Thing-a-day.com

Took photographs of Chicago.

And well, I guess, that’s all. See you next year?

Oh man, I could officially be the last poster for thing-a-day this year. That’s either highly embarrassing or exciting. A little bit of both. Between being sick and visiting my friend in Chicago, I’ve been far behind with catching up on thing-a-day (I read them ALL and refuse to let me post my catch-up things until I’ve read them all). But, I finally finished reading them all this morning, and so my last few things…

Essentially, I bought this beautiful birdcage at target (I couldn’t resist) when I had come up with the idea to fill it with candles (including a bird one :p) and decorate it with fake flowers to give it a sort of beautiful natural wilderness look. I still am not sure if I’m done with it, I might add another flower at the top, etc… But we’ll see. I like it for now.

February 26th

I can’t post what I did here because I’m not sure if it’s okay to post an essay from my pending application on the internet. So I want to play it safe. I submitted my college application for Colorado College (as a transfer applicant) on the 26th, and so decided to use that for my thing-a-day considering I had just finished edits on several rather creative essays that were required for it. Basically, I was asked to detail and design my own class. I had a lot of fun doing it. Those on the lj thingaday08 community should be able to see it though, friends locked.

February 25th

I made a decoration for my car! I found this clear cd packaged with a bunch of recordable/rewriteable cds I bought. I’m not sure why they felt compelled to include a clear cd, but I decided I might as well do something creative with it. I used sharpies, elastic wire, stickers, and a quote from On the Road< by Jack Kerouac.

Dangling against my wall.

So you can see it better, against paper.

“…because the only people that interest me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones that never yearn or say a commonplace thing… but burn, burn, burn like roman candles across the night.” - Jack Kerouac

February 24th

I made this collage. It took much longer than an hour, but that’s because of the cutting and searching through magazines part. The actual gluing, not so much. I used card stock paper, regular paper, magazine cutouts, flower confetti, a scrapbook tree cutout, and random other things I’m sure, I can’t remember.

February 23rd

With the assistance of a friend (i.e. her helping me find a tutorial for my lj), I managed to add a lovely header onto my livejournal. It was not created by moi, because I have no graphical skills. Rather, this was something I had been putting off for awhile, so I’m glad to have it done now.

February 22nd
You do all this big talkin’: Quote book

I decided to do something with one of my extra journals I had lying around that my friend bought for me awhile ago (when I looked at it in a store and went ‘ooh pretty’).

More photos of the quote book beneath the cut…

(more…)

February 21st
0:-)

I made angel hair pasta with herb sauce. Yum. Unfortunately, no picture, because I had come home from babysitting at 9pm without dinner, and therefore, vociferously ate what I created right after. Plus, um, this wasn’t a planned thing-a-day. I woke up the next day (accidentally fell asleep. whoops. apparently two nights of under five hours sleep will catch up with you.) and went DLKAFJSDLKFJALDSJKF I DIDN’T MAKE ANYTHING. WHAT DID I DO YESTERDAY. Waitttttt, waittt. I made angel hair pasta. Phew. Saved.

February 20th
Because this road is all you’ll ever have…

I burned cds for my car!

That right thur is my playlist. It shows my wonderfully eccentric music taste, huzzah. Yes, you do see all sorts of bad pop in there. Mmmm bad pop.

And on a random sidenote, if you have the song “Edge of Seventeen” by Stevie Nicks, play the beginning before she starts to sing. Just listen to it. Listen to it. KEEP LISTENING. …. DOESN’T IT SOUND EXACTLY LIKE DESTINY’S CHILD “BOOTYLICIOUS”?! You have no idea how much this threw me. Sitting in my car. All of a sudden this comes on and I’m sitting there wtf’ing all over the place, and then I’m like oh, good it’s just stevie nicks…. I was a little worried…

ALSO I would like to take this time to promote my friend, Tara Mackey, who is on that playlist there. She’s currently working on her first demo to send off to record companies, and she has an amazing voice. She’s also highly talented - actively pursuing photography, drawing, modeling, and writing, you know, as hobbies. Because she’s crazy. Crazy, loveable Tara. Anyway, you should check out her webpage for further information about her artistic endeavors and to hear her songs (it’s worth it I promise) that she wrote herself. Go here, please. She can also be found at: her livejournal.

February 19th
This is your night, so smile

A few self-portraits. Basically self-explanatory. I was playing with light. It was the wee hours of the morning so I was still in darkness, mainly, except for candlelight and computer light. I’ve done much better but eh.

