30 by 30: The First Month

I thought I made a good bit of progress for just 1 month, but then the thought of only having 11 months left completely overwhelmed me. Things will ramp up as the weather gets warmer, but it was a good reminder that I have to be diligent or time will fly. Here is what I accomplished this month:

#8 Blog every week
So far, so good. I blogged every week this month, and most importantly, I enjoyed it.

a new print above our bar cabinet.

#20 Hang more things on our walls
We hung 2 coat hooks, 1 key rack, and 1 print this past month. Someone should ask Jon about how much he looooooves hanging things on our plaster walls. It's always an adventure, and I know he is thrilled that I have 12 frames on order and 3 vintage maps at the custom frame shop as we speak.

#16 host more dinner parties
I made this one more narrow than I should have. The spirit of the task was to open our home more often to more people for more fellowship. It doesn't always have to be a dinner party per se, but it also can't be regularly scheduled events like church community group. This month, I hosted a girls night (we may or may not have watched clueless while eating peanut butter M&Ms). We also had our friends Robby and Caroline over for Thai takeout and games.

#23 Commit 12 new Bible verses to memory
I memorized 2 Peter 3:8-9. Our pastor has been preaching through 2 Peter over the last several weeks so I picked a verse from that book.

But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

#4 Learn how to make royal icing
A sweet friend and fellow baker invited me over for some sugar cookie fun on a rainy Saturday. Using the same recipe I had failed at multiple times, the royal icing we made together turned out perfect on our very first try. I guess sometimes you just need the moral support of a friend. I'm not crossing this one off the list quite yet, but we are well on our way to success.

#15 Beat Jon at Settlers of Catan
The board game to rule them all. We played 1 game of Settlers this month (See #16). Jon didn't win, but neither did I so it doesn't count.

#2 Read 30 Books
I read two books. One was a fiction book called The Sisters, which I had started before the list came into existence. It wasn't the most amazing book I've ever read, but since I had already started it, I figured I might as well finish it. Frankly, I'm glad I'm done with it so I can move on. I don't like reading more than one book at a time.

The other book was a social science book about French parenting. It was so interesting that I breezed through it in a few days. Since I actually liked this book, I'll write a little review for all of you soon.

In order to be more intentional about my reading this year, I made a book list. Yes, my 30 by 30 list has a sub-list. The more things to cross off the merrier! I tend to do most of my reading on planes, in waiting rooms or on vacations. Thus, most of my reading (outside of the Bible) is pretty mindless fiction. I like the escape of a fun, easy read, but I wanted to challenge myself to read more "real" books so I divided the list into a few categories and then some suggested titles. This is all subject to change, but you'll get the general idea. If you have suggested books that I should add or subtract, please send them my way.

10 Non-fiction 

In Cold Blood

Team of Rivals

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Moneyball

The Hiding Place

Behind the Beautiful Forevers

Bossypants

Born Standing Up

The Devil in the White City

Escape from Camp 14

The Lost Continent: Travels in Small Town America

Bringing up Bebe

You Are Not That Smart

5 Christian

Pilgrim’s Progress

Mere Christianity

Heaven

Desiring God

Marriage Matters

5 Classics

Great Expectations

Grapes of Wrath

A Farewell to Arms

All the King’s Men

Gone with the Wind

10 Fiction
The Sisters
The rest are TBD - since fiction is my go-to genre, I don't think I'll have too much trouble coming up with other titles as I go. 

While it's not on the list, I couldn't resist adding #31 - maybe a rotating bonus experience from each month? This month's was "Spend more time with adorable babies." I got to hang out with Anastasia one Saturday. We (I) baked a cake and chewed (her) on the remote. There was also a one year old birthday party we hosted for Eli whose fat rolls also double as crumb catchers. I can't even.

megan's visit

Megan, aka my older sister, aka Schmee, finally came to visit! We've seen each other a lot over the last several months, but it just hadn't worked out yet for her to come here. It was driving us both insane. I've been bouncing house/decorating ideas off her since we bought this house (and vice versa since she bought a house last year too), but you can only look at so many photos and inspirational Pinterest boards before you have to just see everything in person. The free decorating help aside, I was really happy to spend a whole week with her. We haven't hung out just the two of us like that in ages.

