Brand New Year - Brand New Goals

So I didn’t finish all the things I set out to accomplish in 2011. I completed the majority of my goals, which I am proud of. Thanks to my goals I now love sushi, know how to knit, am not scared to sing in front of people, am an award winning filmmaker, hate yoga, am making money selling jewelry via Etsy, and am more adventurous with cooking and baking. I completed a total of 16 of my 25 goals. I’d say that even though I didn’t finish, last year’s goals were successful. I actually still have one more goal coming up that was planned in 2011, but can't be carried out just yet... I'll tell you more about it sometime... Soon I hope! So here is my new list of goals for 2012… and they include some of my goals from last year as well. I omitted a few goals because I sort of just lost interest in them (damn ADHD). First goal on my list: Finish everything on my goal list for 2012.

1.        Finish everything on my goal list for 2012!

2.        Audition for CoMo Cabaret

3.        Go to at least one state I’ve never been to before

4.        Bowl a 200 (not on the Wii)

5.        Make my own sushi with Andy

6.        Build something awesome out of LEGOS

7.        Take a craft or cake decorating class

8.        Take a cooking class

9.        Make a new short film

10.     Bake a rainbow colored cake

11.     Cook a Mediterranean style meal

12.     Sew something. Anything.

13.     Run more

14.     Read a new book 

15.  Finish that dumb kids book (the book is dumb, it's not for dumb kids- the book isn't really dumb and I WILL finish it!)

I think I need some rules this time, so... I reserve the right to add to my list. And this time, I cannot take away from or change goals on my list. They can be changed as long as the goal is basically the same. For instance, run more could be changed to run a mile because the goal still involves running and running a mile would be helluva lot more than I am running currently, so the overall goal remains the same.

I will add one goal to my list that you guys come up with. Please comment here or on the facebook page with ideas and the best one will be added to my list!

So here I go! Wish me luck!

IT"S BACK!

I am very happy to report that MY EYEBROW IS BACK! That sure was fast. Revitabrow really does work! Imagine that.

I haven't really had time to keep up with my goals over the last month. I cannot believe it's August already. Over the past month I spent time at the lake with some friends, helped an Aunt move from Kansas City to Columbia, have been editing a documentary, and have begun work on the Citizen Jane Film Festival. It's been an incredibly busy month.

One awesome goal related thing is that, thanks to my awesome sister, I am going to be taking a knitting class at a place called True Blue Fiber Friends here in Columbia. I wonder if I can consider that satisfying my "Learn to Knit" and my "Take a Crafting Class" goals? I guess I'll just have to see how satisfied I feel after the class.

In other goal related news, I definitely like all kinds of sushi now. Andy and I took advantage of Jina Yoo's (an incredible local sushi restaurant) annual sushi buffet. It's a little expensive and you are only allowed one hour to consume all the sushi you possibly can, but so very worth it. Andy and I decided not to read the descriptions of the sushi, but to try a little of everything. There wasn't a single roll I didn't like. I must have wolfed down at least seven rolls of sushi. When we were finished I read some of the descriptions and could not believe some of the raw creatures I consumed. It was both delicious and terrifying. And to think I'd never even tried sushi just a few months ago. Jina Yoo's sushi is incredible.

I am hoping to begin working on sewing dresses for Lilly with my mutli-talented friend Monica, in the next few weeks or so... I am also hoping to post more often than I did last month.

Peace. (I don't know why I typed that).

SUSHI TIME!

Coming Soon: Pics Of My Brand New Eyebrow

Number 21: Try Sushi

Above: Andy and I out for my birthday. I like this photo because the camera angle makes my face look good and skinny. 

