TakiJ's Year In Review

Happy Almost New Year Everyone. Can you believe it? 2011 is gone and 2012 is staring us in the face. I decided to take a look at the year and see what I have accomplished. Looking at the amount I have posted it really does not seem like much. Only 24 posts (this will be 25) compared to 195 in 2010. What happened!!!

Let me sum that up really quickly. I started a new job in February. No further explanation needed. Yep that will suck any extra time dry. It looks like I managed to paint my nails a few times and work out a little bit. But geez I have got to do better in 2012.

It is always fun to look back on what you have posted. I had the same conversation with my friend a few days ago about running a 10K and once again he told me I have 4 months to train. LOL. We'll see how it goes this year.

That post about things I wanted:
I did get a new phone,
the wardrobe thing I am slowly but surely working on,
no tablet or spa day as of yet but.....
I do have a trip planned for 2012.

I am not really setting a New Year's resolutions since I have my crazy long list of 101 in 1001. It is funny how I made that list almost a year ago however some of the things on it one year later I am not really to keen on. Am I allowed to change that list any? Of course, it is MY list. Maybe I will write a new one and see what overlaps.

I hope all of you had a great 2011 and hope that 2012 will be even better.

Thanks for hanging in there with me through my lack of posts. 2012 will be much better I am sure.

Sidewalkers

This was a quick polish a few nights ago. Two coats of NYC In A New York Color Minute in Sidewalkers that dried pretty quickly. At least for the most part. I had a few sheet impressions in the morning so it obviously wasn't completely dry. This polish is very thin and runny but the upside is it does seem to dry fast enough so to do two coats or three isn't that bad. Next time I will do 3 coats and not fall asleep.

New Shoes

Shoes are on my mind as of late. I need shoes. Seriously, I do. This isn't a I want shoes type of thing. The shoes I am wearing I have had for probably 6-7 years. Yep. Some of the stores have even gone out of business. Trying to revamp my shoe collection isn't the worst thing in the world. Except, now I DO want everything. So here is a look at a pair I picked up the other day. A little outside of my "Plain Jane" box but easy enough to pair up with a pencil skirt or slacks.

Excuse Me While I Get My Life Together

Chaos seems to be an understatement at this point in my life. I feel like I have a zillion things I am doing while still feeling like I am actually doing nothing. NOT GOOD. This has to stop and stop now. I don't want to constantly feel stuck and look back with the "I-wish-I-would-have's".

So what can I do? Get my act together I guess.

Step 1 will be to take some time for myself. Like actually do it and not just say I am going to do it. Real time for myself to relax, regroup, and just enjoy the moment with no worries about what I need to do. Time where it is all about ME (can that actually exist)!!

What should go into this chunk of time? I don't even know. Maybe go get a pedicure. I haven't done that in ages. Help me out here people!!! No studying. No planning. Fitness stuff doesn't count. Washing my hair doesn't count either. A happy hour would count I think. Tackling some of my 101 items will count as well.

It all starts this week. ME TIME 101. I'll start small with saying 30 minutes a day for me to have only for me. I know this is going to take me a while to figure out so please excuse these random posts. Sometimes it just helps to put your thoughts out there.

Just curious, how do you keep your life in order?

Just Take A Hike

Really. It was hot, sweaty, ankle twisting. bug swatting, "are-we-there-yet" fun (to me at least). We, the hubby and kids, went to a mountain resort a few weekends ago and I was able to convince everyone to go on a hike with me. I think we only did about 4 miles but it seemed like a LOT more than that. We took several breaks but it was a great workout and it made me realize how nice it is to be outdoors.

On the way back my hubby and youngest child forged ahead while my oldest and I chatted and made our way at a more leisurely pace. It was really nice to have that one-on-one time just walking and talking. One of the topics of conversation was the 101 in 1001. At the time I was wondering if hiking was even on my list but when I came home and found out it was I was happy to see it was.
I haven't made much progress on the 101 in 1001 but I am currently working on my pushups and one of my IT certifications. I might try getting in the blog posts this month and I did try t0 give blood once again and once again my iron count was to low.
I hope everyone has been well. Nice to be blogging again.

