Catching up

Time has absolutely gotten away from me, and I obviously haven't been posting every month.  I hadn't even looked at the list for a while, so I haven't really been working toward my goals.  Time to get back on track!

I did complete two goals in October.  I had forgotten that it was even on the list, but I made tomato sauce while Mother and Ted were here.  They wanted a pasta dish, and I went off the cuff to make a tomato and meat sauce with fresh tomatoes, a mix of hamburger meat and italian sausage, red wine, onion, garlic, a parmesn rind, and lots of herbs.  It was pretty good!  It took longer than I expected it to, but mostly because it took a while for the tomatoes to cook down.  In the future, I will use canned tomatoes and drain them at least partially before adding them to the pan.  I remembered to taste and season as I went along, which I am realizing is truly crucial to having good flavor.  Mother and Ted both said they really liked it, but it's always hard to know if they are being 100% honest or if there is a parental skew to their opinions.

That month I also tried absinthe during my visit to New Orleans with Mashelda.  Appropriately, we ended up at a place called the Pirate's Alley Cafe and Absinthe House which is a tiny little place next to the St. Louis Cathedral.  They had several absinthe drinks to choose from, and the bartender was helpful in explaining the differences between them.  We decided to start with a specialty drink for two which was a mix of absinthe and champagne.  The absinthe has a strong anise flavor, and it paired nicely with the champagne.  We both enjoyed it!  After that, Mashelda decided to venture on to other drinks, but I decided to go for another absinthe drink, this time prepared traditionally with the cold water dripping into the glass over a sugar cube. 

It was fascinating watching the sugar water drip into the absinthe, because you could see the cold water swirling into the liquid, and the green color was stunning!  This was definitely a stronger drink, and it went to my head, but in a very pleasant way.  Apparently it totally blew out my sense for alcohol, because nothing tasted strong to me the rest of the night (we walked back to the casino and had a few drinks there), even though Mashelda stated otherwise.  :)  Point being that I enjoyed it very much and would definitely have it again, although I think it could be one of those things that is considered an acquired taste, since it is so distinctive.

I did finally write a review on Trip Advisor for the hotel we stayed in while in New Orleans.  We had gotten a free room at the Harrah's Hotel (thank you Mashelda!) which was very nice except for the horribly wobbly toilet!  I only just wrote the review, so it is not as effective as if I had done it immediately upon return, but at least it's in there.

While Mother and Ted were here back in October, we did decide to take a day drive, and without having to explain why, I chose to go to Columbus as the first of the three towns I have never visited before here in Indiana.  The city does have an interesting history, as their government decided to hire very well known modern architects to design most of the buildings starting in the 1940's.  Churches, schools, government buildings, and businesses are all one-of-a-kind, and many (because modern architecture is not my most favorite) are absolutely stunning.  At the very least, they were interesting to look at, and since we were having perfect fall weather, we got to enjoy both walking and driving around the city.  Unfortunately, my camera seems to have sent the pictures I took into the unknown digital ether world, but the city's website has some great information.  http://www.columbus.in.us/

As a general update, I have kept up with the monthly letters to my grandparents, and I have continued to enter the wines I drink into the Delectable app that I am using.  Also, I am now half-way to my weight loss goal.  I think I am caught up now, and I will do a better job with working on my list and with blogging!

I finished another book this month.  It turns out that The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is more of a short story than a book.  I had no idea until I actually started reading it, and it was a very quick read.  I enjoyed it, but I think the fact that it was so short threw me off a bit and I expected there to be more of a story.  But I'm glad to finally be able to cross that off a long-term reading list in addition to this list.

In July I installed window treatments in my master bedroom... it only took five years!  A couple of months ago, after a very long search, I finally found true blackout blinds at JC Penney.  It's a honeycomb style blind, but the insides of the cells are lined with a foil material.  No light is getting through these puppies!  At about the same time, I also found some curtains at Target that I really liked.  I have been looking off and on for years, so the timing was interesting that I found both the blind and the curtains at almost the same time.  Ted was here for a short visit last month, so he helped me hang both of them, and I am pretty pleased with how it turned out...

