Over this past week I have been working with an amazing team on a very, VERY cool scavenger hung called GISHWHES, aka Greatest International Scavenger Hunt Wold Has Even Seen!

I first seen the hunt a few years ago but didn’t really pay attention to it, didn’t really register on my radar but that’s probably because I was dealing with a lot of life stuff a few years ago. Last year I really paid attention and was so sad that I couldn’t/didn’t participate. I still wasn’t sure what it was, what was up, but I did know enough that I knew I wanted to be apart of it. This year I was extremely lucky and with the help of an amazing person who folded me into her team I got to participate. Before I go further about the team I was on and what we did here is a description of exactly what GISHWHES is from the website …. on second thought click the following link and it will take you directly to their website with the best description. https://www.gishwhes.com/g_blog/what-is-gishwhes/

Let me tell you a little about our team leader Rebecca. I first met her while watching a very crazy #Periscope broadcast from Sandeep Parikh. If you are not familiar with Periscope…apologies that is another blog post all together; f(eel free to reach out to me for an explanation.) We got to chatting as you can do and we really clicked as if we had known each other; we friended each other on Facebook and have been friends since. As friends are (and as luck would have it) we are both in to a lot of the same things the show Supernatural being one of them and when she started mentioning that she was going to be doing GISHWHES again this year I was a bit jealous. Rebecca being the amazingly kind hearted person that she is invited me to be apart of her team, sponsoring me to boot! I can’t be more thrilled to say that I know Rebecca and to have been able to do this week long event with her has deepened my respect for her.

The other members of our team I have been getting to know over this past week and I’m so glad I have been given the chance as they are all very amazing people. Jazz, Steph, Tiffany, Bethany, Bryant, David, Jackie, Jennifer, Jenny, Kathryn, Liz, Sarah, and Tanya. We have all laughed together (virtually that is) and shared frustrations over the items we have been trying to complete.

You have to know be wondering what kind of scavenger hunt this is (if you hadn’t taken the time to read the attached link please do so now..I can wait…go ahead).

Read it? Awesome let’s keep going.

There are over 200 items on the list for teams to complete. It’s not expected that you will complete them all as of yet no team has been able to do so. All items are assigned a point value but judges are known to give bonus points if your submission is beyond expectations. I believe our team had completed over 50 which I think if very good and the quality was also in my opinion amazing. I didn’t think to copy the whole list, plus I doubt anyone other than a contestant would really want to read all of them.

Here are the ones I completed:

16) Create a beautiful tribute to the late Leonard Nimoy.

This took me a few days to complete and I wanted it to represent the cultural impact that Leonard Nimoy has had on the world. I used a blue background to represent the blue of the Star Trek uniform he wore as Spock in the original television series. Along those lines I included the black interior with stars, and the gold emblem that appeared on his character’s uniform. As Spock he was known for saying “Live Long And Prosper” this carried beyond the show and became a life long motto. The followers on the bottom left hand corner represent Leonard’s last tweet and his every amazing poetry. The theater masks represent his love for the theater and his many stage performances. On the right hand side from the suggestion of a team member I have his ever present cultural status on the show The Big Bang Theory with rock, paper, scissors, lizard. Last but not least looking over it all is Mr. Nimoy himself forever immortalized in the Simpsons world. I love how it turned out, I didn’t want the tribute to have my picture on it, I wanted to represent him, I wanted it to show how much he has done even though this small picture doesn’t do his impact on the world justice.

44) Let’s see a portrait of Robert Downey Jr. or Ironman made entirely of salt and pepper. Tweeit it to him (@RobertDowneyJr.) with @gishwhes in the tweet.

I have to give props to my sister Crystal who really helped me; she grabbed huge handfuls of salt and pepper from a restaurant to make sure we had enough. I had really wanted to do this picture in colour with lemon pepper and pink salt however that didn’t happen. I’m just happy it looks like Ironman, that’s a win for me!

61) Create a short “Supernatural”-related horror story out of the abbreviations of the elements of the Periodic Table. You may only use each letter from each abbreviation once (so you’d have roughly – 225 letters to use). The more coherent the story, the better.

For the record this item was not mine to start with but we have such a great team that we helped each other and traded items as needed. I had a bunch of letters left over but not enough to make any words that would have made any sense. I’m not 100% that this story does make sense but it’s coherent!

62) Depending on which self-proclaimed expert you speak to, the universe is likely heading towards a Big Freeze, Big Rip, Big Crunch or a Big Bounce. Act out what that looks like in your own interpretation using whatever props or moves you need.

