42. See a Concert/Show Of An Unknown Artist

I had actually forgotten about this when I first decided to attend the Rochester International Jazz Festival. All I was thinking was "Hey, some of the shows are free and within walking distance!" I picked a local group called the Po' Boys Brass Band. They were unknown to me and the general public, so there you go. In the Jazz Fest guide their style was listed as New Orleans Jazz so I figured I had a good shot at liking them. I went to their website just to make sure and was a little nervous when it kept pushing their style as funk. I don't consider myself a funk fan. That combined with a 90 degree day almost made me stay home. But, I forced myself to go and I was glad I did. I'm not sure what made me a fan. Any number of things come to mind: the fact that the band is fronted by three trombone players, the tuba, the cover of "Come Together", but I think what sold me was the fact that their last two numbers were "I'll Fly Away" and "Carry On My Wayward Son." Well, whatever it was, I attended the Jazz Fest which was a first fir me and got to see an unknown group perform. I'll be sure to keep an eye out for their next show.

76. Go to Highland Park when it's not the Lilac Festival

Like every good Rochestarian, I have done my duty and attended the Lilac Festival to ooh and aah over the lilacs. But as I've gotten older I've often wondered how many people are there for the lilacs and how many are there for the fried dough? Then I started to wonder how many of us take advantage of the park and go there other times of the year? So a couple weeks ago I did just that. I was having a really bad week with a lot on my mind. I couldn't focus and even praying wasn't helping. I was sinking fast. So on my dsy off the thought came to me that I needed to get out of the house and go somewhere I could feel close to God. It wasn't too hot out so I walked the 20 or so minutes up to the park. Once tjere I found a bench, turned off my iPod, sat down, closed my eyes, and just breathed. Tje breeze was blowing and the sun was shining and a feeling of peace, a feeling of everything is going to be just fine filled me. I then walked around for a little bit, sat on anotjer bench for a few minutes, and after maybe half an hour made my way back home. Maybe the lilacs were all brown and there was no fried dough, but I feel like I got a lot out of my visit and I'm hoping to go again. Maybe when my head isn't spinning so much.

84. Spend A Day In My Jammies Watching Movies

What better day to do this than the last day of my vacation? Yes, it was a beautiful spring day, but I don't often have a day off with nothing planned and I needed a break from my TV on DVD. I decided my first movie of the day would be the one I had just received from Netflix, Julie & Julia. I was, as always, in awe of Meryl Streep. (And as an aside, is there anyone she doesn't have chemistery with? I wanted to be her and Stanley Tucci.) I now want to go to Paris and definitely need to cook more. In picking my next movie I went with the theme of "Meryl Streep" and watched Mamma Mia! And much to the chagrin of my neighbors and cats, I did indeed sing along. How can you not when Abba songs are involved? Next up: Bridget Jones's Diary. One Colin Firth movie just isn't enough, in my opinion. I just adore him and even though I had to use my trusty VCR it definitely was worth it. After a quick break for the PBR (not often on network TV where I can see it) I moved on to another favorite Renee Zellwegger movie, Down With Love. A fantastic spoof/homage to 60's rom-coms, I highly recommend it if you haven't seen it. Over the end credits is a "music video" of Renee and her co-star Ewan McGregor doing a song and dance number, so this inspired my next movie choice. I went back to the VCR to enjoy Ewan's musical performance in Moulin Rouge. In keeping with the Baz Luhrmann school of directing my next video was William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet, a movie and especially soundtrack that never fails to bring me back to freshman year of college. For the last movie of my all day marathon I decided to go for a classic, one of my all-time favorite movies with one of the best movie scenes ever: Sixteen Candles. (The scene: when all the cars pull away to reveal Jake Ryan leaning against his car. Gets me every time.) All in all, a pretty good dau. I may have ended the day still in my jammies, unshowered, and a butt going numb, but I accomplished something I had wanted to do in a while- have a day just for me where I could ignore the world and do something I love to do: watch movies. Plus, it really got me in the mood to get back to work and "real life" the next day. And who knows, maybe next time I can talk so,eone in to movie marathoning with me.

