Sunday, July 31, 2011

253. Versatile

253. Versatile
Definition:
(adj) able to adapt to different functions and situations
Location Placed: USS North Carolina, Wilmington, North Carolina
Date Placed: 7/29/11 at 7:06pm





It wasn't until this trip that I realized I am a bit of a history nerd. Not that I go out and I search for it. Or that I like all bits of history equally. But the tour of the USS North Carolina, now that I could get into. I mean, who wouldn't enjoy traveling several levels above and below deck to see how the navy ship was run. Aside from getting quite lost at one point and not being able to find my way up to the deck (obviously I made it. My cell phone didn't have reception after a couple levels down.) But even still, it was a really cool trip and I found it super interesting to have been able to explore. Definitely recommended if you ever happen to be in the area. Not to mention it's open later that all the other tourist-y stuff, making it a good evening activity.

252. Sure

252. Sure
Definition:
(adj) confident in what one thinks or knows
Location Placed: Soldier Memorial, USS North Carolina, Wilmington, North Carolina
Date Placed: 7/29/11 at 6:52pm





I'm sure (ha!) you've noticed that the last couple cranes (as well as a number that haven't been written up/placed yet) are a lot more fancy and different than the previous cranes. That's because this was from the packet of origami paper that I got while at the Japan Pavilion in Epcot at Disney World. The paper is almost like fabric and it's a bit plastic-y on top. So it doesn't really hold the writing well. (And as I've found out, it doesn't particularly hold the tape well either. Oops!) But the paper was so pretty, and well suited to the project at the exact right size, that I knew I had to use them. I'm excited to have been able to make some cranes out of cool paper like that. Sometimes you just have to remember to get excited about those little things.

251. Active

251. Active
Definition:
(adj) engaging in physically energetic pursuits
Location Placed: Airlie Gardens, Wilmington, North Carolina
Date Placed: 7/29/11 at 3:57pm





Perhaps it's just the way that I "vacation" but most of mine tend to be active. I am definitely a doer and a see-er. I usually jam pack my days so that by dusk, I am beat. This one has been no different. Airlie Gardens, as well as a couple of my other activities, have been exploring based with a ton of walking. Always a positive after indulging on the foods that usually come with vacation. (I'm talking to you Chocolate Raspberry Delice. Best bad life decision so far.) Are your vacations normally more relaxed or jam packed?

Saturday, July 30, 2011

250. Heartwarming

250. Heartwarming
Definition:
(adj) emotionally rewarding or uplifting
Location Placed: Poplar Grove Museum, Wilmington, North Carolina
Date Placed: 7/29/11 at 3:19pm





You could tell that the workers of this historic site, Poplar Grove, really find their jobs heartwarming. They told me about the children's groups they have come in and they give demonstrations for. In the basket weaving area, the lady told me about how the kids enjoy seeing the wood bent and pieces of furniture made or weaved bowls. It made the trip out there seem heartwarming by association. Any money spent on a tour there is certainly going to better the types of programs that children are participating in. Well worth it!

BTW- Do you see the different type of paper the crane has been made out of? I'll talk about it a little be more in my next grouping of entries.

249. Acumen

249. Acumen
Definition:
(n) ability to make good judgements and quick decisions
Location Placed: Starbucks, Wilmington, North Carolina
Date Placed: 7/29/11 at 1:20pm





Give this release shot, I'd say my acumen is low. I managed to only get the top bit of the head an a small portion of a wing in this photo. Where you see the water drops on the table, that third drop is on a wing in disguise. In contrast to another recent entry where I mentioned being the most awkward person to try to secretly place cranes, I probably ought to be a bit less concerned with my stealth and a little more attention to detail. Namely making sure the crane actually makes it into the picture. Haha.

248. Thrifty

248. Thrifty
Definition:
(adj) using money carefully and not being wasteful with it
Location Placed: North Carolina Welcome Center, Shallotte,North Carolina
Date Placed: 7/29/11 at 10:52am



247. Bewitching

247. Bewitching
Definition:
(v) to enchant or delight (someone)
Location Placed: Myrtle Beach International Airport, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
Date Placed: 7/29/11 at 8:37am





This ended up being the last crane that I made with the maps from Disney. I can't believe it's already been a month and a half since I've been back. I swear, the time seems to go by faster and faster the older that I get. Do you guys have the same feeling? I certainly hope I'm not the only one blasting through life. It's kind of funny how some moments seem to take forever to go by (namely the ones while working) but looking back on it only reminds you of how quickly time is passing.

