I love list making. Getting the feeling of optimism and control without any actual effort is intoxicating. So I had to join this (courtesy of the sweetly titled Hello Friend)
1. Make sourdough bread, the Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall way.
2. Get through all 7 of my Michel Thomas “Even Grade A Morons Can Learn to Speak French” cds.
3. Send my short “Agatha Blake” to Basement Stories.
4. Knit a hat (gulp)
5. Use the sewing machine (“as a doorstop” doesn’t count)
6. Get S and P reading (harder, because I don’t have the electronic probing equipment to physically fire their neurones for them)
7. Make Raisin Wine from my Jewish cookbook.
8. See Simon Schama (and not treat it like a Tom Jones concert)
9. Get back to Zumba (even if it’s just the dvds)
10. Get back to belly dancing (is that one or two words?)
11. Grow my fingernails.
12. Make macaroons from “A Homemade Life“.
judah's blanket 
I have to say after reading alot of the other 12 by 2012 list, yours is hands down the funniest. So glad I found your blog!! Hope you’re doing well with your list and no longer using your sewing machine as a doorstop 🙂
Clever you Serena, you have pinpointed the thing that matters most to me in the world: being HILL-AIR-EE-OUS! Nothing puts me more at ease than seeing the person in front of me screeching with laughter. I don’t have to worry if they like me or are having a good time. Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
I think the 12 by 2012 was such a fantastic idea, and I am enjoying seeing how many people participated. I am also grateful to people like you for visiting my blog because of it. I am super excited about marking things off my list, and probably most excited about my etsy progress. I have been working like crazy today, and I would appreciate any and all help when it is up and running. Best of luck to you with your list!
-Katie
It is a great idea, you sound like you’ve really got some momentum going. Feel free to leave a comment with links to your shop and such. May you power through to the new year.
So you stopped by my blog to encourage me on my list, so I’m letting you know I’ve read yours too 🙂 Good luck with accomplishing them, im sure you will! Happy listing 🙂
Thanks Rebecca.
Hi! Thanks for stopping by. I love your list, especially your conviction to learn French. I have tried and tried and all I can do it order wine appropriately. We have to start somewhere.
I know, but ordering wine, you’ve got your priorities right.
I SO would like to get a sewing machine! Good luck with your sewing and knitting! And Zumba is definitely worth it. I just rented a few Selena CDs from the library and dance in my car (while driving – I know it sounds bad) to get some Zumba in each week. You should try it!
Excited to follow your “12”!
I know what you mean about dancing in the car! That music is exhilarating. Thanks for the cheerleading.
haha! LOVE the sewing machine one. 🙂 And thanks for visiting! I love reading comments and then visiting the commentor’s (or is it commentator’s? lol) blog.
-g
Thanks, I’m just the same, although I can’t help you out on the commentor/commentator furore.
I love your list too! I can’t wait to see what hat you decide to knit. Does the gulp mean it will be your first? I need to get cracking on some for Christmas presents myself! And vegan bread is without animal products like milk/eggs/butter. Can’t wait to see how you do with your list. 🙂
I made a hat about a hundred years ago, following Elizabeth Zimmermann’s recipe (has she been canonised yet?) But recently I’ve lost a lot of confidence, feeling only scarfworthy. I love those big slouchy numbers, so we’ll see! Vegan bread is what I make All The Time, you’ll have no problem with it at all.
here some french so you can start to learn :p
j’aime bien ta liste. bonne chance!
Merci beaucoup Marieke!
Great list!… and thanks for checking out mine 😀
Roz xx
Cheers Roz! (In my head you’re that woman in “Frasier”, so much cooler than Daphne)
Hehe I love number 5. My sewing machine is gathering dust at the moment too. What are you planning to make? I don’t what macaroon recipe I’m going to use yet. Definitely something easy as I’m no expert in baking. Do you have any recommendations?
I am using the recipe from Molly Wizenberg’s book “A Homemade Life” ( there’s a link on my list) It’s a brilliant, moving book and a couple of recipes are already my staples, so it feels like a good bet. I haven’t planned what to sew, I so hate machines that just getting it out and sewing on a scrap of cloth will be a giant step for baby!
