Chicks On Lit discussion
Non Book Talk
>
The Year of Adventure--what are your adventures???
Congratulations Amanda!Being the mom of two small young ladies everything is an adventure!
Going to the grocery store with my 2 year old suddenly becomes a trip through the jungle. Whereas we live in Maine, there isn't always a lot to do in the winter, so we you have to make your own fun.
But in the summer time....oh, adventure here we come! Beach trips, picnics, trips to my parent's house wayyyy up North, finding new playgrounds that we love...
But, I'm also going to be going on a few "personal" adventures this year as well. Since we're all in the warm and fuzzy sharing mood...I'll share too.
I'm working on a long time coming weight loss, which has been a twisty turny adventure in itself. Now I'm working on loving myself.....again. And in doing so, I'm going to be having some *ahem* "pictures" taken for my husband.
AND!!!! This fall I'm going on my first "long" trip on the back of a motorcycle with my husband for our 6th anniversary! YAY!
Oh, and this spring we're going to a Red Sox game....WOOHOOOOOO!!!! But that's not even the BEST part...we're staying in a beautiful Clarion hotel RIGHT on the water with a jacuzzi tub and a fireplace for next to nothing. Oh, did I mention...no children? hahahahaha
Ahhhh the perks of working in the hospitality industry...
I can't wait to hear about everyone's adventures...
And good luck to you Amanda!
You're a smartie, Sara. Loving yourself is the number one most important thing. Especially if you have daughters--you're their first and most solid role model. I'm very proud of you for getting pics done. Rock on!Hey, I might have to take a cue from you on some adventures. New England on the water sounds phenominal...
My adventure for this weekend: I'm acting in a murder mystery. Yep, the kind where you actually intermingle with the audience and they have to figure out who-done-it. I'm scared, but it'll be fun.
Mod
I think you all have more adventure planned than I do but now im motivated.
My first big adventure this year will be checking out our new city/state. We just moved to Texas and there is a lot to explore and see we havent done. A trip to sea world, the beach, six flags those things.
Every year me and my 3 closest friends on earth go away to the beach together. This will be our 7th year doing it. It's my time to be a girl again with my friends no kids, no husbands, no worries.
My big adventure will be making friends. Moving to a new place and knowing no one this will be my big test/adventure. I'm not all that outgoing and if someone bugs me Im not good at giving second chances to become a friend. I think I tend to be too judgemental and not wanting to put the effort forth in a friendship if I think it's just going to be fluff. I dont have time for fluff. We will see....
Great idea! I did something similar last year after going through a bad bout of depression the year before. 2007 was my year of trying something new every month. I think only one month I missed but I had doubled up on a different month. Here is what I did if you are curious. Not everything had to be expensive...just something new.Jan - Belly Dance class (which I love and am still doing)
Feb - Parasailing
Mar - ice skating, donated blood
April - go to Mall of America
May - got first tattoo
June - performed with belly dance troup LIVE!
July - ate White Castle sliders (eww)
Aug - learn to juggle
Sept - Zumba class
Oct - tried middle eastern food/went to bar by myself (how uncomfortable)
Nov - (nothing new, tried two in Oct)
Dec - drank tequila on the rocks
Becoming the mother of four kids 7 and under is my big adventure for 2008. Between being pregnant and having a newborn (I'm due in June), I doubt I'll have much room for any other adventures. In 2009, though, look out. LOL. I'm due this year on our 10th wedding anniversary, so I told DH I want to do something major for our 11th instead. I don't know what it is, yet, but something.
Christy...motherhood IS the #1 adventure! Congrats on the newest arrival in June! (Watch out for June babies, we're a handful! ;)And Amanda...the coast of New England is gorgeous! Let me know if you need any help planning your New England adventure...I have tons of connections up this way for places to see and stay! (I work for a hotel...a major chain one, that gives discounts to friends and family!)
Sara, I will definitely take you up on that! I love New England. I lived in RI for a short time and have been saying that I'm going to retire in Newport. At least for the warm months of the year anyway!Ok, I'm sure the rest of you have some adventures planned. How about those of you with 3 books a month? That's an adventure right there...
