11. go on a homemade t-shirt making binge.

so the truth is, i love t-shirts. anytime i hear something snappy, i want a t-shirt of it. and what better way to do that then to make them yourself, right? but there's got to be a better way than the iron-on sheets you send through your inkjet printer. i mean, they work really well... but they fade & crack so fast it's frustrating. the last set i made (yeah, that's a wooden yacht being paddled by an indian. it's an inside joke for a few of us at work.) printed & transferred beautifully, but the first time i washed it the image came out all cracked. so now it looks "vintage", i suppose, which isn't necessarily bad but it's not what i wanted.

i found a tutorial on fake screen printing using sheer material and modge podge. i may give that a try. it's worth a shot. i can't do a t-shirt binge when i know i'm going to be unhappy with the t-shirts after they're washed the first time. not that the cracking has kept me from wearing the yacht t-shirt, but you know what i mean.

most wanted t-shirts: ban the burst, dropshadow with discretion, my mom rocks, and some sort of pirate rock band shirt (open for suggestions on the name).

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.

welcome to the twenty-seven project

last week was my twenty-seventh birthday. i don't necessarily feel any older, but i thought this would be a good time to challenge myself to do some new things. so i've set twenty-seven goals for the next year. nothing amazingly drastic, but things i can do. things i want to do. things i want to hold myself accountable for. time has been going by so quickly. this past year has been such a blur. perhaps with a list i can sit around next year and identify at least twenty-seven things i've accomplished/worked at.

i want to grow into myself this year. i want to challenge myself to live beyond my little box of work & the region. i want to grow more meaningful relationships... and i want to be more responsible to holding up my end of those relationships. i want to get to the end of my twenty-seventh year and feel that i've used the time wisely. that i've let go of a lot of my reasons "why not" and just put myself out there to see what happens.

and hey, there's a new layout to go with it. nothing wrong with that, right?