Donating Blood Tomorrow!

Things have been crazy back here in Virginia and I apologize for being neglectful. Ever since my mom got sick in the summer all of us have taken on more responsibility at home and I was in charge of Christmas shopping, cooking and wrapping. But now that Christmas has passed it is on to the next task!

I am lucky to have a supportive family that will be going with me to donate blood tomorrow! If anyone would like to join us we will be donating blood at INOVA Fairfax Hospital in the name of Alex Nieves, a family friend who just recently was diagnosed with leukemia.

If anyone can go, please mention that you would like to donate in Alex's name. Giving blood is one of the easiest things to do and means life or death for some people! Though I hate needles, this should be an easy one :)

Exam Week

I am horrible. It is exam week and I am really feeling the 7 classes =( I will hopefully get a ton of items crossed off over Christmas Break! Heading home to Virginia on Monday and then to Atlantic City with some girlfriends for my birthday!

In the meantime, here is the trailer for Black Swan which looks absolutely fabulous.

#6- Bake cookies for my neighbors

When I moved back down to Florida, almost all of my friends had either graduated or were already in leases so I moved in with two random guys. While I have been lucky that they aren't crazy, I wouldn't recommend doing so.

Next door to us, we have another group of three guys who go to Flagler as well. The boys are always floating between the two apartments. The other night I was feeling a bit on the Betty Crocker side and decided to bake these boys some cookies and knock something off the list :)



Also, Happy late Thanksgiving to everyone! I have so much to be thankful for and am so glad I was able to spend this wonderful holiday with my awesome family!

A Good Story

Alright, we have had some debate about whether this would count for #60-Be in a Newspaper.

For those of you who don't know, I am a die-hard Redskins fan, through and through. As many of you probably know, my beloved Redskin's took a horrible, and very national, beating on Monday Night Football from the team I hate most in the league, the Eagles.

Being at school in Florida, I unfortunately am not surrounded by Skins fans like I am back home, so there is a group of us that meet to watch the games, smack talk the other team’s fans and have a few beers.

Monday night's game started off horrible from the first play. Vick, the Eagles Quarterback, through a down-the-field pass for a touchdown. Great. First play.

The first quarter went on and we were down 21-0. Eagle’s fans are the worst fans in the league. They are rude, obnoxious and just awful. There happened to be a few in the bar that were exemplifying some of these qualities. My friend Austin had the great idea to send him a note (see below) and a beer.

Along with this note, we sent an empty glass. Harmless joke, but so hilarious.

I took a picture of the note and posted it on my Twitter. Thanks to my friend Kader, the DC Sports Bog, a sports blog run by the Washington Post, received word of our shenanigans and posted it the following day. The DC Sports Bog

While we had great debate on whether this counted as being in a newspaper, I have come to the conclusion that it does not. Technology is amazing and we rely for most of our news from the internet, but I want something in print. Something I know cannot be deleted once distributed. So I will continue to try for #60!

Another interesting thing is how crazy that I am here in Florida and something that was done here would be published in DC.. the next day. Technology is pretty damn good.

#43- Take a Photography Class

I signed up for my last semester at Flagler last week. Bitter sweet but just one semester is between me and graduation! There is only two more classes I have to take for my Business major so I get to take tons of fun electives to take up my time.

I signed up for some political science courses, Intro to US Law, Local and State Government and US Politics. But I remembered one item on my list, Take a Photography Class. I went to the registrar to see if I could sign up. They told me I wasn't allowed in the class because I wasn't an Art minor.

There had to be a loop hole. I talked to the teacher and he waived me! YES! Photography I here I come! Once I start the class next semester I will post my pictures!

SO excited!

#73- Phonebank for a candidate in Florida

The past year of my life has been consumed with politics, no complaints because I love it, so it is not a shock that I had to put something dealing with politics on my list!

I have never really participated in politics outside of Virginia, so I thought it would be cool to check out the Florida political scene! I went down to the St. John's Republican Committee (which is nothing like the FCRC, nothing on us) and signed up for their mailing list and to start phone banking.

It was weird to be on the volunteer side rather than the operative side, but it was kind of nice not stressing about numbers and who was there or not.

