100 things {big & small}

I got this from Sara, who got it from Lucrecer, who got it from someone else's blog...you know how it goes...now it is your turn! Leave a comment if you post a list on your own blog.

Bold the things that you have done:

1. Started your own blog 2. Slept under the stars 3. Played in a band 4. Visited Hawaii 5. Watched a meteor shower 6. Given more than you can afford to charity 7. Been to Disneyland 8. Climbed a mountain 9. Held a praying mantis 10. Sang a solo 11. Bungee jumped 12. Visited Paris 13. Watched a lightning storm at sea 14. Taught yourself an art from scratch 15. Adopted a child 16. Had food poisoning 17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty 18. Grown your own vegetables 19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France 20. Slept on an overnight train 21. Had a pillow fight 22. Hitch hiked 23. Taken a sick day when you're not ill 24. Built a snow fort 25. Held a lamb 26. Gone skinny dipping 27. Run a Marathon 28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice 29. Seen a total eclipse 30. Watched a sunrise or sunset 31. Hit a home run 32. Been on a cruise 33. Seen Niagara Falls in person 34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors 35. Seen an Amish community 36. Taught yourself a new language 37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied 38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person 39. Gone rock climbing 40. Seen Michelangelo's David 41. Sung karaoke 42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt 43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant 44. Visited Africa 45. Walked on a beach by moonlight 46. Been transported in an ambulance 47. Had your portrait painted 48. Gone deep sea fishing 49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person 50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris 51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling 52. Kissed in the rain 53. Played in the mud 54. Gone to a drive-in theater 55. Been in a movie 56. Visited the Great Wall of China 57. Started a business 58. Taken a martial arts class 59. Visited Russia 60. Served at a soup kitchen 61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies 62. Gone whale watching 63. Got flowers for no reason 64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma 65. Gone sky diving 66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp 67. Bounced a check 68. Flown in a helicopter 69. Saved a favorite childhood toy 70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial 71. Eaten Caviar 72. Pieced a quilt 73. Stood in Times Square 74. Toured the Everglades 75. Been fired from a job 76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London 77. Broken a bone 78. Been on a speeding motorcycle 79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person 80. Published a book 81. Visited the Vatican 82. Bought a brand new car 83. Walked in Jerusalem 84. Had your picture in the newspaper 85. Read the entire Bible 86. Visited the White House 87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating 88. Had chickenpox 89. Saved someone's life 90. Sat on a jury 91. Met someone famous 92. Joined a book club 93. Lost a loved one 94. Had a baby 95. Seen the Alamo in person 96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake 97. Been involved in a law suit 98. Owned a cell phone 99. Been stung by a bee 100. Read an entire book in one day

{here on earth}

{eek! it's been a whole month since I last posted!}

Here's a full-circle story for you: my friend Monica recommended Earth: the biography which opened the startling realization that I completely missed out on anything space-related during my no-television childhood. So I thought I should re-learn some physics. And maybe some astronomy, and then maybe all this astro-physics stuff wouldn't be so inaccessible. Yeah. So, bottom line: I'm a little more informed, but it should go without saying, I'm light-years away from any kind of true understanding. It's comforting, though, to know that I'm not alone in my on-earth, human ignorance. While I was doing all this up-ward gazing, trying to squint through the light pollution to spy Venus, I also concluded that there is a whole world right here at my feet. Places I really want to see that are accessible; I don't need a rocket booster strapped behind me. Even places in my home city. Part of my house. My brain. Enter Ashley's latest class: {Evidence}. Oh, geez, the relief! It was a put-down-the-crazy-space-text-and-make-something-meaningful refresher. I'm happily cruising thought my 12th entry in this journal, and it's only been a week! Wish this class could continue on, but Ms. Wren supplied us with everlasting prompts for when I need to be grounded. Peace.

Good Acoustics & a Scare! {the friendly kind}

Yay for paper collage! This little number was requested by a friend for her husband who plays--you guessed it: piano, guitar, & drums. I built the paper collage, then heat-transfered it to the t-shirt. The pick was scanned & digitally added. Good stuff, eh?

And I made a hang-tag for the door with some previous SIStv style phyle pieces. Perfect for Halloween. We're engineering BIG costumes here this year; what's on the docket @ your house?

Love Makes You Real

It isn't like me to reference television, but I've been in a creative rut...{I promise there's a point to this ramble}...One of my favorite episodes of Friends was when Rachel was waiting for Ross to go see a movie, and he's just been told his fiancee that he must choose between her or Rachel. Rachel busts in with: "Come on, Stella gets her groove back in, like, twenty minutes!" So whenever I go a stretch without making something, I get cranky, and a little nervous that I just don't have my groove. The actual inspiration for this little hanging is The Velveteen Rabbit, but I'm also glad for Friends & reminding me about my groove. And if it's been awhile since you read The Velveteen Rabbit, find a copy with rich illustrations and settle in.

Put down the broom & Make Something!

Stop folding laundry & Make Something.

Drag yourself away from email & Make Something.

Order in & Make Something.

It's nearly crisis-mode. After a huge project, I need a little recovery time, a clearing of the decks, if you will. Well, the decks are cleared. The kiddos are quiet. The dishes are done. And dinner is set. I just ordered a box of creative jump-start: Kerry Lynn's premiere collection from Kenner Rd. I'm thrilled for my friend & wish her buckets of success. Now, if only my USPS people were sprinters...

k2tog, and other messes

For you non-knitters, that's code for--I'm up to my ears in a pile of yarn! Pictures to come...I am recovered from the wedding papery of my dear friends Karen & Scott, and now turning to another wedding project once I get my sweater off its needles (grrr). When I have something to show for it, you'll see it here. Speaking of stitches, the 2 yr old got his first one the other night right along his vermillion line. A character mark at two. {And a few MORE grey hairs for me; thanks kid}.

Big Thoughts about Pineapple

After reading "Animal Vegetable Miracle," I found myself *really* paying attention to where in the world my family's food is coming from. It should have been simple for produce since so much is grown within 200 miles of us. But I was surprised how far my strawberries were traveling, my mangoes, my boys bananas. Granted, California isn't the perfect climate for mangoes & bananas, but do we need bananas every week when our local produce is grown, picked & skipped in from a central valley farm? As opposed to grown, harvested, packaged, handled, shoved into a container, left in the dark of a container vessel for the trip from Hawaii to Oakland (best case), handled some more, treated to grocery store flourescent lights and fickle produce shoppers until it lands in my cart & is toted home? Yup, I'm thinking big thoughts about pineapple these days.