I once ate a bug. Yes, sir I did. It was a worm looking thing and it was garlic flavored. I was at this fall fair and they had a whole section about bugs and one of the tables boasted "Eat A Bug!" I was all by myself with the baby, and for some reason I just got it in my head that I was going to do it. I was going to eat a bug. I selected a garlic flavored one (there was also Cajun, chili, and cinnamon sugar). The people running the "Eat A Bug" table cheered me on.  And I just did it. I took a deep breath, closed my eyes and popped that bug in my mouth, chewed and swallowed. It tasted like a little piece of garlic Pringle. It wasn’t at all bad. It was just that thought that It had legs that totally creeped me out. I am very strangely proud that I ate a bug. Like really, really proud. To me the idea of sushi was no different than that bug.

I have to admit, I have tried sushi before. I was twelve. I was at someone’s Bar Mitzvah and they had one of those awesome cocktail hours that I LOVE, the ones with the different sections of food from around the world. I only love it because Italy is always represented and pasta is my one true food-love. They also always have Asian cuisine. Come to think of it, I can’t remember what other type of “worldly cuisine” those cocktail hours had... Mexican? Anyway, I was hanging out with my friend Gabe. We were by the Asian table and for whatever reason Gabe told me that Sushi was candy. Did he know the truth? To this day I don’t know if he truly believed that sushi was candy or if he was just being mean. He was also twelve and is a pretty smart guy, always has been, so I am willing to believe it was the latter. Anyways, I picked up the sushi thing, popped it into my mouth expecting something sweet, maybe even fruity, and got something GROSS AND FISHY. I immediately spit it out into my hand and chucked it under the Asian Cuisine table. Because of this one bad experience I have not ever wanted to touch sushi again. Thanks a lot, GABE. This is surprising considering my obsession with Japanese pop culture (Well, primarily Japanese candy and adorable small novelty toys). The time has come for me to try sushi because even Andy (my husband) likes it, and if you knew him, you’d know that seems unlikely. 

For my birthday, Andy surprised me by taking me to the BEST sushi place in town, Jina Yoos. Being that my birthday fell on Easter this year, (No, actually it was Easter that fell on my birthday...) we were the only ones in the restaurant. Jina herself came over to our table and Andy told her it was my first time trying sushi. Jina was very nice and asked about my likes and dislikes and gave suggestions. She also said she could offer us options that were off-menu. I ended up choosing the Scarlet Shrimp Roll. It had fried shrimp, (I just wasn’t ready to try raw), cream cheese, spicy tuna, spicy mayo, and a few other ingredients I just can’t remember. Our food arrived and it was time to taste... 

I was spending too much time thinking about my horrible and disgusting first experience with sushi. Then I thought about all the millions of people that love eating sushi and about how they can’t ALL be wrong. And back to the time I ate that bug and how I just went for it. So that's what I did. I just went for it, and guess what? It was so super delicious; I am CRAVING IT RIGHT NOW. Next I tried some of Andy’s sushi. He DID have raw salmon in his. I tasted it and it tasted a little too fishy for me. He also had a roll called the Mr. Myagi (yup. Haha!) which was really good and it also had some raw fish in it.

Jina Yoos was awesome and delicious and I definitely recommend it to anyone in the Columbia area. I am feeling much braver about trying new foods. What’s the worst that could happen? I spit it out. That would be the absolute worst, most rude thing I could do and it isn’t so bad. I still have a lot of different types of sushi to taste. Types that look way more fishy and will require much more food-bravery than my fried shrimp sushi. Bring it on!

Above: My Scarlet Shrimp Roll

Below: Andy's sushi rolls

Below: Andy with his Mr. Myagi sushi roll

Below: Andy and me with our Sake

Below: Tasting Sushi!

Below: I cleaned my plate!!!

Number 4: Continued

I tasted a cupcake. It was good. I would buy that $7.99 cupcake mix again, but only for a special occasion because I am not made of money (but I just pictured what I'd look like if I was...). The cupcakes with the eggs on top have a Cadbury cream eggs in the center. Um, yeah, they do. Which brings me to a goal I'd like to add: Bake things into cupcakes. I will first try to put peanut butter cups in there. What else can I bake into a cupcakes? Hmmmmmmmmmmm...

The next goal I will tackle is number 21: Try Sushi.