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Archive for the ‘101 things’ Category

becoming a mad hatter: phase two

Thursday, October 24th, 2013

So, we left off with a cloche that had been wired and lacquered. I came back the next day with my head full of inspiration to finish the cloche, and to begin my next hat! W00T!

I started the day with some coffee, and grabbed my hat to get to work. Now, I thought the hardest part was behind me. Little did I know how wrong I was!! Right away, I had to grab some more petersham, shape it, and hand stitch it inside the hat. I was told that it didn’t matter so much what the stitches looked like, but I still tried to be as careful as possible.

Band in!

Now was the time for the trimming! Guess what I had to grab? Yup. Moar petersham. There was some super-cool ribbon available, but sadly it’s colorful self was not petersham. So, after much careful thought, I decided to go layered for the trim around my hat. A wider black band, with a narrower piece of screaming blue over it. So, threading the needle and hand stitching was commencing once more. After I got the first layer of ribbon on, I was seriously beginning to wonder what I was thinking with this two layer situation.

What was I thinking???

What was I thinking???

I briefly debated with myself whether it was really worth it to add the blue, and maybe it would be okay with just the black, but I decided I may as well just go all out. So, more stitching. By hand. But, it was totally worth it. The blue made it a little more unique.

See? Totally worth it!

See? Totally worth it!

Now, it was ready for the final embellishment. While I was noodling over what my next hat was, I decided exactly what my first hat needed. Rabbit ears. Nothing less would do. So, I set to work. I sketched out the shape on some of the scrap felt from the brim, and cut out some ears. Much like the other trim, there was a debate on how to go about the earring of the hat. I knew for sure I would be trimming the edges of the ears with more ribbon. However, should they be wired? I decided against the wiring. First, to save time. Second, I decided they didn’t need to articulate. They could just be formed, and be fine. So, as I did several times before, I cut more petersham, pressed it into shape, and stitched, stitched, stitched. Once the ears were attached, I was ready to line my hat. Unfortunately, I was up against two problems. The first was that my heart was set on bright blue to tie in with the trim. There wasn’t enough there to trim my hat, so if I wanted to line my hat before leaving, it would have to be another color. However, the clock was ticking, and it turns out there wasn’t enough time. So, the hat came home with me, where I did have the blue silk I was after. I admit, it was thoroughly tempting to kick back and let the hat chill…mostly done. However, I know too well how easy it is to let something sit, and the next thing you know several months have passed and you still have a hat you can’t wear. So, I drafted, and I cut, and I sewed (on the bright side, the seams of the lining could be done on my trusty machine!), and voila!

finished hat

There is a small part of me that is tempted to flop over one of the ears…but part of me also likes them pointing up. The ears!! The ears.

becoming a mad hatter

Wednesday, October 23rd, 2013

If you’ve been around for a while, and possibly paying attention, you may have heard me express interest in learning to make hats. I don’t mean crocheting a beanie for the winter, but blocking a proper felt hat. I knew it was something that could be done, after all, all those hats that exist had to come from somewhere. Once I read on a blog that the writer took millinery classes in her neighborhood (San Francisco), I knew I had to find a class of my own! However, finding such a class turned out to be tricky. I was worried that such a thing only existed in San Fran. Like I had at one point with taxidermy, I resigned myself to learning via the internets. Luckily, also like taxidermy, I found a class locally! It cost a few bucks, but provided me with lots of skills and resources!! Also, a new, fancy, one-of-a-kind hat! Magic!

Once I signed up for the class, we were given a materials list. Some of the things I had, some of them I didn’t. However, I did receive a reassuring e-mail that we didn’t have to have everything, but it would be nice if we did have some things. Whew. Also in said e-mail were the color options we had for making said hats. I knew I wanted to make something different from anything I already had in my collection, so I requested magenta. I also requested a second felt (which I paid extra for, as it wasn’t included in the class fee, and that was fine), so if I had time I could get started on a second piece. I went with red. Not just red, but bright, bold, screaming red. At least, that was what I was hoping it would be based on the color swatch via my monitor.

The first day of my two-day class, I was nervous. It turns out that even a crafty, artsy, fun class brings out similar stress to the old days of school. I was worried everyone else would be cooler, that I wouldn’t know what to say to anyone, that I would be the worst hat-maker to ever exist. So, I put on my favorite skirt, a comfortable and witty tee, and hoped for the best. I walked into the class with my sewing kit and hairdryer as I was told. Everyone was already gathered ’round the table, looking like experts. Huh. However, it quickly became clear that I was in a room full of pretty cool people, and this was going to be a lot of fun.

We each grabbed our felts (I began with my magenta), and told the instructor what we were looking to create. In my case, I was picturing a cloche with a flipped brim at the front side. She matched us up with the appropriate blocks. For most hats, you need the crown, or top, a spacer to get the height you want for the hat, and a brim. So, I got a round crown, a decent sized spacer, and a basic cloche brim. Then, two bolts and an allen key.

Assembling that Billy bookcase prepared me for this moment!

Assembling that Billy bookcase prepared me for this moment!

Once the block was assembled, I covered it with aluminum foil. Some folks prefer plastic wrap, but our instructor said she has found plastic wrap to be easier, and my instinct is to agree. I know that when I use plastic wrap, I tend to get it stuck to everything but the bowl I’m trying to cover. So, aluminum foil. The key is to get it super smooth, so one doesn’t wind up with weird lumps in their hat. Then, I took my felt to get it ready for blocking. Millinery felt comes in a vague hat shape. Either a hood, which is what I used for this hat, or a cape, which is used for a larger brimmed hat. This felt needs to be shaped so that it looks like a fedora, or cloche, or pointy witch hat, or what-have-you. This involves hot water, and/or steam. It was a little weird to douse this lovely piece of hattish felt in hot water and beat it up, but I did so, trusting my instructor whom I hoped had been vetted by the textile center that hosted the class. I then brought it to my block, and began stretching. One of the keys is to not stretch areas too much, or you wind up with a hole. So I carefully arranged my felt.

Starting to look more like a hat!

Starting to look more like a hat!


It was beginning to look like a hat! Mind. Blown. I shaped it a bit more, then it was time to dry it.

I was assured this was safe.

I was assured this was safe.


Basically, we fashioned hat dryers out of large moving boxes outfitted with hair dryers, and, in some cases, we also fashioned stands and weights to keep the tops closed. This was another point at which I trusted the instructor. I mean, I assumed she had done this before and had lived to tell the tale.

It takes a bit for the hat to dry and set, so we went to grab some eats and chat and whatnot, and came back. Despite a hiccup and the hair dryer trying to prove it was smarter than I and shutting off because of being too hot or something, it wasn’t much after lunch that I was ready for phase two. The phase where I had to take a deep breath and NOT PANIC. Taking the hat off the block and CUTTING the brim into shape. In hindsight, I should have trimmed less off the downturned part and more off the upturned, but it still came out okay. To prevent too much cutting regret, I measured and marked out what I planned to cut, did some cutting, and then did a bit of trimming. When I got to the point that the cutting was just going to end badly unless I put the scissors down, I headed to the next step, which is optional in some cases, but necessary in this one. Adding wire. There is special fancy wire for hats, and I got a piece, and went to town stitching it along the edge of my hat’s brim. Most of the construction of a hat is done by hand, including the stitching. In the case of the wire, the stitches wind up covered so they don’t have to be perfect. However, it’s nice to keep everything neat and tidy, so it still takes a while.
Wired!

