101 things in a 1001 days!

Create a "bucket list" of things you hope to accomplish/complete in 1001 Days (2 years, 8 months, 26 days). 

Then go out and get started! The 'things' can be as big or small as you want them to be.

MY START DATE: 8/26/2011 MY END DATE: 5/22/2014

KEY: BOLD: Completed. ITALIC: In progress.

Here's my list:

Blogging

1.     Post about each of the things on this list

2.     Take a picture of each of the things on this list

3.     Make my blog prettier

Living

4.     Get Married

5.     Buy a house

6.     Buy new furniture

7.     Do a date night with Jman at least once a month

8.     Learn to ballroom dance

9.     Make a room in my house look like one from a magazine

10. Stay at a bed and breakfast

Fitness

11. Complete an Olympic Distance Triathlon

12. Run a 5k

13. Swim the Chesapeake bay

14. Hike part of the Appalachian trail

15. Be able to do 30 push ups in a row

16. Be able to do 5 pull ups at a time

17. Beat my iron girl triathlon time of 2 hr and 32 mins

Physical Health

18. Take vitamins every day for a whole month

19. Maintain a healthy weight for a person my height

20. Go to a dermatologist

21. Go 3 months without fast food (not even chick-fil-a!)

Mental Health

22. Get organized (and stay organized for a month)

23. Get a massage

Travel

24. Go to Vegas

25. Visit New Orleans

26. Visit the statue of Liberty

27. See a show in New York

28. Go for a carriage ride in new york

29. Travel outside the country

30. Travel to 5 states I have never been to before

31. Fly first class

32. Go on a road trip

Learning

33. Learn a new language

34. Be able to recite all of the presidents in order

35. Learn to drive a manual

36. Learn to play golf

For good

37. Pay it forward to 3 strangers

38. Plant a tree

39. Volunteer for 3 events

40. Send 5 care packages to soldiers oversees

41. Raise over $1,000 for a good cause

42. Donate over $100 for a good cause

Food

43. Shop at a farmers market

44. Make a recipe book

45. Taste 3 new foods

46. Invent a new recipe/dish that actually tastes good

47. Learn how to cook bananas foster

48. Learn how to cook cheesecake

Just for Fun

49. Send a post secret

50. Do a service project

51. Go for a ride in a convertible with the top down

52. Host a party

53. Save $10 per each completed item from this list to spend upon completion

54. Go ice skating outside

55. Take a nap in a hammock

56. Get my tattoo fixed

57. Get my fortune read

58. Do a craft

59. Get a manicure

60. Take a wine tasting class

61. Tour at least 6 of the wineries in MD

62. See a comedian on tour

63.  Go to a hockey game

64.  Go to a pro-football game

65. Go zip lining

66. Go white water rafting with Jman

67. Go canoeing

68.  Go crabbing

69. Build a snowman

70. Have a picnic

71. Read the entire bible

72. Build something

73. Go camping in 6 new places

74. Go to a country concert

75. See gone with the wind

76. See Citizen kane

77. See “Nos fera to”

78. See “The God father”

79. Successfully navigate through 1 haunted house

80. Go through a Corn maze

81. Have a fondue night

82. Get mom to create a bucket list

83. Make a wine cork board

84. Sing at a karaoke night

85. Straighten my hair everyday for a week

86. Take the dog for a walk every Saturday for a month

87. Go to church for two months in a row

88. Inspire someone to make a 101 list

89. Go for a bar crawl in DTA

90.  Go to a state fair

91. Go skiing 3 times

92. Buy new makeup

93. Write 3 letters to Donnie

94.  Take my nieces out to a movie

95.  Check in with at least 1 cousin every month

96.  Go see the National Christmas tree

97.  Go on a cruise with jman

98.  Double my bank roll of at least $50 on Preakness day

99. Bottle my own wine

          100.  Bowl over 175

         101.  Say yes to at least 3 things I would normally say no to

-Until Next Time www

Iron Girl Triathlon Details

First of all, THANK YOU! Thank you to everyone who donated to The Leukemia and Lymphoma society and helped me reach my goal of $1400. The final amount raised was $1577!!!! Maybe one day we will find a cure for Leukemia, which is the #1 disease killer of children. Also, Thank you to everyone who congratulated me, supported me, cheered me on, and helped me to keep going. I could not have done this with out my amazing family and friends. I truly feel blessed to be able to do something like this and I feel inspired, motivated and accomplished.

