Working On My Hobbies Wednesday: Putting My Green Thumb to Use

***I have some hobbies I'd like to get better acquainted with. I have some hobbies I'm interested in taking up. This day's post is dedicated to the adventure of developing hobbies so I stay a well-rounded person. What hobbies do you engage in?***

This week's post is about gardening. My father and I are working on the back yard of my parents' house. It's very hard work because we're basically taking everything that's back there out and starting completely over.

We've literally had to call people in to haul away 4 cubic yards of soil. I don't know if you know how much that is, but it's a lot. A damn lot. And it cost us $200 to do it. But we have a plan, and if we stick to the plan, our backyard will be beautiful.

I definitely got my green thumb from my father and he got it from his mother. My mom and my brother help us out too, but it's mostly me helping my dad. I convinced him that this endless job (we've been working on it since April) needed some point of accomplishment to feel like a checkpoint of sorts. He finally agreed and we bought mulch to finish the plants area at the front corner. We marked out the curved edge of the area and laid down the mulch. It looks awesome!

Well... it looks awesome if you ignore the bricks needed to hold back the mountain of dirt always building to the west of it. And the old garden parts strewn against garage to the south of it. And the incompletely-planted annual bed to the north of it. And it cracked and soon-to-be-replaced concrete walkway to the north of it.

So you see why I'm not putting up pictures... yet. But to stand there and look at what's going on so far give me a sense of accomplishment. And that's something I could really use in my life these days. What hobbies do you have that get your hands dirty?

Working On My Hobbies Wednesday: Being A Tourist In My Own City

***I have some hobbies I'd like to get better acquainted with. I have some hobbies I'm interested in taking up. This day's post is dedicated to the adventure of developing hobbies so I stay a well-rounded person. What hobbies do you engage in?***

Chicago is one of the greatest cities in the world! There is so much to see and do. A lot of residents of this city don't see it all. They just stay in their neighborhood, content to do the same things over and over again. I've never been that way. If I had to stay in one place all the time, I'd lose my mind. My perfect world would have a combination of trying new things mixed with repeating old favorites a hundred times.

One of my favorite things to do in this city is go to movies and concerts. There is this thing called Movies in the Park that happens once a week all summer. It was one of my favorite things to do, but due to budget cuts, they aren't doing it this year. So indoor movies only this summer.

But concerts are still available. Those are indoors and outdoors. My favorite music is R&B and Neo Soul, so I get to go to all types of venues to see my artists perform. Tuesday night, my mother and I went to see Jill Scott & Maxwell at the United Center. It was such an awesome concert.

My mother and I waited too long to get our tickets. These two singers are very popular and so the only tickets left were in the nosebleed seats. We arrive at our destination for the concert and notice how tiny Jill Scott looks.

Just then, we get a call from a family friend who had tickets down on the first floor. We didn't even know she was going to the concert. She had to leave for a family emergency and offered to let us sit in her seat. We were like, "fuck yeah!" (well, we were more like, "sure, thanks!", but that's what I was thinking).

We enjoyed the next two and half hours of concert 50 feet from the stage. It was so exciting. The music was great, the crowd was great. There was a tall, dark, and handsome man next to me with whom I flirted all night. It was such a good time. I have seen Jill Scott in concert several times over the last 5 years and saw Maxwell last year with Top. This is the first time in a long while I went to a concert without her, and I missed her. My mother and I still had fun though. Top is going to the same concert when Jill and Maxwell go to NYC, and she's taking College Guy. I'll talk about that in an upcoming Tip Top Tuesday post.

What concerts have you been to lately?

Working On My Hobbies Wednesday: Giving Back To My Community

I have some hobbies I'd like to get better acquainted with. I have some hobbies I'm interested in taking up. This day's post is dedicated to the adventure of developing hobbies so I stay a well-rounded person. What hobbies do you engage in?

Today's hobby is volunteering by mentoring. It's something I've always been interested in. As soon as I was old enough (and experienced enough) to do it, I did. I've been involved with programs at school where you mentor the next year/school group down, and I loved it.
 

Then my mother and a group of women at church decided to start a mentoring program for the young ladies. I was really excited about that because I would finally get a more hands-on experience. I now mentor a sophomore in high school. She was in 8th grade when we started. It's so great to see her blossoming into a young lady. She's so smart and funny (and dramatic). I've been encouraging her to break out of the box and try something new even if she knows she won't like it (she's a Pisces). It's been such a rewarding experience for me, and hopefully I've helped her as well.

 

We have such amazing times together. Just hanging out, texting, having a meal, whatever. I even took her driving when she had her driver's permit. In the winter, while it was snowing. Lol, it was crazy, but a great experience for he since she's gonna be an Illinois resident for quite a while.

 

I'm looking to expand my mentoring. I've been dying to get involved with Big Brother Big Sister. And now that I may become a permanent Chicago resident (at least for the foreseeable future), I'll finally get the stability I need to be involved. I'm so excited.

Working On My Hobbies Wednesday: Working Out In A Unique Way

I have some hobbies I'd like to get better acquainted with. I have some hobbies I'm interested in taking up. This day's post is dedicated to the adventure of developing hobbies so I stay a well-rounded person. What hobbies do you engage in?

This week's hobby post is about getting into a new hobby. I love rock climbing and have had the pleasure of trying it once or twice. I'm not nearly ready to be like the tv commercials climbing the sides of cliffs, but I would love to spend some more time at rock climbing facilites.

There's just this thrill I get when I get all the way to the top and look down. After I think, "what the hell was I thinking climbing this high off the groun?! Get me down now!!", I think, "what a rush. This is so much fun and I'm probably getting a better workout than I would on a treadmill."

I get a sense of accomplishment, a workout, and a really great date idea all in one. In fact, I wonder if possibly my friends would be interested in trying it too. Bad's the only one I spend a lot of time with that lives in Chicago of my close friends. He might want to try it. Also, I have my girls from church. We'll call them the SATC crew. They're not at all like those women, but there's four of us in the group I prefer to hang with. Anyway, the SATC crew might be enticed to do it. I like to get them to try new things occasionally. It's easier said than done. But this is certainly not a hobby I'd want to engage in all alone.

Of course, I could find some new friends at a rock climbing place. That would be interesting. Do any of you rock climb? Any suggestions for places in the Chicago area to go?

photo from rockclimbingshoesandgear.com