#92 | Visit Mall of America again

 If you read my main blog, Just Breathe, you would have known that my family and I took a little trip to Minnesota, my birth state.  During our trip I crossed off a lot of events on my 101 list!  (I love it when that happens!)

First off, visit Mall of America again.

On the first day we arrived, mom and I each met up with a friend for dinner.  Mom met with my Godmather, Mary, and I met up with my friend Jenna.  That night went by so quickly and mom and I weren’t able to meet back up to ride a few rides, so we went back the next day to get the rides in.  I was sad to see that it isn’t Camp Snoopy anymore, but it was nice to see they got some rides that were a little more adult friendly.  (However, there are some rides I wouldn’t even begin to imagine riding.  A roller coaster that goes straight up and straight down…no thanks!)

 

I got to ride my horse on the merry go round.  Mom and I rode the Farris wheel just to get some great photos of the park and then we rode the original roller coaster and the tumbler (I don’t remember what it was called, but that was what it was when we lived there.)  It was a blast!


35/101
Completed : June 29, 2013

#63 | Paint a piece of furniture

I found this awesome piece of furniture in my grandparent’s basement.  It is a cabinet that has a fold up table top.  Perfect for spreading out during craft time.  In the future I would like to have an entire room just for crafting, but right now I don’t have the space and my supplies have crowded my little corner in my bedroom, so in the basement I went.

I started with sanding the table down a little bit and then painting.  I went with white (it would have been fun to paint it some funky color) paint because I’m not sure what my future craft room will look like and I know white will go great.  This table took many, many layers of paint.  The handles were really old and beat up so I got some new ones at Lowes.  I think I might have preferred something a little more decorative, but these were the only ones that would fit the holes that were already there (and I didn’t want to have to make new ones.)  But I’m happy with these ones.  They are more like the original ones and I think it give the table a clean, crisp look.  So happy to have this little project marked off my list!

34 of 101
Completed: June 25, 2013

#77 | Make Pizza from Scratch

When I added this to my list, I thought I’d be making more of it from scratch ie the dough and sauce and not pre packaged meat.  But I realized that that was not going to happen so we went with a little easier approach.  It is still a pizza we made at home and not something that we bought or ordered from a store, so I’m calling it good.

Recipe Source:  Made Up
Made : June 10, 2013

Ingredients:
1 Pillsbury pizza crust
½ cup pizza sauce
1 package Mozzarella cheese
1 package Hormel Italian Sausage Bits
1 package Hormel mini pepperonis
Green pepper, chopped
Onion, chopped
Black olives, chopped
Mushrooms

Directions:
1.  Follow the directions from the Pillsbury pizza crust package.
 Spread dough
 Spread pizza sauce over dough
 Add cheese, meat toppings, vegetable toppings, top with more cheese

Note : You can add any toppings you want.  We eyeballed how much of each topping we wanted.  We also only put the mushrooms on half of the pizza because dad likes them and I don’t.

Thoughts:  Surprisingly good and easy to make. Dad liked it better than the walmart and frozen pizzas we usually get so this one was a win!

Make again? Absolutely. We are going to play around with various types of toppings to see what we like best.

33 of 101

Completed: June 10, 2013

#13 | Start an Herb Garden

#32 of 101
Completed : June 8, 2013

40 Recipes : Hazelnut Butter Cookies

Recipe Source:  St. Joseph Junior League Cookbook
Made : May 31, 2013

Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 cup butter
1 cup finely chopped toasted hazelnuts
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg yolk
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups powdered sugar


Directions:
1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  
2.  Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.  Add butter and cut in until mixture resembles coarse meal.  Add chopped nuts, sugar, egg yolk, and vanilla, and mix until smooth dough forms.
3.  Shape into 1 inch balls.  Place on a cookie sheet and press with back of fort in a crisscross pattern to form 1/4 inch thick cookies.  
4.  Bake cookies until a pale golden brown, about 15 minutes.  
5.  Cool and roll cookies in powdered sugar.

Thoughts:  Really good.  Very similar to a holiday cookie we make.

Make again? Absolutely.  We've already made them again.

40 Recipes | German Chocolate Cake

Recipe Source:  My Grandmother
Made : April 18, 2013

Ingredients:
1 package Baker’s GERMAN’s Sweet Chocolate
½ cup boiling water
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 ½ cups sifted Swans Down Cake Flour
1 cup buttermilk


Directions:
1.  Melt chocolate in boiling water.  Cool.
2.  Cream butter and sugar until fluffy.  Add eggs, one at a time, and beat well after each.  Add melted chocolate and vanilla.  Mix well.
3.  Sift together salt, soda, and flour.  Add alternately with buttermilk to chocolate mixture, beating well.  Beat until smooth.
4.  Pour into three 8 or 9 inch cake layer pans, lined on bottoms with paper.  Bake in moderate oven (350 degrees) 30-40 minutes.  Cool.  Frost top and side.

COCONUT-PECAN FROSTING
1.  Combine 1 cup evaporated milk, 1 cup sugar, 3 eggs, ¼ pound margarine, and 1 teaspoon vanilla.
2.  Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened, about 12 minutes.
3.  Add 1 1/3 cups Baker’s Angel Flake Coconut and 1 cup chopped pecans.  Beat until thick enough to spread.


Thoughts:  Even though I’ve had this cake many times before (because it was my grandpa’s favorite), I’d never actually made it myself.

Make again? Absolutely, it’s a family favorite.

#80 | (Donate hair to Locks for Love) Try a new hair style – Cut

 

Getting my hair deep conditioned

So, really I just need to stop changing up my 101 list.  I originally had ‘Try a new hair style’ and I replaced it with something different.  I’m doing it again, but this time I’m adding a new hair style back into my list.   Whatever…no biggie. 

I decided I want to grow my hair out again and cutting it for Locks of Love is not going in that direction.  So it's going off the list. 

The last few months years I’ve been having problems with my hair and stylist.  I do a lot of heat damage to my hair and I get it cut every 6 weeks and I still walk out of the salon covered in split ends.  This last time I got my hair cut, she butchered it and I just about had it. 

So a few weeks ago I was in my friend’s wedding and we got our hair done at a salon I’ve never been to before.  Without saying anything (I just asked how much a cut cost), the stylist told me my hair needed some major help.  Yikes! 

So, I finally went for it and tried out a new hair place for the first time in 7 years.  And guess what!?  She did an awesome job!  She suggested I do a deep conditioning to help restore my hair, and then she cut, fixed my layers (so I didn’t have a length layer and 1 distinctive shorter layer), and advised me on what kind of hair protectors I should use.  I’ve never done a deep conditioning and my hair is silky smooth and so soft.  My cut is shorter than my normal and the layers up around my face are pretty short.  And I walked out without any split ends!  (Well, I think I’ve found 2, but that is completely expected.)  Needless to say, I’ve never been this happy with my hair in a really really long time!

#31 of 101

Completed: June 6, 2013