final tally: 81/101 completed!

this project started as a catalyst for keeping myself busier than i had been... and it exploded. i can't remember the last time i had a day or night free to myself and without any obligations. i mostly like it that way.

so, the project definitely worked.

a couple months ago i realized i wasn't going to complete everything on the list. so a new goal of mine was to take it easy on myself and not really care that it's not going to get finished in time. (this includes removing my "punishment" of donating $25 for every unmet goal. i'm too broke for that, and have already made three kiva donations in the last six months. good enough for now).

the point was to explore. learn new things. grow. and i did all those to the max.

so, in summation, here is my final post with an update on the last few goals i accomplished this summer.

no pics here - ain't nobody got time for that. some are on facebook anyway. i'm not even proofreading this post - that's how busy/carefree i've become!

there will be more lists. they will be shorter in length but longer in timeline. onward!

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#4 (get a tattoo) is on its way. my good friend and wonderful artist vanessa is designing it. it will most likely happen in 2012, and it will be beautiful.

#6 (read all the books i've bought) this one mostly happened. i at least started all the books that had been purchased when this project began. so i'm gonna count it good.

 #14 (ride a rollercoaster) so, i didn't get this one done. but i've been on a kajillion rollercoasters in my lifetime anyway. so when the opportunity arose to do a similarly exhilarating (but totally new) thing this summer, i took it. my parents took me to the gun range up north. scary at first, fun by the end. and it turns out i'm kind of a natural. on my third round i hit our paper plate target eight out of ten shots from about fifty feet. i'm still totes anti-guns, though...

#15 (go skydiving) ...IS THE BEST THING YOU CAN DO IN FIVE MINUTES! in life, really. just amazing. probably my favorite accomplishment.

#18 (go water skiing) YES THIS ACTUALLY HAPPENED! at my parents' home in upper michigan. and i got up on two legs for a record 4 seconds or so. success! (loosely defined!)

#29 (group scavenger hunt) the groupon has been purchased! and brian and i are planning on using it in the next month(ish). so, y'know, almost there.

#31 (go to a drive-in) technically, i went to a drive-in two years ago. and discovered that my AM radio don't work. and we have plans to go soon. so, i'm crossing this off. :P

#33 (watch 20 oscar winners) this ended up being kind of a silly goal, because it's so difficult to keep track. in the end i'm sure i watched 20, but who knows really? i'll leave it uncrossed. ditto for #34.

#53 (get some DNA art). guys... DNA art is EXPENSIVE. so i changed this to just "buy some more art." and i did! come over if you want to see.

#47 was "take a metalworking class," which is something that, mark my words, i will do one day. just, not anytime soon, because it's muy expensivo. so, it's been replaced by something that was on my expanded 150+ list (the one that got trimmed down to this 101 list). host pub trivia! i'll get pictures of this one soon (hopefully) but friends who have been attending regularly know that i'm doing it, and i'm kicking ass at it.

#69 was "go snowmobiling" BUT the stuipd place wouldn't validate my stupid groupon before the stupid season has passed... but i did something similarly adventurous (and something i never, ever would've done a few years ago)... indoor rock climbing!

#88 (tobacco free for 1001 days) I DID IT!!! i went from about a pack a day to zero ciggies and managed to maintain that for nearly three years. here's to the next three.

#93 (throw a surprise party for someone) ok ok, i didn't plan the party. i mean, not most of it. but i planned the surprise! we all waited in the living room, i was the lookout, and i timed the "happy birthday!" ambush perfectly. maggie was terrified.

