In honor of my 33rd birthday, here are 33 things that I’d like to do/try before reaching 34 (God willing):
1. Go on an adult vacation: Preferably an island–any island! I went to Cancun and had a nice time
2. Have my baby boy potty trained: He will be 21 months then.
3. Make time to pursue my hobbies
4. Decide if I want to attend law school No, I’ll stick to the education industry.
5. Find a place of worship
6. Find a great, simple recipe for mac and cheese Thanks to Suzanne, half and half, and cooking creme
7. A serious relationship: I am lonely
8. Make a pink champagne cake Very rich and decadent!
9. Start/finish my a scrapbook for my mother
10. Gain 10 pounds: In my opinion there is a such thing as being too thin
11. Have a family vacation somewhere where there is a beach–Australia maybe
12. Compliment/encourage someone at least once a day
13. Pray more
14. Keep a resilient attitude
15. Read at least 10 good books that are not work related: The Help,
16. Manage my time more efficiently
17. Stop and smell the roses
18. Develop a plan for my debts
19. Be grateful for the smALL things
20. Consciously choose to forgive those who have hurt me
21. Finish the Old Testament
22. Take a class–likely pertaining to my career
23. Cook whatever I want to eat
24. Start an online business
25. Organize the garage
26. Create a formal will: Shame on me that I don’t have this done by now!
27. Save more, spend less
28. Stop using retail as therapy
29. Exercise patience
30. Stop taking everything to heart
31. Laugh more: Sometimes I am such a wet blanket
32. Be more creative with my wardrobe
33. Spend twice as much more QUALITY time with my kids
Morocco's Bazaar 
Happy Birthday! I think this is a brilliant list. Most of it is very attainable, good for you and for the people around you, and life enhancing. I think you can make it if you can decide if you want to attend law school, add to your current career or start an online business. You do all 3 and #s 7 and 33 will fall to the side. 🙂
When you say simple mac and cheese recipe, what do you mean? I can send mine, but it’s seriously HARD core bad for you (Wait! You want to gain weight. Maybe it’s the BEST thing!). Not hard, but making a sauce and then baking the casserole. I’ll find it for you.
Thanks Suzanne! You crack me up!
First recipe to help with #10. Do not serve it to the weird guy at work or he’ll love you even more. You DO NOT need that. You ain’t ever gonna be THAT lonely.
This recipe never fails unless you’re in a health-food obsessed environment. I’m sure Paula Deen has something to do with it, given the butter content. If you need a quick something to take to a pot luck this fall, this is for you.
1-16oz can of pumpkin
1-14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup sugar
3 eggs
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1-box (2 layer) yellow cake mix
1 cup chopped pecans (I use a lot more than this!)
1 cup melted butter
Combine first 6 ingredients in a bowl; mix well. Pour into a greased 9×13 pan (you can line it with waxed paper IF you plan to invert it onto a platter). Cover with the dry cake mix. Pat pecans into cake mix. Drizzle melted butter over pecans. Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes or until lightly brown. If you’re me, you just cut the cake in the pan and serve as is with the crisp on top.
Now… If you follow the directions in my cookbook, you invert the cake onto a serving platter and remove the waxed paper. Then you do this…
1-8 oz pkg cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup whipped topping
1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar
Blend the cream cheese, whipped topping and confectioner’s sugar in a bowl. Spread over cooked cake. Chill until serving time.
The recipe comes from Colonial Family Favorites: A Collection of Recipes by Women’s Ministries of Colonial Baptist Church. The receipt author is Jennifer Rock. Since it’s a church cookbook, the bible verse on this page is: John 6:47-48 — Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life.”
Ikr, none for the work place stalker! Sounds so yummy! I have all of the ingredients so I’ll give this a try.
Happy Birthday Beautiful Lady!!! I hope you get everything on your list! 😀 Have a fabulous birthday!
You make me blush, thank you my friend!
This might help with #6 or it might not be easy enough.
This is, for the most part, Taed and Keb’s favorite thing that I make. Sometimes, I get a little heavy-handed with the cheese. Then Keb complains. It’s from The Tasha Tudor Cookbook.
* 2 cups of elbow macaroni
* 5 tablespoons of butter (only 4 TBSP if you’re skipping the topping)
* 1/4 cup flour
* 2 cups of milk (obviously the more fat in the milk the thicker and richer the sauce)
* 1 cup sharp cheddar cheese
* salt and pepper to taste (if using salted butter, you might want to skip the salt)
* 4 ounces or so of Velveeta (yes, the PROCESSED CHEESE FOOD)
* 1/2 cup or so of Ritz crackers for the topping (if you’re making it)
NOW THE DIRECTIONS!
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
2. Butter or spray your casserole dish. You should use a 2 qt or larger dish.
3. Cook the macaroni al dente according to package directions. DO NOT OVERCOOK OR YOUR mac n cheese will be MUSHY and NASTY
4. Drain it while you prepare the sauce. In fact, drain it and put it into the baking dish. Toss in some Velveeta cubes with it.
5. In a saucepan melt 4 tbsp of butter and add the flour. Essentially you’re making a roux. Cook the flour for at LEAST one minute, but you can go longer. I get mine a good light brown instead of “blonde”.
6. Whisk in the milk and stir until it all thickens. It should coat the back of a spoon. This is like a Bechamel sauce. At this point I actually add a little nutmeg to give it flavor. Usually this is where salt and pepper come in. I’d pepper, but not salt given the salt in the cheese.
7. When thick, add the cheese and stir until it’s melted. Season with salt.
8. Throw in some Velveeta chunks but don’t melt all the way.
9. Pour the sauce over the macaroni that you already placed into the casserole.
10. Stir gently to mix it all up.
11. Sprinkle the Ritz crackers on the top and dot with the last bit of butter.
12. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until browned.
Okay, thank you I will definitely be making this. I’ve been looking long and hard for a good one!
Happy birthday Morocco. I hope you have a wonderful day. You have a great “to do” list. I admire you.
Thank you so much 🙂
Happy Birthday my friend! I hope you have a wonderful day as a start to a great year!
Thanks friend!
Happy Happy Birthday Morocco! I’ve been reading a ton of books lately. I usually always do read but I’m all over the map when it comes to a type of book. I do have some suggestions at hand, but is there a genre you like?.
Thank you! I really don’t like sci-fi. However, I am open to read most anything! I’d love to hear your suggestions.
Happy belated birthday! I hope it was a good one! I suppose I should make a list too, since I just celebrated a birthday…
As far as some good books to read…I just finished The Hunger Games trilogy. Quite good. You might like them.
Happy Belated Birthday. You have the same birthday as a friend of mine from college. She is sweet & crazy. I really need to make a do list. This year I will be making 41!
Love that list! Happy belated birthday!!
Thanks Girl! Are you still blogging?
Hey! happy belated birthday! May all 33 of your goals come true! 🙂
Thank you! Awww man, that would be wonderful!