95. Take a random art or dance class for fun

And I have totally opened up Pandora's box. After some exploring in downtown Alexandria, I discovered this neat little bead store. Inside are two floors of beads in every color, shape, and material imaginable. They also offer classes at a very reasonable price. You buy the materials and they let you use their tools, so you can get the hang of things, and if you absolutely hate it you aren't out a ton of money in tools that you'll never use again. I figure I just could not pass up such an opportunity.

So I signed up and after two hours I had an array of earrings which I plan to give to my sister and all her roommates for Christmas (thus the blue and orange, UVA colors).


I then took my new found skills home and made some wine charms for a friend for her birthday.


I am very pleased with my new skill and am excited to take another class and start making even more wonderful trinkets!

94. Have a yard sale and donate everything that doesn't sell

This was a hard one to know exactly when to mark off. When I moved last November I donated a TON of stuff that I new I wouldn't need, didn't want, and that someone else could probably really use. I got rid of a ton of appliances, clothes, decorating stuff, you name it. The rest of my belongings went into storage. But since I never actually had a yard sale, I didn't mark this off.

And so, in preparation for the upcoming move into my own place in the city (woohoo!) I decided it was time to clean out the storage unit. No point in moving stuff that I wasn't going to use. Add to that the fact that my free weekend coincided with the annual Route 11 Yard Crawl (quite the event), I decided to go for it. So I slapped on some price tags and set up shop with my aunt and grandmother for the day.

What a success this was. I sold everything except three CDs and made about $100. Not to mention everything is now in a much better home, as opposed to collecting dust and getting shoved around move after move. I haven't gotten to donating the three CDs but considering the mass donation that went BEFORE the yard sale, I will consider this task checked off!

17. Go back to school

When I wrote down "go back to school" the original thought for me, and my family and most people who knew me, was that I would go back to law school. Interestingly enough though, when I made the list I didn't say "go back to law school"... I guess I knew that was still not a given for me. In the past two years I have hashed and re-hashed the pros and cons of going back to school in general and law school in particular. What it came down to was I just simply could not picture myself as a lawyer or doing lawyerly type jobs. And law school is A LOT of money and A LOT of effort, and if your heart isn't in it, well, it's just not worth it. So after much sighing and eventually a sigh of relief, I kicked law school off the docket.

But I still had this task on my 101 and I still felt the need to keep on moving, and keep on getting educated in... well... something! After some deliberation and discussion with the people who know me and love me best, I came to the conclusion that something in the medical field would suit me quite well. This was something I had contemplated long ago, but being a burnt-out college kid, I didn't want to go back and take the necessary prerequisites to make this a reality.

Now, the time has come. I can take some classes part time, get in the prerequisites and in that time, decide what exact path I will take afterward. I am officially registered at the local community college and so in August, I shall be going back to school!

16. Go on a hike

Done and done. Twice! Who knew moving to the big city I would still be able to find not one but two beautiful places to hike.



The first was a couple months ago (it was almost too chilly to be hiking if you ask me) and I headed to Sugarloaf Mountain in Maryland with a random group of people. The hike wasn't tough, though it was a bit muddy in spots and even some snow still on the ground when we got to the top. But the view was beautiful, and definitely worth the shivers.



The second hike was a more level hike, but still a hike nonetheless. (I suppose being from the mountains when I think hike, I think incline.) Me and a friend of mine headed to Great Falls park. We stayed on the Virginia side and waved at those across the water in our neighboring state. The sun was shining, the flowers were blooming, and nature was certainly at its best. All in all it was a great day and I am certainly glad I took the time to head out there considering it's almost in my back yard.



Again, I'm sure this is something that will be getting crossed off again, which is really the whole point of this 101 adventure. To do new things and then add them to my lifestyle. Win win!

77. Spend a day going through a museum

Not only did I complete this task, I completed it and then some. When a friend from back home brought up the idea of coming for a visit and spending the day being touristy in D.C. I certainly couldn't say no. So we packed our bags, grabbed our Metro cards and headed in with not so much as a map to guide our wanderings.



We picked a beautiful day, one of the first sunny, warm days of the season and so everyone was out. After coming off the Metro at the Smithsonian station we headed towards the only recognizable landmark, the Washington monument. We spent the morning wandering through D.C. seeing going by the World War II Memorial which was absolutely breathtaking, and very emotional. The rest of the day was much more lighthearted.

The museums were our stomping grounds and we had a great time! The inner nerd was certainly brought out!

100. Go to a play or opera (or ballet)

Ok, so I said go to a play or opera in the list, but the idea behind this task was to go do something cultural and different that I haven't done before. And therefore, I am marking this as completed after an evening at the ballet.

The whole evening itself was pretty darn sweet. In theory, I was just along for the ride for someone else's celebration, but I got a pretty awesome deal. We started out at a swanky French restaurant in D.C. The food was delicious and beautiful!

The dinner deal included a ride to the Kennedy Center so we were whisked away after dessert to see our show. I've been to the Kennedy Center before but we were in a different theater for the ballet and it was quite beautiful. This was my first ballet so we decided to play it safe with a well known story, Peter Pan. And it was great! It wasn't a traditional ballet, there many different kinds of dance (the crocodile did hip hop I think??) and there was even some flying which is always interesting. I'm not sure if I'll do a ballet again, but I am certainly feeling more up to experiencing the cultural activities that are at my fingertips here in the nation's capital. So check mark for this task, and perhaps I'll be checking it off again before the 1001 days are up!

14. Make fondue

If it wasn't for the Best Friend, I'm pretty sure I would have slacked off majorly on this 101 project, if not given it up entirely. It has been really nice to have each other as constant motivation as well as someone to collaborate with on some of the tasks. We have previously had one designated 101 weekend, where we got together and tackled a few of our tasks that we figured would be more fun in tandem. So when her Hubs decided to go on a trip during Valentines Day weekend we figured it was an opportune time to get together again. So she invited another one of her friends (who we have since converted to the 101 way of life) and we planned a fabulous weekend full of laughing, catching up, Disney, drinking, and of course... fondue!

After some slight alterations to the recipe (due to ingredient constraints) we made some fabulously delicious cheese fondue. It was grand. Insert a few of our favorite Disney animated films and wala, it's an hour or so later and we were ready for round two! Now if you ask me, it is a sin to do fondue and not do chocolate. So chocolate we did. So easy, so scrumptous.
All in all the fondue was just a high point of a very wonderful weekend with the girls.

Side note: If I ever get married, a fondue pot will be the first thing on the registry.