December 31, 2012

2012 -- week 52 -- a lazy christmas and a new york city vacation



2012 checklist




at the beginning of 2012

not gonna lie,
i didn't do great.

which is crazy.
because i am great at making
and completing to do lists.


but i guess it's easier to make a
daily to do list
than a whole year to do list.
so how did i fare?


did i run a marathon?
nope.
and i think i may have legit asthma
(rather than the exercise induced nonsense
i was diagnosed with in high school.)
lame.


did i climb a v4 in mexico or a v6 in the us?
nope
i'm barely climbing v0s.
thanks arizona.


did i read 52 books?
hell yeah i did;


did i take at least 6 trips?
yep.
i went to:
guanajuato
dallas, twice
tabasco and chiapas
nyc + dc
las vegas
cabo
lake placid
san diego
houston
sayulita
new york city


did i go to 8 new states and 5 new countries?
nope.
but i did live in mexico
for almost 6 months.
and i went to 6 mexican states:
estado de mexico
guanajuato
tabasco
chiapas
nayarit
baja california sur


did i write 150 blog posts?
yep.
i wrote 169.



so according to the list,
this year wasn't totally unsuccessful
but it wasn't hugely successful either.


except that it kind of was.
i mean, check out all of
the super cool stuff i did this year:


january --
we saw


february --
we saw some cool art exhibits:
went to a jazz club and saw a lucha libre match.
and we went on a picnic to bosque de chapultapec.


march --
we went to guanajuato for jj and mm's boda!
saw a puma's football game.
saw a movie at a drive in movie theatre,
lived through a bunch of earthquakes
and rcg moved back to the us.


april --
and took a trip to tabasco & chiapas.


may --
we moved to tucson
and i bought a new car.


june --
i went to nyc for amp's bridal shower!
rcg bought me a new bike and
i started taking university of phoenix classes.
we went to a tucson padres game


july --
we spent july 4th horseback riding at colossal cave
and spent a boozy weekend in las vegas.
i also started a new job


august --
we took a lot of field trips:
we went to biosphere 2,
and climbed A mountain,
i met up with some friends in cabo
we also went to san diego for a concert.


september --
we spent labor day weekend in houston,
saw some university of arizona football
and the walkerz came to visit tucson:


october --
we went back to sabino canyon
and found a new spot: bear canyon.


november --
i painted kindness coins at ben's bells.
we went skydiving for my birthday
saw a burlesque
 and drove go karts.
also, i became a substitute teacher
and learned how to knit.


december --
we vacationed in sayulita,
went to the 4th ave street fair,
saw family in dallas,
and celebrated new years in nyc.


in addition,
i participated in a photo a day challenge
and took one photo every day
for the entirety of 2012.

and i participated in project life,
digitally documenting each week's activities.



it certainly wasn't the year
i was expecting,
but it turned out to be
quite a spectacular one.
well done 2012.
well done.

#photoadaydec




1. 8 o'clock                                           2. peace


3. something you held                                  4. black + white


5. looking up                                         6. from where you live


7. star                                                     8. someone you love


9. out + about                                                10. under


11. sweet                                                       12. hat


13. lights                                               14. something green


15. outdoors                                           16. something you made


17. on the floor                                       18. makes you feel merry


19. something beginning with "s"                                      20. weather             


21. tree                                                           22. decoration


23. joy is...                                                   24. tradition


25. lunchtime                                                                26. mess
 

27. how you relax                                                            28. cold

 
 
                                  29. hot                                            30. something that made you smile this year


31. self-portrait


December 28, 2012

2012 reading challenge


for the past two years
i have had the goal of reading 52 books.

the first year, 2011,
i read 33.
that's not too bad.
that's one book for every 11 days.


but this year
i wanted to really do it --
52 books.
one book a week.


but then i started the year
with the song of ice and fire series.
what a disaster.
as each book is approximately 17,000 pages,
how could i ever possibly read 52 books?


luckily,
or unluckily,
i got a job that requires
an immense amount of driving,
so for the past four months
i have been reading three books at once:
one on my iphone,
one in the traditional paper form,
and one via book on tape.


it's been kind of intense.

but i made it.
i read 52 books.


in fact,
i read more than 52 books.
i read 55!








what i enjoyed the most
about this activity
was seeing how many
interesting, weird,
diverse, and unusual books
i could find and read.
here are some statistics
about my 2012 books:


by genre:
4 fantasy
3 historical fiction
11 drama
10 mystery
4 sci-fi
5 romance
7 memoir
5 non-fiction
4 short stories
2 cartoon/comics


how they were read:
12 listened to
8 read electronically
35 traditional books


non-fiction vs. fiction:
12 non-fiction
43 fiction
 
21 were part of a series


the longest book:
a storm of swords
by george r.r. martin
at 1,177 pages

totals:
55 books
19857 pages

December 26, 2012

homemade flour tortillas


don't you just love recipes that begin with
"when my mother was teaching me how to do this..."?



i know.
me too.


let me back up.
rcg loves flour tortillas.
and his madre has made them
from scratch
his whole life.

to him,
her tortillas are the bee's knees.
none can compare.
so i figured the least i could do
was learn how to make them
and try to make them edible.
when i went to dallas
rcg's mom taught me
how she makes them.





please be aware that
all amounts are approximate
as bmctg does everything by touch.




4 cups flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp butter
1/3 to 1/4 cup crisco
hot water (almost to boiling)





mix the flour, baking soda, and salt.




add butter and crisco.
rub it all together with your hands.
(get dirty!)

all of the flour should have crisco mixed in.
if it feels like there isn't enough crisco,
add more.




add a little bit of hot water at a time.
knead the dough until it is hard.

be careful,
the water should be almost boiling.
if this is your first time
use a wooden spoon rather than your hands
to mix it all together,
otherwise you might burn your hands.
 
as you mix the water in with the flour/crisco mixture
make sure you don't add too much --
you don't want the dough to be sticky.
if it gets sticky,
add more flour.




wrap the dough in aluminum foil
and keep warm
for approximately 30 minutes.




after letting the dough rest,
knead it until it's hard.




rip off handfuls of dough
and knead each handful
and shape it into small balls.





if you aren't making the tortillas right away
put the kneaded balls in a plastic bag.
they can be stored for up to a week in the fridge.




when you're ready to make tortillas,
roll out each ball of dough
into a circle.

while you are doing this,
heat a non-stick pan on the stove.
you don't need to grease the pan.


 

the tortillas won't take long to cook,
so be sure to watch them closely,
and flip often.






thank you for teaching me bmctg.
i appreciate it.

December 25, 2012

happy winter!


and a merry 2013!



a special thanks to csv for taking these pictures for us!