Next, that wire has to get covered. There are different ways of doing it, I went with ribbon. Because of all the curves involved in a hat, one can’t just use any old ribbon they can get their hands on. Petersham is ideal. It’s easy to confuse this ribbon with grosgrain, but it is not the same! Grosgrain has a straight edge, while petersham has a toothed edge that means you can manipulate it much like you can manipulate bias tape into curves. I chose black, pressed it into shape, and went to town hand stitching it over the wire. Tedious, yet calming. In this step, it’s more important to make sure the stitches are neat and even, so it takes a bit. It was much like hemming a wee skirt.

Once the basic trim was done, the inside of the crown was brushed with lacquer, and I left it overnight….

Come back tomorrow for the rest of the action!!

squirrely sunday: put a hat on it!

Sunday, October 20th, 2013

Yeah, I’m sure you read the title and thought of Beyonce, and started singing the tune of “Single Ladies.” Not where I was going, but that’s cool. I was thinking more like Portlandia and “Put a bird on it!”

I spent yesterday and today *finally* learning how to block hats! I already knew I wanted to go all crazy with the making of the hats, and this class was exactly what I needed! I also met a bunch of people with various useful skills (like tanning, and dying!) and it was super fun! I’m making my list of goodies to buy to make this a part of the ol’ accessory shop, and I will totally have a blog post this week chock-a-block full of the details of my first hat!

As with all the things I do, I already have schemed out how it will tie into what I already do. Taxidermy + accessories will be on the horizon. I found this darling on Etsy, that is good inspiration! I may kind of want it, even though me buying a hat at this point is kind of super overkill. Talk me down!!!

10.20.13 squirrel hat

sunday squirrel: taxidermy edition

Sunday, June 9th, 2013

I completed my second taxidermy project! These photos are immediately after I cleaned him up (he was in an accident, so I had to clean off lots of blood), stuffed and shaped him, and pinned him in place to cure. However, it was before I fluffed up his coat some to dry, so he looks a little mangy. I will post photos again when he is done, and there will be a post about my developing hobby coming soon.

In the meantime, what should I call him? I’ve already decided he is a Stark, so he needs a Stark name. (It can be male or female. I just refer to it as a he right now, though I am pretty sure in life it was a girl.) Let me know in the comments!!

Right Side

Right Side

Left Side

Left Side

101 things: curl, baby, curl!

Wednesday, June 5th, 2013

Did you know that the oldest person to win a medal in the winter Olympics won it in curling? I would love to have an Olympic medal! Gymnastics wasn’t in the cards for me. I grew up out in the sticks and didn’t have access to gymnastics classes until it was too late. Plus, I’m way too tall. Boo. I’m terrible at running, and if I break a ten-minute-per-mile average in a long distance race I would do cartwheels. (Since I am pretty much the opposite of Kenya, this is no surprise.) I’m mediocre at skiing, and snowboarding didn’t even really become a thing until I was already older than most of the medalists. Pretty much, name a sport, and I can tell you why I will never have a medal. However, curling? There just might be something there! Crazy pants, round stones, sweeping…I think I could handle it. I mean, I know it would take lots of dedicated training, but I am sure I could do it!

My first curling experience was during the 2006 Olympic Winter Games. A friend’s birthday fell during the games, and she had an Olympic themed birhtday party. She set up a court for curling in her living room. The hardwood floors acted as ice, she taped out the house and hoglines, swiffers were the brooms, and squash were the stones. It was a lot of fun, and we weren’t so bad. There was hope! I also lived only a couple of blocks from the Saint Paul Curling Club. That was clearly a sign, especially once I found out that many of the US Olympic team members train there. I was clearly already on my way.

At some point, a friend and I made a pact that we would learn curling. We looked into crazy curling pants. The trick was making it happen. Joining a league was pricey, especially since we thought we should perhaps know how to do it before we joined a team. We tried to find lessons, but that seemed to hit a dead end. At some point, one of her business contacts mentioned that he curls. At the SPCC! He said we could potentially do an intro to curling party. What? Perfect!

It took a little while to sort out, but we recently made it happen. A date was set. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to get crazy pants. We did get an e-mail with some guidance of what to wear. We were told to dress warm, as ice is cold. Which, I know ice is cold, but isn’t there some sort of technology that allows for the ice to stay frozen while the air is toasty? No? Huh. We were told to wear clean, rubber-soled shoes and pants that allowed for range of motion. Specifically, we were told we would need to be able to squat like a catcher in baseball. I admit, baseball is not my favorite and I don’t know much about it, but I do know how far a catcher squats. I somehow missed such squatting in my watching of the Olympics. Perhaps he was just exaggerating to insure we would be wearing items to flex in. I planned to wear some running pants, just in case.

We all met at the curling club at our appointed time. Our contact had us gather on the club’s super cushy sofas, around a fireplace. So far, so good. He started with a brief history of curling. Apparently curling is a lot like golf. Did not see that coming. Like golf, it started in Scotland. Like golf, it’s a muscle memory sport. Like golf, there are crazy pants. At least on the Norwegians. I was feeling less optimistic about my Olympic options. He mentioned that he had been curling since he was 11. He went on to say that it was a late start, and thus he had no prospects of the Olympics. What? Most Olympians start at age four or five. His daughter is five, and he’s hoping maybe she has a shot at the Olympics. Darn. Clearly I am a certain number of years too late. I still held onto a smidgen of hope. After all, maybe I was secretly harboring a knack for curling, and would be on my way from Curling 101 to the next Olympics! It could happen!

First, some curling basics. Each team has eight stones (one team is yellow, one is red). The stones are made from granite, and weight about forty pounds. By the way, this has nothing to do with the weight measure of a stone. Boo. The scoring is based on how close the stones are to the center of the house. Whichever color is closest scores. A point is scored for each stone in proximity to the closest stone, and ceases at the first stone of the opposite color in range. There are four players on each team. First, second, vice-skip, and skip. The skip is like the captain. They control the game. They decide where the stone will get aimed, how fast it is released, which direction it is curled, everything. They hang out by the house, and direct the rest of the team with what to do. The sweepers are directed with how much to sweep. The sweeping helps the stone move down the ice by decreasing the friction of the stone on the ice. Still hanging in there. We moved on to delivery. This is the process of the player moving the stone down the ice. Real curlers have special shoes that have teflon on the bottom to help them slide on the ice for delivery. The curler uses a hack, which is like a block that runners use. The delivery involves three steps. Push, retract, push. The first push is to get the stone moving on the ice. The retract is to get into position, and the last push is pushing off the hack into a lunge position. This is when the stone is pushed across the ice. To direct the stone, or “curl,” one’s hand is turned from the three to the twelve position or from the nine to the twelve position whilst holding the stone. Our instructor looked super elegant and graceful doing all of this. He led us through the first phase, the push-retract-push.

The only moment in which I remotely know what I'm doing.

The only moment in which I remotely know what I’m doing.