Number 5 or 6

Finish a cross-stitch stocking About a year and a half ago when I was living with my baby sister and her two kids it occured to me they didn't have Christmas stockings. I was looking for a cross stitch project to do so I decided to make stockings for them. Now, there is a joke in my family about how long it takes me to complete a cross stitch since I made one for my dad and it took me aboit three years to do. The problem is that I go through periods of time where I don't touch it at all. Also, have you ever done counted cross stitch? Hours later you only have a little square to show for your effort. But anyway, being on vacation this week and doing nothing but watching TV on DVD gave me the perfect opportunity to finally finish the one I had been working on for Jax! I get such a sense of accomplishment when it starts to look like something, not just a bunch of stitches. It's not perfect and if I were Santa I wouldn't put anything too heavy in there, vut it looks good. And as a bonus, I've started the one for Brodie. I still have a couple days of vacation left to make a good dent in it and maybe even start thinking about the one I want to make for my niece Magfie.

Sing, Sing A Song

15. Perform at Karaoke I used to go to karaoke with a friend of mine, but only sang once in a great while. I've been uncomfortable singing in front of people by myself. I sing in my choir at church, but I don't solo. I love to sing, but tend to keep it to the car or the safety of my apartment. But I wanted to test myself and take the chance of singing in front of people. So this past Friday night I went out with my boyfriend and two of his friends to do karaoke. Their idea, not mine. And yes, I sang. I knew if I didn't Nick would just drag me up there anyway. I sang Miranda Lambert's "Gunpowder & Lead." While I was not the best there (I was shaky on pitch and lyrics) I wasn't the worst and I had a lot of fun. I'm already planning what I want to sing next time. And yes, I will be practicing to some degree so I can feel that I did a good job.

I Feel Pretty

94. Buy a matching bra/panty set I have to wear the same thing to work every day: khaki pants and a black or white collared shirt, green apron, black hat. Not much room for looking good. So it comes down to two things to express any creativity. My socks or what I wear under my clothes. If I'm lucky my bra and underwear are in the same color family, but not usually. Due to my frustration at being limited in clothing choices and not being able to find any cute white or black collared shirys, I decided it was time to get a new bra. We had some on sale at work and I found one I liked. Without intending to, I found a matching pair of panties! Usually I find a bra I like but no panties in a size or style I like or vice versa. But today was my lucky day and I now own simething pretty to make me feel good. And no, you can't see.

Let's try this again...

Okay, readers, I was pretty sure I had written and posted an update today but upon checking my facebook just now it appears that it wasn't the case. So here's take two. 27. GO TO THE CINEMA AND STAY FOR BOTH MOVIES IN THE DOUBLE FEATURE I am not new to the charms of this small neighborhood movie theatre a quick ten minute walk from my house. But recently I've started going on an almost weekly basis and several weeks ago I actually was able to cross this off my list. The great thing was that I got two movies, small popcorn, and small drink for $8.75. If you live in Rochester and aren't picky about seeing movies after they've been out for a while, I highly reccomend the Cinema. Plus, they have a resident cat (who slept in my lap dy ring the entirety of The Descendents when I was there last week). But I digress. The night I was there for the entire double feature the two movies I saw were My Week With Marilyn and Young Adult. Two movies that don't have much to do with each other, but that's part of the charm. I loved My Week With Marilyn. Michelle Williams was outstanding and it was an intriguing glimpse in to the life of an icon and what is behind the public face. Young Adult I did not care for. Probably because I didn't care for the character Charlize Theron played. The writing was geeat and I think Diablo Cody has an interesting voice and I thought Charlize Theron did a great acting job as usual. But I didn't like the character, not even in that bad person you love to hate (like almost any role Sebastian Roche plays). While I haven't been back for another double feature I do check their movie listings ecery week in anticipation of the next time.

Two For One!

