I’m not quite sure how it happened, but I’ve become someone who drinks liquor. Not just drinks liquor, but someone who stocks it at home and always wants to know what you’re drinking and if it’s delicious. I think it could partially be blamed on my bar-tending best friend, Morgan, moving down the street and making me many delicious drinks. But I, a former beer & wine drinker, have turned into someone who has very strong opinions about how a proper Bloody Mary should taste (note to 90% of restaurants: not how you just served it!), is likely to order a martini (straight up and a dirty with three olives, thankyouverymuch) at the bar, and has things like vermouth and celery salt in my kitchen.

One of the things on my 26 before 26 list was finding and altering an old library catalog. I tried to do this, I really did, but did you know that other people also have unhealthy love affairs with books and libraries and old things? And all of these people apparently have a lot more money than me? Library catalogs on craigslist have been going for between $800 and $3,000. Ha! Not happening. So instead, I bought an old record cabinet for $15 bucks. Of course I forgot to take any before photos (though you can sort of see it in the background of the first photo here), but please just picture any destroyed piece of wood furniture that you have ever known and/or loved, with peeling laminate and a myriad of water rings. It was a mess, but I loved its shape and small size and I knew I could turn it into something awesome. So Steve picked it up and then it sat in our living room, holding things we shoved in it when people were coming over and we didn’t have time to clean. I could not for the life of me figure out what to do with it. And then one day, while Steve was in Israel, it hit me while I was making myself a drink (vodka with muddled mint leaves, homemade lemon simple syrup and soda water)(see? I told you) – a bar! It was meant to be a bar!

So I went to visit my orange-vested friends at Home Depot and picked up some sand paper and paint. I decided on two grays and an orange, matched to the chair fabric from this project. Incidentally, did you know that you can get tiny paint samples of any color for around $3? I managed to get three different colors of paint for this project for around 12 bucks since the surfaces were so small. I sanded and taped and painted and taped and painted. I wanted rustic-looking shelves for our glassware, but didn’t want to spend a lot of money, so I got some simple brackets and a rough redwood fence post ($2.50), flirted my way into a free in-store cut down the middle, stained them with the same orange paint mixed with some water and ta da – shelves!

I dropped our liquor in the top-open compartment, our wine/mixers/barware/accessories in the shelves, our glass/barware on the open shelves and now whenever I mix a drink after work, it feels vaguely glamorous.

Now if only the perfect vintage hammered ice bucket would just appear on etsy already, we’d be all set.

PS. This is one my favorite songs ever by Oakland’s The Coup. It is genius, but please don’t listen to it if you have no sense of humor, are around small children, and/or have a problem with well-placed & plentiful curse words.

PPS. Let’s all count down to my mother’s email telling me that I should not curse on my blog. 3…2…1…

So though I’ll still be working on wrapping up the ones on my old list, as it’s my birthday and I’m now 26, here’s my brand-new 27 before 27!

1. Put up tomatoes, jam & pickles and eat them in the winter
2. Take a woodworking class at the Crucible and build something beautiful
3. Learn good swimming & breathing technique for two different strokes
4. Watch the sun rise from Angel Island
5. Visit Quixote Winery
6. Plan regular craft/project/hang out nights with the girls
7. Get/make a hammock or outdoor couch
8. Talk myself into applying to grad school
9. Explore the underwater preserves at Salt Point
10. Start volunteering regularly
11. Brew & bottle my own beer
12. Do 100 pushups in a row
13. Give away all of the clothes that I won’t ever wear again
14. Read a book or two on the following: color theory, California history, the Mormon faith, superstring theory
15. Bike Part Two of Silverado Trail (128 and above!)
16. Coffee + Book on the deck of a mushroom dome cabin
17. Try rock-climbing
18. Save a substantial-ish emergency fund
19. Spend a night soaking at Harbin with Morgs
20. Camp on the cliffs in Big Sur (Thanks Peggy!)
21. Get a full-frame camera body
22. Write letters to three teachers/professors who changed my life & send them
23. Sell a photograph
24. **Secret one to be revealed later**
25. Get totally comfortable working with encaustics
26. Soak in private bath overlooking the ocean at Esalen in the middle of the night
27. Read five graphic novels – 1(Lost Girls)  2 (the Watchmen) 3 4 5

It’s going to be a great year.

Let’s not talk about how I acquired walking pnemonia and was sick for about 8 years. Instead, let’s talk about how I pickled something! Or, more accurately, lots of somethings! I took a class with the totally awesome Georgia Pelligrini yesterday, which took place in the back garden of an amazing restored Temescal Victorian that I’ve always admired whenever I’ve wandered by (if you’re local, it’s the one at Clark & 49th). We made three different things – Garlic Dill Pickles, Pickled Eggs (with Beets and Onions), and Spicy Pickled Peppers.

They’re now sitting on our kitchen windowsill, looking darling, where they will taunt us for the next six weeks as the pickling process happens (except for the eggs! we get to eat those in a week). I was surprised at how very easy it all was and will be procuring a giant canning pot in the near future so that I can do it again on my own. I’m now dreaming of preserving the things that we get in excess when they’re in season and miss horribly when they’re not (kale and heirloom tomatoes, I’m looking at you).

I’ll also be picking up some kosher salt to make some lemon confit with the lemons that our tree is dropping on the ground (because we can’t eat or give away enough of them).

Subject: blog

Just in case you were wondering, your last post was January 19th.

Whoops! Sorry about that. Let’s check in on my 26 before 26 progress, shall we? I’ve done quite a bit, but have much more to do…

1. Launch an online portfolio

DONE!  It has lots of newer work I haven’t shown here (bad blogger!). Take a look, tell me what you think.

