This is a report on 32 by 32!
I did them all and they served their purpose. We had a lot of fun, I did some crazy things, and it helped me heal and have fun.
Post will probably be a little long and I probably won't give too many details (so ask if something interests you). But here were go:
1. Celebrated 1 year with Jiyeon with pizza party!
Jiyeon is a brilliant scientist who works at Harvard with a ward friend of mine. I've been her English teacher/tutor/buddy for over a year now. I "teach" her every weekday morning at 7:00 a.m. She's fun and funny, about my age and we just get along really well. Oh, we meet on Skype (though she's only about 2 miles away), so sometimes involves rolling out of bed. We have fun. Currently we're reading the Little House books. SO FUN!Anyway, when our year anniversary rolled along (almost every day for a year is a lot of time together) we decided to celebrate.
2. Went to another state: Connecticut.
Thanks to Rachel, we had a rental car (that'll show up as a theme) we used it to go visit dear friend Renee (from Spanish house a lot of years ago) in CT. Got to see her mom (visiting from Argentina), husband (Nate, who was a friend back then too), and her 4 cute kids. I've been a few times, but it was the first time Rachel had seen her in quite a few years.Also, the drive down, on autumn-decorated back country roads was gorgeous.
3.Went WalMart shopping. Another rental car enabled trip (Boston and suburbs eschews them, but we made it far enough out). Lots of good things were bought.
4. Partied with Irena & Amber. Dear friends from my ward. We had a grand time. I ate so much I made myself sick. :(
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| Me, Amber, Irena (the 3 front and center) |
5. Saw an apostle in person. Of course I knew I would before I put that on this list. Elder Andersen was here for a Harvard reunion and got roped into speaking at our annual Temple Workers Fireside. It was nice to hear him, though I enjoyed General Conference more. I liked hearing from his wife--I'm sure that part of the reason I've always been sure I liked her is because she's from Florida. Many good women come from Florida. :) And my favorite part was seeing all my dear temple presidency and matron/assistants. I love them so much and they love me. This was their farewell address and it still makes me sad.
6. Wrote an essay for the ward newsletter. Planned on linking to that (newsletter is digital), but I was too slow and it got updated and booted off (I was a little sad--the last two features have been up for about 4 months each, mine for 2 weeks). But it was based largely on this post from a few years ago.
7. Made apple turnovers. And they were as delicious as I remembered them being from the past.
8. Decorated the living room--at least part way. We got one wall done (thank you Rachel!) and then covered the other with party decorations that have stayed there ever since (they were made with the idea that they could stay at least for awhile). (foto - see #4)
9. Ate Brazilian food. Took Rachel to the pasteleria down the street. Still delicious. And fun to share, of course.
10. Started family history poster! It's awesome. I didn't take a picture, but it's covered one of my walls. Now to do something with it.....
11. Held a baby/played with a toddler. They're kind of both. 11 months (then, now a year) and one is starting to toddle. Dorothee's daughters have brought a lot of joy to my life this past year. We had lots of fun with them (and their dear mama).
12. Worked on Christmas calendar (did make it, but made progress--and opted to do the individual parts later when we couldn't be together)..
13. Did "at least one thing Rachel wanted to do". I was mocked more than once for this item. But, Rachel told me before she came that she didn't have any requests this time (she's been 3 times now); she just wanted to do whatever she could for me. But I wanted to do at least one thing that she wanted. During some conversation she'd expressed interested in going to an elementary school here. So we went to Renee's kids' school. It wasn't quite the same as the city schools, which I'd wanted to show her, but it was still fun.
14. Harvested the giant carrot. And all the rest of the carrots. And it was so much more fun to do it with someone else.
And then the giant carrot became my birthday cake (tradition--Rachel always makes me a carrot cake if she's anywhere near, anytime near to my birthday).
15. Watched "Chariots of Fire"! And it was muy excelente, as usual. (I'd seen, Rachel no) We'd planned the before Eric Liddle was discussed in conference--but a fun connection. And it's had new meaning because of Hyrum's firm stance to not play on Sundays (maybe more about that?).
16. Made rats. Out of my very own jalapenos (I've had hundreds from my garden--literally). And they were muy delicioso, as usual. For the joint party and enjoyed by many.
17. Found out about piano lessons. I can't do piano lessons without access to a piano for practice. What was I thinking? Put it back on the list of Someday.
