One of the books that I think is really neat is 1,000 Places to See Before You Die.  I have the U.S. and Canada edition, and one of my goals was #55–go to ten new places on that list.  This week Jeremy and I went to go visit Shirley Plantation, one of the places on the list.   It was neat, although I was disappointed that we could only go on the first floor of the house.  The family that originally owned the plantation has passed it down through eleven generations, so they still use parts of the house today.

There are a few items on my list that are complete because Jeremy and I bought our first house in November.  I can cross off #49–save for a down payment for a house.  Done! And spent!  I can also obviously cross off #48–buy a house.  I am also going to cross off #17–go to a home buying seminar.  Although I intended to go to an actual seminar, it turns out it wasn’t really necessary.  I did go talk to a mortgage specialist to figure out our good price range and learn about mortgages, and I contacted our realtor.  I’m going to count those buying a house prep things in lieu of a seminar.  It turns out that since Jeremy has already bought and sold a house, I didn’t really need to spend the whole day in a seminar.

I just got a new computer, so I have no pictures of our new house.  I’ll work on transferring the files so I can post our beautiful new place!

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted, but I’ve continued to work on the things on the list.  School always takes over my life for the fall, but hopefully the posts will continue more frequently now.

Carrie and I went to Carter’s Mountain in November to pick apples.  We picked pink lady apples, which I had never had before.  They are really delicious–but the best part about Carter’s Mountain is always the fresh apple cider donuts.   #14–complete!

I also worked on number 68, get an angel from the angel tree.  Jeremy and I had fun shopping for a little boy this year.  He wanted spiderman and batman stuff, which is pretty easy to find.  We got him a remote control car and a sword that makes noises as well as the typical clothes.  I meant to find him some spiderman and batman books, but I didn’t end up doing that–definitely something I want to include with our next angel tree kid.

Yay, one more thing to cross off the list. 60. work–go to Kagan one week training

This is one of those goals that I’m not sure would have happened this soon if I hadn’t put it on my list.  Because I had written it down I think I was concentrating harder on trying to find a way to get there.

Not too much to say about it–the Kagan Cooperative Learning structures are fabulous and if you are a teacher you should definitely learn more about them.  I had a great time at the conference, but the afternoons after the conference weren’t the best because it rained every day and I was all cooped up in the hotel by myself. But, it was still worth it for all the great stuff I learned.

In throwing my sister’s bachelorette party, I began progress on a new goal without even realizing it–#85, host people at my house ten times.  One of ten down!

We had a pretty good time, though we were relatively tame for a bachelorette party.  We went wine tasting at James River Cellars Winery and got some wine for later that evening.  We got a private tour of their winery which was interesting.

After that we had dinner at the Melting Pot.  Eating at the melting pot always proves that you can eat more than you ever thought you possibly could.  And I could drink their pomegranate martini all day!  We headed home after that to watch some Sex and the City, eat some penis cookies, and play games.

Amazingly, I’m still working on things on my list.  This is definitely the longest a “new years resolution” has been on my mind, instead of disappearing into the background of life by February.

I’m working on some of the goals, but I’m really just beginning.  I think I have found a photography class I’m going to take this summer–I’m really excited!  It’s close enough to Jeremy’s to walk, its not too expensive, and I can use my basic digital camera.  So I’ll hopefully be signing up for that this week, thus getting started on my goal 9. learn more about photography and practice taking pictures.

I’m doing pretty well with keeping up with my net worth each month.  I can’t figure out when the best time of the month is to calculate it. I suppose it doesn’t really matter as long as its the same time each month–it seems silly to do it after I’m paid, as that money immediately disappears to rent and bills, so I tend to do it after rent money has been taken out but before I’m paid again.  I think it is a good way to keep track of when I need to keep a closer watch on my spending and when I’m doing okay.

Read a C.S. Lewis book–I haven’t completed one yet, but I have bought two that I’m choosing between.

On Saturday Jeremy and I had dinner with my sister and Matt. We walked to a restaurant that is right by their apartment in church hill–The Hill Cafe. Despite the fact that it was dinner time on a Saturday, we were seated right away and had a really pleasant experience. Jeremy got meatloaf, mac and cheese, and green beans, while I had a burger. Next time, I definitely want to try his meal!