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day eight hundred and fifty-five

major update: i went to mexico, and it was spectacular (#68).

i haven't updated this blog in nearly two months, which one would think warrants a nice, long post about all the progress i've made. and i have made progress. mexico definitely deserves its own entry. but i've gotten some other smaller goals accomplished as well. while i in mexico we got up extra early to watch the sun rise over the coast (#80). upon my return i gave up beer for a month (#82). i joined two book clubs (really, they're more like weekly gatherings of amazing women who are reading about how to be even more amazing) that employ regular meditation and focused breathing as guiding principles (#83). and i sent valentine's day cards to my best out-of-town friends (#98, from saipan to honolulu to chicago to texas) and surprised my dorm-dwelling sister with a valentine's themed care package (#99).

all that said, i really just want to get this damn thing posted so i can get maddox off my back and get some sleep. so, here are some quick observations and stories about mexico. it should be noted that there will not be proper accents and tildes in this post because i can't seem to figure that out right now and am feeling very motivated to just get this done.

fun fact about mexico: the plumbing is so old that you can't flush toilet paper. like, no matter what your personal circumstances... so in every public bathroom stall there are signs telling you to please not do this. no one mentions this you before you go -- it's like this big secret people like to spring on the visitors to gauge their reactions and relative go-with-the-flow-ness (so to speak). i'll admit that at first i was kinda grossed out, but by the time i was back in the states i was so used to it that i tossed the t.p. into the trash can at the dallas airport without thinking twice.

example one

two

and my personal favorite, three

we took a day trip out to chichen itza. this was a good idea. our tour guide referred to it as "chicken pizza" on the bus ride out there, and i was the only one on board who laughed. and i did it really loudly. so, wow, that place is incredible. magical. my facebook profile is rife with photos and videos, so i won't re-post here for now. but this was hands down my favorite day in mexico.

when it comes to speaking spanish, if i'm talking with a local (and i've had a few beers) i start to sound like puss n' boots. which is to say that i sound like the nasonex bee. which is to say that i sound like antonio banderas.

perhaps my proudest moment there was haggling (in spanish) with a vendor outside of chichen itza to get a better price on a couple of gifts i was purchasing.

while drinking on the beach with our server raul (he joined us under an umbrella for a long while one rainy afternoon when all the other beachgoers wussed out), we got into a conversation about what it is that lida and i do back home. i was having a hell of a time explaining my policy gig to raul, so he dragged me inside the nearest hotel to a computer where we used google translate to continue our conversation. i typed in "reproductive healthcare research," which drew some sheepish looks from raul and his buddy who had now joined us. raul leaned in and asked, "con la esperma?" "NO NO NO!" i said through hysterical laughter, "como derechos de las mujeres!" we eventually got it all sorted out, but that was probably my favorite language-barrier-inspired moment.

the stars that shine in the yucatan jungle are the brightest i've ever seen.

so in brief summation (man, this post is really poorly written...) it's safe to say that i've been bitten by the language immersion bug, and i absolutely cannot wait for my next adventure. thank you to diane, samuel, esteban, raul, and juan for the unmatched hospitality, free shots of "mexican moonshine," snorkel recommendations, unforgettable conversation, and history lessons.

day eight hundred and three

i'll be in mexico in a mere forty-eight hours (#68!!!) and thinking about everything i want to do on that trip made me realize that i've neglected the blog for a bit. so, quick update before i have to go get mis patos en una fila.

i put up a wee tree for christmas early december (#43). thanks to mom for sending that one my way! i only have a few ornaments, so it worked out nicely.

i also volunteered another shift with my seattleworks group, this time at the low-income housing institute (#91). we sorted through linen donations for the residents, and yeah, it's about as gross as it sounds. incredible how many people donate what should just be thrown away; i'd guess we could only keep about fifty percent of the pillowcases because the rest were too soiled or torn. on the other hand, most of the keepers were in better condition than my own sheets. whoops.

...anyway

...TO THE YUCATAN!!!

day seven hundred and sixty-three

if you ever need a laugh, start writing down your dreams first thing in the morning, including as many details as you can before you forget them. then a month later, go back and read through those dreams. most of them end up being like brand new stories! it's amazing how fast we forget them, when, at least for me, they seem so vibrant for the first few hours after waking. here are some my favorite things i learned about (and from) my own dreams in the last month (#84):

1. i almost always dream about people i know, usually people i know real well. this didn't seem uncommon to me until a few friends told me they usually dream about strangers...

2. on the nights i facebooked before bedtime, i dreamed about the people i facebooked.

