100 things to do in 2012: month (and year) in review

i figured that since i'm housebound with a cold, i better just churn out this post before it's 2014. with the items i crossed off last month, i hit the 40 mark on the list (just 1.5 less than last year's - weird!) with a bunch of "almosts" - i.e., i have almost memorized the busta rhymes verse but wasn't quite confident enough to youtube it, and i have a 3.96 GPA instead of a 4.0. hopefully paring down my list to 50 this year will give me a better chance of accomplishing most of my items! here's a look at what i did in december:

28. send christmas cards: COMPLETED.

they were ecards, buuuuut it's fine. right?

52. wear red lipstick: COMPLETED.

i stopped by the lancome counter for this one on the afternoon of new year's eve, pretending that i was going to some fancy party instead of dick clark-ing it (ryan seacrest-ing it, rather), and trying on a shade called "retro rouge." i felt kind of like a clown and wanted to take it off, but my dear mom informed me that it made me look like i "stepped out of a fashion magazine" and convinced me to wear it for the rest of the day. "you're getting so many looks!" she said. um, probably because i looked like a clown?!

73.  try on clothes i can't afford: COMPLETED. 

i went into nieman marcus and i'm sure the fabulously flamboyant male employee had my number (it's 21...forever 21) from the moment i strolled in and picked up a $300 rhinestoned alice & olivia top and $200 jeans to try on. I'M ALLOWED! and they did look cute, right?! i still felt slightly bad just

flouncing out without anything, but meh.

91. buy a scratch ticket: COMPLETED.

every year, my uncle buys all of his nieces, nephews, and grandchildren a shit-ton of scratch tickets. and on average, i win like $0. sometimes $2. but i went of my own volition to the machine at my family's local grocery store in NH and picked out a glitzy $2 one called "holiday gold" and promptly won $20. show me da gold!

99. play a dance game on wii: COMPLETED.

it was xbox, but semantics. i am the undefeated champion of "just dance" in my aunt & uncle's household.






OTHER PICTURES FROM BREAK:

my parents' living room, full of holiday cheer

one direction cardboard cut-outs in newbury comics....so lifelike!

providence, RI on the way home from visiting family

NH in a photo at lull farm

don't even ask

winter wonderland!

wine tasting at labelle winery (so good)

my uncle's birthday celebration in NY - he made us all kir royales

fondue fun with some lovely ladies!

100 things to do in 2012: month in review

ahhhh it's december! i just finished my comprehensive exams this weekend for my master's (to graduate in the spring!) and am so looking forward to a nice month-long winter break in new hampshire in just about a week. :) this month was a little slow, but i managed to check some more items off of the list.

speaking of which, i'm starting to come up with ideas for my 2013 list. if you have any great ideas, leave 'em in the comments!


7. take a boat ride: COMPLETED.

so this might be kind of a cheat, but i went to disney with my friend & her hubby and we did both the jungle river cruise as well as the "tom sawyer's island" thing, which involved a barge/ferry ride over to the island. close enough for me!

56. pop champagne: COMPLETED.

i spent thanksgiving solo this year, but decided to spice it up a bit with a breakfast of french toast and mimosas before my big meal of savory crockpot chicken sandwiches, stuffing, and broccoli. i managed to pop the cork without hurting myself, hooray!

77. find one new song that i like each week: COMPLETED.

lots of great new tunes! check out my november playlist for some of 'em. i also made a christmas playlist that you can enjoy while baking cookies, trimming the tree and binging on 'nog.

100 things to do in 2012: month in review

so, this year is legit FLYING by, no? i kind of can't handle it. this month was a lil' slow, but i crossed off a whopping 3 items (45, 53, 67) on friday night when i had a slumber party with three of my gal pals at my friend's new place in massachusetts. i'm not sure if it was the hazy-hot new england summer weather, my friend's impeccably-decorated 250 year-old saltbox house, or the copious amounts of sangria we consumed during the evening, but it was one of those nights that you just felt some palpable magic in the air.

