My 30 Resolutions, Or 2011 To-Do List Rather and TWO new Videos - yay!

This year I want to do a lot of things, things around the house, with our photos and videos, with our family and friends and more. I'm SO excited to start tackling these, not just for the results - but I know i'm going to enjoy getting most of these things done! K - here are 30 To-Dos for 2011.

1. Try out lots of new fitness classes to mix up my cardio. Try hot yoga. Try crossfit. Try everything. Why not? It’s free to try stuff. Can obviously still try more but am excited about the progress I've made with spin and body pump!
2. Start C25K again, from the beginning, but do elliptical or bike when I’m not running.
3. Measure each week. No really. I suck at this and I can tell my body has changed as a result of not staying on strength training.
4. Make my wedding album/book. No really. Do it and stop putting it off.
5. Make a 2010 book – just a book of all of my favorite photos from the year. Start making one of these family books each year. Do one for 2009 so I’ll have a book for every year we’re married.
6. Omit needless things. Go through ALL of the closets in our house and donate or toss. Go through clothes and shoes and donate or toss.
7. Organize the pantry. Like for real. With printed signs.
8. Organize my spice cabinet. I picture matching jars and printed labels. These are a few of my favorite things.
9. Train Remy. Remy girl needs LOTS of training. I want her to be where Reuben is by the end of Q1.
10. Try out churches in our area. I’m interested in going to Sunday sermons and need to see what’s out there by us. I've found one I can't wait to try, hasn't happened yet though.
11. Continue making new recipes and trying new things in the kitch, especially snacks and desserts! am making a ton! tried meatless March too!
12. Reupholster chaise in master bedroom and get new bench for foot of bed. made some calls - am looking - oy.
13. Have TV mounted over fireplace in den, and have cable installed for it. Austin has made some calls...
14. Make LOTS of videos – I’m behind and want to continue filming so I need to start cranking some out for reals. Still behind!
15. Do abs twice a week. How hard is this? Apparently very as I haven’t done abs since Independence Day. Sigh. I suck at this!
16. Make more meal plans. I love them and want to make/share more. Am behind!
17. Have date night at least once a week. Out of the house. At a movie theater, bowling alley, park, gym – somewhere. When we have date night at home we kind of suck at it and end up on our laptops (both), or playing video games (Austin) or watching crap TV (me). This is going really well! I feel like we've spent so much chill time together this year already!
18. Don’t buy any books unless they’re for book club. I have SO many to read at home and have a great library system. NO buying books for me. going SO well - haven't gotten one.
19. In that same vein – I want to read 52 books. One book per week. I got close this year without trying so why not try and do it? Loves. am on track to meet this goal.
20. Do a household budget. No really – give it a whirl. I keep saying I’ll do it now we’ll know what new salaries are for 2011 so I have NO excuse. Have gotten some items on paper - not finalized though or viewed with Austin.
21. Create a gift center. This sounds silly, but whenever it’s time for a gift we have tape in 3 different drawers, white tissue in a kitchen drawer and a guest room closet, wrapping paper in the attic and so on and so forth. No. I want to have EVERYTHING in one closet – probably in a guest room. Also, I’m finding more and more that while I’m out and about I pick up items for people and save them until their birthdays! I want to have a place for them to go to. All that's left is taking pictures!
22. Get a container and establish a place for extra buttons. And learn how to sew one on. Right now – I have those ‘extra button’ packs all over the house, and when one falls off I stop wearing the item. Now that’s just silly! So I got a container and filled it and labeled it... haven't learned how to sew one on!
23. Buy lamps. I love lamps. I want to move lamps around – get new lamps for our master bedroom and move these into other rooms in the house. I want to replace lamps in living room that are more contemporary. am still on the lookout!
24. Hang shelves in the half bathroom and install hooks below it for towels. need to do this!
25. Get gutters cleaned. I know, kinda lame but it needs to happen!
26. Block puppy escape route in backyard. They’re getting wiser those little rascals.
27. Get fan in guest room corrected – need to get an electrician out.
28. Need to get a new stainless steel rolling cooler. Actually removed this one - we decided to go a cheaper option. SO, in place of this goal, i'd like to add Create a Kitchen Business Center. This is something I didn't know I needed/wanted until I did #6 - #8 above... we found SO much stuff all over. Like 7 different places for batteries. No more!
29. See menus to make up new recipes (look at P.F. Chang, Top Spice, Maggiano’s, My Friend’s Place, Pur Taqueria or Pancho’s, Seasons 52 and Tavern a Plaka).
30. Spend as much time with my soon-to-be nephew Dane as possible – I can’t wait! Am LOVING this part - although no time is enough time!

