Day 60: Free Fallin'

And just like that, 60 days have come and gone...

When I set out to start this blog on the first day of summer, my only intentions were to live it up a little more... to make my life a little more interesting. At best, I thought I might learn a few new things here and there, and try a thing or two out of my comfort zone... but, these past 60 days have given me so much more than that. As I write this, and reflect on everything over the summer, I can't help but smile, laugh, and cry over how amazing this journey has been. I'd been stuck in this rut for so long, losing myself in the idea of where I wanted to be in life... taking the focus away from where I needed to be. And, I just needed to be happy again. I needed to be happy for having the unconditional love and support of family and friends; happy to have my health; happy for having a career I am so passionate about; happy to have a home that I can call my own. This summer has afforded me with the opportunity to meet some amazing people, and strengthen friendships that already existed... and for that, I am so grateful. It is through those bonds that I was able to take myself farther than I thought possible... without their support, so many of my new and different things might've never happened.

So, on my final day, I decided to go skydiving. At the risk of sounding cheesy, the jump symbolized letting go of the old, and leaping 13,000 feet toward the newer, better, more awesome version of me. After calling/texting/emailing about 35 people, I found three souls brave enough to take the plunge with me: Lauren, Hannah, and Cole. But, things didn't go quite as planned yesterday. Our lesson was to take place at 10:30, followed by the jump around 11, but the weather decided not to cooperate. With the morning rain, and cloudy skies that followed, we didn't jump until about 5. In that six-hour waiting period, I'd built up fear, anxiety, and nervousness. Luckily, I had my co-jumpers, and friends Ginny and Christine to offer their support. Given the long wait time, Lauren had to leave before she could jump. Hannah was up first in Group 5... and leaped like a champ! Cole and I were in Group 7. As we boarded the plane, my fear and anxiety worsened. My tandem leaper, Mike, was great. He reassured me that everything would go well. I did a brief interview, asking him 1) How secure the harnesses were; 2) How many years he'd been jumping; 3) How many times he'd jumped; and 4) What his plans were for Sunday... if he had plans, he surely had every intention of keeping them (and not dying). As we held steady at 13,000 feet in the air, the plane door opened, and Mike inched closer and closer towards it. I could hear myself screaming, and felt the tears welling up... I was terrified. As we got to the door, I looked below me to fields, buildings, and cars, and screamed more loudly. Mike yelled the instructions in my ear one last time... tuck your feet and arch!

Before I knew it, we were in free fall. For a moment, I forgot to breathe... and when I opened my mouth again, I was back to screaming. Then Mike opened up the parachute, and I looked at everything surrounding us: he showed me Springfield, Hartford, the UConn campus... I don't remember the rest, because I was just taking it all in. I was still scared, but Mike continued to tell me that we would be ok. As we floated towards the earth, I took comfort in knowing that my friends were waiting down below. Once we hit the grass, the first words out of my mouth were, "Oh my God, I did it!"

I did do it. But, what I accomplished was more than just this jump... what I actually did had been a culmination of 60 days of learning and experiencing what life had to offer to me, and what I had to offer in return. I took a leap when I challenged myself to try something new and different for 60 days straight... and I never broke. And, what I found after taking one last leap through the air was the "me" who knows that I can do anything I put my mind to... because I'm just getting more awesome.

Day 59: Crafty

As my 60 Days nears its' end, I find it only fitting that I go out in style

I try to look decent whenever I got out... you only get one chance to make a good first impression. I'm no fashionista by any stretch, but I like shopping and I like clothes. In the back of my mind this entire week, I've been wondering, "What on earth will I wear on Saturday?"

So, last night, I made a fancy t-shirt to serve as a reminder of what I have accomplished. It was plain and simple, while getting my message across: 60 Things in 60 Days and Day 60. I stopped at Old Navy to find a basic t-shirt, and found one in my favorite color: pink! I then stopped at Jo-Ann Fabric to buy glitter paint, marker paint, and stencils. While the glitter paint didn't show up the way I'd originally intended, the marker paint worked much better!

Day 58: Olé

It took long enough, but we finally got around to celebrating Sarah's engagement with a girls' dinner.

One of Sarah's favorite places to eat is On the Border. I've only ever been there for drinks, so I was excited about margaritas, chips/salsa, and tacos. As I browsed the menu, Sarah, Andrea, and Denise already knew what they wanted. I had an idea because I typically order the same thing whenever I have Mexican, and when our server came with our second pitcher of strawberry margaritas, I was ready to order. I asked for steak tacos minus all the fixings, plus lettuce and sour cream... she then recommended I have their do-it-yourself fajitas, instead.

So, last night, I made my first fajitas. She asked what I whether I wanted black beans or refried beans... I asked if I could have no beans, and she offered to substitute fries. Well, after initially saying yes to my safety food of fries, I changed my mind, and decided to go out on a (short) limb and try refried beans for the first time, too. Making my fajitas was kind of exciting, and I surprisingly liked the refried beans. Cheers to being less predictable these days.

Day 57: You Drive Me Crazy

So, another thing on my list of "30 Things Before 30" was to learn how to drive stick shift; Andrea and I thought it might come in handy for whenever we made it on the Amazing Race.

