In the Life of...

In no particular order here's some of the fun adventures I participated in this week:

A friend of mine introduced me to disc golf. Apparently in Rochester we have about 6 disc golf parks. I always wondered what those chain like baskets on post were. We played a full 16 rounds. Here's what I learned; I stink at throwing frisbees but I did show some improvement and this sport appears to attractive mainly men who like to drink alcohol while they golf.  Because I like learning new things and it was a challenge I would totally play again so that I can keep trying to get better.

My friend Sarah is a member of the George Eastman House and invited me to go with her to check out a couple of new exhibits showing. So on a beautiful Thursday afternoon we took a walk over and viewed the Mickalene Thomas "Happy Birthday to a Beautiful Woman" exhibit and the Lewis Hine exhibit. You can find more information at; http://www.eastmanhouse.org.

My mom came for a visit this weekend and we went to the 46th Annual Cornhill Arts Festival (http://cornhillartsfestival.com).  My guess is this was a small preview of what I'll experience when I go to the Ann Arbor, MI Arts Festival this coming week.  It was a beautiful day to walk around but a bit toasty out. Luckily they were handing out advertisement fans at the beginning.  We enjoyed some deep roasted cinnamon almonds (yummy) and walked around. We entered a raffle to try and win tickets the Mormon musical at the Auditorium and while at that booth they had a spinner game to try and win an iTunes gift card. Guess what...I won a $15 gift card! Woohoo!

Sunday Fleet Feet of Rochester (http://www.fleetfeetrochester.com) hosted a Scavenger Pub Run.  A couple of my friends and I have always wanted to try a scavenger run and so we gave it a whirl.  Of course it was a beautiful weekend until today! Then it rained and was windy and humid. Oh well, once I got wet I embraced it and it seemed that most others did also. There was about 25 of us that participated and 5 teams I believe. We had 8 clues (destinations) and you had to run find each place and take a team photo at that place. It was cool to run through downtown Rochester and to see places/sculptures I've never seen before. At the end when you made it back to the starting place which was our host Victoire Brewery you received a ticket for a drink and then got to eat a ton of great appetizers.  My team came in first for getting all of the clues correct and fastest time but we somehow missed the bonuses and so another team missed a clue but got big points on a bonus and when the point system.  This was really fun and I would totally do it again. It was worth the $10!

One of our stops.

Our last clue.

Back to home base.

Update on the Global Peace Project; if you recall from earlier posts I participated in a Global Peace Art Project swap back in April. My swap partner was from Indonesia and while I sent my piece to them I never received anything in return. I contacted the organization and they have these volunteer Angel Corp members (aka wonderful people) who create and send artwork to people like me who didn't receive anything from their partner.  I've been in touch with my Angel Corp person who is Janine from Australia.  She made a piece of art immediately, shipped it out to me and I received it this week in the mail. It was an exciting day. Below is a picture of her representation and message of global peace.

Here's the front of the card that was sent with the artwork.

I've been wanting to create a Gratitude Book for a while now but haven't been able to find a tiny thin notebook/journal that would fit neatly in my purse or bag to make it easy to carry around with me.  I was mentioning to my friend Sarah and she immediately commented that she had many small notebooks and I could have one.  The next time I saw her she gave me one and it is PERFECT! I started using it that day.

I've also been reading quite a bit over the past couple of months. Here are some the books:
Looking for Alaska by John Greene
The Golem and the Ginni by Helene Wecker
The Maze Runner by James Dashner
Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto
After Her by Joyce Manard
Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline

Upcoming ideas and adventures:
1. I'm heading to Ann Arbor, MI to visit friends I met while in Costa Rica and will be going to the Ann Arbor Arts Festival. I'm really excited for this trip.
2. I'm joining the Civic Engagement Centers bike MS day event (through work) which is held in Sept. and you have to raise a minimum of $250 dollars so I've come up with an art project I'm going to create and raffle and sell to help raise the money.
3. I'm going to be going to a free outdoor yoga session at Highland Park Reservoir this week through the Rochester Young Professionals group.
4. Monday night is Paint Nite with my friends. There's a group of us that signed up for Paint Nite where we go to restaurant and create a painting by following instructions while you eat, drink and be merry.

Gingerbread Sweet Creations

I've only been to the George Eastman House one time probably 8 years ago. I won free tickets and heard about the neat holiday programs they sponsor there and decided what better time to go. I found a friend that was willing to go along on this adventure with me. This year was the first time they had the Festival of Trees which was really cool. There were dozens of lighted and decorated trees (all with different themes) that were contributed by local groups and businesses and were for sale in a silent auction. Sorry I didn't take pics. Should have!

Then they had a holiday wreath display and auction. And they had their 17th annual Sweet Creations Display. This was dozens of gingerbread creations made by local bakers, families, organizations and schools. All were on view and for sale in a silent auction.  My friend and her "little sister" Destiny from the Big Brother Big Sister program had helped to make a gingerbread house and it was neat that I saw it on display.

I have to say this was a really great time to visit the George Eastman House. It was fun and festive!
You can check it out at: www.eastmanhouse.org.

This one was insane. Lights, people and objects inside.

This was set on the game Candyland and based on the game. Very clever.

Check out the snow and garland!

I want my fireplace and mantel to look like this!

I wanted to buy this to bring to work and have on display. :)

AMAZING!

Was made by a mother and daughter who recreate historical sites.

Crazy beautiful!

Update 12/19/12: I helped my friend Megan and her 4 y/o daughter create a Gingerbread House last night. It was pretty hilarious. Our gingerbread pieces were broken to begin with so our structure wasn't the strongest to begin with.  Ultimately after we let the main portion set and went to add candy we had some major structural issues. Megan was fast on her feet though and grabbed some gorilla glue. This mostly worked, but of course the house is not going to be edible. :)  Grace seemed to have a blast right along with us, especially eating the icing!

Finished!

*I wonder if it's still holding up today!

This must be the year of gingerbread houses. I went and visited my nephew for Christmas and they had purchased a gingerbread kit also. This was more of a gingerbread village. Pics are below. We both had fun eating some of the candy along the way.