Ok….so I started this blog and my 101 in 1001 project before PA school started. Let me clue you in to how naive that was! I have found myself with little to no time to call my own. I am enjoying school and the challenge immensely but it has left me neglecting lots of other areas of my life.

I am writing tonight (after finishing a test and a paper and before moving on to more studying) to say that I must put my 101 in 1001 on hold in order to do it justice. I know life will always be busy but I am hoping and praying that it won’t be 21 credits of grad school busy again for a long, long time.  I will try to pop in an update everyone from time to time but I am sorry to say, please don’t expect much for the next few months.  Thank you all for even stopping by in the first place and I hope to be back on here again in less than 3 months :-p

Image credit:  Nima Badiey

I’ll try to keep track of these as follows:  In Progress,  Complete,  Fail

1. Take at least one yoga class
2. Learn how to cook 5 new dishes
3. Bake my own bread 6 times
4. Walk the distance of the Appalachian trail
5. Graduate from my master’s program – Started August 24th!
6. Write a letter to 3 friends for no reason
7. Read 10 books for fun – 5 down!
8. Go to 3 movies by myself (I never do this)
9. Go to at least one concert
10. Write a blog post at least twice a month every month – This is going to get harder with school going.
11. Try to grow my own indoor herb garden – We have 4 herbs in the apartment!
12. Update my progress on my 101 in 1001 every month
13. Be active for 30 minutes at least 3 days a week
14. Patronize local vendors at least 6 times a year – Ok so this one was obviously MUCH easier than I thought it might be.
15. Visit the Joslyn Art Museum
16. Make my own yogurt
17. Lose 15% of my starting body weight – Down 3%!!
18. Go to 10 local restaurants I haven’t yet tried – 3 so far:  Went to Urban Wine this month
19. Participate in one “walk” (eg. Crop Walk, Walk for a Cure, etc)
20. Donate blood 6 times
21. Create a recipe & post it on my blog
22. Spend 6 weekends without going online
23. Find a religious community I feel comfortable with
24. Attend that community every Sunday for a month
25. Track all my expenses for 2 months
26. Create a budget that reduces my current expenses and increases my savings
27. Buy an article of clothing or an accessory in a color I never normally would
28. Have a picnic
29. Spend 15 minutes in nature outside the city doing nothing but listening
30. Organize my digital world. My files are a complete mess!
31. Learn to make 4 new vegetarian or vegan recipes
32. Take the bus instead of the car 10 times
33. Pass on a few things I want and do a Kiva loan
34. Floss. Every day. No excuses. -  I was doing so well…a few nights camping out with forgotten floss did me in!
35. Go for one week without complaining
36. Replace one household or toiletries product with a more eco-friendly option
37. Learn how to wax my eyebrows at home (Don’t judge :-p )
38. Make potstickers: see here userealbutter.com

(To be filled in no later than April 15, 2010)

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I was home for 2 weeks for the first time since Christmas and that was just wonderful.  How can it not be when you come home to this?

Mmmmmm! Red Cat, good New York style pizza, and wings.  What more could a girl ask for?  I had a fantastic time with friends and family alike.  I came back much recharged and looking forward to seeing them all again : ).

Lots of good times with the new roomies as well.  Perused the Old Market hitting up Upstream, Ted and Wally’s, and the pedestrian bridge as well as Barrett’s, Greek Festival, Urban Wine, and Zio’s.  Not all in one night of course!  It’s been so nice to connect with other girls my own age. I have missed that a lot since undergrad.

Speaking of school, I’ve just started my second full week of PA school.  It’s going to be interesting folks!! I sense much less time for blogging in the future.  A whole different type of academic atmosphere to adjust to and a whirlwind of a program will make life interesting over the next 2 years.  I’m sure there will be more to come on that as it happens.

Well this certainly is a short update. My apologies! I have to get back to class!! However, there will be an update on my 101 in 1001 posted later tonight some time if you are interested. If you have no idea what that means, drop by my post here:  http://kfredsmusings.wordpress.com/2009/06/30/101-in-1001/

Tagged: 101 in 1001, friends, physician assistant, school ]]> http://kfredsmusings.wordpress.com/2009/08/31/where-did-august-go/feed/ 6 kfred85 home august 2009 001 http://kfredsmusings.wordpress.com/2009/07/31/101-in-1001-july-update/ http://kfredsmusings.wordpress.com/2009/07/31/101-in-1001-july-update/#comments Sat, 01 Aug 2009 00:45:02 +0000 kfred85 http://kfredsmusings.wordpress.com/?p=182 ]]> Hello! I’ve promised to update every month so  here is the first one.  A few of these have proved easier than I anticipated and others harder.  It’s been a fun challenge to myself so far but I’ve barely begun!  Also, as a side note about life, I completed my VISTA term of service today.  So bittersweet!

