Hot Ice!

I challenged myself this past weekend to have fun. Normally it's not hard for me to do, but I had two things that initially held me back. First, Matt was gone, and I'm not used to planning activities for just myself. Second, I've been working so hard on the new house, I felt guilty leaving my huge pile to play hooky. It was a much needed break, though, and I'm glad I did it!

I started the day by making pumpkin ice cream. Next, I had lunch with Chris. Him being in town is a rarity these days, so we used the time to catch up and plan our Harry Potter date! (Yes, Matt knows about it, and I think is relieved that I have a new HP buddy!) After lunch I returned to my apartment, only to be greeted by Steph and Eric. Steph's oven broke and I told her she could use mine. She made pumpkins squares, which went well with my pumpkin ice cream. It was also fun to catch up with Eric during the Michigan game commercial breaks. ;)

About an hour later, I left them to their baking and drove to the Toledo Art Museum to take a glass blowing class. For a small fee, I was able to make my own glass icicle. I get to pick it up on Wednesday and I can't wait to see the final product. Here was the general process:

We started by getting some melted glass and tuned it so it wouldn't get too top heavy in any one direction.

Next, we were instructed to make the glass blob into a square.

We then placed it back into the oven.

And then we twisted the glass to give it the "icicle" look. Unfortunately the pictures I took didn't turn out well. After going back into the kiln, the glass was brought out and we crimped it so the top could be easily broken off..

After placing it into a bucket of sand to keep it still, we then replaced the top with a loop so it could hang somewhere.

And that's it - the final product!

My class finished earlier than expected which gave me a great excuses to walk around the rest of the art museum.  Later that evening, I joined up with Steph and Eric for the Walleye Hockey Game. We got great seats so I was able to get some great close ups!

As you can see, we were right behind the visitor box which led to some different views and perspectives.

If this guy looks intimidating, then that's about right. He is the starting forward and he is always looking for a fight. In the world of hockey, apparently that's a good thing, but I still can't encourage it...

And this I just thought was a fun comparison. During one of the quarter breaks, they had kid's come out and do a goalie challenge. I thought it was adorable to see a grown up goalie, side-by-side to a child goalie.