Anna Ekaterina Arkadyich Shcherbatskaya Whatsername...????

Number 10 on my list: Read Time Magazine's Ten Greatest Books of All Time

Here's the list:

1. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
2. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
3. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
4. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
6. Hamlet by William Shakespeare
7. The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald
8. In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust
9. The Stories of Anton Chekhov by Anton Chekhov
10. Middlemarch by George Eliot

Happily, I have already read three of the above novels so I've already got a head start. But the titles that are still waiting in the wings are weighty and daunting and LONG.

So let's go.

Up first is Anna Karenina. So far it's not too bad but here's my issue... the names. Holy crap with the names. I need Spark Notes and a journal and a family tree just to keep everything straight. I though MY last name in all it's German glory was long. No, these Russian names are insane and incomprehensible and almost completely void of vowels.

Here are some examples:

Anna Arkadyevna Karenina
Alexei Alexandrovich Karenin
Konstantin Dmitrich Levin ( referred to as Konstantin Lenin or Lenin or Konstantin)
Ekaterina Alexandrovna Shcherbatskaya (referred to as Kitty)
Stepan Arkadyich Oblonsky (referred to as Stiva or Oblansky or Stephan Arkadyich)
Prince Alexander Dmitrievich Shcherbatsky (sometimes Prince, sometimes Scherbatsky)

And those are just a few of the main characters, never mind the whole slew of minor characters that pop up along the way.

My mind is swimming. This is going to be slow going...

ETA: ACK! And I just found out that "In Search of Lost Time" is 7 Volumes totaling almost 4,000 pages. Haha! I'm going to be so proud of myself if I accomplish this.

--Shannon

Some Inspiration for Working Out

One of my goals for this year is to lose 15 pounds. It is something that I have been trying to do for a while now, but I always get unmotivated. I find reasons to not work out or to not eat healthy. This year I have decided that it is time to stop all of the excuses and just do it.

I found a link to a blog that has been really helpful this month. Badass Fitness was started by a woman in Florida just a few months ago and I have been hooked since I found it. This post got me started, so inspiring!

The blog is filled with workouts, food ideas and stories about real people getting fit and healthy! I was working out last week and really wanting to quit, but I told myself "no, you are a badass, you can keep going!"

I am no where near where I want to be weight wise, or fitness wise right now, but this blog is helping to keep me motivated, even if I slip up or don't work out for a few days.

What keeps you motivated to work out and eat right?

Donate to a Good Cause

Well, it's day 21 on 2010 and I'm still enthused about The 2010 Project and my list! This is great! Today I made one, of what I hope to be many, contributions to fulfill the "Donate to a good cause" item on my list. We've all heard by now what's happened in Haiti and I recently got an e-mail from a scrapbooking website I occassionally order from and they are helping to raise money for the Red Cross to donate to Haiti. The website is donating 10% of their sales to Haiti as well as offering an "item" that you can stick in your cart... The item is a $10 donation. So it just tacks on $10 to your total and you can donate it through them. But it gets better! For every one of those items that people "purchase" the website is going to match that $10. So I'm sending $10 but Haiti will get $20! Plus 10% of my other purchases. I thought it was great that the company was willing to do that so I placed my order this morning! This fund raiser is only running from the 20-22 so if you're interested in donating as well, do it today or tomorrow! Here's the website: www.scrapyourtrip.com. ~Wendy

Bathing Suits??? Already???

I was casually strolling into Target the other day, ready to spend an exorbitant amount of money, when I stopped happened to glance towards the Juniors clothing section. I stopped short. My jaw dropped. I did a mental calculation of the date. It was January 10. The thermostat in my car had read a crisp 55 degrees. And yet...

Bathing suits.

Rows and rows of strings and tiny triangles and polka-dots and stripes and leopard print.

Oh help me.

Suddenly the summer months didn't see so far away.

***

Number 3 on the list. Wear a bikini on the beach. Now is the time to make that happen.

How?

Exercising, eating right, blah-de-blah. Same old, same old.

I'm convinced that half the time these kinds of resolutions fail because we just get bored.

I will run eighteen miles every single day and live off oatmeal and celery sticks!

Boring.

