April 101 in 1001 Update!

Wow, it sure has gotten lonely around here. I haven’t completely given up over here, but I have been blogging a lot more frequently over at my joint Cambridge-related tumblr with my husband. If you’d like to keep up with our life in Cambridge, visit us at www.FreschFamily.tumblr.com

As far as my 101 in 1001 list goes, I have been picking out a few items from my list to focus on each month. Well, I say I’ve been doing that, but it’s more like I was doing that. Then March hit…and I didn’t even write down any goals. Such is life, I suppose. Considering that it’s April (how did THAT happen?), I thought it was time I wrote an update on my progress, if not for you, then at least for my own records.

With these seven items I’ve completed, I’m up to 36 completed. Only 65 left!

Health (physical, spiritual, emotional, and otherwise):

4. Learn to enjoy tea with half as less sugar as I do now

Success! I’m not sure when this actually happened, but sometime over the past few months I realized that I wasn’t adding my normal multiple heaping spoons of sugar to my tea. I still add sugar, but it’s a much more modest amount. I think this came about when I worked as a temp in a British office. Tea was a big thing in the office, but not many people added sugar, and when they did it wasn’t much. Considering I already stuck out as the American, I didn’t want to ALSO be the weird girl who drank a little tea with her sugar. Hey, whatever works!

11. Consistently have some dedicated time with God every day for a month

I unfortunately have to admit that this was more difficult than I thought it would be. It took several months of suddenly realizing I’d skipped three days to finally be successful. I’m still not perfectly consistent, but it’s a work in progress and I’m improving. Yay for progress!

Food (and cooking food)

21. Cook a shrimp dish

This was so easy, I don’t know why I was putting it off. The only bad part was the way the shrimp felt when I was trying to bread them. I felt like I was touching smily worms. Eww. But the dish tasted great, so I’d say it was a win!

Hobbies

35. Join a book club

I love my bookclub. Last month we met for dinner and our hostess made us WONDERFUL salad, bread, and lasagna. With homemade macaroons!! Apart from the wonderful food, though, we also discussed the book and it was a lot of fun. I hope to start the next book today!

Education

57. Learn the train system in England

While I couldn’t just spout off train information to you, I do know just where to look to find out what I need to know. I haven’t missed or taken any wrong trains in months. I also know my way around King’s Cross pretty well. It’s good to know how to get where I’m going!

59. Learn how to curl my hair

When I wrote this, I had meant to learn how to curl my hair with a curling iron. But then I found this girl. She explains (and demonstrates) how to curl your hair with a straightening iron! Considering that I’ve been using a straightener for over 10 years, I am much more comfortable with those than with a curling irons. I tried it out, and it works GREAT. Unfortunately, no matter what method I use, my hair doesn’t hold curl very well. All my curls fall out within five minutes of leaving the house. Sad days for me.

Other

94. Meet and have a real conversation with someone famous

Internet, I met JOY WILLIAMS, of The Civil Wars. As in, she talked to me and touched my shoulder. That happened. Read all about my experience here.

101 in 1001 January Update

At the beginning of October I selected some goals from my list that I wanted to specifically work on accomplishing. Now that it’s months later, here is what I’ve done:

Health (physical, spiritual, emotional, and otherwise):

1. Eat a vegetable with every dinner for a week

Done! This wasn’t nearly as hard as I thought it might be! The vegetable was generally either corn or broccoli, but there were a few others mixed in. 

3. Walk or ride at least a mile every day for two weeks.

This one was a little more difficult. There were a few evenings where I had to convince Chris to go take a walk with me so I could get in my mile, but it still wasn’t too bad. We like taking walks and it helps that Cambridge is so pretty. 

