Board books
We have a good supply of board books in Cameron’s play area and up in her room. As anyone with a toddler knows, they like to destroy things. Board books are perfect because they are practically indestructible. Not so the pop up book that barely survived a single «reading» with Cameron. My favorites are the Sandra Boynton ones because they rhyme and don’t have too many words. The touch and feel books are still good for this age too.

Swing
We put Cameron in this exactly one time and she immediately started pointing (well, gesturing with her entire hand because she hasn’t figured out pointing with an index finger yet) at the swing every time she saw it from her bedroom window or if we were out in the yard. She insists on swinging for at least 15 minutes. If we try to take her out before those 15 minutes are up then she kicks and cries. We’ve been fortunate that physical development melded nicely with the passage of seasons. It has been perfect swinging weather since we got it. The one we use is Little Tykes and I got it for $15 from a consignment sale. It doesn’t swing completely straight but I blame the installation (trees can be tricky). If we had a real swing set I would have gotten a bucket seat swing. We use those at the park and I think that they are much sturdier.

Shoes
I still have some 12-18 month Robeez and that Cameron needs to grow into. Now that she is cruising all over the place, however, those shoes will probably be relegated to «indoor» shoes. Otherwise Cameron is now enjoying «real» shoes. We did go to Stride Rite and spent more than necessary but hey, it was her first pair of real shoes. My recommendation is to go velcro. I have no idea why parents would select ones with laces. Cameron already likes to unlace things. Putting temptation on her feet would be too risky. I was going to get two pairs of shoes for her but I didn’t want two girlie pairs and the one boy pair I liked was out of stock. In retrospect I’m glad we only got one pair. We’ll definitely add in sandals into the mix for the late spring/summer.

Hair holders
I have bought more hair accessories for Cameron’s hair than I have ever had for my own. I finally found the right kind of elastic bands. I swear by the Scunci brand which is carried by most retailers. Don’t go plastic. They will fall out in 1 minute. Aside from the tiny elastic bands I also like the clippies and miniature octopus clips Scunci offers. My trick to styling Cameron’s hair is to put her in the high chair, give her a handful of Cheerios and go to town.

Suction bowl
Cameron likes to throw her food. A lot. One strategy we have employed to combat her willfulness is to present her food in a bowl. I ordered two of these suction bowls from Amazon and love them! One is not enough…you should definitely get two. The ones I purchased do a great job of «sticking» to the tray.

High chair mat
Continuing with the food theme I also purchased a splat mat. Even though we have a dog he is the biggest wimp on the planet and won’t come far enough into the kitchen to eat the dropped (ahem, thrown) food. Weirdo. I’ll pull the mat up before the cleaning people come through.

Food storage
Toddlers don’t just love playing with Tupperware, parents love how useful it is for storing leftovers. I found the perfect size for us to use for extra canned vegetables or fresh fruit. They also work for the diaper bag with snacks. My local Harris Teeter carried them.

Snack trap
We have two, one is the original Snack Trap and the other is a knock off. Both work fine but I find that the original Snack Trap has a more flexible plastic on its opening. It’s easier for Cameron to get her hand in but it is also easier for her to spill the snack all over the floor. Or the car seat. Or the stroller. Do you sense a theme?

Sippy cup leash
I don’t have one of these yet but my friend Amanda showed hers off while we were at lunch with our munchkins. I had to keep getting up from my chair and picking up Cameron’s sippy cup. So I’m ordering one ASAP. Amanda recommends two: one for traveling and one for the high chair.

Sling
Cameron still isn’t walking on her own and even when she is, it will take her a few months to become a really good walker. And even then she’s going to want to be carried quite a bit. With the summer heat right around the corner I shuddered to think about using the heavy Moby wrap. Instead I purchased a very inexpensive ring sling from Sleeping Baby Productions. I’m just a few inches over 5 feet and a small works great for us. It can be a bit awkward to get Cameron in and out by myself but if DH is around it’s perfect. I can take most of her weight onto my shoulder rather than my arm. It’s more comfortable for both of us and I can carry her for 30+ minutes at a time. I’ve even taken her on errands with it because it is so much faster than hauling out the stroller.