Shoot...I've already read 4 novels this month and I'm almost half way through World Without End by Ken Follett and as soon as that's done I'm going to read 5Quarters....I don't read...I devour. It's something I got from my mother. (Thought I'm not sure it's a good thing.)
And Amanda...you let me know anytime!
Peanut, Did you like the Zumba class? I had never heard of it, so I had to google Zumba & watch the demo on You tube. It looks like lots of fun!
I did take Zumba and liked the idea of it. I wasn't thrilled with my teacher. I think a good class (with good energy) and a great teacher would have made this class more fun.
Update on the Year of Adventure, Murder Mystery episode:Background: I volunteer with a local theatre group. The group does childrens theatre, adult theatre, playwrighting, and films. Their annual fundraiser gala was this weekend...
The Adventure begins: Wednesday, I get to rehearsal, thinking that the story line has been worked out and all I have to do is learn a couple of lines and we'll be done. Evidently I was wrong! It was supposed to be a two hour rehearsal, but it turned into a 3 hour re-write. Oh no!!!!!!! The way the murder-mystery thing works is that that actors mingle with the crowd and tell their stories, answer questions the crowd has, and drop tid-bits of info (clues) so the crowd can solve the murder. Have you guys ever been to one? Anyway, I'm thinking, "How am I supposed to do improv in front of a group of 100+ people on Saturday if we can't even work out a story line???" Ugh. So despite the fact that COMPLAINING is one of my favorite things to do in life, I shut up and go home. Thursday and Friday pass by, and frankly I'm too busy to think about Saturday. But Saturday comes and I start to get super nervous. My character is supposed to be a Voodoo Priestess in New Orleans. I am angry because some developers have come in, stolen my land, and are going to build a casino. Of course, I end up being the murderer and get dragged off at the end, kicking and screaming. Well, the improv was supposed to start at 7:30, a couple people get killed, and the crime gets solved around 8:30. One hour. You'll never guess how long it actually took. TWO AND A HALF HOURS!!!!!!!!! We were so stressed out and tired by the end that we got back to the dressing room and busted out laughing, crying, telling stories of what the audience members said to us. The other actors made fun of me for my bad Creole accent (I actually sounded Jamaican), but it was all in jest. It was funny to find out who the audience thought the murder was--only three people actually figured out the correct answer! All in all, we had a very good time. It was wearing and tiresome for sure, but good. :)
Mod
think youll do it again now?
I don't know. Probably. I'm a sucker like that! :) But luckily they only do it once a year, so I have 364 days to decide. Hee hee
My "adventure" for the year is having our master bath remodeled. The contractor is in there right now ripping out the existing stuff. We aren't changing the configuration any, but we are removing an obtrusive interior wall and converting the shower into a whirlpool tub/shower. We've also picked out cabinets that are much more upscale and have better storage configurations than what was there. The contractor thinks he should be done in about two weeks, so everyone keep their fingers crossed. Oh, the other part of the adventure is having to share our second bath with our son until the remodeling is finished.
Mod
Does anyone else have one of these. My list has things like
Catch a ball at a baseball game
See the Olympics
Learn to make apricot dumplings
Some things were grandiose and others were easily done. I add to it and cross off from it all the time. If you havent started one I would say to do it! So much fun and I think goals are more real when you write them down (or type them)
Tera, where do you keep your list so you don't lose it? Especially if you just moved to a new state? I'd love to start one, but I know that I'd totally lose the damn thing. Sigh.Adventure for this week:
Blind date tomorrow night (should I mention that I met the "HORRIBLE breakup" one via a blind date, too...)
Mod
BTW
OH MY HELL!! Brave!!!!!!!!!!! I could never do a blind date. I didn't like half the dates I know ahead of time let alone a blind date. You HAVE to tell us how it goes!
Amanda - keep up posted! You'll find that once you start talking about it more, your friends and everyone else will want to know how it (new adventures) go! I had people constantly asking me what am I doing this month...what am I doing next month...how was my previous month's experience!
