#100: Finish our bachelors degrees

On May 21st I graduated from Saint Mary's College of California with a Bachelors of Arts in Liberal and Civic Studies and a minor in Music. It was a fabulous end to an amazing chapter of my life. Thanks Mom and Dad! :)

#60: first harvest and more

Parsley... yum :)

Cilantro

Basil

#13: Take Piano Lessons

I hate to admit, but my mother was right. I regret the decision I made to stop taking piano lessons when I was younger. I became so bored with the lessons, never got a chance to play songs that I really enjoyed, and dreaded recitals. Lame excuses, I know. (I didn't entirely give up on music though. With the guidance of an amazing mentor in high school, I fell in love with the guitar. As a music minor, I took two guitar and voice classes during my undergrad at St. Mary's but these didn't seem to fill the void that was left from my break-up with piano.)

This past Christmas, Nick gave my a keyboard and I signed up for piano lessons with three other girls at St. Mary's. Able to read music but out of practice on the piano, I was at an awkward level, s0 our teacher worked with us each individually during our one hour time slot, two days a week. I was SO stoked to be back and playing, until I found out we had a recital at the end of the semester. NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! I wanted to drop the class, so I called Nick to explain the situation and he convinced me to just do it.

And of course, it was totally worth it.

Having to practice playing piano this past semester definitely helped get me through the stressful and crazy days. Playing piano is so calming and inspiring. (Admittedly frustrating at times.) I actually loved going to lessons this time around. We began with learning folk melodies from tons of different cultures, along with many different scales and technique exercises. My favorites pieces I played this semester are: Duet Exercise #42 by Ferdinand Beyer (because this meant I got to play with my piano teacher who is a phenomenal pianist), Arches by Paula Dreyer, Op. 39, No. 1 by Kabalevsky, and Moon River from Breakfast at Tiffany's.

All of a sudden- it was time to choose our songs for the recital. It was too late to drop the class. I had to do it. NOT stoked. My piano teacher selected Memory by Andew Lloyd Webber (from the musical Cats) for my recital piece. I practiced religiously, and tortured Nick, my parents, my friend Molly, and even the little girls I babysit, who all endured listening to me play the song for them (or via Skype) in hope to be comfortable playing in front of a crowd, which is clearly not my forte.

I survived the recital and actually ended up playing decently. You know that feeling you get after succeeding at something? ... like you can save the world? Yeah- that's how I felt.

I absolutely love playing piano again :) Lessons learned: 1. Don't be a quitter 2. Practice makes perfect 3. Music is medicine for the mind. 4. Don't touch a Baby Grand, you'll just get greedy.

Next piece to conquer: The Entertainer by Scott Joplin

Thanks for reading! Love, T

#60 Herb Garden Updates...

Parsley

Marjoram

#60 Lookin' good!

Cilantro and basil

Parsley

Marjoram

#90 Don't eat out for a month

In hope to save some money for my future adventures in Italy, I've decided to start #90 on our list ("Don't eat out for a month"). The kick-off meal: One of my favorites- seitan and broccolini over brown rice. Inspired by: Vegan YumYum. Simple and delicious. Maybe #90 will also lead towards checking #71 off our list (Cook all recipes in a cookbook)? -T

#60 (Days 8, 9, 10)

Marjoram and thyme:

Cilantro and basil:

#60 (Day 7)

The marjoram and parsley are sprouting!

#1: Arrivederci America, Ciao Italia

Ciao! I can now officially cross number 1 off of my list. But I think I will wait to do the official cross-off until T gets here in May. Until then, I will be keeping you all up to date on my shenanigans via the wonders of this here world wide web. So, if you find yourself asking questions like:

1. "What is Nick doing in Italy?" 
2. "What is Italy like for a recently 'graduated' young person?" 
3. "Does Nick even speak any Italian?" 
4. "What's the Italian word for shit?" 
5. "What am I doing on this strange person's blog?"

Hopefully you'll find the answers here:

1. I am WWOOFing for 7 weeks, then sight seeing for a few more once T gets here. (If you haven't heard of WWOOF, it's an organization that puts organic/sustainable farmers in touch with volunteers world wide. Essentially, volunteers (like myself) put in work on farms in exchange for room and board. WWOOFers (as the volunteers are known) get to to see the world and learn about organic/sustainable farming practices, while the farmers get much needed help; it's a win-win.) The current itinerary is 3 weeks near Spoleto, 2 weeks near Modena, 2 weeks at another farm somewhere in Italy, and 2.57 weeks doing something with T. In case you were wondering, I am super good at planning ahead..... or not.
2. I'm not sure I just got here yesterday.... So far the answer is: awesome.
3. No. Wait....I said "ciao" at the beginning of this post, and "no" means "no" in Italian. So.... Yes?...or rather.... Si?..... What did you mean by "any Italian"? I'm so confused...... I guess my final answer is: Solo un po'. 
4. Merda
5. It's ok. You probably just hit the next blog button. That happens sometimes.

Anyway, now that I've gotten all of your questions out of the way, I'll get to the point.

Rather than cluttering up this blog with travelogues from Italy, I'll be posting in a new blog. So, if you're curious, please cruise over to: Il Percorso Scenico

 (Yes, that does mean "The Scenic Route" in Italian. No, I'm not very creative at naming blogs)

If you have any real questions, comments, or concerns please feel free to comment on this post and our friendly (but less than courteous) staff will respond as soon as possible. And as always, thanks for stopping by.

-N

#60 Plant a window herb box

“Gardening may seem like just a hobby to many people, but in fact growing food is one of the most radical things you can do: Those who control our food control our lives, and when we take that control back into our own hands, we empower ourselves toward autonomy, self-reliance, and true freedom.” Flores, Food Not Lawns

Just before Nick left to WWOOF in Italy, he bought me a garden box, and 5 packets of organic seeds full of marjoram, Italian dark green flat parsley, English thyme, slow bolting cilantro, and Italian genovese basil. Thank you Nick! :) Since spring has sprung in the East Bay, and we've graduated to 50 degrees + in the evening, I planted everything last Sunday with hope to see signs of life within 5 to 10 days. I am SO excited about my little garden and can't wait to start cooking with what I've grown.

Stay tuned for our window herb box updates. For now, here are photos from Day 1.

In the kitchen:

On the balcony:

Love, T