Parents of kids over the age of 1…what else am I missing? Any other must haves that I need to add to this list?

A few other things I’d include in my smile file?

Happy birthday, wonderful ladies!

From between its pages falls a tiny card with the above image. Wouldn’t you just about weep? Wouldn’t you get all «Universe! I heart you!»

Well, I know I would.

So! In an effort to bring a bit of joy and fun and good karma into the world, I am so, so, so excited to introduce you to Yes and Yes’s newest brain child – The Karma Card. There are five different cards, each with a message meant to inspire/encourage/light a fire under your derriere.

Here’s the deal!

Step 1: Get Your Karma Cards
You can either download the PDF for free here (because spreading joy should be free, right?)
or
If you can’t be bothered to find cardstock and a highquality printer (or you want to support Yes and Yes and like getting mail) you can buy a set of 15 for $6 measly dollars over there on the sidebar. I will print them up and send them to you in an envelope smothered with kisses

Step 2: Spread The Love
Now start paying it forward! Tuck those cards somewhere that someone will find them. Ideas?
* inside the bill folder at a restaraunt
* inside a book
* in a bathroom stall at a bar
* under wiper blades
* in bike spokes
* on the window of a bus
* in a random mailbox slot
* in a napkin dispensor

Step 3: Document It And Send It To Me
Take photos of the places where you’ve hidden your cards and send them to me at sarah_vonbargen (at) yahoo (dot) come. The three most creative places will get a the PDF of A Year in Yes, our 2010 calendar! Will you leave one in the Eiffel tower? On a ship that’s headed for Antarcica? Some place so awesome I can’t even think of it right now?

Best of luck and I do hope you like them!

Also on the docket for this past weekend? Getting my birthday present. I’ve been toying with the idea of getting an iPad but I am not an early adopter. Plus the price point was a little high for me. Instead DH and I packed up Cameron and went to the AT&T store to get me what I now refer to as «my precious,» my kick ass iPhone. I absolutely love it and have no idea how I juggled a cell phone and iPod before. Of course it makes sense to have both together! I got the high end case for it in bright pink. It was worth the extra $60 buck when you have a toddler. And bright pink was so that DH knows as he plays with it that it’s all mine.

The iPhone is super intuitive. And I am not an intuitive person when it comes to technology. Ironic considering I work in technology, no? DH has already uploaded his fantasy baseball application and I added the Weight Watchers point tracker. The photo quality isn’t as great as my digital camera but I expected that to be the case. Plus Cameron is in full on mobility mode so she never sits still for photos any more.

Any other iPhone lovers out there? Any recommendations for applications that I can download?

When I googled their home country, I discovered that in addition to measuring Gross Domestic Product (like every other country) Bhutan is the only country in the world that measures happiness, via Gross National Happiness. Via wikipedia: The Bhutanese grounding in Buddhist ideals suggests that beneficial development of human society takes place when material and spiritual development occur side by side to complement and reinforce each other. The four pillars of GNH are the promotion of sustainable development, preservation and promotion of cultural values, conservation of the natural environment, and establishment of good governance.

Amazing, eh? Maybe all our governments could learn something from this tiny country.

Watching them grow and mature is even more fun. This morning, the boys were playing in the camper and they were behaving like very responsible little boys. They can now put on their strap sunglasses by themselves (sometimes with help), wind up toys and go and fetch their other toys from obscure spots in the camper. We had to break up a few squirmishes, but in all they are showing self sufficiency. Even eating breakfast (Life Cereal over milk) was so much easier than before.

Aside from the excessive roaring while wearing sun glassess, this has been a nice morning. Now if only Aunt Laura would have her baby (which we are trying to stress her out and set her off so she has it soon) . . . .

I trundled my prickly little piece of goodness home and plunked it in my decorative fruit bowl, in an attempt to my kitchen look like a Gourmet magazine photo shoot and give the apples an inferiority complex. After a few days of admiring my horned melon, I finally worked up the nerve to slice into it and have a nibble.