Peanut, I hope you're still adventuring in 2008!
This summer I am going to Croatia but for some reason I am very nervous about it.I have started a part time job after being home for the last 12 years.
I will soon be starting back to College to finish up my degree.
Oh yeah, and I have gained about 20 pounds over the last couple years and have been working on getting that off!
Wow. So what inspired the trip to Croatia? Family? And good luck on going back to college. What will you be studying? Sounds awesome. College is just filled with all kinds of fun thinking!!!!!!
My adventure this year is to run the Boston Marathon.
My family (parents) are paying for this sailing trip in Croatia for my siblings and our spouses. My husband has opted to go on the 50 mile hiking trip with the Scouts that is during the same week. Our son is going and he wants to spend time with him (he is the only boy with 4 sisters!). I think I am nervous to go without him.As for School I have a year left of college and am doing it online through BYU and getting a Bachelors of General Studies degree.
I want to then get my masters and teach school.
The Year of Adventure Update:Blind Date Episode
Background: Considering my recent breakup, some friends have tried to get me "back in the game" lately. One woman, from my GNO (girls night out) group, just so happens to have a friend who was looking to go out with a woman but not enter into a serious relationship.
The Adventure Begins: Joe calls me at work on Tuesday--it's the only phone number I passed along to him--to set up a date for Wednesday. Our phone conversation was short and mostly to the point, though I did babble on about something stupid. Typical Amanda...
Wednesday, I get to the bar at our appointed time, 7:30. I come straight from work, though I did change my clothes in the office bathroom. I'd rather him meet "corduroy Amanda" than "business suit Amanda." Anyway, I order a drink and about the time my drink arrives, he walks in the door. So we nervously chit chat for a while and the bartender comes over to chat with us once in a while (evidently they know each other already), we talk about his new photography business he's starting, we talk a little about tea and the theatre, very typical first date stuff. Anyway, we're there for like 3 hours and people he knows keep coming in. It's unreal. And although I'm being included in all the conversation, I do start to get annoyed. After all, we're supposed to be on a date here, and he's busy talking to his pals and trying to get them to do photo shoots with him. Blah, whatever. So I end up letting it slide because I'm sure he's nervous and it's not like I'm not participating in the conversation with his friends, too. Ok, so we keep drinking, I order some food, eventually it's time to go and we get our bill and it's about twice as much as Joe thought it would be. So, whatever, I offer to pay my half. In his defense, he did get a little upset because he KNEW that it's his duty as a man to pay for the date. So that was one point in his favor at least. Starving artist, he is. Ok then I went back to his house with him. Dumb, yes. But I didn't sleep with him or anything, so don't worry ladies! I'm smarter than all that, though it doesn't often seem like it. Anyway we do smooch a little and we talk a lot. I'm glad we got to talk privately because this guy has some pretty serious emotional baggage--not that I don't--but I'm not prepared to deal with someone elses neruoses at this time. Ugh. So the date ended with us agreeing to see each other again (I'm a big believer in doing something more than once if you want to know what it's really like). He's going to pay this time. I'm certainly not squirming with euphoric, after-date bliss or anything, but we shall see what the future has in store...
Oooh, Jenni, the Boston Marathon isn't easy to get into is it? You have to do a bunch of qualifiers or something? Do tell! I'd love to hear about your milestones along the way.
You are so nice to ask. In order to run Boston you have to run a qualifying time at another marathon. For my age group 18-34, female, you have to run 26.2 miles in 3 hours and 40 minutes. The first marathon I ran was in Los Angeles when I was 24. It took me 4 and 30 mins and I swore I would never run another marathon. Of course that didn't last. I LOVE a challenge. Last year I turned 30 so my goal was to bring in the 30s by qualifying for Boston. I ended up qualifying at the St. George Marathon last October running it in 3 hours and 31 minutes, almost an hour off my first marathon time. Needless to say, I was thrilled. I live in California so my family and I are making a vacation out of it. We are hoping to stay for a week to explore Boston and maybe rent a house on Martha's Vineyard. It should be great.
