The story behind "Rice Surprise Party".

If this is what you wear to rice surprise parties, then I want to have them all the time. Maybe it's like a Tupperware party?

BLOG BLOG BLOG. What an exceptionally odd word.

The New Year is, after all, the best time to begin things that you Never Intend To Finish.

101 Things To Do in 1001 Days:

1. Visit Armadale Castle in Scotland, the ancestral seat of my Scottish family.
2. See The Rasmus in concert.
3. Try absinthe, honest-to-God as-real-as-I-can-get absinthe, with a spoon and a sugar cube.
4. Finally delete my old MySpace (maybe start a new one, for networking purposes).
5. Buy more of my bras and panties in sets, so I'll match more often (nothing better than knowing that your unmentionables are coordinated, right ladies?).
6. Perform in the circus next year, on Spanish web.
7. Grow another inch (5'5" sure was a surprise).
8. Sell more of my knits, and set up an actual website for myself to do so.
9. Get my hair cut in an actual style and keep it up (any ideas?).
10. ...and donate the cut part to Locks of Love.
11. Keep up with a written journal (because the internet isn't privy to everything, after all).
12. Go on an epically underplanned road trip.
13. ...which reminds me, learn to drive and get my license (I know, I know, it's sad!).
14. Go to the Vans Warped Tour.
    
15. Take more photographs and keep them better organised.
16. Get my ears pierced. I'd like to stretch my lobes a little, but we'll see where that goes.
17. Play a harpsichord -- or at least just bang around on one.
18. Write more real letters and cards.
19. Learn about pairing food and wine.
20. ...and cook more fancy meals so that I may utilise such knowledge.
21. Go to Disneyworld for free on my birthday! :D
22. Make cute little lunches in my bento box.
23. Buy a new bathing suit and wear it *without* my ubiquitous board shorts.
24. See Juliet's balcony in Verona.
25. Cleanse, tone, and moisturise my skin properly and regularly.
26. Get into grad school somewhere I really love.
27. Visit New York City (I've never been, imagine that).
28. Buy the Red Curtain trilogy on DVD (Romeo + Juliet is my favourite).
29. Fill up a sketchbook.
30. Make Dean's List for the rest of my semesters.
31. Wander around a really beautiful library.
32. Write a song and put it to music, even if only in my head.
33. Visit the Florida Keys.
34. Expand my family tree (in the charting it sense, not the adding to it sense).
35. Completely fill my iPod with music -- no movies, no pictures, solid tunes.
36. Touch a whale.
37. Participate in NaNoWriMo, and finish.
38. Shamelessly plug my endlessly talented friends.
39. Start a new blog for London.
40. Stop drinking soda entirely.
41. Bake a panettone for Marco that doesn't make him sick (so far I've "given" him appendicitis and the flu, which really didn't have anything to do with the bread, but was coincidental enough to blame on me).
42. Bake a cake with more than one layer and decorate it.
43. Make or buy a really excellent gift for someone special.
44. Discover my favourite mixed drink and learn how to make it perfectly.
45. Go to Italy and try to get around without speaking any English or resorting to mad gesturing.
46. Not take myself so damn seriously all the time.
47. Wear a little makeup more often.
48. Lost the last of my "freshman 15".
49. Take up a new hobby.
50. Keep a daily planner and not let it get all ragged and scribbly.
51. Eat raspberries more often.
52. Discover 5 new favourite films. Not just "watch 5 new movies". Watch new movies and find 5 that are good enough to go in the favourites file.
53. Go on a double date.
54. Treat myself to a bunch of stargazer lilies.
55. Have an intellectual conversation about my favourite books.
56. Brush off the tiny inconveniences.
57. Wear my rose perfume every. Single. Day.
58. Make a new friend in each country/state/city I visit.
59. Finish designing my tattoo.
60. ...and maybe have it actually put on.
61. Go to an organised steampunk meet-up.
62. Get a tarot card reading done.
63. Find and join a Parkour club.
64. Go to an Arsenal game and see them beat the snot out of Aston Villa, which may entail going to more than one game (but will be so cathartic, you won't believe).
65. Use 'whilst' instead of 'while'.
66. Write down and save my original recipes so I don't forget them and never make them the same way again.
67. Go back to Williamsburg, Virginia.
68. Learn to grill a decent steak. Not trying for cry-over-its-deliciousness here, just actually edible for once.
69. Have an epic garage sale and buy myself a Wacom tablet with my earnings.
70. Keep up with my readings for class.
71. Take a multivitamin daily.
72. Attend a masked ball in a gorgeous costume.
73. Refine my cynicism. Not throw it away entirely -- it's one of my more useful traits -- just make it work for me, and not the other way around.
74. Find a job that I enjoy, preferably one that would allow me to travel.
75. Not skip class intentionally.
76. Plant a garden of my own.
77. Get a credit card.
78. Go to Burning Man.
79. Never rule out the unbelievably unlikely -- truth is stranger than fiction.
80. Let myself be more impulsive and spontaneous.
81. Finish a drawing in charcoal.
82. Write thank-you notes in a more timely fashion.
83. Create a polished resume.
    
84. Eat breakfast regularly.
85. Outline and write the story I've always wanted to.
86. Walk more. To the stores, around cities, my old neighbourhood, wherever and everywhere!
87. Stop procrastinating so damn much!
88. Get involved in a humanitarian project. Go somewhere and help someone or do something truly worthwhile (worthwhilst?).
89. Learn how to properly shoot a gun.
90. Be someone's designated driver.
91. Improve my flexibility and strength.
92. Read more and increase my vocabulary.
93. Avoid letting my phone run out of battery for days at a time.
94. Write a really epic paper for my senior seminar project.
95. Drink tea more often, even daily.
96. Do not go into debt under anyone.
97. Avoid getting tan.
98. Start going camping again, and often!
99. Learn toasts in different languages.
100. Go on a transatlantic cruise like I've always wanted to.
101. Be fearless and self-sufficient, a steady voice and a lady spitfire -- and have no regrets along the way!

Crossing off Thing the 39th tonight! Happy birthday Rice Surprise Party!

Good night, my dears, and Happy New Year!