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August Phtos
September 4th, 2010Day 301 – Rebecca’s Big Mix Tape
September 3rd, 2010Rebecca’s Big Mix Tape
Solo Mission
Today we’re kickin’ it old school. It’s mix tape time.
My mix tapes are legendary. The combination of humor and musical genius is epic. If you have ever received one of my coveted mix tapes you should keep it because it’ll be worth something some day.
In the beginning my mix tapes were actually recorded on tapes. But the times they are a-changin’ and they are now being burned onto CD’s. But I refuse to call them Mix Cd’s. They are Mix Tapes.
So at first I thought I would put together a mix of songs that represented adventure… something that would inspire adventurousness. But the closest I could get was a good road trip mix i.e. Born to Be Wild. Since I wasn’t in an oldies, rock mood I decided to go a different route.
What I ended up doing was going completely on my current personal tastes which (this week at least) happen to be a little bit on the funkier, yet pretty side.
Track listing for Rebecca’s Big Mix Tape: The Newness
Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien by Edith Piaf
Fly Me Away by Little & Annie
Just You and Me by Zee Avie
New Soul by Yael Naim
We’re Gonna Be Friends by The White Stripes
Anyone Else But You by Moldy Peaches
The Way I Am by Ingrid Michaelson
Falling Slowly by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova
If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out by Cat Stevens
Here Comes Your Man by The Pixies
My Sweet Love by John Mellencamp
Blue by The Fruit Guys
I Hope That I Don’t Fall in Love With You by Tom Waits
Hallelujah by Jeff Buckley or Kate Voegle
Bonus Track: Corona and Lime by Schwayze
In case you can’t tell, there’s a method to my madness. You always start off with a bang. In this case I started off with more of a kick (song used as the kick in Inception). Then I put similar, upbeat sweet songs together and then slow down for a sort of intermission (Falling Slowly). Then rev back up with some faster tempo tunes followed by a little bit of humor (Blue by The Fruit Guys is from a Fruit of the Loom commercial). For the finale, a bit of slow and melancholy. But, just in case you don’t want to be so moved by the beautiful sadness that you can’t function for the rest of the day I threw in a bonus track… a cheesy, get stuck in your head, ode to partying and love. Enjoy.
Day 300 – Celebration of Friendship
September 3rd, 2010Celebration of Friendship
Solo Mission
I can’t believe it’s already been 300 days! I kind of panicked a little because that means I only have 65 days left!
And what better way to celebrate this mini milestone than my celebrating friendship. I was at Urban Outfitters the other day and I saw a friendship bracelet kit. A friendship bracelet kit. First of all, I don’t remember needing no stinkin’ kit to express my feelings of friendship in yarn. Kids these days.
Wait, who am I kidding?! Kids don’t shop at Urban Outfitters! Which means these kits are meant for the likes of you and me. Old fogies (I said it) who might need a little help remembering the good old days when all you had to do was give someone a piece of string to wear as a bracelet and they were automatically your friend… sometimes for life.
Okay, so I didn’t really want to try this out on some unsuspecting potential friend/acquaintance… they might think I was a little weird. But I’ve got plenty of current friends who remember how peachy keen friendship bracelets were. Plus I still love bracelets, so there ya go.
Now that I’m a grown up (obviously) I decided to upgrade my wrist accessories and go embroidery floss instead of yarn. Yarn is so fifth grade. And I waffled between going with the classic braid and the more time efficient single crochet. I decided to make a few in both.
I had forgotten how much fun it was to pick out color combinations. Red, aqua, and pink. A traditional red, white, and blue. Two shades of green and a yellow for St. Patrick’s Day (cuz, you know, it’s right around the corner). The possibilities are endless!
Don’t be surprised if one of my creations shows up in your mailbox…
Day 299 – Dot Dot Dot
September 1st, 2010Dot Dot Dot
Solo Mission
Remember back on day 215 when I went to an orientation for Recording for the Blind & Dsylexic? Well, I was never able to volunteer (boo!) because of the time slots available, but the whole experience did pique my curiosity. That, and I read a book about Helen Keller in elementary school.
