List 45 wrap-up

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let’s see how I did this year…

1. volunteer at local animal shelter: FAIL

-didn’t do this one.  Between work and school I just didn’t have the time.

2. stay in a Fernwood adventure tent one night: FAIL

-another fail. I didn’t make a reservation in time so we missed out:(

3. learn to surf: FAIL

-my knee injury ended up ruining quite a few of the items on my list. This was one of them affected by it. I could barely walk for 3 months so I definitely was not getting up on a surfboard:(

4. take a 2nd annual sister trip with Kristy 

-we did this! Went to Seattle in October. I even got to meet an online friend that I’ve known for over 10 years but hadn’t met in real life. It was a fun trip! Posts about the trip will be coming:)

5. try standup paddleboarding 

Nate and I did this one Saturday morning. I was not successful with the actual standup part. I mostly stayed on my knees and my few attempts at standing were not pretty. I did hurt my knees a few weeks before this and that may have played into the unsuccessful standing up part of the SUP. I haven’t given up though and plan to keep at it after I finish physical therapy.

6. make my first quilt

-I made my sister in law a baby quilt! it was fun and I’m looking forward to making another quilt (or 3) this year:)

7. attend a roller derby game: FAIL

-I suck at scheduling things sometimes.

8. take a 10 year anniversary trip to Mexico (Isla Mujeres to be exact)- This trip is already booked!! 

We totally took this trip!!! It was amazing and someday I will post photos and tell the story of our week. It was amazing and fantastic and it was the best vacation I’ve ever been on. 

9. make homemade carnitas

-i did this and they were delicious. I’ve pretty much stopped eating pork though so I probably won’t be making it again

10. learn letterpress (San Francisco Center for the Book has classes)

-again…i fail at scheduling things

11. bake a rainbow cake – Planned for December for my daughter’s birthday

-totally did this although it was a pink ombre rainbow cake. I will post a photo someday

12. get my hair colored

I did this for our trip to Mexico. I had my gray colored out and it was great. I’d like to go a bit darker so that’s on my schedule for this Winter.

13. join a book club (or start one possibly…)

I joined one and it has been one of the best things I’ve done this year. It’s not one of those fun wine/book clubs but it’s still one of my favorite nights each month. Great conversation with some really nice women. I love hearing other’s opinions on each book. 

14. send out one handwritten letter/note each month

-I sent out a hand written note or card every month. I’m so glad I put this on my list:)

15. eat at Burma Superstar in San Francisco

-we ate at the one in Berkeley but I am still counting this one as a win. It was fantastic.

16. read “The Life-Changing Art of Tidying up” and purge the house (already have the book,just need to read it and put it to work)

read it but it was not life changing for me. I just didn’t like the tone of the book or something. I did purge quite a lot from the house and organized areas of the house but it was difficult when your husband is a sort of hoarder and doesn’t want you to touch his stuff:/ So this was a partial FAIL.

17. go to the shooting range/learn to shoot a gun

-spend a day shooting in Arizona with my dad. I am not someone that wants a gun for herself but it was fun to shoot different guns and learn about safety and taking care f guns from my dad. Both Nate and I had a good time with this item:)

18. eat a burrito from the Mission District SF

Nate and I did this when we were in the city for the 4th of July. I couldn’t decide on which burrito I wanted to try from the many burrito list I read so we did two separate places. I’ll be posting about this day also.

19. Take a class at MPC

I took an American History 1880-present and  I also took a Geology class in the Spring.

20. swim with whale sharks

TOTALLY DID THIS! Amazing bucket list moment and I will be doing a post about it.

21. visit the turtle farm on Isla Mujeres

did this on our anniversary trip and it was even better than I expected. This will also be posted about soon!

22. see the ruins and do the cliff walk at Punta Sur on Isla Mujeres

Also did this on the anniversary trip. Such an amazing trip.

23. hike Wilder Ranch

-did this with Nate one weekend:) Wish my knee had been a little more healed so I could have hiked longer. We’ll be back to do more after my knee is stronger.

24. see the monarchs at Natural Bridges Park

we did this the same day we hiked at Wilder Ranch. The butterflies were so awesome to see. We would definitely go back again.

25. go on a backpacking (overnight) trip with Nate: FAIL

-knee injury made this one impossible:(

26. get together with Nate’s parents at least once a month

I only failed on this one for one month. We saw them a couple of times around the holidays so I count this one as a win even if we missed one month:)

27. go body boarding in Southern California: FAIL

-knee injury again plus we never had a chance to get to LA.

28. spend a weekend exploring Golden Gate Park, SF (deYoung, tulips, buffalo, ride bikes): FAIL

-we actually planned a weekend for this but it rained  almost the whole time we were in the bay area so we had to change our plans and we just never got back up to the city to do the park.

