101 in 1001: November Update

Big Hello to the final 31 days of 2011. I am back with my update on the things I have been up to during November for my 101 in 1001 challenge.

(Picture via Etsy)

52.   Volunteer 101 hours (24/101) This month I volunteered a couple hours at the Fernbank Museum for their holiday celebration. I had never been to the museum before so it was cool to go inside and see the gigantic dinosaur structure in the main area. Since it was the holiday celebration they also had trees decorated by the different consulates and members. If you have time during the holiday season and are visiting Atlanta, make sure you go see it! I also did some volunteering this month at the Atlanta Food bank. While volunteering, we packaged over 58057 pounds of meat which equals 3,094 meals prepared for the community. It feels good to give back a few hours of time for such a huge impact on the community.

67.   Try 30 new recipes (10/30) This week I tried my first Crock Pot recipe. I made Chicken Tortilla soup which was the perfect dinner on a cold and rainy night. This month I also tackled chicken pot pie. I have been inspired by Pinterest lately for building my confidence in the kitchen. I know I am not the only one!

72.   Read 15 books (7/15). I finally finished Malled, a book that I had been reading for a couple months now. The book was all about retail and the in’s and out’s of being on the customer service side of the operation. While the book was interesting, it was really long and didn’t really have an epic ending like I would have expected. Now I am on to reading Bossypants.

Not a busy month in the 101 in 1001 department due to traveling, conferences, and holiday prep, but small successes none the less.

101 In 1001: New Recipe

I have been working up my confidence in the kitchen. One of our favorite recipes is for an enchilada casserole that involves frying the tortillas which ends up taking forever. After finding a recipe for what seemed like a slight variation of our family favorite casserole I decided to give it a try last night. Essentially the casserole was the same flavors but no labor intensive frying. It was a success.

My goal when going to the grocery store this week was to be smarter and plan meals that use the same ingredients so that they don’t go bad or become wasted on just one recipe. Since one of the menu items was the chicken casserole from last night I decided to try chicken pot pie. The recipe came from Pinterest but I used a pre frozen crust. Overall it turned out really good, even though the juice oozed out a little bit. Here is my finished pie.

Taste of San Jose

For the second part of my trip to San Jose we take a look at the food.

I was told that a trip to California would not be complete unless I went to In n Out Burger. Luckily there was one right next to the airport. Truthfully it was not as glorious as I has expected it to be. Yes there was a secret menu and secret way of ordering things, however the food was less than extraordinary. The burger had a special sauce, much like the Big Mac sauce or thousand island dressing. I got my fries “well done” with cheese but they tasted like cardboard. Bummer that the food wasn’t as good as I expected. At least I experienced the In n Out burger but I think I will stick to Five Guys.

My favorite meal by far was the San Jose Mexicalli burger that I mentioned last time.

I did find a little cupcake shop to enjoy a mini cupcake experience.

That wraps up my food experience in San Jose and my trip to the West Coast.

Do you know the way to San Jose?

This week I have been in San Jose for a trade show for work. I was a little nervous, as I typically am when visiting new places, however overall the experience was a good one. A story is only as good as the pictures that go with it so I will let my camera do the talking…

I spent most of my first day getting myself acclimated to San Jose and soaked up as much of the surroundings as possible. Most of the downtown area was in a state of transition as they were beginning to decorate for the upcoming holiday season after thanksgiving.

The main mode of my transportation for the week was by foot as well as with the public transportation.

There was also a cute flower shop on the corner along with an old theater.

One of my favorite was this little cafe across from the convention center. I pretty much die for anything striped, and the black and white awnings were beautiful to me.

Of course there were a ton of great places to eat but I figured I should wait and do that in a post by itself. For now, here’s a teaser of the best burger I had in California. It was the Mexicali burger and had mango guacamole, Swiss cheese, toasted bun, and home made potato chips. Freaking delicious!

101 in 1001 Update: October

During October I accomplished the following goals:

#73: Date a month: Conner and I went on a Date night to dinner and a movie. Fall is very hard for us to take a break for date nights with school, work and football. Luckily we had a double date night in the fact that we only had a few hours on multiple nights so we just split up our activities for the weekend. One night was the dinner, the next was the movie.

#10: Invite people over for dinner: We had the inlaws come over for a fall themed dinner a few weeks ago. Conner cooked up some chicken and I made an apple dumpling reciepe that I found on Pinterest. The apples were awesome, filled with brown sugar/butter goodness.

