Meg vs. 30: Thoughts on failure and success

It happened. I turned 30. And as you can observe if you click on my tab, I came up short on my 30 goals for myself, and only finished about 2/3 of them. My normal self would say, "Why, that is 66%, which is a D." But with all the other stress going on (I have been on the phone all morning trying to get people over to the house to get things fixed for the tenants, while in the meantime my children run amok and my house is still 1/3 in boxes), I am rethinking how I will define success on my goals.

It was a success for me to put my goals out for other people to see when I came up short.

It was a success that I often chose to throw my efforts into supporting my husband and spending time with my kids instead of compulsively following through on everything I had wanted to get done.

It was a success that I survived a year where we had a baby, finished renovating a house, and moved several hundred miles, and still made sushi and rode not one but two horses.

And it was a success that I realized that next time I should try to make myself have more fun instead of pushing myself to "achieve" more. I already stress out over what I am an am not accomplishing. In my 20's I served a mission for a year and a half. I learned Japanese and spent summers with my grandmother just like I wanted to. I got two degrees and my husband got one and is in the midst of another. We got married, had three kids (who, I might add, are still surviving our parenting), and bought a house which we renovated and turned into a rental. Why should I feel like what I'm doing isn't enough? I need to push myself to do more to enjoy life! So my 40x40 list (which I already started compiling a while back, because that's how I am) will hopefully be a lot more fun and less stressful.

So here is to failure, and more successes like this:

Meg vs. The Kitchen: My first sushi!

It is a bit shameful that I haven't posted for so long. I have been busy, and I should have some project updates for anyone who cares to see them.

It is also a bit shameful that I am half Japanese and it took me 29 1/2 years to try out sushi-making. For some reason, making a roll seemed really daunting in my mind, but it was fun and not really hard at all! 

Truth be told, I was totally spoiled, because my mom has been trying to help me meet all of my 30x30 goals, and so she got everything ready for me when I visited home last weekend. She is a pro.

What you need:

• Rice 
• Sushi seasoning mix (or seasoned rice vinegar, or rice vinegar + salt + sugar)
• Nori (seaweed) sheets
• Filling of choice (we used avocado, cucumber, and tamagoyaki, which is a type of layered omelette)
• A sushi mat (I wrapped ours in plastic cling wrap to make clean-up easier)

First you add the sushi seasoning to your rice. Next, lay your nori on the sushi mat, cover about 2/3 of it with rice (leaving the last 1/3 plain), put your filling items in the middle of the rice, and then use the mat to roll and compress until you end up with something like this:

Then use a sharp knife (we didn't have a sharp one, so it took forever to cut them without squishing them) to cut into slices, and you're done!

I may or may not have polished them all off that night. If you'd like more and better instructions/recipes, I recently stumbled upon this blog and she has lots of good stuff. Here is a link to her sushi recipes =).

Meg vs. 30: Golfing Goal Met?

John and I finally got over to the driving range today. We went to a really nice range with a chipping green over at Hidden Brook. I did manage to hit the ball, but you can judge whether I met my goal to "Learn how to hit a golf ball and not look like an idiot."

We may need to go a few more times... I actually hit a couple that went 75 yards or so, which I was pretty happy with for my first try. And I realize my practice swing is ridiculous, but from the outset I knew my main problem would be that I would tighten up and be hesitant to swing the club, so I had to force myself to loosen up before each swing. I don't think anyone who knows me will be shocked to hear that I am too uptight =).

Meg vs. Halloween: Easy Felt Bat Garland

Halloween is the first major holiday since my birthday, so I had to start out right if I am going to meet my goal of decorating for all of them. But I wanted to do it (1) without spending much if any money, and (2) without accruing bulky items that we will have to store or move later. So when I saw this bat garland on Pinterest, I knew it would be perfect!

I ordered a whole pile of felt for a felt board project I am hoping to get started on (on sale for $3 a yard at JoAnn.com!), and I had black thread already, so all I needed was to print out this template from Country Living and grab my scissors and sewing machine! Without all of the inevitable interruptions from my three little guys, I would guess that this is about a one-hour project, depending on how crazy you go cutting out bats. I cut out twenty bats, then ran them through the sewing machine one after the other to connect them all together.

