So… I have been doing this super silly thing (in my head) lately. Everytime my day becomes even a tinge un-busy, I convince myself that, I neeeeeed some excitement in my life…. I go around, racking my brain. Wondering what this thing is that will bring me some excitement….
I go through the obvious things that might bring excitement… New love? Oh goodness no… New Hair color? New hair length? Umm, nope nope (but red hair could be fun? oh ya, already tried that once, for 24 hours, until my hairdresser opened her front door and helped me)… New pet? New town? Vacation? New outrageous shoes? What??? What off the wall thing could I do, to attempt to bring my life some form of excitement?
I am not talking about the feeling of being sad. I am talking about, everything is A-okay, but I sure would looove some silly fun and exciting happenings. You know, something out of the ordinary…
Chances are, anything I choose, will bring me more drama and less excitement. I’ll end up frantic (the hair choice), overwhelmed (moving), in a state of buyer’s remorse (new "outrageous" shoes)… Is there any practical thing that could fix my burning desire??? A Discotheque, perhaps? (only if JT’s meeting me there)
Just when I almost gave in to one of the above, I found the cure. I found it, I found it!!! Yes, I can cure your need for excitement too. I can I can!! The recipe calls for, glycerine, dawn soap, Light Karo Corn syrup, distilled water, a car, and 5 emergency dollars!!!
I am sorry that it isn’t as easy as painting your nails some groovy color…
So here is how it all began. My rat tail and I went outside to see what we could conjur up for excitement.
When the lovely weather whispered the answer… In I ran, in search of tools to make the tools, and soap to make the concoction.
I went online and found this!! Bravo!!! This is it, I knew it, I knew it!! Monster Bubbles!!! Yes yes yes!!! This is just what the doctor ordered!!!!!
Only, this is one of those times my cooking skills "Could Not" save me. You can not substitute dark corn syrup for light, and you can’t use well water, instead of distilled. You just can’t. 6 attempts at a formula later (plus two bottles of dawn and soap everywhere). Although, I almost had a monster bubble, twice…
I realized, I had more of a monster MESS on my hands than lovely bubbles…
This is where the car + the 5 bucks comes into play. Wash off as much bubble mess as you can, jump in the car, drive like a MAD woman to the store and buy a GIANT bottle of commercial bubbles. Woo Hooooo.
But wait. Why did I ever think I could photograph this, and blow bubbles at the same time??
This is where you start longing for rest and relaxation more than excitement. And, you see how this can take the place of coloring your hair in a whole new brilliant color?? You get the same effect.
You wish you had never conjured up the idea. But in this case, it is only soap. Not hair!! Not a new more complicated boyfriend/husband, not a botched vacation where you sit in the airport for 64 hours. No!! It is only soap… See how this works?? Same frustration. Same loss of the need for excitement. But, it is only SOAP!!! Wooohoooo!!
And if you are lucky, you might even get a lovely shot…
So, after that one, lovely & satisfying photograph… You decide, that is it. No more excitement for me. Unless of course, John Travolta calls. But, in the real version of things, no more. I am done. Fulfilled. Next thing on my list…
So, I take my self shopping… And, think I deserve anything I want. So here is what I choose…
My room smells like apple, grape, and original bubble gum blissssss…
Now, tell me, does this ring any bells??? My friend Honor always says, people will tell you exactly who they are if you just listen… But why don’t I listen to the royal title people when they tell me that I am the great Bubblewick??? Isn’t this all making perfect sense now??? Remember this?
The only problem is, you have to make sure noone gets into your stash. And the pitter patter of little feet, warned me…
My wee one is after the bubble gum…
How do explain to her that she can’t chew bubble gum? That dolls, simply can’t? Please give me some advice 😉
Now, here is the deal. For a little blogging excitement, tell me some wacky thing you might have done in the name of a change or excitement, some time in your life. And I will put together a wackylicious gift bag for one of you!!!! I will draw names in a few days!! 😉
Off I go for now…. xoxo, V
PS: I do hope that you might try one of these formulas… I might try it again soon (with the correct ingredients this time).
pps: the carnival photo was found in google images and I believe (after searching), is by Adam Gageik Goetz. It was listed on photos.net
Hi V!
