Blogs I Love

I'm getting into the theme of the month and spreading the love around. I've mentioned almost all of these blogs before, but here they are gathered into a nice little list for you.

This is my friend Alix. She doesn't have a blog (yet?)

My sister-in-law Kait blogs about med school, travel, quilting, and cooking. I don't think she sleeps.

Emily shares original recipes and kitchen tutorials. Tasty stuff!

Ann started her blog to  tackle 52 weeks of challenges. Now she's expanding her scope to chronicle her life and interests, too.

I've been following Tammy's blog for over 7 years. She's one of my biggest inspirations.

When I'm looking for a recipe I usually start with Joy's website. I also love her cookbook.

One of my inspirations for downsizing my wardrobe and simplifying my life is Erin's blog.

I love what Jillian does to thrift store finds!

A Beautiful Mess is  my go-to for craft inspiration.

Susannah writes with openness and honesty, and I appreciate that. I also like her tattoos a lot.

Robyn shares knitting patterns and snapshots of her life.




What blogs do you love? Do you have a blog of your own? Share it below!

Linkspiration

A handful of links that have caught my eye recently:


I applied this method of journal organization to my everyday notebook.

Kait is also tackling monthly challenges and habit-building this year.

How fun is this proposal?

How to read more.

Parks and Recreation is back! Enjoy these Ron Swanson quotes.

This is the best thing to happen to my emai inbox in a long time. I'm on the verge of declaring social bankruptcy.

I'm on the fence about getting a planner. I'm intrigued by a few I've seen that crossover into journal territory.

Ann has been tweaking her blog and post design recently and I'm loving the look. Her pictures are fantastic!

Link List: Winter Break

Since Jesse and I both work in education fields, we both get the days between Christmas and New Years off. Winter break is the perfect time for curling up with hot drinks, warm food, and a book more movie. Or going snowboarding. That's cool, too.

• Cinnamon sugar popovers anyone? I recommend using a little less sugar for the topping It made a huge delicious mess.
• How about some hot chocolate? It's my go-to treat right now.
• Chai spiced apple cider could be great to serve to friends.
• Buttermilk biscuits go with anything.
• If you're a beginner knitter, try making this simple cowl or a simple ribbed headband.
• I might give this DIY maxi skirt a try. The trick is to find completely opaque fabric.
• Gilmore Girls is on Netflix. It's rare to find realistic, layered friendships between girls on TV.
• If you think you're cold, just be glad you're not camping in Russia.

Etsy Love

Etsy can be such a treasure trove of unique items. I've already shared a few of these in my Etsy Edition link list. Here's a closer look at some of the goodies that have caught my eye.

T-Rex Print

Pineapple Stud Earrings

Acorn Post Earrings

Twin Peaks Poster

Twin Peaks Mug

Snowflake Earrings

Bumble Bee Bobby Pins

What have you found on Etsy?

Link List: Socks and Mushrooms

It's too cold for kayaking, in my opinion. 

Here are some ideas for dealing with dropping temperatures.

• The socks in the picture are the first pair I ever made - "Hermoine's Everyday Socks." You can find the pattern here.
• Mushrooms are delicious. Ragout or pasta bake, anyone? Both look amazing.
• Tis the season for salted caramel. Do you prefer it in pumpkin cookies or mocha nutella brownies?
• I had never thought to make a cheese platter for a party before. The addition of honey comb is genius! So classy, yet unexpected.
• I'm obsessed with these colorized photos from history. It makes historical figures feel more like people when you see them in color.
• A Beautiful Mess is renovating a house as their current project and will be donating it to Habitat for Humanity. Woah!
• I just finished Tina Fey's "Bossypants" and am now eying "Yes Please" by Amy Poehler. Yes, please, indeed.
• I love book-inspired candles! This one is inspired by Harry Potter.

How do you deal with cold weather?

States I've visited

One of my life goals is to visit every state (#83 on the list). In order to qualify as a visit, I will have to have spent at least one night there.

So far I've been to:

1. New Jersey
2. New York
3. Pennsylvania
4. Vermont
5. Maine
6. Massachusetts
7. Connecticut
8. Ohio
9. Maryland
10. North Carolina
11. Virginia
12. West Virginia
13. Washington D.C. (bonus!)
14. Georgia
15. Florida
16. Oregon
17. California
18. Rhode Island (April 15-17, 2011, Beast of the East Rugby Tournament)
19. Tennessee (March 2012, Spring Break training)

I've passed through a few states (New Hampshire, Delaware, Colorado), but I'm not going to let those count. I really want to experience each state, even if just for one day.

If all goes well, I'll be adding a few more states to the list this summer. Fingers crossed!

