Week 36: a pie in the face

Once again, I am a day late in posting for my project and I apologize!

This past weekend was my birthday. I've wanted to have a pie thrown in my face for the longest time. Year after year, I made my wish known yet it never happened. Until Saturday.

I was getting ready to go out and run a few errands when Breen asked me to sit outside on one of our little garden chairs on the front lawn. I knew he was up to something but honestly I was expecting some sort of gift. So I sat there with my eyes closed and my hands opened. I could hear Breen singing Happy Birthday along with Max and Kendall. When I finally asked if I could open my eyes I was staring in to an enormous pie tin topped with a mountain of whipped cream. I barely had time to react when it was hurled in to my face. Kendall got video footage. Max took still photos. It was the best birthday present ever! Not only was it just a pie, it was chocolate pudding cream which I had always requested. Breen made it with his own two hands while I was out earlier that morning. I was so surprised! For hours I could still "taste" dairy since it had gone so far up my nostrils.

What did you do this week?

Week 35: zip line

Wow, it's week 35 already and it's hard to believe how fast the year is flying by! And speaking of flying by, this week's project was doing The Flying Squirrel Canopy Tour at the Wisp Resort in the mountains of western Maryland. What a thrilling adventure it was!

We had stayed at the resort a few weeks ago so that Breen could do a test ride on the race course for the Savage Man half iron man race. At the time, we wanted to do the zip line tour but it was filled up so we prepaid and made our reservations for 2 days ago when we traveled back there for the actual race (and what a savage and brutal race it was).

This was quite possibly the best $39 plus tax per person that we've spent in a long time. The zip line tour started at the top of the mountain where we worked our way down to the bottom, tree by tree. We were strapped in to harnesses and attached to a pulley system. It was the perfect experience for me since the cables weren't too steep but took me along at a very fast speed. It really did feel like I was flying through the air.

Sorry for getting this posted a day late but Sunday was a crazy day. We were up and at the race site by 6:30am, left there around 4pm and drove for several hours to get home at around 10:30 pm.

What did you do this week?

Week 34: The Gratitude Project

This week I'm starting The Gratitude Project with Breen and the kids. I went to Target and bought each of us a small 4x6 lined journal. At dinner tonight, I'm going to present each person with their little gratitude journal. Each night when dinner is finished each person will be writing down at least 3 things they are grateful for. I'll have a little basket with pencils, pens and markers. Whatever it takes. They don't even have to share it with anyone. I'm excited to see how this process unfolds. The minimum time for this project is one month. I'd love to see it keep growing and moving beyond that. But for now, one month.

Earlier this week I watched Freedom Writers with Hillary Swank. It was really very inspiring to watch how writing became such a joy for the students. There is power in writing. I write in my journal every day. There is so much to be thankful for and I find it sad that kids don't really think about gratitude all that much. Hell, sometimes I even forget. I don't expect anyone in my family to embrace journal writing like I do but I'd like to at least open their eyes to look a little closer at how good they have it. Goodness manifests goodness.

What have you done this week?

Week 33: a little bit of everything

I am totally walking the biggest walk of shame at this end. I have somehow managed to let the week get away from me without a specific project completed. I'm even one day late here and for that I apologize! We got back from the cruise on Thursday and started right in to a holiday weekend, back to school issues and a bit of emotional turmoil for me. My head was simply not attached. I promise by this coming Sunday I'll be back on track. But for now I thought I would cover a few of the things I've been up to since last week.

For week 32, my project was a cruise to Bermuda. I feel guilty calling it a project. It was anything but. Gorgeous weather, great food and quality time spent with family.






Do you remember my recent project of knitting an afghan? I'm staying the course with my original intention of one square per day. I lost 4 days on the cruise but since we got home I've been knitting double time to make up for it. Besides, who wants to knit squares on a cruise ship when there are places to explore and buffets to be attacked? Look at how many squares I've done so far!


Finally, yesterday we met a new couple for brunch in Frenchtown, New Jersey. In an odd and funny kind of way, I consider this a little social project for the week. Breen and I usually hang out with each other and the kids every weekend. But yesterday the ex decided to step up and keep the kids until 6pm. We had the opportunity to meet up with another couple and we jumped at the chance. We ate at a funky little restaurant and played the game of 20 questions about each other. It's kind of like going on a date when you go out with new people, isn't it? But this is a great couple and fun to hang out with. After brunch we walked next door to Two Buttons, a huge warehouse store owned by Elizabeth Gilbert of the Eat, Pray, Love fame. She wasn't there but her husband was. The store was simply amazing. It was packed with some of the most gorgeous earthy objects I've ever seen. I bought a stack of colorful wrist bangles. These pictures don't even do the space justice.



It was a beautiful Sunday. There happened to be a Riverfest going on in the town. We strolled the shops, I bought some yarn and we ended our first outing together by taking a long walk on the tow path.

