Blue Bell Challenge: Completed!

As you know from my monthly wrap-up reports … erm, which I failed to complete for August … I have been on a quest for many moons to sample every current flavor of Blue Bell ice cream. It was a challenge I took very seriously. If I'd even so much as heard rumors that there might be a new flavor available, I immediately wrote it down.

August was a little bit busy for me. Because Matt is a good husband, he was basically doing everything for me, including cooking, going to the grocery store, cleaning, blogging … and because he's a good husband, he also stopped by the ice cream aisle at HEB, where he found another flavor we've been waiting for … White Chocolate Almond! It was quite good — sweet, but not overly so, like white chocolate can be. Chunky, but not too chunky. It was awesome.

There was also another new flavor that came out for September … Malt Shoppe. It's delicious. It tastes like those Whoppers candies, but in ice cream form, and even has some tiny malt balls in it.

But there were still 11 flavors on my list that I hadn't been able to track down this whole time. And with an imminent move to a state in which Blue Bell is only available in some areas, Matt suggested that I write a letter to Blue Bell to ask if or when those flavors might become available again. And then I put that on my to-do list and then didn't do it, until he had a better idea a week or two later.

After our Malt Shoppe purchase, Matt asked me how many flavors were left on my list, so I read them off to him. (In case you're curious, they were: Cake and Ice Cream, Caramel Turtle Fudge, Cherry Cheesecake, Chocolate Covered Strawberries, Creole Cream Cheese, Dessert Trio, Lemon, Lemon Ice Box Pie, Pineapples & Homemade Vanilla, Strawberry Banana Pound Cake, and Summer Strawberry Pie.) He said he'd never even seen some of the ones I listed, so he suggested I take a look at Blue Bell's rotational flavor list to make sure all the ones I have left on my list are still, you know, available for purchase. Aaaand I did, and then I had to remove every single one of them from my list because they are not available at any time of year anymore.

Which means … I have no more left on the "Flavors I Haven't Tried" list.

CHALLENGE COMPLETED, with 67 flavors tried! (You can see analyses of all the flavors throughout these posts.)

Just in time, too! But please, oh God, please let Blue Bell be available in the part of Virginia we're headed to. I don't know that I want to live in a world in which there's no Butter Crunch or Happy Tracks.

What is your favorite ice cream flavor? Would you be sick of ice cream after 67 flavors?

July Wrap-Up

I have nothing to say except that July was pretty eventful. I … um … had a birthday?

Challenge: Sample Every Flavor of Blue Bell Ice Cream

Only one new flavor this month: we finally tried Mocha Madness! I was nervous that it had already been phased out, since HEB stopped carrying it a couple of weeks ago, but when Matt was at Wal-Mart picking up stuff for our camping trip, he stumbled across a half-gallon of the stuff and scooped it up. And I've gotta say, for someone who is not a coffee fan, I quite liked it. Coffee ice cream, with pecan bits, chocolate chips and caramel swirls. Mmmm.

Completed: 65 out of 77 flavors

Challenge: Cook All The Way Through a Cookbook
I'm cooking through the "Bride and Groom First and Forever" Cookbook.

Whole Roasted Garlic

I normally buy garlic in a big tub, pre-minced, because it's way easier to just scoop out a teaspoon than mincing it yourself. So it was kind of a surprising discovery when I made Whole Roasted Garlic, mashed it up and spread it onto a baguette a la bruschetta and found … that fresh garlic makes your breath STANKY. Holy cow. But the bruschetta was delicious, so I'd say it's a win, even if no one wants to come near us.

Completed: 40 of 150 recipes

Healthy Living: "De-Stressing"

Over the last 30 days, I managed to "de-stress" (ie. work out) … I think it was 10-12 times? Miraculous. That includes time spent on Pilates videos, going hiking while camping, biking, a thigh workout/date at the ice skating rink, and our regular walks around the neighborhood. 

I also wanted to show you my cool new running shoes! They're pink! And they don't hurt my feet!!! 

I'm really excited about them; I had been wearing my GoWalks instead of buying proper athletic shoes, and that always made Matt nervous when I wanted to go biking or anything. So now he is happy, I am happy, and my feet are happy. (The first time I wore them, I actually ran for the better part of a mile without stopping! So obviously these shoes are MAGIC, because I am not in that good of shape.)

Other Adventures
We talked about the worry dolls we had as kids. We started an herb garden, wrapped up part of the kolache trail and I finished Matt's Christmas gift seven months late. I talked more about Citizen's Fire Academy and the top 10 things I learned that could save a life. I switched my commenting system over to Disqus (and I will reply to comments on that next month for those who requested I let them know how I like it). I shared the apps I've been crazy about lately. I was brutally truthy about being self-employed and starting a new office job. And we chatted about cleaning out our closets.

How is your summer going? Anyone else surprised it's basically almost over? (I say that as far as like, having teacher friends going back to school and stuff. Summer in Texas lasts all year.)

June Wrap-Up

I don't know about where you're at, but it's been super rainy over the past few weeks in south central Texas. That's not a complaint — it means we haven't officially hit 100 degree temps yet, and THAT is something to celebrate! Matt and I have been going on lots of walks in the evenings while it's still reasonably cool outside. It's our favorite time to talk.

