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!