#117 - Take Pictures of 30 Non-Domestic Animals Update

Yup...it's a possum :p It's a dark picture, but that's the only time they come out. We have quite a few possums up here by my apartment and I swear these things have no fear of humans AT ALL. When Charli first started to come around she was scared to come inside or even too close to me so I would leave her food outside. Well I would open the door sometimes and find the damn possums sitting there right outside my door eating the food and half the time they'd look right up at me and wouldn't run away until I actually yelled at them to leave. I've always found something oddly cute about possums even though they're actually quite nasty little animals and there's nothing cute at all about them when they hiss at you :p I have not had one hiss at me before, but my sister's ex had one get pissed at him once and it was nothing pretty, lol.

#106 - Try 40 Different Artisinal Cheeses Update

Next up on the cheese list is Meadowkaas Uniekaas. Who knew that cheese could have such a cool name? :p One of the things that I love so much about Whole Foods aside from the fact that everything is organic there and that you can find incredibly awesome stuff there and that they have a huge CHEESE department is that they also always have "cheese under $3" for those (like me) who can't afford to spend $10 on a block of cheese. Plus I live alone so I'm not likely to eat an entire block of cheese before it goes bad.

They always have these cheeses out to sample and it never fails that when I taste them, I want a wedge of it :p Especially if it's a really sharp cheese. Seriously, they don't make a cheese that's too sharp for me! The sharper the better. And this is an example of a REALLY sharp cheese. And this wedge only cost me $1.24! They sell it according to weight of course, so they always have a little basket of small wedges.

They also had fresh baked crostinis from their bakery for $2 per bag and they were pretty big bags so I bought a bag to split with my mom and the cheese goes perfect with them :) They had this really good looking fig jam that I almost bought too but I stopped myself :p

Like I said, this cheese was REALLY good! Really sharp, pretty soft and with a heavy wax rind around it that I had to cut off...you could tell it was a soft cheese and aged because the wax had sort of melded with the outer part of the cheese...you couldn't just peel it off. Anyway, just the kind of cheese I like and this really would've been so good if I would've bought the fig jam too and eaten it with that on the crostini!

#61 - Read 1,000 Short Stories Update

I subscribe to the New Yorker mainly for the short stories and book reviews and occasional good essays and this weeks issue was exceptionally good! Honestly, it's the first one I've read right away in a long time. I have a huge pile of them that I've yet to read. But I got quite excited when I saw an essay by David Sedaris and a short story by Haruki Murakami.

I'm not counting the Sedaris essay, because it's not fiction, but I wanted to just notate it here so that I remember it. It was a particularly touching piece by Sedaris...it was about his sister who committed suicide this past May, which I wasn't aware of. Sedaris managed to somehow still imbibe humor into the essay without making it tacky and also wrote a piece which was a meaningful tribute to his sister while still being an honest piece about the frailty of relationships. It was quite beautiful...it's called "Now We Are Five."

The short story in this issue is by Haruki Murakami and is called "Samsa in Love." I hate roaches with a passion but I LOVE the art for this piece so so so much! And the art pretty much tells you what this story is about. It's sort of a reverse tale of Kafka's "The Metamorphosis." In this story, a bug (we're never actually told it's a roach) wakes up as a human and has to learn how to navigate the body that he is in. To add insult to injury, a female locksmith shows up to fix a lock at the apartment that he's awoken at and she's a hunchback, something that he finds oddly attractive, and he finds himself captivated by her adding the dimension of learning not just the mechanics of the human body, but having to learn the mechanics of the heart as well. Quite a neat little story :) Makes me want to go back now and read all of these other issues of the New Yorker I have sitting around!

#38 - Bake 100 Different Cookies Update

 

I LOVE these cookies. They remind me of being a little kid and of holidays. In the family, we call them "Aunt Elma's Cookies" or "Winn-Dixie Cookies" but they're actually called Yellow Cake Cookies and I feel a bit like I'm cheating by counting them for this goal because they're so simple :p The family name for the cookies is because my Aunt Elma who's long passed away was famous for making these cookies and she always made them with Winn-Dixie brand yellow cake mix. Here's how easy they are:

In a bowl mix a box of yellow cake mix, two eggs, 1/2 cup of oil and 1 cup of whatever the hell you want to put in them! For this batch I used a mix of white chocolate chips, chocolate chips and heath bar candy pieces. Bake them at 350 degrees for 14 minutes. Ta-da!

