Fabulous Adventures of Listgirl: New52

Showing posts with label New52. Show all posts

Saturday, January 7, 2012

New 52 | A Year of New Experiences

One of my proudest accomplishments in 2011 is my New 52 Project. I set out at the beginning of the year with the goal of experiencing at least one new thing per week. And then blogging about it. You can read more about the intent of the project here.

As I reflect about this year of new experiences, I can honestly say that it has changed my life. Some weeks the “new” came to me, while other weeks I fully planned my new experiences. Some of my planned experiences probably wouldn’t have happened but for this New 52 life project! I saw a lot more live shows and musicals. I tried a lot more scrapbooking and crafting techniques. I tried new fitness plans and stuck with them. I learned new skills. I cooked new recipes. I opened my heart to let in a cat, who’s now an integral part of our little family. It has changed me for the better. It’s given me the perspective to embrace new experiences, and that even at the ripe old age of 41, I still have a lot to learn, and a lot more room to grow.

New 52 | Week 52: Borrowing Ebook from Library

Wow! The last week of the year, and the last of my weekly new things I did in 2011! This year went by lightening fast.

On my list of new things to try this year was to borrow an ebook from my local library. I have a Sony Reader and that is one of the reading devices that works with my library. So tonight I sat down to go through the process of finding a book to borrow and then downloading it and then transferring it to my Sony Reader. I just have to say… the process was very painful. :(

First I visited San Diego library’s eCollection page. I browsed around a lot for Adobe EPUB books, since that is the format that’s compatible with my Sony Reader. Every single book that I clicked on had “0” quantity available. After browsing for books for what seemed like 30 minutes, and not finding any books I liked available, I finally went to the “advanced search” on the right and searched for available EPUB books. Guess what, my entire library’s digital collection only had 56 EPUB books available for checkout right now. All the books were checked out! This was really, really frustrating to me, because one of the great thing about ebook borrowing in my mind is availability versus physical books at the library, and the selection was MORE THAN POOR at the San Diego Library’s eCollection. I finally gave up and just picked a random book just so I could go through the process of borrowing an ebook from my library. I picked “Murder Room” by Michael Capuzzo. Never heard of it.

The process of checking out was fairly easy compared to finding a book. I clicked on check out, chose to borrow the book for 21 days, then it asks for my library card number and my PIN. Once I provided that, the eBook was available for download. I should mention that you have to download and install Adobe Digital Editions in order to use my library’s ebook borrowing service, but I had done this previously already.

Once I downloaded the book, it showed up in my Adobe Digital Editions software under the “Borrowed” folder. Then I wondered how I could transfer the book to my Sony Reader. I googled around and it said to drag the book to the device icon on the left hand side. I didn’t see my device icon. Then the lightbulb of brilliance went off. DOH! I hadn’t connected my device to my computer yet! So I plugged my Sony Reader into my computer’s USB port and bing!, my Sony Reader showed up in the Adobe Digital Editions software.

So I just dragged the book to “PRS-300” on the left and now the book is on my Sony Reader for me to read for the next 21 days.

The process of borrowing was not technically difficult, but I’m very disappointed in my library’s ebook availability. I would much rather pay and buy books that I want to read than being on a huge long waiting list at the library. I thought the wait list was bad for popular physical books… some of the popular ebooks had over 40 people on the waiting list! Each person borrows the book for 21 days, so you do the math. That’s a staggering 2.3 years before I get my hands on that ebook. RIDICULOUS!

I’m glad I tried the process out though. At least now I know how it works and that my library has almost no ebooks available. Nothing I would want to read anyways.

This wraps up my 52nd and final NEW adventure this year! Thanks so much for joining in and following along. I’m really proud to finish this project and I’ve had so much fun doing it. I really feel accomplished when I persevere and complete a year-long project like this, similar to when I completed Project 365 in 2009. I will be doing a wrap-up post in the next few days that summarizes and links to all 52 of my posts this year. :)

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About This Project

New52 is a project started by Peppermint and I to encourage each other and others around us to try something new every week in 2011. The "new" each week doesn't have to be something big. It could be something as simple as ordering a new dish instead of old standbys at your favorite restaurant. It's simply opening your heart up to NEW possibilities.
Don't worry if you're late getting started on joining in. It's totally OK if you miss a week here or there. We encourage everyone to keep an open mind about trying something new. This is a life project, and a photography/blog and even scrap challenge if you wish. If you participate this week, please leave a link to your blog post in the comments of this post.

