Fifty-two done ... 0 to go!!!

What: #90 Skinny Dip

When: December 31st
Where: Playa Media Luna, Vieques
Why: In all my shenanigans as a teen and twenty-something, this just didn't get come up as an option. It isn't that I'm against public nudity; I guess I didn't hang out at enough lakes or rivers or hotel pools for the opportunity to arise. I tried to get this done when it appeared on last year's list, but in hindsight I'm glad that I didn't force myself to dip into those Canadian waters.

As the hours dwindled on 2014, I needed to complete one last item, and while "adopt something" is always a fine way to end one year and begin another, I wanted to make the effort to stick with the spirit of the list and choose one truly new thing. Being on vacation on Vieques provided the perfect opportunity to skinny dip, so with a full moon (no joke) in the sky and half-moon beach at my feet, I headed out to strip down.

Beach by moonlight

The water was very warm, heated the whole day by the rays of the sun, and that was a great relief as I embarked on my naked entry into the waves. It was quite shallow, however, which means it took me a long time to finally immerse myself all the way in and in that time, I'm sure that the group of people hanging out on the beach off to my far right were getting curious. At first, I was very aware of this, doing the ridiculous cover-up pose with my hands and arms as I splashed in the bay, but in no time at all, I was feeling much more free.

The calm ocean water felt amazing, the breezes that night kept my skin warm, and the sand was so soft...and the joy at getting to finish my year of new things on such a beautiful and amazing beach was truly wonderful!

The most PG-rated pic...

Late on New Year's Eve...52 new things done!!

Fifty-one done ... 1 to go...

What: #95 Own a stained glass window

When: December 24th
Where: My living room
Why: For those who are regular readers of this blog, you will know that I am a huge fan of Frank Lloyd Wright. For years, I have wanted to find a beautiful stained glass window to enhance my home's decor the way I've seen so many times in so many of his homes, and what I ended up with still has me in awe. As I was opening my gifts on Christmas Eve, Justin brought out a huge gift that had been tucked away in the closet of our spare room. I was already shocked because we had promised not to buy each other anything for Christmas this year, instead taking each other on our holiday trip. It turns out he did not technically break the rules because he didn't buy this...he made it! For the past few weeks, he's been disappearing to hang out with his parents, and each of those trips were to work with his dad on creating this incredible piece of art. It is an amazing stained glass window with the colors and design that I love, and it is in a beautiful wooden frame that I can hang to see the window from both sides of it. I can't wait to put it up to let the light shine through it every day!

Fifty done ... 2 to go...

What: #10 Talk while on helium

When: December 23rd
Where: Busch's grocery store & My living room
Why: For some reason, I've never inhaled helium from a balloon. I think I was afraid it was dangerous. Honestly, even with my mom telling me that it's fine and I need to take a big puff of it deep into my airways, I still was freaked out that I'd pass out or have a coughing fit or damage my lungs. This is also the reason I've never smoked anything; I'm totally protective of my internal organs. 

Still, I was nearing the end of my list and didn't have many other viable options. I ran a quick errand to return some cans & bottles to the grocery store, and used the money to buy a couple helium balloons. I think the video speaks for itself. 

Forty-nine done ... 3 to go...

What: #96 Sing karaoke by myself

When: December 20th
Where: Blue Karaoke
Why: Two times in my life, I've gotten up to sing karaoke with friends. Once was at my friend Susie's bachelorette party and another time was with my friend Allison in New Orleans with a group of people we'd met down there. Both times were up on a stage in front of people with a screen scrolling the lyrics. It had been years since either of those experiences, and in that time, I've come to be a very proficient shower singer and car singer. At least, in my opinion. So, when my friend told me he was getting together with a group of people to karaoke, I jumped at the chance to join them. 

The place we met up at was not what I expected. It was, I'm told, a much more authentic Japanese experience of renting a room with friends for a certain amount of time with a songbook and a machine with microphones and fancy lights. The reason we were at this more-authentic establishment is because this group of friends had mostly met up while working in Japan over the past few years, and in fact, one of the girls did a whole song in Japanese!