I’ll try to keep track of these as follows:  In Progress,  Complete,  Fail

1. Take at least one yoga class
2. Learn how to cook 5 new dishes
3. Bake my own bread 6 times
4. Walk the distance of the Appalachian trail
5. Graduate from my master’s program
6. Write a letter to 3 friends for no reason
7. Read 10 books for fun – Working on it right now!
8. Go to 3 movies by myself (I never do this)
9. Go to at least one concert
10. Write a blog post at least twice a month every month
11. Try to grow my own indoor herb garden
12. Update my progress on my 101 in 1001 every month
13. Be active for 30 minutes at least 3 days a week
14. Patronize local vendors at least 6 times a year – Ok so this one was obviously MUCH easier than I thought it might be.
15. Visit the Joslyn Art Museum
16. Make my own yogurt
17. Lose 15% of my starting body weight – This isn’t going so well yet but it has been on my mind.
18. Go to 10 local restaurants I haven’t yet tried – 3 so far: California Tacos, El Alamo, and Lansky’s
19. Participate in one “walk” (eg. Crop Walk, Walk for a Cure, etc)
20. Donate blood 6 times
21. Create a recipe & post it on my blog
22. Spend 6 weekends without going online
23. Find a religious community I feel comfortable with – Yay!
24. Attend that community every Sunday for a month
25. Track all my expenses for 2 months
26. Create a budget that reduces my current expenses and increases my savings
27. Buy an article of clothing or an accessory in a color I never normally would
28. Have a picnic
29. Spend 15 minutes in nature outside the city doing nothing but listening
30. Organize my digital world. My files are a complete mess!
31. Learn to make 4 new vegetarian or vegan recipes
32. Take the bus instead of the car 10 times
33. Pass on a few things I want and do a Kiva loan
34. Floss. Every day. No excuses.
35. Go for one week without complaining
36. Replace one household or toiletries product with a more eco-friendly option
37. Learn how to wax my eyebrows at home (Don’t judge :-p )
38. Make potstickers: see here userealbutter.com

(To be filled in no later than April 15, 2010)

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101. Save or donate $5 for every goal not completed

What a lot of surprises this summer has brought with it.  I’ve (finally) purchased a car.  I’ve moved (again) into a new apartment.  I’ll have 2 new roommates, one whom I’ve never met in person, and school starts so soon! This whole renting and car ownership thing is complicated lol.  It probably doesn’t help that I am trying to coordinate bill paying across 2 states and 3 people. I think things will settle down once we are all in the same place.  Also, our property manager not returning phone calls or emails isn’t super helpful   But enough about her.

Lots of beginnings and again, an end.  My extended VISTA term will be over on Friday.  I’ll truly miss my friends and colleagues.  I’ve had some amazing opportunities during my time as a VISTA and met wonderful people.  I honestly think I will be a little lost at first.  When people ask me what I do, I know my first reflex will be to say “I’m an AmeriCorps*VISTA.”  I never thought it would be such a cool time for me.  I have a feeling that once you are a VISTA, you are a VISTA forever.  I think it’s just one of those things.  You (hopefully) never forget the lessons you learned.

The only thing constant is change.

I will be starting my 1001 days on Wednesday, July 1, 2009.  This puts my end date on Wednesday, March 28, 2012.  (I used this handy calculator found here if you need one!)

I will be filling you in on the progress once a month and we’ll see how it goes Let me know in the comments if you have ever done one of these or hope to in the future!

1. Take at least one yoga class
2. Learn how to cook 5 new dishes
3. Bake my own bread 6 times
4. Walk the distance of the Appalachian trail
5. Graduate from my master’s program
6. Write a letter to 3 friends for no reason
7. Read 10 books for fun
8. Go to 3 movies by myself (I never do this)
9. Go to at least one concert
10. Write a blog post at least twice a month every month
11. Try to grow my own indoor herb garden
12. Update my progress on my 101 in 1001 every month
13. Be active for 30 minutes at least 3 days a week
14. Patronize local vendors at least 6 times a year
15. Visit the Joslyn Art Museum
16. Make my own yogurt
17. Lose 15% of my starting body weight
18. Go to 10 local restaurants I haven’t yet tried
19. Participate in one “walk” (eg. Crop Walk, Walk for a Cure, etc)
20. Donate blood 6 times
21. Create a recipe & post it on my blog
22. Spend 6 weekends without going online
23. Find a religious community I feel comfortable with
24. Attend that community every Sunday for a month
25. Track all my expenses for 2 months
26. Create a budget that reduces my current expenses and increases my savings
27. Buy an article of clothing or an accessory in a color I never normally would
28. Have a picnic
29. Spend 15 minutes in nature outside the city doing nothing but listening
30. Organize my digital world. My files are a complete mess!
31. Learn to make 4 new vegetarian or vegan recipes
32. Take the bus instead of the car 10 times
33. Pass on a few things I want and do a Kiva loan
34. Floss. Every day. No excuses.
35. Go for one week without complaining
36. Replace one household or toiletries product with a more eco-friendly option
37. Learn how to wax my eyebrows at home (Don’t judge :-p )
38. Make potstickers: see here userealbutter.com

(To be filled in no later than April 15, 2010)

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It has been an amazing year. Full of new people, places, and experiences I never could have dreamed of. My term of service has had it’s ups and it’s downs but I wouldn’t trade it.  I’ve gained so much real-world experience, confidence, and life-long friends.