Great list! Thank you for stopping by mine! I look forward to seeing your hat, and of course the creations from your sewing machine as well. Bonne chance pour apprendre le français aussi!
Merci bien Aimee!
So, we are both on a mission to grow our fingernails?!? We can totally do this. I know it. Let me know if you need one-on-one encouragement! I’m here! :):)
I’m gonna give you weekly updates, you know how ridiculously hard it is, not like booze or chocolate where you have to go to a cupboard, your nails are ALWAYS WITH YOU. Temptation is everywhere. At the moment, I have 6 okay and 4 stumps. How about you?
I tend to be worse with my left hand. It is horrible. My right is better but still needs help. And I know I can do this! Just three months ago I had gorgeous nails that I was proud of. But, I get stressed out and just go after them. And you are so right… they are always with us! Makes it so hard but… we can do it. I know we can. 🙂
Thanks for checking out my 12 list earlier! I’ll definitely look you up when I hop on Etsy. You’ve got a great list going… good luck with everything! Btw, do you have any advice for the kind of sewing machine a total newbie should get?
Sadly I have no words of wisdom of my own. I, too, am the newbiest of the newb, but I have Nicole Mallaliieu’s fabulous book “You Sew, Girl!”. Here is a link to her website where she gives some advice you might find useful.
http://nicolemdesign.blogspot.com/search/label/sewing%20machine
The bestiest of the best, Lydia
Great list! I’ve been wanting to try to make macaroons for a while!
I’ve been wanting to EAT macaroons for a while.
I love how varied your list is, I can’t wait to see how you progress with it. Thank you so much for the visit/comment, all the best with yours! 🙂
Cheers Erica! Please, for the sake of womankind, keep us up to date with the various truffle recipes/tastings.
This list is really fun! Fall and winter are the perfect times for knitting and bread-baking 🙂
Thanks! I totally agree, because it leads to snuggling under woolly things and bread-eating. All the best with your baking, too.
Grow your fingernails – hilarious! I bite my nails but that’s definitely not gonna happen before 2012! Definitely post a follow-up as well 🙂
I like the nail one as I’ve realised it’s the only one I can do by doing NOTHING. I can’t lose!
Thanks for checking out my list. Good luck with your list too!
Thanks, I love the look of your blog, which lead me to check out your Etsy store, which, of course, I then had to “favourite” because it’s so gorgeous. I have a thing for font.
optimism and control, you got it so right about lists.
you have a really good list, there. with big and small goals.
i’m really interested in the bread making one because yesterday i just got 25 lbs bag of bread flour and i only make bagels and pizza hahaha, i’m a bit intimidated by bread.
Get ready for the blast of my own trumpet: I did a super duper easy bread tutorial the other week that is getting good reviews.
https://judahsblanket.wordpress.com/2011/10/02/use-my-loaf-a-bread-making-tutorial/
What a great list! I love your second goal! I’d love to learn Spanish, but after several semesters in high school and college, I think I might just be a hopeless case. 🙂
Thanks, I love the “about” page on your blog, and your reason for naming it (Taking back Tiffany) I also (I am presuming) love “How I Met Your Mother”.
As for the Spanish you’d be bilingual putty in Michel’s hands.”Never give up! Never surrender!”
“as a doorstep” – hilarious!
best of luck to you and your goals 🙂
Thanks so much. Enjoyed your beautiful post on Alexandra Grablewski, gorgeous. Do you like Esther K Smith’s stuff?
Your list sounds awesome. My sewing machine is broken, so I feel the doorstop thing… I hope to pick sewing back up, if I ever get it fixed 😛 And yay knitting hats!
Thanks Erika, maybe the machine would help out with the mesh (please tell me I’ve got the right person and you don’t think I’m mad. Oh, that’s not mutually exclusive.)
You do have the right Erika! [And it’s okay, we’re all mad here o.O]
Sewing wouldn’t help to much with mesh – it’s actually kinda like plastic chicken wire, lol. I say “mesh” just because I’m not too sure what else to call it!
4 & 12! I hope to see posts on those! 🙂 And laughed at 5! Mine sits on the desk for months on end without use!
Thank you! So many of us have cooking/baking on our lists, it’s a shame we can’t have a giant party and sample all of it. Maybe I’m just greedy. Maybe.