My first month of doing is done

January 30, 2011 § Leave a comment

When I’ve mentioned this project to people, a lot have said it reminds them of the Julie/Julia project where a woman from NYC spent a year cooking her way through Julia Child’s “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” cookbook. I’ve seen the movie and it got me thinking about how my project compares.

I give her a lot of credit. In 365 days she cooked 536 recipes as well as learning a lot about Julia Child’s life, sharing her experiences along the way. That is a lot to do with a full time job! I will in no way do that many things in a year and I’m only working part time. I think her project gave her the opportunity to pursue a passion that went beyond her job which is something I’m hoping to get out of this project.

That said, feel like she adopted Julia’s persona for a year whereas I would like to just be me and see where that leads. I would like to believe I am a little more like Julia Child in the equation who got out and explored Paris at age 37, meeting new people, trying new things and finding what it was she was passionate about. I guess one could argue it is a little more challenging for me though because Boulder isn’t Paris…or is it?

I think it would be amazing if I found something at the end of this I was as passionate about as Julia Child was about cooking but I will totally settle for finding new, smaller scale things that can become little parts of my day that make for a happy little life. At the very least, it feels good to think about something other than advertising all the time!

Here are the Top Tens of my first month of doing stuff (in order of the doing vs in order of importance):

1. Hanging out with Noah, a barmaster at the Bitter Bar who was instrumental in teaching me about cocktails. Seriously try the hot toddy he made.
2. Hearing the passion in Todd Leopold‘s voice as he talked about the craft of making their Leopold Brothers spirits. I would love to find a lifelong pursuit like that where you’re learning and fine tuning everyday.
3. Making my signature cocktail, The Doozy, with the beautiful vintage cocktail glasses my husband found at an antique shop in Ann Arbor.
4. Making kimchi! I have now found the most perfect snack that is one of the healthiest things you can eat, is inexpensive and is a piece of cake to make. My husband has now commandeered this role from me. 🙂
5. Keeping family traditions from dying out. I learned how to make the dill pickles my grandparents used to eat all the time and also made sauerkraut from scratch which my great grandparents always had around the house.
6. I tasted coffee for the first time. Not really, but it felt like it after roasting my own beans at home. This was such a simple thing to do (10 min), not to mention half the price of buying coffee. Thank you Sweet Maria’s!
7. Dropping a goodie bag of coffee and pickles on my friend’s doorstep. It felt so neighborly!
8. Going ice fishing with new friends we’ve made here in Boulder. Could not have been more random, could not have laughed harder and happily no fish were harmed in process (much to TJ’s chagrin).
9. I got over my fear of skiing! In fact, I thought I would love cross country skiing the most but I think I loved downhill even more. I am no ski goddess yet, but there’s promise.
10. I went on a fun excursion up to Snow Mountain Ranch with my husband. We enjoyed an incredibly beautiful drive up there, huffed and puffed through some cross country skiing and enjoyed a great glass of wine at Devil’s Thumb Ranch in front of the fire. I think we’re both gaining a new appreciation for this beautiful state we live in.

All in all a pretty spectacular month!

52 To Do