This is where my Olympic dreams began to fade. My lunges were reverse lunges, and I spent a lot of time on my butt. We were handed brooms to balance and moved to the hack. We also were offered shoe covers to compensate for our lack of special curling shoes. None of this seemed to help me.

Do style points count?

Do style points count?

“Can we just try the belly flop method?” I murmured to one of my fellow curling trainees. She heard me say, “Can we try the Betty Ford method?”
“I didn’t know Betty Ford was a curler!”
“No. The belly flop method.” Though, let’s be honest, if Betty Ford were a curler, I imagine her method to involved some cocktails. I could also get behind that method. At least we were all laughing.
We moved on to delivering actual stones, learned to sweep, and learned all the signals for the skip.

Then, we broke for beer. Maybe a bit of the Betty Ford method after all? We learned about curling etiquette, which includes drinking scotch after the game. This helped with the slow crushing of my Olympic dreams.

After a break and some beer, we moved back to the ice to play a short game. A typical game involves eight to ten ends. We played two. This meant all the stones from one end to the other, then back to the starting end. We made signals, we shouted for sweeping, we provided laughs for the club members. The sweeping was pretty aerobic, and the delivery made for some serious muscle work. I was glad I wore layers, because by the end of the evening I was in my tee shirt and was a little funky. After our two ends, my team was declared the winner, and we retired back to the club for more beer.

By the end, I almost had the sweeping part down. Almost.

By the end, I almost had the sweeping part down. Almost.

So, while my Olympic dreams are no more, we had a fun night. I will have a very different perspective watching curling in the next Olympics, for sure. I might give it a go casually, at some point.

In the meantime, I’ve heard that the oldest summer Olympians are in the equestrian field. I think I may have hope yet.

101 things part the end

Wednesday, May 15th, 2013

91) Attend Glamorama. Not done. This is something I have wanted to do since I was wee. Since it was a Dayton-Hudson thing and was called Fash Bash. I love fashion, I always have, I probably always will. So, this was a dream of mine to do. Hence, I put it on this list. However, once it went on the list, it seemed to be scheduled on a day we were out of town. Except one year. However, the reason we were not out of town was because we had zero dollars. Tickets cost money, so having zero dollars is a problem. One day, though, one day I will get to Glamorama, and I will look amazing, and I will have a grand time. I promise.

92) Buy something from the art vending machine at Chamber’s. Not done. Chamber’s is a super hip hotel with an art theme. They have an old cigarette vending machine that has been coverted to dispense mini pieces of art, instead. You put in money, it spits out a piece of art. Sah. Weet. However, I have somehow not made it to Chambers for any reason, much less getting a wee piece of art. However, I have to do this! I mean, it’s one of the coolest ideas I’ve ever heard of. So, it will still happen.

93) Go to the Spam museum. Not done. Yup, the weird meat in the can, not the annoying e-mails from Nigerian royalty. Mostly, because I imagine it is weird and entertaining and would make me laugh. However, I did not get there. It is still on my grand list, because I like doing things that are weird and entertaining and make me laugh.

94) Put $10 in my savings account for each item completed. Done. This one was easy-ish, because I only got a third of the way done.

95) Run a marathon. Not done. I tried. I entered a marathon. However, right around the time my mileage hit 17 or 20 miles for my long run, I got bronchitis. The thing is, when I get bronchitis, it’s a big deal. It will not leave. I have to take antibiotics and steroids, and hope that one day I will stop trying to cough my lungs out of my chest. I tried three or four times to get that particular long run in, but I could barely get one mile. I just couldn’t breathe. It took around a month to get rid of it. That was my last month of training and the day of the race. I picked up my packet, and technically, I could have started running. However, I didn’t really want to get swept and have to have the hubs sort out getting me and getting me home. We were still living along the race course at the time, and I couldn’t even bring myself to walk down the street to watch. Herds of finishers were traipsing around our ‘hood with their medals, and it just caused my eyes to tear up. I felt pretty crummy about that one. I will still do it, I just got a little sidetracked with injuries and narcolepsy.

96) Patch and touch up paint in entryway. Done. This was at the condo. When we re-did our kitchen, we re-painted the entryway, put a new door on the coat closet, it was cute. However, the trim was white. Despite doing my usual trick for keeping the paint from bleeding, it still bled a bit, and thus we had white paint bleed onto the red. Also, I re-arranged some things hanging on the walls, and had some holes to clear up. So, I picked up some fancy Frog tape, I spackled, I taped, I painted. The Frog tape didn’t live up to its name, though, and I still had some bleed. Not as much, but some bleed. So, I pulled out a quarter-inch flat artist brush, and carefully painted over the bleed. It was gorgeous. The sad thing is that the tools that bought our condo ripped out our adorable kitchen and put in boring, ugly cherry cabinets, and the same granite countertops that everyone has that I am so over. I guess, at least we don’t have to look at them ever, but I would have ripped out the adorable kitchen we put in and sold it to someone who would appreciate it. IJS.

97) Put together $10 for each thing not done, and donate it to charity. Not done. I just need to decide on the charity.

You might notice there are a few things missing. When we moved, I took off all the things that were things that needed to be done at the condo. I thought it was silly to keep things on the list that I could not do. I thought I replaced them all, but it seems I missed a few. Four, to be exact. Oh well. Forty more dollars for charity.

So, I did about a third. Some I am still conquering, some I realized I just don’t want to do. Of course, I thought I wanted to when I put them on the list. Having them there helped me figure out what I really wanted to do, and what I didn’t. As I tick off something from the list, I will post about it. I mean, I’m going curling next week, and that is sure to be an adventure! I did try taxidermy, and I will do a squirrel soon. That oughtta be good, right? So, I might not have met the deadline, but I at least have my goals, my to-dos, etc. sorted out. Over the next week, I might even make a new 101 in 1001, just to see if I get any better at it. Check me out next Wednesday to see what the plan is.

101 things: Part 8

Wednesday, May 1st, 2013

I’m just gonna cut out some words here at the beginning, as none of these are done. Lame, I know. But, there it is. Let’s look at why!

81) Go see Mount Rushmore & 82) Go to Wall Drug I am putting these together, since they would be part of the same trip. They are American classics, and I have never been. I even live 700 miles closer to them than I did growing up, so there is no excuse! Well, except there is. I totally thought this would be a doable road trip for a weekend. I nice spring or fall weekend, specifically. Then, the reasons we couldn’t do it racked up. Weekends became the time I tried to catch up on sleep. I just never felt like going. However, that is fixed now, so there is one excuse out of the way. I will see if we can cram it in this year, though we have several trips and long weekends happening already, so the options are slim. I am eager to do this, though. Especially because it also knocks a bit off my long term goal of seeing all 50 states.

83) Get a professional facial. I have tricky skin. I inherited my mother’s large pores, which is good since it gives me a place to keep spare change, and my keys. Not so good, since a lot of other much collects in them. Plus, no matter how old I get, I continue to break out. Birth control has helped, but I still have icky skin. I really want someone to get in there and really clean out those pores and purge everything, so I could have a clean slate, if only for a few moments. The issues I ran into were dollars, first. However, then my struggle was to find a place I was willing to go. It only takes a few nightmare stories of facials gone awry to have me totally paranoid. I mean, the whole purpose of going is to help my skin, not to wind up with scars or disfigurement. I have a couple of folks in mind now, at least, and some dollars set aside. I have a friend getting a laser treatment, and I want to hear about it before deciding how I shall proceed. I will probably still go to the place she gets her face done, since she has given it good marks so far, and has some of the same skin issues I do. I know I can’t get perfect baby skin (which is the only time I had perfect skin…my pores started freaking out in grade school!), but I would like to not have creases and huge pimples at the same time.

