I promised a feature to whomever wanted one and I figured I'd better do it before college starts next week. So on to the awesomeness!





Lately I've been hooked on taking little steps to improve my life. The feeling of doing good things for yourself is kind of addicting. One of the steps I've taken is to declutter my life. When I moved in to my college dorm nearly 2 years ago I realized how much junk I had. My dorm was only 30 minutes from home, so stuff I didn't bring to college still got used when I went home for the weekends and breaks. I started thinking about people who weren't so lucky to stay close to home though. You know, the poor souls who had to pay to do laundry and leave half their wardrobe at home because of limited college space. It made me realize just how much stuff I had that I could really live without. Since then I've been on a downsizing frenzy. I've also been a little obsessed with being a smart homekeeper; learning about natural cleaners, trying out new recipes , stuff like that. Speaking of trying out new recipes, I work at a Chinese restaurant, and I've been "observing" in the kitchen to learn just how to make my favorite dishes. I'm obsessed with Chinese food, and when I move on to bigger and better career options, I'm sure getting Chinese take-out 4 times a week to meet my addiction will break me. Yes, each and every week about 4 of my dinners include Chinese food So you can see why I want to learn to make Chinese food myself. This is no problem except for a mystery substance that is an ingredient they use in the kitchen... it's a sweet white liquid, and if anyone can figure out what it is I'll love them forever. Of course, I could just ask, but playing detective is so much more fun. So, aside from my little Chinese food obsession I've also taken to waking up at the same time every day, stretching regularly and reading books about taking responsibility of your finances. I'm also thinking of getting a neutral density filter for my camera. I've been playing with long exposures lately and would like to take that beyond night time photography. I have a UV filter that I never use, because I feel that it doesn't do much (someone is probably rolling over in their grave right now) so maybe a filter that I can actually see good results with will inspire me to take my picture taking to the next level.

I wonder what you guys do/have done/want to do that you feel has improved your life? I'd love to hear your ideas.