Seriously....simplest cookie ever and SO GOOD! If you want to feel less like you're cheating you can make your own yellow cake mix of course, but I always just buy one, lol. Ah well.

#114 - Give to 100 Causes

$35 to Human Rights Campaign....they're having a membership drive right now to raise money to attempt to legalize marriage equality in all 50 states in the next 5 years. I happily got behind that :) Besides, it's an organization that's helped me and I should have been a member a long time ago.

#61 - Read 1,000 Short Stories Update

Today I started indulging in a new book I got in Penguin's new "Penguin Classic Horror" series....it's a 6 book series curated and edited by Guillermo Del Toro! I love Del Toro, so I'm all about this series! It's mostly classic horror books, but has one book that has a mix of short horror stories, edited by S.C. Joshi. They span from the very late 19th century up til today so I was really excited about this one! Today I sat outside and enjoyed the beautiful fall temperatures that we're getting here in Southern Louisiana (and yes, I'm calling mid-upper 70's fall) and read the first two stories in the collection, now bringing me up to a whole 5/1000 stories read for this goal :p

The first story was "The Adventure of the German Student" by Washington Irving. This was actually the first thing I've ever read by Irving and it was a fantastic introduction to him and fantastic opener to this collection. This is your classic ghost story and would be a wonderful story to tell around a campfire late on a halloween night :) It's the story of a student studying in Germany who's a bit fascinated by the surreal in life and fascinated by the female figure as well. But he lives a solitary existence and has no friends at all. While walking the streets of Paris one day (yes he's in Paris now), he finds a woman crumpled on the ground dressed all in black at the foot of a guillotine and can tell that she's distressed. He offers her company when he sees the sadness that she's in and these two solitary souls seemingly find solace in each other.....but as often happens in ghost stories, solace is often false...oh yes it is :p Truly enjoyed this one.

The second story in the collection was "Edward Randolph's Portrait" by Nathaniel Hawthorne and I just didn't like this story at all. Which was really disappointing because I really LIKE Hawthorne. I generally disliked most of what I was forced to read in high school and I've often thought looking back that it was BECAUSE I was forced to read something. But two of the few things that stand out from high school that I really enjoyed reading were Hawthorne's novel, The Scarlet Letter and his wonderful short story, "Young Goodman Brown." This one though...nothing for me. It's the story of a painting from the past that is covered up and lost forever that reveals itself basically but the story is so caught up in elaborate writing that I was just never engaged. It also made me think about something that I've always thought...when you're putting together a short story collection, wouldn't you want to pick nothing but WOW stories???? That's what I would do! Of course, maybe it's just that I'm dumb and don't understand some of these things and of course everyone has different tastes too..so I guess that's also why you're never going to find a universally "perfect" short story collection. Though there are definitely some that are more universally loved than others. But if I was editing a collection, I would never just settle...and say..."well we have to have a Hawthorne story and 'Young Goodman Brown' is too well known, so I guess we'll go with this one" and I feel like that's what happened. Oh well.

Next up is "Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe and I've read that one quite a few times actually and I know for a fact I love that one, so looking forward to that ;)

Today's Walk

This isn't a goal update....just some pictures of today's walk on the Tammany Trace :) Quite beautiful out today! And another 2.3 miles added to my walking goal :)

#66 - Take Photos of 50 Birds - Chicken

Sorry I had to :p This is actually an awful picture, because once again I had to zoom in with my iphone, but I just wanted to document proof that there are indeed chickens running amok in Lafrenierre park :p Here's a rooster and a hen behind him right by the park entrance :p That's actually a really busy highway you see in the very background and I'm always scared that one of those chickens is going to try to "cross the road" and become roadkill. But I've yet to see a chicken that didn't make it on that road, lol.

#66 - Take Photos of 50 Birds - Great Egret

Well here is a classic Louisiana picture for you...a little marsh with an egret. You'll find almost this exact picture on a postcard in any tourist shop in New Orleans and that's because we have lots of egrets here! They're quite beautiful birds! I've always thought that. But I've also thought that I would hate to have a neck like that :p

#66 - Take Photos of 50 Birds - Black-Bellied Whistling Duck

We have a LOT of these! But they are so hard to get pictures of!! They're skittish skittish skittish! I so wish I had a good camera. I have to use my iphone and then zoom in on them so this is the best I can get. Most ducks are fairly used to humans around here because we feed them at the parks :p But these start quacking and running when you get within 30 feet of them, lol. But they hang out in groups. I think they're such gorgeous ducks though. Really really pretty! This is sadly the best I could get though and the swan got his head in the way :p

#66 - Take Photos of 50 Birds - Black Swan

I think that this will forever be my favorite bird I'll ever take a picture of. These two gorgeous swans literally took my breath away! When I came up to them, just their gracefulness was awe inspiring. The way they move their necks, groom themselves, spread their wings, take sips of water out of the pond, get into the water and just gracefully swim. And they were so cool, calm and collected. Not like any of the other ducks that run away quacking when you go up to them to get their pictures. No, these beauties just basically pose for you :p I swear I want to go back every day and see them again. It was like a gift to get to just watch them.

