Leftovers from last year's summer bucket list

 Okay because I am OCD I absolutely must finish a list even if/when others may no longer find it purposeful.  And, since I tend to start lots of new projects without completing my old ones (on a side note I plan to pick up with the "This Book Will Change Your Life" list on Monday) finishing this list will give me free reign to concoct some more lists that will also take me longer than originally intended to complete. So, with that said, here were the items from last summer's bucket list that still need completing. Thanks to Michelle at Elements of Style squeezing us in on this rainy dreary Wed. I can officially cross off number 16.

4. Have a favorite things party
5. Try Fahrenheit restaurant
6. Make my pinterest pots
7. Make fairy jars
13.Go to Spuddy's
15.Take Liv to her first drive-in
16.Mommy and me manicure 
17.Go to bed one night in something sexier than my ripped Austin Construction t-shirt and sweatpants
19.Complete Rosetta Stone Unit (update: since I no longer have access to RS I have switched this to watching all 52 episodes of Los Destinos)

Day 24 - Barter Day

Bartering provides fun for all the family, bypasses the taxman, and is a useful skill to acquire in the event civilization should suddenly revert to the Stone Age. The book then list some useful equivalences to get you started. For example, 12 french fries = 1 pencil, and 2 bottles of vodka + 1 scarf = 1 guitar.

This should be fun today since we are going to a raffle.

 We bartered eggs full of prizes and additional raffle tickets for drink tickets :)

Day 23 - Plastic Fantastic

How do you know you look as good as you could? Today make a no-obligation appointment with a plastic surgeon and see what he recommends.

Day 22 - A Date in Ten Years' Time

Instructions: Today agree to meet someone in 10 years' time. Fill in this coupon and hand it to a stranger or someone you hardly know.

Since I've only known Darcy for 48 hrs. and she seems a kindred spirit I choose her for this task (sorry +Gina Speelman our trip to the bayou will have to fulfill another bucket list). Thanks for getting married Maggie so that I had the opportunity to meet Darcy!

We, the undersigned, may only know each other casually, but we hereby agree to meet in exactly ten years' time at noon on the 10 of April 2024 at whichever restaurant is rated number one on Tripadvisor in Portland, Oregon. (I have always heard good things about Portland so this seems like as good a time as any to plan a visit). In case we have changed beyond recognition, we agree to wear the following identifying features: Darcy in a white shirt and boyfriend jeans and Kristina in a black shirt, skinny jeans, and black hunter boots (I hope I am still skinny enough to wear skinny jeans and I currently don't own a pair of hunter boots, but I want a pair so this is a win-win - I get a pair and look cool if they are still cool or if they are not still cool I get them at a deep discount and look retro! Mom -I'm thinking my Banana Republic boots you got me, though I love them, will be well worn out by then). In case we have nothing to say to each other here is a list of current }}hot{{ topics to reminisce about:

Darcy's list:

• how hard it was to find boyfriend jeans in 2024 when everyone is wearing space suits
• whether or not people still play Cards Against Humanity
• how much collective time we spent on Facebook while it existed 
• how many lyrics from "Let it Go" we can still remember

Kristina's list:

• the hard life of an adjunct (not a hot topic to most people, but one to us!)
• any interesting tidbits about writers, readers, and academics in general (i.e. the writer in residence train program)
• what has replaced Facebook
• how passé those old Disney movies are in comparison to today (actually I don't feel like Disney movies ever are passé so maybe scratch that and just talk about how passé everything else is with the exception of Disney movies)

Signed,

Kristina Ambrosia-Conn and Darcy Morris

See you in ten years' time

Day 21 - Patriotism Day

It is the duty of every citizen to be patriotic. A country is one's soil, one's blood, one's tears, one's roots. Here is a list of countries along with their strong points, so you can choose which one to feel patriotic about today.

I choose to show my patriotism toward the great US of A but taking advantage of this beautiful day to get our flag out of it's winter hiding spot and wave it proudly.