18. Mailed the BofM to a woman I met a few weeks before. So glad I was able to.
19. Worked on Mother's BDay video with Aline & Rachel. We didn't make very good progress. But it did keep Rachel entertained for many hours, coming up with lyrics for the song.
20. Figured out my life with Rachel. Well, at least for the moment. Whatever it's final state, it was a wonderful couple of hours in the car in the sunshine while I cried and talked and felt understood.
21. Used leaf cookie cutters from ARE. She sent them with Rachel for my birthday two years ago. But I've never used them. They're very autumn-ish and I don't make cookies often, so just no good time. Anyway, we talked about different options and in the end used them for jigglers for the party. Perfect!
22. Get 100 hugs. I had a chart on the wall. Some days were better than others, but I was still 37 short when October 19 rolled around. So the friends I partied with that night filled in the difference. Yes, I'm crazy. But I do love hugs. And I love family and friends who humor my wishes (more on that). I also got 32 emailed hugs from Rachel (she left on the 18th) and 12 blown hugs from Lietta and Laura and 100 synchronized hugs (from bears) on Skype from Brent & Nancy.
23. Got my feet tickled (thanks Rachel). If you don't already know this, I love having my feet tickled. Not many people love doing it, so I'm usually begging family and a few close friends to do it. [Random tidbit that needs to be documented and what better place? When we were roommates, I'd try to get Sherilyn to tickle my feet, but she didn't like touching them. I had a candy dish in the living room so one day she took out a dumdum sucker and used the stick to tickle. Then she stuck it in the side of the couch (so no one would eat it) and would pull it out every so often to tickle me. :)
Also Massaged someone else--Rachel.
24. Blew bubbles over a body of water. We'll come back to this.
25. Wrote a thank you to Mother and Father. :)
26. Read a stack of children's books--some at the library, some at home. Good times
27. Met someone new. Emily at the joint bday party (Amber's friend); Alex from the car rental place; and Ieva at an AILA meeting (that was probably the most legit one--we even met up again the next week).
28. Danced!! Danced with Nadine. Dorothee puts music on for them and they start showing their moves--so cute! Then I picked Nadine up and danced around with her. Lots of fun.
No foto, because the camera battery died. But see my partner above.
We also danced a little at my house during cake time on my birthday.
29. Wrote a letter to Baby Benson. Wanted to before he left the MTC. Procrastinated so Dear Elder had to make it hard copy, but at least it wasn't an email.
30. Hiked in the woods by the fells near-ish my town. AND Went on a long bike ride along the Charles River. Lovely.
No foto because my camera was dead and I haven't gotten Rachel's fotos. Too bad, because it was lovely.
31. Wore my tiara in public. Oh yes, I did. And it scored us a really delicious flan at the yummy Peruvian place we went to for birthday dinner.
32. Laughed for at least a minute straight. With Rachel and Aline combined it's hard for it not to happen.
Bubbles (24). This was my undone item. When Rachel and I went biking, we planned to do it at the Charles River. And we were at the perfect spot. But I forgot to get bubbles before leaving the house. And then no stores had them on the way to the river (apparently they're a summer item only. What?). Bought them at the dollar store on the way home, but no bodies of water. Despite suggestions of bath tubs and puddles, I wanted real water and it was undone.
Then, October 19, I thought I'd stop on the bridge I cross on the way to work and blow some. Unfortunately, the night before my bike got a flat tire and I had to bus to work. Of course it didn't stop anywhere near the bridge, so still no bubbles. :(
Little sad to be so close, but no.
So, after my birthday dinner, cake, dancing, etc. my dear Mollie and Anne loaded me and my bubbles up. We parked, then walked out onto a bridge over the Mystic River (in the middle of the night) and I blew bubbles to my heart's content. They also gave me my last couple of hugs and at about 11 pm on October 19 I finished my list.
3 comments:
How fun to see a pic of Renee. And I love your giant carrot and that Rachel got to use it for your carrot cake. Also glad your friends drove you to blow your bubbles so you could complete your list. We will talk someday :)
So fun to visit the other night. :) Thank you. And that's funny - I had forgotten about the sucker. Hehe. :)
That sounds like a great visit- and 32 things! Did you know Elder Anderson was the student body president at byu? It's true. How do I know this- my Mom was the secretary so she was pretty excited when he was called. And she knows his wife :) Too bad about the piano lessons...someday I'll do that at the same time as you, deal?
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