New Things: Weeks 4 & 5

With all the magic of the holidays distracting me, I've gotten a little behind with posting! Here's a recap of the new things I've tried in the last two weeks.

1. Indoor cycling
After looking through the glass to watch the indoor cycling class at my gym more than once, I finally decided to give it a go. Thankfully, my gym offers a beginner class, so I made a point to start with that so it would feel less intimidating. To be honest, my butt took quite a beating(!), but the workout was awesome. I love all the visualization and the way you can set your own pace, and the music is fun (especially since Christmas music was the theme for the class I attended!). I am definitely looking forward to working more cycling (of the indoor variety) into my exercise routine.

2. Making my own pie crust
Like baking bread, making a pie crust from scratch seemed like one of those things that should be easy to do but which I found myself either too intimidated or too lazy to try. Dan requested an apple pie for Christmas dinner dessert, so I thought that would be the perfect time to give it a go! As with the bread, it was much easier than I expected (especially with the help of this great tutorial from Real Simple), and it turned out yummy. I forgot to protect the outer part of the crust with foil, so it got a bit burned, and my poor little stars also suffered from a lack of protection and ended up with some burnt little points. Overall, though, the crust was flaky and buttery and delicious--and not too shabby for my first effort. Next time, with the help of a pie crust shield, hopefully it will be scorch free!


3. Getting crafty
As I've been examining my priorities in the last year or so and thinking about what's missing, one of the things I've realized has been lacking in my life is any real outlets for creativity. From childhood (when we were all happily creative!) up until the last five years or so, I was frequently engaged in all sorts of creative outlets: dance, theater, making cards for family and friends, sewing, cross stitching, writing, starting to bake. . . and then things just sort of came to a halt. Though I'm not the most creative person--and certainly not the most talented--I definitely feel an urge to create things of late and to make my home a more personalized place.

One of my first projects was to try to add something homemade to our Christmas tree in an effort to give it a more organic, homey feel. I wanted to do something like string popcorn or cranberries, but I knew they were likely to become the snack/toys of my cats, or worse, of mice (my mom once put popcorn on her tree, and some unwelcome four-legged critters took it as an invitation for an all-you-can-eat buffet). I decided to go with a paper chain, which was something fun but easy that I could do while listening to music and watching Christmas movies. I love the results, as it adds something homemade and a bit whimsical to the tree.

I also decided to decorate my own stocking. Using this project from Martha Stewart as inspiration, I modified it a bit to make my own rickrack stocking. I love that I could make it exactly as I wanted, with purple included! I was also able to use some of my mom's old sewing supplies--including some old rickrack that I found from 1973(!), which made it feel even more special.