Well, when I got down in the dumps (and a little bored), I put on the soundtrack from “Thoroughly Modern Millie” on my record player, shut the blinds and dance around in the living room. If Im feeling especially gloomy, I will dig in our costume trunk, put on something fancy and really make a production of it. Generally, my audience is my cat Ramona. But she seems to like it…..
I got all excited thinking that was a Justin Timberlake video…and then I thought to myself, which JT video is this and why haven’t I seen it? Then I realized…wrong JT…
P.S. Those little doll feet really scare me. Remember that movie PuppetMaster…? I get the same feeling from those feet…
Well, one summer, we discovered that there were several castles/mansions in Portland, so we found directions to all of them, and made a little tour – they are all up in the hills around Portland, so they offer sweeping views of the city (the kind where you’re driving through little windy roads, and suddenly off to the right the view opens up and you can see out over the entire city, then it’s gone again), and one of them is on a huge amount of land (it’s a sort of museum now), so we walked around the grounds and took pictures and such (I’ll have to see if I can find them).
When we were living in Vilnius, Lithuania, two friends of ours spent all day one day searching for the smallest street in Vilnius, and finally they found it, so they called us and asked if we would meet them and then go see it with them, so we did 🙂 That I do have a picture of if you want to see it 🙂
When I was in fifth grade, my best friend and I were dared by her sister to be in the cemetery at the stroke of midnight. We snuck out of their cabin while their Mom slept and walked to the cemetery. Their great-grandmother, a Quinault Indian, was buried there. My friend’s sis (two years older) waited at the gate while we snuck in with our little flashlights. The two of us crept around until we found their great-grandma’s grave. The grave was partially covered with cement which had a huge crack and as we shined our little lights on it…a snake came slithering out at us! That tongue! That flickering forked tongue! That snake’s face! It glared right at us! I can still see it in my mind’s eye! With screams of terror, we raced back to the gate. I have never felt such complete and total fear. The remorse was terrible. I had just wanted to add a little excitement to my summer and I had risen to the challenge of a dare but what I did was…I had disrespected the dead. That message was clear. I’ll never forget it. I have great reverence for cemeteries now…I always make the sign of the cross and say a prayer when I pass by one. I never snuck out after dark again either!
Ohhhh…Once in college, after we got done at a dance club an whoknowswhat-o’clock in the morning, we thought it would be fun to drive down to Tucson and visit a friend (we were in Flagstaff) So, we jumped in the car and drove all night, getting there in the wee hours of the morning (I’d only been to her apt. one time, and I totally remembered how to get there) woke her up and took a drive to Mexico! It was great fun…pizza and beer (and snuck alcohol over the border…Kahlua I think…ick) Drove back home, engine blew up on the way…leaving us stranded at Sunset Point (did I mention that I had a test mere hours away that I hadn’t studied for?) Talked someone into taking us the rest of the way back to Flagstaff…and all in a 24 hour period. Why does this suddenly make me tired typing it out? I passed the test with an A…
And then there was the time we hopped the train…oh, shall I leave that for another time?
sometimes….when i am alone…i make up little girls that roam the grounds…i give them names…and i play dress up….
maybe it is because i never had a sister…
OOOOhhhh. I love bubbles. I love to watch Stanlee and Oliver chase them and once caught the look of total confusion is priceless!
XOXO….Kimberee
A group of friends and I spent an afternoon trying to fly a kite up and down the street. It was so fun and ridiculous ccause there wasn’t much wind. We finally gave up and had a toy airplane launching contest. Who says toys are just for kids?
The WACKIEST thing I have done for ‘excitement’ is to sign up for online dating! Seemed like a great idea at the time–lots of free dinners and movies, meeting new people, getting out of the house a couple extra times a week….until the thought of just one more wacked out meeting with one more interested-in-himself man was more than enough excitement…and I realized that maybe colouring my hair would be a safer bet next time I get the urge for something new!