Due to schoool work, I had to bring home m phone list and call from my cell phone. Overall, I have got to say that people were much nicer on the phones here! Maybe because it's an older crowd but everyone seemed to be quite pleasant... even if it was on Election Day.

Another one off the list!

#1- Run a 5k and raise money for a good cause

When I started to make my list, the first thing that came to my mind was running a 5k and raising money for a good cause. It is something that I knew would challenge me, both physically and mentally where not only was I running a 5k, but I was also setting a monetary goal that I had to reach.
I chose to run the 5k Race for the Cure in Jacksonville this past Saturday. I set a goal of $1,000 and thanks to everyone who sponsored me, we exceeded the goal to $1,065.

The night before the race, I made a tee shirt to wear! Here’s a picture of it:

And the back:
On the back of the tee shirt is Victoria's name, who I was running in celebration of and all of the people who sponsored me. (Thanks again to everyone who helped with this!)

I woke up at 6:30AM and drove to Jacksonville. I got there and was shocked by the number of people. I always knew that Race for the Cure was popular but there were thousands of people there. I was a little lost but asked around to see where I got my race bib and registered.
After I registered, I walked around the check everything out. There were booths everywhere, different groups going around giving things away, sororities volunteering and pink. Pink everywhere. At about 8:30AM we all went up front for an aerobics exercise to get warmed up. I felt incredibly stupid and as I looked around people were laughing, having a great time, happy.
After our aerobics exercise, we headed over to the start line, sang the national anthem and almost exactly at 9AM, we were off.

I am not a very physical person, and finished at a modest 33:29, but this race was so much more than that. I looked around me to see mothers walking with their children, best friends holding hands, a daughter pushing her mother in a wheel chair. It was quite emotional for me, but the reason it was emotional was not because this was sad, but because I was surrounded by strong women, survivors, who fought against such a deadly disease.

These women had been through such a traumatic time, some still going through it, yet they were out here participating in a 5k for a cause that was so near and dear to their hearts. I was taken aback by how much this struck a nerve with me. It was extremely moving.

I had an amazing time at the Race for the Cure. It was very well put together and went smoothly. The only thing I regret doing was going alone. I plan on doing this race again and hopefully some of ya’ll will come with me! This experience has topped my list so far and will be one of the most memorable at the end of this journey.

Here are some more pictures from the day:



These ladies were all best friends AND survivors :) They called themselves the Pink Queens. Amazing meeting them.

Poll Results

Alright! Thanks to everyone who voted... my new #64 is Ride a Hot Air Balloon! Added it onto the official list and starting to look into completing it.

I will have to blog post for the Race for the Cure in a few days. School has been hectic!

Email from Grandma Rainbow

I would like to share with ya'll an email I received earlier from my Grandma Rainbow. She tried posting it in the comments but unfortunately it was down. I hope you all get as big of a kick out of her message as I did....

'Dearest Kerry,

With tongue in cheek, I had to let you know that those Thrift Shop shoes you found are for OLD LADIES to wear for comfort around the house. How do I know what OLD LADIES wear? Because "I" am an OLD LADY and I wouldn't be caught outside the house with those on. OK, so my ego still needs tweaking and those shoes just aren't vavoomy enough for me.

So, wear at your own risk and keep me in mind that I warned you that when old men begin thinking your shoes are CUTE! You shouldn't be surprised.

The chain necklace and purse are just fine with me!! (like you need my approval, heh?)

Love you loads,

Grandma Rainbow'


... I don't even know what to say except that I'm pretty sure my Grandma just told me off. Rough life.

Regardless... Love you Grandma!

Sign Up for the BIG Project's Email List!

You can now sign up for the BIG Project's email list!

If you put your email down, I will send out emails when one of the items gets crossed off the list.

You can sign up at the top right tool bar! Or you can just click here

#62- Buy a complete outfit at the Salvation Army and wear it out

I haven't completed this task yet, but I did make my first trip to the Good Will today. It is, in one word, chaotic. There was SO much there! From clothes to shoes to toys to furniture. After searching around for 1/2 hour, I knew this one was going to take more than one visit.

While I didn't find any actual clothes, I did find a cute little purse, a necklace and shoes. Now I know what you're thinking. Used shoes?? EW! but I was lucky enough to find shoes that actually still had the tag on them. Is this cheating? I hope not, but I'm taking it.