It was a great day. I woke up at 4:30 because I wanted to get to Columbia by 5:30ish. There was a little bit of traffic coming in but not too bad of a drive. When I got there, I found some TNT friends, set up my transition area and pumped up my bike tires. Right before the race, a huge storm came in with a torrential downpour of rain so the race was postponed a few minutes. 

The race start is broken up in to swim waves of different age groups starting with the pro-athletes and then the oldest to youngest so I had a while to wait around until it was my time. I wasn't nervous for the swim at all. This is my element! I wanted to make sure I got out in front so that I wasn't slowed down by the huge crowd of swimmers. Unfortunately, right after the race started my time chip fell off my ankle and I stopped to see if I could find it. I ended up getting swam over by a few people and wasted some time so I just kept swimming. When I got out of the water, I got a new time chip and ran to transition. I was very out of breath (something I was not expecting to be after getting out of the water) but I felt like my transition went smooth and was fairly short. 

The bike was the part I was most nervous apart. I had this huge fear of getting a flat tire half way out on the course and being stuck not knowing what to do. I was thankful for all the support personnel that were out on the roads helping people with mechanical malfunctions. This definitely calmed my nerves. 

Columbia has what everyone likes to call "rolling hills" because the whole entire course is UP a hill.. DOWN a hill... up another hill... down another hill... so the up hills suck but the down hills feel great. There are about 5 HUGE and I mean steep/long hills on the course. I was not looking forward to any of them but I am very proud of myself for biking up all the hills and not walking at all! After the second big hill I stopped at the top because I was having an asthma attack. I am glad I took my inhaler. A few puffs and some water later I was back on the road. I stopped again at the turn around point to grab some gatorade. By that point I was so hungry it felt like my stomach was eating itself. My very favorite part of the race was the last 2 miles of the bike.. HOME STRETCH!! It felt so good to be going up and down those mini rolling hills. I kept thinking to myself... "I can finish this now! I will finish this triathlon! WOO HOOO!" It was a lot of fun.

Coming into transition #2 I was still on my "just finished the bike" high.... and then there was the run... ugh! The dreaded run. I can't lie. I didn't run the whole thing. I ran a lot of it..not all of it. But you know what... I finished it and that's all that mattered to me. 

I sprinted the last few yards to the finish. OH it was the mentally the best feeling in the world. (physically one of the worst that I have experienced in a while)...still, I would highly recommend it to anyone. It was emotional crossing the finish line but so so so much fun! I can't wait to do another tri. I still really want to do Nations (The olympic distance triathlon that I was originally signed up to do but dropped out after feeling overwhelmed). Next year I might even do both Iron Girl and Nations! 

I was a little bit disappointed when checking the official time. Because my time chip fell off in the water, they have my time as being 3 hours 4 mins. This was definitely not my time. Dad's unofficial time for me was 2 hours 33 mins. I should have been 33rd in my age group, instead it says I am 40th.. Unfortunately, that will never be the official time and that is somewhat disappointing to me. Now I have something to beat for next year! 

It was bittersweet saying good bye to all my TNT friends that I trained with over the past 3 months. I had a lot of fun and will never forget all the wonderful and inspirational women I have met. I am happy I can cross this off the list of things to do before I die, happy that I finished and happy that I raised money for such a great cause. I have rediscovered myself in a whole new way and I now have the confidence that I can do anything I want with some hard practice and a lot of support from family and friends.

-Until Next Time www

July Training Might be the death of me..

I just made my training schedule for July... It is TOUGH! I am now on a 6 by 7 schedule which means 6 out of 7 days I will either swim, bike or run (or a combo of the three).
   So here it is:
      - Monday is Break day (because Mondays suck)
      - Tuesday is boot camp day with Coach Carol (Running/Biking HILLS.. UGH!)
      - Wednesday is Swim/Run day
      - Thursday is Group Transition Practice (Bike/Run.. Have you ever gone running after biking several miles?.. your legs will feel like bricks!!)
      - Friday is Interval/Endurance practice with Track star brother aka "Trub" (by the end of July I want to be able to run 5 miles straight through)
      - Saturday is Short/Fast run practice with Music star brother aka "Sunshine"
      - Sunday is long bike with whoever I can get to go with me..


I don't have too much going on in July so I won't have a reason to stray from the plan.


Dad and sunshine think I should give up all alcohol until the race..HA! Apparently they don't know I am 23 years old and it is my summer break. I am considering the no drinking rule for the last 4 weeks though. We will see...


