Thursday 10 July 2008

A List to Build a Dream On

I was doing a little knit stalking on Anthropologie this morning, and came across these two lovelies from their upcoming fall collection: Changling Cardigan: Angular Momentum Sweater: I love how Anthropologie has the zoom and back view feature on all their items- it shows a great deal of detail, and exactly how it's all put together!The different sized wooden buttons on the changeling cardi are such a great touch, and I'm particularly in love with that Angular Momentum Sweater, but wih the knitting backlog I've got going on at the moment, I can't imagine that I'll be reverse engineering it anytime soon. But hey, a girl can dream, right? By the way: I had to ask G how to get jpegs from videos/images that are run through a flash player, and he wrote it out for me so clearly that I had no trouble following it (and I'm not exactly the most technologically gifted individual out there). So, for anyone else who'd like to be able to do that for videos, other Anthropologie items, etc. These are the instructions: 1. Hold down the 'Alt' key and press the Print Screen button at the same time 2. Open Microsoft Paint and choose Edit> Paste. 3. Then use the rectangular selection tool to select the area you want (the rectangle with the dotted line),then Edit> Cut, File> New, then Edit> Paste. 4. You should now see your new image, cropped the way you'd like it. 5. You will probably need to go to Image> Attributes to muck about with the sizing- for that site I found that a width of 300 pixels and a height of 400 pixels gave a nice size of white border. 6. Then just go File> New and Paste the image again. 7. File> Save As, change file type to .jpg. You may not know this about me (although the above steps should help give a clue), but I'm a total list person. I was completely inspired when I saw Steph's List of 101 Things in 1001 Days on her blog. I love the concept of this. Time passes by no matter what, so you might as well be doing something with your time that makes you feel as though you're really living the kind of life you want to lead. Not to mention that setting attainable goals and plodding towards them in a realistic timeframe is pretty much the only way anything ever gets accomplished... and did I mention I love lists? So, here's my list: Date Started- July 10, 2008 End Date: April 7, 2011 In the Kitchen 1. Make cinnamon rolls from scratch 2. Learn how to making icing flowers that I’m happy with. 3. Find and perfect a great bread recipe for a standard loaf (i.e. sliced bread), and make regularly 4. Learn to make pad thai at home, just the way I like it. 5. Learn to properly decorate a cake. 6. Bake cookies for every branch of my family. 7. Make jam. 8. Try a new recipe once a month. 9. Try making my own sushi 10. Find 5 appetizing and healthy brown-bag options for myself 11. Cook dinner for my parents at least twice. 12. Go one month without eating take away or in a restaurant 13. Find my go-to peanut butter cookie recipe. 14. Use my crock pot 10 times (0/10) 15. Bake 5 kinds of cakes that I’ve never made before (0/5) 16. Join one of those organic box a week programs. Personal Development 17. Make eye contact and give the other person my attention when they are speaking. Particularly to cashiers when I’m in checkout lines. 18. Learn to use Photoshop. 19. Take 2 classes of some kind (pottery? Indian cooking? Pole dancing? Something, anything) 20. Commit to self portrait Sundays, and actually do them until I feel comfortable having my picture taken 21. Download some French podcasts onto my iPod, and make an effort to re-learn my seriously rusty French 22. Paint a painting that I’m happy with, or sketch something I like enough to frame. 23. Learn how to use the features on my camera 24. Practice drawing something everyday for a month. 25. Buy a pair of red high heels. Never wear them with anything red. 26. Find a new artist (new to me, I mean) whose work I love Reading and Writing 27. Begin and maintain a regular writing schedule (hammering out a couple of pages every three weeks doesn’t count) 28. Complete 3 manuscripts. 29. Submit each manuscript to three different literary agents or publishing houses 30. Submit to a literary journal 4 times a year. 31. Re-read all of Virginia Woolf’s novels and short stories. 32. Participate in NaNoWriMo 33. Spend more time creating thoughtful and useful blog posts. 34. Read all of the Brother’s Grimm fairytales. 35. Blog every day for a month. 36. Go to one poetry reading a month. 37. Write 10 short stories. Knitting and Craft 38. Learn to crochet 39. Sew an article of clothing. 40. Reduce yarn stash to two drawers and trunk only (currently a fiasco that threatens to overrun my bedroom) 41. Go to a wool/fibre festival 42. Create 2 original knitting patterns 43. Knit a stockpile of baby stuff, so when people have little ones, they are ready to give as gifts 44. Learn the magic loop technique 45. Knit my friend Paul a Fisherman’s Gansey. 46. Participate in three swaps (0/3) 47. Finish fixing the Legacy Sweater for mom. 48. Organize knitting patterns and books 49. Become a regular at a Stitch n Bitch. 50. Try a new craft that I’ve never done before. 51. Crochet five things that are not dishcloths (0/5) Exercise/Fitness 52. Begin and maintain a regular fitness programme (doing pilates once every three weeks does not count) 53. Do yoga every day for two weeks. 54. Take up jogging and see if I like it. 55. Spend an entire day hiking (basically, in the bush for at least 8 hours). 56. Work on my golf swing 57. Do pilates every day for a month. 58. Learn to rollerblade. Travel 59. Visit 2 countries that I haven’t been to before 60. Visit NYC. 61. Take a last-minute holiday. Finances 62. Create a budget and stick to it 63. Pay off my credit card, and stop carrying a balance on it 64. Organize my tax paperwork, properly, so doing my return isn’t a paper hunt every spring. This includes keeping track of prescription receipts. 65. Put $5 aside once a week to save up for something special (TBD- trip?) 66. Track and add up how much I spend on eating in restaurants a month and then be properly horrified at the $$. 67. Create a better game plan for my RRSP. 68. Research the housing market, and begin the planning stages of buying a condo 69. Review current banking fees, and compare with other banks to see if better rates/services are available. 70. For every uncompleted task on this list, donate $10 to a charity (charity TBD, but no doubt something animal related) Life in General 71. Build a snowman 72. Kiss my boyfriend passionately every day 73. At least once a week, call a friend I don’t see regularly, just to catch up 74. Dry clean my wedding dress/veil (I got divorced in 2006, that’s how long I’ve been putting that off) 75. Decide what to do with wedding dress/ veil (sell it? Give it away? It seems weird to hang on to it) 76. Take 3 bubble baths with a book and a glass of wine/mug of tea 77. Print photos, arrange in photo albums (because if my hardrive crashed, the only photos I would have would be the ones on Facebook and flickr!) 78. Host a clothing swap 79. Declutter- throw something out (trash or recycling bin) every day for a month. 80. Try out five independent cafes in Toronto that I haven’t been to before 81. Go to the zoo. 82. Make a light box for taking photos. 83. Start using the green bin more regularly. 84. Send Christmas Cards. 85. Get some sort of music set up for the bedroom( probably an iHome) 86. Take my little brother for the day at least every 6 weeks. 87. Get some lavender to protect sweaters from moths. 88. Go to bed at 10:30 p.m.(with the light’s out!) every night for a week. 89. Wear a true red lipstick 3 times (I never wear lipstick, much less red) (0/3) 90. Grow basil. Again. 91. Reconnect with an old friend that I regret losing touch with. 92. Do something wonderful/fun/really meaningful for my 30th birthday 93. Do something really special for G. 94. Try ten new cocktails that I’ve never had before. (0/10) 95. Go to Shakespeare in the Park (Why have I never done this before?!) 96. Private* (0/5) 97. Get a cat 98. Phase-out all the non-biodegradable cleaning products in my home. 99. Host some kind of party. 100. Build something with my little brother. 101. Email a friend, every day. Just to keep in touch. I can't even imagine my life in April 2011, but if I've crossed off even 75 things from this list, I'm sure I'll be pretty happy. And just because this post is a little text heavy, here's a closing shot of the Canada Day Fireworks we had on July 1st:

