Days 54+++

Have been keeping up with The 100 Day Challenge on FB, but not re-posting here. Have gotten a little lazy about writing much and so it seems a bit duplicative (? look it up?)...

https://www.facebook.com/album.php?fbid=10150094572264755&id=638414754&aid=275059&l=4d381e19c7

Day 53 – The last thing you bought

'Nuff said - soy latte, coupla honeys. mmmmmmmm

Day 52 – A picture of yourself celebrating for getting this far

This isn't really from Day 52, but it captures how pleased I am to have stuck to The Challenge so far. I so rarely stick to anything (jobs, working out, cities for that matter...).

Day 51 – Something passed down from your parents/grandparents

Itchy feet (I thought about photos of actual itchy feet but that seemed gross, and off-putting so this little globe will have to do).   

My well-established wanderlust goes back generation upon generation - but I can only really speak to my parents and grandparents.  And what a wonderfully itchy feet they all had.

An Australian convertible

My parents met, were married, and started a family in - of all places - Alice Springs, Northern
Territory, Australia.  Both Americans who were traveling and working in the Outback; totally normal, right?  I bet most of your parents met & started a life together in a similar way/place.  Both had traveled quite a bit before bumping into each other in Australia.  Mom and Auntie BAH did some serious gallivanting - two California girls setting up camp in faraway lands, re-frying their own beans and generally soaking up as many new places and experiences as they could find.  Dad saw the world first via the Air Force and then through his own wanderings. Between the two of them - hitchhiking and wandering across most of Europe, Central & Southern America before making a home in the very definition of the middle of nowhere.

Can you see my tiny noggin over all that snow?

After Alice Springs we lived in Anchorage and Arizona - and then started a back & forth bounce between AZ & OZ that lasted for the rest of their lives.  The grass always being greener, I suppose.  But maybe it was something more basic, more genetic than that.

G-ma Hynes on her cross-country drive

My mom's folks were both travelers as well - both having made their way out to California from smaller, slower places somewhere in the middle.  My grandmother drove all the way across country by herself - mind you this was when cars were first taking off and before highways truly existed in this country.  They both made the trek to Australia for to see their youngest daughter (my mom) marry a hay-seed fly-boy from Virginia.  No small journey since one of them didn't like to fly and the other was afraid of the ocean - flying over and boating back, ever the loving compromises.

G-pa Wheat in the Merchant Marines

My dad's dad was a world-class wanderer.  Some of that was fueled by his raging alcoholism, but it's more romantic to remember his Merchant Marine days as that of a wild-eyed seeker - always looking ahead to his next adventure.  I don't know all the details, but I do know that the traveling-genes aren't all Hynes-family related, the Wheats had some itchy feet as well. 

Day 50 – Something you drew

Lately - (since apparently it's poor-me-month, even I'm sick of myself) - all I've been drawing is the short straw. Blech.

Day 49 – A day you remember really well

I'm cheating by resurrecting an old post - but it's a goodie. And it was *quite* a day.

http://butweremakinggoodtime.blogspot.com/2009/08/runaround-sue.html

 

Day 48 – Your best friend

I'm sure today's photo comes as no surprise to anyone who knows either of us. I have often wanted to put our friendship to paper, to describe what Lisa truly means to me. Just as often, I fall short, unable to find elaborate or superlative enough words to explain even a fraction of what a friendship like this feels like.

From that fateful 1992 tour of the dorms all the way through life's inevitable triumphs & tragedies - Lisa Marie Davis Schoneberger continues to stick it out and to love me through all my flaws & foibles.

Let's face it - she's a lucky, lucky girl ;-)

Day 47 – A room in your house

I still think of the apartment in NYC as my "house" so thought of it for today's challenge rather than the current apartment in Denver. And, bonus, since it's only one room - here's a photo of "a room in your house". Guess that made it easy to choose, if nothing else.

Sigh - someday I'll have a real house, with rooms to choose from.

Day 46 – A picture of your favorite state

South Dakota, for obvious reasons.

Day 45 – Your favorite food

Look kids - Big Ben (this one's a repeat, and while I love food so can completely embrace a second favorite, I'm gonna stick with my original choice on this one). 

http://butweremakinggoodtime.blogspot.com/2011/02/day-11-your-favorite-food.html 

Day 44 – A hobby of yours

I don't know if one can claim a hobby before they're any good at it. I've wanted to learn to play the guitar for a few years and just kept putting it off. Found this little gem a couple of months ago (thanks Craigslist!) and have been banging away at it since.

I have the calluses and the carpal tunnel to show for it. And can now *kinda* eek out something like Walk the Line, Knockin' on Heaven's Door, Redemption Song & Stand By Me. Of course, all four songs sound exactly the same, and they all sound like I'm playing from inside a giant bottle of molasses but still - I'm learning something new and *that's* saying something.

Bring on the campfires!!

Day 43 – The weather outside

It's Colorado - so you never can tell what the weather will be. This week is a perfect example - snowed on Monday, is gonna be 71 & sunny for Opening Day on Friday, expecting 80's for the weekend. Today, being Wednesday and all, seems somewhere safely in the middle.

Team Get Cari to Move to Colorado promised me great weather, gazillions of days of sunshine & immediately melting (infrequent!) snow -- and most days I wholeheartedly agree with them. Then there are those times in November/December when it's below zero for a week and I've gotta scrape ice off the car or shovel him out of his parking spot. But the rest of the year makes up for it - and camping is juuuuuuuuuuuust around the corner.

Day 42 – Something you did today

Pilates. Yep, pilates.

I think I might have found some exercise that I actually like doing and will show up for now and again. And yes, I'm initially in love with it because we lay down the whole time and I can really get behind that kind of exercise. And I've stopped being freaked out by the really hands on teaching (read: the teacher keeps realigning my pelvis in a disconcerting way).

But all in all - I finally like something that's good for my body. Huzzah!

Day 41 – Someone in your family

I couldn't help but combine this with the embarrassing photo theme from yesterday. Suppose I could post a current shot of Josh but this so much more fun. Plus, this is how I see him in my mind's eye - regardless of how big or grown up he gets or how he's become not only an adult, but a husband and father. Sigh.

Truth be told, I have are MANY more embarrassing photos of Josh than of me and it was all I could do to not post a series of them for Day 40. Typically he was either in full cross-dress mode (ain't older sisters grand?!) or in a state of semi-undress (always missing the bottom half).

Either way - in his lady-shoes or in the buff - he's my favorite family member and the shining star of my life. I love and adore and am proud of you baby brother.

Day 40 – An embarrassing picture from your childhood

I don't even know where to start. It's not that it's so embarrassing of me, but since I can't even count the number of Michael J. Fox pictures on those walls, not to mention the splatter paint dresser & the "custom" drapes (which I would later catch on fire while burning incense)... I'm embarrassed mostly for my 11 year old self's decorating sense.

Damn I loved me some MJF!!! Think I was single-handedly keeping Bop Magazine afloat.

Day 39 – Your favorite picture

Oh man, oh man - how are you supposed to choose one favorite picture? This one truly does top the list though, and I've got some fantastic photos to choose from.

Please note my high heels and sassy pose. Not to mention Josh's bikini, with stuffed top and cowboy boots.

Freakin' weirdos!!




Course - this one  is a precious, precious gem as well.  ------------>