When my first baby girl was about five months old I was already feeling too serious and wanted something that would say, “Hey, I’m still young and fun!” So late one night my husband and I were at my best friends house and I sent him to the supermarket to buy some clippers. So we could shave my head!I had always wanted to do this since watching Empire Records. I’m afraid that I did not look as hot as I had imagined. The next few months I covered it with beanies and such. Next week I’m going blonde like you Miss Vanessa!
Your blog makes me so happy. We share a mutual appreciation for JT. God, I love that part of the movie.
have a good weekend.
^^ To add some…excitement/change…to my life, I went on an internship at Walt Disney World. Not my best decision, in some ways, but an amazing experience in others. I spent most of my 10 hour days opperating “It’s a A Small World.” That song haunts me still…
Bubble bubble…toil and trouble…oh wait, wrong kind of bubbles!!! I haven’t done anything silly/wacky in a long time just for some excitement…not in years. Which reminds me…I think I’m over due!!
I always get in trouble when things get even a little bit boring, new projects galore, some great some not so great. Two years ago I was more than a little bored so I decided I needed a puppy (I already had 2 grown up, well behaved and loved pups) so pup I got and now he has me. A yorkie named Cutter (the feature character of a recent post on my blog) that hopefully will fill the next 15 or so years with love and craziness-behaved he is not. Potty trained is a sometimes thing, he chases the doberman around trying to be the “big guy” and he attacks every box he sees. So…in a moment of boredom I have a little best friend that makes me laugh everyday.
Have fun bubble girl!
kelley
OK, since your blog always makes be feel so young…and I really really am not, the thing that comes to my mind is from my youth in the 50s. (Yes I am vintage) For fun back then we had slumber parties on the weekend. We were all church buddies and there were and even number of boys and girls so as I remember, we kinda never were serious boy/girl friends but we took turns liking each other. I lived in the country and as I remember the slumber parties were always at my house. On one particular night way past the midnight, we were bored and needed excitement and so we decided that we would walk down the road. My drive was about a 1/2 mile from the road and for some reason we decided to walk with our eyes shut. So about half way down for no reason at all, we suddenly stopped and opened our eyes. And on the gravel road “the boys” had used rocks to write out little love messages. You know like so-and-so loves so-and-so. The boys were no where in sight and we never figured out how it happend that at that very spot, we opened our eyes. Well it was fun back then. Do you think somebody was peeking or maybe knew that the boys were gonna do that? I bet.
Miss Vanessa! Thank you!! I absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE bubble soap! As a matter of fact, your post inspired me to buy a truly lovely copper bubble blower on Etsy. In the meantime I went through my stash of “Seriously….you still play with toys?” box and got out my generic bottle of bubble soap and had at it. A perfectly lovely day to have bubbles floating all about with my puppy trying to grab one to bring back to me!
JT…Oy…it was the 70’s, I had the SNF suit….who didn’t! I mean down to a T! The off-white 3 piece suit with the black shirt…yeah, we were so cool back in the ’70’s! And the best part was when my hot Driver’s Ed. instructor complimented me on said suit (I was a junior in high school) and told me he loved it because his wife had the same one!
The wackiest thing I ever did for excitement? You’re too young to know… 😉
Oh, and btw….the doll’s feet? Yep, I totally agree with Bobbypin Bandit….super creepy! Didn’t like ’em in your last post, like ’em even less in this one. I think because the bottoms of the shoes are scuffed, as if the doll has actually been walking about ala Chuckie! Great…no nightmares for ME tonight! 😉
Well, I had been contemplating an idea, based on something that I had seen in a clients home…but I was lacking the courage. Then one day I had nothing pressing to do and it popped into my mind. I had a mega (2) packages of tissue paper and a paint color that I wanted for my guest bathroom. I began taking the tissue paper and in small chunks began plastering the walls with it. Scrunching, wrinkling and tearing it. Before it completely dried I began adding an under color. Once it was all dry I then I added the rest of the color. I had this stuff all over me. But it looks great, but I’m sure it will take a chisel to ever get it off the walls. It looks very old world.
Hmmm. Well Vanessa, I think proposing to my now husband of 11 years. I hadn’t even laid eyes on him for over a year. I went in SEARCH of him and found him at the place we had met years before. He hadn’t been there for a long time… fate? Anyway, I proposed that night. The best thing I ever did!