17 comments:

Erin said...

I LOVE this idea! Love it. I am so going to do this.

Ella said...

Ha HAAAA! I got to "Life in General" and read "Kiss a snowman passionately every day". And then I got this image of the totally melty snowman with the hot guy inside and... well... :D

I so totally love this idea, and I love the things you've come up with! I need to do this too - so many of the things on your lists are things I've wanted to or dreamed of doing... I can't imagine what the hell I'm waiting for! So inspiring!

yoel said...

I LOVE resolution-type lists for NOT new year's. If you want some inspiration, I ripped out the martha stewart living magazine section on icing flowers, several years ago, and have never even unfolded them! Lemme know!

jennifer said...

So ambitious and inspiring!

yoel said...

And also, "a regular fitness programme" is already miles ahead of "a regular fitness program." It's so official and *done already*.

Teresa said...

Great knits and great list.
I too am a list person - crossing things off is so damn satisfying!
Thanks mucho for the instructions on getting those jpegs. A new world of pictoral opportunity has opened to me :)

And, to toot my own horn: I make the world's greatest cinnamon buns. Ask Steph. I'll share the easy-peasy recipe if you likes.

Anonymous said...

She does make the best cinnamon buns. You should make some and I'll test them. Just for you Jules.

BrownBerry said...

I say this genuinely - this list is inspiring. Hmm...might be time for my own.

GirlBoyGirl said...

I adore lists. I live by them. I enjoyed reading this list quite a bit and it has given me a lot of ideas for what I want/SHOULD do in my life. Perhaps I will create a list like this of my own, but I don't know if I can come up with 101 things as you have.

As for the writing and creative things on your list, I think they're excellent and fulfilling goals and I hope you share some of your work! Your writing is excellent in your blog, so I can only imagine how great it would be in a short story or other work.

Good luck on your list!

Anonymous said...

Great list! I should make one for myself... I really like how you got all parts of life down in there. :)

juicyknits said...

If you need a nice cake recipe, no matter what kind - from chocolate to fruit cake, just email me. Germany is really THE country with best cake recipies. I'd be really glad to help you with that point.
And I hope you'll keep on posting whenever you can cross anything off your list.

Anonymous said...

Really inspiring list Julie, and those sweaters are both beautiful..

As You Like It is playing at Philosopher's Walk at UofT now untill August 2nd.
details here http://uofttix.ca/view.php?id=364
I haven't gone to see it yet, but probably will soon.

I love to make Pad Thai at home. It's so much better than the bleh noodles at most restaurants.

Hilary said...

Whoa...AMAZING list. I am truly inspired! I bet you'll have a bunch of those things knocked off your list in no time.

A friend of mine was recently thrilled to find a wedding dress that she loved second-hand. She couldn't have afforded it full price. So, if you decide to part with yours, it could make someone else very happy!

Anonymous said...

I love making lists too, and this is an AWESOME idea!! I think I need to do this too. I'm not sure I could think of 101 things, but maybe it's easier once you get going...

Good luck with it!! :) I hope you reach many of those goals!

Anonymous said...

hello, just to let you know- i can give you some tips on sushi-making if you're up for it!

Christine

Lindaloo26 said...

Have you found the perfect bread recipe yet? If not - I have it. I love your blog. Very inspiring.

Amber Lu said...

#4 How to make pad thai-- check out this link http://chezpim.typepad.com/blogs/2007/01/pad_thai_for_be.html

The recipe is more of a formula and it works great!