Happy New Year! (T-minus 2 months!!)

 Alright, y'all. The end of year update you've been waiting for. I have so many things completing themselves this month!

Completed:

15. Wilkes Weekly newsletter

• The Wilkes Weekly (delivered monthly) has been sent for a full year, so I'm calling this good. It's fun to put together, but I'm not sure it's entirely appreciated, haha. I haven't heard from a lot of my family that I send it to, but I guess it doesn't hurt to add their email on. I guess if they really didn't want to read it, they would let me know. But it also makes me think maybe email isn't the best venue for it? I don't even know. I want to have better relationships with them, so maybe I need to try to do it more on their terms? I'm not sure what those are. This is me complaining. I'll stop now. In conclusion, I completed this goal.

32. go to Japan with Garrett visit Michigan not in winter   

• So Japan is obviously not happening, but we did make a trip to Michigan! I have been wanting to go when there's not snow on the ground, so I'll change to that. We visited in August for Garrett's high school friend's wedding, and we were able to spend time with family, as well. It was a big enough trip that it needs to count for something! We visited Frankenmuth, a delightful Bavarian town, and saw lots of Michigan on the way there and back. I got Steak N Shake and we saw lightning bugs! A successful visit. :) I'd still like to visit in the fall sometime, but that can wait for another list! 

33. attend ECCC or another major con with Garrett

• We finally made it to ECCC! We just went one day, but it was good enough! Highlights include so many good artists and cute things to buy, finding all the other Kikis, and the Avatar: The Last Airbender panel with voice actors Dante Basco (Zuko), Janet Varney (Korra), and Dee Bradley Baker (basically every animal, including Appa and Momo [and Waddles from Gravity Falls!!]). We had a lot of fun!

40. knit a year-long line-a-day scarf

• The scarves are done! I need to finish them off technically - I need to take care of all these loose ends and maybe add some tassels, but I'm gonna call it already! This has been a lot of work, but I'm really pleased with the results and they are just such a neat record of the past year. 

Fries on the left, distance from home on the right

(it's opposite for this collage)

42. complete 10 unfinished series (reading, watching, etc.)

• All done! I realized I was holding myself to impossible standards on this one, making myself go past what I intended, so I have retconned a few series - Thursday Next (but I just finished the first series and didn't make myself do the second) and The Adventure Zone: Amnesty and Graduation (I was trying to make myself do Ethersea, as well, but it was enough work to push through Grad, haha). And then I finished catching up on Welcome to Night Vale! So I am all done now. It's nice to finish things I've started already. But also it's nice to call it good when I feel I'm done with them.

59. publish a yearly best of list

• The third best of of the list is complete and has been delivered! I'mma post it on my Facebook page, too, if you didn't get one in the mail. :) I really love doing these. It's so fun to look back over the year and come up with our favorite things and remember all the fun things we did. 

70. attend IAMPETH or other large calligraphy convention

• I wasn't able to attend IAMPETH this year, but I did a lot of other big calligraphy things (including a whole freaking public art piece!). I've joined new guilds and taken many online classes, so I'm going to call this one good. I did as much as I was comfortable with during a COVID time.

74. copy a book by hand #sarareadsandletters

• I have created 95 lettering pieces, one for every book over 50 pages I read this year (so I didn't have to letter all those Caldecott picture books, haha). I fell way behind on this so I've had to do 2 pieces a day for the past 11 days to catch them all up. It served its purpose, though! I wanted material so I could take the decision of what to write out of the equation when it was time to make something or practice a skill. It will be a cool record of everything I've read this year, too! You can see them all on instagram.

77. create an etsy shop

• Here it is! https://www.etsy.com/shop/brightlexicon
  Gosh, I drug my feet on this. I'm glad it's finally done. But now it's full of Christmas items because that's what I had on hand already, so it'll need updating soon, haha. But having the initial work done is helpful! I hope it'll be motivating and easier to keep it updated now that I have launched.

84. make hotpot

• Staying home for Christmas was making us sad, so we cheered ourselves up with some festive hotpot! A bonus of our move is we have so many types of food available to us, so we were able to easily get all the needed ingredients and we've had hotpot for 3 meals already, hahaha. I just love to get the really thinly sliced beef and swish it in the boiling water until it's just cooked and delicious. So great! (Don't worry we had veg, too) It was all pretty easy once we had everything set up, so we'll probably have it again soon!

86. develop a budget and stick to it for a year

• All done! We decided to budget for fun money, and gave ourselves a set amount per month. I think it helped! It made me feel less guilty about buying treats, and it kept our fun spending at a limit. The other categories of spending haven't been too much of an issue for us, so I feel like this was good enough for this goal.

96. wikipedia cooking challenge

• I have made every dumpling! It feels like I've made every dumpling in the world, hahahhaa. I wrapped it up this month with Yomari (Nepal) and Zilltertaler Krapfen (Austria). Woooooo! Now I'm going to not make dumplings for a while. This has been a delicious challenge, but also super labor-intensive.