Thanks Vanessa. I particularly love this post as I get in moods like that all the time. One particular incident that comes to mind was when my best friend and I were in College. We were in search of some excitement so we went to Toys R Us and sat in the the middle od the isles playing with toys. We looked particularly ridiculous as grown women but we had fun. We bought us 2 super soaker guns and went and got frozen daiquiris. We drove around soaking joggers and random people with our soakers. We then went to surprise boyfriends at their doors with a surprise greeting of a water surprise.
Okay…. speaking of gum, once when I was 18 I worked at a little shop (worked a shift all by myself) that had a gumball machine. It was a VERY slow shop (it closed shortly after this incident) and I was bored to tears and so I stuck my coin in the machine to get a gumball, the flavor ran out quickly and so I got another and added it to the one already in my mouth. Then I had this grand idea to see how many pieces I could chew at once. I had the biggest mouthfull when in walks…. my future husband! Kid you not! It was far from the first time that he walked in on me in an embarassing situation. But… that’s my story. 🙂
“The Butcher, the Baker, the Candlestick maker, all on the bubbly sea”
You are your own nursurey rhyme.
D.
nursery- hate typos.
Hmm..well if you’re ever “un-busy” just have a kid..then you’ll never have that problem again..haha (juuuust kiddiiiiinnnnggg)!
The craziest thing I’ve done would be skydiving (first time on a plane). I didnt do it for excitement but when I was at a point in my life where I needed a change. Highly recommend it!
Love the bubble pics. I get to do that alot with my son these days. Now that the weather is getting better it’s time to stock up on the bubble soap and sidewalk chalk and tempera paint!
I hide my stash of smarties and jolly ranchers from the little gremlin that runs around my house. Off to the art store and then to the car show my husband is showing off his cherry convertible (to hell with the housework). I’m not a fan of car shows unless they have my favorites- MG’s, Sunbeams, Triumphs, etc. Any of those small Italian or British cars that tend to go off cliffs in old movies. One day I’ll own one of those. For now my Suburu will have to do.
sorry..I mean to “Heck with the housework”..forgot this is a family blog..:)
I had the same bored feeling recently…looking for excitement all over the place and ready to take a dare…I saw a huge long snake in the yard…I reached down and rubbed his back! He coiled real fast and hissed at me…stupid thing doesn’t know how good a backrub is! But what I really want to do? Race through a lake on a jet ski…I’ve never done that.
Oh geez- there was that one time that i moved from Texas to Alaska… and now I have a fever to move to Austin from Dallas….
But really- Theme Days are the MOST fun! One time a pal and I decided to have a day of cowboy fun- costumes and all. Hilarity ensued.
My friends and I are in the process of planning the first annual ‘stache bash. Guys must come donning the most fabulous mustache they can muster- and girls will be fitted with a loaner. Good times.
Ah ha you still encountered drama with your bubbles but it all worked out in the end. Now I’m in the mood for grape bubblegum. I’ll get some tomorrow when I attend a street fair in town. 🙂
My wacky story? Back in my early 20s (a decade ago) I use to follow bands around. Yup, I would hop on a bus and head up to Boston, or down to Philly. I wasn’t exactly a groupie as I didn’t sleep with anything them (darn) but I loved hanging out with them and met some swell people in the process. Good times. 🙂
That’s all I can think of.
Oh my gosh bubbles are one of my most favorite things ever – I still play with them all the time!
Karla
Well, I always think that running through the kids’ sprinkler is an excitement inducing experience!
ooOOoooh the wee one looks so cute, love her outfit and those shoes!
Bubbles, I love bubbles, I am going to try giant bubbles too!
As for what I do for excitement, since I live in the middle of nowhere, any kind of excitement takes a little bit of imagination…
Sometimes I get busy in the kitchen and make a BUNG IT, a Bung It, is a mad concoction of whatever I have left in the cupboards, I just bung it all in the pot and see what happens, it’s sometimes yum, sometimes gross, always messy and always fun!