February 18th
Change Your Mind…

I was dumbstruck to find out that Illinois had no free coin-counting machines. And by dumbstruck, I mean severely hurt…. I’ll be damned if I have to pay money to have my money counted. In NY, I could walk into Commerce Bank and use their coin machine for free! It’s blasphemy I tell you! Sigh. So, I’m back to resorting to coin rolls. How boring. And thus, have the tedious task of dumping all my remaining coins at the end of the day into my coin jar. Because, really, carrying around $10 worth in coins is not worth it.

So, I decided to spiff up my coin jar a bit. Make it more festive and pleasing to me.

Before:

Yes, I do like my pasta sauce jars.

Soaking it in hot water to remove the label.

get the paints ready… and….

Add some spiffy stickers…

And voila, you’ve got one spiffy coin jar.

Cha-ching.

February 17th
Yummy Baked Goods

Nom nom nom. I had decided awhile ago that I wanted to learn how to make these simple yummy treats my mom sent me last semester at college. And furthermore, i wanted to work on sending them to two of my friends who seem to be having a rough time lately - so really, no time like the present to whip up a nice, yummy surprise.

They have no name, but I was fiddling with names like: Chocolate Saucers. But my brain got fried, so it ended there. And technically, you could call them chocolate covered pretzels but that’s not really what they are and that’s boring. So pfft. Chocolate saucers it is.

Watch as I give you a homemade recipe.

Step Number One:

Buy a bag of Hershey’s hugs or kisses. I have done both, and hugs taste better (kisses are a bit overwhelming - although both taste good!!!) and melt quicker/are easier to deal with. But anyway, do as you please, both work. C’est la vie. Anyway, proceed to unwrap all those hugs/kisses. This is probably the most time-consuming step of the process. Other than waiting for the chocolate pretzels to solidify in your fridge.

Step Number Two:

Find a place that sells circular pretzels. Or something similar. If you live around the Illinois area - um, I don’t know how popular this chain is anywhere else, but Jewel Osco (grocery store) has them. I don’t know of anywhere else that would really.

Step Number Three:

Place hugs/kisses on circular pretzels. Really, rocket scientists invented this formula.

Step Number Four: Preheat oven to 200 degrees. When it’s all fired up and ready to go, place those pretzels in. I should clarify that if you’re using a stone slab such as that… you really ought to use parchment paper on top of it, otherwise it’s hell to get those things off. If you’re using a cookie sheet, apparently no sort of paper is necessary (according to my mom who made them on cookie sheets before and popped them off quite easily). Anyway, if you are using hugs, you should leave them in for 2-4 minutes. The original recipe says 2-3, but our oven must be weak or something, because we needed to keep them in for four minutes. As for kisses, you are better off leaving them in between 3-5 minutes, or, in our oven, it was best between 4-5 minutes. Assuming you don’t like my haphazard time frame, you should pull them out when they begin to look glossy and a bit gloopy/melty.

If you leave them in too long: The kisses will begin to form this weird shell, which doesn’t matter too much in the long run, but it doesn’t make the pretzels look as appetizing. The hugs usually just melt down into the pretzel (fo srs, they are mad convenient).

Step Number Five:

YUM. I mean. When you take them out, if they aren’t already melted down (most won’t be, it’s sheer good luck really if they do), you take your finger to each kiss/hug and press down until they smush into the pretzel. Yup, it gets messy. But so so yummy. The chocolate will try and follow your finger back up, but you’re going to have to try and swirl it around a bit and get it to lie flat - if you want them to look like a discus, rather.

The real challenge of this step is, after so many of the candies you have pushed down, you will be EXTREMELY tempted to lick your gooey chocolatey finger. DON’T DO IT. Or rather, you can do it, but remember you licked that finger and proceed to use a different finger for the rest of them. Get what I’m saying?

Also, kisses will be harder to push down - for the same strange reason that they take longer to melt. Also also, it might be easier/less messy if you wet your finger first before flattening the chocolate - or rather, it will make the chocolate flatter, which is preferable.

Step Number Six: After that funderful (yes, I just said funderful) process, proceed to take your pretzels and place them in the fridge for about 45 minutes - 1 hour and a half until they look chilled and solidified in place. You don’t want gooey pretzels at this stage, haha, so make sure they are definitely not that.

Step Number Seven: Pop pretzels off tray/stone slab/parchment paper. And eat. Nom nom nom. So good.

As I said, it’s really not a long process. It’s just the unwrapping candy. And waiting.