Updates:

11. study 12 famous chefs and cook 5 of their recipes each (9/12)

• This month we cooked along with Antonia Lofaso and Antoni Porowski. Yum! Highlights include oven roasted broccoli from Antonia, and prosciutto chips and lemon brussels sprouts, pulled chicken with cilantro and lime, and masala nuts from Antoni. I expected to like Antonia's food more and Antoni's food less - he always seems to have high expectations for the Queer Eye participants - but it ended up being opposite for me. I hope to cook more of Antoni's recipes now!

13. volunteer for 100+ hours (2/100)

• I should probably just change this one. We were able to go wrap gifts for a family in need through The Forgotten Children's Fund, but it was only 2 hours of work, haha. I know there have been options during COVID, but I haven't made any efforts to do anything. It still felt very difficult. I only did this service because a friend was setting it up and invited us along. Maybe I should call this good after just the 2, but that seems really underwhelming and cheaty, haha.

30. see 30 new international films (22/30)

• I got 4 films in this month! Honeyland (Macedonia), Shoplifters (Japan), Sing Street (Ireland), and The Mole Agent (Chile). The Mole Agent was def my favorite - a senior citizen spy investigating a nursing home undercover, hahaha. 

So, woof! There you go! With these, I now have 68 items finished which is a much more respectable number than 56, haha. We're almost to a passing grade! It also happens to be the number I hit on my first list, so I'm bound to surpass that, at least, so I'll be happy. :) I love the end of the year wrap up, but all of these came so close to the final deadline that it's a been a bit concerning up until now. But I can deal with 68!

Three months to go!

 Yikes, y'all, it's been a month.

Completed:

44. see a touring Broadway show

• We were able to score cheap tickets to Mean Girls at the Paramount and they require proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test to go, so we did it! It was very weird to be packed in like normal, but we felt better knowing there was a lower risk of transmission. The show was a lot of fun - they did a good job of translating the film, I thought. Though Damian and Janice stole the show, hahaha. It was very well done! We're excited to live so close to real theater again, and we're looking forward to many more shows!

Updates:

11. study 12 famous chefs and cook 5 of their recipes each (7/12)

• I wrapped up recipes from Sheldon Simeon's Cook Real Hawaii this month. Oh my goodness were these good recipes. We made his SPAM musubi like 3 times alone. Besides that we had Loco Moco rice, garlic shrimp, salt pickled cabbage, and Local-style beef stew. I'm gonna def go back to this cookbook (I actually purchased this one - it's that good). Sheldon was on Top Chef and I loved him there. I'm glad his food is a great as his personality!

30. see 30 new international films (18/30)

• 3 films this month! I can totally swing 12 more before Februrary ends my list. This month I watched Mostly Martha (Germany), Sami Blood (Sweden), and Minari (US, but majority Korean language, so I'm counting it). I liked them!

72. complete 12 30-day projects (10/12)

• This month I was in the midst of completing a public art project for the City of Redmond: Dear New Year. It took up so much time. When I was done working on it for the day, I didn't really have energy for much more, so it became this month's 30-day project. Woof. But it's done and it's installed at the park and it's really lovely! If you haven't already, you can check out photos on my instagram.

74. copy a book by hand

• Officially updating this goal to be my Sara Reads and Letters Project (lettering a quote from each book I read in 2021) instead. I was doing it without any credit for my 101 List and that's dumb. It's the same principle - having a stock of words to letter for practice and (in theory) not being precious about lettering them. I still have about 20 books to letter before the end of the year, so we'll see how it goes!

96. wikipedia cooking challenge

• This month was varenyky (farmer's cheese pierogi), wontons, and xiao long bao (soup dumplings). I will admit we purchased the XLBs. But we got a new variety from a new restaurant! I've made them before and they were the only X option. I needed a break this time after finishing up Dear New Year, so I happily took a pass. Just 2 dumplings left!

Dear New Year has honestly taken up the majority of my time this month, so here's hoping I can get back into the swing of things to finish this list with a bang! I have a lot of year-long goals finishing up this month, so there's that at least! Woooooo getting things done!

Four Months Left!

 Yikes, we are getting to the end of this one very quickly, it feels like! And it's actually just under 4 months, as my list ends on 2/22/22 (which happens to be a Tuesday). Things have gotten busy for me professionally (which feels so weird to say, but I will say it, for it is true), so I will just do what I can do and be happy with it. (slash maybe change things to what I'm doing since they are big, too!) All this rambling to say, I got 3 items done this month!

Completed:

28. visit Stonerose

• So Stonerose is a fossil site in north central Washington that lets you dig for fossils! We were honestly closer to it when we lived in Moses Lake, but we didn't make it up while we were living there. Luckily we have friends halfway to make the trip shorter and they were able to join us to make it more fun. They had a lot more luck with fossils than we did, but we managed to find a few small ones. I think overall, it was fun, but also a lot of work, haha. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I think I thought it would be easier to find them. It was a good trip anyway, though!

75. get business cards

• They have arrived! I'm so pleased. They are super cute and just in time to make me legit at a holiday market! Woooooo!

