tyb30 - october update

3 months left 'til my birthday!

1: take 2900 photos. done, thanks to a couple of fabulous vacations. 3139 taken so far. 100%

2: visit two places i've never been before. i'm officially an overachiever on this one. :) pittsburgh, michigan, south dakota, wyoming, new mexico, oklahoma, arkansas, cincinnati, milwaukee. 100%

3: finish two quilts. three done! i made a quilt for alicia's birthday, finished up a quilt for holly & wayne and used the scraps from alicia's to make a baby quilt for a silent auction at work. 100%

4: make/recycle/customize a table for the living room. i should have been way more diligent about going to garage sales this summer. 0%

5: avoid deep-fried vegetables. the french fry embargo officially started may 1. i've had potato chips a couple of times, but so far not too shabby. 95% (that's a solid A, but not quite perfect.)

6: watch the entire 'friends' series. done! and like any self-respecting obsessed fan, i've started the series over. i'm currently on season eight, disc 3. again. :) 100%

7: send out Christmas cards. done! hey - i never said i was going to send them out at Christmas-time. i even got an easter card sent to me in response. :) 100%

8: tackle another month of 1000 photographs. accomplished in july - 1,029 photos. you can see them all here on my flickr account. 100%

9: put together the fortune journal. done! and i'm pleased with the outcome. 100%

10: surprise! done & i love it! i turned one of my living room walls into a huge piece of black/white photographic artwork. 166 of my photos, floor to ceiling, corner to corner. they start small on the left side of the wall (4.5" x 3") and get bigger with each column of photos (ending at 24" x 16"). i have had some issues with humidity, but nothing catastrophic, yet. 100%

11: send a piece of real mail each month. june - sent & received! july - sent & received! august - sent & received! september - sent & received! october - sent & received! 100%

12: watch all of Alan Alda's movies available from netflix. this one won't happen. i put my netflix account on hold again this past week. i don't watch the movies enough to make it worth the money every month. so i'm officially conceding failure on this one. 19%

13: try a muffuletta from at least two restaurants other than three floyd's. i haven't had any luck with this, yet. however, i did get what looks to be a very yummy recipe for muffuletta ... so i may just make my own. 0%

14: host a ladies' night at the new house. done! my ladies got together for a li'l halloween party. yay for us! 100%

15: get my own place. done! haven't you invited yourself over yet? 100%

16: plantumentary. officially started june 21, but it's in need of either an overhaul or some serious re-dedication. 50%

17: get my blog archives under control with yearly headers. workin' on it. 33%

18: don't plug in my tv until goal #3 is accomplished. done! since #3 has been accomplished, this one is officially accomplished, too. though i don't see myself plugging my tv in now that i'm done with two quilts. i just ... don't really care, yet. 100%

19: try to grow some vegetables. i have tomatoes turning pretty colors ... now it's a waiting game to see if i can get them ripe before frost. or picked to ripen inside before frost. or picked before the area wildlife picks them for me. blasted wildlife. 100%

20: read a book. i've finished'persepolis' and started catch 22, again. 100%

21: put up a Christmas tree. i have some plans for this Christmas tree. i want it to match my living room, as that is where i'll set it up. i need to do some digging for the perfect tree ... or make my own. 0%

22: get my nose pierced. done on the fifth of july! and by a very nice looking man, if i do say so myself. 100%

23: update my portfolio. done! yes, i'll continue to add to it and possibly make some tweaks ... but it's updated & ready to be seen. 100%

24: screen print a t-shirt. i have a plan ... :) 0%

25: bike ten miles. i haven't had my bike out of the garage all summer. 0%

26: create artwork for the office. why am i not more motivated to be productive when i get home from work? 0%

27: go two weeks without obvious processed sugars. this was started on Monday, Oct. 20. and ended on Thursday, Oct. 23. though, technically it was started again on Friday, Oct. 24. so we'll see. it turns out i really like starbuck's caramel apple spice. 0%

28: Christmas surprise. 0%

29: have breakfast at lynn's paradise cafe. 0%

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'becca tore into her prom dress tonight. literally.

14. host a ladies' night ...

i have a short list of things that i really should accomplish tonight. however, the only thing that's going to get done is giving you this photo from last night.

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'becca is re-thinking her costume for the office.

19: try to grow some vegetables.

i'm going to have a ripe tomato before it frosts!

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'becca should be sleeping.