the four of us pitched in to make a wonderful summer dinner: lime-rubbed shrimp and avocado-grapefruit salad (pictured below - believe me, we were all skeptical, but it was delicious) and later, gathered on the deck (partially pictured above) to chat, laugh and drink more sangria before making some s'mores. most of us crashed pretty early during a viewing of "the princess bride," but we woke up the next morning to enjoy fresh fruit salad and homemade brie rolls while watching the pilot episode of "the wonder years" on netflix. a perfect grown-up sleepover, if you ask me! it reminded me of how satisfying it is to unplug and be present enough to enjoy some of the simple pleasures in front of you. i found a quote that hit home for me today and reminded me that, no, i don't need to do everything all the time, and "in the moment" can actually be a pretty sweet place:


we’re so caught up in trying to do everything, experience all the essential things, not miss out on anything important … that we forget the simple fact that we cannot experience everything. that physical reality dictates we’ll miss most things. we can’t read all the good books, watch all the good films, go to all the best cities in the world, try all the best restaurants, meet all the great people. but the secret is: life is better when we don’t try to do everything. learn to enjoy the slice of life you experience, and life turns out to be wonderful.

on that note, a bit o' my life in june!

45. have a candlelight dinner: COMPLETED.

okay, so it wasn't romantic, but there were candles. and they were lit. SO THERE!

53. roast marshmallows over a fire: COMPLETED.

it took a while for my friend's hubby to get the thing started in their new fire pit, but i was crushing s'mores in no time.

54. take a bubble bath: COMPLETED.

after a day of feeling particularly crappy, i decided to treat myself to a nice, long soak because i never, ever do.

67. visit a friend in another state: COMPLETED.

massachusetts totally counts now that i'm a floridian! ;)


77. find one new song i like each week: COMPLETED.

so many gems, including basically the entire new album by pujol, united states of being. others!!

sleeper agent - "get burned" 
jeff the brotherhood - "sixpack"
guided by voices - "class clown spots a UFO"
apollo ghosts - "what are your influences?"
japandroids - "the house that heaven built"

100 things to do in 2012: month in review.

welp, i just finished the last grad class of the semester, and i'm SO HAPPY. it's strange to think that my "summer" is starting already, but also kind of awesome. i've secured a wonderful, flexible freelance gig that will allow me to work from anywhere. which is great, since i am leaving to complete #14 (visit nashville) on sunday, and #1 (visit europe) on the 17th before heading home to new england to be a bridesmaid for the first time at one of my best friend's weddings, and theeeeen attend my cousin's wedding. busy, busy, dizzy! but i have a great feeling about this summer and am happily anticipating the great things it will bring! :)

2. make my own ice cream: COMPLETED.

i was bored a few weeks ago, and craving a sweet treat, but didn't have anything in the house. except half and half, salt, ice, sugar, and vanilla, that is. so i decided to make myself a little ziploc bag full of ice creamy goodness. i did something wrong because i shook that dang bag for a half hour without really anything happening. so i stuck it in the freezer and voila! yummy ice cream after like...45 minutes.

10. make $2,000 in freelance: CONTINUED.

i'll likely hit my goal in just under two weeks. woot!

29. watch 26 new movies, one for every letter of the alphabet: CONTINUED.

this month, i saw jeff who lives at home, which was honestly one of the best movies i've seen in a long time (mainly because i'm pretty much jeff). i also watched dear john on TV the other night, which was much less sad than i had anticipated. i love me some channing tatum.

46. make a painting: COMPLETED.

courtesy of a livingsocial deal, some great gals and i headed over to this genius place just north of orlando in altamonte springs called creative canvas and wine. basically, you pay one price for all the supplies you need to make a guided painting (sup, bob ross?) and you get to drink wine while you do it. SO GOOD! besides the "leaves" that look like hellfire in my painting (on the left), we made some pretty damn van gogh-esque sunflowers, wouldn't you say?

69. hang out with a band after a show: CLOSE ENOUGH?

well, it was just one member of a band (see below), and it was before the show, not after. but we had dinner and played apples to apples and stuff! i'm pretty sure i can count it.

77. find one new song a week that i love: COMPLETED.


i discovered so much good new music this month. namely, bass drum of death, who i wrote about a few weeks ago. you can check most of it out on this "mayan summer" playlist i lovingly put together on spotify. dig it!