3. three times in the last month i dreamed about driving cars where they don't belong - in a hotel lobby, through the halls of my high school, and on the deck of a large cruise ship. each time i had people yelling at me to stop, and my response was always something like, "no, no, it's cool. don't worry."

4. relatedly, i also had two dreams in which i was driving a car down a wilderness highway at night, and my headlights slowly start to dim, until they go completely out and i'm in pitch black darkness. even though i knew it was dangerous, and i'd feel panicked, i wouldn't make any real effort to pull over or even slow down. and then BAM! i'd hit something and wake up suddenly. those are not fun dreams.

5. i don't have many nightmares, but the ones i do have are always about either ghosts or dolls that come to life, and always take place in either my dad's house (the one i grew up in), or my grandparents' house. now those are the worst.

6. most of my notes were pretty elaborate, except for november thirteenth's entry, which just read, "sex dream about beyonce." sadly, i do not remember this one.

7. the following celebrities also made cameos in the last month: christopher meloni, kim kardashian, calvin & hobbes, and these guys.

8. twice i dreamed about being in an elevator that was going up so fast it shot through the roof of the skyscraper i was in.

9. it appears that i was still half asleep while recording some of the dreams, because i can't make any sense out of some of my notes, like the following from a few nights ago: "i alex's keys but hid them from him until everyone followed me home and they were trying to keep me awake and it made me cry." I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHO ALEX IS! it's also worth noting that my handwriting on that one looks like a toddler's and might as well have been in crayon.

so all in all this is an awesome exercise and i plan on keeping up with it. it can only prove more interesting over time, right?

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another new recipe (#59): damn good broccoli-quinoa pilaf. here's how:

ingredients:

one teaspoon olive oil

one half small onion, chopped

salt and pepper

one cup quinoa, rinsed well

two cups chopped broccoli

one-fourth cup raisins

one-half cup roasted almonds

two scallions, sliced

heat the oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. add the onion and season with salt and pepper. cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and starting to brown (three minutes or so). add the quinoa and one and a half cups water to the saucepan and bring to a boil. reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer until almost all the water has evaporated (ten minutes). fold the broccoli and raisins into the mix, cover, and cook until the quinoa and broccoli are tender (another ten minutes). remove from heat and fold in the almonds and scallions. eat at your three subsequent meals.

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day seven hundred and thirty-five

just a quick check-in to say that i am in the process of attacking three goals: running a nine-minute mile, going a month without beer, and recording my dreams for a month. i attempted the mile this morning for the first time in two years, and i was able to clock in at 9:40 despite my (perhaps unfounded?) fear that i'm somehow in worse shape than i was when i started this list. so, i'm close! but there's something that i've realized is very important here: proper music. to step up my pace i'm thinking i have to make sure the perfect three songs come in on a row, otherwise i lose motivation embarrassingly easily. i think the fact that the first song to come on my ipod this morning was linkin park's "faint" had something to do with why i ran faster than i thought i'd want to. i'm not a fan of their music in general, but damn if that song doesn't make me want to book it.

i'm three days in to the no-beer challenge. blech.

and i had four distinct dreams last night alone, so writing these all down will be time-consuming. but fun to look back on later (i hope).

onward!

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day seven hundred and thirteen

i'll be quick.

christian and i went apple-picking in sedro woolley (#63)! we headed up to jones creek farm, about an hour and a half northwest of seattle. unfortunately, because it was a cold year, their trees only came in at about fifty percent of their usual yield, and it was slim pickin's. but i left with seven pounds of apples, plenty to try a couple new recipes. christian left with twenty pounds.

it wasn't quite as nostalgic an experience as i anticipated given that my family went every year when i was a kid. actually one year we were told we were going apple picking but instead we went to get a puppy (pretty badass move, parents). but for whatever reason, this place didn't feel like it did back then. the trees were way smaller than i expected, maybe because of the poor season or maybe because i'm adult-sized now. but it was still great to get out of the city and do something new, so all in all we had a pleasant sunday afternoon.

we found this little oddity when we overshot the orchard by about thirty minutes into the mountains. christian demonstrates how to kick yourself.

this "haunted house" at the orchard was definitely scary, but probably not for the reasons the establishment was hoping for. i still didn't go in.

