Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day! 

I hope you had a good one.  Attached or single, there is alway something or someone to love!  

I am currently loving my chocolates and candies class this week.  I made all of the treats pictured including the chocolate box.  Tomorrow I have caramels to cut then dip in chocolate and I'll be making a chocolate centerpiece.  Looking forward to telling you about it!

30 Before 30: 6 Month Update

In 6 months, I'll be turning 30.  Let's see how I'm doing on my list.


30 Before 30:
(in no particular order)

1. Attend a concert at Blossom (We're going to go when the Cleveland Orchestra plays music from John Williams)
2. Keep in touch with people better (I suck at this)
3. Blog more regularly (so far so good, the real test will be over the summer when I always seem to drop off)
4. Participate in a blog swap (I guest posted on EatDrinkCleveland! And last fall OBA hosted a blog swap, I posted on Amie's blog.)
   
5. Sing karaoke in public (I sang Wilson Phillips "Hold On" by myself, then I made a few people sing "Love Shack" with me)
6. Bake for a good cause (I'm baking cookies as a thank you for people donating to my siblings Tour de Cure fund.  I've been sending treats overseas through Operation Baking Gals for the past few months.  If you know anyone in the military, send me their information and I can get a group together to send stuff over.)
7. Visit my sister in Atlanta (I've been keeping my eye on airfare to go down when some of my family is visiting this month)
8. Visit my brother in New Orleans
9. Volunteer more (I've volunteered at the Cleveland Foodbank, WJWC Fashion Show, and made Jump Ball Ball decorations)
10. Attend a Tremont Art Walk 
11. Visit one of Cleveland's beaches
12. Now that the elephants are back in their new habitat, I want to visit the zoo again.
13. Visit the MetroParks outside of Solon
14. Host more parties (I've hosted 4 parties in 6 months)
15. Learn how to draw
16. Spend less time on the computer (major fail on this one, but at least I am watching less TV)
17. Visit Stan Hywet Hall
18. Try to relax (I had a major breakthrough last weekend!  I was home all day on Saturday and did nothing productive, the kicker was that I didn't feel guilty about it!)
19. Make our wedding album (our 5 year anniversary is a month before I turn 30)
20. Visit the West Side more often (I have been rocking this)
21. Attend a Lake Erie Monsters game (I forgot how much fun hockey games are, probably the best sport to watch live.)
22. Attend a Burning River Roller Girls bout (We went last night and it was really cool!)
23. Go skydiving (I bought a Groupon to do this!!  I'm so excited/scared!)
24. Learn how to use some of the features on our camera (I've been experimenting with the focal length when I take food pictures)
25. Go tobogganing (Didn't get to this.  Didn't have much of a winter this year, so hopefully next year.)
26. Be more positive about day to day stuff
27. Try at least 6 new restaurants (This was a lot easier than I thought with the help of Girl's Night Out:  Taste, Washington Place Bistro, Tartine Bistro, Indian Delight, Noodle Cat, Cowell and Hubbard, Hodges, SOHO)
28. Drink more wine (started off really well, but it's slowed down, lately I've been drinking more beer)
29. Visit Cleveland's Asiatown and eat dim sum
30. Exercise more (I'm on and off with this, I need to make it a higher priority)

30 Before 30 - 3 Month Update

It's been 3 months since my 29th birthday, let's see how I'm doing so far.
By the looks of things, I haven't made much progress, but if it's an ongoing goal, I haven't crossed it off.

30 Before 30:
(in no particular order)

1. Attend a concert at Blossom
2. Keep in touch with people better (some progress, but not much, I really need to be better about this)
3. Blog more regularly (so far so good, I've been keeping up with at least one post a week)
4. Participate in a blog swap OBA hosted a blog swap (I posted on Amie's blog and she posted on mine)
   
5. Sing karaoke in public (I'm really itching to do this, maybe one of our girl's nights should include karaoke)
6. Bake for a good cause (I'm currently working on an idea for this, it'll be ongoing, not just a one time deal)
7. Visit my sister in Atlanta
8. Visit my brother in New Orleans
9. Volunteer more (nothing yet, but have some coming up)
10. Attend a Tremont Art Walk  (Who's free on Friday March 9?  And where's the best place to meet?)
11. Visit one of Cleveland's beaches
12. Now that the elephants are back in their new habitat, I want to visit the zoo again.
13. Visit the MetroParks outside of Solon (the weather's been so nice for winter, I really have no excuse for not doing this yet)
14. Host more parties (I've already hosted 3)
15. Learn how to draw
16. Spend less time on the computer (major fail on this one, but at least I am watching less TV)
17. Visit Stan Hywet Hall
18. Try to relax (hmm, I'll have to ask Kevin what he thinks about this one . . . I think I'm doing better now that the holidays are over)
19. Make our wedding album (our 5 year anniversary is a month before I turn 30)
20. Visit the West Side more often (I have been rocking this, I've crossed the River at least 3 times)
21. Attend a Lake Erie Monsters game (only two more months left in the season)
22. Attend a Burning River Roller Girls match (if we can get at least 10 people in on this, we can get special pricing, the season starts on 3/10)
23. Go skydiving
24. Learn how to use some of the features on our camera (I've been experimenting with the focal length when I take food pictures)
25. Go tobogganing (not much of a winter this year, I'm hoping we'll get at least one more good snow)
26. Be more positive about day to day stuff (I don't know that I'm more positive, but I am happier than I was a few months ago.)
27. Try at least 6 new restaurants (This is going to be a lot easier than I thought due to more opportunities to dine out.  4 down, 2 to go: Taste, Washington Place Bistro, Tartine Bistro, Indian Delight)
28. Drink more wine (started off really well, but slowed in January)
29. Visit Cleveland's Asiatown and eat dim sum
30. Exercise more (so far so good, although I didn't really start this until January)

New Domain Name & Fan Page

Yesterday was a productive day as far as this blog is concerned.  I got my own domain name:  sarahberridge.com and created a Facebook fan page.  Go ahead, Like Me.  I also (finally) fixed all the broken pictures on some of the old posts.  I never did figure out why random pictures were breaking, but at least it's not happening anymore.

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30 Before 30

I've been noticing a lot of personal lists online lately, and some of you know how much I love lists.  Have you seen my Culinary To Make List?  I have a little less than a year to finish out my twenties, and I thought a 30 before 30 list would be fun.  Some of these items will also help me get out of the house during the long Cleveland winter (we had our first snow last night).

30 Before 30:
(in no particular order)

1. Attend a concert at Blossom
2. Keep in touch with people better
3. Blog more regularly
4. Participate in a blog swap
5. Sing karaoke in public
6. Bake for a good cause
7. Visit my sister in Atlanta
8. Visit my brother in New Orleans
9. Volunteer more
10. Attend a Tremont Art Walk
11. Visit one of Cleveland's beaches
12. Now that the elephants are back in their new habitat, I want to visit the zoo again.
13. Visit the MetroParks outside of Solon
14. Host more parties
15. Learn how to draw
16. Spend less time on the computer
17. Visit Stan Hywet Hall
18. Try to relax
19. Make our wedding album (our 5 year anniversary is a month before I turn 30)
20. Visit the west side more often
21. Attend a Lake Erie Monsters game
22. Attend a Burning River Roller Girls match
23. Go skydiving
24. Learn how to use some of the features on our new camera
25. Go tobogganing
26. Be more positive about day to day stuff
27. Try at least 6 new restaurants
28. Drink more wine
29. Visit Cleveland's Asiatown and eat dim sum
30. Exercise more

Okay, who wants to make a date to start scratching some of these items off?