I will probably head back early next week to try an find an outfit. I'll keep ya'll updated!

#4- Do a Novena

My mother is probably one of the most religious people I know, also one of the most caring. I remember every morning on the way to school we would have a prayer. When it came to praying for the sick or those who had passed, my mom would start listing everyone, even if they had passed on years and years before. She had a list of at least 20-25 people that she would pray for everyday.

It wasn't uncommon to go into my mom's room to say goodnight and see her kneeling next to her bed, a prayer book in hand, praying a novena. My whole life I have never actually prayed one myself. So I put this one on the list for my mom, the most amazing woman in the world.

I just found out today that one of my dear friends, and one of the only other girl political operatives in Fairfax last year, is in the hospital. Kiley and I met a little over a year ago and she has become one of my best friends. She has such a love for life and strives to be the best person she can be, personally and professionally. She will be in the hospital for a few days and I think that this would be a perfect time to start my novena with her getting better as my novena intention.

Here is a picture of my beautiful little Kiley and I at the 2010 Advance (a little tired from the night before :))


I started to research how to pray novenas and one of the things the website suggested was asking other people to prayer the novena with you. Anyone who would like to pray this novena with me, here is the link... Novena to Saint Augustine I decided to pray to St. Augustine, where I am living right now. Everyday, for the next 9 days, I will be praying my Novena for Kiley's health! Tomorrow, Thursday, will be the first day.

For more information on novenas, here is a good website to check out! Novenas

I need your help!

I have been informed that interfering with the sea turtles in any way is illegal. Therefore I cannot help push them back into the ocean after laying their eggs :(

BUT I need your help trying to replace #64! Look in the right toolbar to see the poll of options ya'll can choose from! I want you guys to choose this one... so choose wisely :)

I'll leave the poll up until next Monday and will let ya'll know the results on Tuesday morning! You're the best!

#29- Write a thank you note to a company for a great product

I didn't know which company or product I was going to write to until the other day my friend mentioned how the shoes I was wearing was one of the best purchases I ever made because I literally wear them everyday.

After she made this comment, I realized how much I did love these shoes and the company should really know how much use/love I have gotta from these simple sandals.

First I will show you all the shoes (plus you can see the crazy print of our couch behind):


As you can see, these have had their day, yet I continue to wear them... all the time. So I wrote this letter to Steve Madden:
October 17, 2010

To Whom It May Concern:

About two years ago, I purchased eight pairs of your Sannibel sandals (four for me and four for my mom). They were the older style, I think a little different than the ones you sell now, but I would like to tell you that this was by far the best purchase I have ever made. Ok, I might be a little dramatic by saying that, but it’s up there. Not only do I STILL wear these sandals, but I wear them on a daily basis.

Though falling apart, I love these sandals and I want to thank you for making such a solid and stylish product. I have attached a picture so you can see the love I have put into these things.

You rock, Steve Madden!

Thanks again for the footwear,
Kerry O’Brien
A Very Happy Customer

We shall see if I get a reponse :) Regardless, they have gotten credit for making a solid product. If ya'll want to purchase some of these awesome sandals, here is the link below... PLUS! They are on sale! WIN!

Sannibel Sandals

#21- Grow a Plant from a seed

Well on this lovely Saturday I decided to try out my 'green thumb', or at least start the process. I ran out to Target to get my supplies and planted a Amaryllis Minerva bulb.

After planting the bulb into the dirt, this is the start :)


This lovely flower will hopefully grow to look like this:


Should take about 8-12 weeks for the end product. I will keep you all updated!

A Sincere Apology

I’ve neglected you! My poor blog. Things have gotten a little crazy and I’m really starting to feel those 7 classes. But no more! I promise to be more diligent about my blogging and conquering of my BIG list! Plus, for you Cosmo readers, my horoscope in this month’s Cosmo said, “The solitary Sun inspires a solo trip near the 7th. Exploring on your own sets off a confidence rush. Use it to tackle a new goal, like starting a blog or doing a 5k run.”

