Tuesday 19 March 2013

The Cupcake


I could have been drunk every night for a week. Instead, I chose a week-long sugar high.

One of the recent suggestions added to my 40-Before-40 List: create a signature ‘Heidi’ drink. I could have done that, could still do that, but as someone who is simply content with a draft beer, a glass of good wine, or a refreshing gin and tonic, I didn’t think I needed to establish a drink of my own. Plus, a drink named ‘Heidi’ would seemingly need to include heavy cream or a pound of cheese or a mountain goat. And I don’t think I’m ready for that.

Baked goods, however, I’m always ready for. So I’ve been trying to create a signature cupcake. The beauty of this idea? It could take all year, and even the mistakes will be delicious.

Cupcake #1:
Lemon sour cream cupcake



                                            Blackberry filling

  






Blackberry cream cheese frosting

      







Cupcake #2:

Chocolate cupcake


Chocolate cream filling

              




Blackberry cream cheese frosting 
(I had extra from the lemon cupcakes and didn't want to waste it.)



Days: 20 & 24
Countdowns: 21 & 17
Suggestion: create a signature cupcake


Holyoke St. Patrick's 10K


As we walk down to the starting line for the 1 p.m. start, there is already a strong scent of alcohol in the air.

"Wow, people are already drunk.”

“No, they’re still drunk. Welcome to Holyoke!”

Nearly 6,000 runners, many dressed for St. Patrick’s Day, created a sea of green at the start of the Holyoke 10K. For about a mile, I followed a woman wearing a green tutu. Some spectators were handing out beer to thirsty runners. There were a couple of bands playing along the way, and a tuba player (a.k.a. TubaMan) running –- with his tuba. It was the most spirited 10K race I have ever run. 

Nothing inspires me during a race quite as much as loads of happy people cheering on all of the runners for the entire course. Strangers happily invested in my success on a Saturday afternoon? I love it!

A huge thanks to all who donated to FAIR Girls, the non-profit for which I was running.


Jack McCoy Photography: Start 10k &emdash; Start_0285
Jack McCoy Photography: Start 10k &emdash; Start_0304
Jack McCoy Photography: Finish-under 46 minutes &emdash; Finish_0184Jack McCoy Photography: Finish-between 49-52 minutes &emdash; Finish_0918


Day: 21
Countdown: 20
Suggestion: raise $1,000 for charity

Monday 11 March 2013

My favorite suggestion


Day: 15
Countdown: 26
Suggestion: Climb a tree


Some trees nearly beg to be climbed, especially on an unseasonably warm Sunday afternoon.

My friend and I had just finished our brunch of delicious crepes and were walking the bike path that runs along Lake Champlain in Burlington. There were trees. Lots of trees. But I liked one in particular, as soon as I saw it; it seemed to wave its branches at me, beckoning. (Yea, it was really windy.) I looked at the tree, looked at my friend, and said, “I really want to climb that tree.” She answered as a true friend should, with no hesitation and a commanding: “Do it!” 



Done. And I'll do it again.


Bring on the Burlington!


Date: March 9, 2013
Day: 14
Countdown: 27
Suggestion: Go somewhere you’ve never been before


Sure I’ve been on safari in multiple countries in Africa, seen glaciers in Alaska, and visited hot springs in remote places on Hokkaido. But have I ever been to Burlington, Vermont? Never. Not until this past weekend.

Burlington is so close with so much to offer

                                 There are multiple breweries… 



               Lake Champlain…





                                                       ...and a very lovely walkable downtown area.



























Plus, the people are genuinely nice!
























Of course, every great city has at least one record shop, and Burlington did not disappoint. Better yet, there was a record shop with a ‘$1 records’ bin with this:



For so many reasons –– a newly-discovered and so-delicious-I-nearly-cried beer (‘Forbidden Fruit’ at the Burlington Brewery); a lovely run along the waterfront on Sunday morning; and a creperie with a menu that made it nearly impossible for me to choose one crepe –– Burlington is my new favorite nearby place.



Paper Airplanes


Date: March 7, 2013
Day: 12
Countdown: 29
(my own) Suggestion: Learn to make a damn good paper airplane


I took inspiration from a student.

I took inspiration from a student who made a really big paper airplane.

I took inspiration from a student who made a really big paper airplane out of my desk calendar, using the month of March. 

Obviously, March isn’t over yet, but this was more important. Clearly.



















I studied the folds.

I studied the folds and folded my own.

   I studied the folds and folded my own, but it just didn’t fly the same.


                                     So I gave up and just did this:




Tuesday 5 March 2013

Founding fathers and Post-it notes


Days: 9 & 10
Countdown: 32…31...
Suggestions: Enroll in writing course; reread the Constitution


I refuse to accept that having alcohol and sundaes for dinner two days in a row had anything to do with my getting the flu a few days later.

However, as result of said flu, I haven’t left my apartment for four days. During this time, I’ve texted nearly everyone I know, with the tacit plea of ‘Please amuse me, I’m so bored!’ Yea, I’m sure everyone has appreciated that. Sorry?

In between naps, feverish dreams, and mindless spacing out, I’ve actually been trying to do things. Important, adult things, like my taxes and responding to work emails. And not so serious things like watching the worst movie ever made starring David Tennant. (Note: David Tennant’s sex appeal = time well spent, regardless of how bad a movie is.)