I also like to creep down to the Gloopy Glop in my wellington boots, it is an area of deep thick mud, in the middle of our woodland, the children are often not allowed down there because they get too messy and muddy, so when they are at school I sneak down there sometimes and have a big ole squelch in the mud myself, like a pig in muck, and sniff out the fairies, who hide amongst the bluebells and brambles, waiting to trip me up into the glop, naughty fairies they are! Then I toss my clothes in the washer so no one knows about my secret foray into the mud, bad bad mother that I am!
There is nothing like a good Bung It, after some Mud hopping, I tell you!
Oh My, My… I used to get bored and and mess with my hair, also. I would not only color, but cut my own hair. A bad haircut is hard to recover from. I have a lovely wooded area behind my house and I decided it needed artwork. I took a tube of bright blue paint and decided to get a jump on painting the stumps (my hubby and I were going to do it together). It turned out horrible and his feelings were hurt (briefly) because I did it without him. I also, have that thing where I try to invent a new dish from things in my cupboards. That is not always successful. The best thing I do when I’m bored is get out the old family pictures and look at them… lots of really old ones in my stash. That usually pulls me though and I don’t do anything too rash.
Cooking cupcakes probably gets me most excited … but seeing JT in a club and getting to dance with him would quite frankly be the MOST exciting thing ever and I have been dreaming of that moment ever since I was 9ish and saw Grease 😉
Can I come have some excitement?
I’m not board or anything, you are just the most fun one.
I need to blow bubble with you! Soon!
xo
Constance
Must return to my own circus now!
The curtain is rising and the bearded lady is calling my name!
I’ve got my thinking cap on ViVi — I’m thinking the “wacky” thing I might do is take myself off for a retreat for a week — just little ole me, by myself to think, contemplate, create — just enjoy “me”. Haven’t made the plans yet but it’s becoming more of a reality than a fantasy…I’ve never lived on my own — went from childhood home to married home, to children and while I’m not an empty nester yet, I’m feeling the need now, and not to wait….
How sad is it that I have been thinking about an answer to this for days now and can’t come up with anything good! I think that means I need to do something crazy! How do you think I would look with pink hair? Not sure hubby woudl go for it…I guess my crazy begins and ends with my kids, come to think of it having them may have been one of my do-something-crazy moments. We do some slightly nutty things together though. Have a great weekend!
I have always had his problem!!! When I was a teen it got me in a lot of trouble. I got married at 21 and had a child a year later which seemed to settle me. But I still have to do something crazy once in awhile to feel alive. When I was 13 I got bored and started melting plastic beads with a lighter and sticking them together. I made little people and animals out of them. It became my hobby in the eighth grade (and where were my parents? I am a PK, which answers a lot about that.) So now I am addicted to melting glass with a torch. I am never bored. I have way too much to do … but when I need a rush there is nothing like the power of fire.
Love, LOVE the bubble shot!!! A be-U-tea!!
Crazy, whacky, exciting things I do??? I throw broken wind chimes, goblet stems and pieces of china in my garden to spruce it up! Add a swag of mini-lights behind on the wall and at dusk, my little fantasy fairy land begins to stir!! : )
xo
VB
Thanks Vanessa I love the bubbles and I love that colour of nail polish I wear it too.
You are too cool for school.
Love you
Jeanne ^j^
For me it used to be radical hairs cut, tatooes, and peircings but now that I’m older and wiser it’s dancing. I put on the Dirty Dancing soundtrack and jump about like I’m 14 again. It’s much cheaper and less painful!
Oh my God! I am so very boring! I’ve been thinking about the whole wacky thing for 24hours now and I’ve got nothing. Perhaps it’s time for me to get radical… 😉
oh dear…what have I done on a lark…I’m such a little homebody that my small excitements may seem mundane to most! 😉
We moved to Asheville (with no jobs) a few years ago…and last December I cut bangs into my hair (those annoying tendrils are still growing out….and are almost gone!!) 😉
I think we are seriously pondering (planning, perchance?) another big move…and so that is my newest big exciting thing (although it’s all just in my mind right now!)