Another I Am Alive Post

...cuz I am alive. I haven't made any progress on my list but the job thing that I made progress on has put a lot to a grinding halt. Excuses, excuses, excuses. Pretty much. I am about to go into hardcore study mode for some of my certifications. Yeah!!! Kind of excited about that. Otherwise, I hope everyone is well and I have been peeking in at your blogs when I have a chance.

Week 3- Seriously?

This DVD (Jillian Michaels Ripped in Thirty) is off the chain challenging. If you can make it straight through any of these workouts at the advanced level you are a BEAST. Therefore, I am not a beast. But that is okay, I am trying my best. The week 3 workout will make you want to run to your room crying. I really liked it though. This series of exercises seems to go by faster than the other weeks. I am not sure what it is but in the blink of an eye you are sweating bullets, screaming for mercy and then done.

Next week is Week 4. I am proud of myself for sticking with this. At this point I need to focus on my eating too. Baby steps I guess. The measurements I was supposed to take at the start of this were never taken but I am starting to see some changes in my body. I will stick with this workout DVD well past the 4 weeks I am sure.

NOLW- Sinful Colors Nirvana

That would be Nail of Last Week since I have been busy doing other things and not getting the photos off of my camera. This color looks brown in the bottle but on the nail I couldn't figure out if was brown, gray or some weird mix in between. I picked this baby up for 99 cents and it was well worth it. Two coats will do just fine but I did a third because I didn't put my top coat on and did some cleaning around the house. Not a good idea so it was only to touch up a few self-inflicted nicks.

So what color IS this?

Week 2

I made it through week one of Jillian Michaels Ripped in 30 and let me tell you I am liking it. By the end of the week a was comfortable yet challenged. I started Week 2 this morning and it is pretty much as if I did nothing all last week. Oh my!!!

The Week 2 warm up is great. I really like the moves to get you stretched out and ready to go. Be careful and get familiar with the moves for Week 2. I needed to put the weights down and focus on getting the proper form and pefecting the move. Tomorrow I am going to pick up the weights I need to do this.

The abs portion of Week 2 is tough. I haven't seen some of these ab moves before and it is always nice to see something new. They are killer but its all good. Truth be told I have no clue how am going to make it through this week but I thought the same about Week 1 so I am seriously crossing my fingers.

As great as this workout is I don't think 30 min is enough for my to achieve the results I am looking for. It feels like I should be doing another 20 min. I am seriously thinking of doing one workout in the morning and one in the evening. I might even try hopping on the treadmill for 20-30 min after. We'll see.

I meant to take my measurements last week so maybe at some point tomorrow I'll get around to dealing with those pesky numbers.

Why Am I Buying Nail Polish

I am not even painting my nails on a regular basis but when I went in Walgreens a few days ago there it was staring me in the face. Sinful Colors and Wet N' Wild were on sale. Who can beat 99 cents and 69 cents for a bottle of polish. They were pretty much cleaned out but I did manage to snag a few that I wanted to try.

From left to right:

Sinful Colors Nirvana, Sinful Colors Glass Pink, Sinful Colors Fig, and Wet n Wild Rain Check

I can't wait to try the Fig and Nirvana. Those are my 2 faves out of this group.

The What I Want Post

Here is my random, it is late, it is to dark to take nailpolish pics for my other post, what is on my mind post.

WHAT I WANT

1. iPad- I have an iPad on my mind 24/7 now. I could be in the bed surfing the net, checking emails, and being productive

2. new cell phone - nothing out that I am CRAZY about but I need something ASAP, perhaps an iPhone or Blackberry

3. new wardrobe - like throw everything in my closet out and start over

4. spa day- who couldn't use one of these, massage, facial, pedicure

5. trip to somewhere warm with a beautiful beach- please and please

What is on your wish list these days?

My Quads are DONE!!!

Thanks to Jillian Michaels I am hurting. This was Day 1 of the Ripped in 30 program. Somebody give me a massage now. The initial plan was to get the Beachbody Insanity workouts but I didn't get them yet so I needed to get started with something. Lots of people recommended Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred but the store didn't have that either. The Ripped in 30 came out this year and for $10 I had nothing to lose.

