#72: Get your art on at First Fridays downtown

                                                                   OMG we love art!

           After stuffing myself with dollar tacos, great company, and Arch’s, I was already an extremely happy girl on Friday! But it was also a big day in getting rid of things on the list. It was April fools on top of being a First Friday, and Heather and I went on a few excursions to make the best of it! Stop number one took us on the crazy trolley lady’s trolley headed downtown to the art galleries.

            Now I’m still not sure how many galleries there are on the downtown mall, but I do know we hit up at least two of them. On the first Friday of every month, the art galleries in this Cville strip open their doors to the public for mingling with local artists and enjoying the works with light refreshments provided. Our first stop was BozART; the artist Cindy Ferreira was featured throughout most of the gallery and Heather and I loved her because she had several paintings of local Charlottesville sights such as the Downtown strip, lawn rooms, Jefferson’s gardens at Monticello etc.

            We also made it to C’ville Arts: a Cooperative Art Gallery better known for the “bejeweled” sofa sitting outside of it. This place was much more eclectic and had a greater variety of knickknacks than paintings that really drew my eye. They also had matted photographs by Heather’s fave Jack Cacciotore who captures UVA Grounds so stunningly.

            I had so much fun going out of my normal Friday routine and doing this with a friend! Charlottesville is really known for its artsy locale, and it’s easy to forget when you spend so much time on JPA haha.

"What if, Laurel, all that you had to look forward to were the things that are free, like sunrises, wagging tails, holding hands, and your imagination. Would it all be worth it?

Probably."

-- The Universe

#53: Groove to jazz at Miller’s

            A hop, skip, and a jump from the trolley stop at the Downtown Mall, Miller’s is completely unique as a bar hotspot. I’m sure it also benefits a lot from the support of students who flock to Miller’s in order to fulfill their History of Jazz concert report requirements. That was how I first came to learn about the place second year when Joe took me on a jazz date! Although the tiny fishbowl window supports live music every night (this bar is where Dave Matthews first got started!), jazz is only played on Wednesdays and Thursdays from about 11pm on. (we made that mistake trying to go back way too early for the second time).

            This year I am taking jazz, and Joe and I got around to getting out last cold, blustery night. Second year had been super crowded and we’d had to cram upstairs because of all the last minute paper writers! But last night was mildly empty, with only a few older couples and sneezing old men who packed up their half-eaten food or threw it out to our dismay. Food is not served after 10 pm, but as a general rule the food looks amazing on the menu, and Miller’s hosts great happy hour specials like $1 fries and half off chicken tenders! They also have (or at least used to) a giant nacho challenge where if you ate them by yourself in under an hour you got them for free!

            The thing about us getting older, this time, is that we were able to enjoy the drinking atmosphere that envelops the old building! There’s an extensive drink menu that can be found online, and the beer selection was (in my uneducated opinion) outstanding! He got a Rogue Dead Guy Ale followed by Long Trail Double Bag while I sunk deep into a rather large Bahama Mama at the bar. Right around 11, Thompson & D’earth went on and as usual, blew my mind. I’ve had jazz on my brain all week because of an exam and visiting my grandmother, and I won’t be able to get it out again! When you go, be sure to tip the band because there’s no cover charge and I’m pretty sure the musicians make next to nothing, and they are just SO talented. 

“By and large, jazz has always been like the kind of a man you wouldn’t want your daughter to associate with” - Duke Ellington

#70: See the Declaration of Independence in the Special Collections Library

Well, there are 50 days left until graduation and the panic is setting in as I am frantically scrambling to find a job and not be “that girl” who goes to a top university and ends up working in a low-scale restaurant. Oh wait I can’t be that girl because I don’t even have that job yet. Awesome.

Anyway, counting down the days brought to my attention I have 26 things left to accomplish in a short amount of time! So on a spur of the moment jaunt, Kimberly and I ended our traditional Thursday Newcomb lunch with a little treat trip to the Special Collections Library!

The regalia of Declaration materials is housed at the bottom of the beautiful spiral staircase and, of course, guarded by busts of Madison and Jefferson. The facsimiles and actual letters from the Founding Fathers here comprise the largest collection of Declaration of Independence materials in history and are definitely exciting to look at if you’re a major American history buff. There’s also a plastic shield barricading the public from entering the actual Special Collections library where succulent miniature books (and perhaps gigantic… for everything wonderful is exaggerated) rest untouched, perhaps on four-score-and-seven-years scales. The collections after all extend throughout 12.82 miles of shelves in an underground passage not even counting the electronically restricted works. Ahh… if only I could sneak a peak at what the University is hiding down there!

In the words of the newly late Elizabeth Taylor,

“So much to do, so little done, such

 things to be.”

#3: Streak the Lawn

 

                                                                            <ngunderground.blogspot.com>

           The cornucopia of information one can look up on the internet is getting to be absurd, but the knowledge imparted even from the most unreliable source (which Wikipedia actually isn’t, much to the protests of my high school teachers) can usually yield exactly what you’re looking for. Like today when I was researching “A History of Streaking.” Did you know college streaking actually originated in Virginia!?

