Living The Good Life

Friday morning I got another one finished:

#94 Donate Blood

I feel much more efficient now that I'm a pint lighter

I have a confession: I’m scared of needles. I’m aware that this isn’t an uncommon fear, but my close friends know how much I dislike admitting weakness of any kind. So why, you might ask, would I put donating blood on The List?  Because I’m an adult for crying out loud! I need to suck it up!  Not to mention the fact that it’s for a good cause which is my whole reason for wanting to do it in the first place (I figured this would be a better way to get over my fear than picking up a heroin habit). I can’t even remember the last time I got a shot of any kind, probably my freshman year of high school which was over 10 years ago. I think the fact that it has been so long has just amplified my fear to a ridiculous level. I was trying to decide what to do next on the list when I saw #94 and figured it was free and easy so I might as well get it over with so I can forget about it. My cousin Sam was kind enough to go with me for moral support. I think my favorite part of the whole thing was the medical form they have you fill out. It contained thought provoking questions such as: Have you ever had sex with a man who has had sex with another man? ………I’m going with No. Please God let me be right. I finished the form with what I hope are the correct answers and then the moment of truth came. I could feel my heart about to jump out of my chest and debated backing out when they were prepping my arm. Sam, who had a several month stint in the hospital years ago, was observing my apprehension with amusement.  I looked away when I saw the nurse getting tools ready and waited for the pain to begin and……..it wasn’t that big of a deal. A pinch really, she did a very good job. Turns out I was being a big chicken for nothing. Blood doesn’t freak me out at all so it was kind of cool watching it get pumped out. Pretty decent experience compared to what I was expecting and I would actually probably go and do it again!

On a totally different note: I haven’t talked much about karate class which has been going on for several weeks. I was told that it was a mixed class of adults and kids…..they were wrong. I am definitely the only adult there. Whenever I’m told to get a partner I stand around awkardly while the kids run to each other to buddy up because none of them want to be partnered with 5’9″ girl in class. But I digress, the class itself is actually really fun and a very good workout. They start testing for belts this December so I’m going to focus and make sure I get in that group and start moving up. The continuers class starts right after beginners and it’s got a ton of adults. I want to get there as quickly as possible.

Join me in sucking up your fear of needles and donating blood for a good cause, I went to Heartland Blood Center

Timing in life is an unusual thing. There have been many moments in my past where I assumed that things were ill timed only to look back later and realize that it all turned out for the best. The start of this blog set into place a series of events that were well timed enough to grant me a trip to Greece with a friend:

#33 Visit the Greek Isles

I’ve always thought the Greek Isles looked like a beautiful place to go. The white houses with bright blue domed roofs (Come to find, those are only on churches), the stunning cliffs and the Mediterranean sea combine to create a beautiful landscape. I also love My Big Fat Greek Wedding, so naturally, Greece went on the list. Our first stop was in Athens which was not at all what I expected. It was very….what’s the word I’m looking for…..disgusting. Graffiti covered every surface, there was garbage piled up as tall as me on street corners, stray dogs and cats everywhere and used needles littering the sidewalks. The food we had was really good though and it was cool getting to walk around the Acropolis. We also saw the U2 concert at the Olympic Stadium which was pretty neat, but I may or may not have been a little tipsy at the time so I didn’t particularly care. After Athens we flew to Santorini, which was gorgeous! Exactly as it looks in the pictures but better really.

Me eating dinner with the ocean next to me and some good wine in my hand, the only way to go

The people in the area were also very friendly (with the exception of this one restaurant we went to where we received death stares while the waiters chain-smoked in the corner). I was a little disappointed by the beaches we went to. In the pictures we saw, they were nice and sandy, but when we got there they were almost entirely made up of rocks. But it was perfect weather the whole time, sunny with a nice breeze. We got to look out at the ocean every night at dinner and again from the balcony of our room. The food was amazing there as well, so many good flavors! Then on our last full day we took a sunset sail around the different parts of Santorini. Santorini used to be a volcano and it collapsed creating several different islands such as Nea Kameni, Palai Kameni, Therasia and Thira which is where the town is. It was really cool  to get to walk around one of the islands that was made up entirely of lava rock. Overall, my trip to Greece was amazing with a lot of good stories to tell when I got back. If you’re headed over there anytime soon, I would recommend sticking to the islands though and just making Athens a day trip to see the Parthenon. I also need to give a special thanks to my friend for taking me: Thanks for an awesome experience!