2011: Books

Books I have read in 2011:
(* denotes re-read)

1. A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
2. New Moon by Stephanie Meyer
3. Eclipse by Stephanie Meyer
4. Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer
5. Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck*
6. Travels with Barley by Ken Wells
7. No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy
8. Chocolat by Joanne Harris*
9. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkein
10. The Big Burn by Timothy Egan
11. Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris
12. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
13. Simplify by Joshua Becker
14. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
15. The Road by Cormac McCarthy
16. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
17. Simply Car-free by Tammy Strobel
18. Simple Ways to be More with Less by Courtney Carver
19. Love, Star Girl by Jerry Spinelli

2011: Movies

Goal - Watch 50 movies (that I haven't seen before) in 2011

1. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
2. National Geographic: Appalachian Trail
3. Mary and Max
4. The King's Speech
5. Nosferatu the Vampyre
6. Let the Right One In
7. Dead Poets Society
8. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
9. Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears
10. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
11. Tango & Cash
12. Good Night and Good Luck
13. The Hangover 2
14. Silent Hill
15. Bridesmaids
16. Super 8
17. Exit Through the Gift Shop
18. Bram Stoker's Dracula
19. For the Bible Tells Me So
20. Cowboys & Aliens
21. Winter's Bone
22. His Girl Friday
23. Alive
24. Orgasm Inc.
25. Ghost World
26. 17 Again
27. Soylent Green
28. GI Jane
29. Our Idiot Brother

9 Backpacking Lessons I learned the Hard Way

1. Follow the ranger's rules.
You never know when he or she might come by to enforce them. My friend recently got fined for a trip we ran together because we had too many people at a primitive campsite in the Catskills. Know the rules and stick to them.

2. If you're going to hang your bear bag in the dark, make sure you know where it is and how to get back.
It was a dark, moonless night and my friend Chris and I were wandering around in the dark on top of a mountain, not far from two serious cliffs. He and another friend had hung the line earlier and we were just going back to that same spot. We steadily got more and more turned around. Eventually, we found the right direction (with some help from our fellow campers looking for us). I recommend hanging a light or glow stick from the bear bag line. Also, bring a whistle, just in case.

3. Keep a death grip on your potholder.
After a long hard day on the trail with the cold evening setting in, the last thing you want to be doing is picking your dinner out of the dirt.

4. The right sleeping bag makes all the difference.
I've brought sleeping bags that were not rated to a low enough temperature and spent the night shivering myself away every hour.  Know what the temperature will be and plan accordingly. Also, if you get really cold, like me, plan for that. I brought a 30 degree bag when I should have brought a 0 degree.

5. Know what you don't need.
Take as much as you need for as long as you will be gone. You do not need an entire bottle of Nyquil for an overnight. Further, you don't need Banagrams AND cards AND a book AND knitting.

6. Don't lean on your hydration pack.
I once used my backpack as a backrest while reading in the tent. I emptied two liters of water into my sleeping bag.

7. If you're going to sleep outside, make sure you can see the stars.
I love sleeping under the stars. I slept outside on a cloudy night one time, and ended up diving into the tent in a downpour.

8. You don't need as much food as you think.
I am always guilty of bringing too much food. We often come home from weekend trips with enough food leftover for another day. Plan your meals carefully and be aware of how much food you actually eat on a regular basis.

9. Check your medkit before you go.
Luckily I have only been out of minor things - normal-sized Band-Aids, tape, Benadryl. But an understocked medkit can turn from an annoyance to a danger depending on the situation. Be aware of what you use and periodically restock your kit.

Twelve by 2012

Robyn shared this link earlier this weekend and now I've caught the bug, too. Below is a list of twelve things I would like to do by 2012. What do you want to do?

1. Ten items in my shop
2. Knit these socks for my little brother
3. Knit five more squares for charity
4. Fill up my current diary
5. Write fifteen more blog posts
6. Make TARDIS earrings
7. Get back to running three miles regularly
8. Write a short story
9. Hang my Crayon art in the dining nook
10. Straight A's this semester
11. Review three books or movies
12. Read three books

Connective Tissue

Tammy over at Rowdy Kittens posed the question, "What does your connective tissue look like?" Connective tissue, she writes, is:

"The aspects of your life that support you, help you function in highly specialized ways, nourish your core and give you strength — that’s your connective tissue — the intangible ways in which you feel connected — the fibres that bind your being to those you share the planet with."

For me it's taking goofy pictures with my siblings, making delicious food with a friend, genuine compliments from people I respect, sleeping outside with people who love the outdoors as much as I do, looking at Chris and not being able to keep a smile off my face, cuddling with Ein, trading Doctor Who theories with my dad and brother, a concert in the rain with my sister that nearly killed our electronics but we didn't even worry, my mom hugging me and helping me solve my problems, my future brother-in-law taking me for a ride on his motorcycle, my sister's boyfriend making me breakfast because I always end up sleeping on his couch, ridiculous discussions with Trista via social media, ridiculous plans with Sammy at the branch, the smiles and shrieks and giggles from my kids on swim lessons, the enthusiasm of my campers, seeing my extended family on a regular basis, and friends who enjoy spending time with me as much as I enjoy spending time with them.

