30 by 30

So I'm 30 now. Which is a good thing. Seriously- 20s were lame. The end was good. But the majority of it? Kinda painful. So yeah, let's see how we did on the 30 by 30. New stuff in pink.

1. Design and knit my perfect cardigan out of hand-spun hand-dyed yarn-I did knit some of my own sweaters, (rav links) but I didn't record any patterns. Having a friend who is a designer has shown me that designing is hard work and you need to put a lot of time and effort into it that I just don't have right now. That being said, I think I did okay overall. Didn't spin my own yarn though. Waaaaaay to inconsistent on the wheel. I'll give this one 50%. .5/30
   
2. Get a spinning wheel~ Done! June 5th 2010, my friend told me I could have her wheel (traditional Ashford) until I needed it. I'll need it until I buy one so there we go! (Pics to come no worries.) 1.5/30
   
3. Make a really awesome bookshelf (like these or something) Alas this one was a no go. I will carry this one over to the 40 by 40 though. It's a good one.
   
4. Crochet a bedspread with one of my Grandmother Hazel's crochet hooks and laceweight Seriously why did I set out goals like this? Punishment? CROCHET HATES ME.
   
5. Go on a real vacation ~ Done! May Long Weekend 2010, Tofino BC. I think I should get double points for this one because of NY but we'll stick with one. 2.5/30
   
6. Bike around one of the islands Again, honestly. I'm not allowed to modify lists after buying new toys! Sheesh.
   
7. Get another tattoo~ oops, this one had been done for awhile now, just forgot I got this one, it's so small and cute! If I win the lottery I'd have some more to show but still, I get another point! 3.5/30
   
8. Pay off bank student loan- Aaaaahahahahahahaha.
   
9. Bike a century (160km) in two days- See #6
   
10. Get really good at the violin- like stellar Without lessons, this won't work. Lessons cost money. Hence, I now have a ukelele and I know five chords. Quarter of a point (shut up- my list, my rules). 3.75/30
    
11. Publish one of my poems (and not self-published)-I'm writing poetry I just don't feel comfortable sending poems out without peer review. And dudes, I cannot stand poetry groups. This list is not going well.
    
12. Become an Aunt again - Uh- YEAH! I think I should get A BILLION points for this one. Have you seen this cutie? I need some more photos of her. 4.75/30
    
13. Keep my blog- yes I've been bad of late but full points still. 5.75/30
    
14. Pick up some kind of activity or sport thingie DONE! Yoga has been maintained for over six months and now I'm biking so check check and check. Still doing yoga, could be doing it more, but it is still my thing. 6.75/30
15. Learn how to be awesome at chess and play a game with those really serious russians downtown -I'm okay at chess. Not going to play anyone any time soon. .25 awarded. 7/30
    
16. Be a bridesmaid again cause it is fun yeah nobody is getting married.
    
17. Use my 5' by 7' canvas for a painting crap.
    
18. Get another family portrait with all the new people in our family (Dad will finally not be the only male in the picture) I don't know why this didn't happen. This needs to happen.
    
19. Organize a serious charity knitting project~ Done! Vancouver Fibre Leauge First Charity Run of knitting blankets and toys to the SPCA was donated on June 16, 2010! Couldn't have done it without the knitters! . 8/30
    
20. Get involved with a Feminist organization Does donating monthly to MSF count? They help out women and children all over. .25 8.25/30
21. Go across Canada I haven't even crossed the BC/Alberta border in three years.
22. Participate in a charity marathon even if I just briskly stroll the whole thing DONE!!!! June 7th, 2009- Childrun for BC Childrens' Hospital fight against cancer. 205 dollars raised. Ah, good for me. 9.25/30
    
23. Go to Vietnam with Julia Did I think I was going to come into some cash or something?
24. Do a whole day hike/Hike the West Coast Trail Okay, so the WCT is insane but I did do a lot of morning to late afternoon hikes so I'm giving myself a .75 for this. Seriously- that hike is killer. 10/30
25. Scuba or snorkel~ DONE! Surfing was way cooler than either of these things. 11/30
    
