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What: #14 Go to a national park that I've never visited

When: June 20th-25th, 2016
Where: Yosemite National Park
Why: My childhood was filled with camping and road trips, spending many vacations admiring the beautiful places and spaces that were preserved for us to visit throughout this nation. Moving in to my adult life, I've tried to keep that up, but with so many of my adventures focusing on international travel, I wasn't dedicating enough time to see some of the parks still left to see in the U.S. This summer, I wanted to finally see the iconic Yosemite National Park, so I started planning the trip almost a year ago.

I lived in California for a few years, so did a few of my friends. My family still gets out to national parks every year. Somehow, neither I nor my friends or family had made it to Yosemite. It's not easy to get to...about 5 hours from the nearest major city or airport, and a pricey flight to get out there. Lodging can fill up very fast for the summer, so planning ahead was really key. We wanted to stay in the park at one of the historic hotels, so that limited our options for lodging.

Summertime is beautiful, and crowded. Early mornings, getting out on the trails, and heading along the Tioga Road were perfect ways to escape the traffic and big groups. So, without further ado, here are a few of the pictures that will never do it justice!

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What: #73 Run a 10K

When: July 25th
Where: Chicago
Why: For many years, I've run a maximum of a 5K and not a step beyond it. At 3.1 miles, my body knew it was done and it shut off accordingly. For a few years, I did sprint triathlons and did the run after a swim and a bike race, but still, at 3.1 miles, my legs and lungs proceeded to call it quits. This has been fine, until I got it in my head to run the Detroit Half-Marathon in October. It was a decision made entirely without proof that I could run that far, and so I've spent the past few weeks on a training program to push myself to go beyond a 5K distance.

Luckily, an opportunity came up for me to try a 10K in a city that I know is flat enough to not add any additional pressure to increasing my distance. Plus, I had friends that were running the 5K at the same event, so it would be a fun way to see them and to support my university at the Big Ten 10K in Chicago.

Around 6am on the morning of the run, the temperatures were already in the high 70's with high humidity, so there were concerns about how that would impact my run. I wasn't trying to get a personal best, just to reach as many of my 10 goals for my 10K as possible. Those goals were:

1) Finish it
2) Don't be last
3) Drink at every station
4) Be nice to Ohio State people
5) Don't take any selfies during the run
6) Go on the slip-n-slide
7) Keep at least a 14 min/mile pace
8) Don't get hurt
9) Don't pass out
10) Have fun

I accomplished 7 of my 10 goals. I failed at #4 when I saw an Ohio State girl totally cut a corner (oh, it was obvious!) and everyone around me that saw it started trash-talking her and that school and I joined right in on it. I failed at #5 because I have an awesome app that takes cool front/back pictures and I had to use it. I failed at #6 because the line was sooooo long that I couldn't imagine standing around for 10-15 minutes while the rest of the runners left me behind. I almost failed at #9, but luckily I had stashed an emergency granola bar in my pocket to eat when I felt faint. Oh, and I totally accomplished #7 by over a minute per mile!

Feeling pretty good for my first try!

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What: #64 Drink a glass of whiskey

When: June 6th
Where: Journeyman Distillery
Why: I blame country music for this one. So many of my favorite songs have lyrics pertaining to shootin' whiskey, pourin' whiskey, sippin' on whiskey...and I started to feel left out of that part of my redneck side. I did once attend a bourbon tasting, but that was really just a tasting...I could barely swallow it. I figured I needed to toughen up and get ready to really enjoy the right kind of whiskey. Luckily, my friend in Chicago knew of a place halfway between us that seemed the perfect place to learn about good whiskey, so we - two of my college roomies, two kiddos (including my videographer), and one awesome husband - met up at Journeyman Distillery in Three Oaks.

To begin, we ordered a flight...five quarter-ounce glasses of whiskey to sample what they offered. The first one was rough; the initial burn caught me off guard.