So, variety will be the keyword to my plan. I'll workout (Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred kicks my ass!) and run on the beach and hike the trails near my house and jump rope and maybe take a yoga class. I'll have fun with it.

As for food - I'm on the search for fun and healthy recipes. One of my favorite resources is Hungry-Girl.com a website that gives fun tips for dieting and healthy alternatives to some of our favorite foods. These are two of my favorites:

Chicken Cordon Bleu














Exploding Chicken Taquitos












Seriously, try these. They are so good.

So, anyone have any other recipes to share???

--Shannon

A Quote

I saw this quote today and I though it summed up everything on our lists and all that we hope this year will be. Enjoy!

"May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you're wonderful, and don't forget to make some art -- write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself." ~Neil Gaiman

Melissa

Nightly Journal

Hey All, I've been working on my journal in the evenings and I thought I'd share a recent entry with you. January 9, 2010 I'm thankful for: 1. My great friends 2. Fun board games 3. Christina letting me use her discount to get running shoes so I can start training for my 5k! 4. Making myself make time for scrapbooking today 5. Homemade french fries My Favorite Moment of the Day: JJ and I were at Nicole and Vic's tonight with Michelle, Mike, and Melissa and we played the Wii for awhile and then Apples to Apples. After Michelle, Mike, and Melissa left Nicole and I were talking about Mike and Melissa and how Melissa is such a good fit for Mike. Apparently the girlfriend he dated for like 9 years before Melissa wasn't very nice. Then I said that Mike told me several months ago that Melissa fit in with his family like right away where as his last girlfriend I guess never really fit. And Nicole said, "Aww, is that how he knew Melissa was The One?" I told her I didn't know and then JJ said, "That's how I knew Wendy was The One." That right there was my favorite moment of today. My list of things that I'm thankful for on this entry wasn't particularly insightful (sometimes they are) but my favorite moment of the day was a bit more special than the usual favorite moments.

Starting Off on My List

I have a lot of plans for this year. Some of them are small things and other are big things. Most of them are things that I have been wanting to do for a few years but just needed a push to get done. So the first thing I have been working on off of my list is starting my own online store on Etsy.com

Etsy is a place where people can sell handmade items, which makes it a fun place to buy gifts for people. I have been thinking about selling cards and some other items for about a year now but just didn't have the guts to get it done until now. This week I have been hard at work at making items to sell and I am hoping to have the store up and running by the end of the month!

Here is a peek at what I have been working on:

I can't wait to share the store with you all once I am finished!

~Melissa

It's Not on the List But...

In honor of what I hope will be a good year, I decided to make a big change right off the bat. Wendy's numberology post says that my year will be spent being reflective and inward focused, which makes me laugh a little bit because this first change I've made has been purely for appearance's sake. But okay...

So I've been blonde my entire life.




<--- Proof


When my hair started coming in darker in high school I just started lightening it every month or so because I LIKED being a blonde and I didn't want that to change... I've always been a little curious though about how I would look as a brunette.

Well, this year, as I've decided to embrace change for the first time in my life, I finally took the leap. And I am now, officially, no longer a blonde. EEK! So here you go. The before and after:

BEFORE

AFTER

I like it. I do. Even if I don't look like "me" in the mirror right now. So... we'll see. :)

Yay change!