246. Whimsical

246. Whimsical
Definition:
(adj) playfully quaint or fanciful
Location Placed: Atlantic City International Airport, Atlantic City, New Jersey
Date Placed: 7/29/11 at 5:45am





I think this one might have been my earliest crane placement to date! I'm not a morning person but traveling gives me the pre-trip jitters, so I was pretty wide awake. Not highly functioning, that's for sure, but I was certainly awake. It was nice to make it to my destination earlier than I make it to work on a standard Friday!

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

1 Year Bloggaversary

Today marks 1 year since I've set off on my journey to fold 1000 paper cranes. I figured I would take a bit of time to recap the year and let you lovely followers know how it is going. And since I am a nerd and enjoy statistics/numbers, I'll throw a couple in there as well.

I managed to place a little less than 250 cranes in a year (24.5% of the way through), which is almost a crane a day. Not too shabby! So how many people responded to me that they found a crane? A total of 5! That was more than I expected. Between cranes not being found/thrown out/ignored and knowing people found them but may not have checked out the site or contacted me, I'm pretty stoked. These were the cranes in order:

103. Savor (Washington D.C. - October '10)
92. Esteem (Massachusetts - November '10)
169. Sprightly (Pennsylvania - February '11)
172. Dear (Pennsylvania - February '11)
206. Bouncy (Florida - June '11)

The cranes found their way to 12 different states and one Canadian province with 2 new states waiting in the very near future. I've been very fortunate to have been able to place cranes in so many interesting locations and look forward to what the coming year holds.

So what would you like to see more of? Where would you like me to attempt to travel to in this year?

Tomorrow morning I am heading out to Wilmington, North Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina and Savannah, Georgia. So you'll be seeing some crane placements in the south. I'm hoping to have internet access at my hotels, but we'll see what the future brings. If you've been to any of the cities and have suggestions of things to do/places to go, I'd love to hear them! Hopefully you all have a wonderful week.

Monday, July 18, 2011

245. Composed

245. Composed
Definition:
(adj) having ones feelings under control; calm
Location Placed: Little Silver Post Office, Little Silver, New Jersey
Date Placed: 7/18/11 at 11:44am





I feel like I am never really composed when I'm releasing cranes. I always wonder if someone will see me. Or if they think I'm eccentric. I mean, oftentimes I go into a place, scout a spot to put a crane, take a picture as discretely as possible, and then quickly walk away. Do I look suspicious when trying to be inconspicuous? I imagine myself being comically conspicuous to the point where perhaps I should wear a trench coat whilst placing. I probably look more composed than I feel. Well, at least I hope I do!

244. Felicity

244. Felicity
Definition:
(n) intense happiness
Location Placed: Little Silver Library, Little Silver, New Jersey
Date Placed: 7/18/11 at 11:39am



243. Reunited

243. Reunited
Definition:
(v) come together after a long period of separation
Location Placed: Valley National Bank, Little Silver, New Jersey
Date Placed: 7/18/11 at 11:34am





Well, some cranes are perfect for the location where they've been left. This crane is not one of those. I didn't release it while seeing an old friend that I've not seen in a while. To be honest, I hadn't ever been to this branch of the Valley National Bank before. I guess in a very loose way I was "reunited" with the bank where I had my first car loan (which has been paid off, thankfully.) But life isn't perfect so we just have to make due.

242. Slaphappy

242. Slaphappy
Definition: (adj)
casual or flippant in a cheerful way
Location Placed: Bank of America, Little Silver, New Jersey
Date Placed: 7/18/11 at 11:31am



In the face of camera phone issues (as well as apparently my phone eating my notes), the picture of this crane prior to placing was lost in the abyss of my phone. So we'll just have to talk about how funny the word slaphappy is. It makes me giggle anytime I hear it. Perhaps it brings back the good old days of cartoon watching as a child, but there's just something about the word that is so filled with awesomeness. I'm not the only one that lives this word, am I?

