Some days, I need to work hard to insert some novelty into my days. On others, novel experiences just blend seamlessly into the events of my day. Today, thankfully, was the latter! And it was a twofer, to boot!
My first novel experience was partially inspired by Amber, a loyal reader who posted the idea of giving "made" gifts on my Facebook discussion page. You might recall the wire-wrapped sea glass pendants I had created on an earlier day of this experiment? Well, I loved this novel experience so much that I have since upgraded the wire, bought necklace claps and string, and acquired the appropriate tools so that I could continue to turn my plethora of sea glass into jewelry. Today provided the perfect opportunity to make a necklace for the first time and also have the semi-novel experience of giving a homemade gift...
You see, today we celebrated my dear friend Beth's birthday. Now Beth serves as one of my inspirations for this project. She is the friend who uses watercolors to make gorgeous homemade Holiday cards, creates her own mosaic tabletops, is a gourmet cook, grows almost anything you could imagine, and exclaims, "I could make that" while browsing in boutique home goods stores. If you've been following this blog for a while, you might remember Beth from the Cheesecake Tasting Party? She was the participant who brought the Coconut Cheesecake with Passion Fruit Glaze. Enough said! So it seemed only fitting to have a crafty novel experience in her honor...
While I did make another wire wrapped sea glass pendant from scratch using my new materials, I'll admit that the novel part of this experience really just entailed tying store bought clasps onto the ends of a piece of leather necklace cord.
Not very exciting... In fact, so not exciting that I forgot to take a photograph of the finished product! Ooops! But here is a recycled photo of my original pendants as a substitute!
Please keep in mind that despite my intense focus on novelty, I do believe that practice makes perfect... Therefore, since there are no images to betray me, just imagine the most beautiful pendant EVER!
Getting back to reality now, before I had even finished wrapping my gift, my friend Angela showed up with a surprise second novel experience of the day:
Fresh sugar cane! While I know that on my journeys I have had access to fresh sugar cane, this experience still passed cardinal rule of novelty number one: I have no memory of having had the experience before. So much so, that Angela had to teach me how to properly "eat" it... More or less, you chew small pieces like gum and then spit the pulp out... It's kind of a nasty process, truth be told, but boy is it tasty!
Liam agrees!
So, dear readers, this concludes another day of novel experiences. Here's hoping that some positive novel experiences find their way to you, too!
This reminded me of a novel experience my son and I embarked upon a few weeks ago, technically I suppose it was the 'first,' but I wasn't keeping track yet.
ReplyDeleteAfter a lengthy discussion as to what to do with our "ABC" gum (c'mon, I know you remember the conversations of this gum on the elementary school playground!), we came up with an idea to stick the pieces onto a piece of canvas and paint around and over them. The canvas has become a working piece of art and we call it, justly so, "Bubblegum!"
*side note: the conversation began when my son wanted to toss his gum out the car window and I wouldn't let him, 1.) because I am a stout anti-litterbug, and 2.) the particular brand he was chewing contains a chemical that is poisonous for dogs to eat, and, being the pet-lover I am, didn't want to contribute to any animals demise. This project of turning our trash into art is what further inspired the Trash Clean-Up Day at the beach :D
Amber - I love how one experience led to another, and so on! I find that happening to me, too!
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