Do epic $hit!

The other day a friend of mine posted a link on Facebook.  Some of you may have already read this entry by Johnny B. Truant, but if you haven't, take a gander over at "The Universe Doesn't Give a Flying Fuck About You".  It's a little long, but TOTALLY worth it!

The upshot is that life is SHORT and we need to find ways to do Epic Shit!

I'd LOVE to quit my job, sell my house and take all of the proceeds to travel around the country by motorcycle taking amazing photographs, talking to interesting people and doing epic things!  In the meantime, it looks like I'm going to have to live vicariously through Troy.

Tomorrow morning he sets off on an EPIC journey.  It's gonna be just him, his motorcycle and the open road for the next 3 weeks.

He'll be heading out west and then into Canada to visit some family members that have just moved there.  At the end of his journey he'll point his mightly metal steed back east for the 2011 BMW Rally. 

When he returns at the end of July, I hope he's found safety, adventure, happiness and energizing renewal for his soul.

He's done an amazing job of decking his motorcycle out with some great gear!  He has a GPS, XM Satellite radio and a great system that will track his location and make a "mark" every 10 minutes.  He's sent me a link so that I can follow him virtually.  He also said that he was going to set up a blog to post his photos and adventures as he travels.

I'll be sure to keep you posted should anything EPIC come up!!

Good luck and godspeed, Troy!

Swimming in money like Scrooge McDuck

Here I am getting my post for NaBloPoMo in at the last second!

So, with just under 1 year left for my second 101 in 1001, I've been checking out my list and trying to figure out what I should tackle next.

On the list is to collect 100,000 pennies and then donate them (or the equivalent $1,000) to a charity.  I was doing pretty well for a while because the people on my bowling league (don't judge!) routinely brought me lots of pennies each week.

However, in the last few months, I've gotten behind the schedule of trying to get 100 pennies per day.  To be exact, I'm about 35,000 pennies behind schedule.  I have already collected well over 30,000 (they are REALLY heavy!), but I am most definitely behind the 70,000 that I should have!

The great thing about pennies is that most people think of them as being virtually useless.  That's great when I'm asking them to give me some.  Try that with quarters or dollar bills and I'm gonna bet people are a lot less willing to just fork them over.  After all, checkout counters don't usually have a Have a Dollar/Take a Dollar cup, do they?

So, here's where I need your help!  I'd love to hear your thoughts and ideas on how I can catch up?  What are some of the ways you think I could get more pennies from people?  Am I missing some obvious plan of attack?

Help!  It's for the children!

Let's Swim!

The for July's NaBloPoMo is SWIM.

What better way to start of a month of blogging (fingers crossed hoping for the best!) and a holiday weekend than to show the world's most adorable baby (others' opinions may differ) ready to go for a swim?

I apologize for the graininess of it, but my brother sent it to me from his phone.  It's hard to tell, but she definitely has our family squint going on!  Where are her adorable pink sunglasses?!  I know she has some!

I made the finals!!

Last week I shared one of the pillowcases that I made for Carlee and Malynn's charity Pillow Fightover at Ladybird Ln.  It was so much fun to make that I ended making a second one with some fat quarters that I had, but I didn't photograph it.

There were some adorable entries and I'm pleased as punch to tell you that I made it to the finals!  Woohoo!

Now here's where I need your help!  You have until Friday to vote for me (and 2 others that you like).   - Yeah, I'm begging you to vote for me.  I'm cool like that!

In case you need a reminder, mine is Pillow #9 Raggedy Ann and Andy Pillowcase

Hopefully the voting links will work when you try.  If you don't get some sort of confirmation, please let me know.

You can go HERE to vote!!!

Raggedy Ann and Andy Pillowcase

      

The lovely ladies over at Ladybird Ln are having a charity event/contest this month and given my recent sewing binge, I thought I'd participate!  Their young friend, Malynn (just 14 and having suffered some medical battles) has some mad crazy sewing skills and has decided to put them to good use by making a goal to donate 100 colorful and cheery pillowcases to a Children's Hospital.

Having searched through my own personal fabric stash, I came across a couple of Raggedy Ann and Andy prints that I thought would be perfect for such an occasion!

   

I didn't really have a pattern, but I figured it only takes a couple of rectangles to make a pillowcase, so it couldn't be that hard!  I measured a pillow to find the right dimensions.  It just so happened that the blue piece was almost exactly the right size for the main body of the pillow!  Score!

I then measured for the ruffly piece I would need as the border of the pillowcase.  The white fabric actually had two different Ann and Andy borders on it, so I decided to use those as the border of my pillowcase.  With the remaining white fabric, I cut a strip about 3 inches wide by 44 inches long to act as a "ribbon" detail.

As I started to work with the fabric, I could tell I would have to do something about its tendency to fray, so I decided to finish all of the seams using a french seam method, which sounds complicated and fancy, but it's not really.

To make a french seam:  1)  Pin your fabric WRONG sides together.  2)  Stitch a small (1/4 inch) seam.

3) Turn the fabric wrong sides out and press the seam so that it comes to a sharp edge.  4)  Stitch a little bit larger seam (1/2 inch) so that it encases the small seam.  When you are finished, you should have no raw edges showing at all which takes care of the problem of any fraying!

After just a few hours, my very cute Raggedy Ann and Andy pillowcase was all finished!  I will be sending it off to Malynn for her to include with all of the other pillowcases!  I hope that it helps to bring a little comfort and joy to the child who receives it. 

 

It's time to get cracking!

It's time to get cracking!!

Today is day #706 of 1001, so I have just under 300 days to get really moving in terms of crossing some things off of my 101 in 1001 list!!

To date, I have completed just 15 of my 101 items.  Unfortunately I have to remove 2 items from the list (#42.  Attend a taping of the Oprah Show - I TRIED to get tickets every chance they had over the last year, but no luck! and #60.  I had made several reusable plastic grocery bags using plastic grocery bags, but in my urge to purge, I've gotten rid of most of the extra plastic bags that were laying around.  Fabric ones are so much easier to make and last just as long!)

So, if my math is right, that leaves me just about 3 1/2 days PER item to complete the rest of the list!

It's most definitely time to get cracking!

This is where I could really use your help!

I have a few things in the works for the coming months like visiting Rockefeller Center over Christmas this year and planning a trip to stay at the Wigwam Motel.

But if you see an item on the list that you think you can be of help with, give me a shout!  Are you a big fan of golfing and want to take me on one of my 10 golf outings?  Do you have a huge jar full of pennies and you're looking for a good way to donate them?  Do you know of a street fair or a parade that I just shouldn't miss?  Do you have a favorite quote that inspires you or a favorite fruit or vegetable that you think I should try?

Whatever it is, if you want to help, I'm willing to accept your help!

Just a word of warning though.  I take lots of pictures and I'll brag about you and your good deeds all over the place!

Oh, Vacation, why were you so good to me?

I'm back from a lovely bit of time off from my 9-5 job.

I spent it cleaning, organizing and spending some quailty time with family and friends.  I've got lots of great photos and stories to share, but for now I think I need to slip on my sunglasses, grab a really big cup of coffee and try to take the edge off of "real" work.  I think I have a bit of vacation hangover to recover from.

Stay tuned for some fun stuff later this week!