May 12 2013
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Friends and Family, Reader Suggested Fun, Travel Fun

Day 230: “Real” Photo Album

Before the big anniversary trip, a friend sent me a photo album, the kind with plastic pages ready for printed photos. Her note said it was for photos from the trip and Year of Fun. Because “who does that anymore?”

Since we’ve been back, I’ve dumped all the photos from the trip into iPhoto, played a slideshow on two different TVs from my iPad and posted an album on Facebook. All things digital. Today I was able to really look through and pick the best and funniest. I had to be selective. This album does not have seemingly endless “memory” nor is it free to “share” the pictures. Because I was printing them, I had to pay special attention to the photos and selection. I could not over share if I wanted to. 52 photos to tell the story of the trip, not hundreds. It was challenging, refreshing and fun. Thanks R!

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May 11 2013
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Online Fun, Solitary Fun

Day 229: Sunday in the Park with George (again)

Remember when I wrote that post at the very beginning of the Year of Fun about Sunday in the Park with George and the song in it that inspired the post? Well, it’s back. I’ve been missing that show. The production I saw was Just. So. Good.

Today I found myself writing for work at my dinning room table. Natural light pouring in through the kitchen windows. The dog sleeping at my feet. And I just wanted to hear that music. Rarely do I crave listening to a musical. Yes, I am a “theater person,” but I have never really been a “musical theater person.” Don’t get me wrong, I love music, musicals and singing. But I don’t know all of the musicals or their history or all about Bernadette Peters. I don’t own that many musical cast recordings, and the ones I do own were written in the last 5-7 years (In the Heights, Passing Strange, Spring Awakening, Book of Mormon, etc).

So today I satisfied my craving by purchasing the original cast recording on iTunes and playing over and over while working. Pretty great.

May 11 2013
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Fun at Work, Fun for Couples, Games

Days 224, 225, 226, 227, & 228

Let me just say, it has been one hectic week. Rather than write five individual posts about how hectic its been and how little time I’ve had to have fun let alone write about it, I’m opting for one long post on the week. See this is sort of how I envision the future of Year of Fun. After the initial Year is over, I want to keep blogging, but in a more thoughtful way. This isn’t to say that I have not been thoughtful all year–just that it is difficult to write the way that I would like to write and spend the time I would like to spend every day. In the future, I see myself posting once a week on a whole range of topics dedicated to fun, RA and just cool stuff I read, see, do, or find out about. These posts will be longer with more pictures, links, thoughts and recommendations.

But that is for after September 25, 2013. Now, I am in the 220s with over 100 days to go! And as I mentioned, this week has been a doozy.

Day 224, Monday–The craziness starts at work when an important element for a campaign falls through. Basically, I spend the whole rest of the week doing damage control. Every waking minute. But Monday night, when I did not think things were so bad, the hubs and I have leftovers and relax. It was probably the most rest I had all week.

Day 225, Tuesday–I stay home to try and get some work writing done. At the last minute we change a nominee for an award, so I focus on that all day. That night, the hubs introduces me to Ski Safari. It’s an app, and, I believe, a kids game, but it’s pretty fun.

Day 226, Wednesday–We start performances on Friday for our next show, everyone is crazy. So crazy that we have a short meeting in the bathroom while someone makes vomit packs over the sink. Ok that was pretty fun. I get to have dinner with friends with kids for about 40 minutes before rushing off to my next thing.

Day 227, Thursday–I spend the evening with a friend who is helping us out by editing a video. I have absolutely no experience with this but I really enjoy talking about structure and storytelling and the seeing him implement things into the video that make the structure and storytelling more sound. I also visit a Starbucks that is not playing the traditional indie soft rock but rather Blackstreet’s “No Diggity” at a volume that I’m pretty sure is against corporate standards. The employees were all singing along. It was pretty fun.

Day 228, Friday–Day of the show y’all. The air has a hectic/whirlwind vibe to it. People are doing whatever they can to get ready. At the last minute, a friends wants to have dinner. Instead I convince him to see the show with the hubs. The fun part is seeing them after the show and talking with them about how much they like it and how funny it is.

This doesn’t totally do my week justice, but it is pretty close. Tech Week. Am I right?

 

May 05 2013
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Friends and Family, Fun for Couples, Games, Outdoor Fun, Rheumatoid Arthritis

Day 223: Kids, Suburbs, Kids

After doing a little party clean up and recovery, the hubs and I headed out to the burbs to visit some friends and their kids.

First stop, J and A and their son in Buffalo Grove. We played soccer and baseball in their yard and a matching game in their home. Then we picked up Portillos (obviously a suburban favorite) and took it to V and J and their two children in Northbrook. After dinner we were treated to a game and a few musical numbers courtesy of their 6 year old.

I had a lot of fun and did my best to keep up with the seemingly endless supply of energy in all three of the kids. The hubs was great! Especially playing with the first boy, who is two and a half and just wanted to do sports the whole time. It’s also nice (and fun) to see friends as parents, to watch their kids grow up and to be a part of so many great families’ lives.

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May 04 2013
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Food/Drink Fun, Friends and Family, Games, Rheumatoid Arthritis

Day 222: Arthritis Party

I posted before about inviting people to a fundraising party for Team Year of Fun. Tonight was that party.

The date wasn’t a very good one for a lot of people so we ended up with a small crew of friends, many of whom had already donated. I did, however, have an iPad out at the party so a couple people donated and even more signed up to walk with me. Their donations and postings on Facebook drove other people to donate and Team Year of Fun ended having a little boom that blasted us back into second place! (Although I just checked now, since I’m writing this after the weekend, and another team has swooped in raising over $5,000 leaving us in third).

The party itself was a lot of fun. The hubs set up a quesadilla bar full of ingredients. People built their own and then the hubs grilled it for them. We played games and chatted. A few people even played a version of the 1980s game Battleship with shots of beer standing in for the ships (see picture below). It was fun to have people over, talk about the walk and spur some donations!

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