Funny story: I’ve still been making these consistently the past two days. See, once I almost finished the bags for my friends, my mom requested some for the household. -_- So, here I go again. I made two more batches tonight, and I’ll probably make two more tomorrow. Jeezus

February 16th
Candle-holder making…

Yes, it IS exciting as it sounds. Well, actually it really was a lot of fun. Being me, I have a lot of candles, and of course, a lack of candle holders. So I had come up with a genius idea and started asking my mom to save the pasta sauce jars after she’s done with them (very cheap candle holders, but I can decorate them and make them look cool. WHICH. I. DID. sorry, bad caps lock, down caps lock). Having several candle holder options, and several ideas, and a friend coming over to visit. It made for an interesting night.

Pictures of the process are beneath the cut. I’m very proud with how the candle holders came out. I’ve already enjoyed using them several times.

(more…)

February 15th
Life goal organization

I know what you’re asking. Didn’t she do that already? Yes, no, maybe so, try again later - says guru magic 8 ball. You’ll have to excuse me, I’m somewhat deliriously tired, but I am determined to write up this post before I fall asleep. So, you reap the benefits of getting to point and laugh at me. Huzzah. Anyway, no, no I didn’t. I decided it was time again to re-evaluate and update my mission101 list. While this may seem like a cop-out, it takes me a long time to do each time I do it because I update it so meticulously.

If you are curious, you can see my list rightttttt hurr.

February 14th
NOTHING TO DO WITH V-DAY AT ALL

Yup. That’s right. I purposely avoided doing something with hearts and romance. But that’s okay, I decided to do something that needed to get done anyway…. ORGANIZE.

Having just recently (err, within the past few weeks) moved to Chicago, I haven’t really unpacked all that much. Bare necessities, of course. But beyond that? Not so much. Actually, a big part of that dilemma was the fact that I have a lot of stationary/craft supplies/paperwork that needs to be sorted… and the one piece of furniture I was lacking was a desk/some form of filer. Big bad dilemma. I had three boxes of craft supplies, paper, etc. alone to unpack. Having nowhere to put it would be devastating.

So I went out and got this:

And by the time I was done with it, it looked ohsofull and like this:

And oh, did I organize: (more…)

Day 12 cont.
Beneath closed eyes…

So remember that work in progress? The idea to meditate? I’m perhaps the most restless being I know. So the past two nights before that, I would meditate, and still have energy to burn before falling asleep. I had assumed it would be the same way, especially because the two nights before I was actually tired on top of that, and last night, I was definitely not even tired when I started meditating. I start meditating, scenes unravel in my head, my body becomes peaceful and suddenly, all I can feel is my face, the absolute stillness of it. As if my whole face went numb, my lips heavy yet weightless, everything resolutely there. Does that make sense? I’m digressing. Point is, that’s the last thing I remember before passing out completely. I woke up at 3 am, shocked I had even fallen asleep. It wouldn’t have bothered me so much if I didn’t have my stream-of-conscious piece to write, as well as the fact I left candles burning :X So I had to rush up briefly to blow out the candles, and was too tired to do anything, and passed out again. It ended up not getting done til today. But boy, that was a learning experience. YOU CAN’T OVERCLEANSE YOURSELF. YOU’LL ONLY FALL ASLEEP. Hahaha all those self-cleansing things, when really working, leave me tired (read: yoga) and I forgot that because it had been so long. Nonetheless, the stream-of-conscious piece got done, and oh dear it’s so rough but I suppose that’s what this is for… to force all the thoughts out of you. So, if you honestly want to read it… it’s right here.

Day 13
Making a statement

“The truth is that according to the World Health Organization, depression is one of the leading causes of disability, with approximately 121 million people suffering with depression worldwide. The National Institute of Mental Health states that approximately 18 million people suffer from depression in America alone. Depression does not discriminate across age, race, gender, or class. Among teenagers it is estimated that 20 percent will suffer from depression at some point by the time they reach adulthood. There are also as many as 8.3 percent of teens suffering from depression for at least a year at a time, compared to 5.3 percent of the general population.

Insprired by the work of TWLOHA (To Write Love On Her Arms), an organization created to spread awareness for teen depression, self-injury, and suicide, we are coming together to make sure the whole world knows. We are not directly affiliated with TWOLHA, but are in great support of their work To find out more about TWLOHA visit their website here: http://www.twloha.com/

During the time of year that suicide rates are at their highest, we chose February 13, the day before Valentine’s Day, as our opportunity to start showing people how much they are loved. We will physically write the word LOVE on our arms (with a sharpie, or whatever other ink suits you best). If someone asks you what it’s for, tell them about TWLOHA. Tell them they are loved, that they are important. And ask if you can write LOVE on their arm as a symbol of that. Don’t be afraid to reach out to those who need love, those who you often walk right by every day. They need our care.