Findings? A loud and resounding ‘meh.’

Imagine a cross between a cucumber and a deeply mediocre kiwi fruit. Refreshing, pulpy, seedy and slightly sour. Sure, it’s looks like the Bjork of the produce aisle but it tastes more like Sarah McLachlan. Or at least what I imagine her fruit counterpart would taste like.

For five stinking dollars I want mouth-gasms! I want previously untasted flavors! I want something that doesn’t taste like a cucumber dressed in lemon juice!

Fruit that is worth five dollars you say?

Kumquats

Lychees

Jackfruit

Passion fruit

Have you ever tried a horned melon? What strange fruit or vegetables do you like?

We had a wonderful weekend with very minor temper tantrums by Cameron. Either we are getting better at managing (really distracting) her or she’s just gearing up for another big one. Lots of errands were run and DH had his baseball draft. This Sunday is the start of me being a baseball widow for the next 8 months. Perhaps a month less if the Yankees don’t make it to the post season. Hey, a wife can dream! DH finally broke down and bought a new flat screen TV for his office and a new couch. The TV is already in place and the couch should be delivered in the next week or so. That means I can have the main TV all to myself!

The one errand we didn’t accomplish was to pick out new glasses for me. 7 years ago I got laser eye surgery. It was absolutely the best thing I ever did. I was able to pay for it with pre-tax dollars and loved being able to see in the shower or the clock when I rolled over. I had, to put it mildly, very poor eyesight. My glasses were coke bottles so I primarily wore contacts. About a year before the surgery the contacts started to really bother my eyes if I had them in for longer than a few hours. Faced between scheduling an expensive procedure and wearing my coke bottle classes, I decided to go with the surgery.

I had a feeling that my eyesight wasn’t 20/20 any more. But I haven’t been to the eye doctor since the last eye surgery follow up. I do have some problems driving at night. I get a halo effect from lights. But DH usually drives so it wasn’t that big of a deal. I scheduled my appointment for this huge facility right down the road.

The nurse took me back through a warren of corridors (I think this place could have seen 100 patients at one time!) and began administering my eye test. Are they really nurses? Perhaps eye technicians? Anyway, she immediately began clicking her tongue when I couldn’t read below the second line. I said, «These letters are really small. I bet most people can’t read them.» She responded, «Yes they can.» Crap. I knew that this wasn’t going to be a good appointment. After scaring me she dilated my eyes and then the doctor came in. He was super nice and his wife was also an eye doctor (Harvard). He also told me that his daughter was going to Harvard in the fall. For what, you may ask? Nuclear physics. Yikes. Smart girl.

The doctor told me that my eyes weren’t too bad but my left one was worse than my right which was why I couldn’t see well at night. «It’s actually a good thing,» he told me seriously, «That means in a few years when you are in your 40s and you start to become far sighted you won’t need reading glasses.» Gee, thanks. I happen to only be in my early thirties, dude. I had to write my birth date down a million times on the forms I filled out. Do the math!

It turns out that I will only need glasses for driving at night which is great. I don’t plan on wearing them very often because I remember distinctly when I was 8 and got glasses for the first time. After about a week once I took them off everything was blurry. I don’t plan on going through that again. And the silver lining is that despite failing eyesight today apparently I will not require reading glasses in ten years when I’m in my forties.

Has anyone else regressed from their eye surgery? Contemplating getting it?

52. Have Something Delicious Delivered to your House
Don’t go for the normal pizza – see if your favorite Italian or Moroccan restaurant do deliveries? Will the bakery send you out a fresh-baked loaf? Bask in the glory of ringing someone up and having hot food arrive on your doorstep. It’s a wonderful world we live in.

53. Tourism!
Dress up like a tourist (shorts, shirt, camera, “bum bag”, ridiculous hat, guidebook in back pocket) and go do something really touristy: whale-watching, the tourist bus tour, or go to the over-priced amusements. Talk loudly, take hundreds of photos.

