Q+A: First Times

Monday, January 13, 2014

Over the holidays, my sister invited The Boy and I out for a day of snowshoeing. Now, I'd never been and, being a creature of habit (and not very sporty besides), this was an offer that made me a little nervous. But I put on my big girl pants and said "Sure!" Boy, am I glad I did! Turns out snow shoeing can be very fun- you are basically tramping about in beautiful scenery. It got me thinking though- as we become adults, we have less "First Times." Some of this is because we've already done more, but sometimes, like me, it is the result of not looking for those new opportunties. So, for this month's Q+A, I asked these ladies- what was the last thing you did for the very first time? From gaining new skills to trying new events, I'm sure you'll love their answers. Don't forget to share your own in the comments below too!
Q+A, First times, sewing, driving, New Year's, Snow Shoeing,

Marlen of Messages on a Napkin shared: 
Using a sewing machine! Before, I used to hem all my dresses and pants using a needle and thread (like some pilgrim) and, oh, it would take  ages!  Then as luck would have it, our neighbor dropped off a sewing machine she no longer wanted and I felt like it was high time I crossed over into the twenty-first century. Figuring out the bobbin, and the threading, and the whole "sewing in a straight line" thing was really frustrating (I may have thrown the manual on the floor a few times and stomped away), but in the end it was well worth it. I'm a modern woman now! ;)

Priya of Perfectly Priya confesses: 

The last thing I did for the first time was probably spend New Year's Eve in Nashville, my home for the past 4 years. Previously I'd been in school, and always spent the holiday in California as part of my Christmas break. I was excited to finally start the New Year in the city where I'll be spending most of the year, also with my boyfriend, Hunter. Still, I was in the middle of a move, so although I had grand plans with silver confetti downtown, I went to two house parties at my friend's parent's houses. It was a really low-key, fun, and cozy way to start the year, with some of my closest friends. I also participated in two international NYE traditions: 12 grapes with 12 wishes at  midnight  (Latin America), and writing a wish on a tiny piece of napkin that I burned, dropped in champagne, and drank (Russia). So that was neat!

firstthing


Dus from Cuddly Cacti wrote:

The last thing I did for the very first time was: drive a road trip! Did you notice I used the word “drive” instead of “take”? That’s because, while I haven’t taken a ton of road trips in my life, I have been on several, most often to California. Those were fairly long drives, about eight hours usually, but never had driven so far before. This time, we drove from Phoenix to Austin, and ended up taking two days for the trip. I haven’t completely disregarded it, but I’m certainly not so sure whether I ever want to make such a long drive again. I’m glad we had the experience though, and my hubs and I certainly had plenty of time to chat about life. Also, we saw some interesting sites on the way, and most importantly, I realized that I probably don’t want to do a cross-country camping trip. Driving in new places really stresses me out, I’ve come to accept, and I’m also coming to accept that it’s OK if I don’t find something fun that “should be.” This might also mean that for the first time I’m absolutely turning into my old parents…  


Jessi of Haircut and General Attitude also had a New Year's First: 

The last "first" I had was ringing in the New Year out on the town! It may sound silly, but it was a first for both me and my Hubby since we usually spend the evening home with family watching the ball drop on TV, eating junk food and toasting with sparkling cider. Which is always fun, but we wanted to try something new this year! We headed out to the biggest celebration in Salt Lake for a night involving dancing, beach balls, glow-in-the-dark hoola hooping, black light wall-signing, concerting and fireworks. It was definitely exciting to be surrounded by so many people in celebration of that very first moment of a fresh new year. And nothing beats a good New Year's kiss from my one and only :)


P.S. Want to be featured on a future Q+A? Comment below, get ahold of me via social media or shoot me an email. I'd love to work with you!

14 comments

  1. I've always thought snowshoeing looks crazy hard but so beautiful. How fun that you tried it and you're right- as we get older we have to make more of an effort to have firs-time-experiences. These were fun to read!

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    1. I think how hard snow shoeing is might depend largely on where you do it. We did it at a place with trails used for cross country skiing and riding snow mobiles, so it was actually not that hard. Tramping up a remote mountain with lots of snow and no trails... sounds a lot harder and less fun!

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  2. Loved this question and reading the answers from everyone! I think I would really like to try snow shoeing but always feel a bit apprehensive about trying it too, which is probably silly!
    xo Hannah
    http://thebraidedbandit.blogspot.com

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    1. Now that I've done it- you should do it!! Living so close to Etses park and all those mountains though, I bet it would be fun. I'd see if anyone you know is into going and see if they'd take you somewhere with trails etc. MUCH easier on trails (like trails for snow mobiles or cross country skiining).

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  3. Priya's New Year traditions sound SO cool, I'm so doing that next year! I heard the grape one on Modern Family (Gloria was going crazy trying to find grapes, haha), but the Russian one sounds really fun too!

    xo Marlen

    Messages on a Napkin

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    1. It does sound fun! I wonder where that tradition came from (I mean, it's story, not the country...)

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  4. oh, I love road trips! Sadly though, In my country everything is only max 3 hours away and if you drive longer than three hours straight, you'll be somewhere entirely else. There for, I'm almost never more that one hour in the car. Our last road trip was our one day visit to Paris. But that's only 4 hours, so I'm not sure it counts as a "real" road trip, haha. xo

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    1. Ah! So different from WY. We are so spread out. I was at one point 12 hours by car from home when in college, but at least it was a beautiful drive and very little traffic. I love this series for getting to see so many people's different point of views :)

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  5. Haha, these were so much fun to read! Priya's were so interesting. Definitely marking down the traditions from Latin America and Russia to experience for myself! :)

    Cheers!
    Akshara
    Simply Akshara

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    1. They would be fun to start as a tradition for yourself too :D

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  6. What a great idea for a post! These were so interesting to read through :) X

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  7. so fun reading everyone's "firsts" to me! so funny how Marlen had always sewed by hand before, and Priya's traditions made me laugh. My hubs is latin american and our first new year's together got upset about not being able to find grapes! i've always wanted to try snow shoe-ing also, and cross-country skiing, but considering i dont know how to ski i should prob try the prior first, looks so gorgeous!

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    1. Ha! Did you find them the next year? What is the meaning behind the grapes?

      Also- both are fun :)

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    2. I actually have no idea, ha! how odd i never thought to ask why. it's from Spain I believe... they have lots of grapes/wine. but i'll have to dig deeper into the meaning now!

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