91. play 20 games from Board Game Geek's top 100 200

• We played the last 2 games this month! Santorini and Terraforming Mars. Both enjoyable, but I liked Terraforming Mars better. I'm not great at spacial games like Santorini, but I guess I'm good at space games like Terraforming Mars, hahaha. We had a ton of fun with this one overall, though we have to give a really big shoutout to Zulu's Board Game Cafe for helping me make this more attainable.

Updates:

41. make a 24 hour comic each year

• I took advantage of 24 Hour Comic Day this year to make another zine, this time of a really powerful tumblr post about making bad art just for the sake of making. I really enjoyed doing it, and it definitely went with the theme of the post to do it quick and dirty.

96. wikipedia cooking challenge

• This month I made tang yuan with pandan and black sesame in a ginger broth, and uszka with porcini mushrooms in Christmas Eve borscht. Yum! 

Alright! Lots to do still and not much time to do it in. Did I say I would be okay with getting less done at the top of this post? I will try to feel that way, but no guarantees. I'm sure I'll be scrambling trying to beat last list's numbers like usual. Dang my completionist tendencies. :)

Happy Fall!

Hello friends! It's been a very busy month in 101 terms and regular life terms! Though I guess 101 should really be counted as regular life for me, haha. 

Completed:

27. visit a new Shakespeare festival

• Okay, so this one is hecka modified, but I'm not traveling to a Shakespeare festival anytime soon (if there were one I could travel to). Earlier in the pandemic, we did 30 days of Shakespeare for G's 30 before 30 List, and since then I've watched a few others online. I saw 6 new versions, a few collections/non-fiction specials, and re-watched a few favorites that G hadn't seen (She's the Man!!). We were also able to see an outdoor performance of The Comedy of Errors by the Seattle Shakespeare Company, and while it wasn't a festival, it was a new company, at least. So I'm calling this one good! Yeah substitutes! 

53. get all the Stardew Valley achievements

• I did it! This month I wrapped it up with Full Shipment - shipping every possible item, and Craft Master - crafting every possible item. Heck. I kind of can't believe I got it done with so much time to spare. There are technically 2 achievements still in Steam, but they are tied to the in-game video game that's nearly impossible for me, so I'm not going to do them. I think the game views them as extra credit, as well, as I already got the ultimate hat from the the hat mouse, which you literally earn by achieving all achievements. So if the game says good enough, I'm gonna take it! WOooooooo! 

Look at that elegant turban. Bask in the glory of our 17,000,000 monies.

65. modify a thrift store painting

• This one took so long because I needed just the right thing to repaint, haha. I think I'm pretty happy with results, though! I added some good ol' makkuros to this cat print using Posca paint markers. I love the idea that maybe these cute lil' soot sprites are what cats are seeing when they do their crazy cat things.

80. enter art into the county fair a local art show

• I've modified this one due to moving and not knowing about the fair situation here. I  also discovered https://www.6x6nw.org/ and felt like I should count it, so here we are! I submitted a 10-piece series of digitally calligraphed quotes from the Anne of Green Gables series by L.M. Montgomery. All pieces for this art show are 6x6 inches and they sell for $36 (6x6!). It goes on sale tomorrow (October 1st), actually, so if you want to purchase some Sara art, you've got a great opportunity!

Updates:

8. pick me up list/Sara canon

• I've got my lists figured out, but I'm working on collating and cataloging them. Here's a sneak peek:

72. complete 12 30-day projects (9/12)

• This month I focused on my Sara Reads and Letters challenge over on my instagram. I got 15 posted for the 30 days, and I think that's pretty good. I just tried to spend a little bit each day working on it. Gotta keep it up, though! I'm lettering a quote from every book I've read this year, and even with this focus, I'm only on book 60 of over 100, hahahahhahahahha.

75. get business cards

• So I've taken some really big business steps this month! You can check me out on instagram @brightlexicon, or at brightlexicon.com. Heck. This month I designed a logo and now I'm working with Friend of the Blog and All-Around Amazing Person Emily to get business cards printed!! What the what. Along with this, expect movement on #77, etsy shop around the corner. (And deciding if this counts for a personal website or if I should get my name .com, tooo??) 

78. keep a visual journal/artistic bullet journal for 3 months

• I started it! I'm not very good at it! But it's in progress, haha.

96. wikipedia cooking challenge

• This month I made rissoles and samosas - yum! (also definitely feeling dumpling fatigue and so glad this year is almost over, hahahah - why did I pick something so involved??)

4 items done! 52 items now complete! Many items in the works! I'm over halfway, with just under 6 months left, and I'm feeling confident! Woooooooo!

Where the heck did August go?

 It feels like I was just blogging here last week. What the what.

Completed:

5. digitize my lifebox

• I'm calling this one good! I did most of the work before our move earlier this year, and I do still have some things, but they're things I'm intentionally choosing to keep, not just things that were passed on to me because they're relevant to me. And I have digital copies of all those relevant things. :) It feels good to pare down in an area where it felt wrong to get rid of things. Now I decide what's important to me and how to preserve those things. I hope I can continue in this vein and not let things build up again. 

