# 92!!!

Do 50 push ups in a row. So I have been doing push ups every time I work out. Started off being able to pull of 25 so I figured if I added 5 a week, I'd be able to make it. I was up to 40 this week and today, at after cardio and lifting a ton, I got to 40, my arms were burning, but I decided to go for it and hit 50!!! So excited and proud of myself. It's the little things in life I suppose :

Wow - I haven't updated in a while!

So summer's here and I have been busy!

7. swim with wildlife
I was originally thinking swimming with sharks or dolphins, but then my wonderful sister-in-law reminded me that, while on vacation at the lake, I was swimming with turtles and tons of fish. Swimming with dolphins/sharks would be at a sea world or something of the like, so that really doesn't count as wildlife. Maybe weak, but if you know me, you know how much of a baby I am about swimming in water I can't see the bottom of..... it took me 7 days of our 7 day vacation to jump off the dock without my (read: my 5 year old daughter's) little purple dragon Penelope. The turtles were cute - especially the itty bitty baby one!
8. go on a safari
This year we went to Disney and actually had the pleasure of staying at Animal Kingdon's Kandani village. If you don't know Disney, this resort has rooms all around with balconies facing a safari which is in the middle. In addition to staying on the safari, we also went on a safari ride at Animal Kingdom. There was the cutest 2 month old baby elephant with her mom along the way. Some of the animals were so close that we could have touched them! But.... we obviously didn't!
13. run a 5K race
My latest 5K took place on July 27th! I ran in Newburyport's Yankee Homecoming! I did a personal best! This was the first race that I ran by myself, so I was a little nervous about pacing myself and whatnot. Right after the start, I saw two of my teammates from soccer pass by me. I so wanted to tap them on the shoulder (since I was keeping up right behind them) and say hey, but I was afraid I wouldn't be able to keep up with them and #1 didn't want to look stupid and #2 didn't want to have them feel like they should wait for me, so I didn't. Trying to keep up with them all race gave me a great time and I felt awesome when I was done!
14. run a half marathon
June 27th! 13.1 Marathon series "Party in the Street" in Canton, MA. My awesome sister-in-law and fam came up from MD so the two of us could run it together. Mind you, I fractured my back on Mother's day so this was a little over a month after that happened. I had actually only just started running again 2 weeks before the race. It was a horrible horrible race for me. I've never wanted to give up more - the hills were BRUTAL and the paths kept running out then looping back the same way that you had just come. It was nuts. Barbara Ann refused to leave me (despite telling her numerous times to go and I would finish by myself) and just about had to pull my tail over the finish line. I'm so glad that I did it, but it makes me worried to run another. Those miles keep coming slower and slower! On to the next - get right back on the horse I suppose!
19. get a complete makeover & 20.try a completely different look
So I killed two birds with one stone! I went into Compliment's Salon and my dear dear friend (and hairdresser) Juliette took over! I went in with long blonde (-ish) hair and came out with short brown Alice-cullen hair!!! Love it!!! I look COMPLETELY different.
29. make a new friend
Silly because I do this all the time. BUT this year one of my BFFs went out on maternity leave and her sub was fabulous! She fit right in with our department and since we both had block 7 together, I got to know her a ton more. She's hysterical, easy to talk to and fun! Love her!
29. attend the midnight premier of a movie The night.... June 30th..... my two buddies and I ventured out into the midnight premier amongst tons of tweens, teens, our high school students and twimoms to see the Twilight Saga's Eclipse movie. I love the series so I was pumped HOWEVER the sound kept cutting out so it was sucking, but we could still see it so it wasn't all bad. AND I got a free pass to go see it again (however I waited too long, so I will be using it to see anohter movie at some point :)
31. put change in someone’s expired parking meter
I love doing this. Hopefully it saves some people from getting a ticket! So walking along the Weirs strip I put coins in somewhere between 6-9 expired parking meters. Unfortunatly, in Boston, they use the new sticker ones.
48. read a new series of books
So one of my work colleagues broke me of my Twilight habit. She got me into reading Karin Slaughter. I read 5 books in 6 days. They were GREAT (really messed up and crazy - like really really messed up, but still good)! Blindsight, Kisscut, A Faint Cold Fear, Indelible, Faithless and Beyond Reach. They were all part of the writer's Grant County series. 5 books in 6 days.... man.... I get obsessive when I find things that I like!
59. try a food I didn’t think I would like
I did it, I tried fish sushi. You think that sounds weird, but I have only ever had vegetable sushi. So I tried a spicy tuna roll, shrimp tempura and california roll. Not bad, but I have come to find that I am NOT a fan of squishy. uck! One place we went to for sushi even brought the sushi to us on a BOAT! A big wooden presentation boat!
68. invest in a new digital SLR and tripod
Woo hoo! I got my new canon digital SLR! I got the Canon Rebel T1i and I love it! Apparently it has video capabilities, but since I don't read manuals - I haven't figured it out yet. But it does take amazing pictures. I took it to Disney and on our vacation at the lake. Love it!
71. go kayaking with a friend
Up at the lake on vacation, I went Kayaking with my niece. She took me down the cove and then back up to the lilly pads and the turtles on the log :) So fun!
15. take a day for myself and not feel guilty about doing it
So I'm going to call today my "me" day!!! Loved every minute of it. I got up, went for a 7 mile, wonderful, mind-clearing, awesome run. Now that school's coming up, I had tons to think about - I got a LOT accomplished in my head. Then I went right to the gym and lifted for about 45 minutes. It ROCKED! Then I went to my school and worked on re-arranging my room. I am loving my schedule for this year, loving my room set up and really excited about it. It was SO hot in my room and I was just a pile of stench! I came home, ordered some yellow curry chicken from my fav Thai place and at it while IN the bathtub (a little TMI I suppose) and watching the news. I picked up the house a little and went to my in-laws house where the kids were having dinner out on the deck. The weather was perfect so it was awesome. Then I took the kids to Mac's Dairy farm - only the best ice cream place that just so happens to be up the street from me. It was a great day!!!!
81. go to an outdoor movie
While on vacation at the lake, the Melanson clan (our family, my brother-in-law's family and my in-laws) went to the Weir's Drive in. Love the drive in. Two movies back to back while either sitting in the car or sitting outside the car. I got to hang out with my niece in the convertable and watch Dinner with Schmucks and Grown Ups. They were great! It was so funny because it started raining a bit during the first movie, but other than that it was awesome weather!
89. go on a picnic
I did a couple of picnic's this summer! Generally we have been going to the park down the street where there are fields and playgrounds. There has been plenty for the kids to do so it's always a great time!
91. learn to drive the boat
On a nice slow day at the lake my husband decided that I needed to drive the boat. "What happens if I can't drive home one day", I told him that I would drive slow. "What happens if I'm having a seizure and am in mortal danger", I'll call your friend on the lake. LOL. So, despite my fears, he had me drive the boat for a HOUR straight. I got a little more comfortable doing it. I drew the line at docking it - I'm all set with that right now. lol
99. buy actual pajamas - no more sweats and T’s
Aside from Christmas jammies, I don't really buy actaul pajamas :) I went out and got two sets at the start of summer. Not that exciting .... nothing to congratulate me on, but it's the little things right?!