3. finish two quilts

i finished holly & wayne's quilt! i need to figure out a better way to photograph my quilts - hanging, preferably, so you can see the entire top. but, here it is. :)


here's a shot with the corner folded so you can see the back fabric.


and here it is all folded up so you can see the blocks a little better.

the red/white stripes are wonky log cabins. i piled up red & white squares and cut the angles randomly. then i pieced them back together to make the final squares half & half. the stars are paper pieced - a template i made myself. the instructions called for cutting all the star points individually, but lining up points isn't my forte ... so i paper pieced instead.

i machine quilted through the red/white stripes on the diagonals and hand quilted around each of the stars. and the backing is a pre-quilted fabric, so there's no worries about the batting shifting.

yay!

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'becca may have just proven to herself that being a pack rat is good.

9: put together the fortune journal

a couple of months ago i tried making a cover for a purse calendar out of fortunes. the results were not satisfactory. the fortunes were laid out in perfect rows, and it was too boring for me. so when i started this journal cover, i pasted down about a dozen fortunes in a haphazard, random fashion before deciding i didn't like that either. after all, part of the fun of using the fortunes was being able to READ the fortunes.

so i went back to lines. but i gave them an angle and mixed in some colored stripes. the stripes are cut from paint chips i picked up months ago when i was thinking about painting my office. i haven't painted the office - but i do still like the colors. :)


here's a view showing both the front & back of the finished journal. i'm quite pleased with how it came out. everything's covered in mod podge, so it's a tad hard to photograph without crazy reflection of the flash, but it has a fabulous feel to it. it's smooth, but you can see the brush strokes. and the fortunes are all different thicknesses (thanks to some of them being part of the original & second failed attempts), so there's a neat texture to it, as well.


there's one fortune on each side that's sitting on top of the color stripes. the front says "your dream will come true."


and the back reads "you're transforming yourself into someone who is certain to succeed."

i don't know about all of that - but i do really like journal. :)

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'becca is watching the cubs game online.

saturdays are good

does anyone else remember the cheesecake factory conversation? this is going back like a year & a half ... so let me refresh you. i mentioned i went to cheesecake factory for lunch. joanie pointed out she loves it. erin pointed out she does not. fred pointed out she's never been to a cheesecake factory. joanie pointed out the chicago location is the best. fred suggested we go for cheesecake & then to the paper source for a stringy pirate. bethany said she wanted to join us. dave said he might join us as well - though not for the cheesecake or the pirate, but just because we're good people & he wanted to see us. (yes, i may have embellished that a tad. whatever. it's true.) so i'm thinking, maybe we should do that. you know, after the parasitic womb-dwellers have been flushed from fred & joanie's systems. and after the holidays. yes, i think we should do that.

i was reading in mental_floss today & they used the term "shoo-in" ... and i had no idea it was spelled that way. i guess i assumed "shoe-in", although i don't know why. why is it spelled "shoo-in"?

i accomplished #6! i finished the last of 'friends' this afternoon. i have no idea what i'm going to watch now as i quilt or eat dinner.

the cheesecake conversation was not randomly remembered. way too many details for that. i'm working on getting the blog archives under control. my mini-goal for today is to get all of april 2007 moved to the 2007 archive. then i think i'm possibly going to moe's to grab dinner. or go mow my lawn. it's in need of a good trimming. :)

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'becca wonders if her mailman has passed yet ...

tyb30 - september update

i wasn't going to do percentages ... but i just love math too much. besides, i've only got 4 months left 'til my birthday - i should be at 66%!

1: take 2900 photos. done, thanks to a couple of fabulous vacations. 2957 taken so far. 100%

2: visit two places i've never been before. i'm officially an overachiever on this one. :) pittsburgh, michigan, south dakota, wyoming, new mexico, oklahoma, arkansas, cincinnati. 100%

3: finish two quilts. alicia's is done. i have some progress made on the second one. 50%

4: make/recycle/customize a table for the living room. i should have been way more diligent about going to garage sales this summer. 0%

5: avoid deep-fried vegetables. the french fry embargo officially started may 1. i've had potato chips a couple of times, but so far not too shabby. 95% (that's a solid A, but not quite perfect.)

