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  • Kimberly Hula 7:27 am on February 22, 2016 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: 2/52, 2016 Walt Disney World marathon, 26.2 miles, , redemption,   

    “You must give everything to make your life as beautiful as the dreams that dance in your imagination.” 

    “The miracle isn’t that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start.”
    ― John Bingham, No Need for Speed: A Beginner’s Guide to the Joy of Running

    2016 may seem to some like a bit of a paradox.  Here we have an encore of 2010 – a resolve to commit to a year of adventures so as to broaden our exposure to the world and challenge our inhibitions.  It’s a vast scope of work and one could argue that there are limitless adventures to undertake.  So why, in a world of such potential, would I elect to do something I’ve already done?

    12540870_10103628520318000_361795023563503039_nI haven’t defined an adventure because each experience is unique to the individual.  One man’s ‘been there, done that‘ is another’s worst fear confirmed.  Even more, I’m an adventuring one-hit wonder.  Despite my best efforts I can never replicate an experience.  The set up, the sensation, the reflection, all changes.  While this helps keep life spicy (see: experience, spice of life), it also comes at a cost.  You see, I think fondly on my past year of adventure.  Sometimes I’d do just about anything to feel as unencumbered as free as I did when I first jumped out of a plane, or spoke into a microphone, or fell in love.  These are the memories we’d sooner remake, so it was with some trepidation that I embarked on Adventure #2, and ran my first marathon in 11 years.

    (More …)

     

  • kittycurry 6:07 pm on January 30, 2016 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: 2/52   

    BOS->BOM Part 1 

    IMG_0037I went to India the second week of January for work. My colleague, a videographer, and I, a writer, were there to cover a water desalination device developed at our university and its impact on the lives of villagers in rural India, where electricity and money and clean water are all hard to come by.

    It doesn’t sound scary, I know, but I have to admit I was a little nervous. For one, I would be away from my daughter for almost two weeks.

    Two, I was going to a developing country, a first for me. I’ve traveled to well developed countries like England, Iceland, Italy, and France, but never anything like this. I really had no idea what I should be prepared to see or feel. All I knew was that apparently I was going to stand out, I should bring my own toilet paper, I’d probably get ill, and I owned zero appropriate clothing.

    Three, I was going on a work trip, so, while I was traveling with a co-worker and wouldn’t technically be on my own, in a way I was going alone — another first for me.

    Four, we weren’t going as tourists, meandering around big cities to see the sights and shop and eat our hearts out – we were going to mostly small, poor villages that lack basic amenities like 24-hour electricity and clean water. Did I mention how long the flights were? Oh, and I would be practicing a type of extended in-the-field journalism that I had never done before, getting nice and cozy with subjects and environments that were quite different from anything I’ve ever known.

    Talk about moving outside your comfort zone. I didn’t know if I’d get there and burst with joy from experiencing so many new things all at once, or start crying and maybe vomit from the shock and horror of it all. It really was a toss-up.

    Nevertheless, I was excited. (More …)

     

  • wip78 5:57 pm on January 8, 2012 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , 2/52   

    A year of adventure: Take 2 

    A couple of weeks ago, I contacted Ms. Hula about a reprise of this campaign. I was a member of the original cast back in 2010, and those first couple of weeks were filled with adventure- quitting smoking, a food challenge, reality t.v., acquiring a trainer, and a few others. What a send off!  But,  as many of us are all too familiar with,  life takes us in a different direction and our focus is placed elsewhere. My year of adventure came to a halt during the first quarter after getting into a fender-bender with my roommate’s car (what a headache!….which also started my nasty habit of smoking again), and the daily grind and being a creature of habit smothered my desire to be adventuresome. There were times I wanted to get back on “Train 52” , however, being embarrassed that I had let so much time pass by, I abandoned the campaign altogether.  Over the past year and a half, I have experienced several personal challenges.  I have learned life long lessons that have made me a much stronger, reflective, and authentic  individual. I am thankful for all that I have encountered because they have led me to the person I am today.

