kellycain.com

Something weird happens around holiday weekends, such as this one, labor day, our anniversary, but then toss in a Category 4, downgraded to a Cat 3 hurricane, it’s sure to delay productivity, and get you off track. If I hadn’t known about Earl, I’m sure my day would have been a lot more productive.

My twitter stream filled up quickly with people hashtagging Earl, storm trackers, news stations, it was the news that mattered. And I, too, fell into it. I mean, I would google it, track it, even turn on the tv every now and then just to see what the “professionals” were saying.

I made this video as sort of a joke, after I posted to facebook my status that read:

Since Al, came up with the genius idea, and at the same time the sky turned a weird bright red color, I decided, I would make a spoof news report.

Nothing like poking some fun at a Category 4.

I always love finding new recipes. In fact, it’s so fun to me to get cookbooks from the library to broaden my recipe selection.

A few days ago, I made stuffed acorn squash. Unfortunately I don’t have pictures to go with this, and therefore no proof that I actually made it, so I’ll be making 3 more recipes. The recipe though, was delicious.

Today, I made a pasta salad, with a few ingredients I had sitting around, cucumber, basil, pepperoni, olives, and some delicious roasted garlic & parmesan dressing.

It turned out deliciously, and will be a good item to take on our trip tomorrow.

So, this is one of three, pasta salad, catch all, it didn’t have a recipe, but it didn’t need one. It was delicious with a few cracks of fresh pepper.

And so it is, I am 1/3rd complete with #7 on my 30 days to 30 list, make 3 new recipes.

There are a few things that taste better than homemade salsa. (other than cheesecake and caramel machiattos, of course).

The secret here, I believe is in getting the freshest tomatoes you can find, and stocking it full of locally grown produce. It’s like a farmer’s brag bag jar.

As you know, I’m reading Animal Vegetable Miracle and have been so very inspired to grow my own food & live off the land. Since that can’t fully happen yet, because well, let’s face it – I live in an apartment. I’ve decided to shop for locally grown foods as much as possible.

But since August was tomato month, it was very easy to get delicious, juicy, red orbs. So many, that I’ve made 9 jars of salsa so far (& counting).

So, I set out to make salsa with this deliciousness.

I mean who can disagree, these things are delicious!

I’m pretty sure I could eat it just like this, not blended, one bit. But just as delicious and colorful.

Into the blender she goes..

that, my friends, is what 4 jars of salsa looks like.

jar it, pose it, photograph it.

A beautiful thing about this post is that I can check off 2 things from the 30to30 list.

27. Make homemade salsa. &
28. Food blog.

These are now checked off & the benefit of checking these off is that I now have 4 jars of salsa in my fridge. Yum.

It’s official. I joined the ranks of having an email address at a domain. I contemplated the many different words that I could put in front of the @ symbol, but just opted for simply me.

So, please do email me at me@kellycain.com. Although it will sit in cyberspace for awhile, until I get it routed to my Apple Mail inbox.

With that, #14, is checked off the 30 to 30 list.

Don’t forget you can see all of the 30 to 30 posts here.

For #15, finish one of the 4 web projects currently in motion. Can be checked off the 30 to 30 list.

utkcru.org officially launched on Sunday night, but it’s been a slow leak of sorts.

The actual website was migrated from utkcru.wordpress.org to this site, now up and running.

It gives the utkcru team a lot of functionality because it’s a wordpress.org site. There is a you tube video in the upper right hand corner that will allow them to feature an announcement for upcoming events or get out timely info.

There is also a lot of cool little details that the utkcru team needed to solve some of their admin issues. One of the things they told me when talking with them was that they needed some type of way to track email addresses for email sign ups. With this website, they can have the student enter it on the page and the email address goes right into Mad Mimi. (she may be mad, but she is sensational!)

See all 30 to 30 updates here.

I’m so proud to say that I have a clean desktop as #12 references:

only 3 icons remain. My HD, it’s not going anywhere, and my automator photo resizer and it’s destination folder. (If these are moved, they refuse to work) A new one needs to be created and put in a more discreet place, but that’s for a different list.

Oh and #13, a yard sale has been scheduled, in true Dave Ramsey-esque form, October 30th, details to follow. Save the date.

Don’t forget to track the 30 to 30 progress here.

With this post, I can check off a few from the 30to30 list.

#5 Launch Half’s fall line at Hallelu – a humongo success! Thanks to everyone who made it out! With this new fall line, you give 50 school meals to a child in need with each product you purchase. That’s HALF a year!

Also, #6,  Be well on the way to debt free:  of which Jer informed me, that we are right on track, we just need to stay the course. We have one, I repeat ONE student loan that stands between us and debt free. Then it’s on to step 3, then 3b (saving for a house!)