Hobbies

38. Rewatch the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice.

I watched the first half many months ago before we moved but never got a chance to finish it. One afternoon while Chris was away at school and I had applied for as many jobs as I could for the day, I sat down and watched the second half. Colin Firth plays such a great Mr. Darcy. <3

41. Watch all of the Buffy and Angel shows.

I did it! I have to admit that I dragged my feet about this in the beginning. I was under the impression that Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a really really dumb show and that I would be bored out of my mind. Internet, I am a changed woman. Seriously. If you are under the same false impression that I used to be, please do yourself a favor and spend some time watching through Buffy and Angel. (Caveat, the first season and a half of Buffy is the cheesiest thing you will ever lay eyes on. Persevere, it gets better.) It is an incredible incredible story of sacrifice and love and friendship. Also, if you make it through the entire series of both Buffy and Angel and you don’t have at least a small fictitious crush on both Angel and Spike, you’re not human and we can’t be friends. . Sort of my new favorite television series(s) of all time. Also, Anthony Stewart Head is in it. And Eliza Dushku. So there are two more reasons to watch.

Life/Chores

83. Finish decorating my home

I hung pictures on our walls in November, and with that, I’d say we’re done!

Other

95. Send out a photo Christmas card

We did this this year! It was so fun! 

99. Call VALerie at 11:11 on 11/11/2011

I technically didn’t do this because I sent a text instead (I live in England! Phone calls are hard! And pricey!) but I think it counts. 11:11 was a big thing to us in high school and we used to wonder where we would be at 11:11 on 11/11/11. 

100. Send five handwritten letters.

I did one better, I sent six! The most recent two were to Nicole and Cio! 

Twenty-nine goals down! Only seventy-two left

Ten on Tuesday!

Wow, has it been a long time or what?

 

I haven’t really been writing much lately, but I really enjoyed Chelsea’s Ten on Tuesday questions today, so I thought I’d participate!

 

1. What’s your favorite television show  for each day of the week?

First, I need you to understand that I live in England and don’t have cable or any type of “live” tv. Everything I watch is from Hulu etc, so I may get my air-days mixed up. I’m sorry!

Sunday – Once Upon a Time
Monday – Teranova or House, I’m not sure yet and I don’t like decisions.
Tuesday – Ringer
Wednesday – Suburgatory
Thursday – Secret Circle
Friday – Grim
Saturday – I have no idea

2. How many times do you wear your jeans before you wash them?
This sort of depends. I’m at a weird stage right now where I mostly stay at home in my pjs unless I need to run an errand or go to an interview. So, it all depends on where I wore my jeans to, how long I wore them, and whether it was raining outside. (Raining = wet, gross pants legs, which = laundry time.) But generally, somewhere in the 1-3 times range.

3. What is your favorite pasta shape?
I like most any shape that isn’t spaghetti or angel hair. But spirals do make me pretty happy.

4. Do you read newspapers?
Nope. I probably should, though. I follow the WSJ on Twitter, does that count?

5. Do you sleep in socks?
Not really. Since it’s gotten cold I keep finding myself trying to sleep in socks, but I always end up taking them off before I fall asleep.

6. Favorite genre of movies?
This is hard. Maybe fantasy? Or romantic comedies. I don’t know

7. How do you feel about wrestling?
I don’t really get it.

8. Should men pluck their eyebrows?
Not in the way that girls do, but as upkeep, definitely. There is nothing attractive about a unibrow or a pair of furry caterpillars above your eyes.

9. Do you have dimples?
I don’t think so.

10. Do you like to camp?
In theory. However, I grew up in Texas, which means camping = sweating and bugs and trying to get ready in a sweltering camp “bathroom.” Maybe if it were in the mountains on a brisk, dry, fall morning it would be fun. I do love hobo meals!

101 in 1001 Update – Part Two – Progress!

Hey everyone. It’s been a little while since I update you guys on the progress of these goals, so here goes!

For the full list, please click here.