84) Get a past life regression done. Yes. I believe in reincarnation. I believe that our actions in this life determine where we wind up next, and so on and so forth. I believe that those that leave us wind up being around somehow, just in different forms. I really want to get a regression done, but just haven’t done it. I had one recommendation for a place, but it was super pricey and we didn’t have the dollars at the time. So, I am on the lookout for someone who is reputable, and also not insanely priced. I realize that it is a gift that can’t be given away, but I also don’t want to go broke having this done. I will take any input from you, dear readers!!! Feel free to leave a tip in the comments!!

85) Eat at Chino Latino. This place opened not so long after I moved here, and is a hip, happening spot. It should have been so easy to cross off, yet it wasn’t. I mean, I ate in places surrounding this one, just never managed to get in the door. I mostly feel like I just need to go there once, since I may be the last person to not have gone in, but in doing this list, I realized it isn’t a huge priority.
However, one crazy thing they do here, is serve guinea pig. When I first heard this, I thought it was outrageous! You can’t eat adorable pig-pigs! Except, that in other countries, particularly in South America, you totally do. It’s pretty common street food, and you go up, they fry one for you, done and done. At Chino Latino, however, they do need advance notice. I don’t imagine people flock there for this, but it is something they can offer to be authentic to South American cuisine. I imagine that guinea pig would make me just as ill as every other type of meat, so I won’t be trying it. However, don’t let that stop you!
So, I may or may not make it out to Chino Latino. I just realized it isn’t as important to me as I thought it was.

86) Do an in-line marathon. G proposed this one. There is an amazing local one where you get to skate on an Interstate for a bit overlooking Lake Superior. The problem is that it’s hard to train for one of these while also training for a regular marathon. I thought that once I completed the regular marathon, I would totally get on the inline one. However, I was thwarted on the regular one, hence this one didn’t happen. I still want to conquer it, though. I have to see if the hubs is still game for it, and maybe we will tackle this one first, then go for a running one. We live by a fantastic trail to train on, so we really don’t have an excuse. Well, I do need new bearings and probably new wheels for my skates…but otherwise, no excuses!

87) Get my ring re-appraised for insurance. Such a silly one to not have done. I just need to take my papers into the jeweler, get my ring looked at, have them write some things down, and copy the info for my insurance. Not hard. Yet, not done. In the meantime, I just panic every so often that something has happened to my ring and I will be SOL. Fine jewelry isn’t covered by your general homeowners/renters/whatever policy, so you need to prove to them what you have and have a rider on the policy. Mostly to prevent people from saying all their diamonds were stolen and get reimbursed. I get it, it’s just an extra hassle. One I really need to get on. Like yesterday.

88) Learn Millinery (specifically how to block hats) As with making any other clothing, I would love to make some hats! I mean, so far, I have been limited by what hats I can find and alter. There are some that can be made without knowing how to block, but it’s pretty limiting. Like shoes, I figured that I was stuck with this limitation. However, a fashion blog I read (Fashion for Nerds) informed me that one could learn hat blocking! Audi, the writer of the blog, creates hats, and learned to do so by taking some local courses. I could take local courses! The problem is that local for her is San Fransisco and local for me is the Twin Cities. Apparently hat blocking is not a thing around here. I am trying to cobble together some knowledge from you tube and such, but it’s slow going. I guess the bright side with that is that I can say I’m self taught? Bah. I just wanna know how to do it and be done.
The other problem is getting the supplies. Hat blocks and such. I will do this, though. With my hat collection as my witness, I will learn to block hats!!

89) Learn and practice meditation. This should be easy. Not for me, though. I’ve tried doing it on my own, but my brain just can’t shut down. My plan is to go for some guided meditation. This is another one that I thought I would do because it was on the list, but I realized it isn’t as important to me as I thought it was. I’m sure I will do it if the opportunity presents itself, but I am not gonna stress over sorting it out, either.

90) Get a martini at Bradstreet Crafthouse. So, if you know me, you know I love gin. If you don’t know that I love gin, then you don’t really know me. There are others out there that claim they love gin, and I know they think they do, but they don’t. If you love Hendrick’s, you don’t really love gin. Hendrick’s is fine if you are gonna mix a cocktail and the flavor isn’t so important. In the gin world, it’s a fine starter gin. Gin for the non-gin drinker, if you will. Now, some do love a fine gin, but then they ruin it. Olives should not touch gin. Don’t go shaking your gin (I blame James Bond movies for this one, though I’m told the books have it right. If you shake your gin, go read a James Bond novel and get back to me). You bruise it, and that’s just sad. Vermouth should be but a whisper over your martini. If you taste VERMOUTH, you’ve gone and mucked it up.
In a nutshell, I am very serious about my gin. Very. Serious. When I learned about the Crafthouse, I finally found a place that loved gin the way I love gin! You don’t call drinks there. You order your cocktail, and they make it in the most perfect, ideal way possible. They use top quality ingredients and use exacting methods. A place for me!
Have I been there yet? No. Wah-Wahhhhh. Part of the thing here is that I really want to go with two dear friends of ours who also adore cocktails and classy places. We just don’t seem to be able to coordinate. So, this year, the four of us will coordinate, and make cocktail magic happen.
Then, G will have to order me the magic vermouth they use, and I will surely be upgrading my gin in the liquor cabinet. I mean, Bombay Sapphire is fine and all, but if I am going to be truly fabulous, it’s gotta be top shelf all the way.

One more installment, then a wrap up of what I learned, where I’m at, and what I will still do (along with those that I am just crossing off.)

If you have any tips, recommendations, or the like to help me with anything on my list, please let me know!

101 things: part 7

Wednesday, April 24th, 2013

I am so close with this! I almost didn’t do this today. Last night was spent listing things in the Etsy shop, and then today I had dentist, an airport pick-up, and getting our niece to dance class. So, no post writing last night. I was pooped tonight and knew this would barely make it in time to count as a Wednesday post. But, I know it’s a slippery slope to putting off more than one post, and the next thing I know this blog is getting cobwebs. So, even if it winds up just being for my sanity…here’s another installation. Only two more to go!!!

