Thanks

This was recently told to me by someone trying to make me feel better: "You are reasonably pretty. If we put you in a nice dress and give you a $500 haircut, you'd be a 9." I don't think I'll be going to that person for help anymore.

On My Own

I love living by myself. No really, I love it. This is the first time in my life that I have ever lived in anywhere by myself and it is wonderful. Sometime I wonder if this glorious feeling I have every time I realize I'm on my own isn't due the fact that the pain is over. Like when you have a really bad toothache and finally it is fixed, the feeling of no pain is one of the most remarkable feelings ever to be felt. I don't want to be mean to anyone, but I've had roommates like that toothache. Now that the pain is healed, well, gone at least, it just feels marvelous.

To celebrate, I've compiled a list of things that make me happy. Just me. Things that make me happy when I am all alone.

1. Reading. I love reading. I love becoming a part of another story and I love reading out loud and sharing the stories I love with others. I love all kinds of books. And I love libraries and bookstores.

2. Music. I love learning about new artists and I love music with beautiful lyrics or unique sounds. I just started a notebook of lyrics that I find particularly nice. I love going to concerts and hearing live the songs that I love. I think one of the greatest experiences of my life was the Loreena McKennitt Concert. I never wanted it to end. I guess music lyrics can be listed under this category.

3. Baseball. I love watching baseball. and football actually. I like watching sports and I love watching sport teams from Ohio. Especially the Cleveland Indians. Go Tribe!

4. Traveling. I love to travel and visit new places. To see new things.

5. Art. I love going to art museums. Especially museums that are predominantly paintings. Beautiful things just fill my heart. Another favorite experience is when Alan and I went to New York and went to the MOMA. What a beautiful museum.

6. Crafts. Necklaces, origami, stamping, making cards. I love it! There is just something about being crafty.

7. Playing games (of course). But only with people who also like playing games. Since this is a list of things I like alone, I must admit I enjoy playing games alone too. Some video games, solitare, against imaginary opponents. I love it. (Though admittedly I enjoy games with people more).

8. Running and playing tennis. Although I forget this a lot. Something in me resists exercise at times, but I do love to run. I guess I can add to this list roller blading and biking. But I've never been one who likes to really pushing myself to hurt. I am more a slow and steady kind of athlete.

9. Swimming and going to the beach. I love the ocean and water. There is something wonderful about being submerged in water.

10. Hiking. Oh yes, the walker that I am, I love walking in nature.

11. Finding funny things. My most recent favorite is Kristin's Demitri Martin quotes and the PhD comics: www.phdcomics.com. I love laughing. (Again I love laughing with people more than alone, but alone is better than not laughing). The other night I was reading a few of those PhD comics and I was literally crying I was laughing so hard at some of them. I guess getting the PhD is not a complete waste if it gives me new things to laugh at.

12. Planning and making lists. I am a dork. I even like balancing my checkbook. Adding, listing, planning, I find these things strangely satisfying.

13. Cooking and Baking. I am in love with this new cookbook that Krystl told me about: Eating Well Serves Two. It has quick and simple recipes in small portions. Even without the cookbook, I get a lot of pleasure out of the time I spend in the kitchen.

That's the list for now. I am an independent woman and I love it.

100 Things I Want To Do

I started this in my head in college and on paper in January, 2006. I did write some pre-2006 things on the list since they were genuinely things I have always wanted to do. I added to this today and now it is done (the ones in orange with dates I have already done):

1. paint a picture 17 May 2008
2. go hang gliding
3. put one foot on either side of the equator
4. go sky diving 16 Apr 2005
5. go to Disney World with my own family (husband and/or kids)
6. milk a cow
7. see a professional football game
8. memorize all the US presidents
9. memorize the family proclamation 26 Mar 2006
10. pay for the next car at a toll booth
11. go to a sit down restaurant alone
12. win something at a sporting event
13. run a marathon 20 Sep 2003
14. skinny dip
15. ride a bicycle built for two
16. learn to juggle
17. see the great wall of China
18. see the Taj Mahal
19. sit in first class 22 Dec 2007
20. get my hair cornrowed 28 Dec 2005
21. get a doctorate 14 May 2008
22. ride in a helicopter
23. ride in a hot air balloon
24. eat a turkey leg 21 Feb 2007
25. go to Australia (do the bridge climb in Sydney)
26. kiss the blarney stone and see the River Shannon May 2005
27. witness a miracle 24 Jul 2004
28. learn to say “I Love You” in 10 languages
29. fill out at least half of my 15 generation family tree
30. be a cool aunt
31. volunteer in a hospital or library
32. do a pullup
33. get married
34. write a love letter
35. receive a love letter
36. own a house with a secret passage or a secret room
37. reach the peak of mount kilimanjaro
38. visit all 50 states
39. have a boyfriend on valentine’s day
40. talk to hermana freire again
41. get a massage 8 Jun 2006
42. see Michaelangelo’s Pieta
43. visit the Eifffel Tower
44. become a “runner”
45. go up the down escalator 29 May 2006
46. see a baseball game in Fenway Park
47. send flowers to a friend for no reason
48. cross the international date line
49. visit the galapagos islands
50. make out in the front seat of a pickup truck 25 Apr 2007
51. organize my photos
52. write my autobiography
53. jog across the Golden Gate Bridge 21 May 2004
54. weigh what my driver’s license says I weigh
55. type up my patriarchal blessing 5 Jan 2006
56. type or or digitize my mini-tapes
57. beat a date at the movie game
58. run a 5K in under 25 minutes
59. learn to play Bach’s 13th invention
60. go back to Ecuador
61. participate in a “Messiah” or “Sound of Music” sing along
62. participate in a race in a foreign country
63. go bowling with the gutter bumpers up 21 Jul 2007
64. see the blue bonnets in near College Station, Texas 12 Apr 2008
65. hike monchu piccu
66. go cross country skiing
67. find and transfer a geo bug
68. visit the tunnels in Houston downtown 31 Jul 2007
69. catch a fish
70. research a name to take to the temple
71. own a pair of heelys 10 May 2008
72. build a bear at Build-A-Bear
73. read all of the books on my book list
74. take a long road trip alone
75. eat at moe’s (in Portland)
76. see the northern lights
77. go to mexico city
78. go to graceland
79. go to the country music hall of fame and grand ole opry
80. write my wishes book
81. scrapbook my vacations
82. go to malmo, sweden
83. be a generous giver
84. visit (go inside) at least 100 temples
85. stay good friends with someone even if we don’t live in the same city
86. read the scriptures everyday for a year
87. memorize the articles of faith
88. own a car with a sunroof
89. drive down the coastal highway in California
90. be able to play the hymns in church
91. be able to play “when you say nothing at all” on the guitar
92. stay in a Disney World/Land hotel
93. get at least 50 stamps in my national parks passport
94. be a mom
95. go to the tate museum of modern art in london
96. finish a marathon with my mom
97. own a large print set of scriptures 14 May 2008
98. plant a garden
99. see someone baptized that I introduced to the church (not as a missionary)
100. get my scuba certification
One I stole from Krystl:
101. get good and kissed out of the blue
Other things that aren’t completely within my control:
102. have a wikipedia page
103. see the Cleveland Indians win the world series