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