Here we are at the end. I’ve really enjoyed being 25 and will miss it. I’ll be forwarding a few things from this list onto my 26 Things. Eck, 26. Even the number looks old.

Here’s what I did.

1. Knit something.

2. Create a budget.

3. Go Paleo for a month.
Nope. Oh well. I really enjoyed this when I did it for two weeks back in 2012 with some Jamba co-workers, so maybe this year.

4. Run 200 miles.
And my final count is 10/200. I’m very pathetic, I know. Please don’t judge me too harshly. I will be forcing myself to run much more as a 26 year old. Even though I’ll be older. Hopefully I don’t break a hip.

5. Complete a three-day juice cleanse.
Oops. I meant to do this over Labor Day Weekend but then didn’t. I won’t be forwarding this to 26, but maybe I’ll still do it sometime in the future.

6. Cook 25 meals.

7. Read Les Misérables.
Since I barely made a dent in this, I’m forwarding this to 26.

8. Fly a kite.
Forwarding to 26.

9. Visit at least two new states.

10. Do a James Bible study.

11. Master a song on the guitar.

12. Read 12 new books.

13. Make edible yogurt.
I never did get to this. To be fair, I did look into it and considered how I might do it, but that was during the summer when the humidity of Massachusetts was sogging up my brain and the thought of having to control the yogurt temperature stressed me out. So maybe I’ll save this for another time.

14. Complete a Photo-a-Day challenge for a month.

15. Do an Acts Bible study.

16. Use a sewing machine.
I’ve been wanting to do this for a while now. Maybe I should just buy a sewing machine… forwarding to 26.

17. Master drawing Snow White.

18. Try 12 new restaurants in San Francisco.

19. Do a Philippians Bible study.
Forwarding to 26.

20. Bake a pie from scratch.

21. Visit three museums.

22. Organize my music library.
Maybe 26 will be the year for this.

23. Organize my pictures.
And this.

24. Ride on a hot air balloon.

25. Catch up on Arrested Development.

And there we have it. I’m pretty happy with this final result–15/25. Technically that’s like a D grade, but I’m not in school anymore so whatever. I feel like I accomplished a lot this year, aside from this list. So here’s to growing older, and hopefully wiser and more graceful?

I can’t believe it’s already December. I know I say it  a lot, but time does pass strangely sometimes. I have one month to do some things, so we’ll see how that goes. I have a feeling that I won’t complete most of what I have left on here, but 26 will be a new year of things and I will probably be carrying many over to that list.

1. Knit something.
Heidi hosted a craft night at our apartment the other night. She taught me how to knit! I’ve been knitting a little patch of nothing with some leftover scarf yarn, so it’s been good practice. Soon I’ll be knitting scarves.

2. Create a budget.

3. Go Paleo for a month.

4. Run 200 miles.
10/200

5. Complete a three-day juice cleanse.

6. Cook 25 meals.
I cooked a whole meal for Thanksgiving day which consisted of a turkey, roasted brussels sprouts, macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, and biscuits. So I’m all set till 26…

7. Read Les Misérables.
I’m only about 8% through, according to my Kindle reader…

8. Fly a kite.

9. Visit at least two new states.

10. Do a James Bible study.
I had the whole apartment to myself over Thanksgiving break. I love my roommates, but I really enjoyed the time alone. I used it by catching up on some sermon podcasts and reading through the book of James and consulting David Guzik‘s study guide on the book. James is my favorite book of the Bible since he just gives it to you straight.

11. Master a song on the guitar.

12. Read 12 new books.

13. Make edible yogurt.

14. Complete a Photo-a-Day challenge for a month.

15. Do an Acts Bible study.

16. Use a sewing machine.

17. Master drawing Snow White.
Aaaaaand done. This was my inspiration, which I found here on Etsy.

And here is what I drew. So I’m good. Well, I mean, I’m not good, but like I’m all set with the drawing thing.

18. Try 12 new restaurants in San Francisco.

19. Do a Philippians Bible study.
Maybe next year. Unless I can do this in a month. I did complete two Bible studies this year, so you know, that’s some extra holiness for 25 already…

20. Bake a pie from scratch.

21. Visit three museums.
Our company holiday party was last night at the ICA this year, so I’m counting this. So, done.

22. Organize my music library.

23. Organize my pictures.
Someone please suggest to me what I should do here. Thank you.

24. Ride on a hot air balloon.

25. Catch up on Arrested Development.

2013 is almost over and that is very strange to think about.

1. Knit something.
-I watched Sabrina knit a scarf the other night. It looked very complicated. I haven’t knit anything yet but at least watching someone knit is a step in the right direction.