Amanda----thanks for the story......made me think about my blind dates I've had in my lifetime!! The second date seems to always be better so hang in there! Although I wouldn't want to deal with someone else's issues at this stage in my life either.... :) That doesn't sound fun at all!! Keep us updated....
Adventure for today: A friend of mine is a dean of somethingorother at Guilford College, so we did a 2 hour drive up to Roanoke, VA to watch them play basketball in some sort of championship game. (Can you tell I'm not very sporty???) Anyway, it was a spur of the moment thing and I had a blast!!! Haven't watched a basketball game since I was in college. Guilford won! Woo Hoo.
Yes! 2008 should be the year of adventure. Thanks Amanda and everyone for reminding me that being single is not the end of the world. I recently ended something with a guy who I adored but who had a girlfriend the entire time we were together...I know, how do I get myself in these situations?!
But anyway, I think in order to keep my mind off him, I will just find more adventures in my new home in Easton, MD.
Also I think I will continue working on my book and maybe even write him into it...and maybe kill him off....who knows!
Rock on, Rachel. I hope you do kill him off--sounds cathartic. As long as it's not in real life! hahahahaBeing single is not the end of the world. It is a beginning... :)
Mod
I think being single again is the best thing that's happened to me since my kids were born! I wouldn't give up my freedom for anything! (except colin firth)
Julie, you are a wonderful and inspiring person, and in all honesty you seem very happy! So thanks for your insight, here and on your blog. Very much appreciated. And NEEDED. So my singledom is definitely going to continue, which is fine, as I was single for YEARS before I met "horrible breakup guy." Blind date guy from last week was supposed to call me yesterday to set up a second date for last night. But the phone did not ring! Seriously, I feel stood-up. Jerk.
However, in my misery and self-pity yesterday, I was able to discern something about myself. What I realized is that there are three points on which I will generally evaluate the men I date from here on out: God, Guns, and the Government. (Ok, Politics is probably a more accurate word to use, but I needed something that started with a G. So "Government" it is...) Not that I will be hard fast on these, as a little lenience is necessary no matter what, but there are certain basics in life that are important to me. And if a guy doesn't fit, then why waste time? I'd waaaaay rather be single than try to pretend I can make a relationship work with someone I don't really like. I'm constantly telling other people, "Don't settle!!!!" So I guess I'd better start taking my own advice...
My BIG adventure for the year is going on a cruise. It leaves out of LA and goes through Panama and up home to Florida. I would like to fit in lots of other small adventures as well. So far it's cleaning all the crap out of my house and making my life more simple!And finding new book adventures! I loved that feeling as a kid when a book could just take you anywhere. Those are the kinds of books I want to find.
Peanut- those ideas sound like so much fun! It's only March, so 2008 isn't even close to being over yet, I think I'm going to make a similar list. I've always wanted to do a belly dancing class. Was it fun?
Me, too! I have belly-dancing exercise DVDs that I adore, but I haven't gotten up the guts yet to enroll in an actual class.
Mod
Belly dance class is so much fun. I think it really depends on the teacher though. I know there are classes that are more focused on the moves throughout the class (which is probably a good workout). My teacher is a leader of a troupe so in her classes she teaches a dance each session. So, unfortunately, for the first several weeks it is a lot of stop, go, stop, go. But by the last few weeks we pretty much know the dance so we get a good workout! Plus with her being the leader of the troupe, we also have the opportunity to perform with the troupe live. Not paid performances of course. We aren't that good yet! Just at local summer fairs and other belly dance shows were the teacher and her students perform.
My first performance of this year is coming up in a little over a week! I can't wait!
Mod
Tera- a belly dancer should have a bit of a belly! Makes for a more interesting form. Now my belly is not presentable so I'm known as the non-belly baring belly dancer! :)My teachers always says that the skinny girls always have to work harder to shake and shimmy what they don't have.
She's very amusing but it is true. The skinny girls are shaking the bones. A little bit of flesh moves on it's own.