            Yes, readers, I have sunk to a new level of depravity. And I have bludgeoned one of my biggest fears: public nudity with threat of arrest and the stigma of “sex offender” attached to every fiber of your being. Honestly, I am frequently shocked by what some people wear in general or how they act, and I so rarely do things that could potentially scar my reputation like this before. I have been so so worrisome about it, so much so that I feared I would not only not accomplish this on the 111 Things and fail at checking it off my life list. Yeah, it’s on there. My life list has very specific criteria when accomplishing tasks: state the date, place (if not obvious), and people involved. This morning I crossed off in pink ink: “3/17/2011: Jade and Joe (2 random dudes, and all my other friends watching. And the three cops).”

            My 3 recommended P’s for streaking are: Practice, Pace, Plan. I only paced myself, but seeing as I was sick and had not practiced, I was still way too out of breath! Jade and I freakin took off but she burned me all the way and so did two random guys behind us. Then Joe came and sweetly ran with me until he tripped over himself and pulled me down with him going up a hill. I kissed Homer’s butt and made my way back, but I wasn’t even thinking about the fact that I was naked because as I got over the last crest I noticed the two policemen and the undercover cop (whom I had previously suspected!) on the East Lawn. They were giving me time to get dressed which I thought was weird, and as I hastily threw on inside out and backwards clothes I started getting more nervous and made a break for it towards the West side of the dome. Jade followed me and we hesitated for a while before going back. Unfortunately, the minute we decided to step out under the lit passageway the cops were right there so we ran and ran for GOOD. No phones, no purses, no shoes. Down into the darkness of Madbowl where we borrowed some guy’s phone to try and call Lauren who was too preoccupied to receive the call ;)

            Jade and I walked back up to the Rotunda but didn’t want to reveal that we had no shoes, so we asked a sweet first year named Louise if she would find Joe and Lauren for us. After a while she came back and said that they weren’t there, but that the policemen still were. PLAN: Not knowing where to go with no shoes, we took roundabout sidestreets to the Venable apartments and thankfully found Lauren and Bryce at home… Molly had Jade’s things and Joe and Heather had gone hunting for me. Special thanks to Nick for driving me home and for Sipian for being AT home to let Joe in after he re-locked himself out.

            I will never streak the Lawn again, but thank you so much for everything on St. Patty’s day… all of you from the Fishbowl and beyond!

"Isn't it fascinating to think that probably the only laugh that man will ever get in his life is by stripping off and showing his shortcomings?" – David Niven

#96: Leave your legacy and give a fourth year gift to something that’s important to you

      

      $20.11 sounds cheap of me for giving back to the school that gave me a basis to find a job, a new career path, a beautiful new city to love in, and you amazing people. I never want to be rich, but I do hope to have enough someday, on my own, to be comfortable and be able to help others become comfortable. For tonight, this is the best I can do. As I stated before, 100% goes to Madison House! Please give here: uva2011.com/giving

#5: View UVA from the Roof of a Building

            First year escapades proved to be unrivalled, and one of my favorites was exploring the roofs around Grounds! Click here for a helpful site if you’re interested in making your way up on one, although I’m a little disappointed that I have yet to find my way to Clark’s roof (especially as an Environmental Science major!).

            One of my favorite memories was climbing on the roof of the Chem Building (via the sketchy ventillation room at the top of the building) and getting a kiss from Joe before we started dating. Tori and I made hot chocolate that night and went up with Sam, Alex, Jon, and Joe. I’d been up there twice and I think made it over to Wilsdorf, but I’m not sure I made it up to Gilmer ever. Let’s please do Cabell before graduation…I miss the rush so much.

“At night the stars put on a show for free
And, darling, you can share it all with me
I keep a-tellin' you
Right smack dab in the middle of town
I've found a paradise that's trouble proof (up on the roof)” – The Drifters

#4: Remove Yourself from Facebook for 24 Hours

                                                                                   <bleedinout.blogspot.com>

            Here I am people…live and coming at you Spring Break style 2011. If you hadn’t heard, we had to put my sweet boy Comet to sleep at the beginning of this week, so I had a pretty rough start. Luckily, I’m blessed with a bunch of amazing friends who played such an integral role in helping me move on. Thank you <3.

            Between road tripping with Kristin, Jess, and Kimberly to Raleigh (if you ever hear a girl complaining that there are no men anywhere, send them to Raleigh. Seriously.) and a beach trip to Jewly’s in the Outer Banks with Joe and many of my favorites from his crew, I’ve been in North Carolina for most of this week and out of touch with technology! SO even though Lent didn’t start until Wednesday, I’ve been off Facebook since Monday.

            In addition to giving up Facebook for 40 days I will be giving up pizza as well. Unfortunately, a few hours at home alone has already driven me to boredom, and the food cravings kicked in as early as yesterday. However, I’ve successfully relinquished both of these delights in previous years, and I have the will to do it again. Wish me luck! Maybe it will give me more time/drive to finish the list!

"I'm not a big fan of young kids having Facebook...you know, it's not something they need." – Michelle Obama