New 52 | Week 51: Hiking Diamond Head

My new thing for week 51 was hiking to the top of Diamond Head volcano while we were in Hawaii. This was our third trip to Oahu and we had never hiked to the top of Diamond Head, so we really wanted to do that this time. We signed up for a guided hike with Oahu Nature Tours, because we love getting the history, nature, and stories while on the hike.

We had to get up at 5:15am in order to make it to the pick up spot down the street at 6:00am. Our guide Jeannette picked us up and it was still dark!

We picked up more people and then we drove to the base of the Diamond Head crater. Diamond Head was not a lava flowing volcano. It was a steam explosion volcano and it all happened from flat land to explosion in two weeks, 150,000 years ago. It has had no activity since then. When we got to the "base camp" it was still dark. Even when we started hiking it was still dark.

As we climbed and climbed it got lighter and lighter.

Along the way, there were some gorgeous views. The lit area in the middle of the crater was where we parked.

A view around the rim of the crater.

Jeannette took a photo of us at a lookout point.

We had to hike through a dark tunnel at one point.

As it got lighter outside, we got gorgeous views.

We got to the very top just as the sun rose. It was spectacular!

Look how many people climbed up to see the sunrise.

The orange glow of the sun over the water and the land.

The view to the west was Waikiki.

We were all sweaty from hiking… but this was a pretty cool photo as the sun rose behind us.

The panoramic views and the rising sun was a sight to behold. We took lots of photos and savored every moment. Well, except the flying ants that kept bothering us.

Soon after, it was time to head back down.

I love taking photos in this light… such golden magic light.

The path we took to hike up to the summit and down.

The sun rising further.

There were a couple of large set of stairs that we had to climb up and down on.

More view from within the crater.

Going back through the tunnel. Todd took this cool photo.

The hike down was a LOT easier and we made it down in 20 minutes or so.

We were so glad that we got to experience the sunrise and panoramic views on this trip to Oahu. It was truly gorgeous and well-worth getting up in the dark to do it!

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About This Project

New52 is a project started by Peppermint and I to encourage each other and others around us to try something new every week in 2011. The "new" each week doesn't have to be something big. It could be something as simple as ordering a new dish instead of old standbys at your favorite restaurant. It's simply opening your heart up to NEW possibilities.
Don't worry if you're late getting started on joining in. It's totally OK if you miss a week here or there. We encourage everyone to keep an open mind about trying something new. This is a life project, and a photography/blog and even scrap challenge if you wish. If you participate this week, please leave a link to your blog post in the comments of this post.

New 52 | Week 50: Moleskine Daily Planner

I have been using a pocket-sized Moleskine Daily Planner for the last two years. I love the soft faux-leather cover, and that every day has a single page where I can write down to-do’s and thoughts. The little pocket planner is approximately 5.3 x 3.5 inches, and 400 pages. However, for 2012 I decided to go with the larger-size Moleskine Daily Planner. It is 8 x 5.4 inches, so it’s large enough for me to integrate my work life and my personal life into the same planner.

Here’s a comparison of the two different sizes. The one on the left is the pocket-sized one I have been using for 2010 and 2011. The one on the right is the one I will be using for 2012.

I plan to use my new bigger-sized daily planner for appointments, work to-do lists, personal to-do lists, and also to journal and jot down thoughts from the day. Each day has a separate page and it’s big enough to write lots of things down.

I’m excited about my new planner, but I’m also curious to see how well my work and personal life can be integrated into one planner. Right now I have the little pocket planner, plus a notebook for personal journaling, plus a notebook for work tasks. If I’m successful in integrating all of that into one planner, then my record of my days will be more seamless.

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About This Project

New52 is a project started by Peppermint and I to encourage each other and others around us to try something new every week in 2011. The "new" each week doesn't have to be something big. It could be something as simple as ordering a new dish instead of old standbys at your favorite restaurant. It's simply opening your heart up to NEW possibilities.
Don't worry if you're late getting started on joining in. It's totally OK if you miss a week here or there. We encourage everyone to keep an open mind about trying something new. This is a life project, and a photography/blog and even scrap challenge if you wish. If you participate this week, please leave a link to your blog post in the comments of this post.

New 52 | Week 49: All Handmade Holiday Cards

This year was the first time ever that I handmade all our holiday cards… all 40 of them. I thought it would be fun (and it was), but it took a LOT longer to make them than I had estimated! In total, I probably spent a good 20 hours total on them, which averages to 30 minutes per card, although I did one step at a time to all of them, assembly line style. I started them in early November and finally finished them this past weekend.

Here they are, all 40 of them in stacks.

I think my mistake was that I made each one of them different. I had so many different designs going that it was hard to gain efficiencies in using the same stamps, and ink color, etc.