Food (and cooking food)

16. Cook two new things in the same month

I kind of forgot to keep track of this one, but I’m pretty sure I’ve completed it multiple times. The two most recent “new” things I’ve cooked this month are boiled potatoes and corn on the cob. Previously, the only type of potatoes I really ate were loaded baked potatoes or mashed cream-potatoes. (Or, you know, french fries.) This month I bought a bag of potatoes, boiled them on the stove, and served them with a little butter, salt, and pepper. Much healthier and SO easy. (Pretty tasty too!) I’ve also always been a frozen corn kind of girl. While I love corn, it’s unfortunately not really one of Chris’s top choices. During our first week here I bought a bag of half corn-ears and made them as a side at dinner. Chris really likes them, so now it’s one of our go-to sides!

26. Eat something I’ve grown myself

This is going to be sort of a cop-out for me, but since our flat doesn’t have ANY outside space, it’s going to have to suffice: I have a potted rosemary plant that I use anytime a recipe calls for rosemary (and even sometimes when it doesn’t.) To be fair, I have managed to keep it alive, so I would say that counts for me growing it myself.

Hobbies

36. Read at least one book a month for 6 months straight

I was starting to get stressed out about finishing my current book before the end of September when I realized that the six months ended in August! Whew! Here is what I read:

March -Black Heels and Tractor Wheels, by Ree Drummond

April – The Wise Man’s Fear, by Patrick Rothfuss

May – Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen

June – The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins

July – The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini,

August – The Bird Sisters, by Rebecca Rasmussen

42. Adopt a puppy

This is also a cop-out answer. (I’m sorry! Moving to another country changes what’s actually possible!) We were in desperate need of door-stops for two of our main doors in our flat when we came across these:

We have named them after Chris’s dogs back in Richmond, TX and decided that they will have to do as “pets” until we get to a place in our lives where real dogs are an option.
43. Dye my hair

Not a cop-out! I did this! I used Clairol Natural Instincts hair color to dye my hair brown for a few weeks. Unfortunately, it was more of a dark auburn and not quite  as brown as I would have liked. (The sciency-answer behind this has something to do with the amount of color already present in red-hair and how that makes it harder for red-hair to accept dyes.) I debated leaving the dye in for an extra long time to be sure it took, but, I may or may not have had a terrible experience with that my freshman year of high school. I didn’t really want to repeat the days of permanently brown hair with red roots. Trust me, those weren’t fun days. Anyways. I had brownish hair. But the kicker: no one noticed at all. At least it made my hair extra soft!

Life/Chores

86. Get my name changed on my pre-marriage bank accounts (and credit cards)

I think this is now complete. I had a few store credit cards that I never changed, but since I cancelled them all when I moved across the ocean, I don’t think they count anymore. Awesome!

Twenty- one goals down, only eighty more to go! 

101 in 1001 Update! Part One

I have decided to alter some of my goals. Some things that seemed really important to me several months ago aren’t even on my radar today. I’ll be explaining the changes below, but you can always see the newly updated list here.

Also, stay tuned for an update on my progress on the goals!

Category: Health

Old 3. Run twice a week for a month.

Now that we’ve moved to Cambridge, we walk or ride our bikes EVERYWHERE. Also, I hate running.

New 3. Walk or ride at least a mile every day for two weeks.

Some days I stay in all day and don’t go anywhere (don’t judge, I don’t have a job yet!), so this will encourage me to get some exercise even on those days.

Category: Hobbies

Old 48. Participate in NaBloPoMo

In case you hadn’t picked this up already from my lack of updates: I am not a writer. I did that February challenge that I posted here, and it was HARD stuff. (And, if you were wondering, I forgot to post one of my last entries, so I didn’t actually end up posting something every day, even after all that work.)

New 48. Write something, somewhere every week for three months.

Between WordPress, tumblr, email, and real-life stationary, I think I can make this happen (and like it.)

Category: Education

Old 52. Pass the CPA exam 

I’m not sure If I’ve announced this here or not, but, well, I’m not finishing. The decision was hard and took several weeks, a lot of prayer, and probably a little crying, but I figured out that accounting is just not the direction I really want my life to go. There’s more to the story, but this isn’t really the place for it.

