January

12 Books

January’s book was One Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus. It tells the story of May Dodd, one of the women who volunteered to help fulfill a fictional treaty between president Grant and the chief of the Cheyenne that outlined a trade of one thousand white women for one thousand horses. The white women were to marry Cheyenne men and bear their children to help them assimilate into a white society. The premise was interesting, and I was invested enough in the story to see it through to the end. However, this book won’t make my favorites list. I found a lot of the characters to be overly stereotyped and the ending to be wretchedly depressing and abrupt.

12 Recipes

This month I made spinach and squash lasagna. The end result was, shall we say, rough around the edges. The noodles stuck together and the sauce was too thin, but in the end, it was edible and really rather tasty. I will take it as my first try.

12 Blog Posts

Click here to read an explanation of why I started this project and why I chose the categories I did. It’s my first post in a long time, and not my best work, but I thought was important to post it anyway.

12 Ways to Meet People

This month, I went to a talk sponsored by the Illinois Science Council, an organization dedicated to putting on events for lay people interested in science. There are many organizations that do such things for the arts (so explained the organizer), but very few for science. The talk was about how physical movement contributes to learning. It was interesting and a broad mix of people. I hope to go to more such events in the coming year. In particular, they have one coming up on the chemistry of spirits (as in alcohol, not ghosts).

12 Small Steps Forward in my Career

In January I made some efforts to find out about new projects that are starting at my workplace. I went to a planning meeting about some new grants I feel that I could contribute to developing and writing. I’m hoping this leads to new opportunities that build on other work I’ve done in the past.

12 Fun Events in Chicagoland

On January 25, the day before my birthday, 10 friends and I completed a room escape adventure! We were locked in a room with a zombie and had to solve puzzles to get out. We did a similar room last year, and did not escape, but this year we got out with 16 minutes to spare! It was great fun.

12 Crafts and Creations

This month, I made these fun flip mittens for my dear friend, Shannon. They feature a flippy thumb for easy texting, fleece lining for warm fingers, and a pretty flower decoration that doubles as a button hole to hold the finger flippy part back! I’m particularly proud of these because I designed the flower decoration myself, with no pattern, and more importantly because Shannon liked them.

12 Pretty Things for My Apartment

Here are my new, brightly colored shower curtain and towels!

12 Things that Help Me Feel Good about My Appearance

My generous friend Alicia gave me a prepaid haircut for a Christmas and birthday gift! I got it cut the weekend of my birthday. Here’s a photo of my new look. I also pre-paid my next four appointments in an effort to make sure I keep up on my haircuts.

12 Grown-Up Things

I spent several hours one afternoon getting a handle on my retirement savings. I won’t pretend to understand everything, but at least now I know what accounts I have, what I and my employer contribute to them, which investment companies hold the accounts, and roughly what I can expect to have at retirement if I continue to make the same contributions until age 65. In a few years, once my student loans are paid off, I can go to a financial planner to rethink my investments, but for now I am satisfied.