I Just Might Explode

go rollerskating. done.

Yesterday Darian, Kaitlyn, and I had grand plans of going to the Brunea Sand Dunes(on my list, you see), but it began raining a few hours before we were set to go. I thought it would pass, but it didn't. So, we decided to change plans and go rollerskating instead! (which was also on the list). We went to the Rollerdome in Nampa which I hadn't been to since I was a kid. 

And it was so fun. I had never rollerskated before and hadn't rollerbladed for at least ten years, so I was a little wary when first went out on the rink, but I was up to a nice speed by the end. The three of us were the oldest ones out of the 15-20 kids on the rink and did our fair share of ridiculous dancing and singing to the wonderfully awful music. It was an odd mixture of Top 40, classic rock, and the YMCA song. 

I didn't bring my camera inside, but I did grab my iPhone and take a bunch of ridiculous shots. 

Afterwards, the rain finally cleared and we took some more silly photos in front of the awesome signage.

And, uh, the three of us are sort of ridiculous together.

We headed to Sonic afterwards and then ended up my house watching SNL. They had never seen the beauty known as Stefon and then we had to watch the Judy Lawrence Welk clips for good measure. 

I love my friends. 

 

bake a loaf of bread. done.

I haven't been doing a very good job on my fourty before twenty list list lately and I have decided that needs to change!

I decided to attack one of my easier items yesterday: bake a loaf of bread.

You lucky guys get a Kara How-to!

Step One: 

Put a headscarf on!

Step Two:

Get your ingredients out and play awesome music. Like, The Suburbs Arcade Fire album or Head and the Heart!

Step Three:

Pour a glass of raspbery iced tea to sip on while baking like a rockstar. 

Step Four: 

Follow and recipe and bake some bread. (I didn't say this was a thorough how-to). 

I halfed the recipe I used(from Steph's Mom. Thanks Mrs. Luke!) and made three small loaves and I could die of delicous homemade bread happiness.

go on a no-soda challenge for a month. done.

Last month I blogged about how I was going on a no-soda challenge for the month of April. I am pleased to report that I did it! I almost caved on Saturday, but for the sake of my list, I prevailed. 

Observations:

1. It wasn't that hard. The last two weeks, I had some thoughts and some audible complaing of "I just really want a cherry Coke right now". But, for the first part I didn't really miss it. Let's not mention that I drank two cokes yesterday, but guys. It's finals week, I needed a little pick-me-up. 

2. I noticed that I like to drink things a lot. I love to sip on coffee while I work on my laptop and I have to have some type of liquid with every meal. I don't think this is a bad thing, but when I'm consuming sugary and nutrionless drinks instead of water or milk or something, it is a bad thing. 

3. I think I want to keep soda mostly out of my diet for the summer. Last month, I replaced my soda drinking with raspberry iced tea, milk, and water. I'll have Sonic limemades, but one of my summer goals is not have more than one soda a week. I think that's do-able. 

4. I think I'm going to go on a three week challenge of drinking the recommended 8 glasses of water a day sometime in June. I don't even get close to that amount now. I'm envisioning a cute, designed check off list for the cups of water. 

So. Did you give up on soda too? Or anything else? How'd it go? What are you thoughts? If you blogged about it(or will blog about it), hook me up with the links. 

buy a bikini. done.

One thing on my 'fourty before twenty' list was to buy a bikini. While Kip was here, we went shopping in Soho and I bought this bikini at H&M. It's my first bikini(I've always worn one pieces and tankinis), so I'm a lil excited. I've decided to shirk modesty and plan on being as scantily clad as I feel like this summer. I did buy one of those trendy cropped tops there, so hellllo midriff. The above bikini was only $22, so I might buy another one this summer. I sort of want a vintagy floral one. Hmmm. 

If you want to read about other things I've done on my list, this category will take you to all those posts. I've loved this list. I like reading through it again and getting all inspired.  

Happy Wednesday all! Come back tomorrow for some sponsor giveaways! :)

go to ellis island. done.

One of the things on my 'fourty before twenty' list was to go to Ellis Island. I had originally planned to do this when Steph was here, but we ended up at Battery Park completely unenthused over the massive line for the ferries. So that day we headed uptown instead, but it's bugging me since that I didn't go.

Then I started seeing fliers around campus for a free trip to Ellis Island, so I asked on Facebook if anyone wanted to come with me and my lovely friend Aleks said yes! We headed out in the blistery, cold weather today and experienced some awesome tourist people watching. 

Inside the registery room:

One of the reasons I wanted to go so much was that my grandparents came through Ellis Island in the 40s when they left the Netherlands and I wanted to go for that experience. We were able to find their names on the Memorial thingy. ("Teunis G. Van Manen family"), so that was neat!

Outside the building, waiting for the ferry back to Battery Park. It was cold and windy! Bleh.

And then some beauitful blooming trees at Battery Park afterward:

A lovely day! But, I'm glad to be back in my warm dorm room. Sipping on the coffee I got in the city and listening to Sleeping at Last while it storms outside. Just about perfect.

see a broadway show. done.