6: watch the entire 'friends' series. on ten, disc three. what should i watch next? 95%

7: send out Christmas cards. done! hey - i never said i was going to send them out at Christmas-time. i even got an easter card sent to me in response. :) 100%

8: tackle another month of 1000 photographs. accomplished in july - 1,029 photos. you can see them all here on my flickr account. 100%

9: put together the fortune journal. i haven't done anything past the mediocre attempt a couple of months ago. 50%

10: surprise! done & i love it! i turned one of my living room walls into a huge piece of black/white photographic artwork. 166 of my photos, floor to ceiling, corner to corner. they start small on the left side of the wall (4.5" x 3") and get bigger with each column of photos (ending at 24" x 16"). i have had some issues with humidity, but nothing catastrophic, yet. 100%

11: send a piece of real mail each month. june - sent & received! july - sent & received! august - sent & received! september - sent & received! 100%

12: watch all of Alan Alda's movies available from netflix. this one won't happen. i put my netflix account on hold again this past week. i don't watch the movies enough to make it worth the money every month. so i'm officially conceding failure on this one. 19%

13: try a muffuletta from at least two restaurants other than three floyd's. 0%

14: host a ladies' night at the new house. technically, i hosted a ladies' night in july since we didn't play bunco. it wasn't what i originally had in mind, but it does fulfill the goal. :) 100%

15: get my own place. done! haven't you invited yourself over yet? 100%

16: plantumentary. officially started june 21, but it's in need of either an overhaul or some serious re-dedication. 50%

17: get my blog archives under control with yearly headers. workin' on it. 25%

18: don't plug in my tv until goal #3 is accomplished. so far so good. 100%

19: try to grow some vegetables. i have three healthy veggie plants - and tiny tomatoes! now they just need to ripen before it frosts. :) 100%

20: read a book. i've finished'persepolis' and started catch 22, again. 100%

21: put up a Christmas tree. i have some plans for this Christmas tree. i want it to match my living room, as that is where i'll set it up. i need to do some digging for the perfect tree ... or make my own. 0%

22: get my nose pierced. done on the fifth of july! and by a very nice looking man, if i do say so myself. 100%

23: update my portfolio. it's actually sad that i haven't worked on this during the past month. must. stop. dwelling. 75%

24: screen print a t-shirt. i have a plan ... :) 0%

25: bike ten miles. i haven't had my bike out of the garage all summer. 0%

26: create artwork for the office. why am i not more motivated to be productive when i get home from work? 0%

27: go two weeks without obvious processed sugars. 0%

28: Christmas surprise. 0%

29: have breakfast at lynn's paradise cafe. 0%

averaging the percentages puts me at 57%. i'm slacking ... but a couple of them ARE Christmas related, so i've got time on those. goals i plan to attack this month: 6, 9, 23 and 27. goals i plan to make some progress on this month: 3, 16 and 28.

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'becca had a crazy day yesterday and wants little more than to go back to bed.

tyb30 - august update

five months to finish the list. i think i'm doing alright so far, but let's look at it mathematically. (doesn't everyone want to look at everything mathematically on a sunday morning?) my year before 30 is 58% complete. so i should be 58% complete with my goals. let's see ...

1: take 2900 photos. 2000 taken so far. a little weird that i'm at an exact 2000 on an update day, huh? without even trying - because trying would definitely be something i would do. but i didn't. 69% to goal.

2: visit two places i've never been before. i'm currently at three: pittsburgh, michigan (yeah, seriously ... i made it 29 years without going to michigan. crazy, huh?) and south dakota. i leave on for a 14-state road trip this week - this list will get longer. :) 100% to goal.

3: finish two quilts. alicia's is done. i have some progress made on the second one. 50% to goal.

4: make/recycle/customize a table for the living room. 0% to goal.

5: avoid deep-fried vegetables. the french fry embargo officially started may 1. so far, so good. although it did occur to me as i was eating some potato chips that technically they're off limits, too. but i was already eating them, so what was i going to do? technically this is 100% to goal, i suppose, as i have been avoiding deep-fried vegetables. and i didn't put a time constraint it like avoid them all year.

6: watch the entire 'friends' series. on season seven, disc four. 68% to goal.

7: send out Christmas cards. done! hey - i never said i was going to send them out at Christmas-time. :) 100% to goal.

8: tackle another month of 1000 photographs. accomplished in july - 1,029 photos. you can see them all here on my flickr account. 100% to goal.

9: put together the fortune journal. i made fortune covers for my new purse calendar, but i'm not pleased with the outcome. i need to try something different. more random. 50% to goal. (i don't know, how do you figure some of this out?)

10: surprise! done & i love it! i turned one of my living room walls into a huge piece of black/white photographic artwork. 166 of my photos, floor to ceiling, corner to corner. they start small on the left side of the wall (4.5" x 3") and get bigger with each column of photos (ending at 24" x 16"). i have had some issues with humidity, but nothing catastrophic, yet. 100% to goal.