Day 1 Thoughts

Pros- the workout is between 20-25 minutes so you don't need a lot of time to fit it in, you hit a lot of muscle groups, variations of each exercise

Cons- none yet other than the pain I am in, requires weights and I didn't see that mentioned on the packaging

There is a meal plan that goes with this that you have to download. I haven't decided if I am going to follow that or not. Once I get out of this stupor I am in I'll check it out.

Anyone else on a get in shape for the summer kick? What is your workout plan?

Ms. Fix It Strikes Again

Oh, how I love to take broken things apart and hope I can get them working and back together. In todays episode of Ms. Fix It lets talk about my kids shower. For about 2-3 weeks now it has been broken. They came to me one day and said it would not turn on. Fortunately they were able to use my shower but before I ventured into their bathroom they had to clean it up.

Finally, I looked at it tonight and found a cracked something or other in the knob. It was some type of cylinder that slips of some other part. This meant the knob didn't secure firmly around theother part so when you turned the knob instead of turning the other part with it the knob just slipped around the other part. Um yeah, I went to plumbing school!! NOT.

I couldn't find any glue and yes I even tried nail glue but it would not hold. Alas, rubber bands are your your friend people. I fit the cracked piece back in place and wrapped a rubber band around it as many times as I could. Everything is screwed back together and ta da, a working shower.

I Am Still Here...

Kind of. Let me just say I miss getting on here and chattering away in my own little bubble about whatever I want. I miss reading all of the blogs by everyone else and have just recently started to catch up. You know the 101 in 1001, well #29 (get a job) has pretty much put everything else to a grinding halt. I am determined to get back to it though. JUST DO IT!!! is what I always say. So I am stopping with the I am tireds, I don't have time, blah blah blah and getting back to it. I can't let life pass me by.

I miss you all and hope you have been doing well. Maybe a nail polish post soon!!! Yea!!!!

Ouch #86

I am actually about to paint my nails. Somethng you have seen before (Sally Hansen Gunmetal) but I thought that while waiting for my base coat to dry I would take a look at my 101 in 1001 and see if there was anything I could knock off my list.

March 1st. Great day to start one of the monthly tasks. Pushups how I love thee, how I hate thee. Try doing pushups after doing no type of arm exercise for the last few months. We'll see how this month of at least 10 pushups a day goes. The first 10 were agonizing but I did all 10 and realized how much room I have for progress.

If I do this every day for a month and get better my arms may actually look decent for the summertime!!!

Corporate Nails- What Color Do You Wear?

Okay folks, I need you all to chime in. Having started a new job I am pretty much scared to paint my nails. I am still trying to figure out what exactly is okay for my work environment and where the line between okay and not okay is. Trust me I will always err on the side of caution which is why even though I want to paint my nails for work I haven't yet. I thought I would come to you my dear readers for advice.

I tend to probably dress up more than I need to but that is just me. I like to dress up and isn't there a saying about dressing for the job you want instead of the one you have. With that being said I wear pants suits, slacks with blouse, skirt and blouse, always heels. Come to think of it I don't even own flat dress shoes. But back to the nails.

Light pinks and neutrals are fine I am pretty sure. What else though? Would a gray be okay? I know, no glitters (sad face). What else? French mani is always classic so I know that would work. Can I do any kind of design (maybe only one nail)? If you kind readers could point me in the direction of some great corporate friendly but not blah colors it would be so much appreciated.

Day One of 29

No, no, no, don't worry we are not down to day 1 of 101 in 1001, although it does seem like time flies at times thank goodness it isn't going by that fast. Which is funny because when day 1 actually does come I will be wondering how time went so fast. Anyway, enough of my rambling.

Today IS day 1 of something else though. My new job (see #29). The first day of a new job is always exhausting and I am beat. It is 10:15 and I am about to turn it in but first I just wanted to send a thank you to everyone who helped me get through this process. You don't know how much your support means to me.

Thank You, I Love You, and Happy Valentine's Day!!!

The Image Says It All :-(

Once again I went to donate blood and my iron levels were not high enough. Drat. I feel bad. Seriously, I hate when this happens. My diet was pretty good and I was taking iron supplements. In this day and age they should be able to infuse some iron into the blood after the fact. Oh well, I am going to give it a week and try again. I think I may have to take a multivitamin AND an iron supplement. I'll check with my doctor and see.

