Wednesday, December 31, 2014

"The List" 2013/2014: Accomplishments - Part 2

This is part 2 of a 2-part post. You can read part 1 here.

I did it! I met my goal! Altogether, I accomplished 26 items from my 2013/2014 List - 25 original items and one "bonus" item. That said, I have been horrible about sharing my accomplishments and adventures here on TwentyTenThirty, so to make up for it, I'm serving up a 2-part snapshot-style write-up to knock them all out. Let's do this!

Part 2

51. Spend the night in a castle: When B and I attended HRL's murder mystery dinner party in January 2013 (also known as #15 on the 2013/2014 list), the location was Spicer Castle Inn. Given the name of the Inn where we stayed, I'm totally counting it as an item completed. Yeah, it's a stretch...I'm ok with that.

60. Go to NYC for fun (NOT as a part of a business trip!): OK, so this trip was actually a work trip to start, but I extended it into the weekend, and B flew out to meet me so we could celebrate his 30th birthday in NYC. Yeah, baby! We had a blast, including a stay at a trendy boutique hotel near Columbus Circle, saw a show (Avenue Q), did some sight seeing (Circle Line, High Line, MoMa, etc), and had some great meals (including a great steak dinner at The Smith). Here's the birthday boy in Times Square while we were waiting in line at TKTS.

Wooo! B turns 30!

71. Get a hot stone massage: B and I did this during our recent 'minimoon' in Traverse City at the Grand Traverse Resort and Spa. Aaaah, luxury!
72. Make a snow angel: B and I did this one on Lake Calhoun, the day we encountered a lake dinosaur!!! Confused? You can read about it here.

76. Travel by Nice Ride: According to Bicycling.com, Minneapolis is the #1 bike-friendly city in the US. We've enjoyed several "Nice Rides" around the chain of lakes - a great spring/summer activity. AND, I have to point out, bike sharing came to be in MPLS in 2010, WELL BEFORE it was brought to Chicago, NYC, and SF. See? MPLS can totally lead the trends!

79. Lake Minnetonka boat cruise: In June, 2013, my Mom and Step-dad came to visit B and I here in MPLS. I wanted to take them to the Walker Sculpture Garden and other fun outdoor adventures, but the weather chose not to cooperate. Therefore, we had to stick to indoor activities, like a trip to the Mill City Museum. Thankfully, the weather cleared up toward the end of their stay, and we were able to cash in on my Wayzata Bay Charter Groupon for a champagne boat cruise on Lake Minnetonka. It turned out to be a lovely outing, and here's a photo of my Mom and me on the cruise.

I love my Mom!

81. Send photo Christmas cards: I don't know about you, but the majority of Christmas Cards we now receive are photo cards. This year we were busy getting married and whatnot, and since we're still finishing up our thank you notes (so close!), we opted not to send holiday cards. However, last year, we decided to get in on the photo card action -- but we opted to do New Year's cards instead of Christmas cards (I'm still counting it as meeting this goal). 2014 was an awesome year for me, maybe the best I've ever had. Here's a copy of the card we sent to ring in the new year and kick off the kick ass year. It was fun putting our card together (with the help of VistaPrint), and we'll definitely do it again down the road.

2014 was an incredible year!

87. Host a game night: Completed! We hosted a little game night (including Telestrations, one of my favorite party games) as a part of our Wisco ski adventure, so check-check-cha-check-check it out!

93. See Aziz Live!: Aziz is so fun to see live, I checked off this list item twice. B and I saw Aziz live for the first time in 2013 and again in 2014 here in Minneapolis. What a funny little dude. Did you know Aziz studied business in undergrad? What the Whaaat? So glad he found his true passion as an entertainer and comedian! My write up is here.

95. Pay off my car: I crossed this on off the list in early 2014. This is the first car I've owned outright, completely on my own. My dad bought my first car for me from a police auction when I was in high school. It was beat up Hoopty -- some kind Chevy I think? A Cavalier? that sounds right maybe, I don't know, it was old and kind of rusted. For a while, I was driving around with a loose clamp hanging under the car that my friends and I called "Chucky" because of the awful and terrifying noise it made dragging on the pavement. Anwyay, Hoopty died my during freshman year in college. My next car, also gifted to me by family, was a blue Suzuki Esteem (aka "Suzy Suzuki", or it's lesser known name "The Blueberry", or its even lesser known moniker, courtesy of my friend RH, the "Suzuki Self-Esteem"). Suzy Suzuki survived for ~6 years or so, and died on Thanksgiving day, during my drive home to Thanksgiving dinner in the mid 2000s. I was stranded on the side of the road for about an hour waiting for my dad to pick me up and waiting for the tow truck. Shortly after Suzy's untimely end, I leased my third car -- and I now realize that leasing a car is basically like lighting money on fire -- but it helped me to get into a set of wheels quickly. Car three was a Chevy Cobalt, a great and reliable little car. It had a sun roof, and it was awesome. When my lease ended while I was living in Chicago, I finally decided to purchase a car, with my own money, like an adult. My step-dad is a GM retiree, and I was able to cash in on a nice family discount and selected another reliable Chevy, this time a Malibu. I purchased my Malibu while living in Chicago...and now 5+ years after my purchase, that Malibu has less than 30K miles on it. No joke. In Chicago, I public trans-ed it to work, and in Austin, I worked from a home office, so for about 3 years, I basically only drove on the weekends. I'm so happy to own my Malibu outright, and given its low mileage and my diligent vehicle upkeep and maintenance routine (regular oil changes and such), I'm going to be driving this car for many years to come.

98. No Diet Coke for a month: I knocked this one out of the park, kicking the habit for muuuch longer than a month. That said I've recently back slid, and am currently 'off the wagon', but I don't drink it all that often. I know I'd be better off if I once again did away with diet coke entirely, and I'll likely tackle this goal again in early 2015. I wrote about this one here.

102. BONUS - Visit the Southern Hemisphere: I was kind of dreading my recent work trip to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It was right after my wedding, I didn't have a lot of time to mentally prepare for foreign travel to a country, I was woefully unfamiliar with the language, and I was facing an intimidating client environment (Yeah, let's see how chill YOU are leading up to a presentation to an audience that includes 25 global CEOs, followed up by a presentation to an upwards of 100 industry professionals and see how calm you feel about it!!), Of course, the trip turned out to be awesome, incredible, stellar, badass, etc...and I wrote about it here.

99. Get Hitched!: I'm listing this one "out of order", but I wanted to save the best for last. B and I got married in Ann Arbor on a beautiful fall day this past October, and thew a helluva party to celebrate. This life event deserves so much more than a few quippy sentences, and one of my 2015 goals is to organize our memories from this special day. But, for now, I'll let this photo do the talking. One of the best days of my life!


Cheers!
Photo credit: Jesse D. Green Photography

And, that's a wrap on 2013/2014 list tackling. Tune in on New Year's Day 2015 for the new list!

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