Some light still comes in just around the edges, but at least it's filtered by the curtains.  Most of the light comes in through the air conditioner, but at least that's only in for part of the year.  Overall, I'm happy!

I also was able to cross off my challenge to wear a different pair of earrings every day for a week.  I didn't always choose the most flamboyant options, but it did get me to break out of my "normal" group of four or five pairs that I typically wear and to dig into my jewelry box and at least bring back to mind what I own. 

Week one...

Week two...

I have gotten a little off track with my walking lately after having an ugly stomach virus that lasted about a week, but I am making an effort to get back to my goals.  In part, I am encouraged by my seven pound weight loss!  I know that's not huge over the course of four months, but I do feel like it's a permanent loss due to true lifestyle changes.  One step at a time.

Hitchhiker's Guide

I feel like I have finally joined some secret club now that I finally finished The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.  This book absolutely cracked me up.  The humor is very dry and British, which is right up my alley.  And it was all crazy and made no sense at all.  And I am definitely looking forward to reading more of his books which I wasn't expecting going into this.  I saw the movie years ago when it came out in the theatre, so I did keep hearing Alan Rickman's voice in my head as Marvin.  I literally found myself laughing out loud every few pages.

I got the chance to try two new restaurants when my step-father was here a few weeks ago.  He spent his teens and early 20's in Miami, so I had a feeling he would be interested in Taste of Havana which opened almost two years ago.  (so I'm a little slow when it comes to trying new places!)  It's a tiny little place in Broad Ripple run by a father and daughter of Cuban heritage.  The daughter was working there on the Friday night we went in, and she was incredibly friendly and helpful.  Ted got the regular El Cubano with a side of black bean soup, I got the Pan con Lechon with a side of yellow rice, and we shared a side of fried plantains.  I had a taste of Ted's Cubano, and it was delicious and exactly the way I imagined a Cuban sandwich should taste based on everything I've ever heard or read.  He said it tasted very authentic, including the bread, which is something that most places get wrong.  The black bean soup was fine, but nothing outstanding.  My sandwich, which was described as mojito marinated pork with onions and a little mayo, was amazing!  The pork was tender and incredibly flavorful through and through.  There were just the exactly right amount of onions and truly just a little mayo which gave it a nice extra bit of flavor and moisture.  It came with a little cup of the marinade/sauce for dipping, so that flavor was able to soak into the bread, and it all was absolutely mouth-wateringly delicious.  The yellow rice was tasty, but again, nothing truly outstanding.  Both of our sandwiches were large and cut into two long triangles.  I was only able to eat half of mine, so the other half went to work with me the next day, and let me tell you that it was every bit as tasty day-old and cold!  I didn't care for the plantains at all.  They seemed more like they had been caramelized in a skillet rather than fried, so they were soft rather than crisp, which is what I had expected.  At the end of the meal, they bring you a free shot of Cuban coffee sweetened with sugar.  I don't like coffee, but I decided to try it anyway... I guess I was feeling adventurous.  Of course, I didn't really care for it, but it wasn't as bad as I had thought it would be.  About two-thirds of mine got passed over to Ted who absolutely loved it.  Again, he said it tasted exactly like what he remembered always having in Miami.  I definitely will be eating here again!