New 52. Get a job in England

I realize that it doesn’t sound very “educational,” but this involves learning how to adapt all my education, training, and experience into things that make sense to British people. It’s harder than it sounds.

Old 57. Learn how to change a tire

I now live in Cambridge where our primary mode of transportation is by foot or by bike. My husband and I don’t even OWN a car. This is completely useless to me for the foreseeable future.

New 57. Learn the the train system in England.

So much more practical.

Category: Travel

Old 61. Visit at least three new states

Again, I now live in England. Plane tickets to America are pretttty pricey. If we come home, it will be to see family, probably not to tour America. Maybe this goal will make the list in another season of my life.

New 61. Visit at least three new cities in Europe

There are so many interesting places to go, I can’t wait to complete this!

Category: Other

Old 96. Get a return address stamp made

I’m a little sad about removing this one, but the adult in me has won out. I had been planning to do this when we moved to England, but our first lease lasts for less than a year. While I hope it’s not the case, that may be the story of our lives for a few years. Return address stamps aren’t exactly cheap, so there are more lasting things I would prefer to spend our money on for now.

New 96. Develop a legit British accent. 

Legit legit. No faking here!

Old 101 . Attend a war reenactment. 

I’m not sure what I was thinking when I added this to my list. The truth is that I hate war. It’s an ugly, evil thing and I’d rather not glorify killing by attending a reenactment of it.

New 101. Visit five historically significant sites in the United Kingdom.

Let’s celebrate history and the lives of those before us!

101 in 1001 Update!

It’s been almost 5 months and I think I’m off to a pretty great start on my life list!
(If you  missed that post, you can read about it here.)

Here’s what I’ve completed so far:

Health (physical, spiritual, emotional, and otherwise):

2. Eat a fruit every day for two weeks Completed February 25, 2011!


This doesn’t seem like much fruit, but going to this from hardly eating any is an accomplishment. I’m proud to report that I eat a banana most weekdays and, when I remember to buy them, I have blueberries with my cereal almost every day!

15. Paint my fingernails and leave them painted for more than a day Completed 2/4/11

Okay I’ll admit it, this one was kind of a cop-out. But for the record, my nails are generally chipped the day after I paint them, so I hardly bother anymore.  Then, a little while ago, Chelsea at RootsandRings wrote about an amazing nail polish top coat that dries super quickly and keeps the paint from chipping for a LONG time. Since this was one of my goals, I had to try it. Decision: it was pretty great. I’ve never had polish dry that quickly. I’m sold.

Food (and cooking food)
17. Learn how to cook fish Completed 6/26/2011 

I think I’ve cooked fish before this week, but I wasn’t that crazy about the recipe. However, the tilapia I made Sunday? Fabulous! I would share the recipe, but I adapted it from a shrimp recipe so I don’t have a link for you. Maybe another time.

23. Make Sangria Completed 3/19/2011

I made this for my picnic with Cio and Nicole! White wine, raspberry schnapps, sugar, and fresh fruit!

25. Make my own jam (with or without the berries I picked myself) Completed 6/20/11 

Internet, I am so excited about this. My friend Jody invited me over, let me use her kitchen, and walked me through the steps of jam-making. We made strawberry jam and it is DELICIOUS! (Also, while cheesy, I really enjoyed being able to say that I was jamming with Jody.)

28. Eat at three new restaurants - Completed 6/13/11

I probably finished this before a few weeks ago, but I’ve forgotten to write things down. The three places were: Dickey’s Barbecue Pit (3/27/11), Piola (4/1/11), and Cafe Rouge (in England!) 6/13/11

30. Make rosemary flatbread Completed 2/25/11!

This was good, but mine were a little dry. I’ll have to try it again. 

Hobbies

33. Get a new lens for my camera Completed (it arrived in the mail 5/13/11)

So thrilled about this! I got a Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D lens. Love it.