2. Take a Spanish class with Steve
3. Write 10 9 8 love letters longhand, snail-mail them

Got delayed with this at the beginning because of course I decided I needed to make my own personalized stationary to write on. Then decided I needed to make personalized stationary for F to go with the love letter that I was writing her. This paragraph pretty much sums up why everything takes me forever.  But I am absolutely loving this. Maybe you’re next!

4. Find an old card catalog, alter it

I think I may have changed this to an old record table, which I found on craigslist for $20 and plan to convert into the world’s most awesome record table/bar. Is there a better combination of functions for a piece of furniture? I think not (blame Mad Men).

5. Conceive/create a ttv photography series

See: Portfolio!

6. Read Infinite Jest

Talked G into doing this with me.  He’s been “setting up a reading schedule” for a month now. Maybe some public shaming will move the whole thing along? AHEM.

7. Set up an Etsy shop
8. Plan a camping trip with friends

Waiting to snag a spot at the Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park. I missed the last opening of the schedule, but I am ready for the next one.

9. Set up automatic charity contributions

DONE! We have monthly, automatic donations set up with  Doctors Without Borders and the Alameda County Community Food Bank.

10. Begin an artistic collaboration

Shoot, I forgot about this one and haven’t made any progress. Anyone want to collaborate with me on something awesome? Seriously?

11. Learn to properly poach an egg

I am doomed to fail at this over and over. Yes, I have tried some vinegar in the water (result: still-a-mess eggs, now with not-so-subtle vinegar flavor!). Yes, I have tried the whirlpool method (result: much hilarity! no poached eggs). Am considering giving up and purchasing these silicon egg poachers. Will that make me a sellout? Please say no! Life is too short for vinegar-y eggs.

12. See an active volcano

DONE! On our honeymoon. Last August. Where we stayed at the base of an active volcano and saw lava flowing. Where we also hiked to the top of a (mercifully non-active) volcano, and spent a whole day at the hot springs COMPLETELY BY OURSELVES. I have no idea why I haven’t written about Costa Rica… I will do so soon, promise.

14. Drinks at the Den, show at the Fox

DONE!

15. Walk across the Golden Gate Bridge, alone
16. Visit Vancouver with girlfriends

I think this might actually become Portland this year. Yes? Ladies?

17. Create a mixed-media piece

DONE! Absolutely loved it and am planning more. Maybe I’ll share some here if they ever get non-terrible.

18. Go see the Raiders play
19. Host a monthly Sunday potluck dinner

Our first Sunday potluck will happen this month and will be brunch. It will involve many of my favorite things, including, but not limited to: coffee, bloody marys, stinking bishop cheese, acme bread, the Sunday Times and probably this. If you live near me, your invitation is coming shortly. Please come, I promise not to serve you vinegar-y eggs.

20. Pickle something
21. Go to Nightlife at the California Academy of Science

DONE! It was the perfect date. Martinis + planetarium show + aquarium + rainforest + sharks = nerdtastic genius.

22. Wreck a journal
23. Join the darkroom studio
24. Say marriage vows

DONE!

25. Do 10 real push-ups in a row

Am thinking I should’ve made this a life goal, not a 26 before 26….

26. Submit work to a gallery/show

So, on my 25th birthday, I made this list. And last week, I checked another thing off of it. I’d been having one of those weeks, I think we all know exactly what I mean and by the time Thursday evening rolled around and I barreled through the door with precisely 12 minutes to eat, change and head out to the concert, it all sounded rather exhausting. But then we found a killer parking spot and our tickets came with VIP bracelets and free drinks and I found myself sitting in the dark attic of the Den, martini in hand, feet kicked up, leaning into my husband, minutes away from seeing Bon Iver.

The Fox is a gorgeous venue, recently rescued and lovingly restored. It’s full of awesome details, like these two buddhas, whose eyes glow in the dark.

Also, this ceiling cut-out, which I had inexplicable and immediate love for.

Here’s the stage before the show.

And here it is, properly populated.

Here we are, being happy.

And finally, my favorite shot – Bon Iver on stage.

Not bad for a point-and-shoot!

26 before 26

1. Launch an online portfolio – www.heyitssierra.com/portfolio
2. Take a Spanish class with Steve
3. Write 10 9 8 7 6 5 love letters longhand, snail-mail them
4. Find an old card catalog, alter it – This is now an old record player and the altering will commence in the next couple of weeks! DONE!
5. Conceive/create a ttv photography series
6. Read Infinite Jest – Decided to wait and do this on the Infinite Summer Schedule this summer, as my partner in crime never got it together….
7. Set up an Etsy shop – Something even more fun in the works, but it’s not ready yet!
8. Plan a camping trip with friends
9. Set up automatic charity contributions
10. Begin an artistic collaboration – In the works, but not ready yet!
11. Learn to properly poach an egg
12. See an active volcano
13. Write an artist’s statement, re-write it, mean it
14. Drinks at the Den, show at the Fox DONE!
15. Walk across the Golden Gate Bridge, alone
16. Visit Vancouver with girlfriends
17. Create a mixed-media piece
18. Go see the Raiders play
19. Host a monthly Sunday potluck dinner Okay, so I only did this once. Bah. Will do better this year!
20. Pickle something
21. Go to Nightlife at the California Academy of Science
22. Wreck a journal
23. Join the darkroom studio – Going to do this in the winter when it’s gray and depressing out.
24. Say marriage vows DONE!
25. Do 10 real push-ups in a row – Steve witnessed!
26. Submit work to a gallery/show