March Highlights:

• Vacation! Mr. O, Wolverine and I went to New Hampshire for a long weekend. I love vacations.
• The Emerson’s came up from GA for a week, and Mr. O finally got to meet the Mr. and Mrs. I wish I could have spent some time with Toddler Emerson seeing as how it has been over a year since I’ve seen him, but I can’t complain. It was amazing to see my friends. I love them so much.
• Actually writing new material for my thesis. Not only that, but I’m pretty excited to find new uses for old material which I wasn’t planning on including. Even if the essay doesn’t appear in its original form, paragraphs have been brought to life in new essays.
• My eye doctor is extremely pleased with my healing after the Lasik surgery last month. I’m pretty pleased with it too.
• My friend Doodles (not her real name) had her baby! A healthy little baby girl was born on 3/22/12.
• I’m actually keeping up with my 365 photo project. As of today, I am on day 57.
• I went to the Blog Better Boston Conference at the Google offices and FINALLY met my blogger friend Kate. I also met new friends like Sara and Lindsay and Germana.

Stinky March Moments:

• My boss’s husband passed away…and her dog too. Her husband was young and healthy and loved and he died too quickly. I was incredibly moved by his death, and wish there was something I could do to change the past few months in her life. I can’t. Then her dog died. This sucks.
• A few other acquaintances–family friends–passed away.
• I got a vicious migraine at the beginning of the month. I haven’t had a bad one like that in quite some time, so it was very scary.
• This is my thesis semester. Boo. It is a lot of work. (I’m thinking this might be here every month until I graduate).
• I had to get an old filling fixed. I like my dentist, but I don’t love dental procedures. Actually, I had a whole bunch of doctor appointments. Same goes for them. I like my doctors, but I’d rather spend my time elsewhere.

Other Mentionable Moments:

• March 12 made one year since I was hit by a drunk driver. I’ll be honest. I was happy to make it home unscathed that day. I’m proud to admit no one under the influence has driven into me this year (so far- fingers crossed.
• My god-daughter/niece turned two years old this month.
• My wonderful friends Ashley, Michaela, Jessica, Jim, Gail, Mr. O’s mom and three of our friend’s children also had birthdays. This month was full of birthday parties and baby showers.
• Mr. O did my taxes for me. I mailed them in, and then they mailed me a refund! Woot Woot.
• Wolverine built a pretty fancy Leprechaun trap. We actually thought it worked and we caught a leprechaun, but when we opened up the trap door, we realized the leprechaun was too smart for us. He somehow stole all the gold and escaped! We will get you next year, Lucky!
• I finally got a massage that Mr. O’s family bought me as part of my birthday present (in September). That was nice.

I’m looking forward to____ in April:

• Mr. O, Wolverine and I are going to the Museum of Science in Boston. I’ve wanted to go for a very long time now. It even found its way onto my current 101 in 1001 goals list.
• Another one of my pregnant friends is due to deliver in April… on my brother’s birthday actually. There are a lot of birthdays coming in April.
• I will be reviewing my first book for TLC book tours. Look for it at the end of the month.
• Finishing my thesis. Or at least being SOOOOO CLOSE to being finished. It needs to get approved during the month of May, so I pretty much need to be 100% done editing my creative writing and my critical introduction before I turn it in for approval. I can do this (fingers crossed).

Overall Thoughts:

Like February, March was just an okay month. I felt pretty overwhelmed all month, but I survived. I am so thankful that winter is over. I love Spring and I look forward to the days getting longer and the temperature getting warmer. I’m actually so done with this month. It’s not like I hated February and March, I just didn’t enjoy them. I loved cuddling on the couch with Mr. O, building the leprechaun trap with Wolverine, going to the hospital to meet and hold (I love holding newborns!) Doodle’s new baby and the Blog Better Boston Conference. It’s not like there weren’t good moments. I’m just glad the month is finished. I’m ready for April.

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Want to know more about my year? Check out the previous months: January and February

So I am participating in The Scintilla Project, and today is day one…One of the prompts was to pull back the curtain and introduce our true self. Now, I think I do a decent job of baring all on the blog, but what if you’re new? What does this blog really tell you about me?

I snuck a peek at my About Me page, and BOY is it outdated. It states that I am in my first 101 in 1001 goals challenge. Not true, In October of 2011, I started my second 101 in 1001 challenge. I honestly love this challenge. It gives me space, yet still keeps me accountable. The only issue I have with it right now is my lack of update. I have not posted one single thing yet about challenge #2. I think the goals are listed on the new blog, but I do not think I’ve even updated it. The first 101 challenge was fun. I didn’t complete as much as I’d like, but hey, I tried hard. The same goes for updating my first challenge’s blog. I started to write the items I failed at, but I still haven’t cleaned it all up and tied it with a bow. I really hope to do that soon, and I am sure when I do, I will announce it on this blog.

This year, I am  trying to recap every month– here is January and February– at the end of the month so that I don’t have to scramble and try to remember what happened during the year in December. I like the monthly check in so far.

I’m also participating in the 12 Months Challenge. Every month I pick a goal and try to work on that one goal for the month. Then I check in on this blog and let y’all know how I am doing. In January I worked on wasting less. In February I worked on purging unneccessary material goods from my life. I kicked ass these two month. March has been difficult for me so far. My goal is to write for thirty minutes a day. You’d think this would be easy seeing as I am working on my thesis right now (more on this in a second), but nope. I’ve got a case of semi-writer’s block, totally the wrong time to have writer’s block. So I’m trying. I think I’ve done thirty minutes for 7 or 8 days so far, which isn’t too bad. Be sure to check back in the beginning of April (or end of March if I’m caught up with life) to see how I did.

