Thirty-One and a Half!

Let's take a look back at my 30 Under 30 List and see how I've done:

30 Things to Do Before I Turn 30

1. Shoot a gun/take shooting lessons.
   
2. Learn French. Working on it! It's definitely coming along.
   
3. Take tap/ballet classes. I accidentally stumbled into a cardio dance class at the gym, too embarrassed to leave, I did the whole class. I know this doesn't count, but it's something.
   
4. Go to a casino. Yup, for my bachelorette party - Atlantic City (2010).
   
5. Do Bike NY again.
   
6. Take a photography class/digital camera class.
7. Have a full spa day. Pretty much - the day before our wedding I spent a good amount of time at the spa.
   
8. 100-mile bike ride. Who put this on here!? Is this REALLY something I want to do. See #26.
   
9. Visit Canada. No. My husband went to Montreal for his bachelor party, at least I got to a casino for mine and checked off #4.
   
10. Buy real estate. Check.
    
11. Visit Michelle and Monica in Jacksonville. Check. Check. I visited them twice.
    
12. Finish reading And the Band Played On. I didn't even let myself rent the movie because I was still convinced I would finish the book. And since I wrote this list, I can add probably 5 more books that I didn't finish. Fail.
    
13. Go to a taping of SNL (or another decent late night show).
14. Own at least 15 of my favorite movies on DVD. I think I may have bought ONE dvd since I originally wrote this. Fail.
    
15. Get frozen hot chocolate from Serendipity.
    
16. Take a cooking class.
    
17. Visit Mom/Dad’s place in Burnt Store Marina. Check. Just briefly, but it still counts.
    
18. Treat my family to dinner. Check.
    
19. Finish a Sunday crossword puzzle. I finish crosswords all the time. I'm not sure why I went so ambitious with this one. Check.
    
20. Take Pilates classes. I took a few hot yoga classes. Does that count for something??
    
21. Frame travel photos/hang travel photos. Check.
    
22. Go cross-country skiing. Check.
    
23. Pay off one loan.
    
24. Watch all 3 Godfathers.
25. Learn stick shift.
26. Run a 5k. Check. Check. Check. Check. Check. I ran several 5ks AND a 10k, and a 5 miler, AND a half marathon. Thankyouverymuch.
    
27. Get a job. Check. And it's kind of the greatest most perfectest job ever (Remember, we're suspending disbelief when I make up words like "perfectest").
    
28. Visit a new wine region. Check. We went to Burgundy, France on our honeymoon. AND we went to Reims, France, which is the region where they produce champagne. Check.
    
29. Blog more frequently. I'm blogging right this very second. That must count for something.
    
30. Read A People’s History of The United States. No, but I did borrow a book like this from my co-worker. Did I finish it? No.
    

Maybe I should make a MUCH MUCH shorter list of things to accomplish before the end of this year.

I would still like to:
1. Shoot a gun.
2. Go to a taping of a late night show.
3. Watch all 3 Godfathers.
4. Get a frozen hot chocolate from Serendipity.
5. Rent And the Band Played On.

Who's going to help me with these??

My Heap Runneth Over.

Well, it's not quite running over, but the compost I had been gathering in my kitchen is plenty to get it started. See, I started with one large "can" to collect kitchen scraps, but that was soon full. So I had to fish through our recycling bin for the original small can I had (you should have seen the look on Morgan's face when he found me rooting through the garbage). And THEN my small can was filled up, so I had to grab a large Tupperware container to continue collecting kitchen scraps.

Now picture me home on Valentine's Day, waiting for Morgan to come home, and in he walks with a dozen red roses, a balloon, a box of chocolates, groceries (to make me fondue), and a homemade compost bin receptacle! What an amazing valentine's day, right? Except, one of those things didn't come into my life on Valentine's Day. It was the compost bin receptacle!! Aww shucks! But I know it's coming because he's already started assembling it in the basement. But today I had no choice but to officially start my bin INDOORS. His bin will allow me to move the bin securely OUTDOORS. I should also mention here that normally I do not desire cut flowers. They die and it's just unnecessary, but when Morgan walked in with a dozen cut roses all I could see was a dozen things to put into my heap!! Once they die. I'm not that crazy.

OK, so here I go to start my trash heap!!

Step one: gather dried leaves. I had intended to walk to a nearby nature path and gather some dried leaves, but much to my delight I found an old abandoned Chinese food restaurant along the way with an abundance of dried leaves. You should have seen the look on the stranger's faces as I gathered up trash from the abandoned restaurant. Not trash - leaves. Dried leaves. Maybe I should have waited until it was dark to do this. While I gathered up leaves, people looked on confused, while the dog dug her nose into....I don't even want to know. I'm pretty sure she fished out a dried turd that I then had to pry from her mouth.

