27 for 27

The third installment of the birthday lists…

~~1) Get married!~~ Best day of my life.

2) Go to Phillies spring training in Clearwater. Update: Considering we leave for Nepal at the end of February, this might have to wait until next year.

3) Learn to drive stick. My younger cousin tried to teach me once. It wasn’t pretty. I don’t think I’ll be able to convince him to give me another shot.

4) Make my own creme brulee. (I already own the blowtorch!)

5) Run Boston (which will also mean fundraising, because try as I might, I’m not qualifying). Update: This is also getting pushed back – partly because of Nepal, partly because I didn’t get my fundraising act together.

6) Stop talking about doing more yoga and actually DO more yoga. Let’s aim for once a week.

~~7) Read more. Last year I set the bar at 10 books, and finished 18. So let’s go for 30 this year. With my new Kindle Fire I’m unstoppable!~~ Above and beyond.

The Paris Wife (not great, but not bad; made me want to read Hemingway)
Moneyball (loved it!)
Fifty Shades of Grey (judge all you want, but they were perfect beach reads)
Fifty Shades Darker
Fifty Shades Freed
Storm of Swords
A Feast for Crows
The Unsung Hero (TS1)
The Defiant Hero (TS2)
Divine Evil (note: I usually love Nora Roberts, but this was creepy)
Over the Edge (TS3)
Out of Control (TS4)
Into the Night (TS5)
Gone Too Far (TS6)
In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin
Flashpoint (TS7)
Hot Target (TS8)
Wool (short story – apparently the first of 5!)
Breaking Point (TS9)
Into the Storm (TS10)
Force of Nature (TS11)
All Through the Night (TS12)
Into the Fire (TS13)
Dark of Night (TS14)
The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln
Hot Pursuit (TS15)
Breaking the Rules (TS16)
Little Princes: One Man’s Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal (SO good. I highly recommend it.)
A Dance with Dragons (currently reading)
Wool 2 – Proper Gauge
Wool 3 – Casting Off
Wool 4 – The Unraveling
Wool 5 – The Stranded
Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail (Loved this. It made me feel like I could hike the PCT, too. Kind of.)
Paris in Love: A Memoir
Manhunt: The Ten-Year Search for Bin Laden-from 9/11 to Abbottabad
James Potter and the Hall of Elders’ Crossing (Obviously not as good as the original series, but still fun and entertaining.)
Sandstorm (Sigma Force #1)
Gone Girl
The Happiness Project (Honestly, it made me want to clean my closet. You’ll understand if you read it.)
The Age of Miracles
Map of Bones (Sigma Force #2)
Black Order (Sigma Force #3)
The Judas Strain (Sigma Force #4)
The Last Oracle (Sigma Force #5)
The Doomsday Key (Sigma Force #6)
The Devil Colony (Sigma Force #7)
Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived
The Devil in the White City: A Saga of Magic and Murder at the Fair that Changed America
Taming Natasha (Stanislaski #1)
Luring a Lady (Stanislaski #2)
Falling for Rachel (Stanislaski #3)
Convincing Alex (Stanislaski #4)
Waiting for Nick (Stanislaski #5)
Considering Kate (Stanislaski #6)
11/22/63 (LOVED it. But then again, I’m a sucker for any kind of alternate history stories.)
Bloodline (Sigma Force #8)
Excavation
Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption
Altar of Eden
Dead Until Dark
Living Dead in Dallas
Club Dead
Dead to the World
Dead as a Doornail (currently reading)

8 ) Try a new recipe every other week.

9) Travel somewhere new, even if it’s a neighborhood in DC I’ve never been to before. Though I would like to branch out a little more than that. Hawaii was new, but I’d like this to be a year-long goal, so no crossing it off yet.

10) Create a bucket list. I’m honestly not sure why I haven’t done that yet.

~~11) Learn to fear the ocean less.~~ After snorkeling and surfing, I think I’m well on my way.

~~12) Eat dimsum. It just sounds fun.~~ Delicious, if a bit frantic.

~~13) Get involved with the youth program at church. For all the work I do with camp, you’d think I could do a little more locally.~~ I’ve been helping with Sunday School and other various kid programs, and I’m loving every second of it.

14) Visit the Statue of Liberty. I was sick the day of the middle school class trip and I’ve never made up for it. Maybe we could even throw Ellis Island on there for good measure!

15) Replace my computer. My trusty MacBook is 5 1/2 years old and the hard drive has crashed twice. It’s time.

16) Host a seder.

17) Learn to make challah from scratch. (Do you notice the trend of food goals?)

~~18) Visit at least one new state.~~ Honeymoon: Hawaii.

~~19) Finish all the “thank you” notes within 2 months of the wedding.~~ I might have sent the last one in at the two month mark, but I still got it done. Success.

~~20) Set a new half marathon PR.~~ Done! With minutes to spare!

~~21) Take a bike ride out to Mount Vernon.~~ Beautiful, but OUCH.

22) See all the Oscar nominations for Best Picture (before the Oscars). So far I’ve seen ~~one~~ three. Not promising. Updated: I saw 5/9 before the Oscars. Maybe I’ll get around to the other 4 eventually.