26. Garden- no matter how small I grew some herbs this past summer and used them on lots of things, including pizza. Go me. (And thanks to Ju for the plants in the first place) 12/30
    
27. Write and illustrate a picture book What?
    
28. Adopt another kitten DONE! February 17th, 2010. I love this kitten so. 13/30
    
29. Make a 100 book reading listI I did this. It's on Facebook. I now prefer goodreads. 14/30
    
30. Design and sew a dress that is spectacular um- I have some really pretty fabric picked out... sigh.
    

14/30- not a pass, but in the larger scheme of things? Not bad. I know, accepting failing is weird but meh, the list wasn't there so I would feel bad about myself, it's a good thing. It keeps me thinking about things. I need to start thinking about a 40 by 40 and this time I'll have all ten years to get things done!

Here's an awesome photo of the kitten I love so. This was taken by my roommate Saroj and her amazing camera (I wanted to steal it but frankly I had no idea how to work it). Pictures of nails tomorrow Jenn I promise! Cheers!

Oh Right! I went to NY!

Let's start November blogging off with a bang shall we? Well, when I say that, I realize it's kinda a stupid saying and also, it's a lie. It's quarter past ten. I'm going to bed very soon. Mostly pictures. No bang at all.

So yeah, I'll be blogging every day in November. I like saying that like it's really going to happen. Twice even. One will be a single picture post, one will be a regular post. But let's start off with New York. I'd just like to say that I went to NY for five days for 740 dollars. Canadian. Including airfare. That all said and boasting aside, next time I go, I'd like to spend a lot more.

Anyhoo, on to the pictures!

Firstly, Ozzie: the star of Brooklyn. I love this cat.
And my first real day in NYC we went to the fashion district (kinda dirty really) but got to meet Swatch! Who is kind of a bad dog at times. But still! Swatch!
While at Mood I bought some beautiful silk charmeuse for Hazel. It's stupidly soft.
We also went to the Daphne Guiness exhibition at FIT. I'd link but I'm really tired. It's completely worth googling. This woman basically wears insanity on a daily basis. Some of her outfits are beautiful and inspiring, some are scary, some are stupid, but they are all very entertaining.
On the last day we walked around Chelsea and Soho and Madison and Fifth and Central Park. Lots of fun. In no particular order we saw dinosaur bones...
giant crucifix (this was actually on my last day there right in a cemetery right by the wall street occupation but it's such a hassle to move photos)
we went to the folk museum and saw awesome quilts. This one was my favorite.
look at this! INSANE!
Purl soho where I bought the most scrumptious madeline tosh light and managed not to buy liberty fabric for 36$ a metre.
Oh, and one morning we all just got dressed up in coloured tights. That's Dory on the left, she is who Kat and I stayed with in NY. Lovely lady. Great hair.
Here are my tights while I was walking through a little water fountain on the highline.
These sculptures are all around NY subways and are too awesome.
Here is the highline. It's an old railroad about two stories up that has been converted into a green space. It's nice. At first I didn't get what all the fuss was about but after walking around NYC for a bit I understood the need for more green space. It had some really nice spots to sit and watch the water or the traffic below.
Rhinebeck! Woo! It was fun and frankly, those apple cider doughnuts made the whole trip for me foodwise. There was a lot to look at and we didn't even get through all the tents. Lots of fleece but I haven't spun for ages and still have my sweet georgia panda to get through.
Lara! We got to spend time fondling yarn and talking all things fibre just like old times. I sure miss her! It was great getting to see her. I mauled her in the middle of the food lines I was so happy.
Okay, upstate NY is so ridiculously different from NYC it's, yeah, ridiculous.
The first place we went to had this amazing silk/merino yarn that I desired so bad. It's called Raspberry Souffle by Periwinkle Sheep. She's so nice I had to link to her. I didn't want to blow my Rhinebeck budget on the first place we went to so I left the four skeins lovingly behind. I almost think this was the wrong place to start with because it set our expectations so high for everything else. There were a lot of great vendors there but I was just comparing everything to Periwinkle Sheep. We went to two nice, but somewhat underwhelming tents and I freaked out and was like... we have to go back for the Raspberry Souffle! (haha- I typed souggle!) Thankfully on our way back we passed some amazing stalls that made me gasp and fondle yarn so that was good. Regardless, we went back and I could only find two skeins of the yarn. I wanted enough to make a sweater. I asked the owner if she had any more and she said she didn't but then, I spotted in a tub that wasn't suppose to be holding the silk yarn two more skeins of the Raspberry Souffle! I was so happy that I made lots of stupid high pitched noises and did a little dance. Due to the embarrassing display of fibre love the owner gave me a discount on all four! So nice. The yarn is so lovely it sits on top of the TV in honor.