Some people like sitting behind the wheel... I'm not one of them. Driving just isn't one of my favorite things to do. When I drive, my focus is on one thing: the road. I don't like having passengers in my car, because I can never turn and talk to them while driving, for fear of taking my eyes off the road. I typically can't do more than one thing at a time when I'm behind the wheel.

So, on Wednesday, I learned how to drive stick shift. Cole came over and offered his car and time for my driving lesson. He drove us to the middle school near my condo, and gave me a thorough tutorial on what I needed to do in order to drive a standard. While I typically pride myself on being a quick learner, everything he told me went way over my head... it might've had to do with my negative mindset going into this that things would not go well. He used a few analogies, which were helpful, but I'd forgotten most of it by the time I got behind the wheel. And, although I had very little faith in my ability to manage the clutch/brake/gas at the same time that I was shifting gears, it somehow happened.  Don't get me wrong... there were several stalls during my drive around the parking lot and, after I finished my full throttle hee hee haw haw, Cole talked me through all of it. And, just when I thought I was able say that I could "drive stick," my one last test was to drive on the road. Luckily, it was later in the night, and there weren't many cars around, but I did it (without stalling)! Despite a few hitches, leading to moments of frustration on my end, it was all well worth it.

Day 56: Saucy

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, "I'm a meat and potatoes kind of girl." But, if meat and potatoes didn't exist, I'd get along just fine on pasta.

Before "60 Things," my idea of "cooking" was either throwing marinade on meat, or opening a jar of tomato sauce to throw over pasta. Over the past few weeks, I've come to appreciate cooking so much more... I fear cooking a whole lot less, and have grown so much more confident with what I actually can do in the kitchen. I've had a lot of help along the way, for which I'm so grateful and appreciative, and look forward to experimenting even more in the future. While I don't expect to become the next Iron Chef, I've certainly surprised myself with some of the dishes I've made along the way.

So, tonight, I made my first tomato sauce from scratch. Alli came over with tomatoes, basil, and mozzarella... and I had the rest. Alli has been one of my closest friends since we were teenagers... we met briefly at a state student council conference, and became close when we were 16 and working together at the Gap. Although we don't get together as often as we did when we were younger, we always manage to pick up right where we left off whenever we do meet up. For the sauce, we sautéed some garlic in olive oil, and then added the tomatoes, oregano, basil, white wine, tomato paste, salt, and pepper. In the meantime, I'd also cooked the penne... I was quite the busy girl! After the pasta was cooked, we added the fresh mozzarella, fresh parmesan, and sauce. It was delicious... and yet another home-cooked meal that I was proud of making!

Day 55: Salad Bar

I really need to make more of a conscious effort to eat out less... starting next week. For starters, it's likely to be healthier, and it's also a whole lot cheaper.

I love the days that I work in Glastonbury, because 1) it's right around the corner from me, and 2) Kacie works with me, and is always up for buying lunch. Between Chipotle, Zoup, Spicy Green Bean, Luna Pizza, and Whole Foods, we've done a lot of ordering out. Add Starbucks and TCBY to the mix, and there goes half our paychecks. Whenever I order out, I try to get something I probably wouldn't make at home: pizza, burger, panini, wrap, sandwich.

So, yesterday, Kacie and I decided that we were hungry and ready for lunch... at 10:30am.  We decided to go to Whole Foods, and saw that they hadn't started to put out any of their sandwiches, pizzas, or paninis. Like I said, it was probably about 10:35am by the time we got there. The only thing open was the salad bar... and I'd never made/eaten a salad at Whole Foods. I typically go for either a slice of their white pizza or a ham and swiss panini, but neither of those were out yet. So, I walked around the salad bar and created my own salad: I chose greens I'd never heard of before, added grilled chicken, croutons, and dressing, and had my lunch. It's definitely something I can make at home... especially since I can now eat lettuce other than romaine.

Day 54: Wine Festival

It's no secret that I love wine, and I go to a few wine tastings here in CT every summer.

A few weeks ago, Gretchen invited Andrea and me to the Shoreline Wine Festival in Guilford that she and Justin were going to... there was a Groupon ending that night good for two people. I was excited because I hadn't seen Gretchen since my birthday, and because I'd never been to a wine festival. Earlier this year, Andrea and her boyfriend, Monto, went to a wine festival at the casino and had a blast; I received a dozen indecipherable text and picture messages that night. Andrea was in Puerto Rico when Gretchen sent the invite, so I text and called her and Monto to see if they wanted me to get them tickets. Since I couldn't get in touch with them, I assumed that they would go, and bought two sets of tickets.

So, yesterday, I went to my first wine festival! There were 7 different vineyards there from Connecticut... none of which were vineyards I'd visited before. Each vineyard gave samples of 4-5 of their wines, so I was a pretty happy girl. During the wine festival, we also go to sample foods from local places: marinaras, olive oils, and hot sauces... all of which were delicious. After our group of 7 separated, Cole and I stuck around for a tour of Bishop's Orchards and were the only ones in the tour group. It was definitely a fun day, and I look forward to going to more of these wine festivals in the future!