Challenge: Sample Every Flavor of Blue Bell Ice Cream
At the very beginning of the month, I bought a half-gallon of Triple Chocolate Blue Bell. It was a flavor that had been on my list for a long time but hadn't been on store shelves in like a year, so it was a no-brainer to scoop it up. But at the same time, I was feeling a little guilty about all the ice cream we've been consuming for this challenge; a lot of the flavors don't come in pint sizes, so we've been snarfing a lot of half-gallons. So what did I do? I bought the ice cream. And then I buried it in the freezer behind all the frozen veggies so it wouldn't be readily visible. And I managed a) to hide it from Matt, and b) to not to think about it for two or three days, but then I had a really terrible horrible no good very bad day, and that was that.

At first bite, it was WAY too chocolate-y, but it grew on me. Matt liked it a lot.

I also found a new flavor — and in pint-size! — called Magic Cookie Bar, and that was pretty good too. The ice cream base was condensed-milk flavor, so it was very sweet. Which is probably good, because it caused me to eat less of it in one sitting than I normally would.

Completed: 64 out of 77 flavors

Challenge: Cook All The Way Through a Cookbook
I'm cooking through the "Bride and Groom First and Forever" Cookbook.

Summer Garden Gazpacho  /  Roasted Asparagus

After a business trip two weeks ago, Matt insisted that we only eat healthy things when he returned home. So cold veggie soup with more veggies on the side made it onto the list.

The asparagus was basically the same as any other roasted-veggie recipe. The book suggested adding lemon juice, but I only had lime juice. It ended up being quite tasty anyway.

The gazpacho, though, was really good. It was verrrry tomato-y, and had a bit of a bite from the vinegar (I subbed in white wine vinegar instead of red). I also didn't chill it for as long as it said — 4 hours to overnight! — but that might have ended up being a good thing, since Matt doesn't normally like gazpachos as much on day two. I thought it kept very well, though you do have to stir the leftovers since olive oil tends to congeal in the fridge.

Completed: 39 of 150 recipes

Healthy Living: "De-Stressing"

Adding a new/old category back to these wrap-ups. I heard a really great piece of advice a few weeks ago, which was: if you hate the idea of "working out" or "exercising," why don't you give it a new name? I super hate exercising, but you know what I love? Dancing. Moving. The relaxed, peaceful feeling I get after I do some intense sweating. So I decided that I want to spend more time "de-stressing." And I made a big list of activities in my phone that I can maybe do to help de-stress. Things like biking, or going swimming, or asking Matt if he wants to go play some kind of sport that I'll probably be horrible at.

Because I decided to add this category super last-minute, I can only thing of five "de-stressing" sessions I completed this month (not including our evening walks). Four of them were while Matt was at his work conference. A friend also invited me to go to Zumba with her, but so far we haven't found a day that works for both of us. So in an attempt to not be hideously embarrassing and out of shape when we finally get to go, I've been trying the free videos her gym offers.

Other Adventures
I admitted that I'm still not doing great with this whole big life-change thing. We went on a virtual coffee date. I paid off my second-to-last student loan! I chatted with some Better In Real Life friends about Margaret Atwood books and I also reviewed The Circle. I shared our experience in Mexico. And I told you about the coolest things I got to do in my Citizen's Fire Academy classes!

Did you have a good month? What are your goals for this summer?

May Wrap-Up

I've been thinking a lot this month about the things I document and the things I don't (again). An awful lot of stuff happened this month that will never be blogged and will probably, eventually, be forgotten because no pictures were taken and no words said. That's kind of bittersweet. But such is life.

So here's to the days of sitting in the shade with a book in hand. To grilling and beer and avoiding sunstroke. To giant brunches and board games and closed snow-cone stands. To having many of the people we love in the same place once again. And to June.

Challenge: Sample Every Flavor of Blue Bell Ice Cream
Early on in the month, Matt e-mailed me to let me know of a new flavor on Blue Bell's website: Red White and Blue Bell. I was a little hesitant — strawberry, vanilla and blueberry flavored ice creams with fresh berry bits? But then, I'm not a super blueberry fan. We tried it, and it was quite pretty, though my concerns about the blueberry was spot on — it was more tart than sweet.

I also found Nutty Chocolate, which had been on my list for a long time. Pretty self-explanatory. We took it to a church volunteer thing, and most of it got eaten, but I managed to grab a couple spoonfuls before it all disappeared. I do love chocolate ice cream. I ate mine with sprinkles.

Also, a new flavor we saw at HEB, but haven't tried yet: Mocha Madness. Sigh. More coffee flavors?

Completed: 62 out of 76 flavors

Challenge: Cook All The Way Through a Cookbook
I'm cooking through the "Bride and Groom First and Forever" Cookbook.

Tahini Ginger Dipping Sauce

I was psyched to try this, because most of the time we end up dipping carrots and chopped veggies in things like Italian dressing or honey mustard. But this dipping sauce was AWFUL. I tried a taste of it straight out of the food processor, made a horrified face and dumped it all in the trash. And I like tahini. Matt hates it, so he didn't even bother trying the finished product.