So, those were some highlights of my week. Again, I'm sorry for the late posting! Please share with me something you did this week.

Week 32: taking a cruise

This week's 52 Projects comes to you one day early. In about 2 hours, we are leaving for a 5 night cruise to Bermuda on Royal Caribbean. I've never been on a cruise ship and I've never been to Bermuda. I guess I'm killing 2 birds with one stone this week. I actually have fond memories of driving my grandparents to the Queen Elizabeth. One of my prized possessions is a little blue sailor doll that they got on one of their stays on the QE11. They loved to travel and took many cruises. There we were standing in the parking lot area waving them off and now it's my turn to stand on the deck as we embark on a Caribbean adventure.

I'm not sure that I would have chosen a cruise for a vacation. I've always had a fear of sea sickness and I'm one of those people who likes to be free to roam the land. But last Christmas my parents handed my brothers and I each an envelope with a gift of a cruise to Bermuda. I'm still a little nervous but really looking forward to this new experience. There will be 10 of us in total. What a great chance to catch up with my family and enjoy some great meals and land excursions to Bermuda.

We discovered that it costs 65 cents per minute to use the internet while we are on the cruise. So we decided to leave our lap tops behind and hence the reason for posting this early. Besides, I really want to get away from everything, including the daily routine of internet addiction.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week ahead. I'll be posting more about the trip when we return next week.

Bon Voyage :)))

Week 31: A new use for mayonnaise

For years I've wanted to try my hand at making my own natural skin and hair care products. Well, this has been one hell of a hot summer and my poor hair has taken a beating with all of this extreme heat and humidity. Not to mention the fact that the texture of my hair has really changed with all the gray in it. I've not met too many people who have been cursed with naturally curly hair like mine but I can tell you that there are some days, especially in the summer, that I just want to shave it off. But before I go and shave it all off, I decided to make my own deep conditioner to see if it would help at all. I decided to try an avocado-mayonnaise conditioner.

First I mashed one avocado and a half cup of mayonnaise in a bowl, mixed it until it was smooth and applied it to my damp hair. It was a bit messy so if you try this at home, make sure to put a towel on the floor.

After rubbing it through my hair from top to bottom, I wrapped my head in Saran Wrap and then covered it with a towel. I let it penetrate my hair for 25 minutes.

After 25 minutes, I got in the shower and combed the mixture through my hair. I washed my hair with a mild shampoo and let it dry as usual.

I was on the fence as to whether or not this worked but I think the real proof came this weekend while we were away at a resort in Maryland. We went swimming in a heavily chlorinated pool and I was able to comb through my hair so easily. This is usually not the case. I would definitely recommend this treatment for dry/damaged hair. In fact, I want to try it once a week for a month or two to see if it makes even more of a difference.

What did you do this week?

Week 30: A hand knit patchwork afghan

This week I started a very big knitting project. One of my favorite knitting books is Kids Knitting by Melanie Falick:

I've had this book for years and I've always wanted to try my hand at a knitted blanket. The skills are easy but the amount of time it would take to knit all of the squares always made me shy away from it. The project that has me inspired is the patchwork afghan that you see here made for a llama:

I'm making one about four times the size. To digress for a moment, the idea came strongly to me the other day that I'm supposed to knit a prayer shawl which I've never done before. I started researching prayer shawl patterns until it eventually took me full circle back to the blanket for the llama. I'm knitting 48 squares which will be whip stitched together to form one big blanket. Each square consists of 30 stitches across by 56 rows. Each square is built around a specific prayer, mantra or intention. With each stitch that I knit, I say that prayer, mantra or intention. By the time I finish 48 squares, we will be wrapping ourselves in over 80,000 blessings. The task of knitting each square no longer feels monotonous. Each square takes me about an hour to knit and I look at this as one hour of meditation/prayer/quiet time. My goal is to knit one square per day for 48 days. I will have this blanket done on September 26th, which is also my daughter's birthday. I've already stayed on track with my goal since I purchased the yarn on Tuesday. I'm working on my 6th square today.




This project has also taught me some lessons about yarn. I have to say that I have always been a bit of a yarn snob. All of my projects to date have been scarves and hats. They haven't required that much yarn so I'm much more willing to purchase expensive skeins that feel luxurious to me. I also prefer natural fibers with a sweet tooth for alpaca. With this project, I will need at least 2,200 yards of yarn. It simply isn't in my budget this time around to spend hundreds of dollars on this blanket. But I do want the best quality I can use for a reasonable price. After a lot of research, I decided to go with Patons Classic Wool which is 100% lambs wool and comes in a fairly decent range of colors. At $4.99 for a 223 yard skein, this stuff is a good buy and really nice to knit with.

I can't wait to show you the finished blanket in September!

What have you done this week?