Blog Every Day in January Day 2: Things I Would Like to Do

Today I went to the movies and crossed off an item from my personal list of Things I Would Like to Do. The item being "Go to the movies by myself". It's a weird goal to have, but I've always wanted to go to the movies by myself because I'm always complaining to people that I never watch movies because I don't have anyone to watch movies with...which is stupid because watching a movie isn't really a social experience. It's just I get really self conscious when I go places by myself, and I know I'm not the only person that feels that way, but it really bothers me that I feel so awkward when I'm alone and I've been slowly trying to break out of that shell. Because I do actually enjoy doing some things on my own.

Anyways, the main point of me talking about going to the movies alone is that it was an item on my list of Things I Would Like to Do, which is not really an official list and is always a work in progress. It's kind of like a 30 by 30 list except the items on it aren't exciting or difficult to accomplish. Like "organize my makeup collection before February" isn't necessarily something that would make it onto a 30 by 30 list, but it is one of the more urgent items on my Things I Would Like to Do List. So here it is, the constantly changing and not-very-difficult-to-accomplish list of Things I Would Like to Do:

1.) Go to the movies by myself. 

2.) Organize my makeup collection before February

3.) Make croissants from scratch even though it will literally take three days.

4.) Try all of the products from my Birchboxes from the past 6 months.

5.) Perfect giving myself a blowout.

6.) Read the A Song of Fire and Ice series, preferably before I graduate.

7.) Live on my own without relying on my parents for financial support.

8.) Get over my fear of making caramel based sauces.

9.) Own more teacups.

10.) Take a trip to the West Coast. Or several trips. Who knows.

12.) Take a trip on the East Coast. Shouldn't be too tough.

13.) Chicago sounds cool too.

14.) If we're talking about traveling, then yes, I would very much like to see Paris/FranceTheCountry and London/EnglandTheCountry. And I also want to go back to Vienna and Germany and Hungary and okay just a big ol' trip to Europe whatever this is my list I get to decide what's on it.

15.) Travel to the Philippines again now that I'm old enough to remember the experience.

16.) Find a bread recipe that is not ridiculous to make but also doesn't taste like hot water in bread form.

17.) Paint the shelves on my TV stand coral.

18.) Buy a big candle from Bath and Body Works.

19.) Put up some wall art in my bedroom at home.

20.) Clean the shitshow that is my desk at school. And the rest of the room while I'm at it.

21.) Go shopping in Kennett Square, PA and eat duck flatbread at Byrsa Bistro again.

22.) Start a vlog with my sister.

23.) Bake and decorate a nice cake. You may be surprised to know that this is something I have never done.

24.) Finish reading the Divergent series even if it's going to make me super mad and hate everything and everyone.

25.) Listen to more music in general.

26.) Make risotto. 

27.) Find a better bronzer and blush. Like for my face.

28.) Perfect my Tortilla Española, which is currently a hot mess.

29.) Organize my wallet/receipts/cards. Yikes.

30.) Learn how to sew.

There is probably tons more where that came from, and things get crossed off and added all the time. I usually take winter break to accomplish some of the things on this list, but there are obviously a few things that will have to wait.

How about you? Do you have a 30 by 30 list or one like mine, or are you the type of person that just does things without putting them in list form? 

Blog Every Day in July: Day 3, A Trifle for the Fourth

I love the 4th of July.  I'm not kidding.  I'm pretty sure that I like it even more than Christmas.

I think it's because it's such a relaxing holiday.  You don't have to stress out about buying people presents, and making an extravagant feast.  Although...I do love burgers and hot dogs.  And dips.  And potato salad.  It's all low key, though.  And that's the main thing.  The 4th of July is just a day to take a break and enjoy the summer heat.

(I just reread that paragraph and I sound like a nervous contestant on the Next Food Network Star.  Jeez.  You know what??  4TH OF JULY RULES.  GRILLIN'.  CHILLIN'.  'MMURRICA.)

This summer my friends Tovah and Nick are hosting their annual 4th of July party as a potluck.  And I insisted that everything that everyone brings should be patriotic.  I'm not even kidding.

I think I may have been a little aggressive...

Anyways, I decided that bringing patriotic macarons would be too complicated, and a whole cake would be too heavy, and that brownies were just...not patriotic enough.  So I opted to make one of my favorite desserts...a nice, light, patriotic trifle.

Please note: my friend Sarah sitting in the background,
texting instead of getting out of the way.  Rude.

Here's the cast of characters: some torn up angel food cake, lemon pudding, blueberries and strawberries, and whipped cream.

*whispers*art

I got pretty flexible with the recipe, since I couldn't find any that I really loved.  I'd say that my version was a combination of this recipe and this recipe.  I made the whipped cream myself because I thought it would be a nice homemade touch, and I used a box mix for the angel food cake because I couldn't find any in the bakery aisle.  I just made sure to over-bake it a bit (which wasn't hard...angel food cake is rough, man) and then I ripped it into pieces. I also opted to use lemon pudding, even though it was neither red, white, or blue.  Mainly because I forgot that lemon pudding is yellow.  I just really love lemon pudding.  IT'S YELLOW IN HONOR OF MY ASIAN HERITAGE, OKAY??  Anyways, I used jell-o lemon pudding.

Assembling the trifle is pretty simple.

First I laid down some of the pudding on the bottom, just to give the cake something to stick to (...I don't really think it was necessary.  It's not like the cake is goin' anywhere...).

...I accidentally started the next step before taking a picture.
NOBODY IS PERFECT.

Then I put some pieces of cake over top.  And as you can see, after you put the cake in you add another layer of pudding.

After that I put down the fruit.  I love me some berries....especially blueberries.  I'm obsessed with that stuff.

Then I topped it off with whipped cream, and started it all over again with the cake (as you can see by my stellar inability to photo-document a recipe step-by-step).

And then I repeated the whole process: cake, pudding, berries, whipped cream.

Uhh ignore the messy countertop.

In order to make this trifle super patriotic, I did my best to make a flag on top of the whipped cream.  I think it turned out pretty good!  I posted the recipe down below, after the jump.

I love these bowls.  I love them so much,
I want to marry them.

The best part of making this was that I had a bunch of leftover pudding and cake.  So I did my best to stretch the last of the blueberries and I scraped out a mini-dollop's worth of whipped cream, and I made some mini-trifles for me and Sarah.  Mmmmmmm.  De-lish!

Oh yeah.  This is a flag I would definitely pledge my allegiance to.

So what are your plans for the 4th of July?  Is there any food that you are looking forward to having?  Let me know in the comments!!