Two more down - and summer is here

2. Sleep in a hammock 5/?/10
10. ride on a rollercoaster with no hands 6/7/10

So I know it's silly that I don't know the date... it was probably the 22nd or 23rd.... the weekends have been packed. Between playing soccer, then getting injured, then birthdays, condo meetings... it's been nuts. One day in May (towards the end), the kids went down for a nap as did Pete. I had just gone for a long run so I was tired. I layed outside on the hammock and PASSED OUT! It was before the mosquitos came out, it was breezy, but I was so comfortable in my sweat pants and t-shirt. I put on my slacker radio on my phone and was out - it felt great! Hopefully I can get another nap like that soon. I woke up feeling GREAT!

And on to the rollercoaster. I LOVE rollercoasters. I'm the kind of person who loves them and will basically ride any of them, but always have a little mini freak out on the big ones where I scrunch my eyes tight shut, white-knuckle the bars and breathe like I'm in labor. I realized about 9 years ago that it is just stupid to do the whole "get me out of here, I can't do this, OOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" style freakout.... #1 no one is going to stop you when you're almost at the top #2 it just makes you look silly and #3 it actually makes for a less enjoyable experience....I chaperone the six-flags senior class trip every year and have a great time. We always bee-line it for the Superman to avoid the lines and ride it first. Go big or go home - I do it up. I always love it, but never make it without holding on - usually it's the first drag and drop that does it to me - it's REALLY REALLY high. This year it was a bit more scary - no lie. The Superman is now Bizaro.... it used to be that you were shoulder/chest strapped in - you weren't going anywhere.... these geniuses got it in there heads somehow to make it crazier and then take away those straps and just have a lap bar.... oh dear. I put my hands up when they sent us off and ALMOST lost it going over the first hill, but kept my hands up the whole way - there were more up-and-over loops than I remember, but it was awesome and felt great. What a dare-devil I am right? haha!