The next day we visited another new restaurant, St. Joseph Brewery, which really did only open a few months ago.  Ted had read about the grand opening when they were here back in May and thought it looked interesting since it is in a former Catholic church located in the downtown area.  They really have done a nice job of converting it, and the architecture is stunning.  They have maintained the gothic arches and the original woodwork, but painted the walls a simple white and replaces the stained glass windows with regular glass.  Consequently, it feels expansive, light, and bright.  If it weren't a restaurant/brewery, it would make a perfect bookstore space... I'm just saying.  After seeing some women at another table who were sharing several appetizers, we decided that seemed like a pretty good idea and did the same.  Our first item was poutine which I have heard about a lot, but neither of us had tried it before.  French fries covered in brown gravy, fried cheese curds, and bite-sized bits of grilled steak.  Who could find fault in that???  I didn't love it quite as much a I thought I might, but it was quite tasty in that lovely salty, crunchy, creamy way, and surprisingly, it wasn't as heavy as I expected.  Next up was my choice of Rock Shrimp Fritters, described on the menu as sweet potato, corn & cilantro, served with a zesty chili-lime aioli.  I was picturing a hush puppy type fritter with bits of shrimp in it, but it was much more like the scallion pancakes you get in Chinese restaurants, only with lots and lots of shrimp pieces.  The aioli was more like a tartar sauce, and there were smears of chili oil on the plate.  So, faced with this thing that was nothing like what I thought it was going to be, I really liked it.  I still feel a bit confused about how to explain it, though, because in the actual eating of it, the texture was a little strange and the flavor didn't quite seem to be there.  The after-flavor, though, that flavor that lingers after you have finished your bite?  That was perfect!  Delicate with lots of really perfectly cooked shrimp taste.  I would definitely get these again.  Ted's pick was the Crispy Beef Short Ribs, described as being served with an orange & ginger-sesame glaze and spring onions.  I was really disappointed here, because I expected something crispy on the outside and melt-in-you-mouth on the inside.  They weren't crispy, and the meat was good but not as tender as short ribs I have had in the past.  And the glaze was good, but the flavors listed on the menu were not exactly how I would have described it.  Both of these appetizers came with three pieces, so I ate two of the shrimp fritters and one spare rib while Ted did the opposite.  Ted had a seasonal Summer Session Rye beer (ale?) that he liked and described as being perfect on a hot day.  I don't like beer, so I stuck with water.  I was disappointed to see that they didn't have a house-made root beer, because those are usually fun for me to try.  I felt it everything was a bit pricey, but all in all, it was a beautiful space with good food, so I could see coming here again if I am looking for somewhere to eat downtown.

I think I'll stop here and talk about the rest of my progress in a separate post.  Lots to say this month!

History

I visited the Indiana Historical Society Museum last week and had a great time!  I had seen advertisements for an exhibit called "That Ayres Look" that caught my attention, since it had to do with fashion and the L.S. Ayres stores.  I think I had been to this museum once, way back in college, but it has moved since then and is totally different, so I am counting this as a museum I have never visited before.

My only real complaint about the museum hit right up front.  Most of the employees acted as though I should already know everything about the museum, and so things were a little confusing to me and I felt a bit lost.  I believe that in any tourist venue, it should be assumed that the guest has never been there before and knows nothing about the site.  Or at least ask if I have been there before and if the answer is no, then explain things!  They did give me a map when I paid for the admission, but the map didn't explain much either.  Things were just labeled as such-and-such Hall or so-and-so Gallery, with no hint about what might be in any of those locations.

So I wandered off down what appeared to be the main hall, peering left and right through doors and hallways until I got to the first exhibit, labeled on the map as "Destination Indiana".  This turned out to be a large screening area that showed an ongoing loop of short (about 3 minutes each) films about different people, sites, or events around Indiana.  Thankfully there was a docent in here who explained what was going on.  There were also little cubby areas where you could sit in front of a large touch screen and choose clips to watch on your own; there was a clip for every county in Indiana.  The cubby areas were separated from the main area by a curved wall, and inside was a padded bench that was part of the wall and two comfy rolling chairs.  I spent about twenty minutes watching the big screen and then tried out one of the individual areas where I learned about Grant County (where I lived for my first job out of college) and Hendricks County (the county directly west from Indianapolis; I know knew nothing about this county, although I know lots of people who live there).

Next I wandered on and ended up in the Cole Porter Room where there was a young woman in a fancy dress and two older women looking at photos on the wall.  There were tons of photos as well as a sign that gave biographical info about Cole Porter.  The room was set up like a night club with a piano, small tables with chairs, and a bar.  The older woman were asking questions, and it turned out that the piano was a player piano and the young girl was there to perform for visitors!  She sang several songs (the other women left during the second one), and then turned on a TV behind the bar where they showed movies about Cole Porter.  She did have a lovely voice, and after chatting a bit, I moved on.