Pru + Bryant Park

Nail polish. What!! A nail polish post from me. Yes, it has been ages. My nails were not so healthy and I wanted to get them back on track hence limited use of polish. You have seen Zoya Pru before on here so I am just going to show you what I did when I was supposed to be doing something else!!

Zoya Pru

+

NYC Bryant Park

+

Unsuspecting Bobby Pin

=

I had already painted my nails on Sunday with the Zoya Pru but as I was sitting at my desk, no doubt procrastinating, a bottle of NYC Bryant Park and a bobby pin caught my eye. Hmmmm. Having no idea how these colors would look together I just went ahead. Not horrible. The bobby pin as a dotting tool was so-so but I will say it was actually better than the dotting tool I have which was made to be a dotting tool. Funny how that works. I’ll be taking this off in the AM though since I’m really not feeling it.

Later,

Happy February

Are you wondering where January went? Me too. I will have to say the start of the year has been pretty good. I started the 101 in 1001 which really makes you aware of how you are spending your time. I would love to spending my time relaxing on a boat on a beautiful day in Bermuda but that isn't happening. Not this month at least.

So let's see what is actually on tap for February.

- Get back on the treadmill. The first 2 weeks of January went great. The last 2, well, let's not talk about them.

-Start Fat Smash again. I have mentioned it before but I really do think the Fat Smash program works well. You have to be committed but in that first week you can feel your body changing and getting all the nasty evil sugars out of it.

-Make a couple of shirts perhaps.

-I have already started my Bible reading. As always a little behind and hoping to catch up this first week of February.

-Tackle 1 or 2 new recipes.

-I have GOT to finish knitting this sweater for my daughter. It has taken forever. It isn't hard it is just hard to knit sometimes when you don't really feel like it.

-I have a blood donation scheduled.

-Start painting my nails again. Maybe once a week or every other week. I have laid off the nail polish for a bit because I noticed they were not growing as long and strong as they used to.

-Limit the amount of time I spend reading blogs. They are addictive. I love seeing what other people are making and doing but that can really cut into my making and doing time. Maybe only read midweek and weekends. IDK.

-Ah, The Great Office Cleanout that never happened. I need to devise a gameplan for this. Seriously, we have that much paper and filing.

-Start studying for my IT certification. I have been reading general content but not a test specific study guide so I think I need to switch gears once I finish this book and start looking at books geared towards the tests in addition to the general reading.

Okay, I am stopping here...this list is starting to overwhelm me. It may not all get DONE in February but at least I have some concrete items to focus on.

Snow, Snow Angels, Snowman = FUN

The blizzard season is upon us once again which means no happy campers here. Cold, messy, crazy roads. Kids out of school and driving each other crazy. Cabin fever. Sounds fun!!! Okay, I am making this sound terrible when it only started last night. We woke up to no school and roads coverd in snow. I still had to work but that really consisted of studying. Reading 190 pages of IT material isn't the worst thing but in order to give my mind a break I suggested to my youngest (DD#2) that we tackle the driveway. She was game so off we went.

Really I wanted to make my snow angel, #80 on my Day Zero- 101 in 1001. Yes, that is me being crazy in the snow!! The snow should have been deeper but tomorrow it will be. I'll go out tomorrow and do it again. Darn :-)

The interest in shoveling was diverted pretty quickly into making a snowman. FUN!!! She made the initial ball and we rolled it back and forth across the driveway to at least make it look like we were getting some snow out of the way.

It was perfect snowball snow. So fun, but my oldest (DD#1) was missing out on the action so we told her to get something on and come out. Seriously. This ball of snow grew fast and that thing was heavy. We got it out of the driveway and rolled it all through the yard. Our neighbor even came out to help AND my husband got in on the action.

It started hailing while we were out there but everyone was determinied to finish the snowman with whatever we could find quickly. Scarf, sticks, carrot, banana peel, and racquetball balls. Resourceful!!



It is the little things that turn into the best memories. I think my kids and I will remember this for a long time. I know I will.

Baked Apricot Chicken

One recipe down and 29 to go. Baked Apricot Chicken was on the menu tonight. Allrecipies.com shot this recipe of the day to my inbox over the weekend and it seemed like a winner. I didn't follow it to a tee but it turned out pretty good. From the comments it seems like most people switched up the dressing they used. The original calls for Italian but I used Catalina. It gave it a very sweet and sour sauce kind of flavor.