22. read 30 new Caldecott award or honor books

• I read 9 Caldecott books this month to finish out my 30. I've really enjoyed this one. Children's books are so fun and the Caldecotts especially just have amazing art. My favorites this month were Frog and Toad are Friends by Arnold Lobel, A Different Pond by Bao Phi and Thi Bui, and The Noisy Paint Box - illustrated by HP illustrator Mary Grandpre!

29. join a choir

• In the spirit of making things easier on myself and also making things possible, I'm calling this one done. I joined a choir back in Moses Lake but it was just prior to COVID and we never got to perform or anything. But I DID join. I definitely want to look into a music activity of some sort to be involved in here once, you know, airborne transmission possibility goes down.

Updates:

2. digitally transcribe my journals

• I finished another one of these finally. I grossly underestimated how long it would take me to do this one. I think I'm going to modify this one to just complete up to my marriage to G (we commonly refer to the time before I knew him as B.G., so we'll just complete the B.G. journals and I'll work on the others for another list, I think. This was really ambitious. Consider it modified!

11. study 12 famous chefs and cook 5 of their recipes each (6/12)

• This month I cooked from Gregory Gourdet's new cookbook: Everyone's Table. We had amazing green smoothies, but ended up only having green smoothies for a meal because I forgot to halve the recipe. Whoops! Also very good was an asparagus salad with sunflower seed furikake. Yum!

33. attend ECCC or another major con with Garrett

• ECCC has been rescheduled for this December and it's a vaccinations required event, so we feel comfortable going (but still being super cautious). We only got tickets for one day since G is a new kid with few days off, haha, but one day counts!

91. play 20 games from Board Game Geek's top 200 (17/20)

• This month I played The Crew: Quest for Planet Nine, an interesting cooperative trick taking game, and Century: Golem Edition, a super cute golem collecting game (it's probably more about collecting and trading resources, but those golems are just too cute!). I think Century has actually since been bumped from the top 200, but it was there when we played it, so it totally counts.

96. wikipedia cooking challenge

Pop Tarts are totally dumplings - think about it. Plus Quenelles.

And with that, we're at the official 6 months left mark. Just 25 weeks. 175 days. 

This month will be busy as I'm getting back to a 30-day project and my starting my 3 months of art journaling/fancy bujo-ing. And with such a short amount of time left, I really need to crack down on the items left. A lot of them are less "work a little every day" and more "special project to devote some hours to and finish" so I need to plan for a project every week, at least - maybe 2. 

I'm currently at 48 items done, but I'm on track to do improve my numbers from last list. On 101 3.0 I got 81, so I just need to hit 82, haha. Even one more goal is improvement, and that leaves the door open for further improvement on 101 #5. Can't set that bar too high, haha.

July, July, Julyyyy! (I think I always use this title, but it's so good!)

Guys, I'm doing things!!

Completed:

3. study daily routines, develop one that works for me, and keep it for at least 6 months

• I'm calling this one good - I've already given it an extra month to make up for our moving mayhem. I still haven't quite worked out how to work all day when there are fun things outside my door, but I have definitely learned that ultimately, for me, at least, routines can be flexible and accommodate for those things. I definitely have established a daily practice, and I have lots of tools in my box that I can use when I need to get back/stay on track. Novelty is actually a really great thing for me, too. Oh, and gamification. I've accepted how much I need to turn things into a reward/challenge based situation for me to actually care about it. And I'm really good at productive procrastination - AKA getting things done finally when I'm supposed to be doing something else. I'm gonna lean into it and harness all that last-minute energy. If there is a way I can create more deadlines for myself I might get a lot more done, hahaha.

38. recover last.fm songs

• Woof, this has taken a while, but it is done! I have yearly playlists of the top played/discoveries for each year, so let me know if you want me to send you the links (It's a lot of work to post them all here). I even went the extra mile and transferred some playlists from my old computer to Spotify. I am now fully committed to Spotify, so it better not get suddenly shut down some day! But if it does...

39. export playlists

• My playlists will be safe! Spotify doesn't let you export directly, but I was able to use a web app (for a fee) to download all of my playlists. I feel much better having that data elsewhere. Grooveshark, I hope you are happy I have trust issues! I'll probably do this on a yearly basis now.

Updates:

11. study 12 famous chefs and cook 5 of their recipes each (5/12)

• This month I cooked along with Carla Hall, who is just the most delightful person. It was great to see her origins on Top Chef and read one of her cookbooks. We especially enjoyed her johnnycakes (though we learned from her that they are Native American in origin!) and bacon and bean stew. Yum!

22. read 30 new Caldecott award or honor books (21/30)

• Hooray for the library being open again!! I read 12 books this month, hahaha, and I have a stack sitting here so I'm positive I'll finish it next month. These are just so delightful to read. My favorites this month were They All Saw a Cat by Brendan Wenzel, and Thank You, Omu! by Oge Mora. Also Bear Came Along, but more for the art (LeUyen Pham) than the story.

