I spent three and a half wondeful months living and working at Innisfree Village, an intentional lifesharing community for adults with developmental disabilities outside of Charlottesville, Virginia, USA. It was the happiest and most peaceful I’d been since elementry school. I worked in the weavery designing warps for placemats and scarves, baked bread and granola in the village bakery, helped out at the community store in Charlottesville, and learned to use a tablesaw and bandsaw in the woodshop. The majority of our food was either grown organically on our land by ourselves, bought from local Mennonite farms or butchers, or bought from stores that stocked products from the region. Not to mention living on the side of a mountain was absolutely beautiful. Though the work could be trying sometimes, I’d give anything to go back and plan on doing so within 5 years.
lonelyhighway's Life List
-
1. make my own clothes
2,155 people -
2. Swim in a bioluminescent bay
272 people -
3. have clearer skin
20 people -
4. Clear my credit card debt
55 people -
5. move to Baltimore, MD
1 person -
6. go to more shows
189 people -
7. see the Movielife play a reunion show
1 person -
8. Read all of Francesca Lia Block's books
4 people -
9. Live like a character in Francesca Lia Block's books
3 people -
10. learn to tat
15 people -
11. take a sewing class
1 cheer43 people -
12. Join the Peace Corps
1 cheer2,313 people -
13. Be less shy
1 cheer2,907 people -
14. make friends
1 cheer1,667 people -
15. go to Tahiti
1 cheer130 people -
16. apply to social work school
2 cheers2 people -
17. Learn to surf
1 cheer7,107 people
How I did it: I took the Livejournal Embodiment challenge to journal everyday. I actually found this to be easier than I thought once I got used to writing every day and made an effort to write at least one sentance or paste in something I found that day. Read how I did it…
How I did it: I found a one-day workshop through Communiversity (a kind of skill-sharing program in Kansas City). It turned out I simply wasn't attaching the roving correctly and I needed to spin the spindle faster. Read how I did it…
How I did it: I had someone I felt like I was competing with. The more she advanced, the more I felt like I had to keep up. This pushed me to try more complicated projects and finish them in a more timely manner. My new job definitely helped with this though, as I was able to knit for nearly 8 hours straight 5 nights a week. Read how I did it…

