Walking in a Holiday Wonderland...

I love talking about Christmas or really any holiday with friends and family. When you talk in the present tense about a holiday it's "I have so much more shopping to do" or "we are making three hams because we have 22 people coming to dinner this year!", or "I am really hoping for an iPad so I can stop lugging my laptop around with me". All are perfectly fine things to talk about, and all are conversations I find myself having too.

But I love the past tense conversations. It's never about what you got, what you ate, or how you fell asleep with visions of sugar plums dancing in your head. Not the Red Rider BB gun... not the feast down in Whoville... not the angel who you helped get its wings. It's about much smaller things. And that's what I love.

It's about how one year, there was so much snow that you were all dripping wet at Christmas dinner from making snow angels for an hour. About how Uncle Bruce spiked his own egg nog and confessed he didn't really meet your aunt in church, like he originally said. About that year that the dog chased your cousin's cat around the house and knocked down the Christmas tree. That time Dad forgot to open the flu in the fireplace before lighting the fire and everything smelled like smoke for days. Laughing about that year that the power went out and the kids put on a disco play with glowsticks and flash lights. About how happy mom was that everyone agreed to take a family picture. About staying up late with your cousins, convincing each other those really were jingle bells you were hearing. And the year you finally caught Grandpa eating the cookies that were supposed to be for Santa.

When I think about my Christmases growing up, I don't remember which year I got a barbie doll, or designed the perfect Christmas cookie masterpiece. My memories are smaller than that, and they make me happy.

It's that 'Santa' would always come visit us at my grandmother's house on Christmas Eve, and I always thought it was weird that he seemed to be the only person to use the front door, since everyone else came in through the side door.

It's that, with twelve people and two dogs in the house, it was easy for my brother and I to sneak out to the freezer on the porch and attack Nana's stash of frozen Thin Mint cookies, totally unnoticed.

It's that I got to sleep in my Aunt Jerri's old bedroom... which had more stuffed animals than I could ever play with. And that was awesome.

I remember my mother and her sisters acting out The Twelve Days of Christmas every year, and getting themselves into laughing fits until you couldn't tell which day they were on anymore.

It's the faces my dad would make when he walked into Nana's house to find that the thermostat was set at 82 degrees.

It's the orange glow that came from the candelabra night lights, that I watched as I fell asleep. Whether it was the color or the heat in Nana's house, I don't know, but it made me feel warm and safe.

Taking pictures along the banister. And never taking it seriously after the age of about 10.

Wondering how many years the same piece of string had been used to hang our stockings.

Realizing that my mother had hand made each of our stockings.

Trying to wear those stockings like socks, after we got those pesky oranges out of the bottom.

Wrapping paper wars.

Calling to my dad and uncles that they had to get out of the kitchen to unwrap gifts because it was "their turn".

Nana getting package after package of Exclamation lotion, perfume, and cremes, and her excitement over receiving each one because she just LOVES Exclamation.

Finding the drawers full of previous year's exclamation gifts that had never been opened.

Making the whole pew shake at midnight mass as my brothers and dad and I all tried not to laugh hysterically at the priest's sermon.

The looks my mother gave us when the pew started shaking.

And the main reason to go to midnight mass: walking home with my dad when the air was cold, the whole town was asleep, and it was just us. Each year, the walk seemed to get shorter, and I wished we could go just once more around the block, even though I couldn't feel my toes.

May your holidays be happy, healthy, and full of memories that you can hold with you long into the new year. Memories that are hard to explain, but fill you with warmth and make you smile. No matter what Best Buy says, Christmas is not about the iPad.

Gotta do the rest in 240 days!

Who has two thumbs and is awful at updating her blog? THIS GIRL!

Part of the reason has been because I have been waiting for the opportunity to include MAJOR updates, which have still not quite manifested, but largely because life seems to be getting away from me these days! I am not sure where the time goes, but I seem to be missing days/weeks/months at a time as life goes by at blinding speeds.