Now if that isn’t bizarre, I don’t know what is. Not only should I be focusing on the blog, but I am also running the 5k at the end of the month (whoop whoop #1-Run a 5k for a good cause and raise money!) I think someone is trying to tell me I need to multitask better 

#22- Go to a Bingo Night

I always joke with people about how I am going to make a great old person. I love crosswords, cats and, of course, BINGO! I remember when I was younger and we would go on vacation to Bethany Beach every summer, one thing that we always did was go to a bingo night.

I haven't been in years and I have always wanted to do a real bingo night. You know what I'm talking about... Elk lodge, an older crowd, players surrounded by their good luck charms and multiple colored dotters. Needless to say, St. Augustine would have one of these around for sure (We are a little bit of a retirement town :)).

As I said in a previous post, my two girlfriends from home were in town and said they would go with me so we started to prepare for our Thursday smokeless bingo night. Now how do you prepare for said bingo night, you might ask... Well I will tell you. We went and bought bingo visors, of course!

We went to a shop on downtown St. George street and purchased some of the most ridiculous visors we could find. Mine had hot air balloons, Martha's had different colored alligators and Hol's had flamingos. (See pic below!)

We had our visors and were ready to go! We drove the the Elk Lodge and walked in. We were late. The guy told us that they had different packages, the lowest starting at $18 per person. We quickly accepted the lowest price and he began to hand us a million and one things. A whole stack of bingo sheets, surprise bingo sheets, our receipts and a schedule of the bingo games. We were juggling all of our papers and he told us that he would let us each pick out a "dotter" for our games.

We each grabbed our traditional colors (me- blue, Holly- pink, Martha- purple) and we walked in. Not only were we the youngest people there, we were also the only ones wearing visors... darn it. We thought we had that nailed so we looked like we knew what we were doing.

We walked in, remember-late, and walked around trying to find a seat. We got a few glares from people daring us to sit in front of them, but finally found a seat where we were able to put our stuff down.

I never knew that bingo could be so confusing. They had different colored sheets with different games that were played different ways. We were beyond confused. Thank God we had these two wonderful ladies next to us who walked us through the process!

Here was our bingo schedule which gives you some idea of how intense these people are about Bingo

Once we made it through a few games we had gotten the hang of it and were dotting our bingo cards away. It was fun to get close, but we never did win :( Each round the winner won $50 except for a select few rounds where you could win $250! Martha did have Bingo but didn't realize it until after someone had already called it... but oh well! We had a full 3 hours of Bingo and an experience we can look forward to again... hopefully next time winning!

I can't wait until it is exceptable for me to go to Bingo every Thursday night and not be judged by my friends ;)

#61- See OAR in concert

This past week has really been an awesome one because two of my best friends in the whole entire world, Holly and Martha, came down to St. Augustine for the week. #61 on my list is one of those pre-planned ones that I know is coming (kind of like the Daytona 500, a set date..) and it just happened to fall on the date where my girlfriends were in town.

Now this story starts a few days before with an email I received from the school saying that they would be giving away OAR tickets and to look out on their Facebook page for a clue on where you could find them.

The next morning I checked on my phone (thank God for smart phones and mobile internet :)) and they said that they would be announcing the hint in the next 15 minutes. I continued to check and right when they posted to clue, I threw my backpack into my next class and ran down.

Now I think I had an advantage because the clue was "Find us for free tickets...students use to hang out here with fried cheese and fries. Now you visit for a quick proofread and help with your math. Find us! First person wins tickets". The only people who would know where this is is people who have already graduated or MAYBE the seniors because Molly's Place was an old snack area underneath the breezeway that moved to the Student Center after it was built a few years ago. They then turned the old Molly's space into a tutor center. None of the under classmen would've known about it previously being Molly's.

So I ran down and as I am walking up a girl asked me if I was looking for someone and the girl walking behind me and I both responded, "OAR!". Now I happened to be a few steps in front of the other girl so I was proclaimed the winner of two OAR pit tickets for Saturday's show!

Here is a picture they took right after I won the tickets:

I was so excited to win the tickets because now I had the two extra to get Holly and Martha in (I already had purchased a ticket for myself with my two other friends, Julie and Mairs).

