When there's nothing left to burn...

... you have to set yourself on fire.

I allude to the slightly daunting Stars lyric because it seems ever so fitting. Providential! You see, the lovely Ms. Lea Kauling and I, Kimberly Hula, have banded together to make the most of the summer. And we have decided to go big. BIG. H.U.G.E.

...

a series of ellipses for effect.

Now, who knew summer was so short lived? It's a mere 94 days. That seems so fleeting to me. Lea suggested we make the most of the heat. We live in a lovely city. It's vibrant. It's busy, and as I can rarely keep still this seemed the best time to instill an adventure plan. It goes a little like this: Engage in 100 adventures in the glorious 94 days of summer. Are you as adventure-ready as I am just reading this? Join us!

Let's lay some groundwork. Rules and tenants.

Here's what I propose: Our Summer of 100 adventures

The idea is simple. There are roughly 94 days of summer. We're to complete 100 adventures in the summer of 2009. And we'd like your help in this effort.

We'd like you to sign on, as well. What good are adventures if they can't be shared? So here's what we're thinking:
We adventure like we'd never adventured before. Considering our poor financial state (see: economic melt-down) the adventures can be as simple and as frugal as extracting sap from a maple tree and making syrup at a hippie farm festival in Chicago, and as elaborate as getting a tattoo, participating in an adventure race or trying Ethiopian food for the first time. These are the things we often keep ourselves from doing.

This weekend I'm up for adventure. Any and all of it. We'll start a spreadsheet to document our progress.

That said, let's start with this:

3/21-3/22 --- Maple Syrup Festival
by Julia Thiel at 8:27 p.m.
Learn how to tap a maple tree for sap, watch the sap boil, and taste fresh syrup hot off the fire at the annual Maple Syrup Festival at North Park Village Nature Center. There’ll also be music, arts and crafts, campfires, storytelling, and a farmers’ market, plus pancakes with real maple syrup for sale. Sat-Sun 10 AM-3 PM, 5801 N. Pulaski, 312-744-5472.