#39 & #66 - Done

So this weekend involved some major stressors, but we got through them and I completed not one, but two tasks yesterday! #39 - Submit something creative to a public competition and #66 - Try 5 foods I've never had before.

One of the big weekend events involved a sudden and unexpected trip several states away on Sunday to be with my in-laws. When we had some downtime, I showed my mother-in-law some pictures I had taken of some animals around our apartment complex. She really liked a particularly artsy-looking one I took of a praying mantis that had crawled up onto a railing and was posed perfectly in front of the grassy hill behind the complex. She told me I ought to submit it to a photography contest a friend had sent to her. It's a competition for NC wildlife photography. She emailed me the link, and when we got home, I submitted the two mantis shots I took to the contest. I don't think I stand much of a chance as a 100% amateur photographer who's never done more than zoom, point, and click, but it was worth it to try, and since my Mom-in-law is a photographer, her thinking my photos were good enough to compete means a lot.

Monday morning, before we left for the long drive home, we had breakfast with the in-laws. Banana bread and grapes were the standard, but my father-in-law had a cut avocado. I've technically had avocado before, but only in small slivers in sushi rolls. The flavor was overshadowed by everything else in the sushi. If you asked me, I could NOT tell you a single thing about the taste or texture of avocado or even if I liked it or not. So I asked if I could try a bit. I wasn't a fan, honestly. I'm sure it's good with spice and having been otherwise cooked, but straight avocado, no thanks.

My 5 foods tried:
1) Tofu
2) Black bean burger
3) Souvlaki
4) Hummus
5) Avocado

What I learned from all this? I could never be a vegetarian.

Also, I finished reading my 6th book, officially starting #33 - Read 5 books by authors I haven't read before. Book #6 was Snow White and the Seven Samurai by Tom Holt. It's a very interesting book that took me a bit to get into, but once I got started, it was a nice and engaging read. It's an interesting fantasy concept of "What would happen if the Magic Mirror were actually a computer program that ran fairy tales, making sure they happened the right way, and someone crashed the system?" There's a lot of characters and other storylines to keep track of happening at once, but once they've all been introduced and what's happening has been made clearer, it's a great read.