So then we get to the day of the show. Holly, Martha and I went to a cute little bar just over the Bridge of Lions called Ring of Fire. It's a small bikerish bar decorated with cowboyish garb, cornhole and peanuts on the floor... a self-proclaimed Honky Tonk. We had a few drinks, played a little corn hole (and Photo Hunt! We have the new high score there if anyone stops by) and then headed off to the concert.

We ended up trading my two friends the pit tickets for their seat tickets so Martha, Holly and I could sit together, so we went in and found out seats that were pretty far up. We continued to walk past our seats to try and find some closer. We did and started to sing along and dance to the wonderful OAR!

I turned to both of the girls and asked them if they wanted to try and sneak into the pit... being my best friends and always up for an adventure, they agreed and we walked down to the edge of the pit. To get into the pit you need a bracelet, so I contacted my girlfriend that I had given the pit tickets to and she came to the edge and slipped off her bracelet and passed it off to me. I went in, after showing the bracelet, and then slipped it off and handed it to Martha. Martha repeated the process and passed it off to Holly, who got in, but not before the lady could tell us they knew what we were doing and we were going to get kicked out if they found us.

We knew we had to get lost in the crowd so we pushed our way up... to the front row! We had an amazing view AND it was an awesome concert. OAR is amazing live and I highly suggest going to their concert, even if you aren't a fan, it's a great atmosphere! Overall, awesome night :)

Here are some pictures from the night:

#10- Sing Karaoke Alone

Karaoke is something that everyone should do once in their lives. It's one of those things where you need to step up and just do it. I have the worst voice in the world... well maybe not the worst, but it's defiantly nothing special.

I will never forget when I was 12 years old and I was at the beach with my friend Bianca. Backstreet Boys were pretty big back then (and in my heart, they always will be. BSB fo' life!) and we put in the CD to jam out.

I'm not 100% sure, but I am almost positive that we were singing "I Want It That Way" when she looked over at me and told me my singing sucked. I was so taken a back because up until this moment of my life, I thought I was a mini Britney Spears. Apparently not.

After said event, I was extremely self conscience of my voice, although it never slowed me down from singing at the top of my lungs. What really had changed was I now knew I wasn't a rare talent.

Karaoke has always been something that scared me. I have tried it a few times, always in groups. One with my mom singing "I Will Survive" (typical Karaoke song), in groups of girlfriends singing such songs as "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" and the like, but I had never sang alone. This was my chance.

We have a great bar here in St. Augustine called Scarlett O'Hara's that has karaoke every Monday night. Once again, after a few drinks, my friend Allison convinced me that this was the night. The night to cross number 10 off my list. She convinced me even further with offering to buy me a shot.

Shot consumed, I walked up and signed up to sing my song. I knew exactly which one I was doing. I nervously sat down while the four people in front of me sang their songs one by one, some alright, some horrible and one girl that actually had a pretty good voice. I was freaking out.

"And now we have Kerry singing Coolio's "Gangster's Paradise"!" Everyone slowly clapped as I walked forward. I think they were confused of my song choice. Here is a video of the song for those who have not heard it...
Gangster's Paradise-Coolio

The music started and I began to rap, the crowd looked shocked at first and then started to get into it. I wasn't so nervous anymore and decided to throw a few gangster moves in there as I rapped. I threw up my elbows and really broke it now. I had a blast! When the song was over, the crowd went crazy... I don't know if it was because I actually did a good job or because this little white girl in a dress got up there and rapped. Either way, I took it.

** My dad was very disappointed that I did not get a video of this actual event, so I will be going back this upcoming Monday and will hopefully have a video to present to you later next week! I'm sure it will be just as good ;)

#3- Eat a whole UFO at the Taco Shop on St. George Street

For those of you who don't know what a UFO is, there is a Taco Shop on St. George Street here in St. Augustine, Florida (http://www.burritoworks.com/). On their menu they have the most amazing burrito you will ever eat. Ever. Now I do love myself a UFO every now and then but I eat one half of this beast and I am completely full.

#3 on my list was to eat one of these bad boys... the whole thing. After an eventful night of drinking on the town, now seemed like the perfect time to undertake this venture.

We got to the Taco Shop and I ordered my Chicken UFO with the works and spicy baja sauce. I got to talking to the guy who took my order (Canyon.. cool name right?) and I asked him if I could make it myself. Now please remember that I have had a few drinks and it is about 1 in the morning... Canyon told me no and that he could get fired.

