Michigan Trip Day 1

Technically, I suppose this could be considered day 2, but since all of yesterday was spent on the road, I kind of consider this to be the first real day of vacation. The drive was extremely long and a little boring. We left town at about 3:30 am, but that turned out not to be such a great idea because I didn't get enough sleep. Finally, somewhere in Missouri, I pulled over to a road side stop and took about a 40 minute nap. I was going to take some pictures, but when I woke up I was feeling refreshed and ready to get back to driving.

Jon is a heavy duty car sleeper and he ended up crashing out on me early. I listened to alot of music and managed to get through my new Lacuna Coil CD twice (awesome music so listening to it twice wasn't bad at all). We made several pit stops for bathroom breaks, a few for gas, and one for food. It was lovely to find that Taco Bells in Michigan are a little more competent than the ones in Manhattan. Once he woke up, we put on an audio book called "The Amazing Adventures of Fan Boy and Goth Girl." It's geared for teens but we were really enjoying it. Tomorrow we head up north and will get to listen to some more of it.

We got in a little after 8 eastern time last night. Mom and I went to Wal-Mart to get dinner stuff and we stayed up until Dad got home at around 11:30. Then we crashed hardcore. I had every intention of sleeping in, but I only made it to 8:00 this morning beforeI was up. Mom and I watched Repo!, which she liked (I knew she would) and I chatted with the parents for a little bit until Jon got up. The rest of the morning was just kind of mellow. We walked to the post office to drop off our change of address forms, and Dad introduced us to one of the elderly neighbor ladies he visits. She's kind of feisty. She wanted to tell the manager of the park to shove a turkey up her butt...how many elderly ladies do you hear say stuff like that??

This afternoon, I got to do something I've been waiting all year to do. We went thrifting (garage sales are next weekend). We hit the Salvation Army and the Goodwill store, and I scored a bunch of stuff. I got these two skeins of yarn which will look really good together for some project.

I also scored another big bag of yarn with more pastels, one of them a pretty pink that I'm using to make my a scarf for my friend's new baby. (Can't get the pics to load for those this time arond though).

I also found this pretty pillow with the cool oriental pattern on it. I think we bought one like it from our neighbors when we got our sofa and chair, so I grabbed this one up. I almost left it, but my mom made a good point when she mentioned that even if it didn't work for our living room, for fifty cents we had an insert for another pillow.

Jon picked up the Mulan soundtrack and I found this adorable jar that has no real purpose other than it was cute and I liked it. I'm thinking it will be good for q-tips.

I don't think I've ever taken a trip where I haven't brought along something to read. This time around though, all my books were packed. Granted, I have enough knitting and crocheting stuff to keep me busy, but I enjoy Jennifer Crusie so I picked this up for some pre-bedtime reading. I couldn't resist these little tupperware containers, mainly because I want to try to make Bento boxes and these are the perfect size and shape for them. My only reservation was the pattern on top of the white lidded containers. However, I think Jon's going to help me paint them, so that can just be another crafty project. After thrifting we came home to relax. Come to find out, my parents do have internet, it's just not wireless so we're having to share one connection. Not really a big deal. We're heading to my grandma's tomorrow and I'm pretty sure there will be no internet to be had where she lives. Tonight we're just going to hang with the parents and leave fairly early tomorrow morning for Mio. So far, the trip has been nice...my parents even took the news of the engagement well and everyone is getting along. My sister can't bring my nephew over tonight, but I'll get to see him next Wednesday. Next week I'll also get to hang with some friends down here and do some more thrifting.

Waiting on the Move

I’ve always been one of those “I’ll do it when…” type people. I managed to overcome this tendency over the past year by actually baking and cooking in a house with a crummy kitchen and roommates. However, now that we’re in transition phase and getting ready to move, I’ve become a lump again and am currently in my mindset of planning to do a million things once we’re in our new apartment.

Okay, so I haven’t been a total lump. I’ve been knitting and crocheting. Current projects include scarves for my nephews and a set of washrags for the new place. So far they’re coming out pretty well. Once I get the chance, I’ll take some pics and upload them.

Other things I want to do, besides thrift shopping for the new place and decorating, include trying my hand at jewelry making. After my earrings a few weeks ago, I’d like to try some other things, and I’m sure there’s no shortage of blogs to look at for help in getting started. The internet is a wonderful thing.