29. have breakfast at Deetjen’s in Big Sur

-did this for our anniversary and it was as delicious as I remembered it to be!

30. organize my necklaces finally

-organized and very happy about it!

31. host a Cinco de Mayo party

did this for my birthday but it was pretty low key and I won’t be posting photos from it. But I did it finally and I didn’t even have a hangover the next day!

32. participate in “Dance for the Rescue” again

-this was cancelled by the organization so it is a fail but not on my part.

**I actually did two other charity activities. I did a mud run for MS in October and I volunteered at the SPCA telethon in February so I am actually going to take this one as a win. I did the Dance for the Rescues to help out a local charity and I ended up doing that. Just not the one I originally planned. I couldn’t have predicted it would be canceled and am not going to take the fail for that happening:)

33. learn conversational Spanish

I spent a few months learning conversational Spanish for the trip but I didn’t use that much of it. Mostly because a lot of the people we spoke with spoke English. I’m counting it as a win because I did work on it and could carry on small conversations in Spanish.

34. prepare a 5 course dinner for friends: FAIL

-oops. Didn’t happen

35. visit the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles

36. see Tulum Ruins in Cancun

we did this on the trip also and Tulum was amazing. Wish we had planned a few more days there. Maybe next time. 

37. Hike Griffith Park in Los Angeles: FAIL

-didn’t make it to L.A.

38. camp at Limekiln State Park: FAIL

-was too late in making my reservations and couldn’t get one in my time window

39. take dance lessons with Nate: FAIL

-pesky knee injury again

40. make Jay’s buffalo wings: FAIL

41. plan a bonfire on Carmel Beach: FAIL

42. visit the The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) :FAIL

-I planned this and it was closed all year long for renovations. It didn’t open until after my time frame. Maybe this year.

43. zipline into the ocean (FAIL)

this one was suppose to happen in Cancun if we had time but it didn’t happen. I don’t know of any places in California that you can do this so I probably missed my chance.

44. have a breakfast pizza at the Big Sur Bakery

did this one weekend with Nate and our friend Craig. I’ll be doing a post about that day. Coming soon to the blog.

45. visit Mercer caverns in Murphy, CA.

-also got this one done. It was really neat and educational. This was discovered during the same time period that I was learning about in my history class so this made it even more fascinating.

27 out of 45 was the final number and is my best attempt yet. It gets harder each year because as my number climbs (aka I get OLDER) I have more and more items to cross of the list. I think that I would have reached a higher number had I not injured my knee and been in physical therapy for 6 months of my 45th year on earth. It’s almost healed now and I’m working on strengthening it so I hope I will get even more accomplished in my 46th year:) It’s going to be an exciting one with trips to Iceland, Norway, Tahoe, Las Vegas and  Joshua Tree/Palm Springs on the agenda. I may even throw in another trip if I find a good deal on flights to somewhere;)

Thanks for reading.

Jennifer

List 45: 10 year anniversary trip: Day 1

IMG_5016This trip was years in the making. I’ve been talking about swimming with whale sharks for  as long as I can remember. I always thought it was out of our price range to make this happen but I was also under the impression, for years, that you could only swim with them in Belize. Then I discovered that you can also swim with them off of Cancun. THAT we could make happen. First though I had to convince Nate to do the trip. He’s not a good traveler. Scratch that. He’s actually a great traveler but he has a LOT of anxiety leading up to a trip. Even a small local trip. He worries about things that I don’t even think about…like how we’re going to talk to people in the country we’re going to if we don’t speak the language fluently, what he’s going to eat, how much stuff is going to cost. I never worry about that type of stuff. It’s just not in my nature. My worry manifests itself in other ways. I talked and talked and talked about whale sharks though and finally I beat him down and he agreed. The only downside to seeing and swimming with these amazing creatures is that you have to go to Mexico in the dead of summer. The whale shark season is only from June through September. The best time is July and August. July and August…in Mexico. Here is where my anxiety kicks in…LOL. But we scheduled it for August. I only had to last 4.5 months after we booked…

