35 Before 35: #14, #29, #30, #31 - Take Some Classes
Since I'm an eternal learner, I can't have a to-do list without a ton of classes on it. In addition to the photography class I took in my last semester of grad school, I wanted a few more art/creative learning experiences under my belt before I turned 35 and I was pretty successful accomplishing this one.
Side note: Get ready for a deluge of 35 Before 35 posts because I only have a few weeks left before my deadline and I actually did knock out a good amount of the things on the list.
#14 - Take a cooking or baking class
Earlier this spring, a friend and I headed over to the the Southern Season cooking school for a class on how to make classic southern recipes including pimento cheese and grits. Two of my favorites! The pimento cheese was amazing and it's been a hit with everyone every time I've made it since.
#29 - Take an art class
Okay so this one is a little bit of a stretch since it's not specifically a class as I intended when I wrote the list, but at least I picked up a paintbrush, even if it was the wrong paintbrush which resulted in my poor palms trees looking rather...awful (see: Exhibit A). But oh well! I had fun painting with a group of friends at Wine & Design Mount Pleasant. I wish I could say it was wine that caused my design mishap, but I was pregnant at the time, so no wine for me. I think I was just too busy chatting. I'm calling a do-over on this one and I'll be adding it to my next to-do list.
#30 - Take a modern or contemporary dance class
I did this one last summer back in Charlotte at Open Door Studios. I love this place and they need to open one here in Mount Pleasant, stat. Despite being incredibly rusty and feeling rather clumsy, I had a great time dusting off the old dance muscles and taking contemporary dance classes at this fantastic studio. And I felt a lot less clumsy after a few classes. It helped that the instructor was extremely helpful and willing to go over steps I didn't quite get the first time around.
This studio has such a good range of adult classes and just like the name suggests, it's an open door to anyone despite experience or skill level. Sadly, I only stumbled upon this place a month before we moved to Charleston and I haven't found anything like it here. So, if anyone from Open Door stumbles upon this post, I'm pleading with you, please consider a location here! It's such a great concept and studio and I'd love to take dance classes on a regular basis again.
#31 - Take a jewelry studio class
I originally envisioned this one to be something beyond beading, like lampworking or metalsmithing, but I ended up just learning some new beading techniques instead. This is one I'll continue with because I really want to get back into making (and selling) jewelry. Seriously, I cannot stop thinking about it and all of the designs I want to make. I need to do this and stop thinking and talking about it.
But anyway, I took two classes at Beads & Brushstrokes (a kick-ass bead and art store located in Mount Pleasant) this past spring and I'm looking forward to taking more. The first one I took was just a basic stringing class, which is something I had never done. When I started making jewelry, I went straight to wire wrapping. The second class was making a beaded wrap bracelet, which was much easier than I thought it would be!
So that's it! I learned a few new things and had fun with friends in the process. I definitely plan to go back to to Wine & Design, Beads & Brushstrokes, and Southern Season for some more learning in the future, plus I've got myself a Skillshare membership (probably one of my favorite websites/concepts ever) and I'm working through several classes on there at the moment.
35 Before 35 is a list of 35 goals I want to accomplish before I hit 35 in August 2014. Some of them are big things, some small, but all of them are things I really want to do, and what better time to do them than now?