A few more pictures for you:

Gorgeous isn't it?

Notice the rocks

Me, chilling on some lava rock

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It's a Kodak moment let me go and get my camera, all I want to know is Sexy Can I?

I got another one knocked off yesterday!

#41 Take a pole dancing aerobics class

It’s lucky I’m not shy because it is definitely a little strange to talk about dancing on a pole and knowing a bunch of people are going to read about it. I heard about pole dancing aerobics classes years ago when they started trending with celebrities and I always thought that would be a super fun way to work out. I got an coupon for some pole classes in my email so I figured it was a sign that this was the next thing on my list to get checked off . I wrangled my friend Cassie into going with me so I wouldn’t have to go alone.

Working out is definitely not my favorite thing to do, but I love the way I feel afterwards which is why I’m always looking for different types of workouts to keep me motivated and give me new challenges. This definitely fell in that category and after trying it out I have a whole new respect for women who earn a living that way. It is HARD to swing your entire body weight around a pole and still look hot doing it. I’m pretty sure I didn’t accomplish the looking hot part. But it was SO much fun! The teacher was very enthusiastic and helpful. She taught us a few spins such as the flag spin and fireman spin (who knew they had names!) and some sexy dance moves. By the end of the class we had a little routine that we could do (Don’t worry, I was fully clothed the whole time). When I first left the class it had seemed like I hadn’t gotten a really good work out in but then about a half hour later my legs were shaking like crazy and my arms were killing me! I also found a ton of little bruises on my legs last night from repeatedly throwing myself at the pole. Despite my pain, it was definitely the most fun I’ve ever had working out. Perhaps I should give up my day job…..

If you want to check out the website of the Gym where I took my class Click Here

I knocked off another number today! Drumroll please:

#55 Learn how to Drive a Stick Shift

Me, tearing up the roads, in my mom's Saturn

After failing the ridiculous computer simulation on stick shifts that they make you do in Driver’s Ed, for the first few years of driving I was satisfied to let my car do all the work for me. I could just as easily continue to do that since this skill is not essential to survival, but all the sexy cars have manual transmissions!! #98 on The List is Drive a Corvette, but ideally I will also own that Corvette. The Corvette to me is the sexiest car of them all and it would almost seem like a cop out to buy one that is an automatic. If you’re going to have the sleek sexy sports car, then you might as well know how to handle it. My mom was nice enough to volunteer her Saturn Ion for the task. She took me out and explained how everything worked as we headed over to an abandoned parking lot. Then it was my turn to put her instructions to use. She told me that the hardest part is getting going when you’re in 1st gear. She also said that she had never seen anyone not stall the car on their first try. Expecting failure, I gave it a go and I got it my first time! I was very pleased with myself but naturally on my next try it stalled. It felt a lot like being 15 again, having my mom show me how to drive. I will say that I’m glad that my first time learning how to drive I got to use an automatic.

Anyone who doesn’t know how to drive stick and wants to learn should have some patience because it definitely takes time to adjust to using a clutch and switching gears. I did some laps around the parking lot and then we took her out on the open road! Well….we took her around some neighborhoods. The nice and also very annoying thing about that was there was a stop sign every block so I had to get going from first every few minutes, but it gave me lots of practice. I definitely stalled out plenty of times and got some laughs from neighboring vehicles, but it was cool. I liked the feeling of being in total control of the car. So, a special thanks to my mom! Now, I just need to buy that Corvette!

Success!!! I got the very first thing checked off on my list since I started this blog. # 15 will always hold a special place in my heart now. I don’t know about you but I’m psyched! A lot of unusual things have happened since I started this list. It almost feels like since I put all my goals in front of me, they are becoming easier to reach. All about mindset I suppose. In addition to completing #15, I have checked off 5 more of the U.S. states on a family vacation last week: Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Maine and Massachusetts.