40. knit a year-long line-a-day scarf

• A mid-year update! I'm going out of the house a lot more, so that's great. And eating more fries! Also great!

51. study artistic family tree

• I've done a good chunk of work on this one now (in my official notebook, haha), but I'd like to do a bit more before I call it. Dang past Sara for not making this goal something quantifiable! I've only gone 2 generations back at most, so I should go at least one more, I think, for a few artists, to be able to count it.

53. get all the Stardew Valley achievements (31/33)

• This month I got A Big Help (40 help wanted fetch quests) and Full House (married with two kids - Sara + Harvey with our children named after my business partner and true love of my Stardew life: Emilio and Emilia)! The last two are going to be a bit more tedious: Full Shipment and Craftmaster. We'll get there, hopefully!

72. complete 12 30-day projects (8/12)

• Making my way back to 30-days! This month I decided to commence my day with a commencement speech and it's been delightful. My favorites have probably been Jim Carrey, Neil Gaiman, John Green, Amy Poehler, and Dolly Parton. It's a great way to start your day!

91. play 20 games from Board Game Geek's top 200 (15/20)

• I honestly thought I would have to abandon or shorten this goal when the pandemic happened. I expanded it to the top 200, but we just didn't have people to play with or an easy way to get games without spending tons of money (until we discovered Tabletopia!). But then we moved to Bothell! Now we have some friends/board game acquaintances and Zulu's Board Game Cafe! Just this month we've played FIVE new games!! We played Castles of Mad King Ludwig,  Root, Dune Imperium, Everdell, and Just One. Heck. I almost can't believe how exponentially this one is getting done. I'm now super confident I can finish it before the end of the list. And if I have to buy a few games to try them out, no problem because now we have people to play them with again!

96. wikipedia cooking challenge

• THREE dumplings this month because of how things worked out: Matzo ball soup, Nagasari (steamed banana coconut packets), and Orama (sort of the cinnamon roll of dumplings, but only in the way it's rolled - it's filled with meat and squash).

Look at that! I'm up to 45 goals completed! Heck heck heck. I've got some momentum going and I love it. 

JUUUUUUNE

Big plans amount to nothing if you can't break them into smaller, actionable steps. I'm not very good at that. I'm overwhelmed at how big they are and that awareness seeps into the smaller steps until they feel impossible and it's been another month and, would you look at that? I've done nothing. 

But I have some smaller progress!

Completed:

66. make a needle felt cactus

• It took me a year to finish this, but probably only like, 4 or 5 active hours of needle felting. Story of my life. But isn't he cute??
  
  
   

Updates:

11. study 12 famous chefs and cook 5 of their recipes each (4/11)

• Chef number 4 was Mei Lin, winner of Top Chef: Boston. The best recipe was this congee. It's a little intensive, but SO worth it. We were on a congee kick for a bit, haha.

35. watch 10 anime series (9/10)

• This month I watched Horimiya. I had read most of the manga and thought it was super cute, so I was glad they animated it. I think they did a good job of adapting it, and I loved Miyamura talking to his younger self. It's got some cute romance, but more so it's about the power of friendship (so cheese, so good). Any suggestions for my last series? 

42. complete 10 unfinished series (reading, watching, etc.) (7/10)

• This month I finished My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, which I realize has taken me about 10 years, hahahaha. I think the earlier seasons resonated with me more, and I had some friends watching it, which helped me stay on track. As time went on, the storylines started to feel a little more redundant and it just wasn't as engaging. But I've toughed it out and made it through! I enjoyed the wrap up, and I'm glad I've seen it all.

45. Curated Closet

• So The Curated Closet is a book that guides you in examining your wardrobe, determining your style, and building your collection carefully and with discernment. I've been getting tired of my clothes - I've had some of them since high school, and I'm just a different person now. One of my favorite podcasts, By The Book, tried out this book and they loved it, so I'm hoping it can help me, too! I've documented my style for 2 weeks, and now it's time to analyze. I'm a little hindered now because we can't try on clothes anywhere yet, but I'll do my research and get ready for that.

96. wikipedia cooking challenge

• This month I made Georgian dumplings - khinkali, and Chinese dumplings - lo mai gai. Khinkali are probably some of my favorite dumplings ever. They're filled with ground meat, cilantro, thyme, and caraway seeds. We had extra filling and leftover wrappers from the jiaozi, so I ended up making khinkali potstickers and they were also delicious. Heck. The lo mai gai was probably more work than they're worth, but now I have a ton of lotus leaves, so I'll probably make them or something similar again to use them.

Okay. I'm really going to try to have some more things done this month. I feel like I say this every month, so I hope you still believe me!

I MAY have not done much this month

Hello friends! I was expecting to get back to normal this month, but I feel like I've still been settling into things (and what really is normal anyway?). I feel like we've still been in flux as we adjust to our new place and schedule. I also have been waiting for my vaccine before I go too crazy, and I'm happy to announce I've received both doses and immunity will set in soon! 