71) Start a compost pile. DONE! Now, this one evolved. Originally, my plan was to start a compost pile outdoors, when we lived at the condo. There were some hoops to jump through, however. Being in a condo, we would have to make sure the association would be okay with it. Also, given our ‘hood, it would have to be an attractive set up. I looked into options, but any that would function the way I would like and be attractive at the same time were out of budget, even trying to get one used. After more research, I decided to bring the composting indoors. I even decided on this bad boy. However, we were again thwarted by budget constraints. I continued to pout every time I threw away something that I knew would make wonderful compost. When we moved to our apartment, I was even more determined to get our compost on. Finally, this Christmas, my parents hooked us up with our composter! It’s pretty awesome. We can throw just about anything in it, even things like meat and dairy that are normally a composting no-no. Not that there is much meat in our house, but it’s still nice to know that just about everything organic can be composted instead of trashed. The little machine can be adjusted to how much it needs to be tumbled, and it does everything! The smell stays contained, except when the machine is opened. We try to be quick when throwing in items, and that seems to be fine. I did make the mistake of wanting to examine the contents, and it wasn’t super pleasant. Like really bad foot oder. Ick! We don’t have a lot of use for the compost that comes out, so we’ll probably toss it in the park or pack it up for friends with gardens. Now that the composting is out of the equation, I am noodling on how to further cut down on our trash creation. Next up will be cutting down on paper towels and straws. I think we will be okay using cloth rags and napkins that we have on hand. For the straws, I am gonna get some stainless straws that can go in the dishwasher. I am more than willing to take other input for cutting down on the trash!

72) Visit my dear friend LaLa in Spokane. Not done. A recurring theme with this list is dollars. Travel adds the component of time. Much of our travel time is booked visiting family out-of-state. After that, places we can drive to easily are much higher on the list than places we have to fly. I’d really hoped that we could swing a Pacific Northwestern trip, but it just wasn’t in the cards. Now, Ms. LaLa is moving to California, and we are already working out plans to visit. Not that I didn’t want to visit Spokane, it just would have been a very specific trip. In Cali, we can lump a bunch of things we want to do together, and really maximize the trip. So, it all worked out, even though I miss my pal like crazy!

73) Tour the Glensheen Mansion. DONE! If you are reading this blog, you probably know that I have a fascination with creepy stories and the places where they happen. The Glensheen definitely qualifies! Super old, fabulous architecture, and MURDER! I read a book about the murder story, and of course I had to get to this place! It is a historic site that offers guided tours. The drag for someone like me was that the guides were not allowed to speak of the murders. Boo. It was said that sometimes you could get a guide to spill outside of the “official” tour. Luckily, the ban was lifted, and then the need to go was magnified. We drove up to Duluth, and despite a major car accident (not that we were in!) causing the expressway to be closed for a bit and for us to miss our initial tour time, we were able to get the tour. I felt slightly misled, in that the murders weren’t part of the tour. Really, the only thing that changed was that the guides were allowed to answer questions about the murders. So, that part was disappointing. However, the home was still gorgeous, and if I could have taken the large hat storage unit from one of the walk-in closets, I totally would have. However, those guides really keep their eyes on you. I want to go back, especially since we were there in November and that makes the gardens less exciting. Also, we took the shorter tour that doesn’t go to the upper floors. So, we’ll pony up next time and do the whole shebang. I will also study up better so I can make my own murder fun. Huh. That didn’t come out right. I can’t think of a way to make it sound less bad, so I will just move on.

74) Purchase prescription sunglasses. Not done. I really need them, too! I have freakishly large pupils that don’t shrink as much as most people’s do. Thus, they hate the sun. My eyes water, I get whiny, it’s not fun. I usually get transition lenses for my regular glasses, and that is okay for being outside. However, I have reached the stage in my life and vision where I need to wear my glasses to drive. Transitions don’t work when you are in a car. Thus, sunny day and I am all whiny. So, prescription sunglasses are a necessity. I did the more necessary thing and got everyday glasses. I knew that my insurance limited the number of glasses or contacts one could get for a certain amount of time, so I figured regular glasses first, then sunglasses. Until I saw that my plan doesn’t cover prescription sunglasses! Dumb, huh? So, I am prepared to shell out for them on my own, I just need to find a pair that I love. Hopefully soon…since the sun looks like it might make an appearance around here after all!

75) Go out dancing 12 times in one year (not including special events). Not done. So lame! There was a time, not so long ago, when we would go out every Saturday night, and some other nights, too! We were hip! We were the cool kids! Even when we had other plans, we would still sneak away to go dancing at our favorite spot at least once a week. Many factors contributed to our going out decline. One of the biggest was my getting a big girl job. Well, not a big girl job so much as a big girl schedule. I am soooo not a morning person, and this schedule requires a 7 am start Monday through Friday. So, going out on a weeknight was out for sure. However, instead of getting used to the schedule, my night owl tendencies won out and I would just wind up sleep deprived and on the weekends, I would try to play catch up. I thought that maybe once a month would be doable, I mean, going out one Saturday a month shouldn’t be so hard! Then, I had the whole neck injury situation to deal with. Dancing was out. I even tried some painkillers, but one song would make me cry. Then, on top of that, the narcolepsy thing hit. So, not only was I a night owl, but when I was sleeping I wasn’t sleeping, so when I should be awake I just wanted to sleep more. In a nutshell? All my attempts were thwarted. I still want to get some dancing fun every now and then. So, I am still gonna work on this one!

76) Build a mens suit. Not done. This falls into my love of creating and sewing. It also falls into the goal of wanting to be on Project Runway. Menswear looks simple, but construction is super crazy important. And complicated. While most folks might not know what goes into building a suit, they definitely know when one isn’t right. I’ve made plenty of ladies items, some mens costumes, but not a standard suit. Since it is pretty much guaranteed that there will be a menswear challenge on PR, I really need to nip this in the bud. This one kept going on the back burner for a whole bunch of reasons. However, depending on what happens with this whole PR situation now, I still wanna do this. I am thinking it needs to jump up on the priority list. So, I am starting research into what all I need for the construction, then I will take G fabric shopping and build him a suit! Just trying to decide if I want to do something modern, or with some old timey elements.

77) Try snowboarding. Not done. Yeah, I know. How have I never done this? First, snowboarding didn’t become a thing until I was a bona fide adult. Not like these kids that are in the Olympics when they are teenagers and have never known a world without it. Anyhow, it took until G took me until I tried skiing! So, I already had a late start with snow covered hills. Also, I have the problem of wanting to be perfect at something when I start. I hear that there is a learning curve with snowboarding, and the odds would not be in my favor for me to do a 360 on the half pipe on my first go. This was discouraging. However, I don’t want to be the last person on earth to ever step on a board. So, this goal was formed. There were a couple of struggles, though. Namely, last winter having NO SNOW. BOO. I thought for sure I would get out this last winter, but the narcolepsy caused me to sleep away every free weekend. So, this is on the docket for next winter. There better be snow, goshdarnit.

78) Get another session of tooth whitening. Not done. The first session was free from my dentist, because I was a new client. I got custom trays, and one series of solution. It helped some, but I had a really, really, really hard time with not drinking coffee or tea while I did this. Thus, not ideal results. So I hoped to do it again and be more committed. I had some sort of deterioration or something, though. I don’t know how it works, but something about the density of my teeth, preventing cavities, dentist talk. I had to focus on using prescription toothpaste and getting my teeth squared away. Whitening doesn’t work so well with that, though. However, today at the dentist, I got a clean bill of (tooth) health! Since G has been in need of very much dental work lately, I am gonna wait until my next appointment, and pick up a new set of solution to make some tooth magic happen!