11: send a piece of real mail each month. june - sent & received! july - sent & received! august - sent & received! 100% to goal.

12: watch all of Alan Alda's movies available from netflix. there are twenty-one alda movies available on netflix. i've seen four and still have the mephisto waltz sitting in my office. considering i'm thinking about dumping my netflix subscription, this one may not get done. i suppose i could keep netflix long enough to reach the goal - but i just really don't watch movies very much. 19% to goal.

13: try a muffuletta from at least two restaurants other than three floyd's. 0% to goal.

14: host a ladies' night at the new house. technically, i hosted a ladies' night in july since we didn't play bunco. it wasn't what i originally had in mind, but it does fulfill the goal. :) 100% to goal.

15: get my own place. done! haven't you invited yourself over yet? 100% to goal.

16: plantumentary. officially started june 21. i took a minor hiatus from this a week or so ago, but i'm back on track now. and i learned that having the plant by the open window on windy days wasn't good for it. 50% to goal.

17: get my blog archives under control with yearly headers. workin' on it. 25% to goal.

18: don't plug in my tv until goal #3 is accomplished. so far so good. 100% to goal.

19: try to grow some vegetables. i have three healthy veggie plants - and two itty bitty tomoatoes! 100% to goal. (keeping goals vague can be good. i can't make the goal to successfully harvest tomatoes ... i mean, what if the mole hadn't stopped digging in that area? or what if the bunnies ate all the blossoms? or what if it frosts before they ripen? i can't control nature, people!)

20: read a book. i've finished'persepolis' and started catch 22, again. 100% to goal.

21: put up a Christmas tree. 0% to goal. but this holiday-related goal might actually wait until the holidays. :)

22: get my nose pierced. done on the fifth of july! and by a very nice looking man, if i do say so myself. 100% to goal.

23: update my portfolio. in the process. i've made some revisions to the biography area & uploaded newer projects. now i need to flesh out the project descriptions and get that sucker out there. 75% to goal.

24: screen print a t-shirt. i have a plan ... :) 0% to goal.

25: bike ten miles. i haven't had my bike out of the garage all summer. 0% to goal.

26: create artwork for the office. i haven't thought much about the artwork ... but i think i found some fabulous fabric to make curtains out of. 0% to goal.

27: go two weeks without obvious processed sugars. i will do this. after vacation & before the holidays. perhaps i'll line it up with halloween. just to test my resolve. :) 0% to goal.

28: Christmas surprise. 0% to goal.

29: have breakfast at lynn's paradise cafe. 0% to goal, but perhaps this will be fixed very soon. (ooo, i should e-mail malissa ....)

okay, if i average all the percentages i'm at 55% to goal. that's really good, i think. almost impressive, one might say. good thing i sent out those Christmas cards early. ;)

20: read a book.

i finished the complete persepolis tonight. i do enjoy reading a good memoir. in fact, it seems i do enjoy reading.

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'becca will now undertake the reading of catch 22. she must return that book to greg.

19: try to grow some vegetables.

my tomato plant has blossoms! currently both tomato plants and the pepper plant look very healthy & strong. and with these two blossoms, i just may get some fruit before the frost. :) yay!


my veggie plants are planted along my back fence. on my neighbor's side of said fence, these adorable flowers are growing. i really thought they were weeds until they bloomed. they're a good four foot tall and are growing in the 8" of ground between their garage and the fence. even if they are weeds, aren't they pretty?

no, this is not the tyb30 goal i referred to a couple of days ago. that one will be revealed in the next couple of days. and not to everyone at the same time. mysterious, eh?

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'becca definitely made the right choice in buying that soy sauce before reheating the rice.

progress

i made major progress towards accomplishing on of the year before 30 goals. but i can't give you details yet. don't you just hate that? :)

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'becca needs to buy soy sauce before she reheats her leftover fried rice.

8: month of 1000

my rental car has shiny surfaces. :)

i have officially taken over 1000 photographs this month. one goal down for the year.

