Friday Family Crafts

Enjoying my two weeks of winter break, which comes to an end in two days, by making crafts with my siblings. Making things to decorate my new apartment which I move into later this week. The first craft I made on friday two weeks ago was DIY Coasters:

It was much easier then I thought.

1. Buy Square Ceramic tiles from a crafting store (4inx4in) and cut paper to that size. 
2. Line them up and mod podge the bottom side of the paper and press it unto the tile. 
3. Wait 20 mins and mod podge over the top of the paper. You can do another layer if you need to. 
4. Once your done stick felt circles to the bottom of the tiles so they don't scrape the surfaces you place them on. 

And Viola! I used scrapbook paper but I want to make four more with maps of places I have visited (Tokyo, Paris, Lucerne, and Munich).

Then last week I bought a wooden sign and letters with acrylic paint to make a christmas decroation with my sister.

The top one was mine and the bottom one was my sisters. We used Gorilla wood glue to glue the letters to the sign once they had been painted and dried. My sister added little decorations to hers that I thought  added character.

Well those were my two major crafts this winter. I'm working on one more before I leave to organize my saved cards.

Happy Holidays and See you in the New Year!
La La La Lisa Jean :)

22 Days and Counting....

Well that didn't go very well...or go anywhere at all.

Its officially December 12, 2012 (12/12/12) and I haven't updated in over 2 months. I am in the midst of moving (transferring schools!!) which became official in October. And honestly with how much I went to and from college and my Parent's house and working and school...Let's just say I shouldn't have been surprised when it was Oct 4th and I still had nothing, but a calendar outlined with dinner ideas. Especially because I was pretty set in my routines. But with my big move coming January 3rd (two days after making New Year's Resolution) I think I might try tweaking my plan and coming up with a system that I can start which utilizes my new apartment which will be completely empty (of food thats mine anyways. I am going to have my own room but 3 roommates).

So I am doing some massive Pinterst research (Pinsearch?) to find some ideas for what I actually want to do. I have some health goals, some food goals, and some organizing goals for my new apartment. Updates coming soon! Maybe this experiment will go better than the last. I'm counting on the whole new city, new apartment, new life to push me into setting up new routines for myself :) I just have to make sure I introduce them one at a time!

Wish me luck!

Lisa Jean

The trouble with schools...

The trouble with schools is that they don't prepare you enough for college life. Honestly I feel like while I learned academic bases that aided me in my first year of college, I was inadequately prepared for many of the social, home skills, and studying aspects of college life. But more on that another day....

I have always been a big fan of massive, life-changing projects. My intense personality enjoys the thrill and control that comes from attack a new task with everything I have. It is a trait that comes with some perks, especially as need for control in my life leads to good grades and organized spaces. But the issue with my personality is that I also get bored. Easily. Quickly. I build up all this momentum, attack my project of the moment for a time and then get bored and quit. Sometimes I see the project through to completion, like when I do school projects, room reorganizing, or crafts. But most of those have an incentive, like good grades, clean room with furniture in places you can access, or finished product. You would think that my fitness projects (which have been many and varied) would get finished for the incentive of a rockin' body and more energy. But no. I am too busy (and maybe lazy) to give up free time worrying about my health. I would much rather read a new book or nap or watch a movie/TV than worry about working out. Or eating healthy.

I love to cook and experiment with food. But as a college student its hard to feel motivated to make a bunch of food for yourself (feeding friends too often gets expensive). Living in a dorm with a (super expensive) meal plan doesn't teach you how to shop or feed yourself when you move off campus. Living at home with your parents may aide you in knowing how to cook and what sort of things to buy, but it didn't teach me how to prepare food for one. I knew how to shop and cook these massive family-sized meals. But I needed to be able to feed myself. For less $$$.

My friends, inspired from Pinterest, started shopping twice a month. One big shopping trip before the first of the month for EVERYTHING. And then again in the middle of the month to replace the dairy and produce (milk and fruit) that doesn't keep well or last the month. And it took a couple months of experimenting (what to buy, how much, etc). But it saves them money! And I decided I wanted to try it, BUT with the added bonus of planning my meals. I don't want to buy a whole bunch of food and not plan out what I'm making with it. Not enough control for my taste. Plus what if I forget to buy something I needed for a favorite recipe? It could happen!

So my goals are as follows:

1. Plan my meals for next month
2. Put together a shopping list
3. Shop only twice that month for groceries
4. ACTUALLY FOLLOW IT!

For me I knew to go through with these goals (and last for a whole month) I needed some incentive. And support! So the plan is that you can follow this with me if you want. I plan to start this October so the next 12 days will be the planning. And I will be posting my finalized October meal plan, Recipes, and Shopping List sometime next week! And then give you an idea throughout October of how much this is actually working for me. So wish me luck!

And we're off......

Lisa Jean ^_^

Note: The post title refers to a song from the AMAZING musical production of Wicked. Because the trouble with schools is they always try to teach the wrong lesson.

And Now a Word From Our Host

La La La Lisa Jean

If you have no interest in knowing whose blog your reading than feel free to skip this post. Seriously. I won't mind. But if you want to know what the almost 20-year-old likes, dislikes, and plans to do with this blog I have a phrase for you: read it and weep! (or just read on).

I am a student working on a major that I am in the process of changing. So once I figure things out it will probably show up in the Meet the Host section. But for now I'm a sophomore in college wanting to work with the special needs population. Figuring out how is the problem!

Likes:
 *Cooking and Eating
 *Reading Fantasy or Romance or Fantasy Romance
 *Harry Potter
 *Video Games (PC or 3DS)
 *TV Shows: Phineas and Ferb, Castle, Bunheads, Melissa and Joey, New Girl, Baby Daddy, etc.
 *Dancing/Music or Music/Dancing
 *Musicals! Plays! Theatre!
 *Traveling the Globe

And more. But this is probably enough of my likes for now! For dislikes let me just say my biggest pet peeves are people who are needlessly rude and people who don't pick up after themselves. So don't be one of those people. SMILE :)

5 Things to Keep in Mind

1. I'm probably going to be mostly posting about meal planning in the beginning (see next post)

2. I also plan to post about my other interests eventually. Maybe throw some reviews in the mix. So prepare for SURPRISES :)

3. I am a working student. I am busy. I hope to post once a week but this may or may not happen! Forgive me if it doesn't.

4. I am a picky eater. This may show in my recipes/posts. Enough said.

5. I hope you enjoy reading my rambling and take a minute to comment. Constructive comments encouraged! ;)