Bricks & Botanical Bliss: The Unofficial Guide to LEGO at Fort Worth Botanic Garden (plus free Scavenger Hunt!)

In seeking to utilize my membership at the Fort Worth Botanic Garden, a Christmas gift from my sister (thanks Deda!), I discovered this week that there would be a - gasp! - Lego exhibit there all summer, called Sean Kenney’s Nature POP! Made with LEGO® Bricks. Combining things I enjoy - in this case, walking in nature, and Lego art - always seems to be an exponentially exciting endeavor to me. So even though I had  already made plans to go see it with a friend next month, I couldn't wait to go myself, on my first day off. 

While I am often very much a planner in almost all aspects of life, I enjoy both the challenge of spontaneity and the relief of not having to plan certain parts of my life. So I awoke without an alarm and got ready to go to the gardens. I noted that there was a QR code which would likely have more information and a map and the like, but ignored the impulse to check it out. Instead, once I showed my membership ID, I put my headphones in and headed out aimlessly, with the intent to discover as many of the exhibits as I could without the aide of a map.

The first few exhibits were right through the doors. Actually, there were two exhibits just outside the entrance before you even pay admission, as well as a few murals in the Pollinator Pathway near the parking lot, which I discovered at the end of my journey. But besides those, once you're past the admission desk and through the doors, there are several bunnies, a couple gardeners and a dog. I took some photos and ventured on. 

I spotted a red blur in flight, and when it stopped in the tree, I stopped to snap a few photos of the cute little bird. The lighting was poor but I was able to enhance it on my phone. I moved on and continued to discover additional statues and murals built of Lego. 

One thing I really loved and appreciated was that the signs had a little blurb about the art and a little blurb about the science. This makes it a memorable and fun learning experience, I suspect, for kids and adults alike even. 

I made my way to the Rose Garden and found a dazzling sculpture there of a rose, fitting. As I carved my way through the curvy paths, I was reminded of my labyrinth experience and reflected on the ever so slight distracting annoyance of having to make decisions about which way to go every few feet. What I loved about the labyrinth was that it made all the decisions for you, you had but to choose to walk it, and the path took care of the rest. That's what promoted the meditative experience I had while walking the labyrinth, albeit too short of lengths for my preference. A trade off, I presume, between the length stretches I could walk here in the Rose Garden versus a labyrinth. If only we could combine the two - having a single path over a larger scale. That's Ikea, I suppose. 

Not knowing where I would find the next exhibit, I ventured into the Japanese Garden and walked a majority of its length, finding no Lego exhibits there. I would later confirm with the map that the Japanese Garden was, indeed, left alone, without a single Lego piece, and just the tranquil peace. 

Outside of the Japanese Garden, I spotted a *POP* of color which I took to be my next lead. I found more sculptures and enjoyed reading the plaques in front of each. 

After more than 2 miles of walking, I decided to start making my way back to the car, when I spotted a red tailed hawk wrangling a recent kill. It spotted me before I saw it, and raised its wing to protect its hunting trophy from me. I think this is one of the funniest behaviors of the animal kingdom. I was reminded of the time a turkey vulture danced around its catch with both wings extended while I walked widely around it to retrieve my car from the street shortly after I moved into my house in Texas. If only the birds of prey knew I have a much better meal awaiting me at home, and that their breakfast was not tempting to me in the least! After photographing it from the distance at which I stopped, it eventually was startled away by unaware kids coming up the path the other way. I tried to follow it to see where it would land in the tree, but it was too fast for me to track it. 

After a quick stop at the restroom and gift shop, I headed out to my car, clocking more pops of color in the Pollinator Pathway, as previously mentioned. So I wandered down that path which I usually skip, and found a few more murals that were totally worth seeing. 

Finally, at my car, I pulled up the website from the QR code and checked the map. Verifying the list against my memory, I was happy to see I had found all but one of the exhibits on my own. I chuckled at myself thinking that I was too close to stop now; like Pokemon, I gotta catch 'em all! The last one was not in the gardens proper; it was by the research institute, to which I know of no (other) reason to go. So I drove over to the entrance and popped out of my car for a quick photo. So lesson learned: if you're missing one (the zebra mural), do not remorse, it is easily accessible by car on your way out of the parking area. 

After returning home, I did some organizing of my photos and did some searches online to get more information and data for this post. Interestingly (or annoyingly), some of the articles about the exhibit coming to Fort Worth either reference or feature a panther, which was neither on the map nor in my photos or memory. I was incredibly frustrated to learn that I had missed one, and puzzled why it wasn't on the map. After considerable deliberation, I figured out that the "panther" referenced is actually the snow leopard, so I wasn't missing one after all. 

About Nature POP!

The exhibit runs from May 22 to September 17, so you have plenty of time to *POP* out to the gardens to see it! This marks artist Sean Kenney's second major showcase at the venue, arriving five years after his "Nature Connects" exhibition occupied the grounds. 

By the Numbers 

There are 18 three dimensional sculptures and 6 large, flat murals. The murals are all the same size and according to the signs, are all composed of the same number of pieces -  18,432 each! This may seem expected at first, but actually, the pieces used on the murals are all different shapes and sizes, so one realistically could expect there would be variation in the brick count. I used my favorite AI chatbot to validate the underlying assumptions in those counts, and provide its own estimates based on my photos. The count was estimated to be much lower. 

The sign for the rabbits indicated they were 1,496 pieces, but it was unclear if that was per bunny or for the collection. With 21 bunnies, if the figure was for all of them, that would be an average of 71 pieces per bunny - seems low. If its per bunny, then all the rabbits would be 31,416 pieces all together, so I think it's that. 

