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What: #6 Help someone do something new

When: July 30th
Where: Argo Park
Why: One of my dearest friends and biggest supporters of this list had wanted to try something new, and so I wanted to be the one to help her out. During our recent outing at the Jimmy Buffett concert (yep, that happened!), we discussed paddleboarding. This craze is hitting anywhere with access to a lake (pond, ocean, slow-moving river). I was first introduced to it last year, and have made the effort to go out many more times in Michigan, and even had my first paddleboard yoga experience a few months ago. This summer, the craze has hit Ann Arbor, so it made it easier than ever before to get out on the water and we took advantage of that for her maiden voyage atop the board. After some initial instructions regarding balance (always straddle the handle with a wide-ish stance, for starters), she was off and paddling, even starting upright from the beginning, whereas I had to start on my knees my first time. At first, the challenge was being in a river, and at a point where the river is flowing over a dam, because the current was pretty strong, and the winds of a passing rainstorm did not help matters. In fact, I felt less sure of myself than usual, so it was really impressive how well she was doing.

As we made it upstream, we came upon a paddleboard yoga class; maybe she and I will do that together our next time on the boards! For the next hour, we just paddled upstream, watching crew teams practice and kayaks paddle by us. We turned around a bend in the river and it felt magical, just seeing the woods and the lily pads and the wide river and no one else around us. The only thing that made us turn around was the incoming dark clouds we saw fast approaching. Fortunately, our return trip was with the current, and after getting through the wake of a few small motorboats, we stepped back onto the dock just as the first raindrops began to fall. Our timing prevented us from taking any candid shots out on the paddleboards, but we did get one of the beautiful scenery from our evening paddle! 

Sara was a quick learner...and she looked great!

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What: #45 Give a 100% tip

When: July 25th
Where: Eva's Cafe, Chicago
Why: I've never worked in a job where I relied on tips. I've worked in food service at a McDonald's as a student, but never have I been a waitress, hostess, barista, manicurist, etc. I do try to adhere to the 20% rule for tipping, and will make alterations based on exceptionally great service, or uncorrected bad service.

Recently, it seems there have been a rash of anonymous patrons leaving enormous tips for unsuspecting workers. This is the kind of news story that I can get behind and fully support. Generous people doing nice things for good people. I wanted to be generous within my means, so leaving a 100% tip at a fancy restaurant or for my hairstylist...that just isn't in my budget. Luckily, I stumbled into Eva's Cafe. 

Eva's Cafe is in Old Town Chicago. It was a couple of blocks away from where I was staying and had a few really nice reviews on Yelp, so it was my choice for a morning coffee (for Allison) and muffin (for me). The whole experience was great in this cafe. The decor was like being in a fancy dining room of an old manor house with big solid dark wood tables and shelves with books and a fireplace and great rugs, all enclosed by warm brick walls. The clientele looked like people I would absolutely strike up a conversation with on any given day. The barista - Mark - was so nice, he even made my strawberry Italian soda exactly the way I like it, and offered me a free refill as I left. This sealed it; I would return the following day, hope he was still working the next morning, and leave my 100% tip. 

Arriving for my morning doughnut and strawberry soda (breakfast of champions!), I explained to Mark what I was doing, how much I had appreciated him, and I gave him a tip *over* 100% because the doughnut and drink weren't too pricey to begin with in this great cafe. The whole thing made me feel good, and I think it made Mark feel appreciated for his extra kindness! Win win!

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What: #44 Make rice krispie treats

When: July 24th
Where: Chicago, IL

Why: Last year, I was with two of my friends having a very intellectual evening together (ie: watching "The Bachelor") and the hostess was making Rice Krispie treats. While my friend and I aided in the process, we both admitted we had never made these treats on our own. This shocked our hostess, and at that moment, I knew it had to go on the list. It would seem an easy one to tackle, but as a person that loathes both grocery shopping and cooking/baking, it is more difficult than I thought to check this item off. Enter Azadi. He is my favorite almost-12-year-old in the world. He's been so excited to help me with this - he first started helping with my list when he was my amazing videographer for my day on the trapeze - and he even memorized the recipe! Azadi was a fantastic teacher, showing patience and humor as I fumbled my way through the process. He made sure I melted the marshmallows the right way "until they look like glue" - which totally made sense! Then, he told me we should just empty the rest of the marshmallows into the mix, but I was so worried about following his recipe that I declined. In hindsight, that would have made the treats even more delicious, but as it was, they were a fun treat after a very fun day!

3 tablespoons of melted butter...

4 cups of marshmallows...

Pour in 6 cups of rice krispies...then stir...

Press into a pan, chill, and serve!