--Shannon

Numerology

To kick off The 2010 Project I thought it would be fun to calculate each of our "Personal Year Numbers" to see what the numbers say 2010 will be like for each of us. So here it is: Melissa, your Personal Year Number this year is an 8. 8 Personal Year A year of respect, achievement, recognition; business matters dominate, especially financial management; an active, busy year where you must administrate This is a year to learn about your own power, to deal with authority issues, and to become the boss, because people will look to you this year for your executive ability or to act as an authority in some respect. This is the year where you'll be challenged to take the lead, to stand up as an authority, and in that way to begin to empower yourself with your full sense of power. The 8 year means it's time for you to be thrust into the role of the leader, boss, or authority and to tend to business. Use this year to administrate something - the family estate, the school auction, or the company's overseas spring tour. More than any other year, this is the time to deal with the energy of power, money, and success, and to achieve something. You'll want to make the most of your opportunity this year because it will be another 9 years before you have an 8 year again. However, each year you will have a chance to work on missed opportunities when you are in your 8 Personal Month. Shannon, your Personal Year Number this year is a 7. 7 Personal Year A year of turning inward, rest and rejuvenation, contemplation and pursuit of spiritual quest; will spend time alone, can study and read this year This is a time to move inside yourself. You'll need alone time and rest as you reexamine your goals, relationships, and the very direction of your life. Often, during a 7 year, you're drawn to the study of spiritual, mystical, or metaphysical subjects, and it's not unusual to find you need spiritual direction, and so look to a counselor or healer who can help further your quest. This year is also a time of body purification, so diets, cleansing, and detoxifying programs may become of interest now. The 7 rules legal affairs, so it may also be the year you get that insurance settlement finished, or any matter where legal papers are involved. But no matter what, you'll need and seek solitude, because this is the time to be alone and quiet. The 7 year means the time is favorable for you to take a sabbatical, or do a vision quest. More than any other year, this is the time to be quiet and listen to your inner guidance. It's time for seeking counsel from both yourself and others, as well as learning about what will help you find your own particular peace. Don't miss your chance for this introspective time, because you don't get another 7 year for 9 more years! However, each year will have a chance to work on missed opportunities when you are in your 7 Personal Month. Wendy, my Personal Year Number this year is a 6. 6 Personal Year A year of tending to domestic affairs, family obligations, nurturing others; constant effort required If you have elderly parents, this is the year for them. In an uncanny way, you'll become needed by your family this year more than any other years. It's also a year that demands that you balance your domestic life with your work life, and you'll be shown many opportunities to get your work life in balance - even if it means getting another job. The 6 year means it's time for you to pay attention to your family duties and responsibilities. Use this year to nurture and serve those you care about. More than any other year, this is the time to balance the needs of others with your own needs. It's time for generosity and sympathy, and if you don't take time to give to your family, or to nurture your own needs, it will be another 9 years before you have a full year to devote to this energy. However, each year you will have a chance to work on missed opportunities when you are in your 6 Personal Month. (The above descriptions were taken from "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Numerology, 2nd Edition" by Kay Lagerquist, Ph.D. and Lisa Lenard.)

Classic Novel

I've chosen Moby Dick as my "Classic Novel." I started reading it a few nights ago and I fell asleep on page 3. But I don't think it was the book, I think I was just really tired. I'll give it another go one of these days. -Wendy

Happy New Year!

We will open the book. Its pages are blank.
We are going to put words on them ourselves.
The book is called Opportunity and
its first chapter is New Year's Day.
~Edith Lovejoy Pierce

Welcome to The 2010 Project!

It's a new year and a new decade and such an occasion calls for a little something more than just your average, ordinary New Years Resolution. Last year may have been a little tough or obnoxious or just plain boring for some people and the typical "I want to get in shape" goal just wasn't going to cut it for us this year. Let's face it: the average resolution is just doomed for failure and a crazed binge on an entire carton of Moose Tracks Ice Cream sometime in the middle of the month (not that I've EVER done that... ahem).

No, 2010 needs to be epic. It needs to be special. It needs to be FUN.

So we have christened The 2010 Project. We briefly considered doing two-thousand and ten things throughout the year... Actually, I lie. We never seriously considered that. We are NOT that ambitious. The much more reasonable number was always ten. Ten things. Ten things that we each wanted to do, participate in or accomplish. Yes, you'll see that we may have variations of "I want to get in shape" on our lists but now we have each other and we have this blog and we have a way to make it a little more exciting.

In the coming weeks and months the three of us will be posting about our year of adventure. We can't wait to see what this year has in store for us, where our lists will take us and how the back end of twelve months will find us changed. Here's to living determined, risky, creative, unexpected and full lives in 2010.

-- Melissa, Shannon and Wendy

* The word cloud in the header of this blog can be attributed to Wordle.net. The cloud contains words from all our lists. Interestingly enough, our most used word is Learn.

P.S. You might notice that we have more than 10 things on our lists. We've added a mystery category or a secret category because we can't plan for everything. Life is full of surprises. So at the end of the year we can look back and choose something that we feel is worthy for that category. Come what may.