30 by 30 Report: Month 4

"The person who has lived the most is not the one with the most years, but the one with the richest experiences."  ~Jean-Jacques Rousseau

4 months down, 8 to go.  For a short month jammed full of crazy life-changing announcements, I was pretty excited that I accomplished as many 30 by 30 list items as I did.  Here's the run down!

#1:  Cook 10 new recipes (10/10 completed).

This month I made some black bean and corn quesadillas from the recipe here.  These were not only super easy, but they were also super good.  I would probably add some avocado and maybe some spinach to try and get some veggies included, but other than that these babies were delicious.

Next, I tried to find a substitute for one of the super unhealthy loves of my life...mac and cheese.  I saw this recipe for quinoa and cheese and thought maybe I could make my guilty pleasure a bit healthier.  No.  Dice.  It turned out fine, I ate it, I might even say it was good.  It was not, however, anything close to mac and cheese.  Anyone who says different is lying.  Apparently I was so unimpressed that I forgot to save the recipe.  Sorry.

Finally, I made some baked zucchini chips--idea being they taste like friend, but are baked.  Although they are not quite like the fried kind, I though these turned out pretty well and that they were quite tasty.  I did add an egg to the milk when I was dipping them to try and get the breading to stick better.

Apparently I shot too low in trying to cook 10 new meals, so I'll keep this one going and we'll see how many we can get up to!

#7:  Read 24 more books (8/24 completed).

This month I read Fearless by Max Lucado and The Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan Philipp Sendkin.  You guys saw my report last week.

#8:  Send my friends little gifts once a month (4/12 completed).

Since it was February, I decided it was the perfect month to make these long distance friendship mugs that  have little red hearts on them.  So I went to Target and got some super cheap white mugs, one black and one red sharpie, and I was off.  You just draw the state where you live on one cup and where your friend lives on another.  Then I added in a quote on the back of each of the cups I'll be sending to my friends because y'all know I love me a good quote.  Once the drawing is all done, you pop the mugs in the oven for 45 minutes--this makes it where the marker will not wash off--and you're done!  Easy peasy.  

I decided to include a little candy in each mug in honor of Valentine's Day.  I ended up with two mugs headed to Oklahoma and two to Illinois.  I think they turned out pretty darn well.  Except for one little hiccup that left the shape of Oklahoma in red permanent marker on my computer screen.  Yea.....lesson learned there!

#9:  Eat in 10 new restaurants (5/10 completed).

Once again, a trip to College Station checked two more of these babies off the list.  First, Mrs. BFF and I had a great lunch at Blue Baker.  Awesome salads, brick oven pizzas, sandwiches, etc.  They also apparently have great cookies and cupcakes, but since I gave up sweets for Lent, I had to pass.  Then before heading out for a crazy night at Hurricane Harry's, we headed to a bbq joint in Bryan called J. Cody.  Y'all.  I'm glad to be moving to College Station just for this place.  They have a side bar.  All you can eat sides like creamed corn, cabbage, green beans, potato salad, cole slaw, homemade corn bread....this girl was in Heaven.

#24:  Finally buy a duvet.

Ever since I had THE most comfy duvet ever in life when I lived in San Francisco, I knew I wanted one of my own.  But I just couldn't find a cover I really liked.  But it finally happened just in time for the new bed I plan to get for my hew house, I found this baby.  I absolutely love everything about it!  So, I've ordered the cover, bought a down comforter, and I'm in business.

Photo via JCP.com

#29:  Buy myself a bouquet of flowers once a month (4/12 completed).

This month, I went with my very favorite flowers, tulips.  Red.  They just make me smile.  I took a picture of them, but left my camara at my parents' house last weekend so I can't upload it.  Fail.