Monday Ramblings

Another 30 before 30 check- Weekend ski trip with Hubby!  And I have the sore legs to prove it. I am not a skiier.  Hubby is.  I had only been skiing 3 times ever, the last being over 8 years ago, and never had a lesson...I was shaky to say the least.  After starting the weekend with a beginner class and pretty confident that I'd stick to the bottom half of the mountain all weekend, somehow I found myself at the peak on day 2 after much encouragement from friends.  Holy cow was the view amazing!

I only had one minor panic of "crap this is high and that hill is steep" on the way down.  I would've even gone up again if we had had more time.  I doubt I'll suddenly become a skiier, but I told Hubby I'd be happy to make it a yearly thing.

And now that I'm back to reality, it's apparently St. Patty's Day today! Which is fitting because with spring so close I can taste it, I just want to prance around in a pretty green dress.  Of course currently my legs don't have enough mobility for prancing, and I don't own a green dress, but if I could and did, I WOULD!  Take a moment to see the image in my head- me in a pretty green flowy dress, prancing around my latest flip/construction site.  I'll start a new trend of Glam Demolition!  Every dress should be accessorized with a sledge hammer.

Speaking of the latest flip, I'm digging my hands in today!  I'll be taking proper before pics and sharing them this Friday.  First thing to be demo-ed: these 2 fake hardwood laminate floors adjacent to real hardwood floors.  I'm pretty sure that some of this laminate is even covering original hardwood floors.  Blasphemy!

I can already tell you the afters in a few months will be stunning!!!

Have a great week!

79 Days Left

It has reached that point in winter when my natural inclination is to curl up in a ball on the couch, bury myself under several blanket, and hibernate until I see green outside.  If only that were socially acceptable.  Since it's unfortunately not a viable option, I need to find ways to keep myself moving.  One way that usually works for me is setting goals and deadlines. One HUGE deadline I have coming up is my 30 before 30 deadline.

T minus 79 days until I turn 30 and I've made woefully little progress on my 30 before 30 list!  Hop to it, Karen!!  Lets review:

Well that speaks pretty loud- I need to start checking items off my list!!!

In my defense, a few more than 4 are in the works, but I only included the ones that are actively planned (such as a ski trip in March).

I've already checked off a few major items including several travel goals:

And, although I haven't exactly accomplished instagraming every single day, I've been making an effort to regularly chronicle my life (for better or worse), which is actually quite fun.  Come follow me there!  Year of Serendipity via instagram

I'm still looking for the perfect artist for my next tattoo, since the artist I REALLY want is unavailable.  I'm looking for someone in the Boston or NY area with a background in art who can make a floral tattoo look like a painting- I'm taking suggestions if you know of any!!

Several of the items on my list I'll be able to make swift action of once the weather is a bit nicer and I can spend more time outdoors:

"explore my hometown?"  I plan to hop on my bike (vintage, check!) one sunny day once the snow is all melted and explore places I've driven by and not stopped, or heard about and never been.

"buy a treasure at the Brooklyn Flea" and "picnic in Central Park?"  Not nearly as fun covered in snow, but my dearest sister-in-law should plan for some visitors in April!

Also once the weather turns nicer and the days are longer, I'll be dragging my basement furniture hoard mentioned in #16 out to our yard where the items with either face my Critter spray gun or be donated.  Sadly, the Critter is more of an outside toy, so I will wait impatiently.

I'll admit, one of the most intimidating items on my list is "establish a relationship with a mentor."  Specifically a residential design mentor.  With my background at a commercial design firm, I'm less confident when it comes to the business of residential.  I've sent several e-mails to people I admire and received either no response, or they wished me luck.  I guess this is the law of numbers though- the more I reach out to, the better my odds.

Ok, well, now that I've acknowledged my lack of progress, I'm calling myself to action!  I've got a lot to do before April 30th!

I'd love to hear from you guys!  Tips on how to get it all done?  Tattoo artist suggestions?  Mentor experiences? or just your 2 cents about my crazy list- lay it on me!

Flying High

#5 on my 30 Before 30 list is: "Swing on a flying trapeze" Check!

A few months ago, a living social deal popped into my inbox that I couldn't refuse- a 2 hour flying trapeze class at TSNY Beantown.  I'd never done anything like this before, it sounded exciting AND I could check an item off my list!

Yesterday, in the first 'major' snow of the season, my sister and I ventured out in the ice and pseudo-plowed roads to risk our lives in another way (of course when I say risk our lives, I mean that we were completely harnessed in and safe, but the real danger was our hearts beating out our chests or an adrenaline overdose...)

I'm surprised I was able to jump off the platform that first time.

With your toes at the edge, you're supposed to lean forward (eek!) and jump on their command.... but oh it is fun once you do!

They taught us some pretty cool tricks like hanging from your knees, a backflip dismount (sounds impressive, no?), and how to do a catch!  One of the fantastic teachers, Keira was the rock star catcher- that takes some skill!

We had a blast, got an adrenaline high, and now have sore knees from the bar, but it was totally worth it!  If you have something like this in your vicinity, I'd highly recommend it.  Pun intended.

Plus I can now say that I've done a flip off of a flying trapeze.  No big.

Did you do anything exciting this weekend?