    With that being said, I’ve noticed I am in need of a little spice in my life….to experience something unfamiliar, something new, something exciting.  To challenge myself mentally, physically, and/or emotionally….and I just want a  year full of fun!!  What a better way to fulfill this need by participating in adventures based on my terms?!  Intriguing?! Keep reading… (More …)

     

    • Lauren Maki 6:30 pm on January 8, 2012 Permalink

      I’m doing the Polar Plunge in February at NU! It’s so much fun! Also, now I’m inspired and I’m starting my own year of 52 adventures.

    • wip78 6:35 pm on January 8, 2012 Permalink

      Join us!!! Share your stories here. We would love to read about them:)

    • wip78 6:37 pm on January 8, 2012 Permalink

      P.S. I’ll join you for said plunge.

    • Kimberly Hula 12:56 pm on January 9, 2012 Permalink

      Roberto, I love every ingredient you’ve cooked up here! When I’m next in Chicago can we be adventure pals?

    • wip78 9:05 pm on January 9, 2012 Permalink

      Yes, please!

  • inkstainedangel 8:16 pm on May 12, 2010 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , 2/52, ,   

    Adventures 1,2, 3, and 4 Oh my! 

    Not one, not two, but four adventures in one blog post!? Well, this is ground breaking! You’re just going to have to read more and enjoy. 🙂

    Adventure #1- The Garden

    This is my on-going adventure, and lately adventure is an understatement. The weather up here has gotten freakishly chilly, and most of the viney-plants that I planted earlier last month have all died. I have about two sugar pumpkins, a squash, and a cantaloupe left of six jack-o-lanterns, three sugar-pumpkins, three squash, three watermelon, and three cantaloupe. I have enough seeds, and enough time to re-plant, but right now its a mess. And because of the weather, all the seedlings I have inside perished from lack of sunlight. All there is left to do is persevere and try again! (And I have to tell my mom to stop buying new seeds, because I have no place to put them yet o.o)

    Adventure #2- Cooking Dinner for 8

    Holy crap! Eight people, and my mom tells me to cook?! I can hardly make Mac&Cheese from the box without help from my younger sisters!

    I wake up in the morning as my mom is getting ready to go to work and getting dinner started. She looks at me as she’s putting a couple of frozen lamb-shanks into a large black casserole tin. I look at the daunting mess of dirty dishes in the sink as I remember that I forgot to take care of them last night. But before I could open the dishwasher to clean up the disaster looming over my kitchen counter, my mom says,

    “We’re having shepherd’s pie tonight, and I need you to make it,”

    In my head I’m screaming my head off. Outside, my sleepy and groggy body manages to let out a “what?”

    “Can you cook tonight?” she asks. I look back at the dishes, and back to her and shrug. (More …)

     

    • yearof52adventures 7:46 am on May 17, 2010 Permalink

      Way to go lady! YOU are on a roll!

    • faolan01 4:49 pm on May 24, 2010 Permalink

      4 great adventures you have there! congrats on making the big family dinner!

    • Malerie 2:01 pm on May 3, 2011 Permalink

      Fell out of bed feeling down. This has brihtgeend my day!

    • Staysha 2:23 pm on May 4, 2011 Permalink

      Hey, good to find soomene who agrees with me. GMTA.

  • skywatcher 10:13 pm on May 4, 2010 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: 2/52   

    New Places, New People #2/52 

    The word “adventure” has gotten me thinking lately – and I’m a great one for over analyzing.  The word seems ubiquitous on the Internet, and I wonder why.  What is it we’re all after?  I’ll admit I’m a little bored with my life right now – it’s too settled and too predictable.  It isn’t that I’m not thankful for all that I have (two fantastic teenagers, nice home, stable income, etc.), but it just isn’t…enough.  What’s important to me right now  is to seek out new experiences…shake things up…step outside my comfort zone.  I don’t necessarily need to make waves with every adventure – but I can sure as heck make some ripples.

