On Saturday, I turned 31.  Eeks!  Actually, it’s fine.  This birthday definitely did not provoke the existential crisis that turning 30 did.  (Which would have been much worse, had I not distracted myself with a trip to England.)  I had a great time being 30, since I spent about two-thirds of the year enjoying the world’s easiest pregnancy, before it got really dramatic.  And I finished off year 30 by spending seven weeks with the cutest baby ever born, in my humble opinion.  So, yeah, 30 was good.

I want to make 31 good too, but I have absolutely no plans to get pregnant this year, so I had to think of a different way to have a great year.  I decided to take a leaf out of my penpal Katie‘s book and make a list of 31 things I want to do before I turn 32.  Here it is:

1. Spend lots of time snuggling and loving Peanut while she’s still tiny.  Most important thing on my list!
2. Get into the habit of better skin care.
3. Read the Lord of the Rings trilogy (long overdue).
4. Run the GW Parkway Classic 2013.
5. Take plenty of family hikes with hubby and the little miss.
6. Overcome my fear of baking bread.
7. See Book of Mormon at the Kennedy Center, summer 2013.
8. Give Peanut a magical first Christmas!  (I can’t wait to be Santa.)
9. Finish reading Miss Read’s Fairacre series.
10. Buy myself a Longchamp bag and a new wallet.
11. Plant a successful herb garden.
12. Read Winnie-the-Pooh to Peanut.
13. Take up Zumba.
14. Knit a sweater for Peanut and a hat for myself.
15. Toss or donate the clothes that I don’t like but that are still hanging in my closet.
16. Attend Potomac Paddle 2013.  (I keep meaning to go, but it never works out.  This year!)
17. Reconnect with an old friend.
18. Have a playdate with NICU mom friends.
19. Paint my bedroom purple.
20. Break in and wear my silver ballet flats.
21. Re-read the Anne of Green Gables series.
22. Climb Old Rag.  (This one: maybe not so realistic.  I’d need to train a lot and find a babysitter.)
23. Knit another pair of socks.
24. Buy a pair of fabulous shoes at a great price.
25. Bake a pumpkin spice cake.
26. Take Peanut to the beach.
27. Get to know the women in my neighborhood better.
28. Get back into a regular yoga practice.
29. Start a baby box for Peanut.
30. Create a frame wall in my foyer.
31. Lots and lots and lots of family time with hubby and Peanut!

Since I finally loosened up and allowed my blog focus to change from strictly-food to books-travel-life-decorating-crafts-food-anything-and-everything, I’ve been having so much more fun with this space.  For a long time, I felt uninspired.  Blogging was a chore, when it should have been something I did for fun.  Coupled with some personal upheaval, that made for a very unhappy, dissatisfied blogger.  Letting myself relax a bit and write about what interested me, instead of trying to force myself into a “food blogger” mold that no longer fit me, has been the best thing I could have done for myself and this little blog.  It’s fun again, and it’s been that way for awhile.  And one thing I’ve promised myself is that I’ll always be open to my blog evolving further if I want/need it to – whether that means adding different types of posts, cutting out something that no longer interests me, or changing my posting days.  Along those lines, I’ve been  thinking about a couple of areas where the blog is going to be evolving in the near future, whether I like it (baby on the way) or not (the England recaps coming to an end – wish they could have gone on forever).

FRIDAY TRAVEL POSTS

As I’ve re-lived hubby’s and my England vacation from last fall (and had so much fun, by the way – thanks for joining me on the ride) I’ve been thinking about what I’m going to do with the blog on Fridays now that I’ve finished posting my trip recaps.  My first inclination was to tell hubby that we must take another epic vacation IMMEDIATELY, so I would have something to recap.

Wouldn’t that be great?  Sadly, I don’t think my employers would be as thrilled as hubby would have been if I had floated that idea.

Okay, but seriously now, I was planning to just post on Fridays as I do on other days of the week – with a mixture of book reviews, literary thoughts, home decorating or crafting posts, or the occasional weekend recap.  But then, I thought, I don’t stop having fun just because I’m at home for most of the year.  Hubby and I do our fair share of hiking, museum visits, and fun days out.  And with all of the exciting changes coming our way in the future, we’re even more focused on getting our family time in – both now and when the Peanut makes her big entrance in October.

So I started thinking: why not reserve Friday posts for chronicling our fun adventures, whether those are in our own northern Virginia backyard, on weekend getaways, or over the course of longer vacations?  Fridays would be a great time to share a peek into some of the ways we enjoy each other’s company as a family of two (and eventually three), or with our extended families and friends.  I won’t be posting along these lines every Friday, necessarily, but I’d like to make our fun adventures a frequent Friday topic.