I didn't catch the number of pieces for three of the statues (at least one of which did not have a sign from what I could find), and used google search and AI to try to ascertain those estimates, but did not trust the numbers, so I used my own estimates for those three. 

Update June 26, 2026: I went back to the gardens and revisited the statues I had been missing piece counts for, so now I have a complete count (at least, according to the signs). 

Based on the pieces stated, and my assumption about the rabbits, I calculated 869,074 Lego pieces, which confirms the claim that there are over 800,000 pieces used in the total exhibit. At an average retail price of $0.13, that would be nearly $113k worth of Lego! Although, the artist likely got a wholesale price closer to 6 cents per brick, or about $52k. 

Even if the number of pieces is overestimated for the murals, using the high end of the AI-generated estimates, the entire collection was estimated at 811,982 pieces, still well above the claimed 800,000 pieces. 

The Next Stops: Cities Scheduled After Fort Worth

This is the 14th stop on the tour. After September 17th, once the installations are carefully disassembled, packed into customized, foam-lined logistics crates, and loaded onto freight trucks at the end of the summer, they are booked to head to the following locations:

    Omaha, NE (Scheduled to open January 16, 2027)
    Winchester, VA (Scheduled to open May 27, 2028)

Custom Resources

If you want to have a little fun, you can turn the exploration of the Lego sculptures and mosaics into a game, and a challenging learning experience. To help you and your family gamify your visit, I created a printable Scavenger Hunt and a Trivia Quiz, designed to test your eye for detail.

Sign up with your email below to join my writing journey, and I'll instantly send a copy straight to your inbox:

 

To provide you with the most efficient route to visit all of the Nature Pop! displays, I have charted a course on the map that minimizes backtracking. We have created a blue path that visits the sculptures in a clear, continuous sequence. You can see the visual path overlaid on the map, and here is the breakdown:

 
Efficient Nature Pop! Walking Route:

Start at the BRIT to see the Zebra Mural, or the Pollinator Pathway near the park lot. 
#3 Ladybug Mural - Pollinator Pathway
#2 Butterfly Mural - Pollinator Pathway
#6 Horses Mural
#1 Galapagos Tortoise - You'll likely see this as you drive in. Watch for cars if you approach on foot to take a picture. 

#5 Eagle - You'll see this on your left as you walk into the Garden Center.
#8 Gardeners - Veer left as you enter the garden, and appropriately, visit the statue of the gardeners! 
#9 Rabbits - Count them and see how many you can find!
#10 Dog

#11 Leopard
#12 Pangolin
#13 Polar Bear & Cub

#7 Tree Frog Mural - I think this is in the wrong spot on the map, as I spotted it after the Polar Bear and before the Woodpecker. 

#14 Woodpecker
#15 Doe & Fawn
#16 Buck
#17 Fox
#18 Lawn Mower

Hang a right after the Lawn Mower
#23 Spider Mural
#22 Zebra
#21 Lion
#20 Dodo Bird

Enter the Rose Garden
#19 Rose - North West part of the Rose Garden
#24 Dragonfly - Exit the Rose Garden on the South East side and head towards the pond. It's a bit out of the way, but worthwhile as it is one of my favorites! 

#4 Zebra Mural - Near BRIT (Botanical Research Institute of Texas). Recommend driving here at the beginning or end of your day. 

This route allows you to see every sculpture in one continuous walk through the Fort Worth Botanic Garden.

And here is my table of the piece count.

Sculptures	Claimed Piece Count	Notes
1. Galapagos Tortoise	21,976
5. Eagle	22,200
8. Gardeners	46,823
9. Rabbits	31,416	*Assumes 21 rabbits at 1,496 each as the signs imply
10. Dog	39,800
11. Snow Leopard	51,377
12. Pangolin	28,650
13. Polar Bear with Cubs	112,450
14. Woodpecker	32,650
15. Fawn & Doe	43,150
16. Buck	38,350
17. Fox	18,100
18. Lawn Mower	35,250
19. Rose	20,000
20. Dodo Bird	29,750
21. Lion	45,150
22. Zebra	73,500
24. Dragonfly	67,890
Subtotal in Sculptures:	758,482

Murals	Claimed Piece Count	AI Estimate
2. Butterfly	18,432	5,500
3. Lady Bug	18,432	4,500
4. Zebra	18,432	6,500
6. Horses	18,432	15,500
7. Tree Frog	18,432	8,500
23. Spider	18,432	13,000
Subtotal in Murals:	110,592	53,500

Total Pieces:

869,074

811,982

How To: Lego Mural

My house is a Lego house. Not literally, but only because we haven't built our dream house yet (which will most definitely incorporate a Lego feature). Anyways, we have a lot of Lego sets and MOCs (My Own Creations). Since we eat dinner on the couch primarily, we don't have a functional need for our dining room. So I'm transforming our sad pastel old-person dining room into a Lego Gallery. Before I get the furniture and textiles, I'm painting the walls and adding a couple murals. I thought I'd take you along and provide some tips for those wanting to do something similar.

Pre-work: Choose your design. I had my friends on social media vote on my mural design, and the consensus was between options 3 & 4. Feel free to take inspiration from any of these designs! 

I plan to put a shelving unit for a Lego gallery in front of the wall, so I thought the yellow would be too distracting. Thus, I selected the gray design.

The key to this mural is that the base color is the same as the brick color and the top of the studs. So in all reality, after the base coat is up, all I'm going to paint are the highlights and the shadows. It's a negative space trick! Neat, huh?