54. Clothing Attack
Find all the clothes in your wardrobe you don’t really like and attack them with hundreds of studs and spikes. I bet you like them better now, right?

55. Invent Music
Buy a silly instrument – a harmonica, a tin whistle, a recorder, a djambje, anything as long as it’s inexpensive and makes noise. Be loud and enthusiastic in your playing.

56. Feed Ducks
Make a “feel happy” soundtrack of your favorite songs, and stick it on your MP3 player. Put on your favorite walking clothes. Walk to your local park or river, stopping at the dairy on the way to pick up a loaf of bread. Walk through the park listening to your favorite songs, a find a good stop to sit down a throw morsels of bread to the ducks and geese.

57. Secret Squirrel
Find a secret place. Your secret place should be high up, with a great view. Look for tall trees in the park, abandoned buildings with easily-scaled roofs, or unknown nooks and niches above bridges. Take yourself there when you feel blue, listen to music or read a book and watch the city unfold around you. Be careful climbing to your secret place – falling from your favorite tree won’t cheer you up!

58. Buy Silly Slippers
In the cold of winter, your feet need all the warm they can get. A pair of ridiculous slippers – shaped like dogs, penguins or Eric Adam’s loincloth – cheer you up.

59. Otherwise Know As …
Decide on new nicknames for all of your friends. Send them a text or email to let them know their new nickname, and call them that from now on. The more outrageous the nicknames, the better. Nicknames make a person feel loved, like they’ve reached a new level of intimacy with you.

60. Rise and Shine, Sleepyhead
Changing your morning routine can alter your whole day. If you shower at night, try showering in the morning, just after you wake up. What do you eat for breakfast? DO you eat breakfast? We need to change that? Do you open the curtains? If not, open them wide! Do you get up too early? Too late? Change up your routine for a week, and measure the affects on you whole persona.

61. Wake-up Call
Change your alarm clock to something fun. On our epic Europe adventure we had “Morning Manowar”. I tell you, nothing makes you more excited to get up and explore castles than “Hail and Kill” at 7am.

62. Find a Totem
A totem is an embalm representing a creature or object you feel a strong connection with. Carrying a totem on your person gives you the sense of being able to draw power from associating yourself with that creature. It’s a little new-agey, but I also think it’s quite metal.
My totem animals are cats, and birds – specifically ravens and ducks. We made friends with ravens in Norway, and ever since, I’ve fallen utterly in love with them.

63. Experience New Things
Find a list of “what’s on in your town”, and for a week, do something new every day. Alternatively, search travel websites for reviews of off-the-beaten track things to do in your area – sometimes backpackers find the gems you’d never otherwise discover, because their hearts and minds are actively searching for those experiences.

64. Lego
One day I was feeling crap, my husband snuck out of the house. He returned 20 minutes later carrying a huge box. What was inside? A lego viking ship! We spent the afternoon making it up and having high seas viking adventures. Best. Cheering. Up. Ever.

65. Write a Personal Manifesto
Who are you really? What are you about? What makes you tick? What morals and beliefs do you follow? Write yourself a personal manifesto – who you are, who you want to be and how you’re gonna get there. For more info on manifesto writing (an artform in itself) read about Nothing Elegant’s Blog Manifesto project

66. Open an Etsy Shop
If you’re a creative type, why not see if you can sell some work online. Etsy is a great place to sell handmade crafts or vintage collections. You don’t have to try and make millions selling your work, but list a few of your best pieces and see how you go.

TIP: The key to success on Etsy (as far as I can tell) is to list lots of items, so your stuff shows up in more searches. Try to list an item a day for 30 days – you should start to see more regular sales once you have over 50-100 items in your shop (which is what I’m currently working towards). It’s only 20c to list an item, so you not going to bankrupt yourself.

67. Make Someone’s Day
Mark Twain said “the best way to cheer yourself up is to cheer somebody else up”. The man speaks truth. Call an old friend up, just to say hi. Text someone and tell them they’re awesome. Take any idea from this list and do it for someone else, instead of for yourself.