The other yarns I got from Rhinebeck were from Dirty Water and are a gorgeous orange and dark blue/purple. The brilliant purple there is my tosh light which is halfway knit into a shawl right now. It's like butter.

Well, that was New York. There was amazing pulled pork, guys singing on the subway, people discretely asking us if we wanted to follow them to buy designer purses (we didn't), dressed up dogs, and a whole lot of culture, noise, and good times. It rocked. I want to go back. Rhinebeck 2013 folks! Yeah!

Progress

P'Cess commented the other day that I needed to update my 30 by 30 and I'm very glad she did because I had, I just hadn't linked the new one! Sheesh. I needed to update it again so it was doublely helpful . All the reds are dones. You may see some changes. On this post I noted the new mods. New ones are number 2, 5, 19, and 25.

1. Design and knit my perfect cardigan out of hand-spun hand-dyed yarn
2. Get a spinning wheel~ Done! June 5th 2010, my friend told me I could have her wheel (traditional Ashford) until I needed it. I'll need it until I buy one so there we go! (Pics to come no worries.)
   
3. Make a really awesome bookshelf (like these or something)
4. Crochet a bedspread with one of my Grandmother Hazel's crochet hooks and laceweight
   
5. Go on a real vacation ~ Done! May Long Weekend 2010, Tofino BC.
   
6. Bike around one of the islands
   
7. Get another tattoo~ oops, this one had been done for awhile now, just forgot I got this one, it's so small and cute!
   
8. Pay off bank student loan
   
9. Bike a century (160km) in two days
10. Get really good at the violin- like stellar
11. Publish one of my poems (and not self-published)
12. Become an Aunt again (see 1.b)
13. Keep my blog
    
14. Pick up some kind of activity or sport thingie DONE! Yoga has been maintained for over six months and now I'm biking so check check and check.
15. Learn how to be awesome at chess and play a game with those really serious russians downtown
16. Be a bridesmaid again cause it is fun (again- 1.b)
    
17. Use my 5' by 7' canvas for a painting
18. Get another family portrait with all the new people in our family (Dad will finally not be the only male in the picture)
19. Organize a serious charity knitting project~ Done! Vancouver Fibre Leauge First Charity Run of knitting blankets and toys to the SPCA was donated on June 16, 2010! Couldn't have done it without the knitters!
    
20. Get involved with a Feminist organization
21. Go across Canada
22. Participate in a charity marathon even if I just briskly stroll the whole thing DONE!!!! June 7th, 2009- Childrun for BC Childrens' Hospital fight against cancer. 205 dollars raised.
    
23. Go to Vietnam with Julia
24. Do a whole day hike/Hike the West Coast Trail
25. Scuba or snorkel~ DONE! Surfing was way cooler than either of these things.
    
26. Garden- no matter how small
27. Write and illustrate a picture book
28. Adopt another kitten DONE! February 17th, 2010.
29. Make a 100 book reading list
30. Design and sew a dress that is spectacular

Now all that being said, I need YOUR help for the 100 book reading list. If everyone notes 5 books they think I should read, it should be a breeze and I'd really appreciate the input! So if you could leave a comment below, and I'd love for the lurkers to leave one too! The more the merrier and I'll be sure to come over and thank you for your comment!

