandparents that often go un-replied, an easy 5 minute resolution is to reply to these in snail-mail or email.

So here I am, putting my resolutions in ink (or pixels rather):

1.       Be proactive on making plans with friends.

2.       Make time for pleasure reading.

3.       Take Monti for more walks.

4.       Go with the flow.

5.       Remember family.

Dan, Dee, me and Mackenzie on New Year's Eve
Picture courtesy of Jess

                 So now that I’ve made some thoughtful and manageable resolutions, it’s time to start sticking to them! What are your New Year’s resolutions?

Love,
Annie