47. Make a blanket fort with my husband Completed 2/3/11

This was SO much fun. We set up on a Thursday night (the night before the “snowpocalypse”) and slept in it for the next three nights. I recommend that everyone make a fort soon. It’s instant happiness.

50. Figure out how to post my recipes on my blog in a way that doesn’t drive me crazy - Completed 2/4/11!!!!!!

If you hadn’t noticed, my blog got a face-lift a little while ago. With the new theme, this goal was instantly completed. (Now I just need to cook more often so I have more things to share!)

Travel

74. Ride a train Completed 6/8/11 (From King’s Cross to Cambridge!!) 

Okay, being completely honest, it wasn’t nearly as cool as I thought it would be. (But, that may have been because I was so utterly exhausted that I slept the entire time.)

78. Stay at a bead and breakfast Completed 6/8/11-6/12/11 (In Cambridge!!)

This was perfect. I can’t imagine anything better than a home-cooked breakfast EVERY MORNING.

79. Visit London Completed 6/12/11 

However, it was pouring and just north of freezing, so I was kind of a walking zombie. Next time will be better, I’m sure. 

Life/Chores

87. Get my name changed on my passport Completed 2/11

I don’t remember exactly when this came in the mail, but it’s here! And I’ve already used it to travel to England!

88 Get my wedding dress cleaned and preserved Completed 2/17/11

Technically my mom completed this for me, since my dress lives at my parents’ house, but I was the one to finally make the decision about what to do.

Final count: 15. So, maybe I haven’t done too much after all, but at least it’s a start! Stay tuned for some updates to the list as some of my priorities have changed. In the meantime, you can check out the full list and what is currently in progress here!

<3 LF

On Answered Prayer

I’m beginning to see the importance of writing out my prayers. Among other reasons, it’s a great way to look back and see how those prayers have been answered.

I do realize that, at first, this sounds silly. I would think that if something was important enough to me to pray about it, that I would recognize the answer, whatever it was, when it came. But I’m a human and I don’t have a perfect memory. I forget things easily.

Case in point:

In Cambridge, we narrowed our housing options down to three properties. Each had their good and bad qualities, none of them really outweighing the others. I thought to myself, “this decision is impossible! I have no idea how to choose which will be better for us. There are too many unknowns and I just can’t do this.” So I prayed that we wouldn’t have to make a choice. That two would get ruled out and we would be left with whichever place would be best for us.

Before we left England, two of the places were sold or leased to other people, leaving us with just one option.

Totally forgetting my previous prayer, we (mostly I) freaked out. What if this place wasn’t so great after all? What if we get there and realize that we can’t afford it? What if we ship our furniture to England and then realized we wished we hadn’t? And so on.

I’ve been delibarating since Monday night about what we should do. I spent hours looking for temporary housing in Cambridge for us to live in for the first month or two while we scouted out a more permanent place to live. We finally sent in the leasing application for the property yesterday, but with the understanding that we could still change our minds. I was so filled with uncertainty.

Until last night.

I was halfway through explaining our housing situation to some members of our community group when it hit me.

Isn’t this exactly what I had been praying for?

So then I had two choices. I could accept this as a pretty clear answer to my prayer, or I could hold out believing that it was just a convenient coincidence that looked like an answer to prayer.

If I’m being honest with myself, it’s so much easier to hold on to the coincidence theory and wallow in my anxiety. It’s more familiar and it’s pretty easy to do. But is that even really a viable choice? I asked God to show me what to do, and it sure seems like He did. If I really trust Him, I can’t very well respond with “Well that’s nice, but I don’t believe you, so thanks anyways but I’ll do my own thing.”

So, it looks like we’re pursuing this property full speed ahead. Who knows? It might not pan out in the end. But, I’m pretty sure this is at least the route He wants us to take to get wherever we need to be, so I have no business being anxious about our decision.