78. go to a local punk show: COMPLETED.

semantics. it was more southern rock than punk, but i accompanied my friend to a show on easter/passover weekend which was appropriately but randomly held at a church. i praised the gods of rock 'n roll! and saw an entertaining local band, buffalo gun. oh, and the following weekend i saw some more punk-esque local bands at the hunx and his punx show.

100 things to do in 2012: month in review

holy god how is it already (almost) march?! this time last year, i had just gotten into grad school and was about to head to TX for sxsw. so much has changed! all good things, though. i didn't accomplish as much from my list this month as i'd hoped to (read: go to miami for the south beach wine and food fest to chill with paula deen) but it's fiiiine.

ALSO! before i get into this month, i have to update you guys on one of my items from last year, which was to write a fan letter and get a response. welp, i received a huge envelope from LA a few weeks ago and knew immediately that it was from my fave jackass, steve-o. it was better than i could have dreamed:

but onto february!

10. make $2,000 in freelance: STARTED.

$785 already! holl-errrr.

29. watch 26 new movies, one for each letter of the alphabet: CONTINUED.

watched "midnight in paris" and "catfish" this month...both highly recommended (catfish is haunting my dreams). 20 to go!

42. give more than a 20% tip: COMPLETED.

i went to a new hair stylist and he was super-awesome and sweet, so he totally deserved a lil' extra.

77. find one new song that i like each week: COMPLETED.

my annual sxsw music hunt netted me some awesome songs, including:

furguson - casacuberta

the front bottoms - maps

the technicolors - to love

the lovely bad things - i just want you to go away

(you can listen to all of them on my sxsw playlist)

i also secretly started loving that cobra starship song "middle finger". but my current favorite, thanks to my pal jacob, is this tune (which he described as "very 'kim'". um, correct!) what is with me loving bands with "walk" and celestial objects in their names this year?! whatever, i'm going with it.

79. make my nails look really awesome: COMPLETED(?)

a meeting for a research paper last weekend with a friend and fellow classmate became us getting manicures instead...totally fine. i'm kind of stoked on the purple and gold glitter thang, but i think i can get a little crazier. so this one is a maybe.

100 things to do in 2012: month in review

hey, y'all! hope 2012 is off to a great start...i know i'm loving it already. i got to knock off at least a few items from my list, so hooray for that:

23. go to tampa & st. petersburg: PARTIALLY COMPLETED.

i took a trip to tampa last weekend to see my dear friend alissa and attend what is basically a pirate mardi gras known as gasparilla (pictures here). this was my first trip to tampa, and it was so much fun. especially since swashbucklers were roaming freely, i discovered the brilliance that is a dirty shirley, i got like 10 billion beads, and a man giving out free hugs told me i was a good hugger. success!

29: watch 26 new movies, one for each letter of the alphabet: STARTED.

the help, happythankyoumoreplease, something borrowed, and new year's eve. only 22 more to go!

75. laugh so hard i cry: COMPLETED.

i can always count on this youtube diva to crack me up, and i randomly decided to watch this video a few weeks ago. TEARS, child....tears rolling down my face the entire time. i seriously can't handle the genius of qaadir howard. enjoy!

77. find one new song i like each week: COMPLETED.

among them:

panic at the disco - "ready to go"

drake - "the motto"

breathe carolina - "blackout"

walk off the earth's cover of gotye's "somebody that i used to know" (in my previous post)

WOTE was definitely my best discovery and i'm kind of a little bit obsessed with them now. but i mean, how can you not love a band that does ridiculous covers of LMFAO and rihanna? also, i may or may not be in love with the long-haired singer who kind of looks like jesus. watch and LOVE!

96. eat at a hibachi steakhouse: COMPLETED.

my friend amy is moving to israel for 5 months(!) and just happened to have her going away dinner at a great hibachi place here in orlando. i don't think i'd been to one since i was like, 8, so it was a ton of fun. the chef pretended to throw an egg at me and we all chowed down on steak/chicken/shrimp/pasta/veggies. good times!