How to Paint this Lego Mural

Step 1: Paint the base color. I actually brought to Home Depot a giant Lego block to do an exact color match (more precisely, I brought the gray Lego wall hanger). For the shadow I needed a darker gray, and I used a swatch that went well with my lighter gray color. I had white paint lying around, so planned to use that for the highlight color (later, I decided  that the white was too stark, so I mixed some of it with the wall color).

Step 2: Cut a pizza pan-shaped circle in an old Lego box. The mosaic kits are great square boxes for this purpose. I'll refer to mine as Marilynizza (you'll see why later).

Step 3: Measure Marilynizza, representing the size of the stud, and then determine relative dimensions, including room for shadows and highlights. These are rough dimensions I measured by using PowerPoint (because I'm a weird nerd and use PowerPoint for all visuals).

 

Step 4: Tape a grid on the wall. Notice it's not a perfect grid throughout. I've made room in between my "bricks", as indicated by the green tape. I started with the bottom to make sure I had my technique down, and also because I got tired of taping and wanted to dive into the painting!

Step 5: Line up the bottom and left edges of the taped square with Marilynizza.

Step 6: Trace the outside left and bottom. With paint. Specifically, a darker shade than the base coat, to create the illusion of a shadow. A smaller, artistic brush, is recommended for this.

Step 7: Slide Marilynizza over and fill in the gap with the shadow-colored paint. Just for fun, the color of the wet paint in the darker grey looks almost exactly like the dry color of the lighter grey, making an additional challenge in ensuring coverage. The good news, shadows can be a little fuzzy, so it's okay if it's a little imperfect.

 

Step 8: Remove Marilynizza and watch the paint dry. Just kidding! You have a million more studs to do, keep going! 

Pro Tip: I noticed the paint started getting on the back of Marilynizza and then transferring to the next part of the wall where I didn't want it, so I started wiping the paint off the back of her after each "stud" was complete.

Step 9: After the paint has sufficiently dried, use the other side of Marilynizza to paint the highlights of the studs. Line her up with the top and right edges of the box for the first trace in a lighter color or white, then slide her over and fill it in, just like before! 

Pro Tip: Once the tape is up, painting the crescent shapes for the stud shadows and highlights went pretty fast. For the upper ones, I needed an extra pair of hands so my love supported by holding the paint while I was up on the step ladder with my Marilynizza and paintbrush. For studs at height, definitely a good idea to have a partner to help you out! 

 

Step 10: Remove the tape for the stud sections, and put any more tape down as needed to line out the shadows of the Lego bricks. 

Step 11: Paint the shadows in the darker color. (This also goes quite quick. I was too excited so I forgot to take a picture of the tape before painting.)

Step 12: After the paint dries, remove your tape and do any touch-ups as you see necessary.

Step 12.5: Enjoy your new mural! Or, immediately cover it up with all your more intricate Lego builds! 

I am thrilled with how the mural turned out! Even with some imperfect measurements I noticed half way through the project, I think the objective of the vision was achieved. My technique was certainly inconsistent from stud to stud, repeated over 28 times on both sides, but none of those details really show when you look at the broader picture. 

Stay tuned (and subscribe) to see how the Lego Gallery room comes together. Lights, curtains, furniture, and of course, the Lego sets and MOCs, still to come! 

Next up: Lego curtains!

DIY Lego Artwork: Silhouette Templates for Lego Mosaics

Lego has been marketing to adults for some time now, but some of their recent additions have been vying for space on our walls as artwork. If you love Lego but aren't artistic enough to make complex pieces of artwork, with shading and fancy techniques like that, you've come to the right place! This simple technique will allow you to design big, bold graphics while still being a custom art piece you can claim is all yours! The key to this technique is that you create a template to follow before you even pick up a brick. 

 
As you may know if you've read my other How To blog posts, I use PowerPoint to do much of my designing. It's super silly in some ways, but it is because I am comfortable with the tools and it is a nearly universal software that most people have. What I'll describe here is a pretty easy process that doesn't require much artistic ability, just a lot of patience and diligence. We'll first create a basic transparent grid of one color, use a silhouette graphic for reference, and then "trace" the reference graphic by filling some of the squares a different color. 

 
 

1. To start, open up a new, blank presentation. Draw a square by using the rectangle tool and holding down Shift to ensure the height and width are equal. Make it relatively small, since you'll be making a lot of these. Mine ended up being 0.26" by 0.26". 

2. Use the Format Shape options to choose the color you want as the background color for your design.

3. Increase the Transparency of the Fill to about 32%. This is really important, so you'll be able to see the reference image later.

4. Add a Solid line that will be visible as well, this well help you see the borders of each shape, both when you're duplicating them and creating the grid, and later when you're drawing your silhouette. I used 1.75 pt Width and a fairly dark color.

5. Now, we get to the tedious copy and paste steps. A word of warning, it is worth spending the time to make sure the lines are very straight and lined up here. Copy the square and paste it. PowerPoint will put the new square slightly offset. 

6. Grab that new square and drag it next to the first one. Automatic guidelines will temporarily appear and help you ensure that it matches the alignment of the first square. When you're satisfied, release the mouse. If you're not happy with the alignment, you can click on it and move it again, or use the arrow keys on your keyboard to adjust slightly.

7. When you're happy with that alignment, copy both squares and paste, to make a 2x2 square. You'll notice the guidelines will disappear if they're not well aligned and will re-appear when they are aligned.

