Forewarning: I am not an artist. Not even a little bit. This might surprise some people, because in general I'm a pretty "artistic" person. But it's mostly consolidated into one area of the arts-- music. I do at least understand what looks good and I feel like I can take photos and things that require no more ability than understanding WHAT looks good. But I don't really feel like I have the ability to MAKE something that looks good, as you will see.
Even though I know I'm not good, I still wanted to do it. Because I thought it would be somewhat of a fun experience to do something that I would never otherwise do. And as Van Gogh said "If you hear a voice within you say 'I cannot paint' then by all means paint." I definitely heard that voice. I haven't taken an art class since I was required to in middle school. And I don't think I've even attempted to doodle a picture since then.
So earlier this year, Alyssa and I went coloring book shopping together. I had resigned myself to buying a Hello Kitty or Spongebob coloring book, since I realize that is falls in line more with the target audience's interests, but we were actually able to find the cutest coloring books at Barnes and Noble! Someone somewhere realized there may be a few older people who enjoy coloring pretty designs and not tacky cartoon characters, and we found a series of animal and flower coloring books with beautiful designs. She picked the bird book and I picked the cat book. The funny thing is that, at the time, I wasn't very interested in cats. But over the course of the year I became somewhat of a cat lady. So it suited me well.
Here are some of my masterpieces:
I also bought some paint at the nearby paint store and painted a picture. I'm not proud of it, but I'm at least about as good as I was in 8th grade art class. Brian said if I didn't tell people I did it for my bucket list, they might ask me if my little cousin or nephew had drawn it. Ha! But it was still a fun experience. (By the way, it's a cat and bouquet of flowers, if you can't figure it out.)
On a completely unrelated topic, I finally was able to go to Melting Pot. And the timing was perfect! Of course, Amy (who made reservations) knew this and told them when we would be "celebrating my engagement and my birthday." Mostly she told them this, though, so we could convince them to apply her serving discount to me and Brian-- which they did! Justin came along, as well, and we dressed up and went on a double date.
For those who don't know, Melting Pot is a fondue restaurant. And it was definitely a restaurant designed for people like me! I love anything that involves dipping, and I love cheese and potatoes and mushrooms and bread and most of the things they served us. I don't usually like chocolate too much, but they had peanut butter chocolate, bananas fosters white chocolate (and I love bananas) and plenty of fruit. So the whole thing was incredibly delicious. Obviously, it was also incredibly expensive, which is why I never ever would have gone there if I hadn't put it on my bucket list. But I'm really glad I did! I don't think I have ever gone to an expensive restaurant before, and what better time than with two of my closest friends and my fiance the week between my proposal and my birthday. It was definitely a good time to celebrate! And I had a really good time. :)
Countdown: 2 left!!
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