Project Me

I did a blog post about what I had decided to call Project Me. It’s kind of like a bucket list, but not really because I hate that stupid name. This isn’t stuff I want to do before I “kick the bucket,” just some random goals that I’d like to complete. This could take me a week or 30 years, I don’t really know.

Since I’ve started actually completing some of the goals, I decided to keep the updates on this tab. Some I’ll do blog posts about, like this one on my Vegas visit, and others are really too stupid to do a blog post about.

It’s possible I might add more to this list at some point, but for now here’s what I’ve got. In no particular order:

Visit all 50 states. I’ve done lots of oversees traveling, but not a lot of trekking around the US. I’ve indicated which states I’ve already been to and will add in dates when I complete the ones left on my list.

Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California –San Diego, CA in 2008.
Colorado –Denver and Breckenridge with Disabled Sports USA (I was working as an intern and was able to attend their Ski Spectacular). I think it was probably in 1998.
Connecticut
Delaware – visited many times for the beach and outlets.
Florida – visited many times: Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Key Biscayne, Key West, Orlando, etc.
Georgia – Savannah, GA in 2007.
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois – visited Chicago, IL in July 2012.
Indiana – visited a friend when he was in college there, probably in 1998. This is also where I had my first taste of Krispy Kreme. YUM!
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland – lived here most of my entire life.
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada – visited Las Vegas, NV in June 2011.
New Hampshire
New Jersey – visited many times: Atlantic City, Ocean City, New Egypt, etc.
New Mexico
New York – visited NYC many times and drove to Rochester, NY to sell a car earlier this year, 2011.
North Carolina – vacationed in the Outer Banks a few times, including senior week in high school and 2008.
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania – visited and drove through many times.
Rhode Island
South Carolina – I’ve visited SC and also driven through it on my way to Florida.
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia – visited lots and lots of times, and have drank lots and lots of VA wine!
Washington
West Virginia – lived there when I was in college (Shepherd College/University) 1995 – 1999.
Wisconsin
Wyoming

Bonus territories:
District of Columbia – growing up I literally thought “DC” was a city in Maryland. I’ve been there many, many times.
Puerto Rico – San Juan, PR in 2010.

Join a Nonprofit Board. I’m actually currently on the Advisory Board of Business Volunteers Unlimited (BVU) Maryland (http://bvumaryland.org/), but would like to get involved with an additional nonprofit.

Ride in a Hot Air Balloon. I’ve gone to the Shenandoah Valley Hot Air Balloon & Wine Festival at least a half dozen times, but I’ve never taken a ride. This must change!

Paint my Fingernails and Leave Them Alone for 7 Whole Days. I don’t know why this is so hard for me to do, as I have pretty toenails year-round. Whenever I paint my nails I notice every little scratch and chip and end up picking all the polish off within a couple days.

Completed July 2011. This is one of these lame challenges that nobody (including me) would want a full blog post on. I painted my nails dark brown with a silver crackle top coat. They looked pretty snazzy and due to the crackle I didn’t really notice chips that much. Yay me!

Go to Las Vegas. I’ve been to Reno and Atlantic City, but never Las Vegas. I’m wondering if it will live up to all the hype. Of course, with an impending trip on my calendar this one will probably be the first that I complete.

Completed June 2011. Click here to see the full blog post.

Grow my Very Own Vegetable. I’ve never grown anything edible, not even a tomato plant. I’d really like to be able to grow something on my own and then eat it while proudly bragging that I grew it in my very own garden/backyard/flowerpot.

Shoot a Gun at a Shooting Range. I admit it; I was a total Alias dork and really wished I could be as cool as Sidney Bristow. I totally want to channel my inner Sidney and shoot a gun at a target. Wearing a bright pink/red wig at the shooting range is extra credit.

Dye a Pink or Purple Streak in My Hair. In my high school/college days I had multicolored hair for years, including streaks of purple, blue, green, red and yellow. Now that I’m a “grown up”, it’s a little more difficult to get away with Crayola colored hair but I’ve been dying to just have a little streak again. Done June/July 2012 — kind of. Click here for the full blog post.

Receive an Award for Something. Growing up, I never was that kid in sports that would get the MVP award, or really any other kind of award. However, I did my first 5k a few years ago and got 1^st place in my age group (no, I wasn’t fast…everyone else was just really slow!).  So, I really want to get an award for being awesome at something.

I was given the The Versatile Blogger award by S.M. Hutchins at Live Wonderstruck in June 2012! Click here to see the full blog post.

Learn or re-learn an Instrument. When I was a kid I played piano, but I haven’t played in probably 15 years (or more). It would be great to be able to play the piano again, or maybe learn to play the guitar. I mean, I’m pretty good on Rock Band, but that really doesn’t count.

Go to Italy. I started planning a trip to Italy about 10 years ago, but it had to be put on hold because they replaced the Executive Director at my company and I was no longer allowed to take off 2 weeks in a row. I still have the books and notes from the trip that never was, and would love to go on that trip with my husband.

Have a Dinner Party. This is something that is definitely on the list for when we move into our new house (fingers crossed that it will be sometime this year). I want to make yummy food and have friends over to eat it. Of course, in order to do that I’m going to need a bigger dining room!

Get Rid of 50 Things that I Don’t Need. There are lots of books and blogs on getting the clutter out of your life. I’m pretty good at keeping the clutter down, but I know that we have more crap then we really need. No cheating on this one though, I’ll have to get rid of 50 things at once, not drag it out over years. Completed October 2011. Click here to see the full blog post.

Pay for a Random Person’s Order at a Drive-Thru or Toll Booth. I’ve always thought it would be nice to brighten a stranger’s day unexpectedly. Completed August 2012 and will probably be doing this one again! Click here to see the full blog post.

Get my Master’s Degree. For years I’ve been going back and forth trying to decide whether to go back to school for my Master’s Degree. My main reason for wanting the additional degree is so that one day I can teach marketing classes on a college level. I keep getting scared to make the move due to the cost of going back to school and the time it’s going to take. Not to mention that I’ve been out of school for so long that I don’t know if I’m any good at it anymore. I just need to suck it up and register for classes.

Contribute the Maximum to my 401(k) Plan. I don’t know who these people are who can max out their 401(k) each year, but I’ve never even come close. After we move and build our savings account back up, I’d really like to focus on being one of those super retirement saver people.