    Which leads me to last weekend.  Without going into a lot of detail, I’ll say that I took a my longest bike ride ever on a new route. It was not without its challenges (which included a big black dog named “Rambo” – but let’s not go there!)  I will also say that the lovely hills of the Virginia Piedmont seem a lot more scenic when one is riding down.

    The following morning, I joined a group of total strangers on a Habitat for Humanity fund-raising hike.  The trail was beautiful and the people I met were fantastic.  (Meeting new people is definitely at the top of my list of adventures; I don’t know how, as an introvert, I can crave social contact so much, but that seems to be the way it is!)  Finally, I took my kayak out on a lake I’d never visited before.  It was very windy but sunny and warm…and I’ll confess that I spent more time aimlessly floating around than I did paddling!

    Exciting? Not really…but what a great weekend!

     

  • faolan01 12:30 pm on April 30, 2010 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: 2/52   

    Adventure #2, Sunrise 

    Today my adventure was the result of accident and circumstance rather than planning and intention. Today I got to do something I only manage to do once every few years.

    Today I sat out on the breakers and watched the sun rise over the Atlantic.

    There have been many, many times when I have been out all night and not gotten home until the sun had risen. It was much more common in high school and college, but it still happens from time to time now that I am “grown up”. But of all those times that I was awake when the sun came up, either because I had already woken up or because I was still up, I have only sat and watched the sun rise less than a dozen times. Every single time I have been amazed. If you live on the east coast, or near enough to the east coast to make this a possibility, do yourself a favor and head down to the waterfront some morning to witness the ocean being lit on fire by the rising sun. Watch as green turns to yellow and orange and red and revel in the breaking of a new day.

     

    • yearof52adventures 4:28 pm on April 30, 2010 Permalink

      what a lovely adventure to stumble upon. I’m in hot pursuit of a sunset this weekend!

    • lyds 6:59 pm on April 30, 2010 Permalink

      What a beautiful description of another of God’s most colorful artwork.

  • Stephanie 7:56 am on March 22, 2010 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: 2/52,   

    Adventure #2 – Restorative Yoga Retreat 

    January 8-10

    I’ve always been a fan of yoga, so I thought what better why to spend a cold weekend in January than to go on a yoga retreat?  I did some googling and was happy to find a yoga center only 2 hours from Boston – Kripalu Yoga and Meditation Center in Lenox, MA.  The program I selected was “Relaxing into the Heart of Winter” with Jillian Pransky (pictured above). The program focused on restorative yoga, which is a type of yoga I had never tried before.  The poses are supported by blankets, cushions, and foam blocks.  They are held for longer periods of time than traditional yoga poses (15-20 minutes).  The point of this process and meditation is to teach your body how to synchronize with the natural slowing down that happens in nature during the winter season.

    Kripalu is an old monastery, so the conditions are simple, but comfortable.  The retreat was incredibly relaxing and allowed me to spend a lot of time being introspective.  I treated myself to a spa package with a neck and shoulder massage, energy balancing, Vitamin C Facial, and an aromatherapy massage.  I left the weekend feeling pampered, calm, and balanced.

    At the end of the retreat, we all drew “angel cards” out of a bag.  Each card had a word on it.  We were instructed to silently ask if there was anything the universe wanted us to know.  I asked and the card that I drew was POWER.  Hmm, I wonder what that means….

     

  • kimkin85 11:02 am on February 10, 2010 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , 2/52, , ,   

    Adventures Begin! (Recap) 

    Greetings, fellow adventurers!  As I have been negligent in posting my adventures thus far, I thought I would start with a quick roundup of what my first few adventures have been.  (Don’t worry, in future posts the storyteller in me will really come out as I share my experiences in exquisite detail.)

    Adventure 1: Worked for a week at the elementary school where my mother teaches art.  Keeping track of six classrooms each of Kindergartners and third graders is a crazy fun time, but it reminded my why I decided not to be a teacher.