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What: #86 Kayak at Pictured Rocks

When: July 16th
Where: Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore
Why: Despite my wanderlust, I still love my home state of Michigan and will always list off a dozen places that are must-sees in the mitten. One of those, Pictured Rocks, is pretty out of the way, and someplace I have not seen despite wanting to for many years. When I was younger, my family went to the Upper Peninsula ("the U.P.") for a vacation to see Tahquamenon Falls (I totally just spelled that right on the first try...definitely a Michigander!), and a few other stops, but I still missed out on this sight. Now that I've had more time to think about visiting the lakeshore to see the cliffs of Pictured Rocks, I realized that I wanted to do more than see them off the railing of a passing ship; I wanted to get so close I could touch them and kayaking along the cliffs became my dream.

As my dream became a reality, it was also infused with a bit of Michigan's sense of humor regarding our weather. The saying in our state is that if you don't like the weather, wait five minutes. In this case, we planned a trip in the middle of July, knowing it would be warm and nice out on Lake Superior. Instead, however, we had a freakish cold front blow down from the north, setting record lows for the nights we camped along the lakeshore and making the day we wanted to be on the water absolutely impossible to go out due to high waves and winds and low temperatures. Fortunately, we were able to rearrange our stay to head out onto the lake the next day, and while we were still contending with 3-foot high waves (no small feat in a kayak), it was sunny and made it an adventure worth having.

After three days of getting our feet wet in waterfalls, along sandy beaches, hiking about 15 miles, and running our hands along the cliffs, I feel that I can safely check off a visit to Pictured Rocks. If you are interested in details of planning a similar visit, I can let you know the best places to hike, eat, and stay!

See that space between the rocks...we are going through that...

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What: #29 Buy a slurpee from 7-eleven

When: 7/11
Where: 7-Eleven

Total concentration!

Why: Despite the unhealthy streak in me, I have somehow made it this far in life without ever having an official Slurpee. I've had frozen cokes, I've had icees, and I've had slushies, but never a real 7-Eleven slurpee. The day to change that seemed to be obvious...July 11th! The big draw of that day is the free slurpee giveaway, but as the list item specified that I should buy a slurpee, I waited until after 7pm to purchase my slurpee. The drawback to buying a slurpee on Free Slurpee Day is that most of the flavors were completely empty from the throngs of slurpee drinkers. After watching a group of people mix the flavors that remained into kaleidoscopes of slurpee drinks, I calmly approached the handle, opened it with care (I had been warned that slurpees can dispense with unforeseen force), and filled my cup. I chose for my slurpee a watermelon punch flavor, and it was a very refreshing treat on an otherwise warm summer evening.

Enjoying my slurpee with Orion

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What: #1 Go to an Ann Arbor city park/trail I’ve never before visited

When: July 11th
Where: Miller Park
Why: One of the things I treasure about my town - affectionately called "Tree Town" - is the abundance of nature that has been set aside in parks. Over 100 of these gems are tucked away or sprawled out across the city. There are parks I tend to frequent and love to visit (like Bird Hills, the Arb, etc.), and then so many others that I have only driven by without stepping inside, and even more that I have never even seen. This has been rectified by my afternoon meander through Miller Park, which is one of those parks I never knew existed. During a visit with one of my dear friends, we decided to head out with her daughter to take their dog on a walk, and we entered a lovely patch of woods right in their neighborhood. It was quiet, it was much cooler, and it was so green that I felt relaxed as soon as we stepped on the trail. No matter where you live, I recommend getting out into the woods or the fresh air of nature, even for a 10-15 minute walk, and take advantage of the green spaces that surround you!

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What: #5 See a movie at the Ford Drive-In

When: July 4th
Where: Ford Drive-In

Why: My friend Sara has been a huge supporter of my list of new things, and she herself has a list that included seeing a movie at the Ford Drive-In, which I liked so much I added it to mine! This isn't your average drive-in theater; it has five screens and parking for thousands! After recently hearing tales of another friend taking her hatchback to have a perfect set-up for movie watching, I decided to give it a try in my own hatchback. Armed with blankets, pillows, snacks, I headed out on the 4th of July, which I thought would be a fun way to do something classically "American" in honor of the nation's birthday.

And it was fun - we saw the none-too-serious "22 Jump Street" - but for the whole two hours of the movie, the sound and projection was competing with fireworks surrounding us in 360 degrees of Independence Day glory. It was a very cool way to see a lot of firework displays, but an unexpected consequence of going on this particular night.

Another unintended consequence was feeling like I had been time-warped back into the late 1970s. The snack bar was straight out of a roller rink with the same faded counter-tops and old signs displaying the prices of popcorn and nachos, and the whole place had a vibe that shunned technology and frills. I kinda like it!

It's only $9 for TWO movies!