Apparently The Hill Cafe is owned by the same people who own Europa, another restaurant that we really enjoyed. We will definitely be going back to the Hill Cafe again. They have specials pretty much every night but Saturday, so I want to get over there on a night when all their blue plate specials are cheaper.

Jeremy and I headed to Rome over my spring break, and it was wonderful! We had a great time, and it was definitely something we will remember for the rest of our lives. We did tons of stuff in the five days we were there. Here are some of the highlights:

*The Vatican: we visited the Vatican and took a guided tour through Viator Signing up for the tour was one of the best things we did–we got to skip the huge line to get inside, and our tour guide was wonderful. It was so interesting and we got little head sets so we didn’t have to stay right next to her the entire time, and we still had her little voice in our head. After doing St. Peter’s, the Sistene Chapel etc, we headed over to the Castle San Angelo for some great views.

*We went to Ostia Antica to see the ruins there. Not only did we manage to navigate the metro and then the train to get there, but we had a great time wandering around the ruins. It started pouring while we were there, so you know if we had a good time in the pouring rain its pretty neat. (Not that the rain didn’t get a little old at the end of hour two). One of the highlights was searching for the ancient bathrooms of the city.

*Churches–we went to practically every church in Rome, and Jeremy took pictures inside each and every one of them. They are truly amazing. I played a little game I like to call “find the dead guy” while Jeremy took pictures of the architecture. (In this game you get extra points for an exposed body, every church in rome has people buried in it).

*The Colosseum–One of the neat things about our hotel was that we would turn a corner and randomly see the Colosseum at the end of the street. Jeremy downloaded Rick Steeve’s audio tours for both the Colosseum and the Roman Forum, and they were helpful and interesting.

*The Forum–here the audio tours were really nice to have, as it is pretty hard to tell what the bits of the buildings used to be. We went to Palatine Hill after doing the forum.

We also ate tons of gelato, which was one of my favorite things about the trip. I can also cross out another item from my list, learn enough italian to get around italy, as we obviously were able to do that (though not as easily as I would have liked) Grazi! Prego! Gelato! Buon Giornio!

Most of the time Jeremy took pictures, so I have only a few on my camera. Here is one of us, from the top of the Emmanuel monument. You can see the overcast skies that we had for much of our trip–but look! Its the Colosseum in the background!

Well, its been a while since the blog has been updated, but that doesn’t mean my progress on my list has slowed! Last weekend I threw my sister’s bridal shower–one more thing off the list.

For those who care, or may possibly also be planning a shower, here are some details:

It was a Kitchen Shower. The guests were sent this invitation, which I made on photoshop, as well as a recipe card that they brought to the shower.

I took a picture of my sister with each guest, and the picture and the recipe will eventually be together in a book of recipes that I’ll make.

As the guests came in, they signed and decorated an apron for Kristen. We had a tulip-themed lunch (chicken salad, fruit, veggies,etc). Then we played “guess the spice” and Kristen had to match her fiancee’s answers to food themed questions. The guest who correctly predicted the number she would get correct won a little prize. I used this poem/letter to give her some cleaning products for the house:

We gather together with you to celebrate the dawn of a new era. Marriage is a journey. Some days it will be pure joy but let’s take a moment and talk about the others.

There may come a time when you realize your big brawny guy isn’t necessarily Mr. Clean. When this and other little glitches occur, don’t shout or send up an SOS. Hopefully the tide will change quickly, tensions will vanish, and things will bounce back to normal.

We think you and Matt are a fantastic couple with a zest for life and a sincere appreciation for each other. We fully support you as you and Matt pledge to spend your lives as one.

We wish you all the best… Including love, happiness and lots of time to snuggle.

Love,
Your Friends and Family

After that, Kristen opened presents and received many fabulous kitchen toys for her new life:

Then we finally ate the cake and said goodbye!

I finally went through the loads of financial papers that I have.  I have kept basically every statement I had gotten since I set up accounts in high school.  I spent a whole night going through and organizing the papers I had into a new file box so I can easily move them.  Then I shredded three entire garbage bags full of old papers! I’m so glad that now I get most of my statements online–I’m not good with dealing with paper clutter to begin with.  Combine that with my hoarding tendencies for anything I am afraid may be remotely important, and you end up with ten years of financial statements to shred. I’m glad that it is done though! Yet another thing I probably would have never done had it not been on this list.