There is NO set time, there is NO set location. Where you are, when you are there, speak out.

Some of us may choose to share the love of God, but we want you to share whatever love is strongest for you. Depression has no boundaries, but neither does our love.

Stop the bleeding. Rescue is possible.”

Day 10
Setting up Shop

So, this task took much longer than I thought it would. Haha, if only because I had little to any help in accomplishing it. One person commented with their etsy shop, and I already knew of her etsy shop… because I had hunted it down and bought things already from her! Hahaha. So what to do? Surrender? NEVER. Oh no, my thing-a-day was getting done, whether any one actually uses it or not. So I figured, anyway. Being the amazing person I am, with apparently a very slow Sunday (somewhat of a lie), I scrolled down the author’s page and clicked EVERY SINGLE USER’S profile to see if they had a website listed. If they had a website listed, I clicked through the website to see if they had a linked shop/etsy page. It got tedious at points, but also somewhat of an amusing chase - patting myself on the back for being an excellent internet researcher. I also thought perhaps what I was doing was slightly creepy, but, who doesn’t like free advertising? And well, if they want me to take it down that badly, I will. I’m just trying to do good and bring ‘em money and share the handmade love I swear!

And now that I’ve gone on a completely diatribe, haha, here is the beloved list. Use and abuse it. It might be slightly incomplete because some people have created/recently finished shops since I finished the list on Sunday, but alas, c’est la vie, I’d also be more than willing to add them on if such people request. Enjoy! And shop away!

Day 11
Charging Up

Day 11 made me realize I do a lot of creative/crafty/making things that I just don’t count. For instance, baking cookies, organizing care packages (I just sent out two letters and three packages today… erm), daily positivity lists, taking photos, organizing my craft supplies, and… I just don’t count them. Why not? I’m a perfectionist and I want to do more than um, what I already do. I guess if it’s already daily in my mind, something I would do regardless, it doesn’t count! Haha. Oops. So I go out of my way to do more. Anyway. This has nothing to do with what I actually made (I MADE A REVELATION!) haha.

The thing I made wasn’t perhaps the most creative thing ever, but it was something I needed to do seeing as it was plaguing my mind. I happened to already be sick yesterday - I woke up with very flu-like symptoms, but um, seem to not have the flu and seems to have been a bad reaction to something. Point was, tissues were everywhere, I slept half the day, I had a searing migraine, doubled over in stomach pain, nausea, bones achey, youuu name it. So I wasn’t perhaps in the most inspired mood. I wanted to be, but I wasn’t. And of course, when my body is down and feeling crappy, it said “oh please, Victoria, let’s be sensible and bring your emotions down with you!” And thus, down they spiralled. So my thing-a-day was to sort out my emotions and make a positives and negatives list of a current situation in my life that could potentially create a lot of change in the next few months, so it was kinda important to do. I don’t think I got it all out, as it’s a rather heavy topic in both heart and mind, but I think I needed to at least write the basics of my dilemma out so that I didn’t keep it locked up inside me. Rather, I have it on a neat organized sheet to remind me that anyone would go crazy with all these decisions intertwined with sentimental emotion. And that makes me feel better. Haha.

Oh no picture or actual result, because as I said, it’s rather personal. Which, actually usually doesn’t stop me, but I guess in this situation it does. Which I suppose really says something, hm?

Day 12
Work in progress…

IS STILL IN PROGRESS. OH NOES. Haha. But I know exactly what it’s going to be. I have this goal on my mission 101 list to write three pages everyday stream-of-conscious for a month. I had attempted it once before, while I was still in school, and maybe made it through half a month or little bit more before I just couldn’t find the time (I would often catch myself still struggling even when I did accomplish it… inbetween periods, on breaks, in classes). So, I decided I’m going to start up this goal again tonight. But, I’m going to do it right. The point of the goal, or writing stream-of-conscious in general, is to free up the mind of creative restraints and just let whatever is in you out, more open to invention. And I’ve taken to meditating the past few nights to calm myself down, also um, one of my goals… hahah but I didn’t start that one intentionally! I just needed it. Anyway, so I figure, after I meditate and clear my mind a bit, I’ll write out everything inside me, and really really clean myself out. Which will be a wonderful cleansing process. And what better timing than right before I go to sleep? So cheers to that. I’ll post my results tomorrow!