Pizza Dough 

It was a pretty basic dough recipe, similar to others I've made. I used it as the base of Katie's Sweet Potato Pizza. I actually screwed up the dough because I mis-read part of the recipe — the part about letting the yeast sit in warm water first — but thankfully it puffed up and turned out really good anyway, thick and chewy and yummy.

Completed: 37 of 150 recipes

Other Adventures
I attended my sister's senior fashion show. I participated in a blogger link-up about my writing process. There was that whole two-graduations thing. I visited a glass-blowing gallery. Matt and I celebrated three years of married life. And I finally got on board with e-readers.

How has your month been? What are you looking forward to most this summer?

April Wrap-Up

I'm itching for a change. A big trip, a new adventure … a reason to do something different for a while. We don't really have the time off or funds available for a proper vacation, but maybe it's time to plan some day trips or something. There are still so many places in Texas we've yet to explore together, and we should get on that while we've got the chance.

Challenge: Sample Every Flavor of Blue Bell Ice Cream

HEB finally brought in a flavor I'd been looking for: Peaches & Homemade Vanilla! Basically just chopped up peaches in their standard vanilla ice cream. It was good; I wouldn't call myself the biggest fan of peach things, but the peach bits were sparse enough that I enjoyed it.

Completed: 60 out of 74 flavors

Challenge: Cook All The Way Through a Cookbook
I'm cooking through the "Bride and Groom First and Forever" Cookbook.

"Gussied Up" Marinara
This was mediocre. There are two things I could blame on this: 1) One of the ingredients was a jar of grocery store marinara, and I'm cheap so of course I bought the least expensive one, and 2) There was a list of suggested "add-ins" on the page — things like sun-dried tomatoes, capers, kalamata olives, raisins — and I might have gone a little nuts throwing extras into the pot. I like raisins, but maybe not in my pasta. They got inflated and soggy in the sauce. Blech.

But! One thing I did learn is that my grocery store carries organic fresh basil for 1 cent more than non-organic basil, and the organic basil was really nice. It didn't seem to turn brown as fast.

Completed: 35 of 150

Other Adventures
I had a weird moment with another woman at a concert. I complained about there not being any happy movie marriages. I shared a first glimpse at Citizens Fire Academy, my big adventure this semester. We laughed about what beauty products we liked in high school (and which ones we secretly still use). And we talked about good intentions and fear of failure.

Have you tried anything new in the last few weeks? Are you planning any summer trips?

March Wrap-Up

This post is going to be really lame. I'm sorry. March came and went in the blink of an eye, and I'm not sure I'm okay with that. I was simultaneously super busy and did almost nothing that was blog-worthy.

Matt's been applying and interviewing for jobs this month and last. I've been trying to keep my anxiety levels low, but I think all I've managed to do is get used to the feeling of being constantly stressed out. At least I'm not panicking and randomly sobbing on people anymore?

The good news is that my business had its second-best month ever, and I am really happy with how things are going, on a professional level. I'm getting to work for awesome clients, and I like the work I'm doing, and I like having the freedom to balance life and work, and I like that every day presents new challenges. I hope that things will continue to be this good!

From our quick beach weekend in Port Lavaca.

By the way, today is the Rangers' Opening Day. Matt has told me enough times in the last few days that the knowledge is stuck in my brain.

Food Challenge: Cook All The Way Through a Cookbook
I'm cooking through the "Bride and Groom First and Forever" Cookbook.

I did not cook anything from this cookbook this month. But I did feed us, I promise. I even got Matt to eat barley and mushrooms one night! And he had thirds.

Completed: Still 34 of 150

Food Challenge: Sample Every Flavor of Blue Bell Ice Cream
We went on the Blue Bell Creamery tour, which is where I tried the new Sea Salt Caramel flavor!

While we were there, I saw a tub of a flavor I hadn't heard of, Creole Cream Cheese, so hopefully that will be available soon, because it sounds interesting.

Completed: 59 out of 74 flavors

Other Adventures
I did some random stuff, like working the primary election and going fabric shopping with my sister. Matt passed his dissertation defense. I spent most of the month being totally stressed out. I participated in a disaster simulation. And we had a great discussion about not apologizing for or justifying food.

What's the best thing that happened to you in March?

Blue Bell Creameries Tour!

As you know, I've been on a quest to sample every (current) flavor of Blue Bell ice cream.

Over the first weekend of spring break, we went to the beach in Port Lavaca (off Lavaca Bay on the Gulf of Mexico) with my sister- and brother-in-law and some of their friends for a little bit of down time after Matt's defense. I only have group photos because I didn't feel like taking pictures while we were at the beach house; I was busy eating, and drinking, and reading, and napping, and playing games, because it was cold and rainy so we didn't actually spend much time on the beach.

I convinced Matt that on the way back home, we should stop by the Blue Bell factory to take a tour. The logic being that we don't know if we are going to be moving out of state or not, and therefore needed to make sure this happened, just in case. We had attempted to go on a tour during spring break … four years ago … and hadn't gone back since, so it definitely was overdue.