This and That

(
so firstly, well aware that I totally forgot to get a family photo over xmas to cross off one of my 30 by 30, I have finally applied to get my passport. I was stuck after realizing I had no idea where my birth certificate was but knowing it was somewhere 'safe' in my apartment. Turned out safe meant stuck inside a mass conglomerate of cards and photos I have pinned to a corkboard in my kitchen. The only reason I found it was because I couldn't fit all my xmas and birthday cards on there so I decided to take down the old ones. Anyhoo.

On the knitting front~ got an issue to show you and then some fun stuff. Firstly, totally messed up my shawl.
Honestly, I had stopped feeling it awhile ago. I don't know why. I was so excited by the pattern but I just... fell out of love. Sigh. But mohair is impossible to frog so I just decided to make it smaller and cut out a lot of the rows and jumped right to next charts. The other night I picked it up to work on it some more but I don't know what happened~ there are a lot of yarnovers before and after purls and knits so I don't know if I fell asleep at the wheel or what because...
It's hard to tell but it's pretty fugly. Some of the yarnovers are monster yarnovers while others are not even holes. I also realized I had been purling all stitches on the wrong side row like the first chart said but didn't notice that the next charts had knit stitches on the wrong side too. Argh. I may try the pattern again with something other than mohair but for right now~ blarg. I can't frog it. I don't want to finish it. But it's pink! Sigh.

In happier knitting news....

My mom got me some awesome yarn that I'm turning into mittens for someone else because they're kinda small.
I got some awesome sock yarn from my teaching partner. It's a faux fair isle from Opal in a Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (?) colourway. It's so much fun! Fun fun fun.

The Jellyfish is done!!!! I just need to steek it (cut it) and then figure out what exactly I want to do with it. I'm almost thinking a pillow set and doing an octopus and a sea horse or something. I just don't think it'll work as anything else. Ideas? Opinions? Thoughts?
Okay, and both of my sisters (hi hi) are going to read 50 books this year and I've decided to take the challenge with them. I have a book-book that I've been keeping since 2004 and have decided to bore you with the facts from it. The slow years are called 'soul-sucking university'. I use to read all the time but it's taken me forever to get back into reading. I actually had a mini crisis where I felt really bad about the fact that I wasn't reading and felt very poor about myself. Luckily I had friends there to tell me otherwise and now I'm very happy to say I'm finally back there~ reading and loving books.

2004: 27 books (starting in May)
Five stars: The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, A Little Piece of Sky by Nicole Bailey-Williams, A Blade of Grass by Lewis DeSoto, The Sweet Hereafter by Russel Banks, A Pair of Scissors by Sharon Thesen, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon

2005: 12 books
Five stars: Sunshine by Robin McKinley

2006: 10 books
Five Stars: The Red Tent by Anita Diament, Knitting Rules by Stephanie Pearl McPhee, V for Vendetta by Alan Moore, The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls

2007: 12 books
Five stars: The Girls by Lori Lansen, The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman, The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsbury

2008: 7 books
Five Stars: The Wheel of Surya by Jamila Gavin, Maniac McGee by Jerry Spinelle, Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt, Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger,

2009: 21 books
Five stars: The Number One Ladies Dectective Agency by Alexander McCall, Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris, The Plain Janes by Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugs, Push by Sapphire, Book Theif by Markus Zusak, Persepholis by Marijane Satrapi, The Guernsey Literary and Potatoe Peel Pie Society by Schaffer and Burrows, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexei

This is averaging out to only 15 books a year but I think I can still do the 50. Anyone else with us?

What are Sundays again?

oh yeah... Sanguineness. Which isn't hard when you've been in the apartment for four days without leaving. My only hope is to GET OUT!!! Which I will, tomorrow, so that's good.

Now that that's out of the way let's check up with the 30 by 30 shall we?