#21 Take the high road, proves to be a repeated guest star in my life lately, so I’m sure this will be checked off more than thrice!

#22 Clean out my drawers and closets. – I cleaned out my drawers this weekend, with a pretty big pile of clothes to donate & sell. I still need to go through the ol closet before this one gets completely checked off.

Check back for more, 30to30 fun.

In 30 days, I’ll be 30 years old or 10,680 days old. Dang. I really shouldn’t have multiplied 30 by any number.

So, in honor of these next 30 days I’ve decided that I’ll do something to honor my 30 years on each of these days. It will be an intense run of 30 days, but I think it will be worth it.

I am glad to be sharing this journey with you. Outlined below are the 30 things I will do on each of the days to follow. In no particular order.

1. Sign up for a photography class & go! (to start on Sept. 14th!)
2. Complete the mud run, maybe even with a swim cap on! (on Sept.25th)
3. Celebrate one year of marriage! (Sept 4th!)
4. Complete one sewing project, (my eye is on several)
5. Launch Half’s fall line (August 28th, 7pm, Hallelu) (done)
6. Be well on the way to debt free. (it’s getting there, oh Sallie Mae, I have never wanted you out of my life more) (done)
7. Make 3 new recipes. (one for every 10 days) (first, second, third)
8. Find out about personal training.
9. See Inception. (thanks to this deal, it will now be a reality soon! you can sign up here.)
10. Make a flower like this. (or a few)
11. Clean out my inbox. (Practical, but necessary)
12. Clean off my desktop (see above) (&done)
13. Schedule a yard sale for October (done)
14. Get an @kellycain.com email address (done)
15. Finish at least one of the 4 web projects currently in motion. (done)
16. Rename my business.
17. Get back into the Wii Fit.
18. Catch up on My One Word Journal
19.  Finish Animal, Vegetable, Miracle
20. Make homemade cheese.
21. Take the high road. (had the opportunity to do that yesterday, and today) (in progress)
22. Clean out my drawers and closets. (seriously, I don’t wear half of these clothes any more) (in progress)
23. Paint.
24. Make progress on my business plan.
25. Replace my green pitcher.
26. Get a new, unlined notebook.
27. Make homemade salsa. (done)
28. Food blog. (done)
29. Go to ikea. (fun fact: the first Ikea I ever went to was in Budapest, Hungary, the 2nd was in Bratislava, Slovakia)
30. Print wedding pictures. A year later, and I still have none printed, an outrage!

So, there it is, my list, ambitious for 30 days? Perhaps? But it’s also just a glorified to do list, in a way.

You can track my progress here.

My favorite restaurant in Wilmington has this phrase on it’s marquis board (props to who ever knows which restuarant this is!)… since reading it a few days ago, I’ve thought about how to be more intentional about loving people around me. It’s so easy to live our lives without noticing anyone else but ourselves, so sad.

A couple of things happened to me, out of the blue that were random, and kind, and made an impact on my day. It’s the simple things.

Random act #1: Driving down 17th, twds shipyard, that lane that turns into a left turn every time, and seems to gets me every time. It seemed as if no one would let me over, then a guy in a white SUV, let me in, just in the knick of time. Thank you white SUV guy.

Random act #2: My computer was dead, the battery needed plugging in. PCJ has limited, coveted outlet space along the wall, there was no room, and I did not have my extension cable… but then, a guy let me share his table, just so that I could use an outlet. How kind.

What could you do today that’s a random act of kindness? What kind of random acts of kindness have you seen displayed?

A few days ago, Jeremy brought home a gallon bag full of fresh blueberries. What else was I to do, but to make a blueberry tart and blueberry muffins. I still have many more recipes I’d like to make with these wonder-berries. Here are a couple of the recipes that I made and a picture of the finished product. I don’t claim to be a food blogger, but maybe that will soon change!

Now this here y’all is a blueberry tart, from Paula Dean’s collection of delicious recipes. The recipe itself calls for blueberry pie filling, but I wanted to use fresh berries, so I did a little somethin’ somethin’ to ‘em, which means, I put them in a pan, with some lemon juice, cinammon and powdered sugar, turned up the heat and let ‘em simmer. I didn’t let them break down too much, just enough to let them soak up the flava flav of the sugar. Oh my goodness, it was so delicious. I took it to small group on Monday, so it could be enjoyed fully without adding damage to my hips.

Another delicious recipe was these blueberry muffins, the name says it all, browned butter blueberry muffins, oh good gracious, they were so delicious. I enjoyed one with a glass of cold milk. The topping really makes them over-the-top delish.

Anyone up for brunch?