A few minutes later he told me to get behind the counter and he would let me make my UFO.. Here's a picture of Canyon and I in our gloves getting ready to make THE UFO!

UPDATE for #1- Run a 5k and Raise Money for a Good Cause

We have reached our $1,000 goal!! Thank you to everyone who has donated and sponsored me to run this race in the end of October.

I am going to up the goal to $1,500 just to push myself to raise more... if you would like to still donate, please go to the link below!

Thank you all so much!

http://www.komennorthflorida.org/site/TR/Race/General?px=1184944&pg=personal&fr_id=1050

#15- Ask a stranger on a date

Now this is probably one of the best nights I have ever had in St. Augustine. I am not one to give out my number, let alone ask people on dates, but with a little push from some girlfriends I did it.

Saturday night was the 10th Anniversary of Acapulco's (a nice Mexican restaurant on the intercoastal) opening. To celebrate, they had a DJ, $2 house margaritas, $3 top shelf margaritas and $3 tequila shots! Needless to say we were ready to party! I went with two of my girlfriends, Allison and Jerilyn, and we started right off the bat with some yummy margaritas.

The DJ was playing some great songs and he was defiantly easy on the eyes... I was in a great mood, dancing away in our booth. He called me out letting everyone know that if anyone was deaf they could just watch me to know the words of the song. I am somewhat of an interpretive dancer :)

My girlfriends kept pushing me to ask him for his number or to give him mine. Never! I couldn't do it! I made a deal with them that if he played "Gangster's Paradise" by Coolio that I would because I knew then it was fate. (If anyone ever goes to karaoke with me, that is my jam!)

As the night went on we danced, danced, danced. Once we were ready to move on to the next bar I hit the restroom before leaving and while in there my girlfriends wrote my name, aka. Gangster's Paradise and my number. Walking out of the bathroom he asked on the loud mic why they called me Gangster's Paradise and I quickly exited the room.

A few minutes later he texted me.. Danny the DJ. I grew a pair and asked him on a date. He told me that he didn't live in St. Augustine, but two hours away... Rejected.

Now I don't know if it really was because he lived two hours away or because Gangster's Paradise was written next to my number, but I do know that it felt empowering to put myself out there even if it didn't work out. Maybe I will try it more often... Ladies, if you haven't done this one, DO IT!

#40- Be in a Wedding

Now I may be hitting you all a little late with this, but right before I moved back to Florida I received a little something in the mail (see below). One of my best friends from Flagler, Jessica Adcock, is getting married! She asked me to be one of her bridesmaids for her wedding which will be in November of 2011!

Be in a wedding looks like its going to happen!

UPDATE for #12- Buy a Powerball Ticket

I didn't win. :( No 20 mil for me!

#12- Buy a Powerbal Lottery Ticket

I started this one before I left Virginia. Jake and my mom drove down with me and in each state we each got a scratch off ticket. When I got to Florida I purchased the ultimate Powerball ticket.

While we weren't winners with the scratch offs (one won $20 and 2 or 3 won $1) I'm hoping that this Powerball ticket it the winner! The drawing is tomorrow (Wednesday Aug 25). I got the numbers from a good fortune cookie fortune I got a month or two back... cliche, yes... winner, I hope so! Keep your fingers crossed!

#5- Visit the Alligator Farm

I have lived in St. Augustine for 3 years and one of the things that every tourist who comes through here should do is go to the Alligator Farm (http://www.alligatorfarm.com/). I just moved back down to St. Augustine with the help of my brother, Jake, and my beautiful mother.

We went to the Alligator Farm before having to start running errands for the new apartment and it was BURNING! I forgot how hot Florida is! My favorite part of the farm was the Albino Alligators...

At first we didn't think they were real except one made the slightest movement. Very creepy looking! There was also a part of the farm where you could walk over a bridge and feed the alligators dog food. They would fight over each other to get the food except for one who just sat there with his mouth wide open waiting... if you got a piece of food in his mouth he would chomp down. I think he knew the gig and that the tourists would love it. Smart Alligator!

Check out more pictures from the day below!