8. Keep copying and pasting bigger and bigger rectangles or squares until you have the desired size (you can keep track of this by making a 2x2, then 4x4, then 8x8, etc). I chose a 32 x 32 grid because that's one of the sizes for the base plates, so that would be easy to mount because it doesn't require additional plates. For reference, the Lego art pieces are 48 x 48. If you plan to purchase one of those sets in order to re-purpose the frames and pieces, then you'll want to make your grid 48 x 48 to match. Another note: when you have the top half, if it looks like you're going to exceed the size of the slide, you may want to slide the whole grid up slightly above the slide so that the bottom portion doesn't try to snap to the edge of the slide. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

9. Now, if you don't have a reference graphic you want to emulate already, use Google Images and search for the topic you're interested in and use the word "silhouette" in search if needed. Ideally, look for a simple graphic with a white or transparent background and a black or very dark graphic.

10. Copy and paste the image into a new slide and enlarge it if needed. Use the 

11. Remove Background feature if needed to remove distracting things in the background. If the silhouette is the wrong color and you can find a good graphic to use that has the right color, you can also utilize the Color and Corrections tools in PowerPoint to make white outlines black, etc.

 

 

 

12. Copy the updated graphic to the slide with your grid. Adjust the size of the reference graphic to fit in the grid but also to take up as much space as possible in the grid.
 

13. If the "shape" containing the graphic isn't extending beyond the grid, it's a good idea to use the Crop tool to actually extend the shape. This will allow you to select the graphic to delete it later.
 

14. It's also a good idea to make a copy of this finished reference graphic to a blank slide just in case.
 

15. Now, go back to the slide with the grid and the reference silhouette graphic. Right-click on the reference graphic and select "Send to Back". Since you made the fill of the squares transparent, you should see the silhouette still coming through but less clear.
 

 

 

 

16. Select just one box in the grid which is showing inside the silhouette, and change the color to whatever you want to use as your foreground. In the example, I just used white as my foreground color, but because it still has the transparency setting, it looks grey because the reference graphic is black. This is fine for now, you'll see  it more clearly later.
 

 

 

 

17. As much fun as selecting each box and changing the fill each time would be, there is a REALLY helpful tool here that's going to make this a bit faster: the Format Painter. If you've never used the Format Painter before, now's the time to learn. First, click the newly colored square (the white square in my example), then Double-Click on Format Painter. Now, every square you click will turn that color (and take on all formatting) until you either click outside of the shapes or hit Esc on your keyboard. Be sure not to hit your reference graphic (use Undo if you do).
 

18. Using this tool, you can start "coloring" the area that your silhouette shows. Don't worry if you go too far, you can always use the Format Painter to go back over squares you want to change back. Keep "coloring" until your silhouette is mostly traced / covered. If you want to see how it looks or check your technique, you hit Esc on your keyboard and delete the reference silhouette graphic - your art is taking shape! Use Undo to put it back in place.
 

19. If you do other steps before putting it back, use the copy of the graphic you made on the other slide, copy and paste it back on your main working slide and then use the "Send to Back" function again.

20. When you're happy with your "colored" pattern, delete the reference silhouette graphic and then select all of the squares and change the line to "No Line". This will give you a better view of what it will look like. Use Undo or add the solid lines back to use for a template. 

 

Voila! You now have a template for making your own custom Lego art. Time to go to the Lego Store for Pick-a-Brick or order online to get the pieces you need.
 

What are you going to create? Post pictures in the comments!

 

 

 

 

 

My finished product shown here, I added a sun behind my palm tree and used regular white bricks instead of the circles for the palm tree and frame. I needed the purple and yellow dots from two Marilyn Monroe sets and two 32x32 white baseplates to make this.

 

 

Pro-tip: Employ kids or significant others to help you out by defining so-many rows or columns that are one solid color, to lighten your load. Using my palm tree example, I had 9 columns on one side and 4 columns on the other side that were going to be all the same color, as highlighted in darker blue here. You can use painter's tape to tape over the area you don't want them to place bricks on, if needed.

 

 

 Update: I made a second one in different colors!

Here's another example of a simple custom Lego Mosaic piece I created for a giraffe with sunglasses:

I used this AI-generated graphic as the inspiration:

 

 

Here's my design from PowerPoint:

 

Here's the final art:

For more complex graphics, this website is a great, free way to generate instructions: https://lego-art-remix.com/

Note that in Step 1 under Resolution, you can input the size of your canvas. 

My 30 Under 30 List

My closest friends, family and colleagues know that I was really not looking forward to my 30th birthday.  I have made a habit of celebrating big almost every year until now.  The reason for my downtrodden mood is that my "life plan" had me so much further ahead than I am now.  There are many reasons why I'm not where I wanted to be at 30, the housing bubble and subsequent recession having a large part in it, but also my pursuit of other priorities in lieu of focusing on my career, and such.  I have many things to be thankful for and do not want to seem unappreciative; I just wasn't ready to be done with my twenties.  I aspired to be one of those great prodigies listed in the 30 Under 30 lists of 20-somethings doing amazing, world-changing things.  On the other hand, I am told that many people enjoyed their 30's more than their 20's, which is a little reassuring.  Since I can't change the past, I wanted to put my best foot forward as I head into this decade, so I've decided to make my own 30 Under 30 list, but this is a list of the 30 amazing things I accomplished, participated in or experienced before turning 30.  My hope is that this list can inspire, in me and in others, a hope for what can (still) be accomplished! 