I wanted to find out what the Braille alphabet looked like and see if I could learn it. As luck would have it, a cart rolled into my classroom that had an unclaimed copy of the Helen Keller story with… get ready… the braille alphabet on the back! In relief! What are the odds of that?
So, of course, it was a bunch of dots. But what was interesting was the patterns they placed the dots in. I’m assuming that as someone learns braille they know the grid by heart… the dots are placed in little invisible boxes, so to speak, to help differentiate one letter from the next.
As I did with all of those I Love You’s, I enlisted Mr. Flashcard to see if I could recognize the letters on sight. However, since “sight” is not really the point I will have to practice using the back of Helen Keller. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind.
While I’m here, I’ve been thinking about something. I don’t know if this was something I decided before I started my Big Adventure or if it came to me later, but there are no repeat adventures on my blog. Which is great for my blog (variety is the spice of life) but extra challenging for me, the adventurer. There are several adventures I have done multiple times (art galleries, poetry night, etc.) but I can’t write about them because they’re re-runs. And on top of that, if I spend all day doing something adventurous that I’ve already done, how do I squeeze in an original adventure too? Well, that’s when I learn braille =)
But really the point, folks, is to live outside the box. To depart from the ordinary. An adventurous existence means getting out there and doing, no matter what it is. Outside of blogland I love reruns! Go have an adventure!
p.s. Tomorrow is Day 300!!!!!!!!!! Ah!!!!!!
Day 298 – Copy Cat
September 1st, 2010Copy Cat
Solo Mission
I innocently opened my internet browser the other day… and saw something that changed my life forever. Okay, so that’s a tad dramatic. But I did see something super cool, right there on the Yahoo front page, called New Dress A Day.
New Dress A Day is a blog – a 365 day blog by a fashionista named Marisa. We are sisters in the blogosphere… blogbuddies if you will. The only difference is that instead of having 365 adventures in 365 days, she is creating 365 new outfits in 365 days. But wait! It gets better! She’s only spending $365 which means hello thrift stores!
Besides getting that thrill from wearing a new outfit (like when you get a haircut), there is nothing I love more than finding something truly awesome and unique at Goodwill/yard sales/neighbor’s closets (see Days 119 and 123).
It just bugs me that I didn’t think of this first! I mean, I have taken all sorts of clothing items and made them over in the last 20 years (I’m guessing 9 as the age I learned to use a sewing machine, it could have been earlier). Fortunately Marisa is doing such a fab job that the world doesn’t need two such blogs.
However, I have been inspired. And we all know what happens when I get inspired. So after reading all of her archives (and marveling at how a giant floral print mumu can be turned into…well… anything) I took off for my fave local thrift shop.
It may not be the cleanest, most well organized shop (we’ll leave that to Goodwill Industries) but their prices always crack me up. There is really no rhyme or reason. Pants… $1.52. Purse… 65 cents. BBQ… $19.91.
So after much deliberation I selected a pale green shirt (or tunic) that was much too big for me, a soft red top that was much, much too big for me, and a pair of pants that was much, much, much too big for my whole family. Grand total = $5. And when I got home I pulled two dresses out of my closet, a couple of t-shirts from my craft cupboard (did you really think I wouldn’t have one?), and a piece of fabric my mom had given me.
I piled all of my tools into our new Creative Space (aka the second bedroom) and got to work. I started by sewing up the giant slits in the green button up, sewing up the front panel since no one ever unbuttons buttons that far down anyway, snipped off the belt loops, and took it in a tad. Then with the red top I made a sash and ta da! Cute dress.
Next up: tote bag. I took the humongous khaki colored corduroys and cut them up. I sewed the pieces together and they became a tote. A very, very plain tote. So I ironed some fusible web (greatest invention ever) onto the back of this great owl print fabric (courtesy of Mom) and cut out the owls. Then all I had to do was place them on the bag and iron away. Love it!
And there is still more fun to be had!
By the way, I’m addicted and now check New Dress A Day every morning www.newdressaday.com
Day 297 – Get Lost
August 30th, 2010Get Lost
Accomplice: Dad
I had this crazy idea to let the roll of the dice determine where I should go. So when my Dad and I went out to San Luis we decided to see how this would work. I made a dice with L (for left), R (for right), and S (for straight) on two sides each. Then all we had to do was roll the dice and let chance dictate our path.