On the way back to College Station, we detoured through Brenham, and followed the signs to the creamery! Brenham is only about an hour away from College Station, so we are ashamed it took us this long to go back.

(I didn't realize until we got there that Blue Bell is actually two words, and I have been writing it as one for years, and that's semi-embarrassing.)

You can't see it, but the towers are labeled things like, "Fresh Milk" and "Ice Cream Mix."

February Wrap-Up

I was convinced it was mid-month for the entire month of February. How confusing. But! I'm looking forward to March! Matt will defend his dissertation and be done forever! Spring will be here! People will wear pretty dresses to the Oscars! Matt and I will have officially been together for NINE YEARS! (Do people still count dating anniversaries after they're married? We don't celebrate, but it's in my phone and I have no intention of removing it from the calendar.)

Food Challenge: Cook All The Way Through a Cookbook
I'm cooking through the "Bride and Groom First and Forever" Cookbook.

"Butter Lettuce With Mango, Goat Cheese & Mighty Mint Vinaigrette." Okay, so I used bag salad instead of butter lettuce, because my grocery store is not fancy enough to carry anything besides romaine and iceberg. I was really not expecting good things from this salad, because I don't like mangoes. Or goat cheese. Or fresh mint. So I was pleasantly suprised by the results! I had two bowls of it for dinner one night while Matt was out of town. A far cry from my normal fare when he's gone.

"Green Beans, Beets and Goat Cheese With Sherry Vinaigrette." This salad was not as good as I was hoping it would be. I didn't want to pay $$$ for walnut oil or sherry vinegar for one recipe, so I omitted the former and used white wine vinegar in place of the latter. Matt took one look at it and decided he'd rather eat the remains of the mango salad. I did have the cold leftovers for lunch on a hoagie roll, and I actually preferred eating it the second/third/fourth days after all the flavors had melded and the beets turned everything bright pink. Everything is better in bright pink. 

Completed: 34 of 150

Food Challenge: Sample Every Flavor of Bluebell Ice Cream
Even though I'm not crazy about mint-the-plant, I'm a sucker for mint-flavored ice cream. Mint Cookies 'N Cream finally made an appearance at HEB, after I'd been looking for it forever, and it was amazing. We shared it with some friends, but I would have been happy to eat the entire half gallon by myself.

I bought Matt another half-gallon of Coffee ice cream for his birthday. We originally tried this flavor back in September, and this time I didn't mind it so much, so long as there was chocolate syrup and sprinkles on top. I'm growing up?

Completed: 58 out of 72 flavors

New Year's Resolutions: More Lipstick, Less Sugar, More Time With Friends
I finally had people over this month! I invited some girls from church over for craft night, and I used a bunch of old scrapbook paper to make these homemade cards.

I've always got tons of envelopes around and nothing to do with them, so I'm happy to have a use for them too!

Apparently I can only focus on one resolution at a time, because the lipstick and sugar ones fell by the wayside. But I did buy a Lip Butter from Revlon on Catherine's recommendation, and it's a bright Barbie pink (ahem, "Sorbet") and I love it. :)

Other Adventures
I reviewed the book Moonwalking With Einstein, which I would recommend. I talked about saying yes and avoiding regrets. I caught my typical weather-change cold/sinus thing. We chatted about ambition after I got back from the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library. I shared some book quotes that inspired me this month. I showed you our house updates in preparation of the next steps in our lives. This blog celebrated its third birthday! And we got DEEP into small talk.

Do you like doing crafts? What type of projects are you working on?

January Wrap-Up

I'm still accidentally writing "2013" every time I have to put a date on anything. When does that stop?

Food Challenge: Sample Every Flavor of Bluebell Ice Cream
I was a little afraid I was going to go the whole month of January without trying any new flavors, because HEB hadn't had any new ones since they welcomed all the holiday flavors. But the other day, while at Target, I felt the lure of the freezer section. "Just in case," I thought. And whaddaya know! A new, probably for Valentine's Day, ice cream called I <3 Chocolate. It was delicious. (I later found out that HEB had this flavor in pint sizes. I totally could have saved myself six dollars and all the sugar in that half-gallon. Argh.)

In addition, there's another new flavor on Bluebell's website — White Chocolate Almond. Bluebell, you are my Everest.

Completed: 57 out of 72 flavors

Food Challenge: Cook All The Way Through a Cookbook
I'm cooking through the "Bride and Groom First and Forever" Cookbook.

"Broccoli with Sun-Dried Tomatoes" — excellent. The tempeh I served it with — weird. (Matt ate a steak instead. I don't blame him in the slightest.) It's a huge bummer that this picture turned out kinda fuzzy because the broccoli was really nice. Thanks, Dad, for forcing us to eat our broccoli all those years, because now I miss it when it's not around.