30.  I followed my dream of moving back to Arizona
I never expected my family to follow, although I'm thrilled to have them living so close now. When I was in junior high, I decided that I would move back to Arizona as soon as I could.  I was accepted at both UA and ASU, and picked ASU for a number of reasons (including eh hem, my UA alumni parents recommending that the program was better at ASU).  Although it was scary and sad to leave all of my friends and family behind, half a country away, it was a big step in my independence and I started a new and wonderful life here.  I love Arizona, and although I talk about moving elsewhere all the time, I always intend it to be a temporary situation until I move back to Arizona again.  This is home, and I'm glad I made the leap to settle out here. 

29.  I have made an incredibly ambitious Life List, and have knocked off a number of those items every year since
As a planner by nature, I am always thinking of what else I could do to be awesome!  So a 150-item Life List seems like a must to me, and I have enjoyed knocking those things off from time to time.  Sometimes they are planned, like signing up for surf lessons, and some of them just happen to me (although I certainly always try to put myself in the best spot possible to make things happen), like when I rode the cable cars in San Fran, forgetting they were on my list.  As long as I continue knocking things off my list, I feel like my life will never be boring or routine.  

 28.  I have my name up on walls in public places 
There's a very strong ego in me that likes to see my name immortalized.  I love supporting projects on Kickstarter, there are some fantastic ideas out there and great people behind them!  One of my favorite things to do is to back Kickstarter projects for breweries, especially when the reward involves putting my name up on the brewery wall or somewhere in the tasting room.  If you're thirsty in Tucson, I highly recommend Sentinel Peak Brewing Company, not just because my name is up on the wall there, but because the food and beer are unbelievably good!  One of my favorites in Arizona already, and they're just getting started.  Up in more northern Arizona, there's a little brewery serving beer in Camp Verde at an awesome foodie spot called The Horn.  The Camp Verde Brewing Company is right next to The Horn, and I peaked in through the window to find my name on the wall there, too.  Other breweries are opening up around the US all the time, and a select few will have my name on them as well, and I think that's swell. 

27.  I have seen some awesome Broadway musicals, including Wicked actually on Broadway
Rent, Miss Saigon, Les Miserables, Chicago, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, The Lion King, Fiddler on the Roof, Shrek the Musical, Porgy and Bess are all shows I've had the honor and privilege of seeing live on Broadway tours.  Most of them I watched at Gammage, with a few in Chicago and elsewhere.  Wicked is the only musical I've seen actually in New York on Broadway, and I've seen it there twice as luck would have it.  There's something very special about seeing one of these musicals on Broadway, and I can't wait to go back and see some more!

26.  I have earned multiple professional certifications, including a Six Sigma Black Belt, and an MBA
As someone who was not big on homework or studying or school in general when I was younger, I certainly have changed my tune since graduating with my IE degree.  I earned my Six Sigma Green Belt while interning before my senior year of college, and after a year of working professionally, I got fidgety and wanted more.  So I immediately dived into both the APICS CPIM and a Six Sigma Black Belt program.  One of the most "executive"-like activities of my career thus far was when I was flown out to California for a final Black Belt presentation in front of dozens of Presidents and VPs.  The CEO of the host company, my supplier at the time, was even in my class and I had helped him as an informal tutor throughout the Black Belt training.  My VP recognized my accomplishment by promptly sending me to Texas to fix some warehouse operations, which I did before leaving the company less than a year later.  My Dad and I studied for the APICS CSCP together, which was interesting to say the least, and we both passed the exam and earned that certification at the same time.  I had my Black Belt recognized at Honeywell, which is a major accomplishment in and of itself because of the rigorous requirements of Honeywell Black Belts. 

25.  I composed and arranged music to be performed in a musical
With a theater major as a roommate, it was probably inevitable that I would be pulled into a musical audition in college, especially after she learned that I had been in musicals in high school and junior high.  What I didn't expect was the possibility of writing and arranging the music for said musical.  But shortly after practices started, our director asked if anyone knew a music composition major or other student who would be willing to tackle such a project.  I didn't know any music composition majors, but I had taken a music theory class my senior year of high school, and I was pretty good at it.  I attribute my math skills to that.  I raised my hand timidly (yes, there was a time I wasn't so cocky and bold as I am today), and said so.  My director, looking at mostly theater major and minors and then measuring up the industrial engineering major in the group, certainly had reservations of my musical writing ability, but gave me a shot anyways.  That's all I've ever needed, I find, is a shot.  In writing, in painting, in martial arts, and in dance.  Give me a shot and a reason to succeed, and I can do it.  I came back within a day or two with a full piano and vocal arrangement with three part harmony on the song he gave me to try out, and he was impressed, if not a bit overwhelmed at the complexity of vocal harmonies.  I toned down the harmony at his request, and continued working on the full soundtrack for the musical.  It was a bit of an unconventional theater group, as we didn't have parts assigned to us yet, so I had no idea who would be singing the parts even as I was writing them.  Once the music was complete, I ended up getting the part with the coolest solo in my opinion - an eerie scene where the music goes from minor to major and back again.  I don't think I've met anyone who has written music and performed it in a musical in front of an audience, and certainly nobody with an engineering degree. 

24.  I have hiked "The Wave"... twice!
And I would do it again next chance I get!  "The Wave" is one of the most stunning best kept secrets in the area.  It's right on the border of Utah and Arizona, and it's restricted to a very difficult permitting process in order to preserve its beauty as best as possible.  It is one of the most photographed areas of Arizona, and yet, few people are in the know about it.  I have had the honor and privilege of hiking there twice, and its beauty never ceases to amaze me! 