68. Gratitude
Write a Gratitude List – I do this sometimes on the blog. It’s called Up the Irons! and it’s a shout-out to everything good in life. Sometimes, when you concentrate on the bad, you forget all the little things making up the world of good.

69. De-Clutter
Clean out a drawer, cupboard, desk or room you’ve filled up with stuff. Pile up old clothes and books to give to charity shops, and toss the rest away (or recycle it, if you can). You don’t need so much stuff, and having a clean desk/room/drawer feels like having a clean start. I feel instantly fresh and inspired after cleaning my eternally cluttered writing desk.

70. Light a Fire
Don’t you find something oddly comforting about a live, roaring fire? My family has always had open fires blazing throughout winter – I’ve never owned a heater till I moved to Auckland and lived in a hostel. We would sit round the fire at night and eat dinner, do our homework, watch TV.

If you have an open fireplace, light a fire in your living room and curl up next to it with a book and a bag of marshmallows. Hot chocolate, pikelet mixture, jam and chocolates work a treat, too.
If not, can you make a fire in a drum in your backyard? (check your local law about this). Pull up a chair, a can (or horn) of mead and a steak sandwich. Taste the night air on your tongue.

71. Fresh Fruits and Vegetables
A diet of highly processed foods deprives us of much-needed nutrients, and nutrients make us happy. So give yourself a nutrient feast – find your local farmers market and spend up large and the freshest, most delicious fruits and vegetables. Toss into a salad, bake into a pie, boil up in a big vat of soup, or just enjoy raw with olive oil and hummus.

72. Play Board Games
You’re going to need a partner for this. Dig out all your “old school” board games – Monopoly, Hamburger (my favorite, cuz it’s about food), Mousetrap, Trouble, UNO, Blackgammen … whatever you had as a kid, and play them all. Make fairy bread and drink orange juice and wrap yourself in big blankets.

73. “Get Away From It All”
I’ve never been an advocate for this method of dealing with an issue, because you’re bound to find the issue waiting for you when you return from your sojourn. But sometimes, you just need a break from the world. If you know you need to “get away” for a few days, really get away. Skip town, and don’t take your cell phone. Go bush. Pack your tent and billy and find a corner of the wilderness unpopulated with human life. Relish the stillness of a world untouched by urban living. In the clarity of fresh air, all your muddled thoughts sometimes become crystal clear.

74. The Old Fashioned Way
I bake bread every day. EVERY DAY. I don’t use a breadmaker, or any prepackaged mix. I make bread the old-fashioned way – the way humankind has made bread for 10,000 years.

Throw away your modern conveniences and learn to make something to “old-fashioned” way. Can your own tomato pasta sauce, squeeze your own orange juice, make your own beer (I’m doing a home-brew course this year – exciting!), bake a loaf of bread from scratch … kneading that bread is therapeutic, trust me.

75. Build a Fort
Need I say more?

76. Up in the Air
This isn’t cheap, but I guarantee it will cheer you up. Go on a hot air balloon ride.
We took a hot air balloon ride over Cappedocia in Turkey. Not cheap (wiped our Middle-East budget clear out) but worthwhile. I never expected the sensation of being inside a hot-air balloon to feel like it did – everything is still. You can’t feel wind. You just hang, and bob along. You can hear everything happening on the streets below. Amazing.

77. Beach
Maybe it’s just a New Zealand thing, but nothing says relaxing and good times like going to the beach.

Go to a deserted beach – they’re easy to find if you know where to look. Pack a picnic lunch. Roll the legs of your pants up and run through the surf. Clamber over the rocks and find little fishies in the tide pools. Build a sandcastle. Watch the sun set over the water.

78. Adopt a Pet
If you feel lonely, give part of your home to an animal without one. Every day, the SPCA and other animal shelters rescue hundreds of unwanted, neglected pets, and if no one comes to adopt them … you know what happens. It’s shameful and we should all do our bit for these animals.
Scientists have proven stroking a cat induces healing and reduces feelings of loneliness and anxiety. Pets love unconditionally, and they always know just what to do to make you laugh.