2. Create a budget.

3. Go Paleo for a month.

4. Run 200 miles.
9/200

5. Complete a three-day juice cleanse.

6. Cook 25 meals.
4/25

7. Read Les Misérables.
I’m only about 8% through, according to my Kindle reader…

8. Fly a kite.

9. Visit at least two new states.

10. Do a James Bible study.
-Going to start the Beth Moore study book I bought for this this week.

11. Master a song on the guitar.

12. Read 12 new books.
I still haven’t finished Tim Keller’s book about work–I’m procrastinating on reading that one, but I have met my goal for the year.
A Praying Life Paul E. Miller
The Host Stephenie Meyer
The Memory of Running Ron McLarty
Sacred Marriage Gary Thomas
Joni – An Unforgettable Story Joni Eareckson Tada
Who Do You Think You Are? Mark Driscoll
Stumbling On Happiness Daniel Gilbert
Someday, Someday Maybe Lauren Graham
Every Good Endeavor Tim Keller
Delirium Lauren Oliver
Pandemonium Lauren Oliver
Requiem Lauren Oliver
Before I Fall Lauren Oliver

13. Make edible yogurt.

14. Complete a Photo-a-Day challenge for a month.

15. Do an Acts Bible study.

16. Use a sewing machine.

17. Master drawing Snow White.

18. Try 12 new restaurants in San Francisco.

19. Do a Philippians Bible study.

20. Bake a pie from scratch.

21. Visit three museums.
2/3

22. Organize my music library.

23. Organize my pictures.
-I need suggestions for this–do people just keep all of their pictures on an external hard drive and then print out physical pictures of the ones they like? I’m not sure what my method here should be.

24. Ride on a hot air balloon.

25. Catch up on Arrested Development.

Oh October. I haven’t been making much progress.

1. Knit something.
2. Create a budget.
3. Go Paleo for a month.

4. Run 200 miles.
9/200

5. Complete a three-day juice cleanse.

6. Cook 25 meals.
3/25

7. Read Les Misérables.
I’m only about 8% through, according to my Kindle reader…

8. Fly a kite.
9. Visit at least two new states.
10. Do a James Bible study.
11. Master a song on the guitar.

12. Read 12 new books.
8/12
A Praying Life Paul E. Miller
The Host Stephenie Meyer
The Memory of Running Ron McLarty
Sacred Marriage Gary Thomas
Joni – An Unforgettable Story Joni Eareckson Tada
Who Do You Think You Are? Mark Driscoll
Stumbling On Happiness Daniel Gilbert
Someday, Someday Maybe Lauren Graham
Every Good Endeavor Tim Keller
Delirium Lauren Oliver
Pandemonium Lauren Oliver
Requiem Lauren Oliver

13. Make edible yogurt.
14. Complete a Photo-a-Day challenge for a month.

15. Do an Acts Bible study.
I’ll be finishing this up later today so I’m going to go ahead and cross it off. It’s been so good reading about the early church, especially since I’m part of Reality Boston now, which is just a little over a year old.

16. Use a sewing machine.
17. Master drawing Snow White.
18. Try 12 new restaurants in San Francisco.
19. Do a Philippians Bible study.
20. Bake a pie from scratch.

21. Visit three museums.
2/3

22. Organize my music library.
23. Organize my pictures.
24. Ride on a hot air balloon.
25. Catch up on Arrested Development.

I can’t believe that it will already be November in exactly a week. This year has been so interesting so far. So many things have happened. I never imagined I’d be where I am now–physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Here’s to ending 2013 well. Pretty soon I’ll have to come up with some more goals, though I’m not sure I’ll be able to come up with 26 Things. We’ll see, I suppose.

Last month I went home to attend Alex’s wedding. It was a pretty jam-packed weekend, which is a post in and of itself–coming soon, haha. That Sunday Lily and I went on a hot air balloon ride over Napa Valley, thus completing one of my 25 Things, and it was lovely.

We got up super early to get ready and head to the Marriott where we would be meeting the balloon company. We flew with Balloons Above the Valley. The staff was really friendly and they all seemed to know what they were doing, so that was good. Haha. From the hotel, they caravanned us over to the open field where the balloons were being blown up.

 It was a little eerie seeing these giant balloons coming to life on the ground, but also very cool.

The view from above

 I loved watching all the balloons cluster together. Sometimes we’d get nervous that they’d crash into each other, but other than that, the ride was very relaxing.

 It was pretty warm up there. We started out on the ground with sweaters and scarves and ended up taking off all our layers once up in the air. Heat really does rise apparently.

After the ride they took us back to the hotel for a lovely brunch, complete with mimosas and more coffee. Now that I’ve done that, I feel a little more motivated to possibly jump out of a plane or something. Maybe next year…

I finally did it! A few weeks ago I went berry picking with Hope and Jessica at Tangerini’s Spring Street Farm in Millis, MA.

We picked blueberries, cherry tomatoes, and raspberries, and it was super fun. Though I do wish I had thought to put on sunscreen. Oops.

  

That night I came home and made some pastry dough to chill. It was easier than I thought it would be. I accidentally bought salted butter instead of unsalted though, and didn’t realize until after I had added the required salt to the flour. When I tasted the dough it was very salty, so I was worried that the pie might be too salty, but it ended up being fine. I was inspired by a pie post I found on Pinterest, which led me to this link. I used this link for the pie filling, with a few alterations. It probably would have been easier to use a mixer for the dough, but I just used my hands.

I didn’t add any butter or lemon zest to the filling, and only used about four cups of blueberries instead of the six that the recipe calls for.

Overall, I was pretty pleased with myself and my pie. I’m inspired to bake more often, especially now that I know that making pie dough from scratch isn’t as tough as I thought it’d be. I also felt very Snow White-y, so that’s always good. It would have looked a little nicer if it had browned more, but it tasted good, so not bad for my first pie, if I do say so myself.