Step two: drill more holes in my bin. I pre-emptively decided I needed more air to my trash heap, so I took out my old trusty drill and drilled more holes. This was a spectacle in itself. Having not used my drill since, maybe 2006, I had to charge the battery. Keep in mind, I have the patience of a....child. I soon realized the spare battery had some charge, and I used that....to drill about 3 holes. So I switched batteries, put the first battery on the charger, drilled another...3 holes when it too ran out of charge. Repeat. I finally had holes drilled all over my trash heap bin.

Step three: FILL. I gathered up all of my items. One whole foods bag of dried leaves. One Godiva bag full of one banana peel and some baby's breadth. OH...that's another story. On my way home from work, I came across the nearby florist throwing out flower scraps. I initially brushed it off and kept walking, but....I. Could. Not. Resist. And so I started stuffing whatever I could into this Godiva bag I was carrying. Why did I have a Godiva bag with a banana peel in it?? Because I brought it home from work to add to my heap. Obsess much?? In a word, yes.

So I gathered up my 2 coffee tins, one Tupperware, a bag of leaves, a Godiva bag of...whatever, and my bin and headed off to the basement.

Step four: LAYER. Brown leaves first. Initially, I felt really kind of embarrassed that I had gathered these leaves off of the ground. But what were my alternatives? My co-worker had offered to give me dried leaves from her heap!? Umm, "no, thanks, we have leaves on long island," I politely replied. On top of the brown leaves I put all the kitchen scraps and then the rest of the dried leaves. This is supposed to keep the smell and the pests out. The holes are supposed to bring air to the heap and keep it....working.

Step five: WAIT. Not forever though. I have to turn it every few days. I will check back this weekend.

I know you all can't wait. I have a good feeling that this will be a long waiting game though. (see previous mention of me having the patience of a child)

Stay tuned!

It's Been So Long Since Last We Met...

It seems that the last time I posted was 2 years ago almost to the day. This is embarrassing! But I'm back! And quite a lot has happened since I last wrote.

For starters, meet Morgan:


(Morgan, left; Rhino ass, right -- Bronx Zoo 2009)

We found ourselves both living in New York (state, not city), only 3 hours apart. Yada, yada, yada, love bloomed! And how lucky it was for us!

We got engaged:


(St. Thomas - 8/14/2009)

Moved in together:


(Apt 57 -- October 2009)

Got married:


(Martha Clara Vineyard -- 5/30/2010)

Went on an amazing honeymoon:


(Cap d'ail, France -- June 2010)

Got a dog:


(Adopted 8/8/10)

Ahem, a bad dog:




And....oh that's about it for now. So for most of 2009 and all of 2010, I have not blogged. Sad, right? Because they were probably the most life changing 2 years of my life, thus far. I think I adequately summed it up though.

But with this new year come lots of new projects that I would like to document in the blogosphere! For starters, I have decided to start composting. Let me try that again....I decided to start COMPOSTING!!! WOOHOO!! YEA!! Yes, that's right. Right here in this little apartment. Ok, not IN the apartment. Well, that thought did cross my mind. And after a lot of research, I decided to compost in our storage unit in the basement. But after "consulting" with Morgan, I "decided" it is probably better if I do it outside on our front "patio." Our conversation went something like this:

D: I have a great idea, I am going to compost...in the basement!
M: In the basement?
D: Yes, in our storage unit. Will you help me drill holes in this storage bin?
M: Let me get this straight, you want to store a pile of smelly rotting food in our storage unit?
D: Yes.
M: THIS unit? Where we keep our winter and summer clothes?
D: Yes. I guess if it gets too smelly I could....move it outside.
M: Just making sure I understand you and as long as you don't put a bunch of garbage in this bin and then forget about it.

He would have let me do it too, but after we drilled the holes in the bin I thought maybe there was a way to have this "trash heap" outside. More research, and I think this might just work. I'm sort of imagining it looking like this:


(Trash Heap, Fraggle Rock)

So I got a coffee container to store food scraps in. That text exchange went something like this:
[From me to my brothers]: Do you buy coffee in large cans?
[Brothers]: No, why?
[From me to my brothers]: I guess what I'm asking is, do you have large cans?
[Brother #1]: No, but mom does.

And sure enough, Mom did have large cans, with the minor caveat that they were actually large plastic "cans." So armed with a large can I convinced Morgan to build me a wooden bin for outside in which my storage bin will go. Hopefully, the super won't notice the trash heap outside of our window. I figure I can always move it to my parent's house if needed (sshhh, don't tell them). So far I just have a can of scraps and I'm waiting for Morgan to make the crate. I hope it's here in time for valentine's day because nothing says "i love you" like a big pile of trash! A cupcake and a card might convey the same message.

My other new project is preparing to give up dairy and meat for lent. Just preparing at this point.

Check back for updates! It's sure to be a big, stinky, (hopefully steamy) frustrating mess!