79) Paint a painting. Not done. I used to paint, back in the day. Mostly, because I was taking art classes, and when you are making art anyway, it’s much easier to make more. You are already in practice, so bam! Painting! But, once the real world takes over, it’s much harder to art it up, unless it’s your career. I did get one commission for a project several years ago, and for another task I had to complete, I decided to do it in the form of a painting. I really enjoyed doing it, and recalling it made me want to do it again. I thought that making the goal would be helpful. It kind of had the opposite effect, though. I felt pressure to create a perfect, amazing painting, instead of energizing. So, I think I just need to let this one happen when the time is right.

80) Get a custom pair of raw denim jeans made for me. Not done. This one is in part because of dollars (raw denim is expensive, custom is expensive, and combining the two are very expensive), and in part because of gaining weight from getting my neck and narcolepsy sorted out. No sense in spending an insane amount of dollars on something that I hopefully won’t be able to wear for long because that weight is going to go away. So, phase one is to get back in shape. Phase two is buy jeans! They will be amazing, and last a long time, and did I mention the part about them being amazing??

101 things: part 6

Wednesday, April 17th, 2013

Update from last week: I will learn curling! I have a date in my calendar with a friend, and we are gonna learn some curling at the Saint Paul Curling Club. You may recognize it as the place where many Olympians train and have trained. I don’t know when I will be ready for the Olympics, but I will surely keep you posted. As will all new endeavors I take on, I look to be properly attired. I have started looking into curling pants, but they are pricier than I expected. I am trying to decide how much the right pants will affect my skills. I figure that at worst, if I suck at curling, at least I can look amazing, right?

On to the next chunk of the list!
61) Spend a day wearing a realistic false mustache in public. Not done—technically. This was in part inspired by an article in Glamour magazine. They used to have this feature where they would send a staffer into the streets wearing a strange trend, or with something off about her appearance and see how the public would react. One time it was a girl with terrible extensions that were falling out, once she had muscles airbrushed on (contouring and highlighting so it looked like a six-pack, ripped biceps, etc.), one was spending the day wandering around in a snuggie/slanket…you get the drift. The one that inspired this was a woman wearing a realistic false mustache. Some people stared, some people were empathetic, some offered helpful tips for places to get it waxed or bleached. One person let her know she had milk froth from her coffee drink at the edges. I thought it was fascinating! I also like to think that if I had facial hair, I would own it. I would grow the hell out of that mustache and/or goatee (well, if it were “or” technically it would be a VanDyke). So, I thought it would be fun to try. I sort of did it on Halloween since my team at work dressed as the Village People. I was “Glenn the Leatherman” aka the biker. I couldn’t find a good looking mustache that matched my hair and had all the elements of a good biker ‘stache. I thought about lacing my own, but wig lacing materials are tricky to find. So, I purchased a goatee and altered it. It looked pretty good. Unfortunately, I am a human furnace, and I kept sweating off the toupee tape. My temperature seems less high of late, so I will try again on a non-costume type day and see what happens. For fun. As you do.

62) Taxidermy a squirrel (that died of natural causes or the like). Not done. I am slightly obsessed with taxidermy. I couldn’t really explain why. It might have to do with my fascination with food that still looks like the animal. Typically seafood. If I get a food that is relatively intact, I make it talk to my tablemates. Sometimes I have it sing or dance. My husband really loves when I do this.
“Hey G, I am so excited to be here with you. Hallo my baby, hallo my honey, hallo my ragtime gyal-al!! I’ll be here all night…try the veal!”
He usually closes his eyes for a moment and takes a really deep breath. I like to think he’s pondering the meaning of life and how lucky he is to be married to me.
Anyhow, somehow dead animals are strangely appealing to me. I really want a taxidermied squirrel (go figure, right??). I keep begging G to get me one, but his response is usually the eye closing, deep breath combo I mentioned a moment ago. My true dream is to make a squirrel chess set, ideally each side with a different color fur, dressed in costumes to represent the different pieces. If push comes to shove, I could deal with dressing them in colored costumes to represent sides. The problem is that such an endeavor would be expensive.
Enter the DIY factor. A few years ago, I ran into a girl at the Zombie Pub Crawl. She had a zombie squirrel with her. I told her of my fascination with squirrels and with taxidermy, and she told me that she ordered the kit online and taxidermied her own squirrel! My mind? Blown. Thus, the goal was born. However, I got leery of the total DIY idea. I mean, great for a zombie squirrel, but less great for one that I kind of want to look like he could climb a tree at a moment’s notice. So, I figured I would take a class. I mean, people have to learn how do taxidermy somehow, right?? There’s a place near where my sister lives that apparently has all sorts of squirrels. I asked her to inquire if they offered classes, figuring I could take one the next time I visit. I guess the guy gave her a look and said it wasn’t really something you learned in a class, you just learned by doing. This didn’t seem quite right to me. Luckily, my niece tipped me off to The Detroit Academy of Taxidermy! I planned to take a course next time I was in the D-town area, but they offer classes in cities across the country. So, next month I am taking a class! The class includes a rat, or I could upgrade to a rabbit. I figured a rat would do just fine. Maybe I will find a squirrel later and take another class to hone my skill. I am super excited to make a little friend. I will definitely share a photo of my work!

63) Contribute to our Roth consistently for one year. Not done. This was part of a previous goal of nailing down our budget. I am getting in the habit of putting money aside before any bill paying or spending. I particularly want to make sure we are getting our retirements in order. I want to be able to retire young enough to enjoy it, and have enough money to live for a very long time. I have a 401K through work, to which I contribute the maximum matched amount. I do this because of the amount my employer matches…I mean, hey! Free money! However, the downside to a 401K is that it goes in before taxes. Which means I get to pay taxes on it later! Yay! (In case it wasn’t clear, that yay was sarcastic. Where’s sarcastica when you need it?) This is where the Roth IRA comes in. You put the money in after taxes, and it earns for you. It’s especially recommended for young people (a category I still belong to thank-you-very-much). Since it took longer to get the budget situation under control, then the saving situation handled…I didn’t get this far before the deadline. You can save your lectures, I already know.

64) Redesign and update the etherea page. Not done. This is my url for my accessory shop, which used to also be the url for this blog. I had the hubs help me create a simple design, but hadn’t been able to do much beyond that. Currently, I have someone working on a redesign for this blog, and the business page will be next.

65) Make an inspiration board for the office, and mini versions for work. In progress. This should be so easy! It’s cutting out pictures and pasting them onto a board! I just feel guilty when I cut pictures out of magazines and get busy with the glue sticks. You know, like I am doing something fun when I should be hard at work. Though, the purpose of the inspiration boards is to help me reach my goals, achieve my dreams. So, it is work. Sort of. Anyhow, I did finally go through all the pages I ripped out of magazines and things I cut out and start putting things that were for ideas into a scrapbook. A place to keep all the inspiration I find for designing and creating. I also thought about what I want. Material items I would like to have, places I want to travel, what I want to accomplish, and people I admire who inspire me career-wise. I found images of them. I tried to make a collage on the computer to print out, but it didn’t work so well. It looked too cluttered in the space I could conceivably print on. So, I am working on doing a physical cut-and-paste version. The mini versions might not be super mini, but I will figure out a way to make them fit the places I can hang them at work so I can constantly be reminded of where I am going.