The verdict:
Me: liked it, will try the original recipe next time
Husband: for some reason he said it smelled like pork so he didn't want to go any further
Child 1: edible but she isn't big on sweet and sour but she did eat a piece or 2
Child 2: at first didn't like but then it grew on her and she kept going back for more

I made it with brown rice and brocolli. The sauce tasted great on the rice as well.

2 out of 4...I won't add this to the full time rotation in its current state, tweaking will need to be done

Day Zero Project- 101 in 1001- Let's Go!!

The countdown begins. In 1001 days if everything goes as planned I will have done lots of things that I have wanted to do. Things pertaining to my health, my career, my family and friends, giving back to others, and just other randomness that I want to do.

You may have heard of this referred to as the Day Zero Project or 101 in 1001. I first heard of it a few weeks ago on a blog and my intial thought was AWESOME!!! I didn't make any New Year's Resolutions this year but once I heard about the Day Zero Project my list was started. I also tried to get my kids on board and write lists. One did and one is partly there. My list is one of the tabs at the top of my blog. I'll be updating it as I progress.

Coming up with 101 goals seemed a bit daunting at first. About 1/3 of the way through I got a little stuck but in no time I was at 101 and then 106. The list was pared back down to 101 just to stick to the program. What is great about this is it allows my to tackle short and long term goals. Some may take a day, a week, a month, a year, or all 1001 days.

Looking at the list some of them may seem trivial but the seemingly trivial ones will probably be some of the most meaningful. There a couple things on this list that are scary to me (i.e speaking in front of a group) but I am purposely trying to push myself out of my comfort zone. For me it all about growth. I have so many things to work on and when I look at this list it will surely promote growth in all aspects of my life. I love who I am now but I am so excited about who I am becoming.

If anyone cares to join in and write a list please send me a link or share your list. Reading others lists was fun and it was inspiring to see how many items they were able to accomplish. Also if you have every done this before please share your story.

So this is it. I am tackling my list 1 day at a time.

THIS IS DAY 0!!!

My 101 in 1001 List

Do You DIY?

Any DIYers out there? Of course there are. Hopefully in 2011 I will rely more on my DIY spirit than just buying what is available. With my recent venture into sewing and knitting I think I am finding my inner craftiness and am wanting to go the DIY route more often.

The next major project I am undertaking is redoing my daughter's bedroom. Yikes. We were brainstorming last night and came up with a few ideas.

1. Take the doors off of her closet and use curtains instead.- By doing this we don't have to worry about what her closet doors will be hitting when she swings them open. Plus by picking the right fabric she will have the exact look she wants. I love looking at fun fabrics

2. Vanity and desk.- Yes the little diva wants a vanity for all of her makeup and stuff. She needs a desk too so we are thinking of just doing a long table/counter type thing that one portion can be her vanity and the other her desk with some type of shelving in between.

Love this that I found at Kobbleit.com:

(Photo Source: Kobbleit.com)

And this with so many options and so much potential to customize:

(Photo Source: Instructables.com)

So there you have it. It looks like I want to become a master carpenter in 2011. Power tools, safety goggles and all. Looks like fun!!!

What is your DIY obsession?

10K.. Who Me?

What? Run a 10K? I have never even done a 5K!! I haven't been to the gym in 6 months!! It's to, cold!!

In other words, every excuse in the book. Those were my response to a New Year's Eve call from a friend telling me that he wants me to do a 10K with him in April. His response. "You have 4 months."

So it looks like I will be training for a 10K. I really need to lay off all of the reasons why I can't do something so on the first day of 2011 I found a 30 day plan to get me to 3 miles. Not 30 consecutive days but what you should be doing for each of 30 workouts. I'll start with that and see how I do.

Cross your fingers for me. I am going to need some good workout vibes on this one!! Workout 1 is done and I don't feel bad. I know that I am not in the shape I used to be but that is all in the past. I am looking forward to wiping the slate clean and starting 2011 fresh. It will hold great things for me. Nothing like taking a good thing (me) and making it better (a better me)!!