This trip has a lot of significance for me because my brother and his wife are moving away. My brilliant sister-in-law has been accepted to the veternarian program at U of I. Champaign is only a 3 hour drive but still, when two of the people you love most move away, it is always an adjustment. A family East Coast vacation was planned for a few weeks before they left. I was hesitant to partake since it involved trying to cover 5 states in 5 days by car, which doesn’t sound like a vacation to me. I sucked it up and figured I should make some memories while I had the chance. The trip ended up being a lot of fun.

An attractive picture of me enjoying some "lobstah"

We saw a lot of things along the way, but the thing that seems to stick out in my mind whenever someone asks me how the trip was is lobster. I ate so many dishes with lobster (or “lobstah” as most locals seem to call it) that I could probably live a long and happy life without ever seeing a lobster again. That seems to be what that area is known for though. That and history, we got to see some of the oldest buildings in the country. It always seems that where there are old buildings, there are ghost stories.  Which is why I’ve always had a desire to do a ghost tour of an old town.

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I’m a Cubs fan (White Sox suck!). I love everything about going down to Wrigley and taking in a game. The old school feel of the stadium, the throngs of people in blue and red, the crappy food and Old Style Light. Feeding off the excitement of the crowd is an unexplainable rush that only people that bleed Cubbie blue understand, but I think most Cubs fans have come to a realization (whether they want to admit it or not). We might not get to see them go to the World Series in our lifetimes. I think that if fans accepted this a little bit than they might not get so upset by the team. My dad is a prime example of this, a lifelong Cubs fan, he always starts the season with fresh hope that “this is gonna be the year!” and usually come July he’s saying that he’s done with them and never wants to go to a game again. My philosophy is that if you just pretend the World Series doesn’t exist than you are going to have a much better time at Wrigley or watching games at home. It takes the pressure off and just lets you love the team the way you want. I hadn’t adopted this idea when I made my list and I was very set on the idea that my first major sporting event would be the World Series, cheering my Cubs on. It didn’t happen quite like that.

83. Go to a major sporting event

My dad, my brother and me at Game 5 of the Stanley Cup

In baseball’s off season I get kind of bored. No one I know would describe me as a sports fanatic, in fact I don’t watch baseball on t.v. on a regular basis even but I am addicted to going to games (for all of the previously mentioned reasons) and its something that I look forward to throughout the summer. So, when baseball season ended last year I was looking for a similar feeling. Enter: The Blackhawks. My brother and dad were going to a game and invited me along and I was skeptical since hockey doesn’t look that interesting on t.v. but I thought I would give it a whirl. I fell in love! It wasn’t the same as going to baseball at the friendly confines but it was a different kind of excitement and fun. I was hooked and we continued to go to games throughout the season as my brother instructed me on the ins and outs of the ice. The main thing that was different between the Blackhawks and the Cubs is that they had a lot of promise. Well they ended up in the Stanley Cup and most of us know how that ended: They Won! (obviously) and I was lucky enough to have my dad buy me a ticket for Game 5. So, my dad, my brother and I went and it was amazing! It is a very unique feeling to have the same emotions as everyone else in the stadium, whether you’re on the edge of your seat in suspense or cheering in joy, it was fantastic. I’m so thankful to my dad that I was a part of it.

I love to travel. Anyone who has even glanced at my list can see all of the places I want to see and even since I’ve made this list so many more places have become known to me that I now have a desire to visit. If someone asked me why I like to travel so much I would probably have to sit down and have an hour conversation with them about it. It’s hard to simplify my love of travel but I’ve picked what I think is probably my biggest reason: I love to learn.

 Learning.

I hated high school. End of story. That, to my mind, is the worst way to learn or retain anything. You’re crammed in a room with a bunch of people that you can’t stand trying to shove useless information into your brain so that you can regurgitate it for a test and then immediately forget it. When I think of learning, high school is the last thing that comes to my mind. The best way (and the most enjoyable way) that I have learned anything in life is through experience. I learned how to drive a car through experience, I learned how to decorate a cake through experience, I learned how to be a good friend and family member through experience. If everything you need to learn in life could be made into a learning experience I think everyone would be a genius….okay, well maybe not everyone, but you get my point. Travel is a perfect example of this. What can you learn through travel? Hmm, I think the better question is: What CAN’T you learn through travel? You’re seeing and experiencing completely new surroundings, people, foods. You can learn about history, geography, languages, customs, I’m getting excited just thinking about it! I remember reading the book The Count of Monte Cristo in high school and I thought that the Count was the coolest frigging guy on the planet because he had seen and done so many things! He could talk about any topic with confidence and intelligence! If he wasn’t a fictional character from the 1800′s I would SO date him! …..Or I would just want to be him, I don’t know which would be better. The point of this is that if I have the time and money, learning more (and consequently traveling more) will always be my first priority.Which brings me to:

