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In honor of my 50th birthday, I decided to live life differently this year; it is a year of choice, intention, adventure, fun and exploration. This blog is a record of that and an invitation to you to share your adventures, trials and triumphs.
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The Year of Art and Things I've Never Done Before
Welcome to Jan's Birthday Blog. This blog exists to keep me planning and taking action, share this year with those who are interested, and also to invite you to do things you have always wanted to do but never have. What are you /I putting off till it is the "right time"? What is it, that if you and I look back at our lives years from now we will regret not having done?
Please share what you dream of doing or have taken action on and gotten done. Tell me what you are up to. Make suggestions that I can add to my list! Use some of my ideas. Join me or invite me to do something with you.
I invite you to consider that all any of us has is right now.... there is no "later". This blog is a reminder of that for me.
(I am not promoting anything that is reckless, illegal, or negative! I am out to create life-enhancing experiences. Please plan accordingly.)
Things I've Never Done
- Take a train somewhere DONE! - To NYC for Lauren's Advanced Course. 2014 Thanks for the invite honey.
- Create a blog - DONE!
- Audition for pro musical theater - DONE! TWICE
- Get a hot stone massage- DONE for the 1st time but NOT the last! See link for PCCHH
- Raise money for a cause -DONE! Want to do more. Donated a quilt that auctioned for over $300 For Hair Peace Charities - see link. Vagina Monologues raised money for women & girls in Pittsburgh and around the world!
- Go to a Chiropractor -DONE! Thanks Dr. Kukich UPDATE: began regular chiropractic treatment 2 days after I bought that house. Hmmm- any relationship to those two events?
- Go to a spa with Lauren - DONE! We have the pretty feet to prove it.
- Work for a floral design company - See link to Mocha Rose. I'M HIRED!
- Take my daughters to New York - DONE! 3rd weekend in May.
- Yoga -DONE with first session. One session does not a practice make but I am on my way. YOGA update November 2011 - started going to Yoga On Freemont. My first week I went 4 times. I love it. I feel more open and my body is smiling! 2011 update : Yoga on Fremont, 2 times a week average. Good stuff!
- Go to an "Iron Chef" restaurant. DONE! Bar Americain in NYC - Chef Bobby Flay.
- Buy or build my dream house - I bought a 1925 Tudor Revival. It needs work before I move in. That work is creating another list of things I have never done before.
- Tear down a wall - DONE! See photos of bathroom demolition.
- Operate a steam shovel or some such machine. SOoooo DONE! Thank you Mike Isbir, Mark Miller and crew. See photos below.
- Hop in the car for a trip with no idea where I am going FINALLY DONE! ORB to 51 S to 88S, eventually to Maryland and back
- Dip my toes in the Pacific Ocean _ SOOO DONE!! Thank You Wendy!
- Throw a pot - (on a wheel, not at a wall) DONE! Pittsburgh Center for the Arts 4 week crash course with my pottin buddy, Lauren.
- *************************************
- Detonate something
- See Lindsay Benner live
- Be an 'agent' for an Improv Everywhere mission
- Learn to make glass beads
- Teach my dog to make friends and play well with others - see Animal Friends link
- Learn to weld - turns out I know two people that can weld
- Hire a talent agent
- Drive a classic Thunderbird - preferably Starmist Blue
- Paint a mural
- Fly a plane
- Learn to sail
- Drive a race car - Have I told you about Women-Drivers.com?
- Be on TV
- Write a book
- Go surfing
- Sky diving
- Travel to Spain, Greece, Morocco, South America, The Grand Canyon, Alaska, Hawaii, pretty much anywhere in the US...
- Eat vegetarian for a week
- Get a tattoo
- *************************************
- BLOG BONUS - Stuff I didn't know I wanted to do:
- Work as a standardized patient educator. Had no idea that's what I wanted to do. DONE
- Do home staging to get a house sold - twice yet. Thanks for asking, Justin and Tom
- Ride a lap at the Vintage Grand Prix in Schenley Park - DONE!
- Go to the James Taylor / Carol King concert at the last event at the Civic Arena DONE! It was the BEST! Thank you Diane
- Buy a share in a Community Supported Agriculture farm. DONE! Kretchsmann's to be exact. Thanks Edie and Mad.
- Visit St. Anthony's Chapel in Troy Hill. DONE! Thank you Paula!
- Make a web site - DONE - will be unveiled soon
- Gravity Hill - DONE!
- Eat a raisinette dipped in hot sauce - Done! I was double dog dared. I had to.
Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution
Followers
Links
- Birthday Slideshow
- Jan's Floral Design Slideshow
- Animal Friends
- Hair Peace Charities
- Lindsay Benner - juggling
- Women Drivers
- Kretschmann Organic Farm / CSA
- Betsy Moore - Nutrition Maven
- Pittsburgh Center for Complementary Health and Healing
- Pittsburgh Center for the Arts
- Fireborn Studios
- Landmark Education
- Mocha Rose Floral Designs
Things I've already done
- Fallen in love
- Raised two amazing children
- Made extraordinary friendships
- Cut down a tree with a chain saw
- Changed a flat tire
- Landscaped a perennial bed
- Was detained by the county police in North Park for dropping off a ground hog after the park was closed
- Had accupuncture
- I'm on youtube, twice - secure telehealth and women-drivers.com
- Walked a labrynth - 3 different ones actually
- Put my foot in my mouth - a lot!
- Took Acting Classes- Wexford Acting Studio and Pittsburgh Public Theater
- CPR
- Toured the White House
- Traveled in the US: New York, Cape May NJ, Baltimore and DC, Chicago, San Antonio, Dallas, Houston, Orlando / Disney, Ft Lauderdale and the Fl Keys, Seattle, Santa Fe, Taos, Colorado Rockies, Raleigh, Charlotte, Outer Banks, Deep Creek, New Orleans, US Virgin Islands
- Traveled outside the US: Austria, Italy, England, Wales, Switzerland, Bahamas, Toronto, Winnipeg, Mexico, Cayman Islands
- Worked with a nutritionist - see link
- Won first place trophies for swimming
- Drove a 45 foot yacht
- Member of the CMU Vagina Monologues cast
- Had : facials, pedicures and massages
- Changed toilet guts and installed new faucets and drains
- Drove to Florida and back with a woman I met the week before we left.
- Took a T'ai Chi class
- Missed an entrance- actually an entire scene on stage
- Gone SCUBA diving
- Competed Landmark Education's Curriculum For Living - see link
- Challenged my property tax assessment and won
- Made a 4 piece suit
- Created a Life Coaching business
- Saw JC Superstar - (original cast) in London
- Galloped on horseback in the Rockies
- Helped install my kitchen floor
- Hung a chandelier
- Taught more than 350 nursing students one-on-one
- Kayaked
- Sung and danced solo on stage to an audience of 500
- Won a second place ribbon for a quilt
- Published two journal articles
3 comments:
Jan -
Welcome to the blogosphere! It's good to have you out here - it was getting lonely.
I have gone sky diving and recommend it.
I went to see Cheech and Chong with my son last year. Was on his bucket list. Took 12 hours to get there (5 hours for the last 50 miles), but we both had a blast.
Have fun looking at 50 out of the windshield while you can -- it looks so much smaller in the rear view mirror!
Love,
Phil
Hey Jan!
Love the blog! I like the fact that I can vote after each of your postings, but I wish there was a choice like "I want to do that", because that's what I would choose regarding the 'auditioning for a professional production'.
And...you can add to the list of things you've already done: "composed lyrics for clinically appropriate events".
Have fun! What a great way to embrace this milestone!
Val
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