I’m also going to try Bento, the art of making cute little serving size portions of food porn. The serving size thing will be nice for portion control, and I just want to try something new and different. It’s not something I have to stick with if I don’t like it. I managed to find a few relatively cheap Bento boxes online, but I think I’m going to invest in some cheap Tupperware first to see how that goes. Being a picky, non exotic type of eater, I doubt if I’ll be doing anything really traditional. In fact, I have visions of meatloaf and salad Bento in my head, or anything else Americanized and suited to my tastes. I do think it will help me expand my snack horizons a little bit.

We’re also trying our hand at going green in our quest to be frugal. While we’re not big on recycling for various reasons, we are trying to reduce and re-use/repurpose as much as possible. I’d love to start a small garden at the new place, though it’ll probably just be an herb garden in the kitchen. We have some furniture projects and several other things to try once we’re roommate free.

I’m hoping to get more use out of this blog, so bear with me. We’re almost there!

The 30s List

I finished my list a few weeks ago, but hadn't gotten around to posting it. I haven't been posting much in general due to the fact that life is freakin' crazy right now. Not in a bad way, per se, though there have been a few rough moments. Today, my future brother-in-law reminded me that he wanted to read my list. Since I've actually already accomplished one of the things, I thought I'd better go ahead and post so I have more blogging material in the follow-ups.

In no particular order, here are the 100 things I want to do in my 30s:

1. See Tori Amos in concert again
2. Reach weight goal #1
3. Walk a 10K
4. Walk a half marathon
5. Walk a marathon
6. Walk the Relay for Life
7. Send a book in for publication
8. Apply to The Amazing Race
9. Weight goal #2
10. Run a 2-Mile event
11. Run a 5K
12. Run a 10K
13. Run a half marathon
14. Run a marathon
15. Do a triathalon
16. Go snorkeling
17. Take bellydancing lessons
18. Go to Las Vegas
19. Get married
20. Go to an amusement park...and ride the roller coasters
21. Knit or crochet a hat
22. Knit or crochet a top
23. Knit or crochet a purse
24. Crochet a set of washrags
25. Open up an etsy store
26. Spend a weekend at a Bed-n-Breakfast
27. Master Dance Dance Revolution
28. Make three layer cookies
29. Adopt a puppy
30. Go dancing at a club
31. Read the Anita Blake series (no matter how bad people say it is)
32. Visit New York
33. Ride in a limousine
34. Highlight my hair
35. Plant and grow something without killing it.
36. Spend the day at a waterpark
37. Go parasailing
38. Visit Europe
39. Take a cruise
40. Learn to bike
41. Visit the Grand Canyon
42. Meet someone famous
43. See a musical
44. Spend a week at a nudist resort
45. Take a spinning class
46. Buy something at an auction
47. Throw a dinner party
48. Throw a “Repo!” party (with costumes and everything)
49. Start or join a crafting group.
50. Bake homemade bread from scratch
51. Learn sign language
52. Grow an herb garden
53. Hike the Konza Prairie
54. Get a deep tissue massage
55. Color every page in a coloring book
56. Visit the Chicago Museum of Art
57. Eat at an expensive restaurant
58. Splurge on a purse
59. Have a day at the spa
60. Walk in the Breast cancer walk
61. Make my own laundry detergent
62. Walk 1000 miles (not all at once)
63. Get past level 20 on SpongeBob Collapse
64. Kiss the Blarny Stone
65. Attend a music festival
66. Enter a karaoke contest
67. Do my own online radio show
68. Get 1000 Twitter followers
69. Go horseback riding
70. Visit Seattle
71. Take a "fitness" getaway
72. Run a D&D Campaign
73. Ride a jetski
74. Ask for a raise
75. Spend the night somewhere haunted
76. Take a yoga class7
7. Take an art class
78. Make a set of friendship bracelets
79. Learn to make jewelry
80. Try decoupage
81. Take a trip by train
82. Make a homemade headband
83. Go antiquing
84. Try geocaching
85. Spend a week on a houseboat
86. Play on an organized sports team
87. Send a postcard to Postsecret
88. Take an unplanned flight somewhere for a weekend
89. Make "hoodie" chairs
90. Get a pedicure
91. Get another tattoo
92. Get my ears permanently pierced
93. Climb a rock wall
94. Take a wine tour in California
95. Visit Washington Dc
96. Go to a sci-fi or webcomic convention
97. Buy something off a late night infomercial
98. Go to a Detroit Red Wings game
99. Visit Yellowstone National Park
100. Make it to 40.

Alot of these are pretty easy, some are a littel crazier. I figure if I can do 10 things per year, I'll accomplish everything on the list.

Follow ups may be on different blogs depending on which category they fall into, so if you want to keep up, make sure to follow or subscribe to my other blogs.