UPDATE for #1- Run a 5k and Raise Money for a Good Cause

I just received an amazing email from Charles Proctor, a very active FCRC member and our treasurer, saying that he will match the first $500 raised!

For those of you who do not know, Charles' daughter has advanced breast cancer that has now spread to her spine and liver. I will be doing this 5k in honor of her continued courageous fight and hopeful defeat of breast cancer.

If you can, please donate to sponsor this run... Any amount will be amazing and keep in mind that it will now be doubled! Your $25 donation will be $50 and so on.

I appreciate all of the support and thank you so much!

To donate online, please go here http://www.komennorthflorida.org/site/TR?px=1184944&pg=personal&fr_id=1050&s_tafId=3590

#41- Go see a Broadway Show

I was in New York for a weekend and I knew this was the time to cross off #41 on my list- Go see a Broadway Show! I came to visit my friend Anthony and we headed down to Time Square to get our tickets. We waited in line at TCKTS, ticket booths in New York that sell Broadway tickets at discounts off the face value.

We waited in the line for about half an hour while we debated which show we were going to see. Once we got to the front of the line we had decided that we wanted to see "In the Heights", a colorful show with tons of dancing and great music.

Here is a picture of the theater:
















I think the best thing for me was how they combined the songs with raps that went fantastic with the score. This was an extremely fun show and I give it two thumbs up. Just call me Ebert.

ALSO Corbin Bleu from High School Musical starred as the lead role... hello :)

#23- Win Big in Vegas

As I said previously, I regretably had to change my #23 from Get a Tattoo to Win Big in Vegas due to the rents, BUT I think I exchanged it with something pretty awesome and I was able to accomplish it... in my own terms haha.

The reason we went to Vegas was to celebrate my good friend Jessica's 23rd Birthday! I flew in a day after them and was only able to stay for a few days due to work, but during those few days I had a blast! My dad had warned me that success in Vegas was all about self control, knowing when to stop and coming out on top. The only three things I tried were slots, roulette and keno. Roulette was the most fun for me, constant excitement and it moved fast. Didn't do so hot there.

Where I ended up coming out on top was in slots. For some reason (thank you God), I was having a good luck streak over the weekend with the slots. All together I ended up winning $340.00 on slots! (Look below for one of my cash out tickets :))

While I didn't end up coming home with all $340.00, I did end up coming home with about $150 in cash on me! Not too shabby. And for my first visit to Vegas while being legal, I would call it a success!



I also posted some other pictures for ya'll, one being of a "Tequila Flight" at Segundo Sol on the strip. For those of you who don't know, I love/hate tequila. Its a beautiful relationship that either goes very well or miserably. My Tequila Flight consisted of Patron Reposado, Don Julio Reposado, Cielo Reposado and a yummy Sangrita.

The other one is of Jess and I walking on the strip! And of course a tee shirt with a Hangover quote. Amazing.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Minor Edit!!

Alright now I promise this is going to be a one time thing... I have to change my number 23.

It originally was to get a tattoo but my parents threatened to not pay for my college. So Mom and Dad, I have changed it for you :) I happened to be going on a trip to Vegas with Jessica for her birthday so I decided to change my #23 to Win Big in Vegas (who doesn't want to do that?!)

From here on out I promise to not touch the list one more time! No more changes :)

Look for the blog post on Vegas in the next few days!

#68- Learn to Change a Flat Tire

Now I had the help of my two best friends with this one (Thanks Jenn and Jess!). Jessica happened to have a flat tire so we decided this was the perfect time to cross off #68! Jenn also live tweeted the activities! (check us out: BeforeIGraduate)

Pulled out the user manuel and went over what we had to do... After 1/2 hour of trying to figure out how to use the jack we finally got the car lifted. An hour later we had the spare on and ready to go. Hands were filthy and it definitely was not a clean job. Though I am glad I now know how to do it, I think I will call AAA in the future :)

Pics below:

#49- Go to a Movie Alone

First thing on the list. Now I would like to say that I planned this one ahead but in all reality my plans were cancelled on Friday night (Adam Zubowsky... yes. called out.), so I decided to try out something on the list. #49- Go see a movie alone.