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with all those apples i had to try a couple fall recipes. apple sauce (duh) and my mom's apple crisp. the apple sauce woulda been great if i hadn't accidentally put a half tablespoon of cinnamon in instead of a half teaspoon like it called for - yowza! and the crisp was delicious, but i think i sliced the apples too thinly because they turned to a bit of a mush underneath the sweet crispy topping. lessons learned!

how to make the apple sauce:

you'll need four apples (peeled, cored and sliced), half cup water, fourth cup sugar, and a half teaspoon cinnamon.

step one: put apples and water in saucepan.

step two: cover and bring to a boil.

step three: uncover and boil on low for twenty minutes, occasionally stirring.

step four: stir in sugar and cook until it dissolves.

step five: add cinnamon.

how to make my mom's apple crisp:

you'll need six apples (peeled, sliced), one tablespoon lemon juice, one tablespoon water, three-fourths cup firmly packed brown sugar, half cup flour, half cup rolled oats, one teaspoon cinnamon, and a half cup of butter.

step one: preheat oven to three hundred and seventy-five degrees.

step two: place apples in a nine-inch square pan, and sprinkle with lemon juice and water.

step three: combine brown sugar, flour, oats and cinnamon.

step four: "cut in" the butter until crumbly, and sprinkle over the apples.

step five: bake forty minutes or until apples are tender.

christian and i had a crisp-off with the apples we each picked. mine's on the right (the MORE EATEN one).

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finally, i volunteered for four hours at the PAWS facility up in lynnwood, trimming back overgrowth along their wildlife trails (#91). no pictures from that one, but i've got several witnesses. we got to meet the dogs and cats up for adoption afterwards, and it was more heartbreaking than i thought it would be. man, i want a dog. that's about all i have to say about that.

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day six hundred and ninety-one

during a recent search for ways to complete my volunteer hours, i discovered a great organization called seattle works. its purpose is to foster community involvement by creating volunteer opportunities for people looking for a way to help. i signed up for one of their "hot projects" last weekend working for the seattle women's trek triathlon. i helped registrants prepare for the race taking place the next day, which was easy enough, and i was in and out in three hours. but i didn't feel like i was really helping the community -- i was helping women who paid money to test their athletic prowess. i have nothing against that -- meeting women of every age and size who had signed up inspired me to consider doing a triathlon in the future -- but these weren't people in need.

so i've also signed up for a teamworks group, which means i've committed to volunteer one saturday per month, with the same group of fifteen people, for four months. our introduction party is tomorrow, and from what i can tell so far there seems to be a heavy focus on building team morale and relationships through drinking. i am supportive and excited!

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on a related note, a couple years ago my mom gave me a beer-themed puzzle for christmas, knowing it was on my list to complete one. it's not that i've never done a puzzle -- quite the opposite. when i was a kid i remember the dining room table was almost always home to an in-progress puzzle, and whenever anyone had a free moment they'd sit and work on it.

i really miss that, so that's what this goal was about. i have no room in my studio to work on something like this, so a few friends sat down with some mimosas over brunch last weekend and put it all together at maddox's house. it now rests gloriously on her kitchen table, and i have not yet figured out a way to transport it...

easy peasy

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and finally, for said brunch i made salsa with tomatoes i grew myself! (see previous gardening posts to learn more). this recipe is AMAZING, and i've already made a second batch because it was so loved. i highly recommend it.

basically, all's you gotta do is combine these ingredients in a bowl and let it sit for a few hours before eating it.

• two plum tomatoes, chopped
• one ripe avocado - peeled, pitted and chopped
• one-fourth cup finely chopped red onion
• one clove garlic, minced
• one tablespoon snipped fresh parsley
• one tablespoon chopped fresh oregano
• one tablespoon olive oil
• one tablespoon red or white wine vinegar
• four ounces crumbled feta cheese

boom!

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