So, Anita and I arrived just in time to start singing some hits, including "Let It Go" and "Bye Bye Bye" and Katy Perry's "Hot n Cold" and I learned how to use the catalog and the machine to made my request for my big solo debut. While waiting for my request to come up, we passed the microphones and tambourines around the room to participate, and despite being very new at this and only knowing one other person in the room, Anita and I were having a blast. 

Then, I realized a couple of things. One is that there is a very strict scoring system that is built into the machine and displayed on the screen for everyone to see. The system is based on both one's ability to keep to the beat and to be in tune. Another thing I realized is that the background music for the karaoke machine is like a synthesizer version of the real deal, and with the acoustics in the room, I found it hard to match pitch to the music and was trying just to match pitch with the other people singing. Finally, these other people singing were good at it, and about a decade or more younger than me. This made me a bit anxious about the song I had requested, which was an oldie-but-a-goodie (yikes, I sound old just using that phrase).

When my song came on, I was so excited! I know almost all the lyrics by heart and it's a song that my group of friends all think is lots of fun. And yet, no one in this room seemed to know it. It is A) country and B) from the '70s. Now, I know it was my goal to sing by myself, but it was really awful. Obviously, I won't be discovered this way, but I really don't think I'm actually quite this bad. Ask my friends who are in the car with me; I'm usually on the better end of average! And even during the chorus, no one really joined in, except for Saad who is just completely fun and probably knows every possible karaoke song. So, without further ado, enjoy my embarrassment!

Forty-eight done ... 4 to go...

What: #54 Wear fake eyelashes to work

When: December 19th
Where: My workplace
Why: It seems that everyone is wearing fake eyelashes these days. Whether it's for a dinner out with friends, or something fancier, it isn't just for Hollywood starlets anymore. I blame Zooey Deschanel. Her amazing eyelashes on "New Girl" and the covers of her albums are so luscious (I really just said that) and the envy of those of us without A) our own natural luscious lashes or B) the ability to put on fake lashes. The only time I wore fake eyelashes before was for my high school dance recital. The effect was a disaster. It was a phase in life where all of us girls were trying to wear too much make up, and I think I could barely open my eyelids, which is quite a hindrance when you're trying to hit your marks on a stage. After that, I just found the perfect combo of eyeliner and mascara to help me achieve a slightly more realistic look, but one that still serves to create enough of a difference in my eye appearance that I look quite haggard in any no-eye-makeup pics of myself. 

So, the last day of work before the holidays arrived, and I still hadn't checked this one off the list. And, to be fair, I still don't think I technically stuck to the intent of this one...it's the preposition "to" that got in my way. I tried to get up in the morning to put them on myself, but it wasn't happening. At all. So, I took all of my supplies to work with me and around lunch time, sent my co-worker a text saying, "Weirdest question of the day...can you help me put on fake eyelashes today?" She called to make sure she had correctly understood my text - pretty safe to do with auto-correct running rampant these days - and then told me she could try to help. I honestly thought she had done this before because I've seen her looking extremely glamorous at different events leading up to her wedding and on the day itself, so I assumed she had worn eyelashes. 

Well, she couldn't do it, and I couldn't do it, so we enlisted the help of another co-worker...and added to the list of people experiencing my humiliation. This time, we were able to get them both on, but they had been pulled off and re-glued so many times that they were still pretty hard to get to line up with my own lash line. I ended up wearing them only through my lunch and for a walk down the hallway, but couldn't keep them on much longer because it did look pretty silly. I'll have to try next year, maybe to make myself wear them for a WHOLE DAY at work.


 

Forty-seven done ... 5 to go...

What: #23 Buy a bobblehead

When: December 18th
Where: Amazon, of course
Why: I'm not really a knick-knack collector, but I've seen more and more bobbleheads at stores and on people's desks and shelves and it seemed like such a fun item. A lot of bobbleheads these days can be made to look like someone in particular, but the most fun bobbleheads are the ones that are cultural icons - whether old Presidents or even Yoda - who are made to look so silly. The bobblehead that I bought is a gift for a friend, so I don't want to give too much away in case she reads this post. I will say that it was much bigger and more detailed than I was expecting, so that's a fantastic bonus!