I was originally going to write this about one item, but I realized I was a vit behind on my recent activities so I will be writing about two things. 65. GO TO ONE OTHER LOCAL SPORTS GAME When I started dating my boyfriend a couple months ago he mentioned that he was a huge lacrosse fan. When I expressed an interest in seeing what the sport was about he invited me to a game. I had enough,of a somewhat basic knowledge of hockey to follow the game but this was so much better! It's very fast paced and intense and violent and I loved it! He has since brought me back to every home game and I am proud to call myself a Knighthawks fan. There is still a lot I have to learn but every game I learn a little more and am hoping to get myself some more knowledge between seasons. 61. WATCH THE MINISERIES PRIDE & PREJUDICE Any time I've mentioned the book or movie Pride & Prejudice one response kept jumping out at me: "You have to see the miniseries. Colin Firth is the perfect Mr. Darcy." So I added it to my queue and finally about a week afo it showed up in my mailbox. Now, I absolutely adore Colin Firth and would watch him read the phonebook if that was possible. I was very excited when I opened my red envelope and read the title. You know when you're excited to watch a TV series streaming or on DVD and you just have to watch three or more episodes in a row? That was me. I loved it. They were able to include so much more drom the book which really fleshed out the story. And everyone was right. Colin Firth was the perfect Mr. Darcy.

St. Patrick's Day!!!

I can't remember the number, but I did have on my list to attend Rochester's annual St. Patrick's Day parade. This year I finally went! I requested the weekend off about a month in advance. I then told my sister and suggested we take her kids. If I could have requested the weather for my first time, it would've turned out an awful lot like today. The sun was shining and it was a high of about 72. This meant the walk downtown was pleasant and once we got our spots next to my sister Brooke and her kids it was almost too warm. Was this akin to Macy's and their Thanksgiving parade? No. But I enjoyed my experience and can now cross it off my list. While I watch a drunk girl next door spin a hula hoop on various extremities and begin knocking off another item on my list: watch the miniseries Pride & Prejudice starring Colin Firth.

Come And See How Good I Look

I know in my last blog I said I would update you "over a few days," but if you kniw me are you really surprised it's been a few weeks? Probably not. Anyway, tonight I've decided to write about the two "cosmetic" items I crossed off my list. I'll start with the eye doctor first. 31. Go to the eye doctor I had known for a couple of years that I needed to get my eyes checked out. I noticed that I was squinting while reading or watching TV, things far away were getting harder to see clearly, and even sitting in church my pastor's features were getting blurry. My oh-so-supportive mother kept telling me I was just getting old. Finally I bit the bullet, found a place that took my insurance, and made an appointment. At the end of the day it turned out that I needed glasses. Not just glasses, but bi-focals. (Not exactly the kind of news you're dying to get two weeks before your thirty-third birthday.) I'm still not 100% used to them. A lot of the time I'm very much aware there is something on my face that never used to be there. I've mostly adjusted to seeing them on me when I look in the mirror, but I don't see it as normal yet. But here they are and here they will stay. 95. Cut my hair after the wedding(s) I had gotten tired of my long hair. I usually had it in a messy bun or ponytail so did it really matter how long it was? On top of that, I had my hair highlighted over a year before I made this list and hadn't touched it since. Mostly out of laziness. It was time for a change so I decided that I would cut my hair after either my sister's wedding or my mom's wedding. When my sister decided she also wanted to get her hair done the day adter her weddinf, we decided it would be our last bride/maid-of-honor bonding thing. I brought my picture of Jennifer Nettles from Sugarland and the next thing I knew most of my hair was on the floor. I love it. It's so much easier to take care of, and while I can now put it in a ponytail, I don't want it to et that long again. Even the thought makes me shiver. So I'll be making an appointment soon for a trim. I hope...

I'm Back

Did you miss me? This is the first time I'm posting from my phone so I really hope I'm doing this right and not screwing everything up.

I decided to start with my most recent item and hopefully over the next few days I can catch everyone up on what I've been doing.

74. Buy a bottle of champagne and drink it

New Year's Eve was approaching and I found myself with no plans. While this is not unusual, this was the first time in a while I was not feeling sorry for myself. I was actually looking forward to spending New Year's with just me and my cat. So what better time to buy a bottle of champagne?

champagne: A white sparkling wine made in the province of Champagne, France; also, a similar wine made elsewhere

I realized official "champagne" would probably be out of my budget (the liquor store told me the good stuff was behind the counter) so on the recommendation of a co-worker who used to be a bartender, I went with the next best thing: a Lunetta Prosecco by Cavit.

Prosecco: a dry Italian sparkling wine

There was something celebratory about the fizzing in my glass, even if I was only at home in my jammies, a Hormel snack platter, and season 6 of Supernatural. Happy 2012!