#12: Girls Night: This past weekend was my sororities 100 year celebration of being chartered. Truthfully the whole weekend was girls weekend, but especially Friday night when we went for margs at our college Mexican restaurant. Spending 4 years with those ladies, and then fostering relationships with them even after graduation makes me so happy. I am so glad I went Greek and I will always have such fond memories of my time in school. I love even more that being Greek doesn’t stop at Graduation but rather continues afterwards into more of a volunteering and advisory role.

#52: Volunteer 101 hours: This month I volunteered with both the Junior League at the Nearly New Thrift Store and for Alpha Chi.

#67: Try 30 new recipes. I made the Banana Bread as I mentioned earlier as well as the apple dumplings. I am not very good at cooking, but I do love to bake.

That is it for October. On to November, the month of family, business, travel, and holiday prep.

101 in 1001: Ba-na-na-s

As you know one of my goals has been to learn to cook. I can’t say I have become a pro, but at least I haven’t completely burnt any meals yet. I can’t say they were all completely wonderful, but at least I am making progress. One thing I have found to be fun is baking. I wanted to make a fall treat the other day but do not like pumpkin. The choices for fall-themed baked goods were few, mostly because I didn’t know what to search for, so I settled on a chocolate chip banana bread. It turned out very good and my favorite part was the top because it had brown sugar and cinnamon that gave it an awesome “first bite”. Here is a picture of the inspiration. The recipe that was used was just a banana bread recipe and then I threw some chocolate chips in at the end. I did not include the lemon juice or the walnuts that the original recipe called for. Pretty good if I do say so myself.

(Source)

Home Decorating: Gallery Wall

Random Ramblings is the name of the game on this fine Wednesday. Who doesn’t love a good pinterest-inspired project? I have seen the gallery wall affect for a while in home decorating but have had a hard time 1) figuring out how to make a gallery wall 2)finding the perfect space. I finally decided on a space in my crafting corner of our house. I wanted to display some of my favorite photographs along with some of my scrapbooking memory pages. To hang everything, I measured it all on wax paper and then taped the wax paper to the wall. I had the paper tapped to the wall for about a week as I tried to figure out if I liked the layout. I really just wanted to avoid putting unnecessary holes into the wall. After taping, rearranging, and re-framing some pictures I had a wall of memories to display. Here is the final result of my wall gallery.

101 in 1001: September Update

September has been a great month. We have been in our house for a full month and we are finally starting to get into a routine. This is important to me because a routine means there is order in my life. Order equals less chaos. Our house is starting to feel like our home, so that is also nice. Here is an update of what I have been up to over the past month and how I have progressed in my 101 in 1001 project.

13.   Have a double-date with friends once every other month (3/16): We welcomed our first dinner visitors this month with an impromptu homemade-pizza making party. Now, homemade pizza’s are a Sheppard tradition in the fact that it was the go-to meal my family would prepare because everyone could create their pizza just the way they wanted. I thought it would be fun to have our double date night incorporate this fun activity!

52.   Volunteer 101 hours (11/101): I enjoyed getting to volunteer this month in two different capacities. The first was with my home chapter of AXO where I helped with Recruitment. The second capacity was with the Junior League of Atlanta Nearly New store. Both were great experiences of getting to hang with new and old friends. Volunteering is good for the soul.

33.   Legally change my name: Done!

53.   Surprise someone. (with a visit, flowers, something nice) & 54.   Write 10 handwritten letters (7/10): My little sister just joined a sorority so I thought she might enjoy a surprise Greek-filled package.

67.   Try 30 new recipes (7/30): Whoopie Pies , Chicken Enchiladas, and Baked Ziti. The Whoopie Pies were a success. The Enchiladas, not so much.  The recipe called for Ranch dressing, which I hate, so I switched it for blue cheese dressing. Needless to say the blue cheese was to overpowering and did not taste good. The baked ziti recipe on the other hand was fantastic. I switched the tomato sauce for white canned sauce and it tasted SO good. The Whoopie Pies and Baked Ziti were recipes from Pinterest, while the Chicken Enchiladas was from a cook book.

86.   Set up 401K: Done!

That was a lot of progress for one month. Now to enjoy the first weekend of October with what is supposed to be Fall-like weather!