You'll see all types of bodies in class and in performances. I'm no size 6 but I'm also no size 20! I'm in the middle...very average sized woman but I absolutely love belly dance class.
I saw a belly dance performance not so long ago, and there was a hugely fat man who was by far the most interesting dancer to watch.
Mod
this has nothing to do with belly dancing directly, but i think this is in keeping with the 'year of the adventure...' theme...i have said before (here & elsewhere) that i have been given the gift of time, but i don't feel that i've used it wisely or even at all, especially in 2007, a year that i feel that i wasted in so many ways. i have been aimless and drifting, using the uncertainty of my social security disability process and assorted health & emotional obstacles to justify not making more of an effort.
i am not going to belittle myself or beat myself up though. what's done (or not done!) is in the past and that's ok! not much, if anything at all, can be done about the past and that's ok as well! i am looking forward ~ plenty can be done about the 'here & now' and the furture! i've been finding it very difficult to translate what i started feeling @ the beginning of this year into concrete, specific words that don't sound hokey (to me!)! i can tell you that these feelings i have been having are strong, confident and not fleeting (for the most part!) ~ they have been the exact opposite in the past.
i think i've finally found a time management system of sorts that's going to work well for me and that's a big thing since time management has never been my forte! (time management just isn't a cut & dry, one size fits all kind of thing!) i've kinda fallen off the time management wagon recently with being sick, but that's ok! i'll just hop back on when i'm able to hop!
this year, i want to and need to focus on becoming me, becoming whom i've always known i am supposed to be! (a writer and more) i'm still not entirely sure on the specifics of how yet, to be honest, but that doesn't scare me this time around!
as usual, i've probably gone on too much so i'll be ending this now!
Mod
Hear Hear! (Or is it Here Here??? I dont' actually know how to spell that phrase.) Maybe I should just say that I wholeheartedly agree with Tera. Bravo, Jo. Own it, girl!
aaaw! why thank you both! (i'm smiling & probably blushing right now!) when i read what i wrote, (and i think this is the 3rd or 4th time i've written about this) i cringe a little 'cause it sounds so corny to me! (a few years ago or so i'd probably roll my eyes at myself and say 'oh pa-lease!') but at least it's accurate!again, i sincerely thank you, tera & amanda, for your kudos! and amanda, bravo to you also for starting this topic! it's not easy to publicly share things such as trying to better or change ones life and the difficulties before & during!
ps ~ i think it's 'hear hear!' but now that i see it along side 'here here!' i can't tell which is right!
The Year of Adventure, Episode About My Weekend:http://www.goodreads.com/story/show/1...
Be forewarned, I do like to say bad words... :)
Quick update on the Year of Adventure:Yesterday I went to a re-enactment of the Rev War battle that happened in my town (The Battle of Guilford Courthouse in case any of you are into US History). Now, I might be crass and smart-mouthy sometimes, but I am EXTREMELY tenderhearted when it comes to violence. I just despise it. Therefore, a war re-enactment is not exactly the right scene for me. But I will say this: Watching people "die" live-action, up close and personal, puts a whole new perspective on how these fighters must have felt passionately about the war. At least I hope they did. I hope there are not people willing to die for anything less than passion...
Great allusion! Dr. Seuss was pretty good at hitting the nail on the head, drunkard though he may have been! :) It's more than just one year of adventure, isn't it? It's a whole lifetime!
Just before Thanksgiving, I went through a HORRIBLE breakup, with the man I was certain I was going to spend the rest of my life with. Well, by the time Christmas came around, I was sick and tired of listening to myself cry, so I declared that my New Years resolution was going to be to go on more adventures in 2008. And that can be anything--my first adventure was to accompany my friend Jini to a game night she found on meetups.com. And one big adventure I have planned is to go skydiving on my birthday.
Don't get me wrong--it's not like I've suddenly started living a rock star life or anyting, but when I look back on 2008, I will remember that I got out of my box a little bit and didn't miss a minute of this short short life we live...