POSTS ON PREGNANCY AND MOMMYHOOD

Here’s one way the blog is not going to evolve: this is NOT going to be a mommy blog, or a pregnancy blog for that matter.  I have good reasons for keeping the volume of pregnancy posts down.  Some are personal.  On the public side, I have never intended to be a mommy blogger; I respect that blog community but I don’t see myself there.  And I like blogging about books and travel and this-n-that too much to give it up, let alone risk alienating readers who come here for literary chatter, recipes and other non-kid-focused fun.  Plus, book blogging is one of my (many) hobbies, and I firmly believe moms need hobbies of their own.

That said… my life is obviously changing in a big way, and I recognize that it would be unreasonable for me to expect that my blog will stay exactly the same when the rest of my world is being turned upside-down.  So talk about my pregnancy and, eventually, my kid is bound to creep in – for instance, I’ll DEFINITELY be sharing nursery-decor posts with you, since I talk about decorating the rest of my house.  And when the kid arrives, she will be taking a central part in our family adventures, which I’ve already said I plan to blog about regularly.  Finally, I would love to share some of the children’s books that hubby and I read with the Peanut with all of you.  I’ve always loved children’s literature and I’m looking forward to watching the Peanut grow as a reader, from board books to picture books and beyond.  So while I’ll still be sharing the grown-up books I read, I’m also planning to book blog for the Peanut.  (I might even do a  regular or semi-regular feature, but I’ll have to wait to meet the Peanut before I really figure out what form those posts will take.)

So while this isn’t going to be a pregnancy/mom blog, do expect the Peanut to pop up now and again, in family posts and in topics about kids’ books and the occasional kid-friendly home and travel posts I hope to write (when I’ve got enough experience for my tips to be worth something, that is).  And I’ll definitely share the big moments with you – like the big arrival.  But if that kind of stuff isn’t your bag, baby, rest assured that there will be no shortage of grown-up posts too; baby-focused posting will be sporadic around here.  That said…

RESURRECTING “HAPPY TRAILS”

If you’re my father-in-law, you probably remember that back in 2010 I started a “family blog” called “Happy Trails.”  (I say “if you’re my father-in-law” because I’m pretty sure he’s the only one who ever read it.)  The blog was extremely short-lived for a number of reasons, which I’m not going to get into right now.  I left it up, but I didn’t post anything after about September of 2010.

Well, until now… maybe.  I’m considering resurrecting “Happy Trails.”  The idea behind the blog was to document our lives and share the things our family and friends would be interested in reading about.  Well, with a baby on the way, I’ve got no shortage of material, and no shortage of people who want regular updates on the pregnancy (and will be even more anxious for updates after Peanut arrives, no doubt).  So I’m thinking about bringing “Happy Trails” back, either now or once we get into the swing of parenthood.

However.  And this is a big however.  With a baby on the way I’m concerned about privacy.  I use real names on “Happy Trails,” which I generally don’t do here unless the person in question has an online presence of their own volition.  I’m a lot freer with sharing details about my life and my family on “Happy Trails,” and as a result, I don’t want just anyone looking at it.  So I’ve privatized it.  That means that you can ONLY see “Happy Trails” if I’ve specifically invited you.  If I do bring back the blog, I’ll be sending invites to our family and close friends, and then I’ll make an announcement here that it’s up and running again.  If you see that announcement and you haven’t gotten an invitation, let me know and I’ll send you one if I know you.

What do I mean by “if I know you,” you wonder?  If you’re a friend – for example, one of my sorority sisters or other college friends who reads here – and you’d like to be included, send me an email or a Facebook message, or leave me a blog comment.  If you’re a blogging friend or a regular blog reader/commenter here, such that I would recognize your name and email address, leave me a blog comment saying you’d like an invite, and you’ll get one.  I promise I’m not trying to be mean or difficult, but if I’m going to blog about pregnancy and my family, I need to have a comfort level with the people who are reading the blog – and this is how I will get that comfort level.  I promise that, if I know who you are, you’re not going to be excluded (unless you’re the girl who stole my prom date, ‘cuz that’s just uncool).  I just want to make sure that I do actually know who you are, either because I actually have met you in person or  because we have a regular blog interaction.  I think that’s pretty liberal, and definitely fair.