101 in 1001: Whoopie for a new recipe

This month I have been trying to learn to cook a little. When I say I have been learning to cook it really just means I have been obsessed with my new KitchenAid mixer and have been making all sorts of baked goods. Last week it was National Cream Filling Day and I wanted to bring something to my AXO Sisters for recruitment, so I tried my hand at making whoopie pies. I have tried them once before and failed miserably, so I tried a new recipe this time and it worked perfectly! Here is a picture of the outcome:

I must admit I was going to give up before I ever started because there were 13 ingredients involved in the recipe. That many ingredients= chaos in my mind and on my counter tops. After looking up many recipes I finally found one that had all of the right ingredients and seemed the easiest.  Good luck if you attempt to try your hand at Whoopie Pies. I would love to see how yours come out!

WHOOPIE PIE:

2 c. sugar
3/4 c. shortening
2 eggs, slightly beaten
2 c. milk
2 tsp. vanilla
10 tbsp. cocoa
4 c. flour
2 1/2 tsp. soda
Pinch of salt

Cream shortening and sugar. Combine beaten eggs, milk and vanilla and beat into creamed mixture. Slowly stir sifted dry ingredients into the creamed mixture, and beat on medium speed about 2 minutes. Drop with tablespoon onto greased and floured cookie sheet (enough dough to make a baked cookie about 2 to 2 1/2 inches). Bake at 350 degrees until cookie just springs back when pressed in center with finger. Remove to rack and cool completely before filling.

WHOOPIE PIE FILLING:

Mix together:

2 tbsp. flour
1/2 c. milk

Cook until thick but do not allow to boil. Stir constantly. Remove from heat and allow to cool completely. Set aside.Beat together:

1/2 c. Crisco
1/2 c. sugar

Beat until creamy. Add vanilla and salt (dash).Mix sugar mixture with the milk and flour mixture. Stir until smooth or beat on medium speed until fluffy.

101 in 1001: August Update

Wow! August flew by so fast! Granted, it was a busy month in terms of my life and therefore there is a lot to update. I just can’t believe it is already September. Here’s to over 30 days of recapping my life and updating you on my 101 in 1001 project.

25.   Take a girls only trip. In July my sister planned a bachelorette party weekend for me before I got married.  It was a great girls-only weekend with some of my favorite ladies. I am so lucky to have these ladies in my life!

38.   Go to a movie by myself.  This was on my 101 list because it makes me VERY uncomfortable to go places alone. I always thought going to the movies alone was completely weird. That is why this list is good because it pushes me beyond my comfort zone.  Back in July I was trying to figure out my Saturday plans in order to escape from last minute wedding planning errands. I decided cupcakes for dinner and a movie were the perfect “me-time” activities. Maybe not perfect in terms of keeping my waistline thin, but it was perfect in that moment.  I went and saw Larry Crowne and thought it was charming. I love Tom Hanks in anything he does, and Julia Roberts is also really great. The movie was a fun romantic comedy.

72.   Read 15 books (6/15). I finished The Island by Elin Hilderbrand.  This book was a great beach/pool read as it had a little bit of everything: love, romance, drama, beautiful setting, and engaging characters.  I am now on to reading Bossypants and Malled.  I have been switching between the two books. I am currently reading Malled because I started reading them both at the same time but stopped reading Bossypants for the hubby to read. We actually just took this book on our Honeymoon and my Husband read this book first. He was laughing out loud the entire time so I look forward to reading this book. I am only on the introduction of Bossypants and I am already dying laughing.   Malled is good and I will recap that book once I finish it.

2.       Get married. Wow, I cannot believe that I am three weeks in to being married.  Over a year of planning and preparing for our married life will came to fruition on August 13th in the most perfect day a girl could have ever asked for.  We are slowly settling into our married life so I will update on that later. For now you can follow along at www.mandyandconner.com

12.   Have a girl’s night once every other month (3/16): August I went with some new friends to a sips and strokes type place. We ended up not painting due to reservation issues but it was a lot of fun to just hang out with the girls and sip some wine.

20.   Go on a vacation outside of the US: We just got back from vacationing for our Honeymoon to Jamaica.

52.   Volunteer 101 hours (4/101): August was Recruitment for AXO at Georgia Tech so I enjoyed volunteering for their sisterhood day. I look forward to helping with my home chapter of AXO this month as they work towards welcoming new members into the greatest sisterhood around.

74.   Get a massage: During the honeymoon we had a couple’s massage. Such a relaxing way to unwind from the wedding.

 

Goals for September:

86.   Set up 401K. Starting my career means that it is time to sign up for my 401K. Here’s to hoping I understand it all.

33.   Legally change my name

34.   Change name on credit cards, etc.

84.   Have checks printed under joint account