Completed:
#7: Get another tattoo: Whoo!
#22:Participate in a charity marathon even if I just briskly stroll the whole thing: done. Please see original 30 by 30 post for details. Nearly died. (not really)

In the Works:
#1:Design and knit my perfect cardigan out of hand-spun hand-dyed yarn- the J.Baas cardigan was the prototype for this (scroll allll the way to the bottom). Now I just need to spin the hoardes of fleece from Chrissy so I can dye it and get started!
#4:Crochet a bedspread with one of my Grandmother Hazel's crochet hooks and laceweight thread: got the thread and the pattern and have temporarily lost the motifs somewhere in my living room but no worries. Hopefully I'll find them this Wednesday.
#11: Publish one of my poems (and not self-published)- started writing again! Wooo!
#13: Keep my blog- look at me go!
#14: Pick up some kind of activity or sport thingie- yoga is well on it's way to accomplishing this goal for me.
#17: Use my 5' by 7' canvas for a painting- the pencil has been laid down and I'm still working on the smaller one for practice first.
18: Get another family portrait with all the new people in our family- what do you think... this December? I think so!
#19 & #20: Organize a serious charity knitting project & Get involved with a Feminist organization- have started looking at different organizations in Vancouver and nothing serious yet but wheels are turning. Hoping to get into this one after Xmas.
#27: Write and illustrate a picture book- again, started writing and painting again so I'm pretty pleased.
#30: Design and sew a dress that is spectacular- Got the materials but haven't done much with them. Maybe Project Runway will inspire me (not this season though, this season sucked).

Haven't the Foggiest:
#2:Get a spinning wheel- whatever. They are too much money. I don't have the time. I like my spindle. This one may be something like a gift to myself for my 30th birthday or something. I do want one but I'm discouraged.
#3:Make a really awesome bookshelf- have talked to my Dad about this one. If I really stick to it it may happen this summer.
#5:Go on a real vacation: what's that?
#6:Bike around one of the islands: not in this weather. Get back to you in the summer.
#8: Pay off bank student loan: Aaaaaahahahahaha
#9: Visit my friends in Gimli- have started up communication again so maybe next summer?
#12:Become an Aunt again- I'm crossing my fingers but besides that.
#16:Be a bridesmaid again cause it is fun- let's get on that people!
#21:Go swimming in the Atlantic Ocean with my friends on the East coast- double sigh.
#23:Do the European coastline trip with Julia- oh yeah.. getting right on that one.
#25:Scuba or snorkel- I know where the vancouver school of scuba is now! Yeah.
#26: Garden- no matter how small- I figure I'll have to get involved with a community garden in case I don't move. We'll check them out in the spring.
#28: Adopt another kitten- nearly did the last week of August but going to hold out till I a) get a vet and b)get Spike all his shots again and c) have three weeks off at least to make sure Spike doesn't eat the kitten.

In risk of being changed:
#10: Get really good at the violin- like stellar- this may be changed too... get considerably better at the violin so you can play independently without relying on someone else to tune or have the cat run away and hide. True story. When Alyria came over and house sat for me when she played my violin Spike CURLED UP IN HER LAP AND PURRED. He runs when he sees me open my violin.
#15:Learn how to be awesome at chess and play a game with those really serious russians downtown- again, may just be changed to learn how to play chess in a way that isn't pathetic. Still want to challenge myself to play with the scary serious dudes downtown but we'll see.
#24: Hike the West Coast Trail- I'm getting a lot of varied reports about the West Coast Trail so I don't know. This may just become 'do a day long hike' but let's be clear... I don't 'scale' things, I don't do rickety bridges or unreliable ladders, and I don't do freaky ass heights either.
#29: Make a life list- I started to do this but it seemed really lame. I didn't like any of the life lists I found and I wasn't inspired at. all. I think I'll turn this into a book list of 100 books to read. More about that later.

So there you have it. Is this a boring post? Are you at all interested in updates? I feel like I'm babbling about things I've babbled before. I guess for me the coolest thing about this list is the way it's making me look at time and my life so I don't know how that translates on to the blog. Hm.

Anyhoo, see you tomorrow! For... Maniac Monday!

Push: Love and Hate (and ending with random photos)

In style of Jennifurfur I'm going to start with a comparison of two things- one of those things being awesome and one being the opposite of anything awesome- and they have one thing in common. Their name.