#6 See the Grand Canyon

Me and Sam, living on the edge

My partner in crime and best friend, Sam and I made a trip out to Las Vegas in October of 2009. She had just turned 21 that past June and it was always something we had talked about wanting to do. So we saved up and went for a 4 day trip (when you’re in Vegas, 4 days is really all you need to lose all your money). We had toyed with the idea before leaving on our trip of driving to the Grand Canyon for the day, but this would mean renting a car (more money!). Also, the idea of driving in the middle of the desert for four hours each way wasn’t thrilling me. We eventually decided we should just suck it up and go since it’s not like we are normally this close. The drive out was,well there is no other way to describe it: it was boring. Desert scenery doesn’t do much for me. Probably the biggest thing I learned from going to the Grand Canyon is that I’m a big fan of water: oceans, rivers, lakes, waterfalls, I can’t get enough of the stuff. Everything in that area looks so dried out: the trees, the ground, the mountains. Like if you touch it, it will crumble into powder and blow away. We went to the southern rim of the Grand Canyon, which is run by the indian reservation. They take you up by the busload for around $40 a person and take you to a couple different picture points. Here’s what I’m going to say that many people probably will disagree with: The Grand Canyon isn’t that great! Don’t get me wrong, it is cool looking and overall I’m glad I went. It’s just that after hearing tons of people tell me how the sight of it takes your breath away and brings a tear to your eye, I didn’t get quite the reaction that I expected. I mean, let’s be real, it’s a big hole in the ground. Regardless, there was a lot of interesting facts to be learned and I still had a pretty good time.

So, I’ve been at this whole blog thing, what, 4 days now? Not very long, but the thing that has become most obvious to me very quickly is that I will need lots of help along the way.  I have always been independent and proud of it. I have a hard time accepting and an especially hard time asking for help. The truth of it is that I’m going to have to suck it up and deal with it because I’m pretty sure Rosetta Stone can’t teach me how to do a front flip or dive into a pool. The surprising thing is how many people have already offered up their services to me. I had a feeling that one of the benefits of going through The List would be all the new and different people I would meet whether it be in karate class or going skydiving. It hadn’t really occured to me that this would also be a good way to get to know people that are already in my life better than before. When I mentioned in my previous post that I was looking for a way to earn some extra money on the side, I was contacted by a woman I go to church with. She’s helping set me up selling herbal supplements, which is something I didn’t even realize she did. Considering mydabbling in natural remedies, I thought it was a cool that we share an interest and didn’t even know it. We were able to have coffee and connect and learn more about each other. This aspect of it is unexpectedly exciting for me. I think that one thing that I didn’t think to put on my list when I was 19 that I would put on now is (cheesy as it may sound) Make More Friends. My independent nature has a way of making me exclude myself from friendships and relationships. I want to experience all that life has to offer though and hobbies and traveling aren’t the only two ways to learn about life. People can teach you a lot too. Which brings me to the other thing that has surprised me since I started this blog. I’ve had several people tell me that I’m inspiring them. This is really awesome for me. I just did it for my own selfish reasons, but to have people telling me that they’re going to get back on track with their own dreams because of me is really rewarding. So, I want to say to all of you thank you for any help you are giving me or may give me in the future. If there is ever a way that I can help you acheive a dream of yours than I’m here to help.