Now this was probably one of the first things on my list when I started to think of things. I read somewhere that one of the biggest confidence builders is being able to go to dinner or a movie by yourself. You have to rely on yourself for entertainment, thought, etc. I also knew this would be something that would be somewhat difficult for me. I tend to rely on my phone whenever I happen to end up alone... just to keep myself distracted.

SO to this one I added that I could not use my phone (text, twitter, call, ANYTHING) the whole time I was in the movie theater. I walked up to the ticket man, asked for one ticket to Despicable Me (3D) and waited for him to say, "Just one?" with a puzzled look. Didn't happen. I asked for one ticket, he took my cash and gave me my ticket and that was it. Hm. I guess it isn't as rare as I thought.

After getting my popcorn and drink combo (Twilight cup with Bella on it... YES!) I headed into the theater. Now I can honestly say that one of the best parts of the experience was not worrying about choosing a seat, who sat where, etc. I went to where I wanted to sit and I... sat.

I put my 3D glasses on and enjoyed. It was a great movie (I recommend you all see it) and to tell you the truth I cried a little but no one was there to make fun of me :)

This was a good one to start off with. An icebreaker. and if you haven't seen a movie by yourself, go do it!

The BIG (Before I Graduate) Project

One more year of college and one year to complete the list below... I didn't realize how much I was missing during the first three years of college until I took a year off for my internship at the Fairfax County Republican Committee.

I have learned a lot this past year but probably the one thing that will stick for a long time is to not take advantage of time.

I am going to try my best to complete this list by August 1, 2011 and document it all as I go along :) Hopefully this should be fun...

Here's what it is so far:

1. Run a 5k and raise money for a cause (October 23rd in Jacksonville, FL, to sponsor me go http://www.komennorthflorida.org/goto/BeforeIGraduate )

2. Volunteer at the Humane Society

3. Eat a whole UFO at the Taco Shop on St. George Street

4. Do a Novena

5. Visit the alligator farm

6. Bake cookies for my neighbors

7. Take a ballroom dancing class

8. Go to South of the Border and take a picture in a sombrero

9. Help 10 people register to vote

10. Sing karaoke... alone

11. Become a vegetarian for a week

12. Buy a Powerball Lottery ticket

13. Donate my hair to Locks of Love

14. Send a message in a bottle

15. Ask a stranger on a date

16. Write apologies to 3 people and mail them

17. Throw a wine and cheese party

18. Take a surfing lesson

19. Write Birthday cards to Facebook friends on one random day and mail them

20. Paint a picture

21. Grow a plant from a seed

22. Go to a Bingo night

23. Win big in Vegas

24. Donate blood

25. Give to a charity

26. Try to find my birthmother

27. Go to a drive in movie

28. Purchase a Star Registry

29. Write a thank you note to a company for a great product

30. Skydive

31. Horseback ride on the beach

32. Go deep sea fishing

33. Take a yoga class

34. Bake a cake for someone random

35. Give $20 to a stranger

36. Go to Harry Potter World at Universal Studios

37. Have a 24 hour movie marathon

38. Learn to play a guitar song all the way through

39. Send a package over to the troops overseas

40. Be in a wedding

41. Go to a broadway show

42. Go sailing

43. Take a photography class

44. Go to a psychic

45. Write a letter to the editor about something I'm passionate about

46. Raft down a river

47. Volunteer at a soup kitchen

48. Buy someones food behind me in a drive thru

49. Go to a movie alone

50. Invest in the stock market

51. Help out at Big Brother/Big Sister

52. Donate clothes to the Salvation Army

53. Go on a ghost tour

54. Do a pub crawl

55. Air boat ride on the Everglades

56. Hike a Mountain

57. Do a ride along with a police officer

58. Knit a scarf

59. Take a armed weapons course

60. Be in a newspaper

61. See OAR in concert

62. Buy a complete outfit at the Salvation Army and wear it out that night

63. Go see Congress in session

64. Ride in a hot air balloon

65. Be a member of the audience at a TV show

66. Write my own will

67. Turn my cell phone off for a week

68. Learn to change a flat tire

69. Go to a Nationals game

70. Go to the Daytona 500 (Feb 20th, 2011)

71. Take a cooking class

72. Learn to drive stick shift

73. Phone bank for a candidate in Florida

74. Paint my own pottery

75. Have a picnic by the Old Fort in Saint Augustine