Forty-six done ... 6 to go...

What: #97 Enroll in a class at a community college

When: December 16th
Where: WCC

Think I can do it?

Why: I'm so fortunate to live in a community with amazing educational resources, including two incredible universities and a highly regarded community college. Having taken classes at both of the universities (one full time, one as a summer student), I thought I should complete the trifecta by attending a class at the community college. My initial plan was to take a motorcycle licensing class, but the one weekend it was offered is the same weekend as my friend's wedding, so that didn't work out. Instead, I thought it would be a great idea for me to gain some real DIY skills. I'm pretty nervous around electricity, so I think plumbing is the best place for me to start gaining some home repair skills. I know that the one room in my home I'd like to remodel is the bathroom, so this might help me to achieve a much better look...maybe even a sink-toilet combo!

It's official!

Forty-five done ... 7 to go...

What: #74 Buy a plant for my home or workplace

When: December 12th
Where: English Gardens
Why: I have a spider plant that has grown into two separate large plants, both from a cutting that I took about 15 years ago from my mom's spider plant. I smuggled this plant into California with me when I moved there years ago, and have tended to it ever since then. Lucky for me, it is extremely adaptable, very forgiving, and so easy to take care of that even I can keep it alive, and at times, even thriving! The idea of bringing another plant to care for into the house seemed cruel; surely I'd kill it off with neglect within weeks. Yet, as I thought ahead to that day in January that I'd put away my holiday greenery and be faced with the post-holiday blahs, I thought it might be nice to have additional greenery around the house to make the transition less abrupt. This idea took even greater root (haha!) when my friends wanted to have a crafting party and terrariums were mentioned as a possible project to make together. 

I headed to the local gardening store - English Gardens - and found succulents and cacti and fancy gravel and glass containers to use, and with my friend's charcoal and soil mixture, and the added bonus of my other friend's forethought to purchase little sculptures to put in our terrariums, we were able to put them together without too much trouble. The layering of heights and type of plant to put in may take some finesse that I don't have yet, but for the cost of one fancy terrarium, we made four, so I was very pleased with our finished products!

Fancy terrariums at Nest in Detroit

Forty-four done ... 8 to go...

What: #28 Play at the batting cages

When: December 7th
Where: Macomb Batting Cages
Why: Growing up, I played soccer, but never little league. I remember watching my brother play tee-ball, and definitely had baseball mitts and balls that we tossed around playing catch in the yard, but I don't recall many times, if ever, that I actually hit a baseball with a bat. In fact, the most memories I have of my time on a baseball diamond involve playing kickball as a kid at recess, watching olde timey baseball as an adult, or wandering the field as a fan at Comerica Park.

So, my friend also has this on her list of things to do this year, which made me feel better about it being a legitimately cool thing to do! Sometimes, it seems that I'm the only person doing these new things and dragging everyone along with me, but this one was helping us both! After a fun morning at the Urban Craft Fair, we switched it up to do something more physical and headed north of Detroit to a batting cage that we found was indoor, thus still open during the winter time. 

It wasn't what I expected at all...just a big open warehouse with nets dividing the batting lanes (are they called lanes?). We were escorted into the equipment room to choose bats, batting gloves, and helmets...none of which I had any idea of how to do. After choosing based on fashion more than function (not a great plan), I strutted out to the plate. The two pitching machines we had were for slow pitch softball and fast pitch baseball. I started off with slow pitch and could barely hit anything. Luckily, my friends were all giving me good pointers for my form (elbows up, feet aligned to the bag, and follow through the swing), and by the next round, I was improved enough to hit the fast balls.
 
 The fast balls seemed terrifying to me, whizzing at me and ready to send painful vibrations down my hands and into my arms anytime I made contact with the ball. How to professionals do this day after day? I guess the millions they make allows them to afford fancy ice packs for their sore hands. Still, I am in awe of batters staring down a 100-mile-per-hour fast ball when I was skittish around a 60 mph pitch!

Often, I determine if I'll do something again from the list, and this is one that I think I'd do a few more times. It was fun with friends, and fun to improve, so I'd like to keep it up and maybe play for fun one of these summers!