Push (the movie): oh it's just so. so. very. bad. And I made my friend watch it with me. How she ever forgave me. I was hoping for cheesy goodness you know? Like some Van Damne (how do you spell his last name?) movies or Stallone where you know it's bad but at least it's not painful! Or even one of those movies that you watch when it's on TV but when anybody else comes into the room you change it to the History Channel and say yes... yes you are watching the show about AIRCOM. Why?

But no. No no no. This movie was beyond. You don't even hate the characters because you just don't care. You also don't know who are the major characters besides the main two so all of a sudden you're like... oh wait, she's important too? Wtf? And the dialouge tries to be funny but it just isn't. I was telling my friend how painful their attempts at humour were and she hadn't realized it was even a humour attempt. I think she 'left' for the movie in order to cope. The real shame here being is that the fight scenes were okay! I enjoyed the sounds and the choreographing but sweet jesus do not watch this movie. Ugh. Painful painful ugh. Like leggings and uggs. Lace edged leggings. Lace edged leggings whose special power is to yell really loud. Yup. Their foes could yell really loud. How's that for a spin off?

Push By Sapphire: I shouldn't actually review books just after reading them because I can never really articulate myself properly. This book is good though and I know I'm going to stand by that. It was interesting because even though the main character goes through so much the book never got stuck or pulled you down~ the strength of the main character to get through all her abuse comes through in the writing so it's like you can get through too. Does that make any sense? I'm so not a critical analysis or articulate person and I can get waaaaay too emotional and mushy when writing but Precious, the main character, is real to me now and it's like I'm proud of her and all this stuff. I mean, I'm also the girl who wants to marry Mr. Darcy, which I know now is a common thread, but still. It's these kinds of books that made me wish I taught high school so I could read these books with youth.


Random Photos!!!

So I went home for a week in July. As usual it was a good time that was had. Lots of nephew kissing and squeezing, Grandparents, hanging out with Mom, watching TV with Dad, and even an awesome lunch with a Jodi.

Flying there we passed by one of the fires that has now been contained; however, as I'm sure many of you know, there are many more raging. It's hard to show in the photos just how massive this fire was or how huge those clouds are but it was very awful. The cloud of smoke just stretched on and on. The last picture is from the Kelowna airport.


Upon getting to Vernon the knitting did commence. Julia wants to knit a felted sweater so this time she picked out wool instead of acrylic so we're hoping for better results than the bag of doom she knit in Christmas 2006 (was that the year?). Isn't she too cute? I took this photo than put my camera down ontop of a table of knickknacks in the basement and didn't find it till my last hour in Vernon so this is it for Vernon pictures.
When I returned home I had a very upset Kitty on my hands. Even though I had the best house-sitter yarn can buy I guess he was just a little ansy this time around.
Not only did he claw and bite my dear friend who was taking care of him~ including one episode where he went Spawn-Kitty on her (ears back, legs straight, fur poofed, walking sideways, hissing, tail big)~ but I guess Spike also decided other things in the apartment had to die as well.
Including the evil granola.

Eeeeeevil.

I'm working at the coffee shop lots. We sell those little bottles of San Pelligreno so I've asked everyone to save the lids for me. So far I have 98 lids. If I decide to do the coffee table which was a suggestion from a friend I'll need 361 so I'm 27% there but we'll see. May yet change my mind. But if you do have any of those lids mind sending them my way?
This is the underwear I left in the laundry room for two weeks that was folded nicely and left on the front table in the laundry room. Just incase you're doubting your eyes, that is a print of dogs wearing sweaters hanging xmas lights.
I had to frog the sleeve to my cardigan but I have cast on again. It was tooooo big. I'm proud of myself for frogging and not just ignoring it till I messed the whole thing up. Oh well. that yarn by the way is bloody amazing.
And in a 30 by 30 update, Julia and I have joined the YWCA which is just neat. So this is working on.... #14. Go team!

30 by 30 update

I have a lot of updating to do so I'm going to try to blog tomorrow as well. I've got nephew photos and knitting rants for you~ exciting! But today as I am freakishly tired (slept the sleep of the dead from 5-8 this afternoon) and kinda cranky I just wanted to update you on my 30 by 30 list.