But I also recognize I've been putting a lot of things off and maybe making excuses because things aren't exactly where I want them to be. I've been doing a lot of research and planning for things, but I don't actually do any of them. I need to focus more on small steps to get started now and less on grand plans for the future. I hope to do better this next month. It's important to be kind to myself, but I also can't just let myself languish. 

Okay! 

Completed:

Nothing this month! But we're okay with that and we'll do better.

Updates:

30. see 30 new international films (13/30)

• I watched four films this month: Once (Ireland), I Am Not A Witch (UK/Zambia), Russian Ark (you guessed it! Russia), and 1945 (Hungary). Once was one that G has been wanting to see because of the soundtrack - it was good because of the music, but kind of just seemed like one long music video. Russian Ark was fascinating because it's a feature-length film that was filmed in one take. And it was filmed in The Hermitage and takes you on a kind of time-traveling trip through Russian History. Super interesting. I Am Not A Witch was interesting, but I'm not sure I like, got it? But patriarchy is the worst and I got that. 1945 was kind of a Hungarian western, so that was unique. A bit depressing. But I think it was probably the first Hungarian film I've ever seen! I love seeing films from different places. I want to stretch myself and see more from countries I haven't.

38. recover last.fm songs

• I've made it up to my transfer to Spotify and I have made playlists for every year to collect my favorites. I've really found some good old songs! And it's kind of fun to keep a yearly playlist anyway, so I started a 2021 one, as well. Anyway, I'm up to 2015, but I don't think the next few years will take as long to work through. I feel like I started getting more into TV shows for company around that time. But I'm starting to regret that, a little. I forget how much I love music until I listen more. It's been really good.

42. complete 10 unfinished series (reading, watching, etc.) (6/10)

• I have caught up on the GBBO backlog! I lost interest when Mel and Sue and Mary left, but it's still enjoyable in the end. And it was one I felt guilty about being behind on. I shouldn't put off consuming things that bring me joy.

46. keep a cleaning schedule throughout the list

• I have revamped the cleaning schedule and we've stuck to it for the month so far! One bonus of having a smaller apartment is that it's easier to clean, at least, haha. And moving into a new place is good motivation to keep it clean.

51. study artistic family tree

• I've started a notebook - that makes it official, hahaha. I'm keeping track of artists, etc. that inspire me, and then I'll see who inspires them, and who inspires them, and so on. I'm excited to see where it takes me, and what it inspires me to make!

90. try screen printing

• G got me a screen printing kit for my birthday! And then I haven't done anything with it, hahaha. But I will! This is definitely a situation where I just need to decide something and do it. Hopefully I'll have something for you next month!

96. wikipedia cooking challenge

• This month's dumplings were greatly influenced by our new locale - we have an Indian grocery just up the road, and an Asian grocery just a bit further. It is SO NICE to have access to more ingredients. We did Idli for I - Indian steamed dumplings, and Jiaozi for J - potstickers. 

Thanks for reading/supporting, as usual! 

Happy Spring from Seattle!

Coming to you from our new apartment in Bothell! It's crazy how quickly this has all come together, and how quickly we've gotten settled. I think this is the fastest we've ever unpacked at a new place. Hopefully I'll be all settled with minimal interruptions from here on out! Moving was actually pretty good motivation to work on some things, so I still have progress to report:

Completed:

37. get a laptop monitor

• After moving in to our new place, we finally graduated to a grown-up TV (it's big! and smart!), so I've commandeered the old one to be my monitor. I tested it out playing Stardew Valley and it will be very nice. 

Updates:

5. digitize my lifebox

• I did a LOT of work on this in preparation for moving - I figured it would be much easier to move digital files than boxes of papers. I scanned so many things. Woof! I need to go through and organize what's left, but I am close to finishing this one!

17. create a workable studio space in our home

• We are in high gear with this one! Our new apartment has a much smaller second bedroom, so I am having to pare down and reorganize. I ordered a new skinny table to go along with my current desk for more workspace. I think that will help a lot, as I can keep projects out and store things underneath it. We'll see!

22. read 30 new Caldecott award or honor books (9/30)

• I checked out a stack before we left our library! Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type, Officer Buckle and Gloria, Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut, Rain Makes Applesauce, and Du Iz Tak? - they were all pretty cute. And great illustrations, of course! Now I need that new library card so I can read some more!

40. knit a year-long line-a-day scarf

• I just wanted to inform you that since we've moved, I've simply reset the center for my daily distance measurement to our new address. I'm keeping distances the same, and it's already much more exciting!

42. complete 10 unfinished series (reading, watching, etc.) (5/10)

• I wrapped up reading the Anne of Green Gables series at the beginning of this month - and I realized why I lost interest in it before. The first few books are wonderful and engaging as we live vicariously through Anne and her youthful adventures. But she disappears in the later books, and it's sad to lose her (especially for the neglectful fatherhood and moralizing of Rainbow Valley - yuck). I did enjoy Rilla of Ingleside, the last book, but that's probably because it centered on a young person again. Glad I can say I've read them all, but I doubt I'll do it again, haha. Anne of Green Gables itself still holds up, though.