Her visit came at the perfect time. I've made a renewed effort recently to focus on house projects. If decorating a house is like writing a novel, then the last few months have been one long slog of writer's block for me. I'm not very patient. I hate having to wait for inspiration and clarity, but I think the fog has finally lifted. I recently had a lightbulb moment, and I'm starting to see how everything is going to come together, which is good because I have 6 months until we host my family for Christmas. That seems like a long time, but my to-do list begs to differ. It won't all be done by then, of course, but I'm sure everyone would at least appreciate having a place to sleep.

Here is everything we managed to squeeze into one week.

We shopped for (and found) treasures at barn sales in Frederick, Maryland. I came home with this cute little dresser. I loved the shape of it, and at $150 its was a pretty great deal considering similar pieces are going for almost $700!

We went to a baseball game and the Nats finally broke their curse against the Braves. I think Megan is good luck.

baseball selfie!

We made a strawberry rhubarb pie. This  lil' baby attended a USA soccer watch party/BBQ with us, but the pie didn't make it home.

While I was at work one day, Megan cooked a delicious dinner of spring pea & asparagus lemon risotto. I didn't mind.

Since she made me dinner, I thought the least I could do was make her a Pimm's cup. I've been obsessed with Pimm's cup cocktails lately. They are the perfect refreshing drink for a warm summer evening.

We went to dinner at Roses' Luxury - one of our favorite new places in D.C. The food is swoon-worthy. If my waistline was no object, I would eat here every day.

gnocchi, a.k.a. tiny pillows of love

megan said this dessert tasted like a meadow. it turns out meadows are delicious. 

As if cooking dinner and schlepping to barn sales and home stores wasn't enough (I'm sure she really hated all the shopping), we made Megan earn her keep. This light fixture in our entry had to go. I've hated it from day one. It was way overdo for an upgrade. 

ugly old fixture

shiny new fixture

Luckily, Megan has experience in this department. She's hung a few fixtures in her house.

Not so luckily, hanging a new light fixture in an old house can be quite complicated.

But she was determined to finish what she started. She's a lot like Dad in that way. Again, I didn't mind. It was a bit of an adventure, but after 5 hours and 3 trips to the hardware store, we had achieved success. This is what homeowners do on a Friday night. If you don't already own a home, get excited.

hanging out in some natural light before we left for work this morning.
do you see the sheet of gold dots sitting on the chest (far right)?
they are leftover from the bathroom project,  and i have big plans for them.
and that chevron entry rug? i have big plans for that too.
and those two wallpaper samples hanging out in the dining room? yep, even more plans.
so many exciting things happening. stay tuned!

It was more than worth it! I love how it turned out! It's amazing what a difference a new light fixture can make. My excitement level over this light fixture officially means I'm old & home owner boring, but I don't care. The midcentury vibe of the fixture is perfect - it works in our old house while still remaining modern & playful. The brass fixture also plays off the brass drawer pulls & gold lamp on the chest. Hiding in the backdrop of the photo is our new fireplace screen, which adds even more shimmery warmth to the house. I love how the geometric shapes in the light fixture and fireplace screen complement each other.

One of the hardest parts of decorating is making things flow from room to room. When you walk into my house, you see into the entry, stairway, living room and dining room. Making sure all of those spaces blend well is a challenge, but I'm pretty thrilled with how it's coming together. It's making me anxious to finish with some other projects and ideas I've been pondering.

a closer look at the fireplace screen

One project done, one to go. Remember that dresser we bought? You didn't think we were going to leave it like that, did you? It was in pretty good shape, but it still needed a little TLC. But you'll have to come back tomorrow to see how it turned out. How rude of me.