I suppose I should start with an update on my list… which is also a shock to me. Looking at how little time I have left, I am amazed that I am 761 days into my mission and have not completed more of my goals. When I kicked off this mission, I went at full force, tackling as many of these goals as I could right away. Obviously, the main point of this challenge was not to set goals that I could accomplish overnight, but it is still unsettling how quickly the time has passed.

On a positive note, here’s what I’ve done since my last check-in:

One of the most important goals on my list was #2 : Spend a weekend with just my Daddy. Yes, I am Daddy’s little girl. Not only am I fully aware of my Princess stature in this respect, but I fully embrace it. In some ways, I am a lot like my dad; a truth that has been pointed out to me my entire life, but I have only started to see for myself and fully appreciate as an adult. He came down to visit me in New York City last month when my husband was away and we had a great time seeing a show, going out for drinks, taking a nice long walk to the private cooking class we took together, and just chatting. I think we must have driven our waitress crazy on the night he arrived because we sat in the restaurant just chatting for about 45 minutes before even attempting to open our menus and order. It was nice just to be able to talk. Just me and my Dad.

#15 – I took someone to see their first Broadway show! Not only was it a chance to catch up with an old friend who was in the city for business, but to be able to bring them into a Broadway house where the look around and can think of nothing to say except “Dude, this is awesome. Like, seriously awesome, dude!” brought the biggest smile to my face.

#19 – That Broadway show (and another one) counted toward my total… but I had better get moving on more of them!

#20 – I attended the Only Make Believe gala this fall. If you don’t know about OMB, they are an incredible organization that puts on free performances for kids living in hospitals in and around New York City. These performances are no cost to the kids, the parents, or the hospitals, and really make a difference in the lives of these kids who are confined to treatment facilities long-term. They put on six week programs for the kids using professional actors, and find special ways to engage the audience and bring them into the story. They even leave behind costumes for the kids after the program is done, so they can continue to escape the realities they are faced with every day. After having the truly touching honor of being invited into one of these hospitals for a performance and seeing the reactions on the children’s faces, I was more than happy to contribute to their Gala fundraising efforts, and I think the slogan of OMB is worth repeating here. “I believe, I believe, I believe in Make Believe!”

Visit them online to find out how you can volunteer by bedazzling costumes for the kids, making a contribution, or about the kids whose lives have been touched by Only Make Believe.

#22 – One of the things I love about having such talented friends is that I am constantly being invited to see them perform! And I will not only always support my friends, but I support anyone who showcases their talents in the arts, whether they are visual artists, musicians, singers, dancers, actors, playwrights, stagehands, or that little guy who makes sure the inserts are in the Playbill each night. HOORAY FOR LIVE THEATRE!

#29 – Even though I thought I was going to die after the first one, I ran ANOTHER 5K! Andy and I did the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning, and I am happy we did. I was not happy that I was already too sore to walk by about 5pm that night… but that’s a different story.

#55 – Remember that cooking class I mentioned earlier? The one I took with my dad? It was an Indian Cooking Class! We had two sessions – in Northern and Southern Indian cuisine – and we made about 5 dished from each region from scratch. It was amazing and delicious and soo much fun!

There are a few other biggies that I am working on, but I suppose those updates will have to come at a later date. I just had to get these updates out of the way first…

Blood Oath

I just donated blood again. It is such a nothing task for me to do, but it really benefit someone in need. Everyone should do it more often!

I used to donate every few months when I was living back in Albany because the Red Cross would call me to ask me to come in every time I was eligible. Keeping up with it was no trouble at all when someone else was keeping track of my donation schedule! Now that I am in the city, there are no phone calls, not even any emails reminding me to donate. Time just flies right by me, and before I know it, it's been two years since my last donation! Yikes.

Since I put 5 blood donations on my 101 list, and then realized I was more than 1/2 way through my allotted time frame without donating a single time, I have really tried to be diligent about my donations. I was triggered into it when some of my co-workers were talking about a blood drive that they participated in to get GirlScout cookies. That is an EXCELLENT reason to donate, in my book! I made the decision to visit my local blood bank that very night, even if I would have to settle for the typical Lorna Doone cookies (which are also delicious). Since then, when the nurse gives me my dismissal sheet with the next date I am eligible to donate written across the top, I immediately add a reminder to my calendar. That little pop up window telling me that I can donate again prompts me to look up a blood drive going on in my neighborhood and make an appointment for some time in the coming weeks. Once the appointment is done, the new "eligible" date goes on the calendar!

