30by30: 30.) Commit time on Rosetta Stone - UPDATE

I haven't been great commiting time on Rosetta Stone and I figured I needed practice conversing with others in Japanese. So, long story short is that I signed up for a Japanese Level One class at Bhodi Tree Learning Center in SE Portland. It may not be great considering how much cheaper it is then college credit classes, but I am hoping that I will at least get some grammar and honorific basics since Rosetta Stone doesn't focus on those things at all.

30by30: 11.) Take 30 dance classes - COMPLETE + EXTRA CREDIT

Wow! This goal went even better then I had originally expected it to! In my willingness to take 30 dance classes, I actually became involved in White Bird's 15th Anniversary celebration which was comprised of a performance of a French Canadian choreographer's work called Le Grand Continental.

I signed up for discounted classes at Northwest Dance Project via a Living Social special. I took 10 classes through them: Lyrical Jazz, Contemporary Fusion, Ballet Barre and Hip Hop.

Then I auditioned and made the Le Grand Continental with a good friend, Erin that I have known since high school. She and I have been working with the other 150+ Le Grand dancers to perform on September 30th in Pioneer Courthouse Square. We meet every Tuesday and Thursday at the Oregon Expo Center from 6 to 9 pm. It's been a wild and amazing journey. At the end of the performance, each dancer will receive a complimentary DVD of our performance. Here is a video you can watch of the Montreal performance, which was the original: http://vimeo.com/35144677

New Thing: Take the new/old bike for a ride along Marine Drive

Can I just tell you how much I love this old bike I got down the street for $20? Kevin got me a sweet helmet for my birthday and also helped me attach the sparkly streamers. I'm so stoked. I took it for a 7 mile (that's a long ride for me) bike ride along Marine Drive. It was enchanting and rode like a dream. I love my bike!

30by30: 18.) Two more bouquets

For Kevin's Birthday BBQ, I had these two bouquets made at the Parkrose Farmer's Market.

30by30: 8.) Began the Sheep cross-stitch of mom's

Mom's portion of the cross-stitch, completed most likely in the early 1980s.

Found another neat-o art project that mom never finished. This is a cross-stitch of a shepherdess and sheep that she started. With the other art projects I have scheduled for this coming year, I may or may not have it completed by my 30th birthday. But I am willing to try and I have started working on it where mom left off. I'm filling in the sheep right now :)

30by30: 8.) Raining Cats & Dogs Block of the Month Club

With some of my 29th birthday money, I signed up for this Block of the Month quilt club through Pioneer Quilts in Clackamas. It's called Raining Cats & Dogs and one thing that really drew me to it was the colors being used. It's a full sized quilt, so not large enough for our bed but will work well as a guest bed quilt. This is an applique heavy quilt, which is something I've never worked with before. How it works is you go to the shop once a month and pick up the block packet with that month's block instructions and fabrics. Then you cut everything out, sew it together and begin your hand applique work. I'm doing everything with just the needle-turn method because it seemed the easiest as well at the method that would stand the test of time the best. After I am done assembling it, I will most likely combine hand quilting and long-arm machine quilt it since there is a LOT going on with small details. The picture is just the top of the quilt, but each pattern shows the quilting that is expected. Guaranteed this quilt will take me longer then until my 30th birthday to complete, however, since I'm beginning to work on it now it all naturally counts toward that 30 art projects before 30 goal :)

30by30: 21.) Join a Book Club - COMPLETED

So this completed 30 by 30 posting is both a success and a failure. During my Masters program, I became friends with everyone in my cohort. Some of us had similar tastes in literature and the four of us decided to create our own fantasy/ sci-fi book club. Success, right?

Well, since the start of September all of them except me have gotten employed full-time in their first role as a classroom teacher. Because of that I haven't heard back from anyone about the book club. We had even picked and read our first book, The Neverending Story by Michael Ende which is a fantastic book if you have never read it. Sadly, no one has been returning my calls about scheduling our first meeting about it.

I think this was still a success but instead of having a monthly meeting, maybe we have a quarterly meeting? Or maybe we just read each other's book recommendations via email?