Author: Rebecca Raspberry // The Rebecca Project

Post #3: Write Something About the NFL

Welcome to the third post of the Great Writing Challenge of 2012. Five days a week for six months, I will be given a topic to write about. The stipulation: it must be 250 words (or more), and positive in tone. If you would like to suggest topics for me to write about, please email me at therebeccaproject [at] gmail [dot] com. I live in a city that has two NFL teams, neither of which have been any good since I have moved here. I have trekked down to see the local soccer team, the San Jose Earthquakes, and I have seen the greatest team in the world (FC Barcelona) play Mexican side Chivas at Candlestick. I have even watched the Superbowl live in Australia, New Zealand and Ireland (if mostly for the half time entertainment), but never have I been to a Niners or Raiders game in the flesh. And I’m totally fine with that. Coming from a sports obsessed nation, particularly one that likes to remind you that we’re such an athletically gifted …

Post #2: The American South

Welcome to the second post of the Great Writing Challenge of 2012. Five days a week for six months, I will be given a topic to write about. The stipulation: it must be 250 words (or more), and positive in tone. If you would like to suggest topics for me to write about, please email me at therebeccaproject [at] gmail [dot] com. In a recent New York Times posting, ‘An American Dream – In Switzerland?’, it discussed a photographer Yann Gross’ travels around a section of Switzerland where the locals have adopted what I would associate as the culture of the American South: honkey tonk, tattoos, Confederate flags, line dancing, motorbike clubs, drag racing, trailers, roadside diners. Gross published a book, Horizonville, of his travels through this industrial region of one of the world’s most scenically breathtaking countries. His subjects have woven a fascination for American culture into their lives and produced a Swiss-American hybrid, and Horizonville explores the connection to America in the context of living life in the Rhone Valley. What’s interesting to …

Post #1: Why I’d love to own a minivan

Welcome to the first post of the Great Writing Challenge of 2012. Five days a week for six months, I will be given a topic to write about. The stipulation: it must be 250 words (or more), and positive in tone. If you would like to suggest topics for me to write about, please email me at therebeccaproject [at] gmail [dot] com. *** It was Dexter who convinced me that I needed a minivan. With his low, slightly awkward voice, he told me my life would be so much better. The footage of Happy People Doing Great Stuff in the advertisement sealed the deal. So here I am. A city dweller, minus the tribe of children, with no parking space and hankering for a ‘mom van’. Totally practical. But think about what you could do with it: I would chase the sunset down Geary, and watch the sun disappear into the Pacific from my comfy position in the boot/trunk. Of course, with some Martinelli’s Sparkling and camembert. I would go to Ikea and haul my …

A new year, a new look, and a new challenge

Happy New Year! 2012 has arrived, and it’s going to be an awesome year. For me, it’s going to be a year of doing. Less talk, more action. I don’t subscribe to the notion of resolutions, but over the last few weeks travelling around Europe, I really took the time to take stock of where I am in my life. And there’s plenty more I could be doing, that I should be doing. So 2012 will be about not treading water. What do you wish for in 2012? [Source: Pinterest] And what better way to start the year than with a new look for the blog. But that’s not all: I have decided to take this site in a new direction. Previously, it was feeling lost, directionless and a little trite. I lost enthusiasm last year because I wasn’t moving forward, and I have not been developing my writing, my voice. But’s that’s all going to change. The Challenge Commit to writing five blog posts per week for six months on specific topics. The American …

Fall inspiration

Fall inspiration by therebeccaproject featuring a black necklace Dorothy Perkins navy dress£50 – dorothyperkins.com Carven merino wool sweater$560 – net-a-porter.com Knit cardigan$60 – llbean.com H M button shirt£35 – hm.com French Connection striped shirt£32 – cureuk.com H M boat neck shirt£13 – hm.com H m cardigan£9.99 – hm.com Old Navy pea coat$60 – oldnavy.gap.com Camper190 CAD – gravitypope.com Skirts and Dresses: New Arrivals | Athleta$44 – athleta.gap.com GAP tall khaki pants$50 – gap.com Levi’s levi jeans$36 – amazon.com H M knee length skirt£30 – hm.com Legging£14 – warehouse.co.uk Camper boots$209 – zappos.com CAMPER ballerina flat140 CAD – gravitypope.com J Crew ballerina flat$110 – jcrew.com Puma shoes$65 – dsw.com Ballerina flat$59 – heels.com Chain necklace$50 – modcloth.com Club Manhattan black necklace€20 – welikefashion.com

I heart SF

San Francisco is unique, and so breathtakingly beautiful. Sometimes I forget to stop long enough to take notice. Thankfully, someone captured it for me, and edited it into an easily-watched 4m56s. [Source] I heart my city. One of my favourite part of the city has always been the fog. It seems to crawl in over the hills and down the valleys like fingers. It’s a living organism. At 33 seconds in, check out the exact view I get each morning as I step outside my front door.