Susan Solo – Photographer | Traveler | Adventurer

Category: my life

  • More 101 in 1001 Updates

    I have a few more updates for you on my 101 in 1001 list – I’m knocking them out this week! First of all, look at my plant:

    Better, right?! I took all of your advice on how to water it, etc. and it’s definitely alive and thriving! I even see some flowers budding (!), so while I’ve already crossed #45 off, I feel better about it now.

    Chris and I just finished watching the entire Arrested Development series on DVD, so #99 – check, although I don’t have a good photo to prove that I did do it. This was on the list simply because it was a show that my brother and several of my friends absolutely loved, and I wanted to see what the fuss was about. We loved it, too! Buster cracked me up.

    I combined items #7 – Buy a difficult jigsaw puzzle and put it together and #50 – Learn to locate all of the world’s countries on a map by buying a world map jigsaw puzzle! Completing a jigsaw puzzle was on the list as a task to remind me to always finish what you’ve started, to pay attention to the details but keep the big picture in mind, and that patience is a virtue. If you’re not sure how a jigsaw puzzle can do all of that, go buy one and get cracking! It’s also just really good exercise for your brain. 🙂



    Learning all of the countries was a pretty ambitious task for me and I’m not sure how well I’ll retain the information, but I think I feel satisfied with what I’ve learned, so I’m considering that complete. It’s sad to say, but there were some countries that I couldn’t even place on a continent before, and I’m pretty sure I can at least do that now.

    More item updates soon! And the craziness of my wedding season is about to really take off, so watch this space.

  • Happy Earth Day!

    In honor of Earth Day today, I’ve completed #64 – Plant a tree on my 101 in 1001 list. When I first put that item on the list I thought I would physically plant a tree somewhere, and that it would be so fun and meaningful. But honestly, I’m not even sure where I’d be able to do that (I can’t even plant one in my own yard without getting HOA approval), and with my lack of a green thumb, the poor thing probably wouldn’t make it. So instead, I donated to plantabillion.com and planted 10 trees! Surely 10 trees is better than one? Check!

  • Lily Allen and the Camera Snatchers

    Friday night my friend, Jenn, and I went to see the Lily Allen concert at the 9:30 Club. She sounded absolutely incredible – she blew me away with her performance. Jenn and I both agreed that it was better than last year’s show. The only bummer of the night came when I got the tap-tap-tap on my shoulder from security asking me to surrender my point & shoot. Darn! I have to admit that I did see the “no photography at the artist’s request” sign on my way in, but I thought I’d give it a shot anyway. We were up on the balcony (great view, but pretty far away), so I only got about two crummy shots in before the confiscated the camera. I got my camera back at the end of the night unharmed, so just to show that I was there, here’s one of the bad shots. 🙂

  • #45. Keep the Plant Alive For a Year – Check?

    This is really embarrassing to post, you guys.

    One of my 101 in 1001 tasks was to get a plant (see exhibit a below), and then another follow-up task was to keep the plant alive for a year. Well, today is Day 365 of having a peace lily in the house, and I have no idea if it’s truly alive or not (see exhibit b). It doesn’t flower any more and there are less leaves, but it still kind of perks up when I remember to water it, so that counts right? I’m counting that as alive technically, but I don’t feel very good about checking it off the list.

    Exhibit A – New peace lily one year ago:

    Exhibit B – The same peace lily after it has been in my care for one year.

    Ugh, I’m even more embarrassed to see the side-by-side comparison! Did I totally fail this one? I just can’t figure out when to water it. This is supposed to be the easiest plant to take care of, too. The you-can’t-mess-it-up variety of greenery. Does anyone have any tips? If the leaves are crunchy but still green, do I cut those off? Can this plant be saved? It still has some life in it, I know it does!

  • On a School Night

    When I was about twelve, I was living in Colorado and my absolute favorite band (as in, I literally wore out tapes and CDs from playing them over and over), Depeche Mode, was touring. It was their World Violation Tour after the release of the album, Violator, and they were playing in Denver. I was a very dramatic pre-teen/teenager, and I desperately-more-than-anything-in-the-world wanted to see the Depeche Mode concert with my friends. Unfortunately, both shows were on school nights, and I might have even been grounded at the time, I can’t remember, but ultimately my parents said, “NO.” And that was with a capital ‘N,’ capital ‘O.’ I seriously felt like I was going to die, like I needed to go to the concert just as badly as I needed air to breathe. I can remember pacing back-and-forth in my room like a caged animal, listening to the Violator CD, and just aching about the fact that my friends were at the show and I wasn’t. (I told you – dramatic!)

    Well, now that I’m all grown-up, I do completely understand why my parents would have been a bit hesitant to let me run off into the city with a couple of other twelve year-olds, unsupervised, on a school night. Not to mention I was an absolute grouch before school in the mornings and they probably didn’t want to make that even worse by letting me stay out super late. BUT as I said, I am a grown-up now, and if I want to go out on a school night I CAN. And I will!