Finally I saw a sign for the Ayres exhibit!  This turned out to be a lot of fun.  There were two exhibits across from each other, but the outer area was a bit dark, and the entrance to each had a fog machine with an old photo projected onto the fog showing a scene specific to the exhibit.  The one for Ayres was an interior shot of the old downtown store.  A docent explained that when you walk through the fog, you were being transported back in time... in this case to 1959.  There would be someone inside the exhibit in costume as the head fashion buyer at that time.  You could interact with her and ask questions, but only about anything before 1959.  I have experienced living history projects before, and they tend to be a bit cheesy, but these were much better.  They had lots of things to look at showing the history of the stores and fashion over the years.  The exhibit was not large, but there was a lot to see.  They also had several video monitor showing interviews with people who had worked or modeled for the stores.  The woman in costume talked about the clothes of the time (they had mannequins set up with the year's "new" fashions).  She seemed very knowledgeable, and I felt like she would have had an answer for just about any question I could have come up with.

The second exhibit in this area was a photography studio from the early 1900's (I can't remember the specific year) in Fort Wayne.  Unfortunately, the photographer wasn't there, but the living history person in this room was a woman who had come to pick up her photos she had had taken the week before.  Again, she was able to give me a lot of information about the photography techniques being used as well as a history of other techniques, and they had lots of examples to show.  Apparently the new thing at the time was having prints made instead of the glass photos that had been used up until then.  They even had examples of hand tinted prints.  I think if the "photographer" had been there, I could have had my picture taken.  The setting was very detailed and felt authentic.

After leaving this exhibit, I talked to the docents outside who explained that if you come back on different days, there might be different characters in the exhibits who would give different perspectives on the times.  This makes sense, because of course these actors can't be there all the time.  Although I guess they would have just had different people playing the same parts, so it is an interesting concept that they actually have totally different characters.  I also found out that there was another exhibit on the fourth floor which wasn't even shown on the map!  Glad I asked if there was anything else to see.

The last exhibit was very interesting... an African-American physician in Indianapolis in 1943.  All of the characters in the exhibits are based on real people, which probably explains why this felt different from other living history exhibits I have seen where the characters are generic people of the time.  So, the history of this man was that he was raised in North Carolina, went to medical school, then studied at Harvard.  He had come to Indiana to work for a hospital in Muncie, and after being there for about six years, he was invited to come work for a hospital in Indianapolis.  Unfortunately, after he moved here, the hospital turned down his application due to his race.  They did, however, graciously allow him to volunteer in a clinic once a week to tend to patients of color (so they wouldn't have to deal with them themselves).  So this exhibit was an open house for his new practice.  He also had a medical student from IU who was studying with him for the summer, so this exhibit had two people you could interact with.  The fascinating thing for me about this physician was his interest in cardiology.  He actually had a very early EKG machine (which he didn't know how to use yet, because he was travelling to London in a few weeks to study with the man who developed the machine) and lots of charts and photos about hearts and electrical conduction.  He was also very good in his part, and I enjoyed chatting with him!

This appeared to be the end of the exhibits, so I wandered down to the canal level where there was a café.  Unfortunately, they had just closed, but I peeked my head in to look around.  This also opens up onto a terrace where they have free concerts during the summer.  I went back up to the main level and wandered through the gift shop before leaving.  The museum building is beautiful, but it almost doesn't feel like it's exactly set up for tourists.  Maybe it's because there were so few other visitors there (this was a Friday afternoon), but some areas felt deserted, and I kept feeling like I was wandering around somewhere I shouldn't be.  And the occasional workers I ran across kind of looked at me like they weren't sure if I was supposed to be there either.  Many of the docents looked to be college age, so maybe they weren't totally comfortable in their roles, but they weren't open and freely giving with the information... I felt like I had to ask a lot of questions and almost drag things out of them (like finding that third exhibit).  But I did enjoy myself, and at only $7 and with free parking (I found out they validate when I asked how to pay for the parking since the exit gate is automated), this was a real bargain.  On Thursdays when they have the free concerts, admission is free as well, so I can definitely see myself coming back here in the future!  And this time I'll know where I am going.

Om

So, the big news for this month was completing my month of daily meditation!  I started it on a lark one day, and actually managed to keep it up, even though some days were squeaking it in just before bedtime.  I generally used an app called Calm, which has several different meditation options available.  I chose to use the guided meditations which include a guided relaxation portion and then a period of quiet.  You are also able to choose the length of the meditation (I keep typing "medication" instead of "meditation"!), which I liked a lot.  My shortest meditation was ten minutes, and my longest was 25.

