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.

80. Visit my sister at college

If you hadn't noticed, I'm pretty close with my little sis. So, when she flew from the nest to head to college I knew I would miss her. She survived her first semester, and as the second semester got started I promised I would make the trek down to see her in Charlottesville. It was so great to see her in her new environment and to see her growing up.



We had a great time tooling around campus and the downtown area. It was fun reliving the college life and hanging out with some of her new friends. I am sure this was only the first of many visits.

38. Open a savings account

You may have noticed that the Best Friend and I have something of a love affair going with Google (granted at times it is a one sided affair). Well watch out google because ING may be knocking you off the pedestal.

I was introduced to this online banking phenomena by the Best Friend. I tossed around the idea for awhile, and was a little iffy on the fact that I couldn't actually walk into a bank. But then again, when was the last time I walked into my bank? I did a little more research and finally decided to take the plunge and try it out.

So plunge I did, and I may never go back. ING makes it so easy to set up and manage your accounts. I can decide how much will be automatically taken from my checking account and how often. I even set up separate accounts and then was able to name them the fun (well sometimes fun) things that they are going towards, like my three month cushion, vacation, and housing. It's great! So now I'm saving and working toward yet another 101 task, having a three month cushion of money set aside.

7. Pay off credit cards

Rock on! I can not tell you how amazing it feels to have this task completed!

Unfortunately, through my last year of college and a brief stint in law school I accumulated a freakish amount of credit card debt (though by statistics I have found I was better off than many people my age which is just downright scary). Over the past two years I have been slowly but surely chipping away bit by bit. And now I can officially say I am credit card debt free!

Now that I'm not forking out an exorbitant amount of money each month, I can start working toward other goals, such as building up that "rainy day fund". Woohoo!