We really put Megan to work. I feel a little bad about that. I'm not sure it was much of a vacation for her. But we did make sure to reward her helpful efforts in a big way. On her last night here, we took her to get her very first lobster roll. I felt like a parent introducing my kid to something new and wonderful. You'll have to ask her what she thought, but I don't think it disappointed. Lobster rarely does.

mmmmmmm, lobster

Thus ended the trip. I kind of miss her already. 

eight & twenty

Birthdays aren't nearly as much fun as they used to be, but they're still pretty fun. :)

One of my interns made me this lovely little tart. It was almost too pretty to eat, but I managed.

My co-workers gave me flowers, a card, and took my out to lunch. They're a swell bunch.

Jon made me an apple cake (under my supervision, but I didn't even have to help *that* much). He actually made it the night before my birthday, and I'm glad he did because I wouldn't have had any room after my birthday dinner. He did a great job, and I appreciated his effort because I know baking isn't his favorite. It tasted like a cross between a bread pudding and apple dumpling/cobbler. It was warm, spongy and pretty much perfect with a scoop of homemade vanilla on top.

Speaking of being full, Jon surprised me with a reservation at Komi for my birthday dinner! We've been talking about going there forever so my little foodie heart almost died once I realized where we were headed. The dinner was fantastic. I lost count of the number of courses, but my favorite was the olive oil and chocolate pudding. I know it doesn't sound like much, but it was, hands down, the best dessert I've ever had. Ever. I would trade my firstborn for another bite.

After dinner, we came home and I immediately changed into sweatpants with an elastic waistband. Jon was kind enough to bring the cards & presents upstairs for me to open because I just didn't think I could survive a trip back down the stairs. Have I mentioned how full I was?

i'm pretty spoiled. 

oops! we forgot to use these on the cake. we'll have to reprise our cake eating tonight. :)

best card of the night. 

slippers from megan. i almost wore them to work today.  

remember the pogs story? mom found some in a desk drawer and sent them to me. 

jon gave me the owl hat, which i had to wear immediately. i suppose this is my owl face.
mom gave me some navy striped towels for the kate spade bathroom.

It was a great day, but let's not do it again for a year. Deal? 

the friday happy list: recipe sources

Nothing is more discouraging than wasting time and ingredients on a bad recipe, but finding trusted sources can be really difficult in such a saturated market. Here are my most trusted sources that I find myself turning to time and time again. None of these are hidden gems - you've probably heard of all of them - but they've all earned my stamp of approval for being consistent and reliable.

Southern Living. My Mom always depended on her Southern Living cookbooks, and I've recently been enamored with their print magazine. It's hard to go wrong when most of the recipes involve butter and cream. Their crowd-pleasing recipes are approachable and comforting, yet indulgent enough for special occasions. I've never met a Southern Living recipe that I didn't want to make immediately.



Smitten Kitchen. Probably my favorite recipe website, Smitten Kitchen never fails. She takes each detail into consideration and tweaks every recipe until it's fit to print. The end result is a straightforward, easy-to-follow recipe. She provides great introductions, and the comments section is helpful for any additional questions you might have. I also love how uncluttered and organized her website is - it really stands out in a sea of sensory-overloaded cooking sites.



Cook's Illustrated. If you want to add 20 steps to a recipe that could probably be completed in 5, this magazine is for you. It's not for the faint of heart, but I love reading about the techniques behind each recipe (it's especially helpful for baking, which is more science-y in nature). Even if you don't want to go to all the trouble of actually making one of their recipes, you can still gain some helpful tips and tricks just by reading them. And it's not all about complicating things, sometimes their focus is on making equally tasty, but quicker/simpler versions of dishes.



Now in the unhappy section, I have to mention two popular sources that I just don't love - The Pioneer Woman & Real Simple magazine. I've tried multiple recipes from both sources and not one has really wowed me. I have no idea what it is - I know many people rave about PW - but I've had too many failed dishes from these two sources to trust them with another stick of precious butter.

What did I miss? Where do you find your favorite recipes?