Yes, it's as bad as it looks.

I have even (barely) managed to do a couple more of the suggestions on my 40-Before-40 List: 1) sign up for an online writing class and 2) reread the Constitution.

I won’t bore you with the simple details of signing up for the writing course at UCLA. And at the moment, since my head still feels like it’s a giant lead ball, I won’t attempt to write anything cogent about the Constitution.

So I'm going to write about Post-it notes, in relation to the Amendments. Sort of.

When I think of the Amendments made to the Constitution over time, I think of how fortunate I am to live in a country where such changes can be made and where -- as  cliché as this sounds -- one person really can make a difference. And now, I also think of Post-it notes.

Last week, one or more students secretively posted positive affirmations, on Post-it notes, all over the school’s walls. Although this furtive undertaking was a surprise for the rest of the school the next morning, it was not surprising. These young women are changing and are going to change the world for the better. 

What these young women already know is that changes don't just happen, they are created. Whether it's a community river cleanup, a refusal to change seats on a bus, or a march on Washington, changes are made. We just have to choose to help make them. Even if it's one Post-it at a time.











Sunday 3 March 2013

Photoshop, Moby-Dick, and the word 'vagina'


(Day 7 has been lost in the Flu. May be found later.)

Day: 8
Countdown: 33
Suggestion: Learn the basics of Photoshop



I used the word ‘vagina' in a scholarly essay I wrote about Moby-Dick in graduate school. 

Yes, yes, I did. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t just float the word around for no reason; it wasn’t as if I were referring to my vagina. But what I wrote still took a risk.

So after handing in the essay, I called my professor and left an urgent message begging him not to read it. An hour later, I left a breezy “hey-ya-know-that-first-message-I-left-sounding-panicked-and-crazy?-Just-ignore-it” message for my professor.

Well done, I thought to myself, now you don’t seem like complete nutter at all.

However, a week later when my professor handed the paper back to me, I learned a huge lesson in risk-taking: he called my paper 'brilliant.'

The real brilliance, obviously, is Moby-Dick, and the real risk-taker, Melville. This is why I decided to combine my desire to learn the basics of Photoshop (yes, I've gone this long without learning) with showing people just how incredibly brilliant Moby-Dick and Melville are.

Challenge: to choose five completely random pages in the book and find a quote on each page that – even out of context – shows Melville’s skill as a writer and depth as a thinker. In short, it would be good, thought-provoking stuff.

Second challenge: create a multi-page collage in Photoshop using those quotes.



(Yea, I know it ain't pretty, but I learned as I did. Such are beginnings, sometimes.)

"Old man of oceans! of all this fiery life of thine, what will at length remain but one little heap of ashes!...'Well, well; I heard Ahab mutter, 'Here some one thrusts these cards into these old hands of mine; swears that I must play them, and no others.' And damn me, Ahab, but thou actest right; live in the game, and die it!"




"...that one most perilous and long voyage ended, only begins a second; and a second ended only begins a third and so on, for ever and for aye. Such is the endlessness, yea, the intolerableness of all earthly effort."




"I was told there were still smaller ones [whale vertebrae], but they had been lost by some little cannibal urchins, the priest's children, who had stolen them to play marbles with. Thus we see how that the spine of even the hugest of living things tapers off at last into simple child's play."   
                        






"Now and then he stooped to pick up a patch, or save an end of the tarred twine, which otherwise might have been wasted."



----------------


“At the end of everything, good or bad, is you, so dance.” 
                                                                                           – Al Hagger







Friday 1 March 2013

Ten Little-Known


Day: 6
Countdown: 35
Suggestion: Be “a grown-ass woman!”

My colleague would like me to share more of myself with others.  So be it. Thus, I bring you Ten Fun Facts of Heidi:

10) Even though I’ve flown a lot, I still close my eyes and clutch the armrests during landings.

9) When I use the upstairs bathroom in my apartment, I never close the door.

8) I’ve never done any drugs. However, in order not to be seen as prim and priggish, I have told some people a fabricated story about trying pot.

7) On runs, I sometimes listen to the song “I’m Yours” by Jason Mraz on repeat. After the run, I might even sing the song in the shower.

I'm Yours

6) When I moved abroad for the first time, I cried saying good-bye to my parents in the airport. I didn’t fully stop crying until after the plane had taken off.

5) When I’m playing games with little kids and they cheat, I don’t know what to do.

4) My first kiss was not very special or momentous. Luckily, I’ve had a lot of great kisses since then.

3) I have illegally entered two different countries. Each time, I was traveling with the same person.

A boat illegally deposited us onto a beach. No immigration office for miles.


2) I once ran out of a store after a thief, chased him to the running car that he then jumped into, and tried to hang on to the door handle as the car pulled away.

1) When I was a kid, my older brothers caught me dancing and lip-synching to Van Halen’s “Jump.” The ‘dance moves’ consisted of me repeatedly jumping from the floor, doing a split over the footboard of my bed, and landing on my mattress.


The move I was trying to emulate.


I am so lucky I grew up in Kent where, at 11, you were kind of cool no matter what.