I am not doing as well as I thought I would be doing with fundraising. I have a few events up my sleeve that will hopefully get Leukemia and Lymphoma Society some money.


In other news: I still have yet to see the Engagement photos from 2 weeks ago BUT they are in the mail!! Anyyyy Daayyyy Nowww!!

-Until Next Time www

OBX!

Last week was my Sister's wedding! It can't believe how fast it came and went. It seems like yesterday that they decided on having the weekend in the Outer banks. Despite the 5 years I lived in North Carolina, I have never been to this part of the Outer banks. It was absolutely beautiful! We could not have asked for better weather.


Jman and I drove down there after work on Wednesday. We got in really late and were very tired but some how managed to stay up and party for a few hours. We swam in the pool and went ghost crab hunting on the beach. It was quality time with my Jman, R and K. Thursday was the rehersal dinner so the beginning part of the day was spent doing errands. The rehearsal was short and sweet followed by a fantastic dinner hosted by K's parents. Then we had a party on the beach where all of our family and friends came out, drank and celebrated.


The wedding went off without a hitch. The bridesmaids were able to relax for most of the day and it was unusually calm for what you would expect of a bride on the big day. The wedding was on the beach and then we all limo bussed it over to the reception hall. Great food. Great people. Great Drinks. Great time.


I haven't loaded my pictures on my computer...they are coming soon along with..........


Engagement photos!!! After 6 months of being engaged we FINALLY were able to get to Raleigh for some pictures. I have been checking the photographer's website 100times a day... still not up.. hopefully they will come soon.


Tri-Training got put on hold while i was in NC.. Will start back up and update soon. ;)

-Until Next Time www

p.s.- SCHOOLS OUT!! I made it through my second year of teaching! Woot Woot!

Drum roll please......

INTRODUCING MY NEW GOAL......


So I went to a professional development a few weeks ago about building relationships with my students so I am going to use one of the activities I learned at the professional development to introduce my new self goal.. here it is:
    If you knew me you would know.... I like to swim
    If you really knew me you would know.... I am very out of shape
    If you really really knew me you would know... Participating in a Triathlon has been on my bucket list since I was in high school.


YES THATS IT! I have officially signed up to participate in a Triathlon in the Fall. Here are the details and how I got involved.
    A few weeks ago I saw a whole bunch of my facebook friends donating money to a girl's fundraising page called "Team in Training". This particular girl is someone I knew in my childhood (We did swim team together) but I was never really friends with her. Her story about her cancer treatment and how she was going to do the Iron Girl Sprint Triathlon in the fall inspired me to look into Team in Training.
    Team in Training is a wonderful organization that works to raise money for  Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. "A health organization dedicated to funding blood cancer research and providing education and patient services". Team in Training is a charity group that motivates, trains and supports athletes (or in my case incredibly out of shape but optimistic people) to complete events such as marathons, hikes or triathlons. After watching a few videos on their website and reading more information I signed up!
   I just came from an information meeting. I got to meet coaches, mentors and participants who all encouraged me and inspired me to sign up.
    Now going into this meeting I was sure I was going to do the Iron Girl Sprint Triathlon. Why? Because although I love to swim (and consider myself to be a good swimmer), I HATE running. Last week my little brother, dub, and I went out for a mile run. NO LIE...I practically passed out after one mile. A sprint triathlon consists of a .6 mile swim, 18 mile bike and 3 mile run..tough but reachable. After talking to all of the coaches about my abilities I was convinced to do the full olympic-distance triathlon. Now If you really know me you knowwwww that this is a HUGE challenge for anyone but this will be a especially HUGE challenge for me. The coaches insured me that 16 weeks is plenty of time to get in shape for the .9 mile swim, 25 mile bike and 6 (YES I SAID 6!!) mile run. The good news is that if after a few weeks of training if I don't think it's going to work out I can still drop down to the sprint distance. So I have officially signed up for the Nation's Triathlon in Washington DC on September 11th.!! WOO HOO! (can you feel my excitement and enthusiasm?)
     The whole reason for doing this (besides my selfish reason of checking it off my bucket list), is to raise money for a really good cause. So many people have benefited from the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and knowing that by doing this I am helping even just one person get through their cancer treatment will push me and inspire me to run that extra mile. I will be doing a lot of fundraising for this event. Hopefully I can gain the support of all my family and friends (and their friends) so that we together can help change lives and even one day cure cancer!!!


More posts to come about my progress on training, fundraising..etc..

-Until Next Time www