Our day started at 2:15am. We had to be able to get up, get ready, and be in  San Jose by 4:30 am. We also had to drop the car off to long term parking. It could not have gone smoother. We flew from San Jose to Phx and then on to Cancun, Mexico. I had some anxiety about how to get from the airport to the ferry (only because I was unclear about where it was…not knowing where a location exactly is one of my anxieties…Nathan…not at all) but a shuttle was easy to find. The ferry ride to Isla Mujeres was easy, finding our apartment was easy. It was a perfect travel day and we had a wonderfully low key first evening. Our first impression of Isla Mujeres was positive. It’s small. There were quite a few tourist but many of the people there during the day come over from Cancun so by early evening many people have left leaving only those of us that are staying on the island. We loved our apartment (we went through Homeaway) and we took a quick walk around he city center side of the island (the island is only 4.5 miles long and a mile across). My only mistake was not bringing my list of places to eat with me from the apartment so we ate at a place that I hadn’t checked out first. It ended up being okay but we made sure to eat from the list the rest of the time. I got a margarita (that was just okay but it was still appreciated) but it did feel great to finally be on the island after hours of travel. And it was fun to people watch from our little table on the patio. Just based on our first experience on the island we knew this was going to be an a amazing trip. The laid back feeling and small town feel was right in line with what we were looking for. It only got more amazing too. I’ll post about our second day on the island soon:)

 

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Jennifer

Half way check in on my “45 things” list

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Today is the half-way point for this year’s list so I thought I would check in and see where I am right now.

1. volunteer at local animal shelter

2. stay in a Fernwood adventure tent one night

3. learn to surf

4. take a 2nd annual sister trip with Kristy 

-we did this! Went to Seattle just a few weeks ago. I even got to meet an online friend that I’ve known for over 10 years but hadn’t met in real life. It was a fun trip! Posts about the trip will be coming:)

5. try standup paddleboarding 

Nate and I did this one Saturday morning. I was not successful with the actual standup part. I mostly stayed on my knees and my few attempts at standing were not pretty. I did hurt my knees a few weeks before this and that may have played into the unsuccessful standing up part of the SUP. I haven’t given up though and plan to keep at it after I finish physical therapy.

6. make my first quilt

7. attend a roller derby game

8. take a 10 year anniversary trip to Mexico (Isla Mujeres to be exact)- This trip is already booked!! 

We totally took this trip!!! It was amazing and someday I will post photos and tell the story of our week. It was amazing and fantastic and it was the best vacation I’ve ever been on. 

9. make homemade carnitas

10. learn letterpress (San Francisco Center for the Book has classes)

11. bake a rainbow cake – Planned for December for my daughter’s birthday

12. get my hair colored

I did this for our trip to Mexico. I had my gray colored out and it was great. I’d like to go a bit darker so that’s on my schedule for this Winter.

13. join a book club (or start one possibly…)

I joined one and it has been one of the best things I’ve done this year. It’s not one of those fun wine/book clubs but it’s still one of my favorite nights each month. Great conversation with some really nice women. I love hearing other’s opinions on each book. 

14. send out one handwritten letter/note each month

– so far I’ve done this every month. I’ve been including a handwritten note in birthday cards each month. I’ve had some great responses to it:) Still have 6 more months to go. 

15. eat at Burma Superstar in San Francisco

16. read “The Life-Changing Art of Tidying up” and purge the house (already have the book,just need to read it and put it to work)

-read it but still working on completing the house. I’ve done most of my stuff in the bedroom. I’ll check back in after another 6 months

17. go to the shooting range/learn to shoot a gun

18. eat a burrito from the Mission District SF

Nate and I did this when we were in the city for the 4th of July. I couldn’t decide on which burrito I wanted to try from the many burrito list I read so we did two separate places. I’ll be posting about this day also.

19. Take a class at MPC

I am taking an American History 1880-present right now. I have 6 more weeks left so hopefully this will be a finished item by December:)

20. swim with whale sharks

TOTALLY DID THIS! Amazing bucket list moment and I will be doing a post about it.

21. visit the turtle farm on Isla Mujeres

did this on our anniversary trip and it was even better than I expected. This will also be posted about soon!

22. see the ruins and do the cliff walk at Punta Sur on Isla Mujeres

Also did this on the anniversary trip. Such an amazing trip.

23. hike Wilder Ranch

24. see the monarchs at Natural Bridges Park

25. go on a backpacking (overnight) trip with Nate

26. get together with Nate’s parents at least once a month

so far I failed at least one month. I have 5 out of 6 months done and we’ll see what happens  over the next 6 months

27. go body boarding in Southern California

28. spend a weekend exploring Golden Gate Park, SF (deYoung, tulips, buffalo, ride bikes)

29. have breakfast at Deetjen’s in Big Sur

30. organize my necklaces finally

31. host a Cinco de Mayo party

did this for my birthday but it was pretty low key and I won’t be posting photos from it. But I did it finally and I didn’t even have a hangover the next day!

32. participate in “Dance for the Rescue” again (FAIL)

-this was cancelled by the organization so it is a fail but not on my part.

33. learn conversational Spanish

I spent a few months learning conversational Spanish for the trip but I didn’t use that much of it. Mostly because a lot of the people we spoke with spoke English. I’m hoping to also learn some conversational Italian since i have a trip to italy on the agenda for 2016.