Here are a few things I learned during my month of meditation:

1. I should not meditate at bedtime, even using a meditation that is specifically geared toward bedtime and sleepiness.  Meditation perks me up too much to get to sleep right away, and I seem to always have restless sleep if I meditate right before going to sleep.
2. Some background noise can be helpful toward a better meditation.  My mind seemed to ultimately wander less if there was some sound rather than total silence.
3. Meditation does help me feel centered and refreshed... for a time.
4. I didn't notice that the length of the meditation correlated to a better or more lasting effect.
5. Shut the cat out of the room.  Having a cat attacking your head is not conducive to good meditation.
6. I don't do well using the "counting breaths" technique.  It seems to stress me out, and I always ended up breathless at some point.  I do much better just focusing on "in and out".
7. I much prefer lying down to sitting up.  I get too relaxed when I sit up, then my head tends to fall forward and I can't breathe which makes it very difficult to focus!

I did often find myself "writing" blog posts in my mind while I was meditating... i.e. "Today I could write about how well this relaxation portion works to get my mind focused and centered, and then I could talk about how I prefer to lie down rather sit in a chair when I meditate, and then I should say..." and on and on and on.  That should stop now that I won't be worrying about writing a blog post anymore!  Also, I'm not sure that the meditations had much overall effect on my well-being.  Maybe a month wasn't long enough.  Maybe it did have an effect and I just didn't notice.  I did enjoy the meditations, however, and I plan to continue with it, just without the every day requirement.

I have been making some progress on other list items, but none are completed yet.  I have purchased all but one of the books I will be reading, found an app to record my wines and made my first entry, found some podcasts to check out, collected a little over 50 songs for my playlist, and wrote to my grandparents.  I subscribed to Ancestry.com and have already found some interesting twigs in my family tree as well as started getting some information from my mother about her side of the family.  I also bought a Fitbit and have been wearing it consistently for a few weeks now.  The first few weeks I behaved normally, so I could get a baseline activity level.  I have now set some (small) goals, and am actively working toward hitting those goals on a daily basis.  This should help me work toward the 5K and weight loss items on my list.

Two weekends ago, while my Mother and Ted were here for Qualifications weekend (for the Indy 500 for anyone who might be reading this and not know that I live in Indianapolis), my mother and I tried out a new restaurant called Borel's Cajun and Creole Cookery.  It just opened about six months ago on the north side of Indy.  I had tried to go there earlier this year, but they happened to be closed that day.  I really enjoy Cajun and Creole food, so I was excited to check this place out, especially since I had read some good reviews online.  I had a shrimp po' boy, and my mother ordered an oyster po' boy.  Turned out, after we had already paid, that they were out of oysters, so she ended up switching her order to crawfish etouffee.  We also split a cup of crawfish etouffee.  The sandwiches were about $10 which seemed pricey, there were a lot of shrimp, it was dressed well, and the fries that came with it were tasty.  The bread didn't feel entirely authentic, but it was still good quality and held up well to the contents.  The etouffee was delicious, and the more I ate, the more I wanted!  There were lots of crawfish pieces and not too much rice, and splitting the cup was the perfect amount for both of us.  With drinks, the bill came to about $30, which was more than we had planned on spending for lunch, but the meal was good.  The décor is very much Mardi Gras and New Orleans themed with lots of beads and bright colors, and catchy Zydeco music played in the background.  I will definitely be going back here and have since started following them on Facebook where they post daily specials.

So progress is being made, although not by leaps and bounds.  The life lesson that seems to keep cropping up recently is to be mindful of the passage of time and not to procrastinate (whether intentionally or not!), so I want to step things up.  I will be working a lot of extra days over the next two months, so that might be a little difficult, but I do tend to get more accomplished when I have more things on my platter. 

