Chocolate

Some people need smoking, boozing, cursing, bacon, SUVs, and the newest iPhone.
For me, I need nature, photos, Caleb, chocolate, dog breath, and a good book.
Bad & good vices, here’s a list of things I’ve done that have given me a reason to wake up (in no particular order).

1. drive alone from coast to coast (and back again w/Caleb)
2. play an instrument: baritone, clarinet, piano
3. start a blog (33,000 words, so far)
4. quit smoking in 2009
5. ride bicycle to college – 5 & 7 miles 1-way
6. ride a horse
7. save something from the dump – shoes, vacuüm, desk&chair, bookshelf
8. be on a team – cheerleader, volleyball, band, track & field
9. gamble in Las Vegas, NV & Dover, DE
10. raise three dogs
11. peg the speedometer
12. attend an Indian Garba
13. ride on Amtrak (TX to KS) and steam train (Durango to Silverton) round-trip
14. visit over 175 National Parks & Monuments
15. pick cotton twice
16. get married – 6Mar08
17. grow a garden – peppers, strawberries
18. passenger on motorcycle, plane, bus, taxi, catamaran, ferry
19. get a portrait drawn of my face – 3 times
20. serve in the Navy for 2 years
21. sail on Navy ship – USS Whidbey Island
22. sell something, 02 Dodge Intrepid, on Craigslist
23. survive rolling car accident – twice
24. volunteer with: MDA, JHS, BBBS, HabiJax
25. donate blood with Red Cross – 4 pints so far
26. adopt-a-highway – Beach Blvd in FL
27. NYC for New Years for 2010
28. skinny dipping in the ocean
29. snorkel – Dry Tortugas, Blue Springs St Park
30. jet boat ride – Rogue River in OR
31. learn a foreign language – Arabic in 5th grade, Spanish in HS
32. shoot a gun, bow & arrow at objects only
33. get a driver’s license – TX & FL
34. own a car (’76 Nova, ’86 Toyota, ’90 Cadillac, ’01Mazda, ’02 Dodge, ’07 Hyundai)
35. become a vegetarian (2009)
36. write poetry & haiku
37. visit clothing-optional bar in Key West -one nude man
38. own a painting from: friend, store, BMG
39. made vanilla ice cream
40. team for a day – girl scout, gymnastics
41. visit Disney Land and Disney World
42. see a shooting star
43. sing in a church choir – Florence Methodist
44. been to the top of the Statue of Liberty, Washington Monument, and Gateway Arch
45. kayak a river – Jackson Hole, WY, & Amelia Island, FL
46. give an informative speech & persuasive speech – 5 minutes each
47. go to a concert (indoors and outside) 10 and counting…
48. go to college at FSCJ in 2010
49. graduate with AA degree in Business Admin (Aug 29,2011) GPA= 3.72
50. make a difference in the life of a child – Talidra
51. teachers aide (Ms. Phillipi at Hogan Spring Glen Elem.)
52. camping in Dry Tortugas, Badlands, Congaree NP
53. collect state’s magnet and shot glass – give glasses to Mom
54. Vice President of a PTA
55. spend the day reading a book
56. feed a squirrel a nut out of my hand in NYC
57. run 4 miles a day – for maybe 3 months
58. adopt a dog from the shelter – Piggy
59. win something in a raffle – World Golf Village ticket
60. help someone build a house – my Mom’s
61. be in a protest – Occupy Jax
62. help a homeless person
63. visit the Leaning Tower of Pisa
64. helped a man change a tire on his van
65. watched the sun rise in the East and set in the West
66. starred in a Spanish-speaking video
67. sat in two helicopters – while on the ground
68. finished three college math courses in one semester
69. main character in two books – If I Could Be… & Spring Break in Arizona – 2011
70. have swam in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf of Mexico
71. driven on 3 of the Top 10 longest bridges: Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, LA; Chesapeake Bay Bridge, VA; and Seven Mile Bridge, FL
72. seen the 9th tallest statue in the U.S.: Jolly Green Giant in Blue Earth, MN
73. been to 48 of the United States, 2 left: AK, HI
74. attended Renaissance Festival 2011 and ’12 in Phoenix, AZ
75. been in the world’s 4th longest cave – Wind Cave, SD
76. had dinner in Rosarito, Mexico
77. eaten lunch in the Driscoll Hotel in Austin, TX
78. been in 4 states at once – Four Corners, US
79. had a pen-pal
80. held a live armadillo – catch & release
81. been to Smurfville (Big Bang Schtroumpf) in Maizières-lès-Metz, France
82. been tubing in KS, AZ, and FL
83. been in the world’s longest cave – Mammoth Cave, KY
84. been in 3 states at once – Tri-State Peak, US

And other things I have done

1. watch a football game live – Cowboys Vs Redskins & Texans Vs Jaguars
2. job for a day, Schlotzsky’s Deli, in VA Beach, quit voluntarily
3. I went to a tanning booth for one summer
4. I have broken three bones – 2 ribs and my fifth metatarsal in my right foot
5. play laser-tag three times
6. have baseball signed by The Suns – Jax, FL
7. eaten mountain oysters (I was too young to know any better!)
8. get stopped in alcohol checkpoint – pass
9. get out of speeding tickets in four states
10. hit by car while on bike – only a bruise, then a new bike
11. I’ve been hospitalized for a week and bedridden for 5 weeks after
12. as a result of #11, I was home-schooled for a month
13. visited San Diego Zoo – twice
14. spent a night in a Hilton Hotel – twice
15. wore a band-aid for 18 days to get into the Guinness Book of World Records (I was young and didn’t know you needed a witness)
16. dyed hair with kool-aid at friend’s house and stained her mom’s decorative towels
17. had my picture taken with the greeter guy at Wal Mart
18. driven a tractor, go-cart
19. owned a pair of red cowboy boots
20. been in a parade
21. received 2nd degree burns from a wood-burning stove
22. have had two concussions – 11 & 19 years old
23. used butterfly stitches on my knee after contact with a boat propeller (that was off)
24. driven a manual truck and car, but not very far
25. received a postcard from Phantom Ranch delivered by mule
26. attended my Senior Prom
27. been as tall as a Shetland Pony
28. have my eyebrows threaded
29. been to the world’s largest truckstop – Iowa 80
30. have been through 3 deployments with Caleb – 6, 7, and 9 months long
31. sang karaoke alone and as a duo
32. picked fresh morel mushrooms in Montana
33. been to a Budweiser brewery
34. drank and learned St. Augustine history on a pub crawl
35. been to the Coral Castle in Miami
36. held a baby alligator – with his mouth taped shut
37. gotten my Junior Ranger badge – Dry Tortugas
38. gotten lost in a corn maze
39. was a flower girl in a wedding
40. made lots of soap and gave some to Talidra’s class
41. recycled wax to make more candles
42. knitted hats, socks, a scarf – and dyed and spun my own yarn
43. cut my hair in half as a birthday present to Caleb
44. been ice skating at a water park
45. bowled more than once for a good cause
46. seen Tabasco bottling
47. seen money being counted at a Reserve office
48. ran the Color Run, a 5k, in Tempe with Caroline
49. had a honeycomb in my backyard
50. invited 11 couchsurfers to stay with me
51. went to Mexico with Caleb, Dan, and couchsurfers
52. went to Canada with my dad, and Caleb
53. picked up 3 hitchhikers in California
54. rented a convertible – twice in The Keys
55. I’ve bathed a hedgehog in a sink