What does yours look like?

What I did on my summer vacation

My first class is just a few hours away. In these last moments of summer I'm taking a look back at some of the best couple of months I've ever had. I:

• Became a swim instructor
• Earned my Swiftwater Rescue Technician Certification
• Went backpacking
• Introduced an old friend to backpacking
• Read
• Got sunburned
• Got sand everywhere
• Had my hair cut like Princess Kate
• Bought some useful things
• Learned to sail (#18)
• Got paid to go to the beach
• Ate really really good ice cream
• Scuba dived and saw a shipwreck (#17 and #68)
• Went to Rochester
• Rode Amtrak for the first time
• Had a garbage plate from Henrietta Hots
• Was an extra  in the Glee movie
• Lost my Nalgene - again
• Lost Chris' Nalgene
• Bought two new Nalgenes
• Ran Adventure Camp for a week
• Went to the Lake
• Went to LBI
• Spent most of Fourth of July weekend drinking
• Rode the big pink bus to and from Nardi's
• Perfected the art of boogie boarding
• Learned to swim butterfly
• Played rugby
• Got staples in my head
• Got stitches in my foot
• Moved into an awesome new place with awesome people and a dog
• Moved in with my boyfriend
• Made garlic fries
• Made fruit leather
• Cleaned the garage
• Ran the Warrior Dash
• Watched every episode of Doctor Who
• Watched every episode of Dollhouse
• Quit my job
• Got a new job
• Strengthened some friendships
• Made new friends
• Went on a cruise
• Visited Bermuda, St. Thomas, St. Maarten, and Puerto Rico
• Rode a Segway
• Blogged a little
• Canoed a lot

Best summer ever.

5 (useful) things to do before graduation

The weather is quickly warming up (hello 80° yesterday!) and that means that graduation is not far away.

College is a time of opportunity, and now is the best time to learn a few things other than Maslow's hierarchy of needs and the rules of Kings.

Here are five things you can do before you graduate to augment that degree and help you stand out:

1. Make a website. The beauty of the Internet is that anyone with access to a computer can use it. That means, in theory, anything you put on the Internet can be seen by anyone. We all know the problems associated with that, but what about the benefits? When you are applying to a job or marketing your latest philanthropic project, what are you showing? A resume? A PowerPoint? What if you had a website all about how awesome you are? You can use a pre-made platform, such as Blogger or WordPress. Flavors.me is a good example of a personal/professional landing page. But what if you take it one step further? What if instead of simply showing your accomplishments and skills, your website was an example of what you can do? Take a class, ask a friend, look it up... You have the time and the resources now, learn web design!
2. Write. "If you can write, you can do anything." My friend's mother said this six years ago, and it has stuck with me. Every profession utilizes writing in some capacity, from writing emails to writing proposals to writing books. Words are everywhere and the better command you have of the English language (or, even better, a foreign language!), the more useful and successful you will be. Writing can take you anywhere. Practice it.
3. Talk. Again, expressing yourself well makes a world of difference. Learn how to say what you think. Get up in front of a crowd and say something. Take advantage of those class presentations. Be comfortable in front of a crowd.
4. Listen. Close the laptop. Turn off your iPod. Yes, even put that cellphone away. You may think you can multitask, but you'd be surprised by how much you're missing. Plus, it's rude. Start by paying attention in class. If you can consistently listen to your professor, the person you're paying thousands of dollars to learn from, for an hour and twenty minutes, I promise you will not only earn better grades, but you will also find it easier to listen in conversations. Like everything else, it takes practice. Once you start listening, though, you'll start learning. And learning is what college is all about.
5. Commit and quit. If you try to do everything, you're going to accomplish nothing. If you choose to do something, do it 100%. If you are not giving your tasks all your attention and care, you're wasting your time. If you're not willing to give it your all, quit. StudyHacks is always extolling the virtues of accomplishing more by doing less, and you should take heed. Do a few things really well. Doing everything averagely will drain you and you'll just fade into the background. Decide what you want to do, figure out what you need to do, and do it. No more, no less. Save your energy for the things that matter.

Did I miss anything? What are your tips for getting the most out of college?

Habits

I have a blog crush on the lovely Luinae. She's 15 and incredibly smart and talented and I can't wait for her to publish a new post.

That said, she's got me thinking about habits. As you know, I have a new years resolution list. Some things are being accomplished (Hellooooo grad school!), while others are falling to the side (I've written in my diary three times this year). I'm not giving up on these things, though. Just because I haven't been perfect doesn't mean I should quit. I just need to change my strategy.

