Curiouser and curiouser...

She was looking about for some way of escape, and wondering whether she could get away without being seen, when she noticed a curious appearance in the air: it puzzled her very much at first, but after watching it a minute or two she made it out to be a grin, and she said to herself "It's the Cheshire-Cat: now I shall have somebody to talk to."

The preceding is, of course, an excerpt from Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Wonderland has always served as inspiration to me - from writing and art to fashion and daydreaming. In fact, I'm pretty obsessed with the place. I've been meaning to do an Alice-inspired pop-art painting since I read the book back in December of last year.

Last night, I was suddenly overcome with the urge to paint. I've had these blank canvases and unopened acrylics hanging about my room all summer, and I finally decided to put them to some use.

The passage I quoted from the book struck me as the perfect inspiration. The appearance of the Cheshire-Cat out of thin air, his infamous grin, and the air of mystery that surrounds him (after all, no one can honestly tell you exactly what a Cheshire-Cat is) - all this made him the perfect subject for my painting.

I finished the background last night, inspired more by the Impressionist movement than anything Andy Warhol did. I loved how it turned out - so much that I regretted having to paint over it this morning. The whimsical colors taken from Disney's interpretation of The Cat, the texture that almost looked like ruffled fur... It was all perfect.

I let it dry and this morning I painted just his grin, which, in the passage, appear before the rest of him. I outlined the smile, gave him teeth. And then called it a wrap. I really like the finished product. I might sell it on Etsy (if anyone will buy it), but then again, I'd love to keep it.

The cat's head began fading away the moment he was gone, and by the time [the King] had come back with the Duchess, it had entirely disappeared.

And On To Etsy

Spent the day checking out Etsy.com shops, contemplating what I'm going to sell... Maybe some fiction, but I feel that's going to be difficult to sell. I might be able to handmake some bows or cook up some dog treats. Those might sell more quickly. As it is, I'm more tempted to buy things than to sell anything. This site might be a problem...

French Phrase of the Week #2

Appelez le SAMU!

Call the ambulance!

July Updates

So I haven't blogged in forever. But I have a good excuse - kind of. Basically, I came down with this awful cold/flu/bronchitis thing and for a couple of days I was absolutely awful. I've been feeling better since then, but not 100%, and I guess since I wasn't actively working on my 101 list, I didn't really know what to write about. But I have a few updates to the list...

3. Save $5,000 - I officially have over $2,000 in the account I'm using for this goal. So, yay!

24. Hang out with Georgeanna at least three times - Georgie and I went to a party last weekend, and we seemed to get along pretty well, which means this goal (and the next) shouldn't be too impossible.

33. Go to Global Wildlife with friends. Whoa, I actually forgot this was a goal. But believe it or not, I have plans to go tomorrow for Kyla's birthday. Funny how that works.

39. See a play or ballet I saw the play White Noise in its dress rehearsal. It's going to Broadway next (with the same actors and everything) and I definitely recommend seeing it. It was AMAZING.

41. Clean my room once a month Going to do this now...

48. Learn a new French phrase every week I missed this one last week because I was so sick, but I'm going to catch up on that by doing two another week.

Goal #7 - Halfway There

I'm finished volunteering for the summer since the bible camp I was working ended today. Which puts me at seventy volunteer hours.

Hey, I'm halfway finished -- I hope.

Discovering Owl City

75. Find five new bands that I like enough to buy their CDs (1/5)

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I've known about Owl City for a few months now, but it wasn't until last night that I really discovered them. I'm volunteering at a bible camp this week and one of the camp songs reminded me (strangely) of "The Technicolor Phase".

When I finally took the time to listen to this band, I fell head over heels. To quote some iTunes review, listening to Owl City is exactly "like floating on a cloud of happiness". They're definitely my new soundtrack of the summer.

The (Never Ending) Circular Path

66. Completely finish The Circular Path.

So I've been write, write, writing away, trying to finish The Circular Path. Ugh. Is it EVER going to end?! I have my doubts.

But this afternoon I wrote a little piece that I ended up liking. A lot. It's part of one of the last rising actions of the book, but the clip I'm going to give you doesn't give away anything - so if you're reading one of my copies right now, don't worry. Anywho, here it is; I hope you like it.

He would never understand.

He didn't know what it was like to stand at the threshold of wilderness, on the back of a mighty, trembling beast, and to feel, as she did, the evasive, creeping feeling--that shifty, nagging worry that was, in its most distinct form, a subtle fear for her fragile life. Not because of the monster beneath her, but because of herself. Because of her incompetence.

Grace gathered her double reins, clinging to the fistfuls of leather like a lifeline, and allowed the animal to take one slow step onto the circular path.

Week One, Day Eight (Is That Possible?)

When I originally decided on goal #19: Give each of my 8 closest friends birthday presents they'll love, I assumed it would be something achieved in the future. Obviously.


But today one of my friends called me to let me know that the present I gave her back in March (a gorgeous, colorful, fun print to hang in her room) is going to be the inspiration behind her bedroom in her new house.

I definitely think that counts as a present she loves. And I'm going to say that I'm one present down, with seven more to go.

Note: The print shown isn't actually what I gave her. But do you like it? Click to the title to check out "Yellow City" by Tony Soulie from art.com.