They are trifold cards, which means when you open them they look like this.

I used my Silhouette digital cutter to cut out the ornament with our name and year, then I tied the top with holiday twine.

I stamped the backs of the cards with a “Handmade Card” stamp and signed my name and stamped the year also.

Here were some of the other designs. These were stamped with the “Star of Wonder” stamp set from Papertrey Ink. These are for my Christian friends.

These were stamped with “Tremendous Treats: Christmas” stamps by Papertrey Ink.

All in all, this new adventure of hand-making all my holiday cards was a worthwhile and fun experience. I’m really glad that I started so early on them because they really took a long time to make. One of my Facebook friends said they’ll probably end up in people’s trash cans. I hope not. Now I’m sort of paranoid and want to send the cards only to people who I think would be appreciative of a handmade card, LOL. :p

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About This Project

New 52 | Week 48: New Pollywog

Some of you may be saying to yourself… what the heck is a Pollywog? Well, technically, it’s a tadpole. But this week’s “new” thing is that I am a new Pollywog at The Lilypad!

I got a message during Thanksgiving weekend from Kelly, one of the owners at The Lilypad. She asked if I would want to help out with the blog at The Lilypad and join the Pollywog team there. I thought about it and said yes! The Lilypad has always been a favorite store of mine since I started digi-scrapping in 2006. Not only that, but a lot of my digi-friends hang out there or are designers/pollywogs there, so it was a natural fit. :)

So starting soon, I will be blogging 3-4 times per month over at the Lilypad blog. Watch for it!

Oh and also, I scrapped a digital page last week! It had been a while.

I used the AWESOME new collaboration kit “Star On Top” by One Little Bird (my friend Peppermint) and Amy Martin. I also used “Star On Top” Journaling Cards in my layout. You can find the kit and journaling cards at both Oscraps and The Lilypad.

Some other little bits of “new” last week… for the first time ever, Todd and I made dinner reservations for a nice dinner out for Thanksgiving, since it was just the two of us this year. We ate our Thanksgiving meal at Pacifica Del Mar. The food was really good and the views were great!

Todd and I were both groggy from cold medicine…

Turkey with gravy, garlic mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberries, and green beans.

A little pumpkin pie…

and burnt crème for dessert. Yum!

Unfortunately, we both got sick with a cold last Wednesday so our whole Thanksgiving break was spent at home nursing our colds on the couch. That was “new” too!

New 52 | Week 47: Thanksgiving Edition

I got to spend four days last week celebrating an early Thanksgiving at my sister’s NEW house in Texas. (That’s the *new* part of the New 52 this week.:)

My sister and brother-in-law and my nephews moved into the house in May. So a few months ago my dad suggested that we celebrate Thanksgiving at my sister’s new house. So we basically invited ourselves there, ha ha! But I don’t like to fly on the week of actual holidays because of the cost and the crowds, so we decided to go the week before Thanksgiving.

Our outgoing flight got delayed 4 hours, which is more time than the actual flight time. We were already at the airport, so we called the American Airlines customer service and were able to get on an earlier flight. It was still three hours after our original flight was supposed to take off. I love taking pictures of the clouds when we’re high enough. It was raining when we left, but as soon as the plane got above the clouds it was sunny!

During our trip there was a lot of jumping.

There were stuffed animals.

There was an adults only lunch at Chili’s on Friday while the kids were in school.

There was a TON of Wii playing. Uncle Todd might be all Wii’ed out!

There was a Tai Kwon Do class.

There was Texas BBQ-eating.

There was gingerbread house-making. This has become a tradition now between Aunt Christine, Uncle Todd, and Andrew.

Tada! Our gingerbread wonderland!

Of course, not two minutes after it was done, Andrew broke it apart and started eating it.

Todd and Alex got to play Madden Football video game. This is their tradition dating back to the mid-1990’s when Alex and Joyce were dating.

So every time Alex comes to visit, or Todd goes to visit in TX, they have to play Madden Football.

We really enjoyed our visit to my sister’s new house to celebrate an early Thanksgiving! So happy to see her because last time I saw them was back in August 2010 when they came to visit us. Time sure flies!

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About This Project

Saturday, January 7, 2012

New 52 | A Year of New Experiences

Thursday, December 29, 2011

New 52 | Week 52: Borrowing Ebook from Library

Friday, December 23, 2011

New 52 | Week 51: Hiking Diamond Head

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

New 52 | Week 50: Moleskine Daily Planner

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

New 52 | Week 49: All Handmade Holiday Cards

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

New 52 | Week 48: New Pollywog

Thursday, November 24, 2011

New 52 | Week 47: Thanksgiving Edition