#66 - Take Pictures of 50 Birds - Glossy Ibis

I swore that this was just going to be a "black ibis"....but when I got home and checked my field guide, this guy is actually called a "glossy ibis"! In the picture in the field guide he's shown as purplish in the illustration. But it says in the description that the glossy ibis appears to be black until close view or until the sun hits it right. So sure enough, here we have a glossy ibis :) I'll attach a picture I got of a white ibis today too just because I liked the shot :p

#113 - Walk 50 Trails Update

Today was a nice surprise. I had a client on the southshore today, so I decided to bring my walking clothes with me (hopefully one day they will become my JOGGING clothes and then my RUNNING clothes) and decided I'd go walk at Lafrenierre park. Lafrenierre is by far my least favorite of the parks in the greater New Orleans area. Basically because it's a man made park. Most of the trees there were planted, the ponds were built, etc. It's where I used to go walking all the time though when I did walk and when I lived on the southshore because it was convenient. But today I REALLY enjoyed it. It's been probably three years since I've walked there and they've had so many beautiful ducks and swans make their home there and......chickens!! I don't think anyone really knows the story behind that exactly, but Lafrenierre park has almost become known for it's chickens down here. After hurricane Katrina, chickens showed up at Lafrenierre and since then, they're always out there :) So cute. I have to say though that they've made the park much much nicer since the last time I've been there. It used to be so damn sunny and was basically nothing but sports fields, but they've added lots of bridges and gazebos and the trees have grown in and it's gotten really nice.

Also, I got rained on for about 1 mile of my 2 mile walk today, but I have to say that it felt absolutely glorious :p And it was actually somewhat exhilarating to walk in the rain. I'm going back to work next Tuesday and I need to make sure that I keep up these walks. Not only do I feel better right now than I have in a really long time, but I know it's good for my body too. But it really does refresh the spirit just to get out there with nature. Also, I set a personal best today! This will show you how pathetic my pacing is, but I averaged 16 minutes 4 seconds per mile today walking which is the best I've done so far this go round of walking. Also, I passed 10 miles total in my walking! So now there are only 24,891.31 miles more to go before I walk the circumference of the earth :p Here are some pictures of the park today:

#113 - Walk 50 Trails Update

I found my absolute FAVORITE trail so far today. Ever since I've moved up here to Mandeville, I've been wanting to go walk the Tammany Trace. Yet I've been here over a year and still haven't done so! The St. Tammany Trace is a path that's over 40 miles long that used to be a rail road track that's since been paved. It's mainly for bikers, but people jog and walk along it as well. The beautiful thing about it is that for the most part, the whole trail goes through the woods. I'm lucky enough to live fairly close to the "Trail head" which is where they have the farmer's market every Wednesday and Saturday...there's plenty of parking, so I can drive there to start my walk...and if I ever wanted to bike it, there's a place there to rent bikes for a pretty cheap rate too!

I absolutely LOVED my walk today. After just about 1/10th of a mile, I was out of civilization and into the woods and right away the air just smells amazing and feels so good and you're just surrounded by nature on all sides aside from the paved walkway you're on. And there was barely anyone else on the trail today too! I enjoyed myself so much today that I walked the slowest miles I've walked yet :p I ended up walking 18 minute miles because I kept stopping just to take pictures of all of the beauty around me.

I'll likely go walk the Trace in a few different places, but I'm only going to count it this once. For instance, I ended up only actually walking about 1.2 miles of it today. 2.4 miles total but the same 1.2 miles there and back. Tomorrow I think I'm going to walk it in the other direction from the Trail Head which will take me in the direction of the State Park. But there are other places throughout St. Tammany Parish where you can park and get into the trace as well, so I'm going to try to do that as much as possible and just enjoy the woods :) Here are a bunch of pictures from the gorgeous walk today!