Slow and Steady

 Now that I’ve made a conscious decision to do this, the panic has set in. Where am I going to get all the money required to do a lot of these things?? (If anyone has ideas for part time jobs that would work around my full time job, I’m interested in hearing them) I have started with a few small things though. First, I went to pick up an application for my FOID (Firearm Owners Identification) card and am mailing that off today as per #56   . I think the man at Dick’s Sporting Goods where I picked up the application found my choice of outfit (metallic flip flops and a brightly colored sundress) amusing considering what I was doing. Also, my choice of which language to learn (#23) has been made and it may seem obvious but I went with Spanish. My reasons: 1) I already know a little bit. 2) I work in a kitchen full of Spanish speakers that can help me out. 3) Sam (my cousin/roommate/bestie) bought all 3 levels of Rosetta Stone for Spanish awhile back, so I have my computerized teacher all lined up and waiting. I’ve decided that my way of proving that I’m fluent will be to read a book that I’ve never read before entirely in Spanish (and not a children’s book either). I had the day off yesterday and in addition to figuring out how in the hell to set up a blog, I spent some time learning new nouns that will come in handy next time I want to go to the movies, the theater or a sporting event and no one there happens to speaks English. I also watched a movie from #82,  When Harry Met Sally, which I had never seen. It was pretty good. I’m not a big fan of the serendipty/fate theme in movies but they made it work. Since there are so many movies to watch and I don’t want this blog to be a movie review board, I also started a sister blog with Sam, where we are going to watch them all together and give our opinions in case you’re interested in checking that out or giving your own opinion on them.

#32 Get So Drunk I Puke

Apparently at 19, I was really worried that this would never happen. Don’t worry 19 year old Rachelle, I’ve taken care of this one without a problem. I do remember before I turned 21, and while I had imbibed in the occasional alcoholic drink or two….or more, I had never been crazy drunk and I wasn’t even sure how you got yourself to that point. Luckily on my 21st birthday, it all became clear. It was a somewhat unusual day to begin with. I left bright and early on the morning of June 30th, a Saturday (perfect day for a 21st to fall on) to go wait in line at the DMV to get my license changed over so it would no longer say UNDER 21 in bold print. It went off without a hitch, I made it there before the lines had begun to form and my new drivers license picture was a vast improvement on my old one. I was driving back home when traffic slowed almost to a stop in front of me, I slowed accordingly and looked to see what the hold up was. A little fox was running across the road! Aw, isn’t it ador-POW!!! Another car rear ended me taking me completely by surprise (which is really the way to go in an accident, I’ve seen it coming before and that’s the worst). An awesome way to kick off my birthday, I dealt with the police and filing a report, all the while rubbing my neck which felt completely out of whack. My little Chevy Aveo looked like it had been squished to two thirds its original size, but it was still drivable, so I took it home, since I still needed to go to work later that day.  After getting home, my stepmom almost had an aneuyrsm seeing the damage to my car and insisted I go have my neck X-rayed. I was kind of annoyed that she was dragging me there and I would miss out half a day’s pay. I went along anyway only to find out that, surprise surprise, there was nothing wrong with me except some strained muscles. They gave me a bottle of muscle relaxers so that it wouldn’t get worse and I would sleep that night, and made me promise not to mix them with alcohol. Since I had no desire to sit at home the rest of the day and I knew that some of my friends had gotten me presents at work I borrowed my stepmom’s SUV and drove to work. That was probably the best work day of my life. My bosses let me sit in the office the whole time and had my assistant do all my work for me and bought me lunch and gave me flowers….there’s no way I’m reaching that high again. Anyway, after work I had no intentions of taking a muscle relaxer and going to bed, I wanted to get crunk! So, my older brother, a few of his friends and a few of my friends hit the bars. We played the typical game of Let’s Get the Birthday Girl to Drink 21 Drinks. I was a willing participant and I puked right around drink #11….the first time.  Apparently, I was REALLY shooting for 21, so I cleaned my face and kept drinking. I don’t remember everything from that evening, but I do remember at one point flipping my head back and forth saying repeatedly “Look, my neck is fine!” I also remember puking again around drink 17 or 18 in the bathroom while a friend of mine held my hair and when a girl in the bathroom stated how disgusting I was, my friend explained that it was allowed since it was my 21st. This prompted everyone that was waiting in line to sing a drunken rendition of Happy Birthday, I thought that was nice. The best part of the story is that the next day I had plans to drive down to Nashville (8hrs) with a friend and I hadn’t taken any of my muscle relaxers since I promised not to mix them with alcohol and I couldn’t take any the next day since I was driving and due to me drunken head flipping the night before, and my massive hangover, that was probably the most unpleasant drive of my life. Oddly enough, I have very fond memories of that birthday.