The first time I read this item I knew what I wanted to do. Thankfully I had some shorts hanging out in my room that were really too small so that I could get it to work. With my sister’s help (again she is awesome) we filmed this little video of the Big Rip!! Crystal was laughing so hard she worried that she didn’t stop the recording in time; she had nothing to worry about it turned out exactly as I had wanted it to. I didn’t really think about my surroundings so that would be the only thing I would change. No have my messy side table showing.

186) Choose a photograph taken from space by Chris Hadfield. Recreate it with materials found in your backyard, refrigerator or pantry, and take the same photograph of it. Put it side by side with the original and tweet it to him (@Cmdr_Hadfield) with @gishwhes and #spaceart in the tweet.

This item was the first one I completed and took quite a while. I have a tree stump in my front yard and it worked out really well. Wind was not my friend and it took 2 full attempts to get it done. I didn’t realize until after that the picture was taken that one of the leaves is out of place but I think it still turned out pretty nicely.

Team photo! Team The Crystal Demons

Here is a sampling of what my team mates completed:

1) Beautifully recreate one of these painting optical illusions or another one you find on the Internet using real bodies and/or props.

Completed by Tiffany; when I first saw this I was blown away!

3) Kick back in a hammock that’s suspended from trees on opposite banks of a river. (Make sure it’s a safe section of a river to be suspended over.)

Awesome and crazy! Done by Tanya.

9) A drawing, painting or digital image (no photoshopping of existing images) of Misha and the Queen as 1950 pin-up BFF girls.

This is a great example of how crazy some of the items are! Really well done Steph!

12) Show us what Supernatural will look like at the start of Season 50

Sam & Dean look GOOD! Jazz’s parents are great sports.

18) Have at least 3 people in a domestic or office setting, completely camouflaged to match their background.

Loved how this turned out, can you see the three office peeps? This one was done by Bethany.

41) The cats are coming! Prepare your dog for battle. Outfit him or her with armory, weaponry, cutting edge laser gear – whatever it takes to create a canine of mass destruction.

Cats of the world..you have been put on notice. The dogs are arming themselves…well with the help of their humans. This one was lovingly done by Tanya.

46)  Congratulations! You’ve won a one-way trip to colonize Mars! Unfortunately, you can’t bring a checked bag and your carry on must not exceed 10kg. Lay out everything you would pack on your bed in an orderly manner. You will live off of Martian dust mite dung; so don’t worry about snacks unless it’s a comfort food you can’t live without.

Can’t say that this is missing anything! I’d pack pretty much the same thing Steph.

64) The Department of Consumer Kale Residency has decided 2015 is the year to find its favorite hotel lobby in the world. They’ve asked us to help. Put on your most beautifully designed hat (hat must be made of kale) and evening gown or tux and get a picture of you in your town’s finest and most elegant hotel lobby with a maid or bellman.

Jazz totally can pull of Kale, not many can!

88) Love is in the air. Let’s see you and your lover elegantly dressed and enjoying a romantic moment under a weeping willow in a rowboat. One of you must be serenading the other with a cheese-puff-adorned musical instrument.

Look at Tanya and her cheese puff guitar! Super sweet!

90) That was so kind of you to volunteer to host a “Going Away Party for a Boardgame.” Invite several friends over to play a gently used boardgame for its “goodbye party.” Then take it to a shelter for families living there. Photoshop two images together, you and your friends playing, and the game being dropped off at a shelter.

Here is a great example of how this hunt gives back to other’s. Loved this Tiffany.

99) The problem with growing kale is that hipsters are always trying to sneak into my garden to steal it! Show what a trap would look like to catch these pests. Extra points if you capture (alive) a real life hipster.

Bryant created the best trap, I’m not 100% sure if a hipster was caught in the making of this photo…hmm…

114) Waiting rooms at franchise oil-change stores can be so depressing – there’s got to be a way to make them less miserable. Let’s see it.

David, that poor guy didn’t know what hit him! It’s so much better in there!

124) Get a coffee shop to create and run a drink special for Gishwhes and have it advertised on their menu board.

I would SO drink The Dino-Mint Jennifer!

136) FELICIA DAY ITEM. Use recycled computer or cell phone parts to create a video-game inspired diorama.

I’m glad Bryant was able to do this, it turned out amazing!

168) Present an artistic depiction of a famous Italian landmark – on a pizza.

I know you can all guess this, it’s the leaning tower of Pisa..on a pizza! Love it Jackie!

The above are just some of the hard work put out by the team I was a part of. I got such a sense of inclusion, and fun with this experience. It was really hard not sharing what I was doing on social Media and I was both sad and glad when the GISHWHES clock struck zero.

I stayed up to 3am to get this screen shot on my phone!

I hope you got to know more about this awesome event and maybe it will inspire you to jump on the bandwagon next year. My team may not win but it’s not about winning is it? It’s about the journey, the fun, the team work, and how we all work together to help others’.

Here is my team!

THANK YOU!