night driving

8. visit three places i've never been before.

i don't think i mentioned it in the post about the birthday party, but going to the party meant driving to virginia. since i've never been there before, i've got one out of my "three places i've never been before" done for the year. and in case i didn't mention it, it was a fabulous time. my mom made the trip with me, and we didn't tell anyone we were coming. i took a couple days off work and we tag-teamed the 15 hour drive. since the 15 hours included stopping for meals & gas & such, i didn't think that was too bad. and completely surprising the birthday girl's mom was totally worth it. as a bonus, on the way home we drove through louisville, which gave use the opportunity to stop & have dinner with friends of ours there. a very good weekend, even if it was a very quick trip. i want to go back to virginia in the fall, driving through the mountains as the leaves change. it won't count as a place i've never been before... but it's going to be beautiful. and besides, there are good people in virginia. i should see them more often.

side mirror, night

so it's been almost a month since my birthday. a '27 project' update could be in order:

2. i've been sewing like a maniac. i think i'll have one done next week.
6. i turned a handy box into my new 'fabric briefcase'. it's a start.
10. i posted holly's purse on craftster. and people said they liked it. :)
11. i made a yacht t-shirt. it's an inside joke, but i'll post a photo.
16. my glass bead making class in in two weeks!
18. i've started catch 22.
25. i think i'm going to start making myself sketch something each day for illustration friday... and then choose one to submit. otherwise, i think i'll just keep putting it off.
27. i've taken 111 photos so far.

train of thought

i don't know why i'm so fascinated with trains. freight trains, at least. not so much commuter trains. i mean, commuter trains will get you where you wanna go, but if i'm going to get stopped by a train i'd prefer it be a long line of box cars covered with graffiti. i think they feel small townsy and simple. and at the same time they've got a certain mystic. you don't really know where they're going, or where they came from, or what they're hauling. but they just keep chuggin' along.

the drive home

today's quest for more veggies led me to a can of v8 juice. it had a lot more celery taste than i was expecting.

so this gigantic balloon showed up at my front door for my birthday. and if a gigantic balloon wasn't good enough, when you hit the balloon it raps happy birthday. unfortunately there was no note with the balloon to say who it was from. so for now it's just the big surprise birthday balloon. it rocks.