Me, top right, with all of my siblings and my Grandma, this past Christmas

Two things happened relatively close together this past winter that have been pressing on my mind since and have prompted me to start this blog.  Although they are unrelated for the most part, they are for some reason linked together in my mind. Kind of like whenever I hear a song from Yellow Submarine, I think of my first semester of Pastry School since I listened to that album endlessly that year. The first thing was my Grandma passing away and the second was stumbling across The List. Pertinent background info for both follows:

Grandma

My last grandparent to die, my mother’s mother was one of the people in life that I have always taken for granted. A constant source of comfort, she was always there for my family and me in every way possible. She didn’t live a wealthy life and anything she had she gave to my mom and all of us kids since we’ve struggled along the way as well.

I remember being very young and asking her when she would die. She told me that she would live long enough to see me get married and have kids of my own. It was something she repeated to me often as I grew up and foolishly a part of me always believed her. When we found out she had gotten lung cancer last year, I can’t say it was a complete shock since she smoked since she was 18, but I felt caught by surprise.  Those of you who are close to me are well aware that getting married and having kids are very low on my list of priorities, but it was my first thought when I found out that she was sick.  As she got worse, I often wondered if I was a disappointment to her. Was my choice to not get married and settle down the wrong one?  It took a little less than a year after the diagnosis for the cancer to finally take hold of her.  A few weeks before it happened, I was visiting her by myself and I had to ask. I told her that I was sorry that she wouldn’t get to see me walk down the aisle and I asked if I had let her down.  She said to me that it was impossible for me to disappoint her and the only way I would start would be if I didn’t live my life the way that made me happy.

The List

When I started the job I’m currently at 5 years ago, for the first two months I was thoroughly depressed.  It was my first full time job and while I was “living the dream” in my chosen profession, I had a hard time adjusting to the lack of a social life, low pay and the heinous head pastry chef that was my boss.  I felt so trapped and the idea of living the rest of my life in this kind of monotony was suffocating.  I knew I needed to do something to keep myself from feeling like I was drowning. So, I made a bucket list. 100 things to do before I die, or 100 things to do to live a full and satisfying life according to my 19 year old self; some of them exotic and dangerous, some of them everyday things I had yet to try, and some of them just plain ridiculous.  I remember being very satisfied with myself and I couldn’t wait to get started.  But as it often does, everyday life takes hold and you put aside your fantasies and dreams, so that you can fall face first into the drudgery.  The List got stuck inside an old journal and would stay there for about 5 years.

After cleaning out my grandma’s place and throwing away piles of unwanted items, donating piles more and carrying over 400 of her books to the used bookstore only to get 20 bucks for them (I would have rather just donated them for crying out loud) I went home thinking that minimalism wouldn’t be a bad way to live because I sure as hell didn’t want my loved ones sorting through mountains of my junk after I died.  I had stuffed about 2 garbage bags full of my own stuff to throw away when I came across an old journal. It was from my high school days, I flipped through a few pages and rolled my eyes at the ridiculous things I thought back then as I’m sure I’ll do when I look back at this someday.  I chucked it towards the garbage bag (missing by a mile of course) having no desire to let it see the light of day again.  Just like in a movie, a few pieces of spiral bound notepaper fell out. I picked them up and opened them to find The List. As I read through it, I remembered exactly how desperate I felt when I wrote it and was surprised to realize that the feelings hadn’t changed much at all over the past 5 years. I still feel like my life isn’t being lived and I’m waiting for something to begin, but what exactly?  I tucked The List in the drawer of my nightstand, where it would be pulled out every few weeks and read over, while I thought to myself that this is it.  The time to start living the way I want is now, I’m going to do exactly as my Grandma instructed and live the way that will make me happy: a life full of meaning and adventure. 

So, that’s where my journey begins. I’m going to blog about all of the things I do as I go through them on The List.  I can’t go in order because I don’t always have the time or the financial means to do some of them which also means I can’t set a time limit for myself. It’s just going to happen as it happens, but I think telling people about it will make it more real and give me all the more reason to keep at it. There are also a couple of things I have unknowingly done already, so I’ll tell the stories behind those as I go too. If anyone is willing to help I could definitely use it.

To view The List: Click Here