This is what the restraints USED to look like



This is what the restraints look like now


The first peak


View from the top
Stats
Height: 208 feet
Drop: 221 feet
Angle Of Descent: 70 degrees
Top Speed: 77 mph
Length: 5,400 feet
Trains: 2 - 32 passenger
Train Mfg: Intmain AG Ride
Time: 2 minutes, 35 seconds

Love it! (by the way - I didn't take any of those pictures - google rocks)

Customer service is a tough job, but some people do it so well

I get to check off number 50 from my list! (Praise a good customer service experience to the person's boss or corporate.) I think I will do that more often - it made me so happy. Last weekend my mom, Pete, Rob, BA and the kids went to On the Border in Woburn and had a fantastic waitress who made sure to make my 5 and 3 year old feel extra special. She would stop and talk to them every pass to the kitchen or back out, she brought them books, coloring materials and dough to play with. I called the corporate office today and raved and raved about her. The woman was very happy for my call and told me that she would be sure to contact her area manager and let them know about her superior service so that they can recognize her for it. On top of it all, it was a busy Friday night - she really didn't have to do what she did. Having worked in customer service, I know how hard it is, especially when the dining room is packed, but she made us feel like we were her main priority. It was great. I hope that call really gets made and that she really gets some sort of recognition for it. :) There should be more people like Kaitie!

Unintentional completion counts right?

I totally hit number 55 this past weekend. (be the designated driver for a group of people). One of my cousins got married on Saturday and it was an absolutely beautiful day! My brother and sister-in-law flew up for the wedding which made the weekend awesome as it was. Saturday night, one of my cousins had us all back to his apartment. It was great to hang out with my family! I don't think I have ever laughed as hard as I did that night. So fun. Pete was going to come, but decided to stay home and get the kids settled, so my brother looked at me and asked who was driving, so I volunteered. Needless to say we didn't get home until one thirty in the morning or so, and it got pretty crazy - it was awesome. I should volunteer more often!

Feeling girly!

I used to be a complete tomboy, and at times still regress, however in working on #95 (which is to wear a dress or skirt everyday for a week), I am loving dresses! I have gotten so many compliments on the dresses that I have been wearing and, in general, how springy I am, that I may just wear dresses every day from now on! I must say it was very helpful to start wearing my dresses on the first day back from an awesome April Vacation. I heard a lot of gloomyness about having to come back to work, but I put on a cheery face and dressed myself up and it made my day that much better. It's been an awesome week and the weather for this weekend (and I have a wedding) looks AMAZING!

Vacation has been awesome!

So April vacation has been amazing! I had a great anniversary and birthday weekend and then got to go on a road trip to somewhere new (4/20/10). Pete had a business trip to Nantucket and I got to tag along. Nantucket was amazing. So much to see and so much relaxing to do. Wednesday, I spent 3 hours photographing the island, running and spent the day at the beach (4/21/10). I can't say enough about how amazing, relaxing, rejuvenating and genuinely fun it was! I got some great shots and it's really getting me excited to do a photo excursion in Boston!!! I also tried 2 (of 5) new restaurants! Pete and I went to Cy's (a seafoody-pub-like restaurant in "downtown" Nantucket) and then tried out the Fareground Restaurant the next night where we got to watch the Sox and the Bruins both win in overtime/extra innings on multiple flat screen TVs scattered throughout the dining area. I dub this my honeymoon and a half.... it was that good. : )

Ready..... set..... go.....

So as some of you know, I have started a "bucket list" type deal with the intentions of making a list of tasks that I desire to complete before the end of time....... As I was making the list, I realized that most of the things are more of a do-in-the-near-future things. A friend of mine posted about the Day Zero Project and I thought sounded pretty cool so that's what I'm doing!

I am making a list of 101 tasks to complete in 1001 days!!! Today is my 31st birthday, so it's a perfect day to begin my challenge! January 13, 2013 is a long way away (31....13...13.... crazy numbers). I hope I can complete all of my tasks, but if not - it's going to be fun trying!!!

The idea behind this whole thing is to make a list of 101 things you want to do in the next 1001 days. It is a little different than a "Bucket" or "Life" to do list because it allows you to create specific goals to be obtained in a more reasonable timeline. Read more about the challenge at http://www.dayzeroproject.com/ and start your own!!!!

Some common goal setting tips:
1. Be decisive. Know exactly what you want, why you want it, and how you plan to achieve it.

2. Stay Focused. Any goal requires sustained focus from beginning to end. Constantly evaluate your progress.

3. Welcome Failure. Frequently, very little is learned from a venture that did not experience failure in some form. Failure presents the opportunity to learn and makes the success more worthy.

4. Write down your goals. It clarifies your thinking and reinforces your commitment.

5. Keep your goals in sight. Review them frequently, and ensure that they are always at the forefront of your thinking.