I’m just gonna cut out some words here at the beginning, as none of these are done. Lame, I know. But, there it is. Let’s look at why!
81) Go see Mount Rushmore & 82) Go to Wall Drug I am putting these together, since they would be part of the same trip. They are American classics, and I have never been. I even live 700 miles closer to them than I did growing up, so there is no excuse! Well, except there is. I totally thought this would be a doable road trip for a weekend. I nice spring or fall weekend, specifically. Then, the reasons we couldn’t do it racked up. Weekends became the time I tried to catch up on sleep. I just never felt like going. However, that is fixed now, so there is one excuse out of the way. I will see if we can cram it in this year, though we have several trips and long weekends happening already, so the options are slim. I am eager to do this, though. Especially because it also knocks a bit off my long term goal of seeing all 50 states.
83) Get a professional facial. I have tricky skin. I inherited my mother’s large pores, which is good since it gives me a place to keep spare change, and my keys. Not so good, since a lot of other much collects in them. Plus, no matter how old I get, I continue to break out. Birth control has helped, but I still have icky skin. I really want someone to get in there and really clean out those pores and purge everything, so I could have a clean slate, if only for a few moments. The issues I ran into were dollars, first. However, then my struggle was to find a place I was willing to go. It only takes a few nightmare stories of facials gone awry to have me totally paranoid. I mean, the whole purpose of going is to help my skin, not to wind up with scars or disfigurement. I have a couple of folks in mind now, at least, and some dollars set aside. I have a friend getting a laser treatment, and I want to hear about it before deciding how I shall proceed. I will probably still go to the place she gets her face done, since she has given it good marks so far, and has some of the same skin issues I do. I know I can’t get perfect baby skin (which is the only time I had perfect skin…my pores started freaking out in grade school!), but I would like to not have creases and huge pimples at the same time.
84) Get a past life regression done. Yes. I believe in reincarnation. I believe that our actions in this life determine where we wind up next, and so on and so forth. I believe that those that leave us wind up being around somehow, just in different forms. I really want to get a regression done, but just haven’t done it. I had one recommendation for a place, but it was super pricey and we didn’t have the dollars at the time. So, I am on the lookout for someone who is reputable, and also not insanely priced. I realize that it is a gift that can’t be given away, but I also don’t want to go broke having this done. I will take any input from you, dear readers!!! Feel free to leave a tip in the comments!!
85) Eat at Chino Latino. This place opened not so long after I moved here, and is a hip, happening spot. It should have been so easy to cross off, yet it wasn’t. I mean, I ate in places surrounding this one, just never managed to get in the door. I mostly feel like I just need to go there once, since I may be the last person to not have gone in, but in doing this list, I realized it isn’t a huge priority.
However, one crazy thing they do here, is serve guinea pig. When I first heard this, I thought it was outrageous! You can’t eat adorable pig-pigs! Except, that in other countries, particularly in South America, you totally do. It’s pretty common street food, and you go up, they fry one for you, done and done. At Chino Latino, however, they do need advance notice. I don’t imagine people flock there for this, but it is something they can offer to be authentic to South American cuisine. I imagine that guinea pig would make me just as ill as every other type of meat, so I won’t be trying it. However, don’t let that stop you!
So, I may or may not make it out to Chino Latino. I just realized it isn’t as important to me as I thought it was.
86) Do an in-line marathon. G proposed this one. There is an amazing local one where you get to skate on an Interstate for a bit overlooking Lake Superior. The problem is that it’s hard to train for one of these while also training for a regular marathon. I thought that once I completed the regular marathon, I would totally get on the inline one. However, I was thwarted on the regular one, hence this one didn’t happen. I still want to conquer it, though. I have to see if the hubs is still game for it, and maybe we will tackle this one first, then go for a running one. We live by a fantastic trail to train on, so we really don’t have an excuse. Well, I do need new bearings and probably new wheels for my skates…but otherwise, no excuses!
87) Get my ring re-appraised for insurance. Such a silly one to not have done. I just need to take my papers into the jeweler, get my ring looked at, have them write some things down, and copy the info for my insurance. Not hard. Yet, not done. In the meantime, I just panic every so often that something has happened to my ring and I will be SOL. Fine jewelry isn’t covered by your general homeowners/renters/whatever policy, so you need to prove to them what you have and have a rider on the policy. Mostly to prevent people from saying all their diamonds were stolen and get reimbursed. I get it, it’s just an extra hassle. One I really need to get on. Like yesterday.
88) Learn Millinery (specifically how to block hats) As with making any other clothing, I would love to make some hats! I mean, so far, I have been limited by what hats I can find and alter. There are some that can be made without knowing how to block, but it’s pretty limiting. Like shoes, I figured that I was stuck with this limitation. However, a fashion blog I read (Fashion for Nerds) informed me that one could learn hat blocking! Audi, the writer of the blog, creates hats, and learned to do so by taking some local courses. I could take local courses! The problem is that local for her is San Fransisco and local for me is the Twin Cities. Apparently hat blocking is not a thing around here. I am trying to cobble together some knowledge from you tube and such, but it’s slow going. I guess the bright side with that is that I can say I’m self taught? Bah. I just wanna know how to do it and be done.
The other problem is getting the supplies. Hat blocks and such. I will do this, though. With my hat collection as my witness, I will learn to block hats!!
89) Learn and practice meditation. This should be easy. Not for me, though. I’ve tried doing it on my own, but my brain just can’t shut down. My plan is to go for some guided meditation. This is another one that I thought I would do because it was on the list, but I realized it isn’t as important to me as I thought it was. I’m sure I will do it if the opportunity presents itself, but I am not gonna stress over sorting it out, either.
90) Get a martini at Bradstreet Crafthouse. So, if you know me, you know I love gin. If you don’t know that I love gin, then you don’t really know me. There are others out there that claim they love gin, and I know they think they do, but they don’t. If you love Hendrick’s, you don’t really love gin. Hendrick’s is fine if you are gonna mix a cocktail and the flavor isn’t so important. In the gin world, it’s a fine starter gin. Gin for the non-gin drinker, if you will. Now, some do love a fine gin, but then they ruin it. Olives should not touch gin. Don’t go shaking your gin (I blame James Bond movies for this one, though I’m told the books have it right. If you shake your gin, go read a James Bond novel and get back to me). You bruise it, and that’s just sad. Vermouth should be but a whisper over your martini. If you taste VERMOUTH, you’ve gone and mucked it up.
In a nutshell, I am very serious about my gin. Very. Serious. When I learned about the Crafthouse, I finally found a place that loved gin the way I love gin! You don’t call drinks there. You order your cocktail, and they make it in the most perfect, ideal way possible. They use top quality ingredients and use exacting methods. A place for me!
Have I been there yet? No. Wah-Wahhhhh. Part of the thing here is that I really want to go with two dear friends of ours who also adore cocktails and classy places. We just don’t seem to be able to coordinate. So, this year, the four of us will coordinate, and make cocktail magic happen.
Then, G will have to order me the magic vermouth they use, and I will surely be upgrading my gin in the liquor cabinet. I mean, Bombay Sapphire is fine and all, but if I am going to be truly fabulous, it’s gotta be top shelf all the way.
One more installment, then a wrap up of what I learned, where I’m at, and what I will still do (along with those that I am just crossing off.)
If you have any tips, recommendations, or the like to help me with anything on my list, please let me know!