Getting Started

As of yesterday I have meditated daily for two weeks!  The decision to start was not thought out at all... one morning I was lying in bed and thought "I should meditate!"  And there we go.  I have been using an app called Calm for the meditations.  They have nature sounds you can listen to, and timers, but I have been using their guided meditations which are available in 2, 5, 10, 15, 25, or 30 minute increments.  It starts out by getting you relaxed and focused, and then there is silent time.  So far I have been doing either 10 or 15 minutes.  I wish there was a 20 minute time slot, because that ten minute jump from 15 to 25 seems really daunting.  I like the feeling I get from it, though... relaxed but energized, centered, and clear-headed.  From previous experience, I know that I cannot meditate right before bed, because it seems to get me mentally hopped up and I never sleep well.  I have been aiming to do it first thing in the morning, because it really does seem to put me in a good mood for the day.  This is one of those habits that I would like to develop for life, even though I am only doing it for a month for the list.

So, my big ordeal right now is my right foot.  Last Monday, I hit it on my bed (it's a storage bed, so it's solid with drawers) and although the bruises are fading, it still hurts quite a lot.  I chipped a bone on this same pinky toe years ago, and I don't remember it hurting this much.  Plus, the pain seems concentrated behind the toe, so that was concerning me.  So this morning, I went to a MedCheck clinic where they took x-rays and told me that there are no fractures (thank goodness!), but that I probably bruised the bone which can hurt just as much as a break.  Needless to say, I'm not getting around very well, and I haven't been able to do a few things that I had planned.  Bummer.

I sat down the other day and started putting some information together for some of the list items.  One thing I discovered is that I have been to a lot more of the museums around town than I realized!  I may have to either broaden my definition of a museum or expand slightly outside of Indianapolis.  That is a good thing, I think, but it did throw me off a little.  I have also written to my grandparents for this month and found some notebooks to use for my various lists.  I'm excited to get moving (figuratively if not quite literally) on my List.  I am not going to let myself leave so many things until the last minute like I did last time.

New Beginnings

Like it says in the intro, this is my second time going through the Day Zero project.  Why am I doing this again?  I really did have fun with it before, even though there were times I forgot about and times I wished it would go away.  It got me to do some things that I had been procrastinating for years and some things I had never thought about before hearing about the project.  It gave me a way to bond with some of my friends --  the one who got me to join the project in the first place and the friend that decided to make her own list after I talked about it.  And it helped me look at my own life a little differently and learn some things about myself.

So lets talk about this new list.  I started writing down ideas for a new list not long after I started the first one!  By the time I sat down and seriously started writing out my 101 projects, I already had almost sixty items.  In the end, I had 113, which gave me the opportunity to pare it down to the things I most wanted to accomplish (although there are definitely still a few silly things in there!).  My life has changed a lot since I started the first list in 2011... I lost my oldest friend, my godchildren, my pet, and my job.  I gained new friends, a kitten, part of my old job back, and a better relationship with my father.  If there were a scale to measure my life now against my life then, I'm not sure things are quite in balance yet, so I tried to put things in my list that will add to my life in positive ways and things that will make me happy.  I also swore that after last time I would not have things on my list that require me to do things multiple times!  I cannot tell you how many times I wanted to smack myself for having things like "do item A six times"!  The repetition, while sometimes meaningful, made it tedious and neverending.  So I did it again.  Yes, yes, I know.  But I decreased the frequencies on the times I did it, and I only have four items that will last the length of the whole project (including posting updates on this very blog!).  And I solemnly swear not to complain about having to do things more than once in order to cross it off my list.  If I try it, call me out.

Once again, I included reasons for why I chose each item for the list.  I think it makes it interesting for you, and it helps me remember why I felt those things were important.  It also helped me when I was trying to narrow down the list to the 101... if it was something I had seen on someone else's list but I couldn't come up with a good reason, then obviously it didn't resonate for me and it got cut.  I also decided to group things into categories.  I liked this idea when I saw it on other people's lists, and I decided it would help me better see what kinds of things I was doing.  I am also hoping it will help me keep track of the list for myself.  It sounds crazy, but there were many times I would review my list and think "that's on my list?  I don't remember putting that on there!".

I'm excited about this!  Tomorrow is day 1 out of 1001.  We are set to end December 31, 2017 (wow, that sounds so far away!), and I am excited about celebrating the end of this project and New Year's with my friend who talked me into doing this the first time around.  I didn't finish my list last time, and I'm okay with that, but I want to finish this one.  So here we go... 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...