Day 20 - Poetry Day

Today everyone is to send in a line to create the world's longest poem  They will be collated as they are e-mailed to www.thiswebsitewillyourlife.com, and the result published across thew whole world as soon as a suitable final line is deemed to have been found and we think of a good title. The opening line is:

Mercy, cried the popinjay to the pope...

Should be in iambic pentameter - ten syllabus ti-tum ti-tum

Day 19 - Pretend to be a Secret Agent

 No one can know. This Book was a pretext to get in touch with you. Your government needs you. Don't look up now, they are watching. Meet at 1300 today outside work. Wave at the gray car. It will pick you up and take you to the secret rendezvous. Good luck. P.S. Tear this page out and swallow it.

Day 18 - Kill Something Day

So-called Western civilization suppresses our legitimate aggressive impulses. Cast off the chains of narrow morality and stamp out the sad life of a member of some inferior species today: an ant, or perhaps a gnat of some kind. Indulge your dark urges before they overwhelm you. After all, as top Russian anarchist Mihail Bakunin declared: the passion for destruction is also a creative passion....


Had I seen an ant or spider or something in my house I possibly could have been persuaded to do this, but no way can I go outside and kill something in it's natural habitat and doing no 'wrong'...

Day 17 - Eat nothing but asparagus

Eat nothing but asparagus all day long to ascertain just how noxious your pee can get. Been there, done that? Try one of the lesser urine-affecting vegetables: fennel, eggplant, okra, turnip, ginger

We forgot to keep a book out with us on our trip back to Ohio. Thank goodness as this would have been a hard one to adhere to given such a long road trip.

I do plan to come back to this one sometime this week though especially given all of the extra pounds I put on while eating buttered french fries, cheeseburgers, and fried mac-n-cheese on vacation.

May 5, 2014 - picked today to revisit this challenge and ate like a horse yesterday since I knew we would be doing it today - here is a breakdown of how things are going: (NOT WELL)

Here is what I made around 11:00 a.m. - asparagus sauteed in garlic and butter

People, I don't think I can fight the feeling much longer. I am telling myself all kinds of crazy things - thinking about the hunger strikes in Norther Ireland and that if they can do that I can certainly do this - pretending I'm doing this for humanity - showing how I'm a woman of strong will.....HELP! Any words of encouragement out there?!

+Ashley Keene - the soup requires using a blender which I am way to lazy to dig out and dirty - after all I have no energy thanks to starving myself all day and the recipe also uses techy chef terms like blanch

Update: WE DID IT! A quick trip to Spuddy's helped to take our mind off of the agony (while at the same time fulfilling once of last summer's bucket items that never got accomplished! Yay for progress!) I did wake up at 1:12 this morning and my stomach was killing me so at that point I did go downstairs and inhale a sandwich and white cheddar popcorn while still half asleep.


 

Day 15 - Be gay for a day!

 As James Dean said, why go though life with one hand tied behind your back? Here are some hints on how to experience your other side in just one day:

Book goes on to give suggestions for 6 hours of the day, but I will just list one here so you get the idea as it is late and I am too tired to type them all out -

1 p.m. - Because of social conventions, it is much easier to fine a gay mate if you officially on the lookout. Use your lunch hour to compose a carefully worded all staff e-mail in which you come out of the closet. (You will always be able to claim it was a misunderstanding tommorrow).

Gays: be straight for a day! Adopt the above guidelines, only making it clear you are heading into the closet.



So we did give this a go in the bible belt of Georgia and the South Carolina's.  I have to say, I was so pleased to find, that most people we encountered were not at all put off by our antics and some, like our taxi driver, even offered up places to go that catered to our sexual orientations!

Here we were just doing a silly kissing shot!

Day 16 - Discreetly give the finger to people all day today

We (meaning Ashley) made an executive decision today to switch today's challenge with tomorrow's.

Day 14 - A Day of Compliments

Instructions: Flatter someone today and see if it does indeed get you anywhere.

