Vices, Surprises & Life as Art

#Reverb11, #Relish, #Resound11 – Take your pick!

#Reverb10 was a series of writing prompts for the month of December. The prompts were designed to help folks see what they learned in the last year and make goals for the new one. Even though Gwen Bell decided not to coordinate a #Reverb11 this year, the reverberations from last year’s project are ringing out loud and strong in December 2011.

Four different writing prompts for Day 2

Here are four different websites I have found (so far!) which pick up where #Reverb10 left off. Take your pick for Day 2:

Paula Puffer of Don’t Be a Pickle Bump, shares this prompt:

What was the most surprising thing that happened to you this past year? What did you learn from that surprise?

Jaemie Gyurik, the creator of #Resound11 asks us:

Did you slip back into any old habits that you wish you hadn’t? Did you gain any new habits that you wish you would have walked away from? Did you discover the evils of Nutella? ‘Fess up … we won’t tell.

Diana Prichard of Diana Prichard wants us to explain:

Who are you? Describe yourself.

Rebecca from Relish Life calls her December prompts #Relish11 and suggests this for today:

Life as art: Our lives can be as much about consuming as they are about creating, it seems. But what is most interesting in hindsight is what we have given life to as we went through the course of our days. It doesn’t have to be literal art, like a painting or a poem (though those are beautiful and essential too). Consider what was a creation of your own mind this year. What art did you make?

My thoughts for Day 2 of #Reverb11, #Resound11, #Relish11, etc!

OK, so which prompts are calling my name today?

Surprise

The most surprising moment I had all year was walking into the house and discovering a 4 1/2 foot long snake slithering up the staircase. While I kept it entertained (y’know, juggling, telling snake jokes, the usual) my husband MacGyvered up a snake loop so we could catch it. I also snapped a few pictures (to satisfy my Instagr.am addiction) and tried to identify the serpent.

At one point, I found a snake identification search engine. Sounds great, right? The questions started out straightforward enough (color, length, pattern) but then suddenly I was asked to, “describe the scale overlay of the snake’s anal plating.”

Right!

Here I am with a snake in the house, wondering if it’s venomous or not, and you want me to check out its butt?
I think not!

Anyway, the snake turned out to be a non-venomous rat snake,and we happily returned the frightened creature to our yard so it can continue its rodent patrol. (We’re still not sure how it got into the house, though!)

Vices

My grandmother once told me that, “If you don’t have at least one vice, you are probably boring.” So I hope my penchant for red wine and dark chocolate is enough to keep me interesting.

Who am I?

I may return to this one at a later date. In the meantime, here are a couple of great responses to that prompt from other bloggers:

Stereo’s post reads in part:

“I am an email in your inbox, a pair of arms around your waist, a lopsided smile and a gap between two front teeth; an electric blanket, pepper soup and pounded yam. I am stacks of notebooks filled with slanted writing, an adopted city girl, a blue silk headwrap tucked in at the sides and a hoarder of dreams.”

Debbie’s post includes this description:

“I am trees, and expansive skies. I am Essex and I am the East End. I am rainbow painted toes. I am an owl. I am hot chocolate with marshmallows for breakfast. I am long bubble baths, trying not to get my book wet. I am soft boiled eggs mashed with potatoes, eaten with a spoon.”

Life as art

During my honeymoon my husband I took a transatlantic cruise as part of our honeymoon back earlier this year. The ship offered free watercolor classes and I had a blast! Despite vowing to continue painting when we returned, I haven’t done much. Watercolor painting is definitely something I would like to explore more in 2012.

See you tomorrow!

That’s it from my end, folks. I’m off now to explore the blogosphere and how others have responded to today’s prompts.