Completed: 32 of 150

New Year's Resolutions: More Lipstick, Less Sugar, More Time With Friends
I commented in my resolution post that I had no idea how I was actually going to cut back on sugar, but then Janssen posted about limiting the times you eat dessert to certain days a week and holidays — but just the DAY, not the SEASON — and that way you don't have to waffle about whether or not you should eat that piece of cake. (Because obviously the answer is ALWAYS unless you have rules.) So I told Matt that I wanted to limit my dessert intake to only Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I'm definitely doing better about not eating desserts mid-week, but the problem is that I'm now treating the weekends like I can binge on whatever I want. Four cookies at a social event? No problem. Two pieces of cake at a party, and then some jelly beans to wash them down? Whatever! This kind of defeats the purpose of cutting back. So maybe this isn't the best way for me to go about this.

I'm doing mediocre on the lipstick and friends resolutions too. We still haven't had anyone over for dinner.

Other Adventures
I failed at dyeing my hair blonde. I watched an old friend get married. We laughed over our celebrity freebie lists. We chatted about how often we go to the movies. I had a bicycling adventure. I shared some silly things I believed when I was younger. I told you what it's like to have a husband in his last semester of grad school. I acquired some new jewelry. I posted a super fun vlog about shoes. And I cleaned out our closet.

What have you been up to this month? Still hanging on to those resolutions?

December Wrap-Up

So, um. I think I need to come up with some new goals that aren't food-related. Luckily I've got a few ideas for New Year's Resolutions that I'll be sharing tomorrow. And none of them only one of them involves food.

Food Challenge: Sample Every Flavor of Bluebell Ice Cream

We tried Spiced Pumpkin Pecan at the beginning of the month, which officially means I've tried all the holiday flavors! (I didn't mention it, but I tried Peppermint and Christmas Cookies in previous years, Before Challenge.) I don't normally like pumpkin-flavored things all that much, but both Matt and I enjoyed this flavor.

We also tried Chocolate Chip (which was surprisingly hard to find until now!), and I really liked it. It's exactly like Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, but without the cookie dough bits. I'll forgive it for that.

Completed: 56 out of 70 flavors

New! Food Challenge: Cook All The Way Through a Cookbook

This is one of those things that I added to my Life List last year, and then promptly did nothing about, except that I picked the cookbook I wanted to use: the Bride and Groom First and Forever Cookbook. Everything I have made from it since I got it has been pretty much amazing.

But I wasn't real serious about completing the goal, and I thought I had to put it on hold when I went vegetarian. But then I realized that there will still be times when we have company over or whatever, and I'll want to make a meat dish for other people, so I'm starting with the veg-friendly recipes, and I'll just do the meat recipes as they come up and deal with it. Technically I started keeping track of these last month, but I didn't want ALL of my challenges to be about food, so it got bumped a month.

Last month, I made my own veggie broth for the first time. And promptly spilled a bunch of it all over the counter. I also made pesto (YUM) and the world's ugliest torta.

I am the best food photographer ever.

Completed: 31 of 150 (I had made several of the recipes before I officially started keeping track. Like these latkes, and those pan-fried pork chops I couldn't stop raving about.)

Other Adventures
I completed my vegetarian challenge, and also my Bible challenge! I shared my favorite Christmas decorations, my favorite winter skincare products and my favorite books for 2013. I asked how blogs affect your self-esteem, and talked about what makes me feel authentic. I went to a museum, where they told me that museums are a threat to sustainability. I encouraged you to do some good when you shop online. And I told you my biggest work goal for 2014.

How was your December?

November Wrap-Up

You guys, this has been a rough month. Not for any of my goals particularly, just in general. I've been a little overwhelmed with real life, and Brooke gave me some great advice: sometimes you have to let yourself let go of things. So thanks for being understanding about my little blogging break over the last week or so.

Food Challenge: Going Vegetarian

I thought that I would be saving money by not buying meat at the grocery store anymore, but I was so wrong. There are so many fancy ingredients you can buy that I wouldn't necessarily think to if I was still eating meat. Like, did you know that shittake mushrooms are $9.98 a pound??? And the meal I made with them wasn't even that good. :(

Completed: Day 80 of 90. (That is, assuming I only keep it up for the three months required by my Life List.)

Reading Challenge: Read Through the Bible in a Year

I read through Daniel this month, which was pretty good — dudes getting thrown into furnaces and lion's dens, but not dying, because God is awesome. Also working on Hosea, which isn't one of those books that's read all that often, but it's interesting because it's almost like a pre-cursor for the gospels.

Completed: Day 340 of 362

Food Challenge: Sample Every Flavor of Bluebell Ice Cream
You guys, I think Fudge Divinity might have ousted Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough as my favorite flavor of ice cream. I couldn't stop eating this stuff, and there was a lot of it, because Matt didn't like it. BECAUSE HE KEPT POURING CHOCOLATE SYRUP ALL OVER IT. It was fluffy and marshmallow-y and amazing on its own, but not overly sweet, and syrup ruins it.

We also tried Mango ice cream. It wasn't good. A friend tried it and liked it, so we told him to take it home with him. That was weird, we never don't finish ice cream.

When Matt and I were perusing the flavors the other day, he asked what I would do if, when he graduated, we end up moving to a state that doesn't sell Bluebell. I was HORRIFIED. If I find out we're moving somewhere without Bluebell, I'll just have to make sure we try them all before we leave. Ice cream for breakfast, lunch and dinner!