Combo post, flingin’ it right atcha! Normally, I would separate the posts, but both are so minimal, that what the hey? Might as well make it one post. NEITHER is a cop out, I swear. I’ve had these as devious, devious plans. Devious. Plans. *emphasis*

Day 8
Making a Wish

After several nights… okay many nights of being greedy and wishing over something/someone for myself at the cliche’d time, I thought, why not wish FOR someone else? I’m not one to much believe in the power of prayer, or religion for that matter, but I do believe in the power of wishing. If that makes sense. I believe it’s just as effective. Except you leave it completely open to the universe. So, I decided to wish for a friend to get better, who has been going through a really rough time lately. Wishing for the best for her. To get everything she deserves. She’s working towards leaving her college and taking medical leave for hospitalization for her disorders, which are currently basically owning her life. So she needs all the strength she can get. ♥

Also, also. I decided… I’m currently doing Mission 101 as well, and one of my goals is to donate $20 a month to a charity. And this thing-a-day reminded me how much I value the Make-A-Wish organization. So I’ve decided to start that goal this month, and donate tonight.

Last word on wishes: I grew up with a kid who eventually, while still young, was discovered to have cancer. Sweetest kid ever. Our town raised money for him through a Halloween Ball, amongst other things, and between that and the Make-A-Wish foundation, we tried to make his last days the happiest he could have. Unfortunately, he never recovered and passed away when we were in the 8th grade. As our class graduated high school last year, we made special note to memorialize him in our yearbook and graduation. ♥ Anthony Andre.

Sometimes a wish is all we can give, and if you make someone’s wish come true, what more can you ask?

Day 9
Etsy
*Will be doing this both on lj community and the actual site, so it’s much more expansive*

Now, I DO have an etsy profile (but it’s barren- so really, no point of looking - but I want to get into selling necklaces again, so hopefully it won’t be barren soon!), but this isn’t about me! IT’S ABOUT YOU. and you. and you. and you. Yes, you. You with the face. You hiding yourself in the crowd. You you with the odd discoloration. Yes, you. I decided since so many people were making such nifty things, wonderful things, very pretty shiny things, that I would make today’s/tomorrow’s thing-a-day task: collecting and compiling etsy sites of thing-a-day creators into one nice document for all to share and horde (and hopefully buy things from). This way, we can fuel the market of handmade things, which I generally tend to prefer over store-bought. If only for sentimental value. So, if you have an etsy site, GIMME. I wanna write you up and share you with the world!

OH BAD PUN FOR THE WIN. But look! I’m on time, I’m on time, I’m on time! NO. NOT YOUR FANCY EASTERN-STANDARD TIME I USED TO LIVE IN. MY OWN CENTRAL TIME. HOW ABOUT THAT. (Your mother was a hamstring and your father smelt of elderberries :p)

But anyway, how exciting is that?! I like being not-late. I’m too anal to be late, that being said, the last two days have bothered me. Anyway, ramble ramble here’s day 7’s thing. I have decided to make my converse sneakers spiffy and fabulous! Wohoo, sharpies! This didn’t take me much time at all, and the designs I chose were completely at whim, but I really like how they came out and mesh together in a strange way. They are very ME, if you know me, haha. And considering I can’t really draw, I’m content.

Teaser picture:

CLOSE-UP pictures can be seen here.

I have seemingly caved into words lately as per my thing-a-day pattern goes. Anyway, this is a complete rough draft. Being a person who is a perfectionist with her poetry and plans on making it her life, yada yada, it is completely unfinished. BUT. Thing a day calls that I at least show you what I produced that day. Deciding to not write just any old poem (which uh, I actually did earlier that morning of day six), I decided to finish up a trilogy of poetry I had been working on - based upon the triad of Roman moon goddesses: Diana (who later became associated with the hunt), Luna, and Hecate. I had started this my senior year and did Diana and Luna poems then, and then for some reason, got distracted away from doing Hecate. But alas, HECATE RETURNS. And now has a poem. Making the trilogy complete (sorta, it still really needs to be revised).

Anyway. OH OH OH some more background history, Hecate is also goddess of witchcraft/the underworld. Go figure right? Well, I try to keep my poems historically accurate anyway.

Because I don’t want my unfinished poem being in too many places at once, and since it’s quite long (well for most people), you can find it all here.