We started by rolling the dice every time a street came up. I never noticed how tiny the blocks in San Luis are. We learned a two block radius very, very well. But, we also discovered a really awesome old brick building we’d never seen and we found out that they have a Betty’s Fabrics. Score!
After driving in circles for a while we decided to amend our game and to roll the dice every 60 seconds. This led to a much wider exploration of town and we got to see shops we never go to and houses we didn’t even know existed.
Eventually the dice led us right back into the heart of downtown so we took that as our cue to go shopping. I think next time we’ll try our game on foot!
Day 296 – The Language of Love
August 30th, 2010The Language of Love
Solo Mission
Somewhere along the way (thanks in part to Big Bird) I learned how to count to three in a handful of different languages. This very specific talent of mine has come in handy as a party trick and, I believe, qualifies me to discipline children in several different countries.
I’ve been doing a lot of creating on HitRECord lately and an idea I had for a video involved using the words “I Love You” in various languages. Then that gave me the idea to actually learn how to say I Love You in all of them. And by all of them, I mean ten.
So thanks to my good friend Mister Flashcard (and also to yahoo and youtube) I can now say, on command, I Love You in Spanish, Romanian, German, Turkish, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, Polish, Greek, and French.
At the risk of jeopardizing the awesomeness of my newly acquired crowd pleaser, I will share with you what I have learned:
Spanish – Te Amo (tay amoh)
Romanian – Te Iubesc (tay yoobesk)
German – Ich Liebe Dich (ik leebuh dik) (the k’s actually sound kind of like an H)
Turkish – Seni Seviyorum (senee seviyorum)
Italian – Ti Amo (tee amoh)
Chinese – Wo Ai Ni (woe I nee)
Japanese – Aishiteru (aieesh tedoo) (be careful if you say this one – it means very strong love)
Polish – Kocham Cie (koham chion)
Greek – S’agapo (saga poe)
French – Je T’aime (jeu tem)
Ta da! Of course, these are all textbook versions, so if you know a different way of saying I love you then we’re probably both right. If you know how to express the deepest feelings of your heart in any other languages, please share!
Day 295 – Downward Dog
August 30th, 2010Downward Dog
Solo Mission
My yoga pants finally got to be used for their intended purpose!
I have never tried yoga, but I thought it would be kind of adventurous… even though I’m still sore from that 5K. Now, we actually have a yoga DVD called “Power Yoga”, but I thought that sounded a little extreme so I looked for something that would give me the opposite of a high voltage workout.
Cue “Yoga for Beginners” on YouTube. I unrolled my pink yoga mat (which matched my pink tank top) that I bought at Target last year because it was a dollar and followed the video. Apparently I will buy anything if it’s a dollar.
Overall my yoga experience was fairly painless, although I believe the words “yah right” did escape my mouth a few times.
The Big Adventure List
August 28th, 2010The Big Adventure list is here!
Check out all 294 adventures so far… by clicking here http://rebeccarosswrites.com/blog/the-big-adventure-list/ or clicking “The Big Adventure List” on the sidebar.
Enjoy! =)
Day 294 – Great Guy
August 27th, 2010Great Guy
Solo Mission
So I was thinking – you know how sometimes you go shopping and the clerk is really nice and you leave the store amazed at their friendliness. We get so used to mediocre (or just plain bad) service that someone who smiles and asks you how our day is going comes as a pleasant surprise.
Well wouldn’t it be great if we could acknowledge those people? Oh wait, we can! I know that letter writing has gone completely out of style, but managers still like to hear that they have good employees. And I’m sure the employees wouldn’t mind a little validation.
So I wrote a letter to my local video store (which happens to be inside the Albertson’s) and told them how much we love Guy. Guy is the video guy and knows everything there is to know about movies. Ricardo is his sidekick and is no slouch either. Together they have made Marbles not only the best place to get movies, but also a really fun place to hang out and talk shop. Think High Fidelity but with films… and less angst. Plus they have old Playboy covers on the walls. Awesome.