53. get all the Stardew Valley achievements (29/33)

• I was surprised to get 2 achievements this month! I completed the museum collection and got all the stardrops. Just a few left! 

96. wikipedia cooking challenge

• This month was G for Gnocchi and H for Halusky, which are both potato doughs, but were both delicious, so I didn't mind. :)

I'm looking forward to getting back into my daily routine now that all the moving work is done. And looking forward to exploring Seattle! I will look this next month to see what can be substituted moving forward to get as much done as I can. Less than 300 days left!

March 2021 - Big update!

Well, we've had quite a busy month - we're moving to Seattle! We'll be in Bothell to the NE of city center, but still part of the general sprawl. So productivity has been a bit limited with trips back and forth to interview/find housing and now working on packing/getting rid of things. I've hit pause on the larger things and I'll re-evaluate once we're settled. I'm thinking Seattle offers better options for replacements than Moses Lake would have, though, so I'm optimistic I can get more done there!

Completed:

None!

Updates:

22. read 30 new Caldecott award or honor books (4/30)

• This month I read We Are Water Protectors by Carol Lindstrom and illustrated by Michaela Goade. I loved the art, but the book felt incomplete story-wise, unfortunately. I did check out a stack of Caldecotts (on my first trip to the library in a year!! I might have cried.), so I'll try to read those before we move and have many updates for you in April.

35. watch 10 anime series (8/10)

• I just finished Kimi Ni Todoke today. It was pretty cute, but I liked the first season much more than the second. Still enjoyable! I just got a little impatient with their drama, haha.

42. complete 10 unfinished series (reading, watching, etc.)

• Good news on this front - 3 series have been caught up on! I finished all of Terrace House, ending with the original series and film. The most recent series was cancelled due to the death of a member and it left a sour taste. I'm not sure I can watch something so heavily manipulated by producers, especially when their meddling leads to social media bullying...it was nice to return to the purity (maybe? I'm not even sure now) of the first season and wrap it up wholesomely. I hope they can reform and find a way to produce the series more ethically. 
• Second was the Year of Polygamy podcast, which is amazing. Lindsay Hansen Park has done so much for Mormon history and women in that regard, in particular. It came at the right time for me and helped me process a lot of grief, and it continues to be very interesting and helpful now that I consider myself post-Mormon (whoops - I haven't mentioned that here before - hopefully no big surprise there!). 
• Last, we finally watched all of Legend of Korra. We had paused after season 3 because we weren't really loving it. I have issues with Korra's character and all of the absolute crap they put her through. I like ATLA because it's general vibe is lighthearted and fun, and Korra is def NOT that. Season 4, though, did redeem it a little, as we got to see Korra work through the trauma she went through in seasons 1-3. I still like the original series better, but I'm glad I've finished things up finally.

96. wikipedia cooking challenge

• More dumplings! This is turning into a pretty fun challenge. We enjoyed both of this month's very much. E for empanadas with a lime pepita crema, and F for fritters, of the zucchini variety.

Okay, not too much overall, but it has turned into a very busy month, haha. Can I tell you how excited we are to move to Seattle, though? SO EXCITED. There will be so much more to do and it will be so much easier to get out and do it. Hoping for a smooth transition and that I'll be able to keep all the balls in the air while we do so!

One year left!

Hello friends! Happy February! I don't know about you, but I am so excited for it to be March and then April and finally warm again! We are feeling very cooped up, but don't you worry! Being cooped up gives me a lot of opportunity to work on my 101 list - when I'm not re-watching Survivor, hahaha.

Completed:

43. subscribe to 5 art magazines for a year

• I guess this one is done! I've subscribed to 5, but not gotten the full year for some, but it's the subscription that matters! I've done Bound and Lettered, Letter Arts Review, American Craft, and Calligraphy Crush x2 years. Such great resources and I'm so happy to support them with $$$.

95. healthy food plan for 3 months

• So this one is technically done? I tried my best to follow the principles of Intuitive Eating and wrapped up my three months Valentine's weekend: a weekend in which I definitely overindulged and ended up making myself sick. I think it's fitting to end my experience that way, almost, just to remind me of how far I still have to go. I think intuitive eating isn't something I can just pick up and say I did it for the three months. It definitely takes trial and error and changing your mindset completely about food. I have to work very hard to overcome the scarcity mindset - the idea that if I don't eat something I'm missing out on my chance to enjoy it. I'm reminding myself that I can always have more and there's no need to overeat the things I enjoy. I actually enjoy them more if I stretch them out over more meals, and I can always get them again later if there's not much to start with. I've also realized I eat a lot when I'm bored - I am learning to examine my hunger and find something else to do if I'm not actually hungry enough to eat something. I really like the principles of Intuitive Eating, and I feel like it's helped me in these three months. This is definitely something I'll keep working on!