I’ve had the opportunity to present at and attend numerous conferences and workshops, visit friends in Hawaii, and find a school to persue my future.

I’m just so grateful for the chances I’ve been presented with.  I’m hoping that my last few weeks will be just as good as all the others!

Allison emailed me personally to thank me for my purchases and asked how I found her.  She was extremely personable and friendly.  She even sent me a tweet!  She has a blog too if you’d like to check it out.

My treasures arrived today. A very rapid turnaround. They are just as wonderful in person as they were online. Here they are!

I got a print (8×10), 2 greeting cards, and a magnet.  They were wrapped with care and creativity and she even sent me a small magnet and a candy bracelet!  (It’s the small things that make me happy :-p)

All things said, Allison’s creative work speaks for itself but her customer service was just the icing on the cake! Kudos to Allison and those like her keeping interactions personal!

A few new beginnings in my life recently.  I FINALLY moved out of my old apartment with my roomies who wanted to boil me alive and have me clean up after them.  Not bad people, just bad roomies. I’ve found a new apartment with a new roomie and all seems to be better on that front.  As I’m unpacking, I’m coming across lots of memories.  Some good, some bad.  Some parts of my life I would just as soon leave behind, but others I truly miss.

Also a new beginning on the relationship front.  BF and I broke up.  The distance and different communication styles finally killed us.  I am sad but I will be ok.  I just hope I haven’t lost my dear friend through all this.  It is always hard to say goodbye to people you love.  It seems so much harder when the goodbye can’t be in person.  We had tons of fun together and made lots of memories, many of which I am uncovering in my unpacking.  Makes moving into my new apartment bittersweet.

Another new beginning in the fall, PA school.  Looking forward the challenges and the new people I know it will bring.  It’s sad to know I will be on my own until then but hopefully new friends await me there.  New beginnings are always uncertain but always hold such promise.  This time has been very different for me as I am truly on my own for the first time.  I have lots of amazing friends who are always there for me to talk whenever I need it and even when I don’t.  However, it has been an experience to learn how to cope alone.  I’ve always had other people around to help distract me and keep me busy.  This time it’s just me and yes, it’s hard but at the same time, it’s an opportunity to get to know myself and to grow.

I have been telling myself I need to learn to be happy on my own and just be my own person for years.  This year, I’ve done more of that than I ever have before.  I was in a relationship but we never saw one another & I was on my own a lot.  I have roomies but I rarely see them and we live very separate lives.  I speak to my family frequently but I see them twice a year.  I am so grateful for the connections I have and I realize many more people are much more on their own than I am, but these changes are big for me.  I am hoping I can make the difficulties I’ve had this year work for me and use the lessons I’ve learned in the future.  After all, isn’t that what new beginnings are for?

• TweetDeck – TweetDeck is my all time favorite!  It is an Adobe Air download that allows you to create columns for different groups of people and search terms.  It has recently been updated to integrate with Facebook as well.  It is great for filtering some of the noise that comes with Twitter.

• Mr. Tweet – Mr. Tweet is a service you can sign up for and follow on Twitter that will analyze your network and suggest people for you to follow.  It is great for people trying to find new people to follow.  It also allows you to see stats and recent tweets for each user it suggests.

• Follow Cost – Follow Cost is a website that is useful for deciding whether or not to follow someone new.  It tells you how many times a day they tweet (on average) and what percentage of their tweets are about politics or are @ replies.  It also has a handy bookmarklet!

• Mailana - Mailana shows you a web of who you talk to most and how your followers are connected to one another.  It also has a suggestion tool for people you should follow based on the people you currently follow.  It also suggests people based on geographic location and has a keyword search function.

• Twitter Search – Twitter Search is great for searching for topics to see what is what is being said or to find new people to follow based on a specific keyword.  I frequently search things on Twitter before I try Google and I often get the results I am looking for much more quickly.  It is a great resource!  You can also get rss feeds for your queries if you want to keep an eye on a specific term or brand name.

• TwiTip - TwiTip is a great blog devoted to Twitter tips.  It has a variety of tips for all levels of users and can help keep you up to date on all the latest tools.

Please look me up on twitter (@kfred85) and say hi! Hope these tips will help you enjoy Twitter and get more out of the sometimes overwhelming amount of information.