18 before 19 progress

Remember my 18 before 19 list? I have approximately 4 months to complete all my goals! Here's how far I've come. The green goals are ones that are kinda in limbo...I sort of accomplished them, sort of didn't, haha. :P

1. Do something creative every week.

2. Exercise for 20 minutes at least 2 times a week.

3. Paint my fingernails once a month.

4. Go to bed by 12:30 on week nights.  

5. Make a butterfly. see this post

6. Go to a Renaissance Faire. 

7. Write a fan letter to Natalie Portman. Wrote it today! :D

8. Draw a self portrait.

9. Make a ray gun.

10. Write regular blog posts.

11. Work on homework during the afternoon so that evenings are free. 

12. Make a vlog. 

13. Learn to play Don't Stop Believin' on the piano.  If I learned it at one point, but don't remember anymore, does it still count? :P

14. Write movie review blog posts.

15. Raise my GPA.

16. Drink at least 64 ounces of water a day.

17. Make a budget. 

18. Improve my photography/take more pictures.

cookie dough treats

I was inspired to make these by seeing (and eating) a similar dessert at a party the other day. They're pretty simple: just cookie dough balls dipped in melted chocolate then chilled, yet I think I need to tweak my recipe a bit. The dough itself turned out to be too squishy, while the chocolate became too hard. I plan to try making these again soon and I'll work to improve the recipe. 

 

more crackle nails

my favorite pasta salad

I made this yummy pasta salad for dinner a few days ago; the recipe was given to my mom by a family friend and I modified it slightly. This salad always reminds me of summer, picnics, and canoeing trips with my family.

Macaroni Tuna Salad

4 cups macaroni

1 can tuna

3/4 cup dill pickles, chopped

1/2 cup onion, chopped

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon celery seed

1/2 cup lemon juice

1 1/4 cup dill pickle juice

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2 tablespoons mustard

1/4 cup mayonnaise

Cook macaroni. Mix cooked macaroni, tuna, pickles, onion, salt, pepper, and celery seed. Combine lemon juice, dill juice, and vegetable oil. Pour over macaroni mixture. Chill several hours. Drain moderately if desired. Blend mustard and mayonnaise and add to macaroni mixture.

butterflies

The Holocaust Museum Houston is creating an exhibit consisting of handmade butterflies to honor the 1,500,000 children that died in the Holocaust. Information can be found at this website: http://www.hmh.org/ed_butterfly1.shtml. Here are four butterflies that I made to contribute to the exhibition.

I used watercolor, colored pencil, a page from a dictionary, and magazine cutouts.

Macgyvering it up

On Sunday, I was Macgyver for a couple minutes. The ribbons on my dress are supposed to meet in the middle in a bow, but one ribbon fell off so I wove the other one to the side and tie a bow there. It worked pretty well!