Mmm.. Garlic!

So last night I made two of my favorite dishes for dinner. First I made Gypsy Soup, a sweet and spicy vegetable soup that I have made over and over again. It's low calorie and delicious!

The next dish I made, unfortunately is not low-calorie, but it is sooooo good! (If you're a garlic fan). Garlic & Goat Cheese Spread served with Crostini:

I got this recipe from an old coworker. I'm only allowed to make it once a year, as it makes the entire house reek of garlic. Here's how you make it:

INGREDIENTS:
1 head of garlic (about 10 cloves)
2 medium red onions, thinly sliced
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp brown sugar
10oz goat cheese (I used an 8oz package and it worked fine)
Balsamic Vinegar
Fresh basil (for garnish), chopped
Baguette
Olive Oil & Sea Salt

1. Roast the garlic in the oven. About 40-50 minutes.
2. Saute red onions in butter and brown sugar, until carmelized.
3. Layer garlic and onions in oven-safe baking dish. Top with goat cheese.
4. Bake in the oven @ 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
5. Next slice up your bread and put it onto a baking pan. Drizzle with olive oil and sea salt. Bake/broil in the oven until toasted (on both sides).
6. Once the dip is ready, drizzle with the balsamic vinegar and garnish with the basil.
7. Serve hot!

Routine

The first thing on my list of goals for 2010 is to create a new routine for myself. Not having a normal 9-5 job to force one on me, its hard to create my own. I've been thinking about what the best routine would be for me with my new self-employment. This has sorta been my 'routine' lately:

9-10am: Wake up
10-11am: Stare at computer/check email/etsy/facebook
11-4pm: Work (with lunch added in somewhere between 1-3pm)
4pm: Go to gym/go to work
6pm: Shower/Dinner
7pm-11pm: Maybe work more/watch movie/craft/stare at computer

What I don't like about that routine:
-I've only been putting in about 5-6 hours of work every day or I'm working well into the evening after dinner.
-I have a tendency to stay in my pajamas all day
-I also have a tendency of snacking all day
-The gym at 4-5pm is always packed

I want to commit to a set routine because, having a 9-5 job last year helped me to understand that having scheduled work/food/exercise times every day really helped me stay motivated, get things done and feel good. Kristin from the Craft Leftovers blog really helped me to see what my routine needs to be. And as much as I hate getting up early, I gotta do it!

Here is what I think my new routine will be (starting tomorrow):

8AM: Wake up
8:30AM: Go to gym
10AM: Shower/Breakfast
10:30AM: Work
1PM: Lunch (only take about 20 minutes)
5PM: Tidy up/Wrap up projects
6PM: Dinner
9:30PM: OFF
11:30PM: Bedtime

From 6-9:30PM will stay open for doing whatever I want whether its be social/work/whatever. By 9:30PM I want to make myself stop everything that I'm doing. I make a lot of my product at night, while sitting in front of the TV. I can sit there all night until I go to bed! Another thing on my list of goals is to read more. I want to use the time from 9:30-11:30 to read or work on a personal art/craft project.

I recently started working part time at the Rose Garden. My shifts start at 4pm, so this will screw with the above routine. So here is my alternative routine for those days:

8AM: Wake up
8:30AM: Go to gym
10AM: Shower/Breakfast
10:30AM: Work
1PM: Lunch
3PM: Tidy up/Wrap up projects
3:30PM: Eat snack/Get ready to go
3:45PM: Leave for work

Yikes. We'll see how this new routine works out. I've found that it takes me about 6 weeks for something to become habit. I'm going to give myself that much time to get into this. After week six I will evaluate and make any necessary adjustments. Wish me luck!

Goals for 2010

PERSONAL GOALS:
- Create a new routine (w/ exercise at least 3x per week, regular eating times, work, sleep)
- Get my own apartment
- Read more
- Spend more time in nature (go hiking)
- Go camping
- Make my own clothes (I haven't done this since high school)
- Volunteer for local Girl Scouts
- Paint the wooden bowls my grandpa made for me

WORK GOALS:
- Relaunch my freelance portfolio website
- Redesign my blog
- Introduce new product lines (for Camp Smartypants)
- Be featured in a magazine
- Be a guest vendor at the Portland Saturday Market

Goodbye 2009

I can't believe that this year is almost over. I feel like so much has happened in my life this year. I thought I'd take a look back on the 2009 Goals I wrote last January to see how I did...

1. PORTFOLIO SITE: I relaunched rachelbeyer.com last February. Now of course, it needs some major updating for 2010...

2. CAMP SMARTYPANTS: Quitting my fulltime job and moving to Portland to focus on my own business really helped me come a long way with Camp Smartypants! I went way beyond opening my shop on Etsy. I developed tons of new products, worked at craft shows in both Portland and Seattle, and managed to get a few blog features!

3. PORTLAND: After living in Seattle for 5 years, I moved back home to Portland last June. I have to say I absolutely love it here. There are certain things I definitely miss about Seattle, but my heart has always stayed in Portland. And it feels so good to finally be home.

4. GYM: This I have to say feels like my biggest accomplishment. I know everyone has "Lose Weight" on their New Year's Resolution lists, but this year I actually did it! I totally bit the bullet, hired a personal trainer and hit the gym 3x per week (no excuses). And after 6 months of working out and relentless calorie counting I lost 30 lbs!! I am truly amazed with myself because I've tried doing this in the past and had always failed. I found out the key to making it to the gym is routine (going the same 3 days at the same time every week). Moving to Portland pretty much changed my whole life and I totally lost the routine I had when I lived in Seattle. I still make it to the gym but not as regularly and I stopped calorie-counting for a while... which resulted in gaining 6 lbs back.. ugh! So my new goal for 2010- find my new routine and stick with it.

5-6. WATER & COOKING: Drinking 8 glasses of water every day is SO HARD! I did really try, but felt like I was constantly running to the bathroom to pee! I swear it goes right through me. As for cooking, the calorie-counting really helped with that. I completely changed my eating habits (which in 2008 tended to be a lot of eating out and a lot of alcohol). I definitely decreased my alcohol consumption and increased my cooking-at-home nights as well as packing my own lunches to take to work. Again, my eating habits have changed since moving to Portland. Now that I live with my family its way harder to control what I eat and who could resist mom's amazing cooking!

7. TAKE AN ART CLASS: I took a drawing workshop last June with Jill Bliss. It was a lot of fun and really great to meet a local artist I truly admire.

8. START & FINISH A PAINTING: This is the only thing on my list that I didn't get to. BUT- I did do a bunch of other creative things this year like:
Make a set of embroidered skull pillows for my friends Cari and Nick:


Let's not forget my amazing Lion costume I made for Halloween:

And I did some art journaling/collage work in an old book called, Just Be Yourself. The perfect book for defacing, in my opinion:






Overall I have to say that I'm pretty proud of my 2009. Not everything about this year was painless or easy, but I was able to overcome obstacles, grow/change as a person, succeed in my goals, and be happy. What else could you ask for really?

Thanks to everyone who has supported and encouraged me this year, I couldn't have done it without you!

Hey guess what?

I just found out I was featured on the Try Handmade Blog. Pretty cool, eh?

Fashion Inspiration

Reading through my blog list this afternoon... found some pretty fashion photos to share.








via dressdesigndecor

New pouches in the shop!

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