    Adventure 2:  Had my very first phone interview–with a woman in Austria!  It’s now official and I’ll be starting my three month internship at the library of the Salzburg Global Seminar in September.

    Adventure 3:  I had the unintended adventure of finding a local doctor who would believe me that I do indeed know when I have a sinus infection and would give me a prescription.  That part was a success, unfortunately, I did not recover fast enough for my scheduled oral surgery and had to put that off for a few weeks.

    Adventure 4:  Getting back into swimming.  Awkward hours at the campus gym is a terrible excuse, so this week I set a schedule and stuck to it.  Few things are as energizing as being in the water, although it would be nice if it were the Caribbean instead of a pool in Boston in the winter…

    Adventure 5:  Last week’s adventure was a visit to the MFA to see the famous mummy head.  It was fascinatingly disturbing.

    This week’s adventure will probably be to think of something that actually sounds adventurous when I write it down.  Wish me luck!

    -Kim

     

  • screeech 11:36 am on February 5, 2010 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , 2/52, , , , Ramen   

    1月のAdventures 

    Brian here with a month of adventures.  4 weeks, 4 adventures.  The task (adventure?) of learning how to write a decent post is still unattained.  Awesome. I write more over at my regular blog, http://www.gaijinbash.com, click the links if you want to read more about each adventure.

    1. Shinnenkai with my Motorcycle Riding Club

    20100110-DSC_7314

    Shinnenkai is another excuse for people to drink in Japan. It roughly translates to let’s drink for the first time in the new year party. Hopped on the bike and headed down to the Izu peninsula. This is the one place near Tokyo where palm trees line the road and the beach, ocean, and sky aren’t all shades of grey. You can read more here.

    2. Visit to an Abandoned Dinosaur Exhibition

    20100124-DSC_7912

    Haikyo is the word for modern ruins in Japan. Mostly just hotels built during the bubble economy, these are the decaying reminders of overspending in a capitalist society. And they are totally rad! I have a fleeting interest in them, and make it out once in a blue moon. This time, I went to a dinosaur exhibition at a snake center. Read more about the dinosaurs here. And the freaky second part at the snake center here.  Be warned, photos of hella dead snakes.

    (More …)

     

  • AG 10:13 pm on January 25, 2010 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , 2/52, ,   

    Korean Adventures 

    The first adventure was celebrating New Year’s Eve/Day in Korea. The best thing about New Year’s Day in Korea is that everyone changes age on this day. So it’s everybody’s birthday in Korea on January 1st. The worst part is that I turned 30 (Korean age). Or maybe that is the best part because so far 30 is great!

    Adventure 2 involved going to a Korean person’s home. This was a first. I have been in Korea for 8 months but had never entered anyone’s home here aside from friends’ apartments. My friend, Tommy, invited me over to his house, and I really wasn’t sure what to expect. I was impressed with the luxuries of his residence, including a Kimchi regfrigerator! His mom served us food such as oysters, sushi, octupus, kimchi (of course) and many other Korean side dishes. His brother and mom spoke to me in the little English that they know, asking my name, saying hello, etc.

    Adventure #3: Korean Wedding

    It was short and sweet as weddings here are not so formal. The bride wears a white gown, which is the only similarity between Korean and American weddings. The ceremony was about 30 minutes and following was dinner accommodated by Soju. So you see the show, you eat, you leave.

    I’m not sure what my next adventures will be. I think that since adventures just happen to me here, I’m going to go with it and just report them here. Some things I would like to do this year include playing piano again, taking a yoga class, sewing/knitting class, and probably the most important: love. Love has always been my motivation. But the challenge will be to learn to accept it in whatever form it enters my life rather than changing it into what I think it should be. Because I’ve learned…it really never is what I think it should be. So love…the ultimate adventure. I might have found it, and I’ll post more on that next time.

     

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