Oh, your bubble-iscious post is so wonderful this Monday morning!!! 🙂
I got married! it was very exciting and gave me an excuse to drive through France in a beat up car to a tiny wine producer and buy a full trunk full of champagne. Which I then drank with my all best friends…I also once totally bleached my hair so I could dye it bright orange, that was all fine til it started growing out…
Ah, I love this!!! And I’m sure many here can relate to this feeling of wanting more excitement and adventure. Luckily, mother Nature has provided me with loads lately.
Next time you feel this way, I suggest you go out in the garden and look at everything as if you had never seen it before. You might be surprised by what you see!
If it’s raining (although it’s not likely to be the case where you live ;-), you can always invite someone “dangerous” for tea. Or come to my place: we’ll watch the foxes together and write up their story.
I always thought of you as a VERY bubbly girl!hehe.
I looooove that photo of the perfect iridescent bubble…so beautiful! Bubbles are a good thing!
Lets see now, I’ve done some pretty wacky things in my lifetime, but I’m having trouble remembering anything right now. Um…um..okay!
Here it is. One hot August day, Steve and I, after cycling around the city all day long, passed a large fountain, and being as we were hot and sweaty, dropped our bicylcles and jumped into the fountain, happily froliking in the water, splashing each other and not paying any attention to the people who stopped and looked at us like we were 3 headed aliens. Pretty wacky, but very refreshing!!
Probably the wackiest thing I’ve ever done was go to art school in New York.. ( to do fashion design)
After a couple months of thinking I was going to school in Ohio, where I’m from..I found out a whole 2 months before school was going to start that I got in.. and after some intense conversations with my parents… I was in NYC 2 months later!
I also just wanted to say that I love your blog, your art is amazing and so inspiring, I especially love your use of vintage dictionaries!
When I am in need of inspiration or excitement….
Have I mentioned lately how much I like Vanessa Valencia’s blog, A Fanciful Twist? ‘Cause I do. She recently documented a fun afternoon of giant backyard bubble-making from a day when she needed some excitement. Miss V posed the question,
Does chopping off my hair count as excitement if I did it after dire emotional distress? Hmmm…probably not. Still, I too wanted to add that I love your blog. Your blog: that’s exciting enough!
Hi there….I answered this very fun question in the following post on my blog:
http://rhinestonearmadillo.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/06/when-i-am-in-ne.html
(excerpt)
Well, let’s see….. Hmm. One thing I’ve repeatedly done over the years is a series of self portraits. I don’t do them as often as I’d like, but I always feel surprisingly happy and lighter after I’ve snapped some ‘me shots’. That may sound hideously self-involved, but it’s really not. In times of change, stress, happiness, trouble, whatever…..reconnecting with myself in an artistic way is really centering. It reminds me that I’m always ME, but that I can always try something fresh and new and different. So, it’s the best of both worlds…..celebrating and exploring the same-old same-old, and trying out a new spin on ‘me’
That one perfect bubble photo is enough for me!!
x…x
once when I felt I NEEDED excitement, I challenged a small group of Bff’s to find someone they lost contact with, an old friend, and old love…and contact them.
Thankfully through the magic of google it’s not too difficult.
Anyway, I decided to track down my very first love, and my first heartbreak.
I did end up finding him…12 years after I met him the fist time.
4 years ago I moved hundreds of miles away to be with him, and 2 months ago we got married.
🙂
(ps- miss you darling girl)
Do you remember the “Where the Wild Things Are”? I loved that book as a child and have bought it for many children over the years. Last summer I was out garage saling with my sister and neice. They had all the characters from that book as PUPPETS! We bought them all and Rumpussed away in the car. We even got on the expressway and tried to act out scenes to the passing drivers. (No, the driver wasn’t acting out, only the 2 in the back seat!) Anyways, the laughter and smiles the passing drivers gave made our day all the more fun.
How’s that for wacky excitement?
Oh I do indeed love my new cut. Was a little scared that it may make me look older, but actually, the opposite is true!
I just have to say the photo of the bubble is absolutely PERFECT! What a beauty.
OH what fun!!!!!~ bubble blowing. I haven’t done that in years!
Your so fun!!!!~
Nice its great i like it its so useful for me and i got interesting information from your works…
Pencil Sketch