So, thesis… I am a graduate student at Fairfield University. I am studying Creative Writing and I am in the Nonfiction Genre. I graduate in July and I was chose by my peers to be the graduation speaker. I am pretty excited about that and consider it to be such an honor.

While there still is a lot to know about me, that is it for the time being. You can check out this post for a little more info, but I’m sure with this Scintilla Project, you’ll all get to know me well.

Can you believe February is over? I honestly cannot. I feel as if it was just New Year’s Day, but two whole months have passed. Last month I promised you that I would be recapping my months for all of 2012, so since I like to keep my promises, here is February…

February Highlights:

• I got LASIK eye surgery, and everything went so smoothly. I can see! This experience has been incredible, and I feel so fortunate for my great vision.
• Getting my first thesis packet back from Kim Dana Kupperman. She is an incredible mentor to work with, and I am so pumped for this semester.
• I signed up for Statejoy’s Fierce Love Course. I know I barely have time to sleep, and this is another thing I will need to make a priority, but you know what? I think it is a great decision. It is about time I make myself a priority in life. Plus, the lovely San and I decided to be Fierce Love buddies and keep each other in check.
• Mr. O and I ate lobsters again for Valentine’s Day, but this year we shared the meal with Wolverine and my parents.
• I started my 365 pictures goal for my 101 in 1001 challenge.
• My resolution for the month was to Purge! I kicked ass at that goal this month. I can’t wait to share all the pictures with you next month.

Stinky February Moments:

• Mr. O’s car has been giving him a bit of a hard time.
• This is my thesis semester. Boo. It is a lot of work. (I’m thinking this might be here every month).
• I feel like I did quite a bit of laundry this month. It isn’t so much that laundry is a bad thing, the problem is that Mr. O has pointed out to me (quite fairly) that my ironing skills are so-so at best. Que sera, sera. I tried.

Other Mentionable Moments:

• My grandmother turned 101 years old this month.
• My wonderful friends Sarah, Monica, Jim, Jenn, my cousin Briget, Mr. O’s sister, and my best friend’s mom all celebrated their birthdays.
• It is a Leap Year! I’m obviously unsure of what today will have in store for me, but I’m planning on making the best of it. I think Mr. O and I are going to write a note to us to be read the next leap year. That should be fun.

I’m looking forward to____ in March:

• Mr. O, Wolverine and I will be taking a weekend away in New Hampshire.
• Going to the Blog Better Boston Conference and meeting my lovely friend Kate (and new friends too!)
• Kicking ass with the new writing I need to do this semester.
• Putting effort into the Fierce Love Course.

Overall Thoughts:

February was an okay month. Everything seemed so busy. I have a lot of work and a lot of schoolwork to get done. Not sure how I am going to accomplish it all. Mr. O and I have been settling in quite well, and I love our routines and everyday life stuff. I’m worried about my friend whose husband, sister and niece are all extremely ill. I can’t wait until all my friends start having their babies! I’ve got one coming in March, one in April, another in May, one in July and one in September! I love infants. I can’t wait to hold one. Not much more to really say about February. It was a busy month. I felt a bit overwhelmed all month. It was a nice month though, not bad at all…just looking forward to March. I can’t wait until Spring is officially here.

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Want to know more about my year? Check out the previous months:
January

I let Pinterest dictate much of my cooking. Since there are a billion recipes I’ve never made before, this works really well for my 101 in 1001 goals challenge of cooking weekly for 52 weeks*. Mr. O and I make our own pork dumplings and eat them way too often, so when I saw a recipe for Asian meatballs, I thought, “Perfect idea! It’s just like the dumpling, but without the wrapper. And in a meatball form!”

There is a good chance I tweeked the recipe a bit. I started off using this recipe, but the meatballs ended up being a mixture of these recipes as well. They all seem very good. Maybe for the first time I should have just chosen one recipe and stuck with it.

Did you know that Mr. O bought me a bib for our first date?

 I mentioned that I was going to make a big hot mess when I ate (I was planning on getting lettuce wraps, which is how this whole side story actually relates to this post), so he bought me a bib and presented it to me (along with a few other gifts, because he is über charming) when he picked me up. Yes, I did mention how messy of an eater I was. Sexy, huh? I’m one classy first date.

Anyway, I love lettuce wraps. Some of my favorite are at Cheesecake Factory and P.F. Changs. I was lucky to find this recipe from Iowa Girl Eats, and both Mr. O and I were huge fans. It tasted great. By the way, her website is awesome. You’ve got to check her out.

However, something huge felt missing from the recipe. I was bummed, because the recipe really tasted great, and I couldn’t figure out what was missing…until last week! Mr. O and I went to the Cheesecake Factory, and of course, I ordered the wraps. The additional fillings were missing! Bean Sprouts! Shredded Carrots! Rice Noodles! Cucumbers! Oh, and cabbage shells. The Cheesecake Factory uses cabbage leafs as decoration to hold the fillings I just mentioned, but I use the cabbage leafs just like I use the lettuce leafs: as shells for my yummy food. Now that I’ve figured that out, I’m sure to use the same recipe as before, but prepare some of those fillings as well.

So one day Mr. O decided he wanted oatmeal cookies. We went online and found a recipe*, bought the ingredients and made the cookies together. The pictures that follow are from that cooking experience. These cookies were alright, but we didn’t plan on making them again. Since then, we have found an amazing cookie recipe that Mr. O tweaked a bit, and if he’ll let me share, I’ll write a post about it later on.

*Since we didn’t really like round one of oatmeal cookies, I thought it was best to not link back to the recipe. They weren’t bad cookies, and I didn’t want a negative review to link to a blog post that someone carefully crafted.