23.  I put $100 down on red in Las Vegas, and won! 
A hundred green may not be a fortune, but I'm not a big gambler.  It would have been a little depressing if I had lost, but I hit it at the right time and it was just a neat little bet that turned into a fun little story. 

22.  I inherited the bar my Grandpa built
I'm a pretty modern style girl, and I have very little patience for antique shopping and hand-me-down clothes.  But my late Grandfather was a skilled hobbyist carpenter, and made some beautiful pieces.  I am so glad I had the audacity and insight to ask for the bar, because that piece, now situated happily in my home, is a fantastic memorial to him and my Grandma, who always celebrated life with friends, love and good times.  It was a big part of my childhood, when I would pull myself up on a bar stool and say, "Shirley Temple, please!"  And it is a reminder of their lives and an inspiration to always celebrate and enjoy even the littlest things. 

21.  I have sold commissioned paintings
I mostly paint for myself, but I have made a number of paintings for my family members and friends, and it thrills me to think of my paintings hanging in the homes of the people I love.  I'll reiterate that I don't think I'm an overly creative or talented painter, I'm a hack.  But I can hack some pretty cool stuff, I think, and it confirms it for me when others want it.  One of my sisters' friends liked the painting I did for my sister, so she asked me to make a similar but different one for her, and paid me for my trouble.  That, to me, is a secondary measure of success! 

20.  I *did* Spring Break in Cancun
Before I graduated college, I realized I hadn't yet played the part of the drunkass college kid on spring break in Mexico.  So I would, naturally, not be satisfied with my college career without this opportunity.  Senior year I made it happen.  A couple friends and I booked a trip that lived up to its expectations.  We had very little plans, we were total amateurs, really, when it came to partying for Spring Break.  But luckily, we met up with a threesome from Kentucky who were much better at this, and we piggy backed on many of their excursions and adventures.  It was such a fantastic time, that when we were supposed to be at the airport to go home, we were sitting on the beach relaxing.  Quite a mess we got ourselves into, and such a perfectly typical Spring Break story that everybody just laughed at our stupidity. 

19.  I have tutored and taught classes effectively
I started teaching for APICS as a way to get over my fear of public speaking.  But so much more than that, I always aspired to some day be a teacher of some sort, not for kids, but for adults.  Since I started teaching, I have taught a number of supply chain classes, including my own curriculum for an Excel course geared towards supply chain professionals.  Nothing makes a teacher happier than to hear that her students, who have taken Excel classes before and got little to nothing out of them, finally got it.  While I may also not make a career out of teaching any time soon, I feel empowered to speak in public and to teach, and I have passion for sharing my insights and expertise in all sorts of ways. 

18.  I have made money with my writing
I never expected writing to make me rich, but I have always enjoyed writing.  So to be employed as a freelance writer, and actually make decent money doing it, was a big deal to me for a little while. Now I am mostly blogging and writing articles for various venues on a volunteer basis, but I know I could always do more freelance writing if I ever wanted to go back to it.  I really enjoyed seeing what was popular and what fell on deaf ears, what got reactions (good and bad) and what got the attention of large corporations.  Being able to write is a powerful skill, and I wish everyone would take it seriously in school and in life. 

17.  I have skiied some tough slopes in Arizona
It's been a while since I've gone skiing, and I definitely moved to Arizona because I don't like the cold, but it is pretty awesome that a four hour road trip takes us to some pretty wild ski slopes.  I'm not the best skiier, either, I usually complete a big hill by throwing myself onto the ground and toppling to a stop.  But the thrill of skiing is something that not everyone has or gets to experience in their lifetimes, and I am glad I have had a number of experiences on the slopes. 

16.  I partied hard at Mardi Gras
Not only did I return from Mardi Gras with a black eye and a stitched up eyebrow, I had the stories to back it up!  The very last night I was there, most of my girlfriends were ready to call it a night, but one girl and I wanted to stay out.  The only problem was, we were out of money and the dance club we wanted to go to had a cover charge.  We figured that if we went back to the hotel now (which was in walking distance), we probably wouldn't come back out.  So I told her, very matter-of-factly, okay, we'll find two guys to pay our cover and buy us drinks, and we'll dance with them for the rest of the night and then ditch them.  She trusted me, and not a minute later, a guy approached me admiring one of the white bead necklaces I had on.  I told him he could trade it with me if he could find a Jameson necklace for me.  He found a girl with a Jameson necklace and persuaded her to give it to him, and then came back to me to make the trade.  I may have made him work a little more for it, but you know how it goes.  After talking with him for a few minutes, he told us that he was going to get his buddy over here to meet us, and they would take us somewhere.  The two guys returned and triumphantly announced that they were going to get some more money at the ATM, and then they would take us to the dance club - the same one we had wanted to go to.  We hadn't even told them we wanted to go there, nor did we mention we were out of money.  Just like that, they whisked us away, got us into the club, bought us drinks, and we danced with them until we were just too tired to stand.  Then we hugged them good bye and headed back to the hotel.  When we were out of sight, my friend grabbed my hand and told me in amazement, "It was just like you said!  We'll find two guys, they'll get us in and buy us drinks, we'll dance with them and then we'll ditch them!  How did you do that?"  I was really amazed too, it was quite lucky really, but I had no problem taking the credit.  Then, still holding hands, we skipped back to the hotel joyously!