66) Host a summer get-together. Not done. In fact, I don’t know why I left this one on the list. This one was conceived when we were living in the condo, with a patio. I did a bunch of work sprucing up our porch and garden. I was also working on getting adorable furniture for the patio, instead of the generic green resin set we had for years and years and years. It was starting to look like something, and I had visions of us having friends over and having a sort of garden party. Refreshing iced drinks, summery finger food, yard games (Jarts anyone?). The problems with this are many. First, I am not outdoorsy. In any way, shape, or form. Most people in these parts can’t wait until the weather is such that they can eat outside, bike outside, camp outside, you name it outside. Not me. I turn pink if I even think about the sun. I am allergic to every kind of bug bite. Most swell absurdly, bruising because they swell so much so fast. Fleas give me nasty blisters. Some give me gross hives. I’m already a human furnace, so there is rarely weather that I feel enjoyable in. Mostly, I’m just sunburned, swollen and pock-marked, and dripping with sweat. Not. Cute. Secondly, while I like throwing parties in theory, I am not much for actually throwing them. I don’t like to cook, and while I enjoy hanging out with friends and being the hostess with the mostest, it’s just so. Much. Work. This means I keep my entertaining to one bash a year, and that’s reserved for my birthday. I get foods from local stores, and it’s in the fall and at night, which means inside shindig. Finally, we moved from the condo, so having a party on the patio just ain’t gonna happen. Unless we just show up and hope the new owners don’t mind. So, I guess I made this goal as motivation to finish the outside projects and get out of my usual comfort zone? Either way, this one was a fail.

67) Make all the gifts I give for a year. DONE. So. Done. I put this on the list for a few reasons. I like making things, but I often procrastinate, or doubt my skills. This was a nice excuse to force me to get creative. I also hoped it would save a few dollars. I am always buying supplies because I see the potential in them, but don’t always have an exit strategy. At least, I didn’t. When we moved, the rule became no buying without a plan. It has saved me many dollars, and much space. Anyhow, this would be a good way to use some of the things I bought because they were so beautiful, but didn’t have a concrete plan for. Also, if I didn’t have something appropriate, I could plan out when I would buy the supplies to get a good price. The balance of the expense would be my time, which is worth something. I learned a lot from this whole process. In some respects, it made gift-giving more difficult. Some people are hard to buy for anyway, and adding in the homemade aspect makes it even more of a challenge.
Also, I am the type that buys gifts as they strike. If I see something perfect for someone, I buy it, wrap it, and put it away. I had to suppress that urge many times. No buying gifts. Make the presents! With some of the health issues I’ve struggled with, it made it more of a challenge, in that I didn’t have the energy for making all the time, so I had some later-than-I-would-have-liked present making sessions. Also, some of the things I was inspired to try didn’t work out the way I envisioned. Despite having looked at tutorials and talking to people who did some of the things, some things just did not work for me. Boo.
So, going forward, I will go about my gift acquiring my usual way. When something strikes me, I will go for it whether it’s store bought or homemade instead of forcing myself to do it all one way.

68) Get eight hours of sleep each night for a week. Not done. That I know of. I made this goal before the whole narcolepsy saga. I have been a night owl for as long as I can remember. My folks would put me to bed. I would climb out. They would bust me. I would try to be sneakier about it. When my bed was in the middle of the room, I would sit on the side away from the door and get out blocks or read by night light. When I was feeling bolder, I would sit in the hallway, watching Johnny Carson through the archway. It didn’t matter when they put me to bed, or how they scolded me, I would just be up. Eventually, they dispensed with the bedtime since I was going to be up no matter what I did. Fast forward to an adult me. Still a night owl. Unfortunately my current job requires being at work at seven. A.M. Ouch. I only like coming at that hour from a night out on the town. Not waking up and being functional. I thought that I would get used to the schedule, but my system is just really determined to be up after dark. (Not even kidding. Sunshine makes me sleepy.) I’ve read all the research that says how important sleep is, but it just doesn’t help. So, I thought baby steps. If I could get through a week of full nights of rest, I could then try for two weeks, then more. Ha-ha! I tried, I really did. I would get through three, four days, tops. That was only with the aid of my headache meds that also knocked me out cold. I would get through those few days, forcing myself to stop and take my meds and get into bed. However, my nocturnal tendencies would surface and next thing I knew I would be up too late. Then, the whole narcolepsy situation arose and forget it. Of course, with that it didn’t matter how much sleep I was getting, because I wasn’t actually sleeping. So, this one was a fail, but damn I tried so hard. Maybe once I am recovered, I will try again. Or maybe the getting what sleep I can and it being good quality is enough.

69) Weed out CD collection. DONE I love music. I am not talented in that area, but I love listening to it. Nay, feeling it. For bands I really love, I used to go to the music store on release day to make sure I had it the moment it came out. I loved looking at the liner notes, reading lyrics like poems, seeing what tidbits the band offered up, admiring the art. I hit a certain point (moving helped) where I realized that while the physical copy is important for some really beloved tunes, the really important part is the piece of music. I only have space for so many things, and if I can have a collection of music I love in the space of my beloved Zune, then done and done. Plus Microsoft in their smartness has made it so easy to have back-ups of the back-ups and to acquire music, I felt much more secure in letting go of some discs. I am keeping the discs of my top bands (ie. SMASHING PUMPKINS, Nine Inch Nails, Tori Amos), but don’t need every CD of every song I’ve ever liked. Also, anything signed was kept. We were able to get rid of a very large and heavy box of discs and it felt good. It also makes the collection of the ones we kept more special. Those are the really treasured ones. It will be nice when we move again to have less to haul, and it is nice to have more space to enjoy.
It was also a lot of fun to question some of the musical choices of the hubs. Natalie Merchant? Really?

70) Find out my blood type. DONE Super simple. Blood typing booth at the state fair. As I waited, I crossed my fingers for a type that would get me a button in a good color (like red or fuchsia). O+ I don’t know why I never knew what my type was, but it seems like a good thing to know. And knowing is half the battle.

101 things: part five

Wednesday, April 10th, 2013

Sorry this is a week late. I know it’s totally bad form. Just know I still love you one and all!

51) Use the Solo Vino GC we got as a wedding gift. Not done. Blasphemy, right? This is a story of us putting this in a good, safe place, not remembering where it was, promising to put it in a better place, so on, and so on. It’s somewhere, and we will totally use it. The other part of the problem is that in MN, one can’t just walk into a store and buy alcohol. Blasphemy, right?

52) Shop at the farmer’s market at least once a month during the summer. DONE! I’ll be honest, it helped to move to a place down the street from the market. Mostly, I just bought fresh flowers every week. A gorgeous bunch of flowers for less than $5? Yes please! I’m sure I will expand my horizons and purchase things to make food with, but that’s a pretty big step for me. I have a feeling that pretty blooms will be my farmer’s market thing for a while. As a lovely bonus there are very many great brunch and coffee spots surrounding the market, so it’s a nice summer weekend ritual. I highly recommend it to all.

53) Create and follow a household budget. Kind of done? Budget created. The harder part is sticking to it. Mostly when it comes to food. I really, really don’t enjoy cooking. The prep, the clean-up, none of it is appealing. I just like eating and drinking. It’s really nice to go someplace and have them handle all those unsavory things so I can just sit back and enjoy. To illustrate how unappealing cooking is, I am willing to cut back on clothing to pay for going out to eat. I know, right?? So, this is still a work in progress. We are improving, but it is a process.

