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What: #85 Rent a beach house with girlfriends for a long weekend

When: Aug 1st-8th
Where: Corolla, North Carolina
Why: A few years ago, a few friends of mine got together to enjoy a long fall weekend and it was a great time just talking and eating, playing board games, bike riding, sitting in the hammock, and generally enjoying some quality female bonding time. That started me thinking of this idea. Then, I read a great fun book that put the destination in my head: The Outer Banks. Back in March - when the weather in Michigan makes you want to get kidnapped just to end up somewhere else - I started talking with my college friend Susie about getting a group of women together to make this a possibility, so with her help, we pulled it off!

So, we found a great house on Whalehead Beach that instantly felt like our home away from home. I've rented a lot of vacation condos and houses in my day - usually for skiing - so I know to keep expectations low when you actually see the place, but my gosh, we were beyond giddy at the house and the location! From our deck, we had a set of stairs that crossed over the dunes and right onto the beach!

The group of us did a great job dividing up groceries and deciding on meals to make together or restaurants to try, and we had a lot of space both indoors and outdoors to divide up and do whatever we wanted, which was a lot of lounging and reading and soaking up the incredible views. Each evening, we'd sit around and play games and laugh and chat about our various life stories. Some of us have been friends since college days, others just met, and we had a few wonderful moms of friends join us to see that getting less young is still a lot of fun!

For a non-morning person, the sunrises were totally worth it!

We had a lot of really great activities to do while we were there, too, so that by mid-week, we still hadn't left Corolla! We definitely hit our stride around Wednesday and really didn't want it to end! If you ever have the inclination to put together a trip like this, it's absolutely worth all the planning to make it a reality!! And because we saw only Corolla, we are all thinking we'd go back again to another part of the Outer Banks. It really is a magical place!!

Took a Hummer across the beach to see the Corolla Wild Horses

View of the Whalehead Club from the Currituck Lighthouse

Boogie boarding with Susie!

Sunset kayaking!

Seven of us, still having fun on Friday morning!!

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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: #95 Learn how to log roll

When: July 18th
Where: Fuller Pool

Practicing my graceful exit...

Why: This summer, I got into watching a new show on TV because my friend recently competed on American Ninja Warrior, and the crazy obstacles they have to do really seem like a lot of fun. I'm not at the level I can do any of that (I thought I was, but was quickly humbled by the climbing rope at my gym), so I thought log-rolling was a pretty good substitute. Luckily, I live in a community that offers a lot of really great activities, so I signed up for my first class with my friend Karissa.

We met up in the shallow end of the pool to get acquainted with the "log"; it's really a 12-foot long tube made of the same material as a kayak and fitted with trainers that keep down the speed of the rotation. The first task was getting on the log, which wasn't the smoothest process. You have two choices: either standing up on it with one leg and pushing yourself up, or straddling it and then jumping up into a squat. As unlikely as it seems, I was better at and preferred the second method.

After almost an hour, I was able to stand up on the log and maintain my balance for about 5 seconds (which feels about six times longer than it is!). Our instructor was really great at giving pointers to adjust our technique and encouraging us to keep trying. We were having so much fun that we showed up again the next weekend and brought friends with us! I improved to staying on the log for about 15 seconds, while our ANW friend stayed on for over a minute! If we get to 2 minutes, we get our names on a poster! Summer goal!

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What: #94 Participate in a Color Run

When: June 27th
Where: Ypsilanti

Our "before" picture at the start

Why: For years, I've seen friends post pictures on Facebook about the Color Run, and more recently, it seems I've been in places where a Color Run has just happened and I see the participants wandering around the streets or into sporting events just as covered in colorful dust as can be! This intrigued me because they really seemed to be enjoying it, and usually after a run, my first instinct is to go home and shower as soon as possible.

This year, my friend Shannon invited me to join her at this run, and I was eager to sign-up to do my first Color Run! She and I had done another run earlier in the year and I was glad to find a running partner; it makes it much more enjoyable if you can chat and giggle along the route!

The day before, as most runners will know, was packet pick-up. I headed out into the warm summer sunshine on a beautiful day to get my t-shirt, headband, tattoos, and bib number. I was getting so excited! I went home and figured out what I was going to wear the next day, choosing shoes that I knew would be covered in colors by the end of it, and then waited patiently for the morning.

The morning, as it turns out, was barely in the 50s and pouring rain. POURING. I thought for sure Shannon would back out. In fact, I even considered it, but I have a very weird thing (stubbornness) about not skipping something if I've paid for it, so I decided I'd suffer for the 30-40 minutes it would take me to run, and then I'd come home to warm up and dry off. As I was pulling into my parking spot near the event, Shannon called to say she was just getting into town and that she was ready to suffer through it with me! I was so happy!! Luckily, the Color Run has wave after wave of starts, and it is not timed, so the fact that I ran with an umbrella and long leggings that kept falling down didn't deter me from having a blast!

The "after" picture at the finish line

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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!