Family Cookbook

UPDATE: Done! I ended up printing it myself because all of the sites I saw were really expensive. But, I'd like to do this frequently, so printing cheaply worked out well! And all of my family seemed to really appreciate it. 

I'm in the process of making a family cookbook for my mom, grandmas, and aunt for Christmas! I know it's early, but I want it to be a surprise for all of them, so I need to start collecting early. 

Right now, it looks like I'll be ordering from Heritage Cookbook because I can get just a few books for about $6 per book.

I have to be careful with this because a lot of these recipes are taken from somewhere (online cookbooks, etc.) and are just heavily used in our family. 

Here's what I have so far: 

Mom's Gooey Butter Cake: family favorite

Mom's Smokey Black Bean and Rice Stoup

Mom's Butter Chicken

Grandma's Hello Dollies: birthday favorite 

Aunt Kelley's Baked Beans: personal favorite

Aunt Kelley's Symphony Brownies 

Aunt Kelley's Ice Tea Punch

Aunt Kelley's Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole 

Aunt Kelley's 3 Cheese Mac and Cheese 

Aunt Kelley's Hawaiian Sweet Roll Sammies

Grandmama's German Sweet Chocolate Cream Pie

Grandmama's Beef Taco Skillet 

Grandmama's Lemon Blossom Pound Cake

Grandmama's Bean and Beef Casserole: personal favorite 

Grandmama's Pineapple Cheese Pie

Grandmama's Easy Stroganoff

Grandmama's Crab Puffs: family favorite 

Grandmama's Cream Cheese Peanut Butter Pie

Grandpapa's Blueberry Pancakes: family favorite

Great Grandmother Martin's Cheesecake

Great Aunt Jayne's Jambesetti 

If you're interested in any of these recipes, just let me know! 

Donate a Goat

UPDATE: Done! I ordered through Save the Children and got a card. I also made him a card with a lot of pictures and little story about how I assumed he didn't want an actual goat but that he might like this goat. He really loved it!

My dad has always joked (at least I'm pretty sure he was joking...) that he wants to retire as a gentleman farmer and raise goats. I have a miniature schnauzer who looks kind of like a goat, so he says he sort of has a goat!

I don't think he actually wants a goat (and certainly not as a gift), so I think the next best thing is to donate a goat through an organization in his name as a present. He'd like it because it's helping a family, and it's special to us because it's a goat.

So I'm going to donate a goat for him for Christmas! I know I'm planning early, but why not?

In Progress - Try Vegetarianism for 21 Days

UPDATE: This was not the greatest idea in the world, at least not at that point in my life. I was avoiding meat instead of creating fantastic vegetarian meals.

Now please keep in mind that I am in college on a limited budget with a microwave but no other way to cook food! Also, I'm lazy. I'm giving myself one cheat meal each week because I'm in Washington, D.C., for the first time in my recent memory, so I don't want to limit myself completely if I find something new. I think this won't be too hard because 1. I don't eat a ton of meat anyway (I like regular pasta better) and 2. I'm buying pre-made meals most of the time, so I'll just have to make sure to avoid meat.

My daily log:

Write a Letter to My Future Self

I wrote a letter to myself using FutureMe.org. I set it to send to my email in exactly one year, and I am planning on writing another few to be delivered in five, ten, and fifteen years! I think those ones are going to be most special because I basically know what things are going to be like in one year but not so much after I graduate Emory.

The biggest help in writing my letter came from two websites: Writing a Letter to Your Future Self and If You Could Talk to Your Future Self What Would You Say? I created a template for myself. By "Current" I mean to tell my future self what I am like now. For instance, I have "Friends?" and then "Current?" which means I wrote what I want my situation with friends to be in the future and then to talk about my friends now.

What do you want your future self to be like?

What are the different dreams and goals you would want to be realized by then?

Career/Business/Studies? Current?

Finances? Current?

Family? Current?

Friends? Current?

Love? Current?

Health? Current?

Recreation? Current?

Personal growth? 

Places want to see?

Where you want to live?

Habits you want to have formed?

Habits you want to have changed?

The type of person you want yourself to become?

I took the answers and rearranged them mostly so I told about my current self and then my goals. It ended up being three paragraphs and a greeting and salutation.

UPDATE: I read the first letter about a week ago! I absolutely loved seeing what I had to say a year ago. I'm hoping to write another round pretty soon. 

Learn Calligraphy

It's not beautiful, but it's a lot of fun! I especially love the "i" and particularly dislike the "I." 

In Progress - Six Continents

I'd like to travel to the six (not Antarctica) continents. For more pictures of my travels, please visit my blog The Travels of Olivia.

Europe:

When I was in fourth and fifth grade, my parents and I lived in Amstelveen, The Netherlands! Almost every weekend we took trips through Europe. This picture was taken in front of a Smart Car, which had just been released in Europe. 

Asia:

The summer after my ninth grade year, I visited Musashino, Japan, with a group of fifteen other kids as Junior Ambassadors of the City of Lubbock. We saw a lot and even stayed with a family for a few days. The three daughters let my friend and me wear kimonos. 

North America:

I've lived in North America almost all of my life, and I have seen a lot. This is my Grandma and me on a cruise with my parents when we went to Nassau and Freeport, in the Bahamas. 

Africa: 

Summer 2012 I went on a trip to Israel, Egypt, and Jordan. Most of Egypt is in Africa, so one more continent down! 

Welcome!

As I cross of items on my bucket list, I'll share pictures/videos/stories here!