POSTING SCHEDULE CHANGE

When I originally changed my blog format, like I said above, I promised myself that if it ever got to be too much to handle, I’d ease up.  For the past year, approximately, I’ve been blogging Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, with Thursday being food or recipe day.  As life has gotten busier, keeping to that schedule has become extremely challenging, especially on Thursdays.  There have been many weeks where I’ve been so busy that I haven’t developed a fun new recipe to share with you and I’ve had to fall back on old recipes pulled from my archives – which are fun to see again, but that’s not a sustainable way to food blog.  After agonizing over the situation, I’ve concluded that I just don’t have the time and energy, between a 50-hour-per-week job, a long commute, a house, a husband, a baby on the way, and other blogging priorities, to blog regularly about recipes right now, or to keep to a four-days-per-week posting schedule for that matter.

What does that mean?  It means that I’m going to change my posting days to Monday, Wednesday and Friday for the foreseeable future, and that there won’t be a specific day dedicated to posting a recipe.  I think three days per week is doable for me right now, without stressing me out unduly (after all, this is supposed to be fun).  And I’m not saying there will not be recipes on the blog anymore – there will be, when I have good ones to share.  (Which I will – in fact, look for a fun healthy dessert that doubles as a breakfast coming up next week.)  So if you’ve figured out my posting schedule, please keep checking back here, but make it Monday, Wednesday and Friday instead.  If things change again, of course I’ll let you know – but I think this is going to be the most I can do for awhile, what with a baby coming in October.  And I’m okay with that. 

So there you have it!  Those are the ways I see Covered In Flour continuing to evolve and reflect my life and my interests.  And I’m always open to suggestion, so if there’s a topic you’d like to see addressed here – or even just a book you think I should read – lemme know!  I can’t promise to take up every suggestion, but I’m definitely interested in your input.

After a fun but exhausting weekend away, followed by an evening flight and a late drive home from the airport, I arrived to find two cards in my mailbox (among magazines and junk mail).  This was one of them.  I didn’t recognize the handwriting on the envelope, so I hadn’t a clue who it could be from.  It was a gigantic surprise to open the envelope and find a card from my mom’s hairstylist.

C has been cutting and styling my mom’s hair since before I can remember.  She does my mom’s friends’ hair too, and she used to do mine before I moved away.  I always loved her beauty shop – pink and girly, and smelling wonderful from the delicious products she used.  The best part of any haircut from C was when she would play with my hair after cutting it.  I never looked better than on a day when C had her hands in my hair.  (Of course, I went steeply downhill the next day, but that was due to my own laziness.  And C’s haircuts kept better than most.)

In the card, C shared her memory of the first day when I came into her beauty shop, a barely walking baby, and “proceeded to read her a story from one of my favorite books.”  Yep, that sounds like me.  I certainly got a fair amount of reading done while waiting for my mom to get her hair done.

Getting this card put a huge smile on my face.  I had no idea that C still thought of me so fondly – although it makes sense that my mom would fill her in on the things that are going on in my life during their regular appointments.  I’ve read the card over and over and it feels like a big hug from someone special.  Best kind of surprise a girl can find in her mailbox.

I can’t believe 2012 is six months old!  In early January I posted about my disappointment in 2011 (it was a horrible year for me) and my goals for 2012.  I tried to set small, achievable goals.  Here’s how they’re going so far:

BLOG

Goal: Clean up categories and redesign blog to look less like a strictly-food blog and more like the creative space I envision when I write here.

Progress: Very nearly done!  I edited down my categories and added new ones in that reflected my new blogging priorities.  I also changed around the tag cloud so that anyone looking for a recipe for a particular ingredient can find it easily.  And I slipped in a Goodreads widget on the sidebar, so you can see how I liked my recent reads.  I’d still like to change my banner to something new (I’ve had the same banner since I started the blog in 2009) and I’m considering changing my posting schedule.  Details to come if I do go that way.

HOME

Goal: Finish painting!  And plant a gigantic vegetable garden.

Progress: HA! on the painting.  We haven’t done a single room all year.  I’m hoping to get the living room done this summer (if I find a free weekend somewhere) and the baby’s room will be getting a coat or two of zero-VOC paint, but beyond those two rooms, I’m under no illusions that this part of my goal is destined for success.  As for the vegetable garden – well, I have one!  Thanks almost entirely to hubby.  He did an amazing job researching vegetable gardening and did most of the backbreaking work on it while I lay on the couch nursing allergies and napping away my first trimester.  And now the veggies are starting to come in – in fact, we’ll be enjoying our own home-grown peas for dinner tonight.  Thanks, hubby!

FITNESS

Goal: I’d love to run another half marathon, if circumstances are right.

Progress: Not gonna happen this year, for obvious reasons.  I know there are pregnant ladies out there who run half and full marathons, but I’m just not one of them.  I’m focusing on yoga, walking and strength training instead and just trying to stay active up until October.  I might revisit this goal for 2013 – we’ll see.