Completed: 54 out of 70 flavors

You think I'm kidding about ice cream for every meal? This is what I ate when Matt was at a conference for four days last week.

Other Adventures
I went shopping with my family and all I got was a stun gun. I decorated my very own office. Other than that, my days were filled with boring things like laundry and watching bad TV. Next month will be more exciting, I promise.

Did you have a nice Thanksgiving?

September Wrap-Up

Where did September goooo?! It seems like it just started and now here we are and it's practically winter. Actually I take that back. It's still going to get up to 87 degrees today.

via Buzzfeed's 35 Texas Secrets to Having the Best Summer Ever. WHICH IS 100 PERCENT ACCURATE.

Going Vegetarian
The first week was a little challenging because I had already done my grocery shopping for the week, and had a luncheon meeting scheduled for which I hadn't requested a vegetarian meal. But I made it work. At lunch, I just pushed my piece of chicken to the side and ate the broccoli and pasta, and they served a yummy black bean and pico soup to start. We also went to visit my parents the first weekend, and thankfully they didn't have a problem with my decision — my dad simply made salmon for dinner, and since I am still eating seafood, that was fine with me. My mom doesn't eat red meat anyway, so it wasn't a big deal.

Matt also said he doesn't mind if I mainly cook vegetarian, so I don't have to worry about cooking different food for each of us. While he's not interested in being vegetarian/pescatarian himself, he can get meat when he goes out to lunch or attends school events. I think I might still try to make meat for him on occasion (or at least buy meat so he can make it for himself). We'll see.

I have an awful lot to say about this topic, so I think I'll write a follow-up post soon so this doesn't turn into one long rambling post about food. :)

Completed: Day 20 of 90. (That is, assuming I only keep it up for the three months required by my Life List.)

Reading Challenge: Read Through the Bible in a Year
Less than 100 days to go! Still reading. Still a bit ahead. My goodness I love reading ahead. I'm plodding through Isaiah right now. Before our young professionals Bible study went kaput, we tried to study Isaiah for a couple of weeks. Everyone basically thought it was too boring and decided to study something else. Honesty is the best policy.

Completed: Day 277 of 362

Food Challenge: Sample Every Flavor of Bluebell Ice Cream
Oof, I tried a lot of ice cream this month.

Bluebell released a new flavor — Chocolate Peanut Butter — which, of course, I tried immediately. Now, I normally love anything chocolate or peanut butter flavored, and when you put those things together, you get Reese's, which are omgnom. But I was kind of lukewarm about this flavor. It had an unusual coffee smell when I opened the carton, and kind of left a weird aftertaste. If you love chocolate and peanut butter like I love chocolate and peanut butter, Butter Crunch is better.

Just as I had mourned that no store would ever carry Krazy Kolors again, I found an ice cream place that had it. So I tried that too. It was basically just vanilla ice cream, except that it turns your mouth funny kolors. I can see why it's not that popular.

at Must Be Heaven in Downtown Bryan

HEB ran an offer that if you spent $20 in the frozen food section, you could get a $5 coupon off your next frozen food purchase, and since I don't normally buy a whole lot of frozen stuff (other than veggies and frozen waffles), I opted to put some of that money toward Blueberry Cheesecake ice cream. I thought it was better than the last cheesecake flavor I tried (Strawberry Cheesecake), but Matt didn't like it at all.

Finally, Matt bought some Coffee flavored ice cream. He had been waiting for this moment forever. I hated it. He got the whole half-gallon to himself, and keeps asking when we can buy more.

Completed: 52 out of 69 flavors

Other Adventures
I revamped some old sandals into faux-designer shoes. I shared the rules to the most confusing card game in the world. We finally attempted part two of our kolache journey. Matt told me no, I can't go running with the bulls. And I participated in Blogtember (see my thoughts on Girls, college and hand-me-down mattresses).

What adventures have you had this month?

June/July Wrap-Up

Oops, I guess I missed wrapping up June properly, what with my hiatus and all. So I guess we'll cram a whole bunch of stuff into one post. June and July!

Summer Bucket List
I finished 15 things on my Summer Bucket List during June and July. I played mini golf, saw the fireworks on the Fourth of July, dangled my feet in the water, and read something fluffy and summery — "Messy" by the Fug Girls!

Matt and I also went to see the Round Rock Express (triple A minor league team for the Texas Rangers) play the Nashville Sounds with his sister and her husband.

There were several others as well, but I either didn't get pictures or they were typical summer things that weren't worth mentioning. (Like, um, I wore flip-flops?)

Other Adventures
Technically it was in May, but I didn't write about our stay at 7F Lodge until June, so I'll count that here. We also went salsa dancing for the first time in years! We traveled to St. Louis, Chicago and Madison, Wis., with a few side detours thrown in (I haven't posted about all of these places yet, though). I got a new-to-me truck, and left my little Honda to be donated. I started learning piano again. Oh, and I turned 26.

Reading Challenge: Read Through the Bible in a Year
I made an effort to get a little bit ahead in June because we were planning to go on vacation end of June/beginning of July, and I didn't want to get behind because of that. So far, I've managed to stay about a week ahead of schedule. I hate to say it, but I'm ready for this challenge to be over. I'm slogging through 2 Chronicles right now.