#7: Get another tattoo~ tattoo is designed and I've just got to get around to bugging my tattoo artist for a visit :) You'll love it!

#10: Get really good at the violin~ I've started playing again and am going to hopefully ploy one of my friends into giving me regular lessons over the summer in exchange for food and knitting lessons.

#15:Learn how to be awesome at chess and play a game with those really serious russians downtown~ I just beat my computer at easy level! I'm on my way!

#17:Use my 5' by 7' canvas for a painting~ have penciled in my painting and have a smaller canvas to practice on, have also bought the paints!

#22: Participate in a charity marathon even if I just briskly stroll the whole thing~ and I didn't even stroll! It was a very small 5K run and I figure my friend and I ran about 4.5K altogether. It was awesome and when I crossed the finish line I swore I would never do it again. Whee!

#30:Design and sew a dress that is spectacular~ I've got the sewing machine and I've got a basic dress template to start with. Let the experimenting begin! (This summer sometime when I have time)

So that's all that's new with me regarding the 30 by 30. 1/30 so far but hey- it's a start. Thanks for listening!

I've got a List

I was tired last night and not sleeping so I decided to do a 30 by 30 list. I'm 27 now and starting to feel a teeeny bit grown up so I'll do a grown up thing and make a list of goals. They have their specs though:

1. Cannot be something that is controlled by outside forces
a) such as 'having my own classroom' because while I would give anything to have that I can't control it as such and if I don't have my own classroom by 30 believe me I'll be cranky enough that I don't need a list to remind me of the suck.
b) some things controllable by other people are okay if they involve me actively guilt tripping them or playing them in order to get my way

2. Items are subject to change with good reason
a) the reason being I say so
b) but I'll let you know why and put it in ETA and such

As of right now I think I only have around 17. Suggestions are appreciated as I'm out of ideas.

30 BY 30

1. Design and knit my perfect cardigan out of hand-spun hand-dyed yarn
2. Get a spinning wheel
3. Make a really awesome bookshelf (like these or something)
4. Crochet a bedspread with one of my Grandmother Hazel's crochet hooks and laceweight (use to be 'get a passport' but was opted out due to easy-ness and plain common-sense of just having a passport and because Yarn Piggy told me to)
   
5. Go on a real vacation
   
6. Bike around one of the islands
   
7. Get another tattoo (sorry Mom)
8. Pay off bank student loan
   
9. Visit my friends in Gimli
10. Get really good at the violin- like stellar
11. Publish one of my poems (and not self-published)
12. Become an Aunt again (see 1.b)
13. Keep my blog (or still have a blog- maybe a cooler design)
14. Pick up some kind of activity or sport thingie
15. Learn how to be awesome at chess and play a game with those really serious russians downtown
16. Be a bridesmaid again cause it is fun (again- 1.b)
    
17. Use my 5' by 7' canvas for a painting
18. (stolen from Annika):Get another family portrait with all the new people in our family (Dad will finally not be the only male in the picture)
19. (stolen from Annika)(again):Organize a serious charity knitting project
20. Get involved with a Feminist organization (prompted by my current reading- The Story of Jane Doe: A Book About Rape)
21. Go swimming in the Atlantic Ocean with my friends on the East coast (suggestion via Facebook from an East coast friend)
    
22. Participate in a charity marathon even if I just briskly stroll the whole thing (suggestion via facebook from Jubbers) DONE!!!! June 7th, 2009- Childrun for BC Childrens' Hospital fight against cancer. 205 dollars raised.
    
23. Do the European coastline trip with Julia (oddly enough- suggested by Julia! Something we wanted to do for a long time :)
    
24. Hike the West Coast Trail (Thanks Beentsy!)
25. Scuba or snorkel
26. Garden- no matter how small
27. Write and illustrate a picture book
28. Adopt another kitten
29. Make a life list
30. Design and sew a dress that is spectacular
    

Okay- help a girl out here- what's next? Oh, and are things like purchases cheating? I think that making things is good but are things like 'buy a wheel' and 'get passport' too easy?

Spike wants you to know how much he loves the laundry basket. Oh he loves it so.