241. Soft

241. Soft
Definition:
(adj) having a pleasing quality involving subtle effect
Location Placed: Shrewsbury Post Office, Shrewsbury, New Jersey
Date Placed: 7/18/11 at 11:21am





By some awesome chance of origami fate, I was able to fold the Epcot crane so that you can actually see the Epcot sphere. I was pretty amazed myself as I certainly couldn't have planned it better myself. On a separate note, it was nice to be able to place a crane and send my bill payments out. Does anyone else's mail delivery person come ridiculously early? Most days the mailman comes before 9 in the morning. That does not bode well when I have a day off and want to sleep in a little bit still get my bills paid. (Note: No bills were late at the time of this crane placement.)

240. Dulcet

240. Dulcet
Definition:
(adj) sweet and soothing
Location Placed: Starbucks, Shrewsbury, New Jersey
Date Placed: 7/18/11 at 11:16am





Upon coming home from Disney, I decided to re-use the maps we printed up to make a few cranes out of them. Fitting that the first map is actually of the Magic Kingdom. However, I've not exactly masted the art of folding so as to make important bits visible. So other than Main Street USA, I don't think there was any other identifying characteristics. Oops! Well, I've still got a few more cranes to fold before I make it to my goal of 1000. (In this case, a few is slightly less than 700.)

Sunday, July 17, 2011

239. Nimble

239. Nimble
Definition:
(adj) quick and light in movement
Location Placed: TD Bank, Ocean Township, New Jersey
Date Placed: 7/16/11 at 12:05pm





I needed to pop by the bank for a bit of cash to go on a craft run. I'm in the middle of a project and needed a couple things. And then a couple more things. And then even more things because I didn't buy enough the first go. Seeing a pattern here? Hopefully I'm not the only one who ends up going to the same store and sheepishly explaining to the cashier (who doubtfully remembers me let alone cares) why I am buying 7 more packs of thumbtacks in addition to the 4 I bought earlier. Well, maybe I am. Do you have any instances where you've forgotten something (or not bought enough) and had to go back to the same place to get it?

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

238. Reverent

238. Reverent
Definition:
(adj) feeling or showing deep respect
Location Placed: Red Bank Train Station, Red Bank, New Jersey
Date Placed: 7/11/11 10:04pm





Having recently celebrated Independence Day in the U.S., I have a deep respect for the men and women that are currently and have in the past served our country for our freedom. Is there anyone that you think is reverent, or that you have a significant amount of respect for?

237. Unique

237. Unique
Definition:
(adj) being the only one of a kind; unlike anything else
Location Placed: Kinkos, New York, New York
Date Placed: 7/11/11 6:00pm





We popped up to New York City to see a smaller country act perform in a venue we hadn't been to. Since the venue didn't list a telephone number to ask what time doors opened, we ended up getting there a lot earlier than we needed to be. We popped into the Kinko's to kill a little time and enjoy some air conditioning rather than the inferno of outside. And place a crane.

236. Inventive

236. Inventive
Definition:
(adj) having the ability to create new things and thank originally
Location Placed: First Atlantic Bank, Oceanport, New Jersey
Date Placed: 7/11/11 1:44pm



235. Dapper

235. Dapper
Definition:
(adj) neat and trim in dress, appearance or bearing
Location Placed: Oceanport Post Office, Oceanport, New Jersey
Date Placed: 7/11/11 1:37pm





Dapper is one of my favorite words. I love using it to describe people. It's so old-fashioned and wonderful. I think the word should be used even more.

234. Punctual

234. Punctual
Definition:
(adj) doing something at an agreed upon time; done in a timely fashion
Location Placed: West Long Branch Post Office, West Long Branch, New Jersey
Date Placed: 7/11/11 1:18pm





Punctuality is not one of my strong suits. I am trying to be a bit better with this one and try to get to places I need to earlier than I need to. Definitely a work in progress. Do you have any tips or tricks for being more punctual?

Thursday, July 7, 2011

233. Patriotic

233. Patriotic
Definition:
(adj) having or expressing vigorous support and devotion to ones country
Location Placed: Wells Fargo Bank, Little Silver, New Jersey
Date Placed: 7/6/11 at 6:32pm





Happy (belated) Independence Day/4th of July to those other American's out there. And Happy (even more belatedly) Canada Day to those who celebrated. This time of year makes me feel quite patriotic and thankful for all the men and women who fought and continue to fight for our freedom. Sometimes we forget about them during the hubbub of our busy lives but it's important to remember what lead us to this point in our lives and be thankful for it.