So... where to start? If I had my way i'd focus on all of them now but clearly that would be a bad idea! So these are my January 2011 Goals:

1. Try out one new fitness class at my parent company gym.
2. Start C25K – do weeks 1-3.
3. Measure on Fridays: January 7, 14, 21 and 28.
4. Organize January – March 2010 pictures for 2010 photo book.
5. Go through closets in orange and green guest rooms – omit needless things!
6. Work on ‘Sit’ with Remy.
7. Try out one church in our area on Sunday, January 16 or Sunday, January 30.
8. Make 5 new recipes.
9. Make three videos: one for Austin’s birthday, one for May/June and July, and one for August/September/October.
10. Do abs Thursdays and Sundays. These are my unofficial, now official, ab days.
11. Read 5 books.
12. Go to Target to get a container for buttons and to get tissue, bags, etc. for gift center.

WOO - can't wait to get started! Actually... I already have! I made two new videos today. YESSSS. One is a compilation of May, June and July goings on - some from the lake, birthday parties, going away parties, baptisms, graduation parties and the list goes on. We LOVE to celebrate! Hope you have time to check it out and enjoy it. :) The other is Austin's 30th birthday - the video project/"booth" we set up went over well!!

May, June and July Video

Austin's 30th Birthday Video

Q: What are your 2011 goals or to-dos?

Q: Anything specific you're striving for in January?

Book Review, New Vacation Video, 4 Miles

Hola! Thanks for your sweet comments - it really was a great weekend! So glad to hear some of your highlights - sounds like everyone had a pretty fab Halloween weekend and I enjoyed reading your bloggies tonight - although I still have about 20 more to read!!

So this past weekend I accomplished one of my October goals - make a video! This video documents our May 2010 visits to Punta Cana and New York City. Hope you enjoy! I had fun making it. Now i'm working on our May (other events), June and July compilation - GOOD TIMES. I hope to get caught up on video making soon!

Sixth Video with Harinezumi: May 2010 Visits to NYC and Punta Cana from Kelly Shaw on Vimeo.
Other than the video - i've been reading! Here's one of my book reviews, this one for Karin Slaugter's Undone, which I finished up last Tuesday. So for those who follow her books, there were basically two "series" if you will - one that focused on Sarah, a pediatrician/ in a small town in Grant County, Georgia, married to a police officer, and the other on Will, a special agent in Atlanta. Well this book merged the two storylines, in a very smart, clever way (who doesn't heart a crossover?) and now it seems there will only be one "series" - the Georgia Series. I for one am thrilled. Anywho, this book, like Karin's other books, is a total page turner whodunit. I flipped through it so fast and enjoyed every minute of it. I will say that this one was particularly gruesome... but it still made for a great story with, as usual, a surprise ending. Highly recommended (but of course i'd suggest you read the series from the beginning - starting with Blindsighted or Triptych - both the first books in the Grant Park and Will Trenton series). Check out her books here in case I confused you! If you like mysteries you will not be disappointed - nice mix of thriller with a great storyline and characters I actually cared about enough to be frustrated with but still go back to reading.

And on to today, it was a standard Monday: running late, work, walked 4 miles during lunch with Stacy, home to Austin and the pups, made some meals (6 servings of Italian Pasta Bake and 4 Servings of Farfalle Ricotta Bake) and called it a night - not too shabby!

Q: How was your Monday?

Q: What is your favorite thing about November? I'm excited about seeing family and having some time off to celebrate Thanksgiving!