Luinae took her resolutions and turned them into something simpler and more manageable: habits.

"Instead of making abstract goals where we'll only keep half of them, or vague & dull New Year's resolutions (exercise! eat better!), we're going to be choosing twelve new habits. And for each month of the year, we're going to implement a new habit. And at the end of the year, we'll have formed twelve amazing new habits. And doesn't that sound better then some vague plan? Why one a month? Because research shows that it takes three to four weeks to implement a new habit into your brain, and a month is a approximatively that. Plus, it's a good way to time it, as it's easy to say: February, I do this, and so on."


So what am I going to do with this? There are only a few things on my list that really can be considered habits. But for the next couple of months, I'm going to try to incorporate them into my life.

April - Ruck hard and make my tackles
May - Eat at least one plant a day
June - Write in my diary once a week
July - Make eye contact
August - Take three pictures a week
September - Ask questions
October - TBD
November - TBD
December - TBD

What do you want to turn into a habit?

In 2011 I will...

• Visit San Francisco
• Go on a solo backpacking trip
• Run a half marathon
• Run the Warrior Dash with my family
• Sail
• Get into the Graduate School of Education
• Become a swim instructor
• Ruck hard and make my tackles
• Swim a lot
• Sew something, finally
• Cross more things off my bucket list
• Fly my kite
• Read 50 books
• Eat one plant a day
• Watch 50 movies
• Score a try
• Get straight As
• Write in my diary once a week
• Do some kind of physical activity every day
• Ask more questions
• Listen
• Make eye contact
• Take a lot of pictures
• Do a split
• Knit 25 things for charity

My Bucket List

1. Participate in a flash mob
2. Learn to surf June 2010
3. Leave the country
4. Drive cross-country
5. Skinny dip
6. Learn to crochet
7. Build a piece of furniture
8. Make a time capsule
9. Rock climb on real rocks March 2010
10. Watch a shuttle launch
11. Get a tattoo
12. Be a juror
13. Sleep under the stars March 2010
14. Raft the Rio Grande
15. Spend a night in a haunted house
16. Ride in a hot air balloon
17. Scuba dive
18. Learn to sail
19. Milk a cow
20. Fly a plane
21. Walk on hot coals
22. Change the oil in my car
23. Witness a solar eclipse
24. Earn a college degree
25. Develop photos
26. Make a quilt
27. Get completely covered in mud October 2010
28. See the northern lights
29. Run 2 miles March 2010
30. Learn sign language
31. Throw a block party
32. Scream at the top of my lungs
33. Go dog-sledding
34. Jump off a waterfall
35. Hang glide
36. Parasail
37. Visit my grandmother's grave
38. Ring in the new year in Times Square
39. Ice fishing
40. Ice climbing
41. See Everest
42. Visit Antarctica
43. Build a boat
44. Ollie on a skateboard
45. Snowboard in a different country
46. Celebrate Christmas in the southern hemisphere
47. Watch the sun set over the pacific ocean March 2009
48. Visit every continent
49. Get a motorcycle licenses
50. Drive route 1 from Maine to Key West
51. Ski February 2010
52. Unplug for a week
53. Attend the Olympics
54. Skydive
55. Swim with dolphins
56. Ride a camel in the desert
57. Ride an ostrich
58. Oktoberfest in Germany
59. Celebrate New Years abroad
60. Learn to juggle
61. Do my own taxes
62. Visit a concentration camp
63. Visit the Louvre
64. Ride a gondola in Venice
65. Thru-hike the Appalachian Tail
66. Real camping aka backpacking March 2010
67. Go in a multi-day trail ride
68. Explore a shipwreck
69. Ride a mechanical bull August 2009
70. Swim with sharks
71. See a real platypus
72. See Victoria Falls
73. Meet the president
74. Ride an elephant
75. Burning Man
76. Write a book
77. Make a dress
78. Barefoot water-ski
79. Visit Salvation Mountain, Calfornia
80. Kiss the Blarney Stone
81. Walk on the Great Wall of China
82. See the Pyramids
83. Visit every state
84. Visit a ghost town
85. Run a marathon
86. Participate in a triathlon
87. Play rugby September 2010
88. Karaoke
89. Wine tasting
90. Fold 1000 paper cranes
91. Visit an active volcano
92. See the midnight sun
93. Knit a sweater
94. Plant a tree
95. Go to a rodeo
96. Fight someone
97. See a geyser
98. See a fjord
99. Enjoy a geothermal spring
100. Touch an iceberg
101. Life guard certification November 2010
102. No television for one month
103. Fly in a helicopter
104. Score a try
105. Knit 100 things for charity
106. Catch a fish and eat it
107. Run a half marathon