July 2013 Goals

I realized when I was putting this post together that I’ve been doing these monthly goals for a year–I started in June 2012. My life now is so different now than it was then, but I’m so happy I made goals for myself at both ends of the spectrum. I’m proud of all the fun stuff I’ve done in these past twelve months. Maybe sometime I’ll post all of my goal pictures together, just for fun, and I’ll circle all the stuff I’ve done, if I can figure out how to do that in Picasa. Hope springs eternal!

I am pumped for the stuff I plan to do in July. It is already plenty hot here, but Eric and I have special excursions planned for days like that. In a word, we go to museums and enjoy the sweet blasts of air conditioning. But this year we’re also planning to head to the beach a few times. We’re thirty minutes (in no traffic!) away from the closest beach, but it’s worth it in weather like this. And it’ll remind us of all the lazy days we spent reading books and having picnics in the sand on our honeymoon.

One of the greatest places in Pasadena is the Athenaeum, and every summer they serve dinner al fresco, out on the pretty lawn next to the tangerine trees. The food is fabulous, and it’s so lovely to be out in the cool evening air. I’m definitely making it a goal to get over there.

Pasadena also does an outdoor movie series in the summer, and we’re hoping to get to one or more of the screenings. Annie Hall, anyone?

On the home front, my triumph with quilting (I am only being mildly sarcastic) has led me to tackle other sewing feats: namely, putting in a zipper. I have plenty of them (thank you, Depot), and enough fabric to make a little purse, so I’m making it my goal to conquer it, with the aid of my sewing books and a few online tutorials.

I’m also going to make simits! These are the Turkish bagel-like breads that are sold everywhere in Istanbul. The kind that I want to make is actually called açma, and it was our favorite. Yeasty and lightly sweet, it’s covered with nigella seeds, also called caraway seeds, which have an amazingly curry-like flavor. I can’t wait! I had great success with another Turkish bread this weekend, so I am hopeful that I can make a decent recreation of this one too.

Project Life is going strong over here. I’ve got my photos, so now I just have to clear some space (read: move the sewing machine) and get to it!

And, of course, there will be lots and lots of pictures. I’ll be back in August with a full report (June is here, updated). Hope you have a fantastic month!

Update, August 2013: I love having these monthly goals. Sometimes I just leave the tab with my goals post open for weeks on end, and then I check in every now and again. It’s amazing how much stuff you can forget and then be gleefully reminded of in a week-long span. Anyway, the goals went really well this month! I made simits! I am in a good Project Life/Istanbul scrapbook rotation. We had dinner at the Rath al Fresco. We definitely did some warm weather exploring, locally and in San Diego, and we took advantage of the cool weather when it came our way too. We saw an outdoor movie too: fun! The beach trip and the zipper have been moved to August for reasons that are explained in that post, but that puts me at 6 out of 7 for this month. Awesome!