My New Video, Green Day, 4 Miles

Thanks, friends! I love the new dresses! Just to make sure I didn't mispeak - the dresses were not Gap - they're Rachel Roy from Macy's! LOVE them and the best part? NO alterations required. :) So....here is my new video! So glad I got the motivation to do this Sunday - woo! Hope you enjoy. :)

Aside from LOVING on this video all day yesterday (I get really excited when I finish these little guys!), I worked, walked 4 miles during lunch, worked, got fitted for a bridesmaids dress (again), and then headed home for the Green Day concert with Austin! Yes, Monday night concerts normally make me cringe, but this is part of the reason why I purposefully took it easy this weekend and, truth be told, the venue is about a mile from our casa! AKA No excuses! GREAT SHOW! They played every. single. song. I. love. New stuff. Old stuff. They even covered everything from Shout! to the eye of the tiger. It was crazy. They pulled people on stage, shot t-shirts, hosed down the crowd, crucified a toddler then told him to "get his ass of the stage" - CRAZY. They just had so many backgrounds and pyrotechnics - it was like freaking cirque (without the acrobatics!). We discussed and seriously think it may have been the best show we've ever seen - they just REALLY entertained and tried to do something for everyone (well except for the f-bombs - i was like wow, there's tons of kids here and you f-bomb every other sentence.... and he talked a lot which was fun for us but probably not good for parents!) We REALLY enjoyed date night!! Here's some pics:

yay - love confetti!

hehe love the Green Day over his head!

Loved all of the lights

Thanks for the photog random stranger!

Vodka + crystal light - YUM

Another fun background.... here is with the toddler. LOL

First shot!

I ended the night at 1,754 calories, 165 carbs, 36 fat grams and 108 protein grams. Here's what I ate and drank! To back up on stats: Saturday was at 1,887 calories, 183 carbs, 50 fat grams and 88 protein grams. Here's what I ate and drank. Sunday was at 1,490 calories, 216 carbs, 24 fat grams and 89 protein grams. Here's what I ate.

Q: Are you a Green Day fan? I've been loving them since I was 12. Gotta love 7th grade, braces and Green day! LOL

Q: What was your favorite band in middle school? Have you seen them live? Would you see them now if you could? I've gotten to see some of my favorites live - 311, Green Day, Collective Soul, Snoop, Dave Matthews, etc. But I'd still love to see some other randoms like Candlebox, Silverchair, Nirvana (couldn't happen), Alanis, Bare Naked Ladies, Foo Fighters.... the list goes ON AND ON!

New Video!, Weekend Plans

Happy Friday!! Thank you for your sweet comments on ‘ my story.’ I appreciate it! I’m really glad I sat down to do that and celebrate some of the milestones over the last few years. Time flies by so quickly it makes me sad sometimes, so celebrating it again was, honestly, a blast! Speaking of a blast, I finally had time to go back to my videos! Here is a video of January/February fun times – enjoy!!

Hope you liked it - I of course loved all of the Reuben shots!! I am going to try to bring my camera out more - woo! Real quick – Thursday was kind of a dud! LOL I still felt bad, skipped all work outs and just worked and ate. Nice! I did visit with Austin a good bit – so fun to hang out during the week – but that was about that! I ended up at 1,703 calories, 224 carbs, 26 fat grams and 96 protein grams. Here’s what I ate.

Have great weekends! I’m going to try to post tomorrow – tonight we have a get together right after work and tomorrow a wedding at 12:30 then a night out with friends who are in town from NY and St. Simons Island/Brunswick – it’s going to be a long weekend! Also, I think my stepdad may be in town – I really want to catch up with him! I’m going to try to do 6 miles today + upper body + abs – we’ll see! And I’m going to try to get some walkin’ miles in on Saturday before the wedding and on Sunday evening – woop woo! I also HAVE to finish our book club book!

What are your plans for the weekend?

Do any of you shoot video?

Vegas Bound, New Year's Eve Video, 2 Movie Reviews

Hola amigas! How’s your day going? I’m on Eastern time so I really just woke up. Your comments yesterday cracked me up! Thanks for liking my tres random video! And the recipe – it really is good! I like Cooking Light for its “review” section – you get ideas from other people on how they tweaked the recipe to make it more spicy, more flavorful, etc. I made Cooking Light’s version – but tweaked it a bit based on the reviews!!

Speaking of videos (nice segue, right?), here is my New Year's Eve Video! I finished it up Wednesday and am pretty happy with how it turned out. The ending is a bit abrupt and the Harinezumi doesn't do great in super dark places (i.e. bars) but what are you going to do? Hope you enjoy!

Third Video with Harinezumi: New Year's Eve 2009 from Kelly Shaw on Vimeo.

One more thing, yesterday I found out that me and Stacy will be going to Vegas Jan. 25 - 28! I went to Vegas for work during November 2008 to cover SEMA, and this is kind of repeat of that - basically we're going with a video crew to cover an event via photography, video, commentary, etc. Good times! Me and Stacy partnered last time and had a great time, however, our days were a lot longer. Supposedly this trip will be less time consuming so hopefully we can squeeze in some fun and I can see my stepsister who lives in Vegas! Woo!

