Day 90: 32 Things Before 33

Today is my 32nd birthday, so I decided to create a bucket list of 32 things I’d like to do before I turn 33 next year. Here are all those things, in no particular order:

1. Go rock climbing
2. Hike the entire length of the Ice Age Trail through Kettle Moraine South in Wisconsin
3. Draw at least one passable portrait of Christopher Walken
4. Read the manual for my new camera
5. Invite my Mom and Dad over for dinner at my new(ish) apartment
6. Make paella
7. Take a sewing class
8. Take dance lessons
9. Make soap
10. Make fire by friction
11. Get a pedicure (I’ve seriously never had one)
12. Make hot pretzels
13. Get my jewelry repaired
14. Visit a dairy
15. Have a special day with my niece
16. Buy a chiminea
17. Do a full push-up
18. Make cheese (beyond ricotta, which I’ve already made)
19. Walk to from my apartment to Lake Michigan
20. Take pictures of the stars and moon through a telescope
21. Play basketball in the park
22. Draw on the sidewalk with chalk
23. Can vegetables
24. Go to Hayward, Wisconsin
25. Have a picnic in a new place
26. Go sledding (I haven’t gone in years)
27. Catch a fish
28. Go to Pitch Fork, the music festival
29. Make a piñata
30. Run/walk a 5k
31. Go to South America (we’re planning to go to Argentina)
32. Complete the Making Made Project (meaning I will have made something and done a blog post every single day in 2012)

Day 89: Christopher Walken #1

Let’s just say this is my first attempt at a Christopher Walken portrait and leave it at that…

Day 88: Oven Fried Eggplant

Tonight, I tried a new recipe for oven fried eggplant, which I got out of my Cooking Light cookbook. Basically, it involved chopping onions and mixing them with light mayonnaise, making a breadcrumb and Parmesan mixture, and then lightly coating the eggplant pieces first in the mayo mixture and then in the breadcrumb mixture. I wouldn’t say it was the easiest recipe I’ve ever made since it required a lot of dishes, but the eggplant came out pretty tasty!

 

 

Day 87: Lemons

I traveled back from Arizona this afternoon, so I’m super tired. Why is air travel so exhausting? I’m guessing it’s the stress and dehydration, but it’s still pretty crazy how draining it is.

Anyways, because I’m sleepy, I decided to make these lemons really quickly. To do this, I just cut out the lemons shapes from construction paper, drew the outlines and dots with a thin marker, and then glued them to a white piece of paper. Super easy!

 

Day 86: Desert

We took a drive around some lonely desert roads this afternoon, and I managed to get a few good shots of some mountains and deserted buildings. Photographing the buildings was especially fun for me. I guess I like the idea of documenting how these structures—homes or gas stations that were once very important to people—have slowly decayed and returned to nature.

Day 85: Potted Cacti

We’re off to the hot springs “resort” today. I can’t wait to get there, watch the sunset while sitting in a hot spring, make a camp fire, and gaze up at the stars. Yay!

Day 84: Southwestern Flowers

As promised, here’s a little ode to my vacation in the Southwest. Note that I did most of this while sitting in the sun by the pool where I’m staying. I can’t complain about life right now.

Day 83: Country Road

It’s kind of funny, I suppose, that I’m in Arizona and instead of drawing a sketch of mountains of cacti I drew what appears to be a Midwest country road.  Maybe tomorrow I’ll do something more Southwestern.

Day 82: Sculptures

We went to an art expo today where lots of Arizona artists were showing their work–there were oil paintings, watercolors, sculpture, jewelry, etc. In the outdoor sculpture section of the show, I snapped a few pictures even though it was technically against the rules. Don’t tell anyone!

Day 81: Cacti

Vacationing in Arizona means taking pictures of cacti! I suspect I’ll end up taking about 200 photos of saguaro catcti alone. They’re such amazing plants, probably because they are somehow human-looking, with their straight backs and expressive arms. It’s sad when they start to die and their arms start to droop and decay away. Hopefully, I won’t see any of those over the next week.