We hung it out on the porch, and with our pumpkins I think it looks every-so-slightly festive. It also reminded me how much we still need to do on the house (cracks, peeling paint, fake bricks falling off...). But hey, I kept with my goal! And just maybe I'll make something more with the kiddos in the next week. We like to be last-minute around here.

I like that this garland is reusable but takes up almost no storage space, so we will have a start on our decorating next year! But these beauties won't last that long...

 Just the right sizes for my three munchkins. Stay tuned for a couple more Halloween posts before the big day! Then perhaps I'll get a more timely start on Christmas!

Meg vs. Maternity Wardrobe: Easy skirt updates

In the interest of getting started on my 30 by 30 list, I tackled a couple of maternity skirts that I rarely wore because I didn't like the fit. I knew they were easy fixes if I just took a little time with the sewing machine, but of course I put it off until 2 months before baby is due! Regardless, it is nice to have a little change in my limited maternity wardrobe, and if I can do this, anyone can.

Makeover #1:

(Note the appearance of toys on my bed in the after shots. It was futile trying to keep them out.) This was technically not a maternity skirt, but when I bought it I needed something quick, it had an elastic waistband, and it was on clearance for about $4 at Target; the perfect storm for buying something I didn't really like and that was really the wrong size. Since the waist fit comfortably, I just decided how far in I wanted the bottom of the skirt taken in, pinned it and made sure that I was taking in the same amount on both sides, and sewed a straight line from the waist to the hem. I also took the opportunity to lengthen the skirt a smidge by letting down the original hem as much as possible--a little over an inch. Serious improvement, right? No more saggy, baggy, shapeless blob skirt here.

Makeover #2:

 

This skirt fit fine, but I was just tired of the shape, and felt like it made me look wider (again, one big, bumpy blob). Plus I had seen lots of maternity pencil skirts and was on the verge of coveting one. This skirt is essentially constructed of a series of triangles, so all I had to do was take in each seam to make the bottom narrower, like this:

Now to tackle the rest of my clothes pile!

Meg vs. Myself: 30 by 30

Happy birthday to me! To celebrate my 29th birthday, I decided to come up with 30 things I want to do before I turn 30 in one year. The hubs helped me out with #6 already by taking me to see Les Mis in San Francisco as an early birthday gift last week, so we are off to a good start! Coming up with these goals has made me really grateful for everything that I've been able to do and experience so far in my life, which enables me to focus on a lot of fun things this year. Lucky me! I'll keep up on this list in a new "30 x 30" tab and post about how my plans and projects continue. Wish me luck!

1. Finish up all of our major home repairs.
2. Decorate my house as though I were planning on staying here.
3. Run a ½ marathon.
4. Sew an article of clothing from scratch and wear it.
5. Get a professional pedicure.
6. See Les Miserables on stage.
7. Get life insurance.
8. Read War and Peace.
9. Learn how to hit a golf ball and not look like an idiot (I don’t even aspire to try to get it in the hole).
10. Ride a horse. (Not on a pony ride or guided by someone else.)
11. See Yosemite.
12. Decorate my house for all the major holidays and celebrate with my kids.
13. Grow a successful harvest of something other than zucchini.
14. Catch a fish.
15. Make a pretty makizushi.
16. Have only one child in diapers.
17. Date my husband – plan something every week, no matter how short the time.
18. Do/try at least half of the things I have pinned on Pinterest. (That’s a lot; I’m pushing a thousand pins, though I won’t count things in the category “Dream Home,” etc.)
19. Learn Pachelbel’s Canon in D on the piano.
20. Establish and maintain a routine to keep my house clean and organized.
21. “Upcycle” or purge all the clothes in my pile.
22. Have a yard where I enjoy spending time with my family.
23. Stay on a budget for more than a month.
24. Start accruing real food storage (done on purpose, stuff we can survive on and will actually eat).
25. Learn to cook a palatable steak for my husband.
26. Read one (non-picture) book each in Japanese and Spanish.
27. Write 100 posts for my family history blogs, and get what little I have done in some semblance of order.
28. Finish translating articles for my cleft blog in Spanish, and update both blogs.
29. Learn how to do my makeup for realsies and find products that I like and can afford.
30. Create a wardrobe I am pleased with and get rid of everything else. (Tricky, since I am in the “I am constantly changing sizes” phase of life.)