70 Things To Do Before Having Children

According to this list on cnn.com, I still have a few of these to do before having kids and even though there are a few I don't ever want to check off my list but overall I think I'm doing pretty well!


2. Take a month long vacation on the opposite side of the world in a city with a completely different culture. (Thailand for a month!)
6. Swim with the sharks. (Do stingrays count? Cause if so I totally did that.)

9. Throw the house party of all house parties. Supply all the booze and invite everyone you know. (Luau at my house!)
12. Become skilled with a musical instrument. (Piano, flute and piccolo. BOOYA.)
14. Live in the heart of New York City, Chicago, Boston or another major city for at least a year. (St. Paul and Madrid.)


16. Surf a Hawaiian wave. (I got my ass kicked by a wave on Seal Beach this year. Same ocean at least!)
17. Learn to speak a foreign language. (Spanish. I never mastered Pig Latin.)
20. Read at least 30 books.





21. Jump off a cliff into a natural body of water in an exotic location. (Cliff jumping in the Guadalquivir canyon, Spain.)
22. Go mountain climbing. (I kicked that mountain's ass in Andalucia.)
24. Go horseback riding on the beach.
25. Drink warm beer out of a barrel in a real Irish pub. (Brazen Head, Dublin.)
36. Master one particular style of dance.
37. Fall in love.
39. Drive through a (somewhat safe) portion of a third world country like Mexico or Costa Rica to gain perspective on what true poverty looks like. (Myanmar.)

40. Go skinny dipping in a large body of water at midnight.(Picture mere minutes at the Med Sea before I said, "Let's go skinny dipping," and everyone else said, "Ok!")
42. Decide on your current life goals and write them down.

44. Go on a blind date (or a couple’s dinner date with new friends you hardly know).

52. Switch jobs until you find one you truly enjoy.
53. Buy your first house.58. Learn to make one mixed cocktail like a pro bartender.(Well since I was a bartender for 3 years I think that's a "check.")



60. Stand up in front of a large audience and tell a great joke.
61. Shoot a gun.
64. Learn to sail a sailboat.
69. Master a few fancy dinner recipes.
70. Finish up your formal education (but continue learning.) (Cum Laude!)

Water waster

Last night I turned the sprinkler on and had every intention of turning it off after 15 minutes. Six hours later when I got woken up in the middle of the night but a certain little scamp-cat I thought it was raining. Then I remembered the sprinkler. The logical thing to do would have been going outside and turning the spigot off since it is right next to the back door but I got too scared of the dark to go outside and just went back to bed instead. Pretty sure 12 hours of watering won't hurt my lawn...just my water bill.
(Pic from Google Images and yes, that is a Toro sprinkler. Dad would be proud.)

Camrose Hill = heaven

Two years ago before Sister got married (congrats on your anniversary this week, btw!) she had a bridal shower at a gorgeous hotel next to the beach.

I didn't think anything could rival it but Kala's shower last night came close. It was at Camrose Hill in Stillwater and everything about the whole night was drop dead gorgeous. I mean really, who wouldn't love a shower that ended with roasting caramel marshmallows for s'mores using ghiradelli chocolate squares? Mmm. (Sorry for the blurry pics, my camera died and I had to use my phone.)

Wuuuuuuuuuuu-ms!

What's that you say? You want another bug story? OK!
Starting at age 3, I was obsessed with worms. It's hard to say if it started with gummy worm candies and then spread to earthworms or vice versa but either way, it happened. When Dad came home from his weekly business trips he would have a bag of gummy worms hidden away in his carry-on for me. Mud pie making always occurred with the utmost care to avoid chopping any of the squiggly guys in half with my plastic shovel.


It shouldn't have been a surprise when instead of having a princess party for my fourth birthday I wanted to have a worm party, or as I pronounced it a "wu-m pa-ty;" pronouncing 'r's was not my strength. Mom pulled it off, cooking a mud cake with gummy worms all over it and creating homemade worm decorations (no party supply company carried any.)



When kindergarten rolled around I found out how fun it was to wait for the bus in the rain because all of the worms came out onto the driveway. One by one I would pick them up and place then back on the grass so no one would run them over. My responsibility of Worm Rescuer ended when I got my drivers license but to this day I still stop to throw a few back on the dirt after a storm.

In middle school we had to dissect earthworms and even though Miss. Moriarty the science teacher insisted that if we cut them cleanly into two parts they would still live because of their multiple hearts, I couldn't bring myself to do it. My lab partner had to slice mine for me.

I'm not sure if earthworms really count as bugs but they are one of the two kinds of creepy crawlies that I actually like so for today, they're legit.

Anyone want to have a wu-m pa-ty?
(Photo from Google Images)

Skeeters: The Minnesota State Bird

This is unintentionally turning into a week about bugs. Yesterday: spiders. Today: mosquitoes. (Sidenote: I just noticed that the plural for mosquito has an "es" not an "s." Learn something new every day. And in case you want to learn something new: the word mosquito comes from the Portuguese for "small fly." Personally I think it should come from whatever word in Portuguese means "disgusting bug that sucks blood and causes immense itching and buzzes in your ear at night and should die and never come back." But that's just me. Lesson over.)

In Minnesota we love love love our cabins. But I hate hate hate mosquitoes. Unfortunately, the two pretty much go hand in hand since most cabins (including ours) are next to lakes and mosquitoes are born in water. Sweet. See, when I get bitten by a mosquito I don't get a little dot like most people. Noooooo...I get a giant pink welt at least the size of one of those Sacagawea dollar coins that no one ever knows what to do with when they get them as change from a vending machine. Right now I have 7 on my right leg and none on my left so it kind of looks like I dipped one side of my body in a vat of poison ivy but forgot to even it out and do the rest.

An old boyfriend of mine used to tell me that when he went to their cabin his grandpa would sit outside, drinking and smoking, for hours and never got one mosquito bite. He asked him once why they never bothered him and he said, "Well, they know if they bit me they'd die of alcohol poisoning from all the booze in my blood and that's reason enough to stay away."

My dad used to tell me I got bitten so much because I was so sweet. Maybe I should just drink when I plan on being outside...