15.  I (barely) conquered Flat Iron
Only the most advanced hikers in the area have tackled and successfully completed this monstrously difficult hike, and I am neither advanced nor overly athletic.  Needless to say, it was the most physically demanding thing I think I've ever done.  But I never officially gave up, although I wanted to a number of times along the way.  The worst part was, unlike most hikes which are harder on me going up because of my asthma, this hike is severely more difficult coming down and I felt like it nearly killed me after I had already been to the top!  Every step was a huge vertical distance, so it took great leg strength and solid knees and ankles to get down.  My asthma wasn't bothering me on the way down, but I was shaky and weak, and nervous about slipping and falling the rest of the way down.  I do not intend to tackle this hike again anytime soon, but I know what it takes and I will be better prepared for it if I ever decide to head up there again.  The plus side: the view was very rewarding, and I wear that memory as a badge of honor and perseverance.  It's definitely bragging rights among hikers here. 

14.  I have designed something and brought it to life via 3D printer
Programming and writing are both nice, but there is nothing like the experience of seeing something from your mind's imagination become an object you can hold, touch and use!  Even though I am just starting my adventure in 3D printing, already I have made some pretty neat things, and started to understand both the limitations and the awesome power of this new technology that is promising to transform business, space travel, health care, and the culinary arts as we know them.

13.  I painted a bad-ass mural
In fact, I painted a couple pretty cool murals, but the one I'm most proud of is the vibrantly colored circuit design in my project room.  Every wall is a different color, and the pattern changes colors as it moves to the different walls.  It is a huge-scale, large graphic design that just makes me happy.  I was never overly gifted in creating physical art, so I learned how to hack the talent instead.  Guests to my house think I'm a bit of an odd ball in my design style, but I think most people appreciate the artist value and apparent talent. 

12.  I became a "serious" swing dancer 
Its strange how some things evolve throughout your life, even if you don't recognize it until you look back.  Artistic movement seems to have been a part of my life since I was very little and starting in gymnastics (actually I think I had some toddler dance classes before that even).  While I was discouraged to pursue gymnastics due to my height, I found other outlets in show choir and school and church musicals.  In high school, I took gymnastics back up briefly, and then pursued jazz and ballet classes.  In college, I took a swing dance class and that seemed to hit the spot.  But I soon found myself without a dedicated partner, and no friends interested in dancing, and the passion faded.  I got back into it though in my late 20's, and that is where I met my boyfriend, and we have been dancing ever since.  I would say the last two years have been the most dramatic growth for me as a dancer, and I consider myself a real swing dancer now.  Having recently joined and performed with a dance troupe, I feel like my position has been solidified.



11.  I survived a pick pocket alone in the middle of Shanghai
In a world where an American woman could disappear without a trace, I was having a great time until I found myself without friends and colleagues nearby, without money, without an ID, without my hotel key, without a phone, and without a credit card (my phone and ID weren't stolen, I didn't take them out with me that night, but the rest was stolen).  It really killed the mood of an otherwise fantastic evening mingling with the locals while traveling through China with my MBA class.  I quickly used what asset I did still have in tact, my flirtatious personality.  I found a well off local (actually I discovered I had been pick pocketed when I was hanging out with him, so I started out by accusing him), and eventually persuaded him to give me a ride back to my hotel (he had a driver), threatening him the entire time that I knew kung fu and I would kill him if he tried to take me anywhere else but my hotel, and then I used his phone to call my credit card company in America and cancel my card. All in all, it may not have been the smartest move, but it worked out and I came away with a great story to tell.  I ultimately wasn't, going for the pun here, Shanghai'd.

10.  I have programmed some amazing macros and pieces of software
I never wanted to be a programmer, absolutely never.  But, much like how artistic movement has always found a place in my life, programming has cropped up again and again.  It's not a passion that drives me to program; quite the opposite, I despise it sometimes and I rarely want others to know I'm any good at all.  It's the sheer power of it; the possibilities programming unlocks are nearly endless.  And as the gap between the virtual and physical closes with CNC, CAD and 3D printing technologies, I think programming will become all the more important.  Programming hit me early, before I really understood what I was doing.  Since this article is about turning 30, I feel comfortable revealing my age a bit here: the first computer my Dad brought into our home was a Windows 3.1 machine with DOS.  I didn't do much creative work in Windows, but I had some games that ran in DOS that broke.  So at the age of maybe 4 or 5 at the most, I finagled my way into the code of these DOS programs and somehow intuitively identified the bugs.  I poured through probably thousands of lines of code, fixing what I saw was the bug (I have no recollection of how I figured it out, I only remember implementing the fix), and actually got the game to work again.  Once I accomplished that, I figured there was no reason I couldn't just write my own game, so I started on a dog-chases-cat game which never got completed because, well, I was five and had no idea what I was really doing.  But it had the starting essence of a program, i.e., it ran and did some stuff.  I found myself programming again when I was in high school, taking math classes with a programmable calculator.  I got bored and started writing programs for it (some legit and some for cheating purposes, but in the process of programming something to cheat, I actually learned the dang material and didn't end up needing it).  In my freshman year of college, I took two java classes which were required for my major, and also programmed in Basic X for our robot class.  I was the only person in the freshman robot class to create a "learning" robot which had an intelligent decision matrix instead of the general repetitive one.  I would later become a whiz and tutor for programming simulation of stochastic systems in Fortran 77.  My internship at Honeywell is where my programming really took off for the first time, when I challenged myself to create a stand-alone application in Visual Basic to help solve a problem in quality.  Since then, all of my jobs have put me in a position where programming in VBA to make my job easier just makes sense, and I've become known as the Macro Queen.  But again, I'm not a programmer.  I wish I had paid better attention and tried harder in my java classes, and I hope everyone who reads this sees the value of learning programming for themselves.  It's a talent that sets anyone ahead of their peers. 