It is so easy to let other things in life get in the way of taking the time to make an appointment, or deciding which date would be best to take an hour away from the office to sit in a chair squeezing a bicycle handle. But if you were in a hospital bed instead of an office chair, wouldn't you wish someone would give up an hour for you?

September 17... exciting day!

I found a video of the flash mob I was in last weekend for this guy "John" for his 40th birthday. I had to view the video without sound, so if it isn't great, I apologize. The camera jumps around a lot, but I saw my white top in there a few times! Check it out!

(I am dead center, white tank top and brown hat).

Later that day, we went out to celebrate my good friends Rufio and Yeah-Yeah's birthdays. The night started with paella and hairpieces...and ended with karaoke and diner food. Naturally. But it also resulted in one portion of #81 on my list.... we were outside when the sun rose at 6:38am.

SO many updates.

Wait, when I logged into my blogger just now, did it really just say "Last published July 7th"??? Oh dear. I promise I haven't been inactive since then. On the contrary, I have been TOO active, and therefore unable to post. Here are a few updates:

Since I am hearing rumblings in the news of temperatures plummeting in NYC over the next few days, I am going to go ahead and call this the end of the season. That means that #53 is officially done! My flowers and basil plants still look great, but I need to make sure to harvest that basil before I lose it to the cold! Who wants to come over for homemade pesto??? Maybe I can make it my signature dish! (#64!)

...Baby steps, here. Baby steps.

I've been making progress on other parts of the list as well. The most obvious one being my recent contribution to #39 on the list, which was do donate to some sort of children's charity. For that, I decided to send 14" of my hair to Wigs For Kids, an organization that provides wigs to children going through medical treatments. I was happy to do it, knowing that my locks were going to help make some child feel good, even when dealing with a terrible illness.

I am also proud to say that I have now donated over a foot of hair to each of the three major wig-making organizations: Locks Of Love (x2), Pantene's Beautiful Lengths, and Wigs for Kids.

Recently, I also reached out to a girl that used to be a very good friend of mine all through middle school and high school that I lost touch with when we both went off to college. I have often wondered what became of her, and how she was, and with the help of another buddy of mine, I recently tracked her down! The two of us have been emailing each other every few days with updates about our lives, and our families. It is odd to send "updates" to someone you used to know so well... especially when those updates are things like "Well, I'm married.... I live in New York City...", but it is sort of fun, too. I also tried reaching out to another friend of mine from high school a while back. I had basically given up hope when I didn't hear anything back for a long time, but this friend wrote back to me just YESTERDAY! Hooray! It is so nice to hear from these people again, and now I am wondering who else I could possibly track down. #11 on the list: CHECK.

My final update is a little premature, but I am counting it for #21 anyway. I am taking part in my first FLASH MOB tomorrow! There is a whole choreographed routine that I am learning (and need to look at a few more times before I head to rehearsal in the morning) that is about 3 minutes long and SUPER complicated. We are going to be surprising some man who has a milestone birthday this weekend (either 40th or 50th, I think) and his wife set up this huge surprise. The whole flash mob thing is weird, because we are less than a day away and we still don't even have a location yet. In fact, I guess they are going to tell us where to meet a few hours before the event, and then we are going to travel to the location together (and not find out where it is until we get there). I don't even know what time this dance will be taking place. They gave us a block of time to reserve for ourselves, but I am guessing we won't find out the actual time until we arrive. They don't joke around about this stuff staying secret! They really take every precaution to make sure that there won't be people standing around with cameras or anything to give it away when birthday boy arrives. I hope someone takes a video of it so I can post it here....And let's be honest, I hope this is me tomorrow...

So those are my updates! Off to see a Broadway Show tonight, and count it toward my list!