34. prepare a 5 course dinner for friends

35. visit the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles

36. see Tulum Ruins in Cancun

we did this on the trip also and Tulum was amazing. Wish we had planned a few more days there. Maybe next time. 

37. Hike Griffith Park in Los Angeles

38. camp at Limekiln State Park

39. take dance lessons with Nate

40. make Jay’s buffalo wings

41. plan a bonfire on Carmel Beach

42. visit the The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA)

43. zipline into the ocean (FAIL)

this one was suppose to happen in Cancun if we had time but it didn’t happen. I don’t know of any places in California that you can do this so I probably missed my chance.

44. have a breakfast pizza at the Big Sur Bakery

did this one weekend with Nate and our friend Craig. I’ll be doing a post about that day. Coming soon to the blog.

45. visit Mercer caverns in Murphy, CA.

-also got this one done. It was really neat and educational. This was discovered during the same time period that I was learning about in my history class so this made it even more fascinating.

A few of the items are coming up or are on the schedule for the beginning of 2016 so I am working on the list. I will definitely do a blog post on my birthday next May to see how much I accomplished. 45 items doesn’t seem like a large number of things to get done but it really is. And the number just keeps going up…haha. Even if I don’t get everything done the point of these lists are to get me out there & doing stuff. I was so tired of feeling like my life was just work and housework and cooking. I was stuck in a rut and this list has pulled me out of it and it really has been a life saver. Even if I don’t get near the final goal it has still kept me thinking and planning and looking forward to our next adventure. Even Nate seems to enjoy doing the items on my list. Wait until he sees list 46;)

Jennifer

List 45

I was totally a slacker and never updated this blog with how I was doing on my list 44. I actually got almost half the items done this time! As I’ve mentioned before, I normally only get about 10 items done out the of the 40+ things on the list but this year I really worked hard to get as many done as I could. The list keeps getting bigger each year which means I have to motivate myself more and more to get shit done:) I will be posting about some of the stuff I did over the next few weeks but in the meantime I turned 45 so…time for this year’s list.

1. volunteer at local animal shelter

2. stay in a Fernwood adventure tent one night

3. learn to surf

4. take a 2nd annual sister trip with Kristy (we’re thinking Austin)

5. try standup paddleboarding

6. make my first quilt

7. attend a roller derby game*

8. take a 10 year anniversary trip to Mexico (Isla Mujeres to be exact)- This trip is already booked!!

9. make homemade carnitas

10. learn letterpress (San Francisco Center for the Book has classes)

11. bake a rainbow cake

12. get my hair colored- FINALLY

13. join a book club (or start one possibly…)

14. send out one handwritten letter/note each month*

15. eat at Burma Superstar in San Francisco*

16. read “The Life-Changing Art of Tidying up” and purge the house (already have the book,just need to read it and put it to work)

17. go to the shooting range/learn to shoot a gun

18. eat a burrito from the Mission District SF

19. Take a class at MPC

20. swim with whale sharks

21. visit the turtle farm on Isla Mujeres

22. see the ruins and do the cliff walk at Punta Sur on Isla Mujeres

23. hike Wilder Ranch

24. see the monarchs at Natural Bridges Park

25. go on a backpacking (overnight) trip with Nate

26. get together with Nate’s parents at least once a month

27. go body boarding in Southern California

28. spend a weekend exploring Golden Gate Park, SF (deYoung, tulips, buffalo, ride bikes)

29. have breakfast at Deetjen’s in Big Sur*

30. organize my necklaces finally

31. host a Cinco de Mayo party

32. participate in “Dance for the Rescue” again

33. learn conversational Spanish

34. prepare a 5 course dinner for friends

35. visit the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles

36. see Tulum Ruins in Cancun

37. Hike Griffith Park in Los Angeles

38. camp at Limekiln State Park

39. take dance lessons with Nate

40. make Jay’s buffalo wings*

41. plan a bonfire on Carmel Beach*

42. visit the The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA)*

43. zipline into the ocean

44. have a breakfast pizza at the Big Sur Bakery*

45. visit Mercer caverns in Murphy, CA.

*- This means they have shown up on a list before and I still have not done it. Most of these are from List 44.

I’m excited this year because I have some fun trips planned. We’ve already booked the flight and hotel to Isla Mujeres/Cancun area and now I just have to get through the next 3 months which seems sooo far away. I know it’s not though so I’m in planning mode BIG TIME. I also have a friend that made a “40 things in my 40th year” list and I’m hoping to do some of her items/goals with her. So this year, my 45th, is looking to be a fun adventurous one. I’m ALL in this year.

“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all” – Helen Keller

xoxo

Jen