This was a super easy one for me. I generally compliment people on a daily basis, but I'm always sincere in my flattery. Yesterday, I was really searching for someone who needed a compliment the most. I found a good prospect, but try as I might I couldn't find a compliment that seemed authentic and wouldn't come off as heckling. So I just offered to take a picture of him and his friends and then moved on to complimenting our waitress on a job well done! I wish I had worked harder to find something unusual to compliment like someones eyebrows, knuckles, or earlobes.

Best Birthday Ever!

My sister +Ashley Keene orchestrated a surprise birthday celebration with some of my best girlfriends +Gina Speelman, Kate, Shannon, and new friend Lisa. And yes, I know some of you are confused thinking I have already celebrated my birthday - but I like to really honor the whole month of my birth :) Narcissistic - probably. Fun - hell yeah.

The night began when my brother-in-law Scott drove Ash and I to an undisclosed location in the white out blizzard that we had Saturday night. Destination revealed: East 4th.

http://www.ballanwood.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Lola.jpg

Love love love this area. We were able to walk to all three of our special spots which became especially appreciated since I had on open toed high heels and was trudging through 3 inches of snow.

First Stop: Lola.

Hooray! I love fancy new restaurants to try! Here our some of the dishes we tried:

Bread and butter: crusty and perfect! I like that they kept it straight up simple - crusty white bread and no flavored butters. I hate when places mess with the bread and butter - I don't like my bread and butter to taste like a dessert!
Scallops: leek, sweet potato, bacon, mustard, lemon $29
Lamb Shank: fennel, turnip, fingerling potato, vadouvan $30
Agnolotti: chestnuts, winter squash, brussels sprouts, parmesan $26

Everything was good - I didn't really have a basis of comparison for the scallops - are scallops supposed to taste a little bland? The lamb was tender enough to fall right off the bone, but a bit salty. My favorite dish by far was Katie's Agnolotti - it was delic!

I also have nothing but good things to say about the staff. Friendly, attentive, and willing to put up with a table of obnoxiously loud girls :)


Second Stop: Hilarities at Pickwick & Frolic

1st comic was pretty funny and I was happy to hear Game of Thrones quoted!
2nd comic was hilarious! I love how he fed off of the audience so material seemed fresh, natural, and not scripted. (I have a phone call in to Hilarities to find out the name of the first two comics we watched)
Headliner: Andy Kindler - so not funny it was awkward and I actually felt sorry for him. I found myself asking 'huh?' throughout most of his set.


Third Stop: Society

I am seriously obsessed with this place. I want it to be my new watering hole, although I am too lazy to drive downtown to frequent it as much as I would like. The establishment has a speakeasy feel. Here's a little history on the word pulled from Wikipedia: "According to an 1889 newspaper, 'Unlicensed saloons in Pennsylvania are known as 'speak-easies'. They were 'so called because of the practice of speaking quietly about such a place in public, or when inside it, so as not to alert the police or neighbors.'The term is reported to have originated with saloon owner Kate Hester, who ran an unlicensed bar in the 1880s in the Pittsburgh area town of McKeesport, Pennsylvania.^"

After we entered the frosted doors (albeit a more conspicuous entrance than most bars of this type) a capped gentleman took our names and directed us to the basement.

We welcomed ourselves to a private room, took some pics, and then joined the crowd to order some hand crafted cocktails including Death in New York and Moscow Mules. I loved our equally cute and edgy waitress and the eclectic crowd.

The band Rick and Sharona had us dancing the night away to favorites such as "Downtown," "You're So Vain," "Sweet Caroline," and "Brown-Eyed Girl." 

Attaboy East 4th! Attaboy!

Day 13 - Send a Letter to a Mass Murderer

Okay I have watched waaaaaay to many Dateline episodes to even think about attempting this one!

Day 12 - What's Your Type?

Day 11 - Had to dog ear for later due to being on our road trip

Today introduce yourself to someone you know but never speak to.

Suggestions:

A neighbor - talk about the weather, the fence, other neighbors
A local hooker - talk about prices, possible discounts, other hookers
A shopkeeper - talk about the local area news, freshness of produce, other shopkeepers
A colleague - talk about the coffee machine, the boss, other colleagues