54) Go to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. DONE! The last time we went to Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure was our honeymoon. A long time ago. We got two day passes, and only used one because it was a pretty disappointing experience. The park was kind of shabby, many of the rides were showing their age and lack of maintenance. The staff, was, um, let’s just say that if your job is so miserable, maybe just find a different one. Anyway, this lack of quality was especially glaring when surrounded by the week we spent at Disney. Disney gets to every. Single. Detail. Every inch of every space is immaculate. If a cast member treats you poorly, they will be taken aside and counseled, possibly assigned to a new position. At Universal? That’s just how you are treated. Lots of flat voices, annoyed tones, dead eyes. Things are dirty, worn, and not in a cool faux-post-apocalyptic way. In a sad, neglected way. I really wished that another park could have gotten the rights to WwoHP, but my love of the HP-verse was making it so tempting. It was a mental struggle. Then, I remembered we still had one day of our passes left. Since the in-laws live in Florida anyway, it wouldn’t be a big deal to squeeze it in to a family visit. So, we decided to go for it during a weekend we were down there for a family wedding. The lead up was pretty lackluster. The usual mediocre staff revived our ticket, let us through the turnstyle. We walked through the other areas of the park. They were fine, I was a little worried, a little ready for a let down. However, entering WWoHP was pretty magical. We were totally in the HP-verse. The staff (most of who were from the UK) were 100% in character. The little shops were right out of Diagon Alley. There were a couple of things they could have done better. The wand choosing ceremony is a little lackluster. Most of the rides are recycled. They just took the rides that were already there and added some set dressing. The rides are decent, but it seems a little cheap considering the investment. The other disappointing factor was the food. It was tough finding things I could eat, being a vegetarian-not-by-choice. Again, with every single park at Disney having fast food and sit down options of all levels, the restaurant choices were lackluster for sure. The butterbeer was tasty, though. (go for the regular version. The frozen one lacks the true essence of butterbeer.) Also, there are other houses in Hogwarts besides Gryffindor and Slytherin! If you are a fellow Ravenclaw, you might be a sad panda if you are hoping to stock up. It seems that if anyplace is gonna have a full range of items to cater to the die hard fans, it should be this place. I overheard some fellow Ravenclaws bemoaning this, and we were able to commiserate a bit, at least. During peak seasons, there is a large queue to get into the candy store. Totally worth it! Anything you could want from the books is there. I had a hard time choosing among table after table of confections. I settled on a jar of lemondrops. I love me some hard candies and lemon is a favorite. It came in a lovely glass jar with the Honeydukes logo. Also, I took the opportunity to pick up some birthday gifts for loved ones. One of these was a pygmy puff. You name your puff when you purchase it, and they announce the adoption of the puff to the whole store. Since ours was a gift, we kind of thought on the fly, and named her “Polly Prissypants.” It made the clerk laugh, then he had to ask us, “South Park?” Indeed. It was a good time, for sure. However, there isn’t much in the rest of the park. It only took us a short amount of time to ride everything we wanted to ride in the rest of the parks, and head to dinner. We were able to hit everything in both parks and eat a couple of meals in less than a day, even with a late start. So, worth it if you really love HP. Not so worth it if you are planning a vacation around this attraction.

55) Learn to ice skate. DONE! Another list item made easy by our move. We are in downtown Saint Paul, and wind up in the heart of the Winter Carnival each year. This means we can use the Winter Carnival ice rink, and we don’t even have to go outside to get there (until we get to the rink, of course). As a bonus, it’s free! So, we headed over, got some skates and did some laps. It took a bit, but I did get going okay. I doubt I will be in the Olympics anytime soon, but we had a lot of fun.

56) Make our wedding album. Not done. Wah-wah. Back when we were getting married, I had a very specific style in mind for the photography. I didn’t want someone who would direct us where to pose and stand within an eighth-of-an-inch. I wanted photos that captured the personality of the wedding party. I wanted the photos to be hip and artsy. We’d talked to many photographers, to much disappointment. Finally, we were at a wedding fair, when we turned down an aisle and I saw them. Photos that were exactly what we wanted. Like fashion photographs. Rich colors, interesting composition. We talked to the photographer, and we were in love. We booked in the nick of time to get the photographer we wanted, and before the rates went up for the next fiscal year. The day of the wedding, they were rockstars. A friend referred to their cameras as “machine gun cameras.” They fired a mile a minute, in four types of film. Color, black and white, infrared, and cross processed. They found interesting locations for our couple photos. They stayed well into the reception. We were blown away by our album. We had over 1000 proofs, plus all the negatives. Those are some of my favorite pictures of my friends and family. They were worth every penny. However, year after year, the proofs stay in the proof album. I keep telling myself I will choose my favorites and make a true wedding album. I even bought a great leather binder to put them in (it’s a one-of-a-kind piece). However, I just haven’t sat down to start the process. In an age where processing film is becoming a lost art, I need to get on this asap. I know, I know. Before our 13th anniversary, for sure!

57) See all the Best Picture winners of my lifetime. Not done. In progress, though! I started with my birth year and started going forward, and have seen all the winners since I created the list. Some of the titles are trickier to find, especially once we ditched Netflix after they doubled their prices for our services. Some of the winners are disappointments. Some are amazing. I am still working my way through. I am down to 13 out of 34. Once I get those finished, I will start on those from before my lifetime. I’ve seen some, but there are lots of revered films I’ve yet to see. The tricky part is that they keep making great films. So, the list keeps getting longer, no matter how much I see!

58) Go to the NAIAS preview gala with my sister. Not done. For me, it’s the combination of coordinating the trip out there at the right time with having the dollars. Then, on top of that, coordinating my sister having the dollars. We’ve both wanted to do it for a very long time. The NAIAS is epic. It’s one of the top shows in the world. This would be my one reason for moving back to the Detroit area. It’s amazing. The night before it opens, there is a charity preview. Lots of rubbing elbows with fancy people, plus getting to get really, really dressed up. Both things we love! Throw in how great of a time we can always have together and the guaranteed people watching, we are so in. So staying on the list, just have to get the stars aligned!

59) Make a pair of jeans. Not done. This fell through the cracks with sorting out health issues. I think I will make the perfect pair of red jeans I can’t seem to find anywhere. First step is finding the perfect red denim. Jeans are one of the trickier pieces to make, because of the fabric and all the finishing details to make them. I think once I conquer these, it will make me a stronger designer and seamstress.

60) Learn curling. Not done. I’ve been looking into this with a friend since I made the list. Living in the land of curling (most of the Olympians train at a club right in my old ‘hood), it seems like it should be pretty easy. However, because it’s the land of curling, people take it pretty seriously. Joining a league is the main option. I am not ready to join a league, that’s for sure. My friend has a connection who said we could do a “party” ten people for 100 dollars, and just having a fun curling time. We haven’t been able to get this coordinated with the connection, though. If we enjoy it, we might join a league and maybe get some fabulous curling apparel.

So far, I’m operating at 28% Huh.