Taking It Easy

Basically, today, I'm just doing the little things. Things like working toward goal #34. Get at least 24 hours on the Wii. Or #66. Completely finish The Circular Path. Or #78. Listen to all “Stuff You Should Know” podcasts. I even reviewed mon francais avec goal #95. Donate 100,000 grains of rice to freerice.com.

Things that are less likely to get done because they involve a lot of little chunks of time, not just one big action.

So I think I'll I spend my evening Wrecking This Journal, and writing, and listening to Josh and Chuck. Taking it easy to celebrate the end of Hell Week (otherwise referred to as the act of volunteering at a daycare). *Shudder*.

1 Down, 100 More to Go

So, I finally, finally am I to cross off the first goal off my list. And that would be #93 - Reread I Can't Tell You.

No lie; that's the name of the book. Which makes it a bit confusing to talk about. ("What're you reading?" "I Can't Tell You." "Oh, fine then.") But, despite this little snag, it's a great book. Hillary Frank doesn't sugarcoat things. Her characters are completely realistic, and so are her plots. And, though I've read this book before, I liked it even better the second time around. Probably because the first time through I was expecting one of those glossed-over, unrealistic, completely happy endings and was very upset when I didn't get one.

But you know what? I've realized now that life doesn't always work out seamlessly. So why should novels -- because they're fiction?

I'll put up some of my favorite quotes from the book later, and maybe some of you will read it. It's short, easy to follow, and pretty good. I'd definitely recommend it.

Consider goal #93 officially crossed off.

A Day of Fail

So, I set out today hoping to accomplish (or at least progress towards) three different goals (#s 7, 55, 84). And while, yeah, I did something I can't help feeling that I'm getting ABSOLUTELY NOWHERE. And that the next 2.75 years are going to be are going to be a big fat fail.

I spent my morning volunteering (read: doing absolutely nothing), did maybe two pages in Wreck This Journal (henceforth referred to as WTJ), and completely forgot about riding bareback when I went to the barn this evening. How wonderfully productive.

It's been very frustrating.

Maybe I'll tie a string around my WTJ and fling it at the wall; and then try harder tomorrow. After all, this only Week 1, Day Five.

French Phrase of the Week #1

Je peux rester dehors jusqu'à quelle heure?

How late can I stay out?

This Sucks

I woke up early in the morning, and was huddled under all my blankets, feeling toasty warm. My room was still dim, and I had just woken up from one of those fuzzy, happy dreams that always leave me in a good mood. I let my eyes close and thought of how cozy I felt and said to myself I could just close my eyes and drift off back to sleep...

And then the alarm went off.

Oh, so it was going to be one of those days.

Not to mention that my carpool came almost forty minutes late, I ended up wearing the wrong shirt, and completely forgot to eat breakfast. All to get, what, three and a half hours closer to crossing off Goal #7?

I spent the day surrounded by children. I mean, I like particular children just fine, but as an entire mass? Children screaming. Children crying. Children who won't talk. Children who won't color. Children who refuse to wear the color orange. Children who demand you sing along to "Old MacDonald" and "She'll Be Coming 'Round The Mountain."

Good God. I will be very, very happy when I can cross #7 off my list.

Week One, Day Two

So I went to the bookstore last night, as planned, and after stopping at both Borders and Barnes & Noble, I managed to find all three books I was looking for.

Though I was absorbed all last night in Causing A Scene, I picked up Wreck This Journal this morning. Since nine o'clock, I've been elbow-deep in glitter and markers. Sharpie has stained my new manicure, and you know what - I don't even care! Wreck This Journal is the most fun, random, creative thing I've done in a LONG time. I feel like I'm in kindergarten again; and it's a pretty good feeling. My kitchen table is covered in art supplies that I dug out of the bottom of my closet. Who knows how long it's been since they've been used?? All I can say is this: Thanks, Keri Smith!

And So It Begins

So, today is Day One of the 101 in 1001 Project. I figured that the Fourth of July is as good a time as ever to start. This way, I'll have until the end of March 2012 to finish everything up.

I thought I'd start off with some easy stuff. I'm going to Borders tonight to pick up some of the books I'll need (Causing A Scene, #72 and 73; Wreck This Journal, #84; I Can't Tell You, #93). But I'd like to actually have something to show for myself at the end of the day.

And that being the case, I chose to start on #76 - Do 25 things from Keri Smith's List.

I followed her instructions - print out, cut on dotted line, choose random square. I wanted to mix them all up in a hat, but I didn't have a hat. So I grabbed the next best thing I could find - a frying pan - and shuffled them all up (over the stove, of course).

I ended up pulling idea number two: Write a letter to yourself in the future.

Going with the theme of 1,001 days, I decided to write a note to myself to be read on midnight April 1st, 2012 - just after the deadline for these goals. I'll let you read it, but guess what... You're not seeing it until I do - in approximately 1,000.5 days. Until then, we'll just have to see how the rest of my goals go.

Day Zero

Well, here I am at Day Zero. Tomorrow begins the first of one thousand and one days. And what will I spend these next 143 weeks doing? Attempting to complete as much of "the list" as possible. 101 simple tasks... It shouldn't be that hard, should it?

We'll see.