# 12. Try 100 different beers (1/100)

Last night Mr. J. and I went to the Revolver Lounge at the Santa Fe Station with some friends. I'm not really sure what the deal was, but it was something with Dave and Mahoney and their DAM Morning Show on X 107.5.
Either way, it was $2 entry, I got 2 free drink vouchers, $3 Stone Levitation Ales & (the icing on the cake for J.) $2 PBR tall boys!!!

Anyone who knows my boyfriend knows that when happy hour includes PBR's you can put money that J. will be there!!!!

While there, I got to start working on # 12 Try 100 different beers.

Stone Levitation Ale.

I liked it. It's dark and has a pretty malty taste to it. Would be a little too heavy for your regular drinking, but definitely worth it to cross off the list!

These are the lovely folks we met up with at Revolver, Ben & Sabrina.

Before leaving, J. just HAD to see the Harley and even politely asked if he could start it.....I have a feeling I'm going to come home to a bike in the garage one of these days.

You cant really see it in this picture and the pictures I took were terrible, but that disco ball right there is an armadillo!!!!!

Just the giant glittery armadillo spinning from the ceiling was worth the trip over there!!!

17. Learn to play chess.

As I mentioned before, at the garage sale this weekend I picked up a brand new glass chess set and Learn to play Chess in 30 minutes.

Monday night I had my 1st official chess lesson. After dinner J. taught me some of the basics and he then proceeded to mercilessly kick my butt!

The next 2 nights have looked similar. We start the game, I gain a little confidence, make a few clever moves and then BAM....he beats me again! Just like that!

I'm going to need a bit more practice before I can beat Chess Master J., but I think it's safe to say #17 Learn to play chess, is off the list.

Before the chess lesson , J. did humor me by playing a few games of Mancala, which I know he hates, during dinner.

And he totally beat me at that too!!! Both times!! I couldn't believe it!


I was shocked by how much my mad mancala skills have diminished in the past 2 years. When I was going to school in FL, one of my best buds and I would literally spend hours before, between and after class in her dorm room playing this game.

I'm definitely going to have to refresh my self on the mancala rules , and try and plan out some strategy for a rematch!

Round Up: Proud as Peacock

[ an old post from an old blog ]

As Most people know, I'm a HUGE fan of peacocks. The birds, the feathers, paintings, t-shirts, tattoos, purses, jewelry, pottery, art work.........I love all of it.



While exploring the Urban Outfitters site (which is always good for a bit of design inspiration) a few months ago, and came across this beauty.





And so began my obsession!! Since then I have been on the (internet) hunt got a peacock rug.

There has to be on in our living room....I NEED THIS!!!

I found a few more with a varying price range, each one as fantastic as the last.



By DESIGNLUSH

By Neiman Marcus

By HORCHOW

By Matthew Williamson

Garage Sale Madness

This past weekend The Payne family (J.'s dad T.J., step-mom Meg, sister Devon, b.i.l Kevin) and a hand full of other awesome people who volunteered a Saturday morning, helped with a giant garage sale to benefit Jessica's Children Foundation.

Jessica's Children Foundation is an organization who offers aid for housing, school supplies, medical bills and financial assistance support to the children or murdered parents. It's heart breaking to read the stories on the foundations site that tell of the struggle these family and children go through, but it's also really encouraging to see that there are individuals and organizations out there that really do care and are making giant efforts to help.


Not only was the garage sale a great success for a great cause, there were some great deals to be had!!

Here we have a (really bad) picture of all the loot I scored!!

4 dresses @ .25 c each.

long flower printed maxi dress in the middle.

short black and white polka dots (Black and White Party dress......maybe?!?!)

short black bathing suit cover up/ long black skirt (blob on the right)

short black sun dress (blob on the left)

aluminum lantern for the back yard , also .25 c

2 books @ .25 c each

giant back of mixed yarn, craft odds & ends, and a new set of knitting needles for some undisclosed donation

and the most exciting of all.....

A brand new (unopened) chess set for $1.00 and the book "Learn to play Chess in 30 min" for a dime!!!

I was super stoked about this purchase because a.) HELLO.....it was a dollar!!!! and b.) it's # 17 on "The List".

I'll be sure to post up-dates on how the lessons go!

#1. Read 50 books (2/50)

This weekend I finished 2 great books that I've been reading on and off for the past month or so. Although the books and the authors/main characters/narrators are completely different, I can see some of my qualities in both Koren Zailckas and Sarah MacDonald.

Smashed is a very dark story of Koren, a girl who starts binge drinking in her early teens and the habit continued and escalates through her college years and into early adulthood.

At Florida State I totally knew this girl, well lots of these girls. Not this exact girl or these exact set of circumstances, but pretty, accomplished young women that most parents would be proud to call their daughters. They shared the common bond that they are all completely disturbed or hurt and are drinking and self medicating to escape some unknown, internal dark force.

A really good book, an easy read for sure.

It makes me think of the Robbin Williams quote, "Being a functioning alcoholic is like being a paraplegic lap-dancer. You can do it, just not as well as the others."

Holy Cow, on the other hand is much more light hearted, find-your-self, feel good tail of Sarah MacDonald. An Australian transplant who follows her love to India and finds her self with quite a bit of extra time on her hands. Since I am still on my India/middle eastern kick this was right up my ally!!

In the beginning Sarah is quick to judge the proverbial Indian book by it's poverty stricken, slum dwelling, idol worshiping cover. As the story progresses and Sarah travels across the subcontinent and back learning about the different religions, faiths, beliefs, cultures and people of India and she learns to love the eclectic & eccentric land.

#37. Visit 5 Museums

In my enthusiam for starting a new project, I've been looking up some of the different museusms the Las Vegas area has to offer. I would love to go see them all, but I picked out my top 5.


Las Vegas Art Museum

9600 W. Sahara Ave

Las Vegas, NV 89117

Las Vegas Natural History Museum

900 Las Vegas Blvd.

Las Vegas, NV 89101

Atomic Testing Museum

755 E. Flamingo Rd.

Las Vegas, NV 89119

The Neon Mesuem

821 Las Vegas Blvd.

Las Vegas, NV 89101 Liberace Foundation and Museum
1775 E. Tropicana Ave.

Las Vegas, NV 89119

The Springs Preserve

333 S. Valley View Blvd

Las Vegas, NV 89107

And so it begins...........

A few days ago I was wandering around through internet/forum/blog land, checking out my usual list of favorites (a list I will most definitely have to post at some point), and came across a most excellent idea!!!
The 1001 Day Project, as presented to my by the lovely Mrs. Haley Perkins Ryan. If you check out the link, and her blog the concept it rather simple.

101 goals in 1001 days.

Totally doable, right?

You'll just have to wait and see.

I've long wanted to start one, so I've decided to use a blog (and a paper journal as pointed out as #100 on the list below) to help me track my progress with the project, keep some interested folks up-to-date, and let off some of my daily, scattered, random, mind wanderings. Some times the posts may go with a few days between, and I'm sure there will be other days where I just can stop my self and and go post crazy.




** Since this is pretty new and was a little rushed since I wanted to get my 1001 days started, I'm still open for name changes for the blog, input, ideas and encouragement!!