10: surprise!

this is the massive living room artwork i was working on this past week. my living room is this fabulous deep red color and my furniture is black. marlana (my landlord) always had black/white photos in the living room, which i loved. so i decided, what better to do than cover a whole wall in them?

the mechanics: i started by nailing up large pieces mat board. and then simply used double-sided sticky tape to attach the photos. that way there's no adhesive on the wall, and i didn't get the plaster texture on the photos when i smoothed them down to ensure adhesion. plus, the nails holding the mat board are completely covered by the photos - and nail heads were one thing i wanted to avoid. i'm pretty satisfied with how it came out. undoubtedly, i'll change some things next time i do it. but i'm seriously in love with this wall.

random statistics about the wall:
1. 11 pieces of mat board.
2. way more ink than i care to count.
3. at least 10 rolls of double-sided sticky tape.
4. 166 photos, taken at no less than 30 different locations.
- photos from my road trip along the southern cali coast: 24
- photos from san francisco: 10
- photos from my recent trip to south dakota: 30
- photos that include a bridge: 8
- photos that include water: 25
- photos taken from a moving vehicle (car, boat, plane, double-decker bus): 30

tyb30 - july update

alright, an update for you. :)

1: take 2900 photos. 1663 as of july 25. it's also been commented that i should choose my 29 favorite photos out of the 2900 total. i like this idea. :)

2: visit two places i've never been before. pittsburgh! michigan! south dakota!

3: finish two quilts. alicia's is done!

4: make/recycle/customize a table for the living room.

5: avoid deep-fried vegetables. the french fry embargo officially started may 1. so far, so good. although it did occur to me as i was eating some potato chips that technically they're off limits, too. but i was already eating them, so what was i going to do?

6: watch the entire 'friends' series. on season six, disc one.

7: send out Christmas cards.

8: tackle another month of 1000 photographs. i am tackling this in july. currently it's the 25th and i've already taken 948 photos. i think i'll create a little space on my flickr account for them. now, in fairness, some of the photos taken with my camera last night were taken by beth ... but i did my best to pull out the ones i think she shot. some of hers may have slipped through, as we were both shooting photos of the rail cats players. but i'm crediting her with all the rohde shots, and i'm taking most of the wallace ones. :) i'll just aim to have over 1000 photos to make up for any overlap.

9: put together the fortune journal.

10: surprise! this is my artwork in the living room. it's done ... but i can't post photos until tomorrow. :)

11: send a piece of real mail each month. june - sent & received! july - sent & received!

12: watch all of Alan Alda's movies available from netflix. i watched purlie victorious (alan alda's first film) a couple weeks ago - worth watching for his ridiculous georgia accent. but once you've heard the accent, you can turn it off. ;) i've currently got the mephisto waltz sitting in my office.

13: try a muffuletta from at least two restaurants other than three floyd's.

14: host a ladies' night at the new house.

15: get my own place. done! haven't you invited yourself over yet?

16: plantumentary. officially started june 21. i think i may make a little spot on flickr for this, too. we'll see.

17: get my blog archives under control with yearly headers. workin' on it.

18: don't plug in my tv until goal #3 is accomplished. so far so good.

19: try to grow some vegetables. two tomato plants & a pepper plant are planted, however, my resident mole seems to enjoy tunneling through their area. so i'm not sure they'll make it.

20: read a book. i've started 'the complete persepolis'.

21: put up a Christmas tree.

22: get my nose pierced. done on the fifth of july! and by a very nice looking man, if i do say so myself.

23: update my portfolio. i have been giving this some thought. i grabbed a bunch of files from work - now i just need to get the site updated.

24: screen print a t-shirt. i have a plan ... :)

25: bike ten miles.

26: create artwork for the office. i haven't thought much about the artwork ... but i think i found some fabulous fabric to make curtains out of.

27: go two weeks without obvious processed sugars. yeah, this currently conflicts with my summer of ice cream. it'll have to wait until october or november.

28: Christmas surprise.

29: have breakfast at lynn's paradise cafe.

alicia's quilt

the year before 30 list

alright, i think i have a list. 29 goals for my 29th year. yes, i'm already five months into the year ... but these are things i plan to accomplish before january 24, 2009.

1: take 2900 photos. i'll be honest - this is going to be a stretch. but what else are goals for?

2: visit two places i've never been before. i was originally going to say visit ONE place ... but since i've already visited pittsburgh, that didn't seem fair. so i'm halfway to this goal already.

3: finish two quilts. i want to say three ... but i'm concerned about losing interest after finishing the first two. the first two are not optional. they will be finished. (actually, the first one is already finished. yay! in time for the birthday party!)

4: make/recycle/customize a table for the living room.

5: avoid deep-fried vegetables. this will be affectionately called the french fry embargo, seeing as the french fry is the most common deep-fried vegetable we come in contact with. this will be especially important as we go into fair/festival season.