9.  I created a sanctuary in my bathroom
Working with a fairly tight space due to my house being an older house, I managed to create a bathing sanctuary that few five-star hotels could match.  In so many ways, this shows the perfect duality of my being spoiled and me working hard to get what I want.  With the help of friends, I removed the old tub and all the hideous 70's tile surrounding it, installed a deep tub with water jets, routed the plumbing to the side of the tub to equally distribute the hot water (I always hated it when the water was hot by my feet and cold by my back), and installed a waterfall faucet.  When I decided that the water got too cold in the winter, I installed a heater on the jets.  And when I decided the water then got too hot in the summer, my friend and I rigged a thermostat to turn the heater off at a certain temperature, and turn it back on when it got cooler again.  Princess and Engineer all in one!

 8.  I got to travel to Alaska with my entire immediate family
As my sisters and I entered adulthood, we all became very different people.  So it is unlikely that we will all ever agree on another trip like we did for the Alaskan cruise and roadtrip.  It was a magnificent time, seeing whales, singing karaoke, playing trivia, seeing our Grandma's childhood island, driving around Alaska and seeing wildlife from mooses to bears and bald eagles!  That was probably the trip of a lifetime as far as my family goes.  It had been in planning for many years, and when it finally came to fruition, it lived up to its high expectations and so much more!

7.  I got one of the first 500 Chevrolet Volts
I had been watching the Chevy Volt since early in its inception, and was part of the forum which has now become my go-to resource for all things Volt and EV.  So when GM finally announced which dealers it was going to release the first Volts too, I got to work contacting my closest dealers in California and got myself a number 3 spot on the waiting list!  When I picked my beautiful red Volt up in January 2011, I fell in love with it immediately; it was everything Chevy promised it would be and so much more!  My Volt was the first to be registered in the state of Arizona, and has been put through its paces with the summer heat of Phoenix and my constant road trips and excessive driving.   

6.  I studied kung fu at the Shaolin Temple in China with the warrior monks  
I make it sound way more intense than perhaps it deserves, but really, how many people can say the phrase above?  I worked really hard in my kenpo class to be able to test for my purple belt in China, and I succeeded.  The test was intense and had some great moments (like when I knocked my male opponent into the red wall of the temple, so he looked like he was bloody even though he really wasn't, and when I got foot prints all over my opponent's black gii while being evaluated by the 10th degree black belt leader).  Afterwards, even though I was completely drained, physically and emotionally, I allowed myself to be interviewed by a Chinese newscaster via translator, posed in lots of pictures with Chinese tourists (and especially with their babies, they loved that), and was awarded a very special gold Buddha pin by the Abbot of the temple himself - a really big deal! 

5.  I studied abroad in Japan
Looking back, it felt like I was there for a year or more, but it was only about 6 weeks.  But every day felt like a month of learning and new experiences, and I made some incredible memories I will never forget.  If anyone ever has the glimpse of an opportunity to study abroad, I say take it!  That summer made a lasting impression on me that working a summer job or taking classes at home would have paled in comparison to. 

4.  I transformed from a spoiled, finicky eater to an adventurous foodie
I credit my travels to Japan and China for really breaking me of my inability to swallow unfamiliar foods.  My poor Mother coped with 18 years of me requiring separate meals or simple foods like pizza, burgers, and chicken nuggets.  For several years after I had gone out on my own, I astounded her with the foods I had seemingly magically learned to enjoy: potatoes, rice, vegetables.  I still don't like fish or egg, although my director at work makes a quiche that's too good not to have piece. 

3.  I bought my own house
After only a few years suffering through apartment living during college, and greatly as a result of seeing HGTV at my parents' house while visiting, I yearned for a fixer-upper of my own that I could tear down and rebuild and make amazing.  So about two months after graduating college, I had found a house (and inspected it on my 22nd birthday) in Mesa, Arizona, and made the leap into home ownership.  It has definitely been an adventure learning electrical and plumbing, and getting my own tools and a massive tool chest to store and organize it all in.  Early on, every project required a new tool to be purchased.  I felt victorious at the first project for which I had every tool needed to do the job right. 

2.  I earned an Industrial Engineering degree (and in four years)
Perhaps one of the most astonishing feats of my life was the four exhausting and incredible years I spent studying IE at Arizona State University.  I will never forget an advisor telling me how I couldn't possibly take 17 credit hours in one semester, and how I should give up hope on graduating in four years, citing that "nobody gets an engineering degree in four years".  Well, it would certainly be hard without taking enough credit hours per semester, I agreed, but I did both!  I took between 16 and 21 credit hours per semester, plus some summer school and a summer internship, and graduated in four years with an Industrial Engineering degree.  I learned then that the best motivation for me is being told I can't do something!

1.  I started my own company
I knew it wasn't a million dollar idea, but I set out a few years back to start my own company, and I did!  I thought I had reasonable expectations going into it, but it was even harder than I anticipated. Still, it was a fantastic experience, I learned some great business lessons, and I made lifelong friends in the process.  I have considered and pursued additional business ventures to varying degrees, and I do hope to start and run another company again in the near future, but having done it once (and before I was 30) is really quite amazing!



I will make a note here that I had a hard time numbering the "top 10" of this list, because those are the experiences that I've drawn from most in my life, and they are all valuable in different ways.  I thought I might be challenged to come up with 30 experiences and accomplishments that I'm proud of, but it turned out to be pretty darn easy, and that in and of itself makes me feel a lot better.  So, the next time you or someone you know is down about aging, I would definitely recommend this exercise as a way to feel good about getting old!