79. Karaoke
Who thought up such a ridiculous idea? And yes, as silly as karaoke seems, it’s immensely popular and lots of fun. Can’t sing? Neither can anyone else. Just do the best you can. Ham it up, be OTT ridiculous. Death growl if you have to.

80. Sparklers
Wait until fireworks go on sale in November, and stock up on these little packets of joy. Bring out a few sparklers to light up your BBQs over summer, or just dance around the backyard when you feel a little feral. Spell naughty words in the air, have a dual against a tree, or just pretend you are a fire fairy. Sparklers rule.

81. Ice Cream Parlour
Find your nearest ice cream parlour, and order the largest, most ridiculous sundae on their menu. Eat it all. Don’t feel guilty.

Or, better yet, make your own concoction at home. Give it a hilarious name, like “Steff’s Epic Metal Sundae Mountain of Doom”, cover it in whipped cream, frosting, crumbled biscuits, cut-up Mars bars, nuts, sprinkles, chocolate chips, cherries, bananas, blueberries, sauce, fudge, sherbet and anything else you can think of. Eat it all. Don’t feel guilty.

82. Old School
Go to the library or a second-hand bookshop and find some of those series books from the nineties: the ones you undoubtedly read: The Baby-Sitters Club, Sweet Valley High, Pony Club, Goosebumps, Fear Street. Read them all again. Damn, weren’t they terribly awesome?

83. Community Classes
My husband and I are taking German classes at a nearby high school. It costs us $89 for seven 2 hour lessons, with all materials included. The school runs classes in everything: from burlesque dancing to Metalworking to Indian cooking. They are cheap, they are run by enthusiastic, experienced teachers, they are filled with interesting people, they enable you to learn new skills. In short – community classes are awesome.

84. Notebook
Buy yourself a fancy notebook, and a nice pen. I love Black Spot Books and Bibliographica who hand bind journals they’ve created using recycled leather and found materials. I also like Immortal Longing’s Shakespeare-inspired journals. Lots of people adore Moleskeine journals, but I honestly don’t see the difference between them and any other notebook.
What will you use your notebook for? Oh, the possibilities!

85. Random Club
Open your gig guide, close your eyes, and point. That’s where you’re going tonight. Dress inappropriately, and make the best of it.

86. Starry Night
Find your local observatory or planetarium. Show up for one of their evening lectures – they normally set up telescopes so you can look at celestial bodies. Better yet, take a course in astronomy. Amaze yourself at just how busy it is out there.

87. Sleepy Time
If you can spare the dough, buy new sheets and a duvet for your bed. Find something completely luxurious in a your favorite colour. Make over your bed, and you make over your sleep.

88. Facebook Friends
You know all those random “friends of friends’ who keep adding you on Facebook? Strike up a conversation with one of them. You know you already have something in common, and they added you so they can’t think your a serial killer or anything. Who knows, a “friend of a friend” might turn into an actual friend.

89. Dinner and a Movie
By Yourself. Yes, go out on a “typical” date all by yourself. Eat at your favorite restaurant (and don’t bring a book. You don’t need to distract yourself from your own company), and then go to a movie you really want to see. Buy yourself all the treats YOU want to eat, sit wherever you want (I love sitting right in the front row, and I fold all the armrests up and lie down. Cushiony!)

90. Love Letter
Write someone a love letter in chalk on the steps up to their apartment or the pavement outside their flat. Use several colours. Hide and watch their reaction when they see it.

91. Signature Cocktail
Pull all the liqueur bottles out of your cabinet and line then up on the counter. Now, go to the fridge and pull out all the liquids and fruits. Do the same with the pantry. Now, line up all your shot glasses and start mixing! You’re searching for the perfect signature cocktail. This involves lots of taste-testing. Be daring, be crazy. Give your drink a wacky name. (This is an also excellent way to use all those liqueur bottles people have left with half a centimetre of liquid inside.)

