#51: Watch a sunset.

Technically, I only needed to do this once, but I've watched a sunset a few times, and I've been logging each one.

#3: This sunset I watched while driving through hills on a winding highway between the Badlands and Rapid City, SD (pictured above). It was the most beautiful one I'd seen yet.

#4: This one was witnessed while catching up with my friend Barbi, the only friend I have in the city where I'm currently living. From my journal: "We finished off a bottle of wine while talking on her porch, watching a beautiful sunset. The sky looked stacked in different colors. We had good conversation, and I felt so happy. Talking about how lonely the final years I spent in Marquette were, how desperate I was for friends and couldn't seem to make it happen. It felt so grateful and fortunate to be sitting and talk with a person I've become so close with over the past few months. I was feeling very content with my life."

#42: Try 10 new dessert recipes

#3: Cookie dough pie

I tried this one for Robert for his birthday dessert. I got the idea from this recipe: here. Though, I must admit, since I was cooking him a big breakfast, and we were going out of town for most of his birthday (to Negaunee/Marquette to visit his Mom, and we ended up grabbing a quick dinner from Taco Bell, and eating it on a picnic table on Presque Isle, with a beautiful view of Lake Superior), I didn't feel like spending so much time slaving over a dessert in the kitchen (and Robert didn't want me to spend all day in the kitchen for him). So! I took the total easy route and got a pre-made pie crust, and a tube of premade cookie dough and made it that way. But! It turned out well and we both really liked it. Yum, yum. :]

#37: Alter 10 items of clothing

Item #1: I turned an awkward length/awkward fit pair of pants my mom picked up at the thrift store for me, into a cute pencil skirt with the help of this tutorial!

Sorry, it's been a long day and I'm too lazy to take and upload photos of it now. But, as much as the pants were ill-fitting, the fabric was really interesting--black, with white circle prints--and I wanted to do something cool with them. I've been really into pencil skirts lately, so I just googled to find a tutorial on making some out of pants, because I knew someone, somewhere had to have done it before. I guess if I actually thought it through, I didn't even need a tutorial, but I wanted to make sure I did it right, so I got someone else's expertise.

Plus, I got to strut around town wearing my new skirt and my favorite pair of heels. Mm-hmm.

#43: Go on 5 vacations

Vacation #2: 07.01.10-07.14.10, To the Rockies w/ Mom.

My mom and I took off on the road in her RV van for two weeks, hitting up all sorts of places along I-90, on our way to the final destination of....the Rocky Mountains and visiting my brother. Here's the places we went:

Rockford, IL.





We stopped here on a whim to go to Rockford for a museum we read about in a tour book. Outside of the museum was a beautiful nature walk through the prairie, complete with weeping willows. The museum had exhibits about the Rockford Peaches (A League of their Own was my favorite movie when I was younger), sock monkeys (Rockford is the home of the seamless sock machine, and thus, the sock monkey), and a small airplane, my favorite kind.




Madison, WI.



We stopped in Madison for an evening and a morning, biked around the Monona Terrace Convention center, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, ate at the Great Dane Pub, and walked along State Street. In the morning we biked all along the lakeshore bike path to downtown and went to the farmer's market--it was totally bonkers and packed. The above photo is from a booth selling every type of jelly you could ever think of--and then some! Like sour apple and jalapeno jelly--who'd of thought to put those together?! The opening in the line of jars is from the one that I bought--Queen Anne's Lace jelly. Yep, they made a jelly out of a flower/weed. It's super yummy.



Mitchell, SD.

The home of the World's Only Corn Palace! A building covered/decorated in corn. Since it's still early in the year, it's not totally done yet--but they were working away at it! We ate corn on the cob, aaaaand got ice cream.




Mt. Rushmore, SD.



Yeah, the novelty of Mt. Rushmore wore off on me pretty quickly, but it felt like one of those things I was obligated to see, y'know? It bothers me that Roosevelt is up there, but that's a rant I won't subject my lovely blog readers to.




Crazy Horse Memorial, Custer, SD.

More on this in another entry!


Rocky Mountain National Park, CO.

We camped inside the park, with my brother and his girlfriend joining us on and off, and went for long hikes within the park. The mountains are beautiful and peaceful, majestic and awe-inspiring. We saw moose and elk and bighorn sheep. It was a beautiful few days. We also spent some time outside of Denver at Chris and Tracy's house, which was nice. It was my first time meeting Tracy, and I really like her and was happy to have some time to get to know her.



It was a great vacation, but it was a long vacation. We both got homesick, and ended up coming home a few days early. We drove home in a day and half (15 hours straight on the last day!) and got home on Wednesday, instead of Sunday. Then I got to spend a few great days in the Detroit area with my friends and family before returning to the U.P.