The second one sounded great - it had hints of fruit and berries - but it tasted the worst. My favorite had a hint of vanilla and felt smoother going down. I'll admit, I used to think people that talked about drinks as "smooth" were rather pretentious, but after drinking whiskey, that adjective makes sense!

I paired my whiskey with a nice grilled cheese to clean my palate between each sip. I think that's the best way to go!

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What: #55 Make my own ice cream

When: November 8th
Where: Sonia's kitchen
Why: This past New Year's Eve, I was with friends discussing the results of my 2013 list, and doing so over homemade ice cream that my friend Amanda's husband had made from scratch. He said it was pretty do-able (altho, he is a very skilled dessert maker at a much higher level than I'll ever be), and he suggested that I add it to my new list, so I included it and finally got around to checking it off.

Sonia's kitchen has also been the location of a previous cooking venture and so I was familiar with the basic lay-out and materials I'd be using. This time, I had done all of the grocery shopping myself based on an amazing recipe she found for an ice cream flavor that she wanted to make for her husband, Mighel. I was honored - and quite nervous - to be the "chef" (or would it be more like dairymaid?) preparing this dessert for him, and others who were visiting for the evening of watching Michigan football.

The custard part of the ice cream took about 30 minutes to make, then it had to chill in the refrigerator for about 2 hours, and then Mighel got out their KitchenAid mixer (in an awesome bright orange color!) and the ice cream maker bowl and attachment, and after about 30 more minutes, it was ready to serve. Allison, another Michigan fan/friend, was visiting and brought Nutella-filled cupcakes (as incredibly delicious as they sound!), and those paired extremely well with the ice cream for a wonderful post-game dessert! 

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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: #19 Wear a wig on a day other than Halloween

When: November 16th
Where: South Loop, Chicago
Why: A couple years ago, I dressed up with my friends as a trio of Raggedy Ann dolls and for the first time ever, wore a wig as part of my Halloween costume. Ever since, I've wanted to find another opportunity to wrap my hair up and don a new do. While the venue where this took place was not at all the traditional place to wear a wig - it was a sports bar where my college roommate and I watched the Michigan/Northwestern football game - at this point in the year, I can't get too fussy about how I'm getting items crossed off my list. I will say, this was an exercise in ignoring weird looks from strangers. There is no way my hair looked good, or normal. Or as sexy as it was supposed to look. The color, the cut, the accompanying outfit...it wasn't working. Maybe I'll stick with red yarn braids from now on!

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What: #44 Air dry a load of laundry outside

Where: My deck
When: July 6
Why: Originally, this went on my list because I'm always looking for ways to be more earth-friendly in my daily life. And, as today is going to be over 100 degrees...again...rather than complain about the heat (which I hesitate to do anyhow, knowing the other side of the coin means freezing in the winter), I thought I'd harness it to do my work for me. I'd been putting off laundry for quite a few days because I simply did not want to run my dryer and make it any hotter in my home than it already was, but it was getting to the point where my cutest summer clothes were all taunting me from the laundry basket, so I needed to address it. I got up early and ran a load in the washing machine and then hung the items out to dry on my deck, which faces south and gets a ton of direct sunlight. As this was my first foray into outdoor laundry drying, I had to rely on hangers, clothes pins, and the railing (no clothesline).

Other than perhaps drawing a few looks from neighbors - I don't think I've ever seen anyone else in my neighborhood with their wardrobe hanging off their deck railing - it has been a huge success! Even my big beach towels are dry faster than if I had put them in the dryer! My friend's son did get a kick out of my concern that a bird might swoop in and make off with a pair of my undies, but I have slowly gotten over that fear, and will likely do this many more times this summer!