K, on to today: I’m super happy about hitting the gym as I haven’t been in three days. During the week. Unprecadented. In all honesty, I was supposed to go yesterday, but it ended up being a super icy snow day so I did what I do best –hunkered down and didn’t leave. Our downstairs heater wasn’t working either. Lovely. No cooking for me! That was the day really – just working, did laundry during lunch and watched the following movies:

The Secret Life of Bees – OMG. I thought this was such a good, sweet story. Dakota Fanning is a wonderful actress and the beginning is just so shocking and sad. Nutshell: Story of a white girl in the 60’s in SC being raise by her father and African American nanny. She runs away for various reasons, enter racial tension, enter sadness but then joy. Great story and great acting!

Revolutionary Road (not to be confused with Reservation Road which I watched last week) – Eh. This one was well acted. And I think the story was good and all. I guess it was just so depressing to watch a marriage crumble to and to see two people who are supposed to love each other treat each other like shit. Very hard for me to stomach, especially with the doubly depressing outcome. But again – it was very well acted.

Later we settled in for Papa John’s pizza where I ate one slice too many, while watching episodes of The Office Series 5. Two episodes were about the weight loss challenge – I thought of you all. They were HILARIOUS. Just all of the things that we know don’t work long-term (cutting out certain foods like cake; going on a liquids-only diet; “sweating” it out, etc.). Very funny! Then around 10 p.m. it was lights out!

Stats for Thursday (which ended up being a great night at Melissa and Jon’s – I got to visit with her new baby Madison, meet nice people and watch it snow!): 1,906 calories, 220 carbs, 45 fat grams and 73 protein grams. Here's what I ate.

Stats for yesterday/Friday: 2,089 calories, 61 fat grams, 292 carbs and 99 protein grams. Here’s what I ate. Really didn't need that THIRD piece. Eh. Bygones - i'll do better today!

So a few questions!

Have you seen Revolutionary Road or The Secret Life of Bees? Like or Dislike?

Have you ever been to Vegas? If so, what is one thing/place/etc. I should do/visit/etc.??

Have wonderful Saturdays!!! TTYS!

Weekend Stats, New Soup Recipe, Wedding Video, 2012 Review

Hey girls! I'm home today AKA doing nothing and slept in until 10 a.m. Nice! Thank you all for watching my Christmas video! (and some the wedding video from Saturday - I got it posted, too!). I think i'm really going to love the new toy - woo! K - i'm going to back up a bit with stats fist since I sucked at getting the stats into Spark People on time!

Stats

Friday: 2,016 calories, 181 cabs, 46 fat grams and 106 protein grams. Great meals, but too much candy at work and to many drinks after work! Here’s what I ate.

Saturday: 2,453 calories, 197 carbs, 77 fat grams and 107 protein grams. This one involved a lot of guess work since it was wedding food… but oh well. And then it was a lot of drinking. Eek! Here’s what I ate. I’ll say this is + or – 200 calories. It’s so hard to know when you don’t prepare it yourself!

Sunday: 1,483 calories, 165 carbs, 60 fat grams and 79 protein grams. Here's what I ate. This one was a little low, probably because I had SO many calories on Saturday! Good meals but too much candy again.

New Recipe

Oh – on Sunday I made a new recipe! This one is adapted from For the Love of Cooking’s Spaghetti with Meat Sauce – but we call it Sausage and Pasta Soup. Here’s the recipe for FOUR servings. Note: with it being 4 servings it makes it very soupy like – we like that and add noodles (baby wheels!) and eat it with a spoon.

Sorry this pic is taken with my iPhone – my camera was charging!

1 tsp olive oil
3 links of chicken Italian sausage, diced
1/2 sweet yellow onion, diced
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
8 oz button mushrooms, sliced
3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp of dried basil
1 tsp of fennel seeds
1/2 tsp of dried oregano
Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste
1 28 oz can of whole tomatoes and juices
1 14 oz can of tomato sauce
1/2 tsp splenda
3-4 fresh basil leaves
1 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
spaghetti noodles, cooked per instructions
Reduced Fat Parmesan cheese
8 oz. pasta (we used wheels!)

