31 Creative Adventures Under 31

Sharing a reverse bucket list on my birthday. (How multifaceted can it get?)

I saved a slice for you.

Welcome (or welcome back!) to Multifaceted, a weekly newsletter about finding delight and direction in a creative life made up of many different interests.

Happy birthday to me!

Over the years, I’ve decided that this is my favorite way to mark the occasion: Scatter a bunch of delightful little treats and activities throughout my birthday week (or birthday month) and enjoy every moment. 

A multifaceted celebration, you might say. Sounds about right. 🙃

As I’m starting another trip around the sun, I wanted to share some highlights from my creative journey up until now. 

The good folks at Forbes would consider me too old and too all over the place for a “30 Under 30” feature, so I’m sure they won’t mind me adapting that idea for my own purposes.

I present: “31 (Creative Adventures) Under 31” – a roundup of projects and experiences I’ve enjoyed over the past 3 decades.

A reverse bucket list, if you will. 

Why? Well, it’s cool to reflect on where I’ve been and what I’ve done. After putting this list together, I can see a lot of related interests and themes coming through. I’m also excited about what I might be able to accomplish in the next 31 years.

More importantly, I hope it helps someone out there see that it is possible to prioritize your interests around school, work, family, budgets, and Daylight Savings. It is worth starting that creative project you have in mind. Even if it seems silly or difficult, even if you only have 15 minutes to spare, give it a shot! 

Here are my “31 Under 31,” organized in a loosely chronological order:

1. Wrote and designed a collection of yearbooks with my high school friends. (One was fairytale-inspired, complete with an epic poem and a storybook cover.)

2. Learned darkroom photography, then scored top marks at an art competition 3 years in a row for my film photos. (One year I made and used a pinhole camera.)

3. Completed several furniture painting projects – including a desk, a shelf, and a dresser.

4. Designed 65 stage costumes for a modern-meets-period drama. (This was a capstone project for my undergrad theatre program.)

5. Got good at pen & ink painting. (And by that I mean, I figured out how to use a series of techniques to create paintings I liked. Then I got bored and wanted to learn something new.)

   

6. Patterned and sewed several period costumes. (Shakespearean outfits, Victorian bustle dresses, and corsets, of course.)

7. Designed my engagement ring. (Using family diamonds, lots of sentimental details, and something blue – irradiated blue diamond side stones in my favorite color.)

8. Coordinated my dream-come-true wedding day. (Featuring a historic house in Charleston, bouquets with trailing ribbons, a horse and carriage, and my true love.)

   

9. Filled my creative tank by traveling solo. (Including a trip to Shanghai where I ventured out to several destinations on my own, a trip to London where I conducted archival research on 1800s muslin dresses, and more recently a trip to Nashville where I explored art museums and honkey-tonks just for fun.)

10. Wrote a graduate thesis on the history and meanings of blue eyeshadow. (This was one of my final projects on the way to earning a master’s degree in fashion history from New York University.)

11. Co-curated an exhibition on 100 years of eye makeup history. (Including lots of gorgeous vintage cosmetics and ephemera.)

    

12. Presented my research on toile de jouy textiles at a 2-day conference in Paris. (It was so cool to sit at a French cafe and chat with the fashion history experts I admired.)

13. Wrote several fashion and media studies articles that were published in academic journals.

14. Went behind the scenes at Colonial Williamsburg twice. (A childhood dream, realized! First with my NYU cohort, then as part of a Costume Society of America conference.)

15. Worked as an interim Costume Shop Manager at NYU Tisch.

16. Practiced a slew of textile art techniques, from embroidery and appliqué to hand weaving.

    

17. Taught week-long sewing classes for kids – including one about sewing plushies and a fashion camp – as well as one-day workshops on block printing and silk painting.

18. Did costumes and makeup for several short films, and wardrobe styling for a Christmas special that aired on PBS. (We filmed a bunch of festive scenes on Halloween.)

19. Designed a fine jewelry brand and collection. (Including recycled 14K gold pendant necklaces and hoop earrings with charms.)

    

20. Explored several types of collage art, from moodboard-style magazine cutouts to hand-painted abstracts.

21. Created dozens of photobooks. (Probably getting close to a hundred at this point…! I like taking pictures when I’m feeling happy – and then printing them off in cute little books makes me even happier. Highly recommend Chatbooks.)

22. Rose through the ranks with my employer, from Content Writer → Senior Writer → Senior Editorial Specialist → Editorial Manager → Director of Editorial in just a few years. (I’ve been with the same company for 4 ½ years now.)

23. Saved up to buy a historic house, then painted and decorated most of its rooms. (It’s a good thing Benjamin Moore is just down the street.)

    

24. Created several websites – some with blogs, some with ecommerce, all with pretty fonts. (I’ve used Squarespace, Weebly, Wix, and Shopify.)

25. Started this Substack newsletter as a way to embrace my multifaceted creative identity.

26. Took hand-building and wheel-throwing ceramics classes. (Not my strong suit, but they were fun.)

    

27. Hand-stitched a textile collage art piece that went on display at a local art exhibition.

28. Wrote an article for PBS about how Marie Antoinette’s on-screen costumes compared to her real-life wardrobe. (Another childhood dream come true.)

29. Made a person!!! (Growing, birthing, and breastfeeding my little one is the most mind-blowing thing I’ve ever done.)

30. Designed and digitized an original animal doll sewing pattern. (Next up: Creating little outfits for it.)

31. Found my “signature bakes” for special occasions. (Including the perfect mince pies for Christmas and the perfect chocolate chip cookies for every other time of year. And for birthdays – a chocolate orange cake, a coffee walnut cake, and – new this week! – a long-awaited strawberry cake pour moi.)

Thanks for reading! Let me know if you ever decide to write up a reverse bucket list of your own.

In the meantime, here’s hoping your week is filled with sweet inspiration! 🍰