Updates:

2. digitally transcribe my journals

• Okay, so I'm about halfway done with these, but I'm going to have to work everyday in very steady chunks if I want to keep being on track. I'm feeling a little bit daunted by this one, not gonna lie.

3. study daily routines, develop one that works for me, and keep it for at least 6 months

• Still going strong, but I've added more time in the morning to organize my day and work on 101 List things - there's still plenty of art time after that. I am so very distractible, though - I might need to implement some things to help keep me more on track.

8. pick me up list/Sara canon

• I've put together a list of possible candidates, so I need to narrow and memorialize them somehow, haha. I think it would be cute to put them in bullet journal pages or make a poster or something. I'll think on it!

10. create a personal cookbook

• Here's another one where I've done a lot of legwork - collecting recipes from Pinterest and various locations that I love. Now I need to decide how to put them together! Only the hard parts left, haha.

11. study 12 famous chefs and cook 5 of their recipes each (3/12)

• For Black History Month, I chose Toni Tipton-Martin who is actually more of a food writer/critic? but I'm totally counting her. She has collected recipes from African-American history since its inception and has published two books regarding her collection. I cooked from one of them, Jubilee, this month. We made sweet potato biscuits, island banana bread, ginger punch, West African groundnut (peanut) stew, and gingerbread with lemon sauce. It was really fascinating to just read the cookbook and see the history of the recipes. She included original recipes next to her updated ones, which were very entertaining reads. I also appreciated learning about the different influences and outcomes of Black cooking - it's not all soul food.

22. read 30 new Caldecott award or honor books (3/30)

• Getting serious on this one now! I read two this month - Black and White by David Macaulay and Hello Lighthouse by Sophie Blackall. Black and White was really interesting - it's like 4 stories in 1, but they're all connected. But are they?? Hello Lighthouse was gorgeous - beautiful watercolor illustrations and a look inside a lighthouse and its keeper's life. Time to go get a big stack from the library and read some more!

30. see 30 new international films (9/30)

• This month I watched Sorry We Missed You, from the UK. It's kind of a depressing look at the gig economy. Yeesh. 

34. curate saved links

• I put a lot of work into this this month, but I'm nowhere near done. I've got saved links everywhere I can have them - Pinterest (which is becoming my main repository but still needs culling), Feedly, Facebook, Reddit, Instagram, etc. I think it comforts me to save something knowing I can go back and find it later, but I haven't really done that so far. It's really like reading all these things for the first time. I'm hoping by going back through I can actually take action on them instead of just having them sit in the ether. Maybe I'm happier just knowing they're saved somewhere. We'll see. I just want to remember everything and never lose anything good.

35. watch 10 anime series (7/10)

• I re-watched the beginning of and finally finished March Comes in Like a Lion - super cute, great cats, would recommend. It's very chill, it's about shogi, but not. Very character-driven, not very action. Very different from Haikyuu! I like different things.

38. recover last.fm songs

• If you're not familiar with last.fm, it's a website that tracks all of your music listening and it's wonderful. You connect it to your music player of choice and it just keeps track of everything. And once upon a time there was a wonderful music service called Grooveshark - I was such a fan I ordered merch. One day it suddenly disappeared and I lost all of my playlists. Luckily I had already been using last.fm, so now my only job is to go through the backlog, day-by-day and recollect my favorite songs. It has been a slog so far, but a joyful slog, nonetheless. I've rediscovered some real gems. I figure I have about 5 years to work through before Spotify took over, and even after then, I don't feel like I invested completely in Spotify, so I'll be working through that backlog, too. Yay for good music!

40. knit a year-long line-a-day scarf

• You were promised pictures. Here they are!

Adventure scarf! The light blue is every day I've stayed home all day. Whoops! Pink is up to 1 mile from home (aka I went for a walk), teal is up to 5 miles (I ran an errand in town), and purple is up to 25 miles, AKA we visited the bakery in the next little town over. I am trying to weave in ends, but it's hard because there's no back side - I'll worry about those loose ends later. :)

Fries scarf! I think this one's pretty easy to decode - a yellow row = I had fries :D

41. make a 24 hour comic each year

• I decided to follow actual Hourly Comic Day this year, and I tried digital for the first time. You can see it here! https://www.instagram.com/p/CK0I_JZjZMI/

96. wikipedia cooking challenge

• Dumplings continue! For C I make cilok - an Indonesian tapioca scallion dumpling with peanut sauce, and for D I made ducana - a Caribbean sweet potato dumpling that got wrapped up in foil and boiled. 

Well, two things done this month puts me at 40 total! What a nice, round number. I've just got a year left now, as my list is set to end on Tuesday, 2/22/22. I'm recommitting to working hard and also thinking about how I can cut myself some slack and modify these impossible ones that are left, haha. I'd like to continue my pattern of increasing goals completed for each list, if I can. COVID put a wrench in a few of my plans, and a few others may need some changes, too. I think I'll take this next month to really examine and figure out my game plan. 

Thanks for reading and your support, as always! Here's to sunnier days!