Add olive oil to slowcooker over high heat. Add sausage, onion, red bell pepper and mushrooms. Add garlic, and stir for 60 seconds. Add basil, fennel, oregano, salt and pepper. Mix to combine well then add the sugar, tomato sauce and whole tomatoes and their juice; crush tomatoes with your hands. Cover sauce and cook on high for 3 hours. When you’re ready to eat, prepare the spaghetti per instructions. Taste meat sauce and re-season if needed. Add the fresh basil and parsley, stir and serve over your favorite pasta. Nutrtional Information: 380 calories, 63 carbs, 7 fat grams and 20 protein grams.

So yes, a little high on the carbs but so filling! You could easily take the pasta down to 1 oz. per serving (instead of 2) and just add more sausage! (maybe one more link!)

Video from Wedding

I made a few tweaks to this video and now it's ready to go! I hope this one works for you guys. :) And I know some of you already saw this one!! :)

Second video with Harinezumi: Wedding in Alabama from Kelly Shaw on Vimeo.

Yesterday: Basically I just did the usual: worked, walked 4 miles, worked, walked 1.75 miles/ran .5 miles. Headed home and went to see 2012. Meh. I was kinda underwhelmed. I LOVE John and Amanda and no one really bugged me (except maybe the stepdad) but it was just like DUDE, how many times can you escape this thing? I mean really?! I did love some scenes though and am glad I saw it, I just don't know if I would watch it again. And if I did, I would need to be doing something else as it required very little attention if you know what I mean! After the movie I pretty much crashed OUT! I ended up at 1,784 calories, 228 carbs, 51 fat grams and 102 protein grams. Here's what I ate. Too many snacks. I credit that to being exhausted! I just didn't get enough sleep this weekend combined with TOM - eek!

Today I plan to work out, clean up a bit, hit the grocery store, cook a bit and wrap some gifts. Good times!

Have you seen 2012?

How about Avatar? I've been hearing it's a must see!

The Reveal: My New Toy/Hobby!!!

Hola! Happy Sunday… I’m SO tired. We had a great weekend but I didn’t get much sleep. Boo. Before backing up I want to reveal my new item – from Urban Outfitters that is about to start a new hobby…

It’s my new Harinezumi digital camera!



Basically, it’s this teeny tiny digital camera that takes video that looks all dreamy/vintage/old school 8mm. I’m kind of obsessed. My friend at work Chris AKA Lolo told me about it on Tuesday and showed me a video. I was SO inspired I bought one that night, had it delivered Friday and took video, edited and posted my first video Friday night!! Here’s the video – hope you like!!! (and since some of you had problems I added a link below - also links to my new video from the wedding!)

My First Video with the Digital Harinezumi 2 (Christmas 2009) from Kelly Shaw on Vimeo.

So, as you can see, we didn’t take off on Friday for Alabama. The weather was nasty and we were tired. I had worked, walked 4 miles, worked, then walked 2 miles and did legs with Stacy. OMG – great workout!! I got home, opened the camera and started filming. SO much fun. Then me and Austin had a few drinks, played pool, packed and got ready for Saturday. I still need to do stats - eek!

Saturday we got up and headed to Birmingham to meet Teresa and Forrest over at Mary and Jimmy’s – two of my FAVORITE couples ever. We got there and met Mary and Jimmy’s baby girl Emma. O. M. G. she was just adorable and so sweet! I loved her. Loved her! We spent (not enough!) time with her, then she was off to her grandma’s and it was time for us to get going! We hung out, got ready, then went to the wedding. SO much fun. Kelly and Ryan looked great and seemed SO happy. The band was awesome and we all had a really great time being absolutely ridiculous. Haha We headed out at 11, went to Mary and Jimmy’s and had a few more drinks and stayed up too late. Ugh. I haven’t tracked yet – it’s going to take FOREVA to get it all in so I’ll post it Monday or Tuesday!

Today we got up and felt like poo. Not enough sleep at all. Then we all watched the Hangover (how appropriate), said our goodbyes, and drove back to Atlanta. Now we’re off to watching 2010 – I hope I love it! I’ll do today’s stats tomorrow too – why not?!

Do you have a video camera/take videos? If so, what software do you edit with and where do you upload? I used windows movie maker and uploaded to Vimeo.

Hope you guys had a great weekend! I'm off to get some sleep - talk to you tomorrow!