#114 - Give to 100 Causes Update

$75 to NaNoWriMo....still owe them $25 more. Due to finances right now with my lovely work situation, that's all I can give, but I reached my readathon goal of $100, so I shall eventually give them another $25. For now, back to non-monetary ways of giving to charity :p

#42 - Read All of Stephen King's Books Update

Well I read Carrie yesterday for the readathon! Really good book and quite a fast read too! I think most people know the story of Carrie, made famous by the cult horror movie based on the novel. I have to say that the movie did a really good job of sticking with the book. But there was one thing that I noticed that the movie changed and I'm not surprised by it at all...it's typical of hollywood. In the book, Carrie is described as being pimply and overweight, though not unnattractive and even striking at times. Her mother is described as being overweight in the book too and King even describes the weight as being too much for her ankles at one point. You'd never know this watching the movies...the one from the 70's or the recent release. Carrie is a stick in both movies and her mom is skinny as well. Which made me really applaud Stephen King and love him even more. He gives us a character here who's far from perfect, certainly doesn't lead an ideal live, but even though she doesn't fit the beauty "norms", he still describes Carrie as being beautiful and striking and I can't tell you how much I loved that. I wish hollywood would embrace that too. Another note, I didn't know this before doing this project, but when I went to write out King's bibliography, I learned that this is his first novel that he published, published in 1974, followed by Salem's Lot in 1975 and The Shining in 1977...Boy did HE start his career off with a bang!

#39 - Bake 50 Different Pies Update

I grew up with this pie and I'll always have memories of my gram attached to it. Lemon meringue pie. One of my favorites. For almost every holiday for as long as I can remember, my gram has ALWAYS had a lemon meringue pie at her house....this is my mom's mom. Right before I moved into my apartment, I told my gram at Easter that I was going to have to get her recipe for lemon meringue pie from her one day. I said it laughing, thinking it was a secret recipe that she was going to take to the grave with her because it tastes SO. DAMN. GOOD. So I can't even BEGIN to tell you how hard I laughed when she nonchalantly went into her pantry and came out with a box of jello lemon pudding mix and said "here you go!" Yep....she uses the recipe right off the lemon pudding jello box. She makes her meringue a tiny bit differently, but I use the meringue recipe off of the pudding box too. Three egg white and 1/3 cup of sugar. And I use a frozen pie crust too. This is a pretty easy pie to make but it's SO DAMN GOOD! See that, all in caps twice in this post....I promise you it really is :p

#113 - Walk 50 Trails Update

I guess this is also an update for intentionally walking the circumference of the earth :p But I'm finding that I'm really enjoying going on daily walks. Today I went and walked the trail at the Mandeville Lakefront of Lake Ponchartrain. I went at noon when the sun was at it's peak, but with the cool breeze coming off of the lake, the temperature wasn't bad at all. I walked a total of 2.3 miles, not the whole trail. I'll work my way up to that. Here are some pictures of the view:

#117 - Take pictures of 30 Non-domestic Animals in their natural habitat

This squirrel was just too cute to pass up :p Squirrels were not what I had in mind when I came up with this goal, but what the hell. It's not a house pet :p I was taking pictures of some trees actually and I turned to my right to walk away and this little squirrel was just RIGHT THERE in front of me just staring at me like this. Too adorable. And he just stayed there frozen until I took his picture and walked away and then of course he jetted away too. Why are squirrels so damn cute??

#66 - Take Pictures of 50 Birds - Pekin Duck

And the last bird update of the day, the Pekin Duck...another domestic duck and perhaps the most well known duck of them all. These guys were SO adorable and so cute. They quacked away and waddled their tail feathers and followed me around while I took pictures but not in a mean aggressive way. It was almost like they were just curious. So adorable.

#66 - Take Pictures of 50 Birds - Cayuga Duck

This duck was SO SO beautiful!!! Apparently they're a domestic breed of duck that people raise for eggs frequently. His/her feathers were very iridescent with a green hue to them. He/she was very calm too.

#66 - Take Pictures of 50 Birds - American Black Duck

This one looks VERY similar to the female mallard! I didn't even notice the difference until I came home and looked at my pictures. This is actually a male american black duck. It's the one in the back with the yellow bill and the darker colors around it's eyes. Amazing how nature is, isn't it?

#66 - Take Picutres of 50 Birds - White Ibis

#66 - Take Pictures of 50 Birds - Female Mallard Ducks

I had no idea that female mallard ducks looked so different than the males! I thought these were two totally different kinds of ducks until I looked in my field guide.