While Stephanie was here visiting me during Spring Break, we went and saw Chicago at the Ambassador Theatre on Broadway! I've never been to a Broadway show before and it was very nice to cross yet another thing off my list!

Steph outside the theatre:

Bad/sneaky/dorky phone photos from inside the theatre:

The show was fantastic and made me miss acting/the stage so much. Then afterwards there was a saxophone player in the subway station and it was entirely magical. 

 

visit a new east coast state. done.

Last week I headed to Pennsylvania for the weekend with Patty. Cheez-Its, Starbucks drinks, and indie playlists on repeat.

Patty and I made it to Pennsylvania in good time(we took a little detour because we were talking too much and missed the exit. Whoops!) and got to Vanessa's place. We had a great time talking and then ended up at a party in town where much fun was had(haha!). On Saturday Mandi drove from Ohio. We ended walked to the darling coffeeshop Vanessa just opened with her best friend.

We went back to Vanessa's apartmant for chili, scrapbooking, wine,  crocheting, movies, and impromptu dancing from Vanessa.

Look it's Vanessa's shop's cup!

And it's Mandi photo bombing!

The next day we headed back to the Green Bean for more coffee.

Pretty, pretty Mandi:

Then headed to an ally for a photoshoot.

The weekend was so great. And it was especially awesome to finally meet Mandi and Vanessa. I feel like I've known them for years(well, it's been years online, but y'know). Thanks again to Patty for letting me roadtrip buddy it with you and to Vanessa for letting us crash at her (awesome!) apartment.

AND, I got to mark 'visit a new east coast state' off my Fourty Before Twenty list. Well, two technically since we drove through New Jersey.  Yay! Happy weekend! <3

build a blanket fort. done.

Ohmygoodness! Thanks so much for the awesome response in my last post. I've really enjoyed reading through them all! You guys are the best.

I meant to pop in earlier today(errr, yesterday) to post this, but I've been running around like a crazy trying to get everything done because tomorrow I'm going to Pennsylvania to get into mischief with some crafty friends. Too much fun will be had!

Anyhow. I'm excited to share a I was originally inspired to put 'build a blanket fort' on my fourty before twenty list when I saw this guest post by the lovely Elizabeth and I am so glad I did! I sent out a Facebook message to all my goofy school friends. We built an awesome fort:

And were goofy:

We watched 10 Things I Hate About You. THE BEST MOVIE EVER MADE. Oh man. I sighed the entire time. I'm in love with Heath Ledger... R.I.P., beautiful man.

Have to say it was an awesome night. I recommend blanket fort making for young and old alike.

Have a great weekend and build a blanket for or two! <3

fourty before twenty

I decided not to make any vague resolutions for myself this year. I decided to not for a few reasons. I do certainly I have some big goals for this year and this summer, but I have personally found goals like 'be healthier' or 'make God center of life' to be, well, a little gratuitous. One of my struggles has always been being unncessarily hard on myself. I mean, I was getting upset with myself for sleeping in till 11 on weekends when I was getting, on average, about 4-5 hours of sleep a night during the week or questioning why I wasn't more stressed out on a consistent basis. And trust me, I was stressed enough. So in regard to vague New Year Resolutions, chill the hell out is my only one.

But, I enjoy lists. I make myself a to-do list every week because I always conveniently forget to do things if I don't. So I made myself a list. Fourty things I want to do before I turn twenty. I thought about making a mini for when I turn nineteen this summer or making one for the whole year, but felt like I needed a little more time than that. I had a mini freak-out when I realized that I'm turning twenty next year. Twenty years old! I know you old farts are gonna remind me that you're double that, plus some. ;) But, go back to being twenty and remember how old this is.

So this is my list. I turn 20 on June 26, 2012. I'll be blogging everything and tagging them all with 'fourtybeforetwenty', so stay tuned.

1. buy an instant camera

2. go on a roadtrip with friends

3. publish a zine

4. take ten photos of strangers

5. start a business with kip

6. go to ellis island. done. 

7. see a broadway show. done. 

8. take photos in silver city, idaho

9. volunteer somewhere

10. be a vegan for two weeks to a month

11. take portraits of grandma and grandpa

12. create my own photography website

13. get a medium format camera

14. read a jane austen book

15. go salsa dancing

16. go to the bruno sand dunes

17. embroider something

18. take photos of mama

19. bake a loaf of bread. done. 

20. visit a new east coast state. done. 

21. learn to crochet

22. throw a pretty party

23. go roller skating. done. 

24. try african food

25. buy rainboots

26. paint a series of paintings

27. revisit and photograph my childhood neighborhood

28. take 'random objects' photos

29. have an art picnic

30. go to a country music concert

31. buy a bikini. done. 

32. create a mini stop motion film

33. build a blanket fort. done. 

34. stay in a ghetto motel

35. sew something

36. leave a note for a stranger

37. submit at least twenty things for publication

38. go on a no-soda challenge for a month. done. 

39. make someone happy-cry.

40. photograph this list.