Welcome back to the 34 Things Blog Party! You can see the introductory post in this series here, but here’s the gist:
To kick off my 34th year, I’m telling 34 stories. I’m sharing 34 things I want my daughter to know about me, all small-but-significant stories that didn’t make it into the album for my Before Your Story workshop.
And best of all, you’re invited to participate with me! You can find all of the instructions at the end of this post.
Previous Things: #1 | #2-7 | #8-14
#15 of 34 | I spent a semester at Biosphere 2 in Arizona. In lieu of studying abroad my junior year in college, I chose to spend the fall semester in an immersive environmental studies program in the middle of the Arizona desert. We lived in little houses on the property, but went to classes each day inside of Biosphere 2 itself. This is one of the coolest things I’ve ever done.
#16 of 34 | Frank Lloyd Wright is my favorite architect. I remember being assigned Wright for a project in school and immediately feeling connected to his ideas on simplicity and nature as well as the unity of art and science in his works. I’ve visited his homes and structures in Arizona, California, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
#17 of 34 | I’m proud that I went on a day cruise alone. In my 20s I was lucky to have the chance to go to both Alaska and Hawaii, narrowing my list of states-not-visited to just one (Idaho). I went to Alaska to deliver a training on behalf of the EPA, but took an extra day for myself to go on glacier cruise.
#18 of 34 | Butter pecan is my favorite flavor of ice cream. Your Great Grandpa Sjolin loved butter pecan ice cream as does your Grandma Sjolin, but it look a while to grow on me. Now I would pick it above any other flavor.
#19 of 34 | I’ve always struggled with my weight. This photo is from one of two periods in my post-adolescent life in which I was fairly thin. Twice I’ve been able to successfully count calories and exercise near-daily to get to the weight I’m supposed to be at. When left to my own natural habits (apparently gluttony and sloth), I get heavy. I have a fairly good body image and know how to dress my curves, but I do want to be healthier.
#20 of 34 | I was the field camp TA during graduate school. My education in the earth sciences sent me to so many fun places, including twice to Mammoth Lakes, California. Our field camp was nestled in the hills outside this resort town, at a research field station. On my second trip, I served as the class teaching assistant and the hot springs tour guide.
#21 of 34 | I was a summer intern in Washington, DC. I built my first website from scratch in 1997 and had a monthly web magazine for teen girls* from 1996 to 2001. Somehow this experience got me hired as a web design intern for a very small non-profit called the Center for Environmental Citizenship. I lived, along with thousands of other interns, in the dorms at American University.
* I have occasionally come across people who I knew “in the old days”, so I’ll share a few details in case anyone is out there. From 1996-1997 I had an AOL e-zine called Sugar *n* Spice. Then in late 1997 I rebranded as Elements Magazine (old domain: elements-mag.com) and that ran until 2001. I also ran a community for zine owners called Exced-zine Headache.
How to Participate & Win
To participate, create a blog post with your list of 34 things. It doesn’t have to be long or even include photos. You could even create a layout and post it to a gallery. Then, link up your post by February 27 for a chance to win a seat in Before Your Story.
Note: You’ll see some of the Simple Scrapper team members and friends participating too. Look for (giveaway) on the linky entries for even more chances to win a seat in my Before Your Story workshop!
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Blog Badge
When you share your post, I’d love if you linked back to this post. You can even download and include this blog badge for use in your post. Click here to download.
Template
If you’d like to personalize a blog graphic like mine, or even print it out for your pocket album, I’ve got a free template for you to download. Click here to download.
Wow, that is so cool that you spent time in the Biosphere! I did a project on the Biosphere in middle school and found it absolutely and completely fascinating. I even saved some drawings that I did for the project because I couldn’t bear to throw them out. What an amazing experience you must have had!
~Natalie
It is super fascinating and we got to hear a lot of behind-the-scenes stories about the original crew and the management.