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What: #10 Fly through the air on a trapeze

Where: Chicago
When: June 20
Why: When I was asked why I was doing this by some of the others who were also in my class, I realized it had gotten stuck in my head when I saw the character of Carrie Bradshaw do it on SATC. In fact, it is through the Trapeze School of New York (and a great "Living Social" deal!) that I found what was to be a highlight of my list so far! When doing a year-long list like this, the build up to finally checking off an item can sometimes be more exciting than the actual task itself. I have found that to be the case a few times, altho perhaps I can chalk that up to my incessant need to always have fun plans, and thus following through on them at times becomes secondary. In this case, it surpassed my expectations! I had already picked out my trapeze outfit (yes, it was a real part of my preparation!), and arrived to the park where everything is set up, along with my friend Sonia and her son as my support team/cheerleaders. 

Covered in chalk, waiting for my next turn!

 There were about 20 of us split into two groups - trapeze and ground acrobatics/silks. My group started off with the ground acrobatics, which was actually a lot of fun. Imagine those cheesy team-building activities you have probably done in your life - trust falls, human pyramids, etc. Here, we learned how to use our own weight to balance a whole other person standing on you, and to hold other people up in the air. After some time on the ground, we progressed to the silks. This is a pretty common apparatus in circus shows/acrobatic acts these days, so I was interested to see if it was as fun and easy as it looked. It's not. I gained a lot of respect for those individuals that make it look effortless! Finally, it was my group's turn to get harnessed up and receive our trapeze lessons. I am not a fan of heights, and I don't have a lot of faith in my own upper body strength, so those combined gave me pause with regards to what I was about to be doing. I watched a few people go first, and they had all manner of success rates, from executing a triple flip at the end of their move all the way to simply getting off the platform and slipping down into the net. After climbing up the ladder for my turn (which might be the hardest part!), I tried to just focus on the instructions I had received and not think about falling. It turns out the momentum of the trapeze - if you can get the timing right - really makes each move easier than I expected.

Dismounting with a back flip!

I had a couple turns with the basics (getting my knees up over the trapeze, doing a flip to dismount, etc.), and then noticed my name was put on a list. It was for those people that were selected to try the catch-and-release. My confidence wasn't too high on if I'd succeed because the timing has to be perfect, and I tended to hesitate each time I came off the platform for just a split second longer trying to psych myself up to leap off. But with some encouraging words in my head, I just went for it and made the grab on my first try!

The whole 3-4 hours was a great experience, bonding with like-minded individuals who signed up for this, and feeling like I really had a ton of fun doing something definitely out of my normal comfort zone. Given the opportunity, I will definitely be doing this again!

Sixteen down...36 to go...

What:  #15  Be  in  the  live  audience  for  NPR’s  “Wait  Wait ... Don’t  Tell  Me!"

Where: Downtown Chicago
When: May 17th
Why: I love trivia - the plethora of useless knowledge and factoids - but I tend to like to learn a little something from my trivia beyond just hearing Alex Trebek give his pompous retorts on Jeopardy. Thus, I have in the past year or so really started enjoying the Saturday morning broadcast on NPR radio of the program "Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!" If you are unfamiliar, it is a current events news quiz show and much funnier than that makes it sound. In addition to just being a fan of the show's content, I also was interested to see how a radio show was put together. I've been to a number of TV show tapings over the years, and on the set of a movie, but never to see a radio show. It was great to place faces and mannerisms with voices that were already familiar to me, and to see the logistics of how it is all done - callers, the panel, retakes, etc.

The taping takes place in the Chase Auditorium (inside the Chase Bank Tower downtown, a few blocks from Millennium Park) and the place was full! Clearly, I'm not the only dork who enjoys this sort of thing, especially considering the fact that my friend Sonia and her boyfriend Mighel signed on to do this one with me. :) Overall, it took almost 2 hours to finish the taping, so I was anxious to hear the show this morning to see what was cut to get it into its one-hour time slot. It was interesting that they rearranged the order on some segments from how it went that night, and definitely a lot of the banter and tangential conversations were cut, but it felt seamless when I listened to it. Overall, a fun way to spend a night out in downtown Chicago!