6: watch the entire 'friends' series. this probably seems like a silly goal ... i mean, haven't i already done this? but, i actually haven't. i watch friends while i quilt, but i generally take such a break between quilts that i start the series over instead of continuing on.

7: send out Christmas cards. i made Christmas cards last year, but i didn't send them out. sad, huh?

8: tackle another month of 1000 photographs. this will obviously help with goal #1. :) i'll probably line this up with goal #2.

9: put together the fortune journal.

10: surprise! this one is house related, but i don't want to spread the excitement before i figure out the logistics. i'll say this: black & white photos in the living room. but that's more to remind myself what the goal is than to tease you. honest.

11: send a piece of real mail each month. i want to see if sending real mail breeds the reception of real mail. ;)

12: watch all of Alan Alda's movies available from netflix.

13: try a muffuletta from at least two restaurants other than three floyd's.

14: host a ladies' night at the new house. anyone know how long it's been since our group's been together? i'm thinking it's been over a year ...

15: get my own place. yes, this is already accomplished. but this was on the list before my last birthday.

16: plantumentary. think documentary about a plant. yes, that's plant-umentary. details to follow. :)

17: get my blog archives under control with yearly headers.

18: don't plug in my tv until goal #3 is accomplished.

19: try to grow some vegetables. i'm envisioning tomato plants. but i really need to get them in the ground soon.

20: read a book. i was originally going to say two books. but i'd be happy with one. :)

21: put up a Christmas tree. i can put up my own Christmas tree! yay!

22: get my nose pierced.

23: update my portfolio. i've managed a decent online format ... but it does need to be updated. and my physical portfolio is a mess.

24: screen print a t-shirt. this is sort of a carry over from last year. i did give it a try last year, but the results were not good. this year, i will accomplish a wearable t-shirt.

25: bike ten miles. this is from my house to east philips road on the bike trail. i feel confident in saying i can build up to this. and i really need to ride my bike more.

26: create artwork for the office. i'd much prefer this room was still a bedroom ... but if it's not going to be a bedroom, my office needs some artwork.

27: go two weeks without obvious processed sugars. i say "obvious" because there are processed sugars in a lot of things other than candy & cookies & cakes. i'm wanting to avoid those obvious ones. especially that stupid candy bowl on beth's desk. how dare she bring back ghirardelli chocolates, anyway? ;)

28: Christmas surprise. if i give you the details on this one, it'll totally ruin someone's Christmas gift. but it's something i wanted to try last year, but just didn't have the time.

29: have breakfast at lynn's paradise cafe. yeah, this is a repeat from last year. but what's wrong with a little continuity? besides, breakfast at lynn's undoubtedly means time with the beamers. and i do love the beamers.

the year before 30 ...

i shot photos almost the entire drive home from bunco last weekend.


it's been awhile since i shot night driving photos. and i was tired, so this gave me something to do. :)


when i got bored with changing the exposure time, i started just swirling the camera around while it was shooting.


yes, i was tired enough that i took photos to keep me interested in driving ... and then i got bored with that, too, so i had to swirl the camera around. doesn't it make you want to drive with me at night?

i'm contemplating a "the year before 30" list. i know i said i wasn't going to do one this year ... and i know i had reasons why ... but now i'm thinking i might change my mind. i'm revamping the way my archives are handled on the site (perhaps you've noticed the nice year labels over there?) and doing so requires me copying & pasting posts between blogs. so i'm re-reading a lot of old stuff. and those lists are kinda fun. and i like fun. so maybe i should make a list. because i've already got a name for it ... and i'll never be able to make "the year before 30" list again.

granted, i'm a solid five months into the year ... but i'm still thinking about it. and i'll not make any goals that have already been accomplished. or, not more than one. i did have one goal already set for this year & i've already accomplished it, so it will be there. other than that though, i'll stick to things that are new or in progress.

for example, so far i've shot 562 photos this year. (that does not count the 216 photos of darkness i took during that lightening storm.) last year i shot about 2400. the year before i shot about 1650. i'm wondering if i can challenge myself to 2900.

there will be a goal about taking a trip. i already know where that trip will be. in fact, i'd already have bought my plane tickets several times over if they weren't so flippin' expensive right now. but it'll be someplace new. which will lend itself to taking more photos. see how smart i am? :)

there will probably be a quilting goal.

maybe something about baking ... i do enjoy that. and seriously, the oatmeal brownies i made last night were tasty. i do like oatmeal.

this is where i open it up to you. any ideas on things i should do before i turn 30? it sounds like a milestone, doesn't it?