Completed: Day 214 of 362

Food Challenge: Sample Every Flavor of Bluebell Ice Cream
The first one I tried in June was Black Walnut — I really like walnuts, but for some reason the walnuts tasted really bitter in this ice cream, which kind of put me off. I also tried Strawberry Cheesecake ice cream. After our last foray into cheesecake ice cream flavors (Caramel Turtle Cheesecake), I didn't have high expectations for this one, but it was surprisingly very good! Light and summery and sweet, with strawberry and cheesecake chunks, and lots of swirls.

Since the start of summer, Bluebell has also introduced two other flavors that weren't on my list — Mango and Rockslide Brownie (which I tried and enjoyed, but is there really a way to mess up chocolate and marshmallows?).

Completed: 48 out of 68 flavors.

Working Out
On Ayesha's suggestion, I got Jillian Michaels' Yoga Meltdown DVD from Netflix to give it a try. Man, even level one was tough! I was doing it in the living room when Matt got home one night, and he started teasing me about it, but then he couldn't even do one of the easy moves.

I also had a new tap instructor for part of the summer, since our regular teacher was on maternity leave, and tap was a lot more cardio with the interim instructor.

I did a lot of walking while on vacation. And at the end of July, I helped out with the recreation activities at my church's Vacation Bible School again, which involved a lot of running around with the kids.

But otherwise, I was pretty terrible about a) working out, and b) keeping track of the workouts I did do in June and July. I want to do better in August, because both my exercise and eating habits have taken a turn for the worse this month.

What goals are you working towards? Anyone else have a hard time keeping track of them over the summer months?

May Wrap-Up

I'm starting a new feature! An end-of-month wrap up to help keep track of a few of my long-term goals and summarize cool stuff that happened this month. (Also, this will help when we put together our Christmas newsletter and I moan that "we didn't do anything this year!" when that is not, in fact, true.)

Adventures
At the beginning of the month, I went to Rachel's fashion show and had the best time ever. I also got to go up in a giant lift when we were working on our siding. And of course, Matt and I celebrated two years!

I also tried to make Elliott be my cat-beard, but this is as close as I got. She was not amused.

Reading Challenge: Read Through the Bible in a Year
I had a hard time keeping up this month since we were in and out of town and had family in to visit, so I fell behind a few times. I did spend some time catching up though, so I'm still on schedule, but it's hard to get caught up once you've missed a few days! This month I finished Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel and Romans, and continued working through Proverbs, Psalms, and 1 Corinthians. It's good to finally be done with all the chronology and laws in the first few books.

Completed: Day 153 of 362

Food Challenge: Sample Every Flavor of Bluebell Ice Cream
This month I tried Key Lime Pie. I normally love actual key lime pie, but for some reason I didn't particularly like this iteration. It only came in half-gallon size, and after my one bowl, I told Matt he could have the rest. He said he didn't think he could finish it off all by himself. ... And that's when you know it's not great.

I also tried The Great Divide, though I think I might have had it before. It's just plain chocolate and vanilla in a tub together, and I for sure have had both of those.

Completed: 45 out of 66 flavors — but they keep adding more!

Working Out
Since I first posted about how I don't exercise, I've made an effort to get moving a little more often. I put on dance music while I was getting ready a few mornings (though I'm not considering those "workout days"). I played Wii Fit. I did some planks and twistie-plank things that I saw in last month's Glamour that required me to use my weights, and they were hard enough that I had to take breaks in between sets. I did workouts I found on Pinterest and YouTube. And I jumped rope while watching Burn Notice (thank goodness for a big foyer).

All in all, I exercised 9 times since May 13. I have it in my to-do list on my phone to pop-up every other day, and I've been making an effort to actually DO it when it comes up. Exercising isn't as miserable as I thought it would be, though I still find a lot of moves too challenging to sustain for very many reps. Also I feel sore a lot.

What did you accomplish this month?

Down at the Courthouse

Last Monday was my day to go in for jury duty, and as luck would have it, I was hacking-up-a-lung, get-thee-to-the-doctor sick. (THIS IS THE LAST TIME I'LL MENTION IT I SWEAR!)

Both my dad and Matt have had jury duty up in the Dallas area before, and they said that when you are released without being assigned to a jury, you are given $6 for your time. Immediately outside the doors of the courthouse in that area, there's a Subway restaurant. They agreed that it was the perfect location, and the perfect way to blow your six buckaroos.

But apparently in our county, they mail you a check for your six dollars, so I didn't get any free lunch. Bummer! Instead I just went home and ate a bowl of Caramel Turtle Cheesecake ice cream (sorry Bluebell, this one wasn't your best) and drank some more Diet Sprite.

But even without lunch, it was an interesting experience. I was juror number 20-something in line (out of about 30) for a minor drug case, and since they only needed six jurors, I wasn't really at much risk of being selected. I didn't make it a point to be very vocal about anything, but when asked questions directly I gave my honest opinion.