READING

Goal: Plow through my to-read list and make some headway on reading the books I already own.

Progress: I’m doing relatively well with the to-read list, although I tend to get sidetracked by shiny new releases.  I hope to work more on that in the second half of the year.  As for reading books I already own… nope.  I got sucked into a vortex of book-borrowing at the library.  But I’m still calling it a win, because the intention behind the goal was to save some money, and library books are free (unless you return them late, of course).

LIFE

Goal: Wake up smiling and live each day with exuberance.

Progress: Life’s a journey, and nothing happens overnight.  But in general I’m a much happier, sunnier person this year than I was last year.  I have my good days and my bad days, like everyone.  But I love my life!  And that helps to keep the smiles coming.

BIG DREAM

I also mentioned that I had a big goal and a big dream, but I wasn’t ready to share them… although in the comments, I promised to tell what they both were if the dream came true.  In thinking about it, I’m still not ready to tell you about the big goal, because it’s on hold but I’m hoping to revisit it in the future.  But I will tell you the big dream: it was to add to the family.  Obviously we’re not quite there yet (less than four months to go!) but getting the news that we’re expecting our baby girl was amazing.  And while pregnancy is a constant emotional teeter-totter – from overjoyed to worried and back again – it’s been wonderful and I can’t wait to celebrate baby girl’s safe arrival in October.  She’s already a dream come true.

How is 2012 treating you so far?

I spend a lot of days drifting from one task to the next and end up feeling like I didn’t do much of anything.  Tuesdays are my worst – at work, we call them “Terrible Tuesdays” because you’re lacking that Monday spark and motivation, yet the weekend is nowhere in sight.  (Today’s not quite as bad for me, since I had yesterday off – so it’s more like a Monday than a Tuesday.  Love that.)  So today, I’m planning to make it an awesome day.  Here’s how:

• Be totally present and focused on whatever I’m doing.  No letting my mind jump ahead to start stressing about the next task while I’m still working on the present task.  I’ll just be there, with my mind zeroed in on whatever it is doing at the time.
• Eat a super healthy lunch.  I have one packed!  Green salad with sliced peaches, goat cheese and a few chopped pecans; leftover tofu in red curry sauce from the weekend; grapes.
• And while I’m eating that super healthy lunch, take a REAL break from the computer.
• Mail some (overdue) birthday cards I owe people.
• Relax with a book this evening, and don’t get distracted or jump around cleaning.

Happy Tuesday!  Let’s make it a good one.

The end of the U.S. space shuttle program has been big news for awhile.  Many people – myself included – are sad to see these incredibly special shuttles forever grounded.  I suppose it was inevitable – that one day the shuttles would go from being working machines to pieces of American history… and while I’m sure that NASA will reinvigorate itself and come up with new and innovative ways to explore, it will never quite be the same as during the shuttle era.  But, no matter how we feel about it, the shuttle program is over and the shuttles are on their way to their permanent homes in museums around the country.  Atlantis is staying in Florida to become a permanent exhibition at Kennedy Space Center; Endeavor is headed to Los Angeles, California, and Discovery came to us in Washington, D.C., to take up residence at the Smithsonian.  (We already had a shuttle – the prototype Enterprise – which will be moved up to New York by floating on a barge up the Hudson River – pretty cool.)

Last week, Discovery arrived in D.C. on the back of a 747.  I, sadly, missed its flight over Washington, D.C.  I was at work and saw people in the streets, so I ran downstairs to join the fun, but unfortunately the shuttle had already made a few loops around the city and headed off to land at Dulles International Airport by the time I got there.  But hubby would not have missed the shuttle’s last flight for the world, and he headed down to the big party on the National Mall, where the best views could be seen.  He very generously agreed to let me share his pictures with you…

Discovery approaches the Mall, escorted by a couple of fighter jets.  They were about 5 minutes early, so many people missed the initial approach.  Lucky hubby just happened to be looking in the right direction.

Discovery loops over the Mall and the Smithsonian buildings for the entertainment of the crowds.  On the left is the Washington Monument.

Some birds wanted to get in on the action.

They made several passes over the Mall and looped around the Northwest quadrant of the city a few times, only departing for Dulles when the escort jets got down to fuel critical levels.

“Might I suggest holding the morning staff meeting on the roof today, Sir?”

Discovery is now at the Smithsonian out near Dulles, and I can’t wait to visit it.  And while I’m looking forward to seeing where our space explorations lead in the future…  There will never be anything quite like the shuttle program.

Thanks for the memories, Discovery.