92. Road Trip
Road trips kick ass. A car, good music, an adventure, bad food, what more could you want? I love a trip when you know roughly where you’re going, but you don’t have a specific schedule, so you can stop and look at random things on the way. On the last road trip I went on – up to a campsite by a lake – we stopped to take air-guitar pictures outside a picturesque white chapel in the middle of a rolling field. Next, we made faces underneath a duck-crossing sign.

93. Collect Something Interesting
It could be anything – I collect miniature trinket boxes (I want to start collecting pill or snuff boxes exclusively), and fossils, and I used to collect locks of hair. My husband collects vintage books about trains. I have a friend who collects typewriters, another who collects statues of elephants.

Once you’ve decided on your collection, spend hours scouring eBay or Amazon and making a huge wishlist of all the items you want to add to your collection. You probably can’t afford to buy them all, but maybe splash out on just one.

94. Pay off Debt
Owing people money stresses me out. I feel like a failure if I haven’t budgeted accordingly to be able to pay for something in cash, or I have to borrow money from a friend.

So sit down and make a plan. Many people find great success in Dave Ramsey’s “Debt Snowball” plan: you write a list of all your debts in order of how much money is left on them. You make sure you’re paying the minimum on each, except for the one with the least amount left to pay back. You throw everything else you’ve got at that payment, and as soon as you’ve paid it off, you throw everything at the next smallest, and so on. It’s not the most cost-effective way (if one of your larger payments has a much higher interest rate) but most of debt repayment is about staying focused, and it’s hard to stay focused if you don’t see any results. Getting rid of each payment is like a little present for all your hard work – you stay motivated.

95. Paddle
You can buy a decent-sized wading pool at Wal-mart. Fill it with water (warm or hot) and bubble bath. Pour yourself a glass of wine and have your own private spa in your backyard. I like to do this at night when you can see the stars.

96. Celebrate random holidays
You might have realised by now, I’m a big fan of celebrating random and made-up holidays. I’ve written before about remembering Dimebag Darryl and having a metal Christmas, but I’m sure you can think of lots of ideas for random or made-up holidays.

Celebrate the birthdays of your favorite writers, musicians and artists. Celebrate crazy religious holidays – Gala Darling wrote about celebrating Holi – a hindi festival where everyone throws coloured powder over everyone else. It looks like the most fun ever.

97. Let Go of Useless People
On a couple of occasions I’ve had to let go of friends who were hurting me. They were good friends and good people and I loved them and didn’t realise what a negative effect they had on my life, until it was too late. Sometimes, loving someone isn’t enough, when they expect you to carry them too.

Let go of the people who cause you pain. Set them free to find themselves. Be the hero – be the person brave enough to say “this isn’t working and it has to end.” Letting those people go was like a huge weight lifting from my chest. I’m a firm believer that if the friendship is meant to be, it will come back, stronger than ever. And ending a friendship doesn’t undo all the wonderful, amazing good times and experiences you had together.

98. Embrace another Culture
Choose a culture or time period you don’t know anything about, but have always been fascinated with, and start reading books and websites. Whether you choose ancient Egypt, Communist Russia, Imperial China, the Maori or the Inuit, start a love affair with another time or place.

99. Mmmmm, Sprinkles
Bake a cake for a friend, or for your colleagues at work. For no reason, except “just because”. I find the act of baking theraputic – no matter what’s going on in the world, you still stir the batter, lick the bowl, and make your house smell amazing. Plus, you get to surprise someone with cake.

100. Hug someone
I love hugs – they’re my favoritest thing in the whole world. If you hug someone (a friend, a parent, a lover, a stranger), chances are, they’ll hug you back. Yay, hugs for everyone!
TIP: If you ever meet me, give me a hug. I will love you forever.

101. Talk to Steff
Even if no one else cares, even if no one in the whole wide world wants to listen to you moan or growl or cry or scream or laugh or sob or growl or smile – I do. Shoot me an email at steff@steffmetal.com – I always answer.

Thanks for the fantastic guest post, Steff!