My biggest takeaway from my experience at the courthouse was that, if you are ever in a position where you are a defendant in court, GET A LAWYER. Hopefully none of us will ever wind up in that situation, but if you do, defending yourself is a baaaaaad idea, unless of course you are a lawyer yourself. Because not-lawyers are not typically skilled in asking good questions to get potential jurors to state opinions. And instead you might ask a whole bunch of rhetorical questions that no one can really answer, which is not helpful in selecting the people who will be deciding your fate.

But luckily I was dismissed around lunchtime, so I didn't have to listen to the defense ramble for a few more hours, though it definitely would have made for an interesting trial!

Have you ever been selected to serve on a jury? (Had I felt better, I probably would have liked to see the whole thing go down!)

I Just Thought You Should Know

Bluebell has a new flavor out this month. It's called Lemon Bliss, and it is  AMAZING.

It's sweet lemon ice cream with chunks of vanilla cookie pieces. And you should go buy some right now.

Because I care about you and your happiness. :)

Not a sponsored post.

Bitter and Sweet

I'm not a big fan of coffee. I love the way it smells, but I can't stand how it tastes.

The other night, we were at HEB, standing in front of the ice cream case, looking for a new flavor of Bluebell. We've already exhausted all the pint flavors, and now we're stuck buying a half-gallon for any new flavors we want to try. Matt suggested the Coffee ice cream, and when I refused, he reminded me that if I want to try every flavor, I'll eventually have to suck it up and buy it. But I wanted a good, chocolate-y ice cream that night. We compromised with Mocha Almond Fudge.

The fudge part is good. When I drown the mocha part in chocolate syrup, it's okay too. But I still don't like coffee. And I'm dreading the day we have to purchase the actual Coffee flavor.

Do you like coffee-flavored ice cream?

Other flavors I've recently tried: Gingerbread House (mmmm), Butter Crunch (bought in pint size, and then Matt tried to eat my pint because it was better than his), Mexican Praline (I thought it was okay, Matt didn't like it).

It Was A Busy Summer

I had to create a list of all the flavors of Bluebell in my phone, because every time I get to HEB and stand in front of the ice cream case, I can't seem to remember which flavors I've tried and which ones I've just seen 1000 times (and therefore tried through osmosis?). I needed a way to keep track. So the other day, I wanted to see how far I'd gotten in my quest to try every Bluebell flavor, and counted 'em up. And I was really surprised that I've already tried half of their ice cream flavors.* (I'd be more than halfway, but they keep adding new flavors.)

So far, I have been pleasantly surprised, even by ones I thought I wouldn't like. I was always grossed out as a kid when my sister would buy Cotton Candy ice cream, but Bluebell's is actually really light and not super sugary, so I enjoyed it. I don't like cake batter frozen yogurt at our regular yogurt place, but Bluebell's Birthday Cake was basically just ice cream with chunks of cake in it, and you know how much I love cake.

I've only tried two so far that I really DID NOT like.

Ya'll, I may be a Southern girl, but I've never been a fan of peach cobbler. So I don't know what I was expecting with Peach Cobbler ice cream, but it was the only time in my entire life I bought ice cream, took a few bites, and put it back in the freezer and told Matt he could have the rest. UNHEARD OF. It had chunks of peaches and whatever the cobbler part is made out of, and I think the ice cream itself might have been peach-flavored as well.

Aside from my dislike of cutesy alliteration, the Krazy Kookie Dough ice cream was just sickeningly sweet. Chocolate chip cookie dough is my favorite flavor of all time, so I had such high expectations for this. Ultimately, it took me about a week to get through the whole pint, because I couldn't eat more than a few bites at a time. (It's sugar-cookie dough in cake batter ice cream.)

Do you like any unusual flavors of ice cream? What flavors do you not like?

*I've tried 27 out of 54 flavors. Most of them are listed on Bluebell's website, but I have found a few flavors not listed on the website, and I'm counting those as well.

It's A Baseball Kind of Summer

Earlier this week we met up with some friends from church and headed out to watch my first-ever Brazos Valley Bombers game! Some friends had won free tickets that also came with a hamburger or hot dog meal, so we showed up early for dinner not knowing the game had been delayed for an hour due to rain. After chowing down, we had some time to kill, so I had to get pictures with the team mascots.

Matt was, of course, decked out in head-to-toe Rangers gear ... which is pretty typical, but uh, wrong team honey. :)

It was dollar-sundae night, so we had to partake. I recently decided to add a new goal to my Life List: sample every flavor of Bluebell Ice Cream. Bluebell is a big deal in Texas, but I always tend to stick to vanilla or chocolate chip cookie dough, and I wanted to try more of them! This was Red Velvet Cake ice cream, and it was quite good! (We also tried Cinnamon, which was just okay.)

The Bombers aren't a double-A or triple-A team; apparently it's just a bunch of college guys that wanted to play other local teams, but it was still fun to watch and cheer them on as they played The Woodlands Strykers. I don't know what the final score was because it started raining again in the 7th inning, and it was already after 10 p.m. so we decided to call it a night.

Ominous clouds!

What activities have defined your summer? Any other Texans amazed by how much rain we've been getting this summer?! It was downright cold outside by the time we headed home!