29 for 29

I’m turning 29 today. I’m excited to celebrate and at the same time it’s a little sad to be entering the final year of my 20s. I’ve decided to tackle my 29th year by putting together a list of 29 things I’d like to accomplish during the year. I’ll be adding a tab at the top of the blog so that you can check in with my progress at any point during the year. I will be putting together a little legend so you can see which items are completed, in progress, or yet to be started. I imagine I’ll be blogging about each thing as I complete it. Without a further ado, here’s the list!

1. Complete a 30 day photography challenge
2. Visit Voyageurs National Park in northern Minnesota
3. Finish scrapbooking my summer out West from 2010
4. Complete a fitness challenge
5. Make more Duluth friends
6. Visit 5 new State Parks in either Minnesota or Wisconsin
7. Read 5 professional development related books
8. Climb Eagle Mountain, the highest point in Minnesota (I’ve been told it’s actually not that bad of a climb)
9. Drive the entire North Shore – Duluth to Canada
10. Try one new food or drink each month
11. Save up for and purchase a DSLR camera
12. Crochet a blanket
13. Send more snail mail cards to friends and family
14. Make at least 1 recipe a month found through Pinterest
15. Make at least 1 craft a month found through Pinterest
16. Take a road trip
17. See the Northern lights
18. Get my MN driver’s license
19. Make a blog editorial schedule I can stick with
20. Visit a zoo
21. Photograph sunrise and sunset on the same day
22. Figure out my next career goal
23. Visit the Golden Gate Bridge during my trip to California
24. Stick my hand (or feet) in Lake Superior during every season
25. Attend at least 2 UMD Hockey games – one women’s & one men’s
26. Invest more into my retirement fund
27. Watch all of the Harry Potter movies back to back (yes, all 8 of them!)
28. Kick my soda habit for good
29. Be swept off my feet

So what do you think of my list? Want to tackle any of these things with me? To be honest, this list was harder to put together than I thought it would be. However, I’m excited with the list that I came up with. I think 29 is going to be an excellent year.

2 Candles on the Blog Cake

Happy birthday to my little blog!

(source)

Two years ago, I launched this site as a way to chronicle my impending summer internship at Eastern Oregon University. I thought it would be a cool way to reflect on the internship experience I was having while simultaneously sharing my adventures traveling through the Pacific Northwest.

My EOU Experiences

That summer sparked a love and desire to travel, hike, and photograph the world around me. Once I was back from Oregon, my final year of grad school kicked into high gear. I spent the 10-11 academic year splitting my time between UW-Whitewater and UW-Madison. May 2011 brought my Masters graduation. June 2011 brought about one of the biggest moves/life changes I’ve experienced thus far in life. I started my career counseling gig at the University of Minnesota Duluth and moved to northern Minnesota. While my blog posts haven’t been as frequent since I moved, I absolutely love it here. I’m trying to renew my blogging and be more consistent with my posting the rest of this year.

My blog has given me the opportunity to capture the places I visit, the photos I take, the books I read, the places I want to see, the moments I experience with others, and the thoughts I have as a new professional in higher education. Thank you for reading and commenting!!

Here are some of my favorites posts:

• Who Wants a Friend? (MWF Seeking BFF book review)
• Explore: #oneword2011
• My Best Day in Student Affairs
• Things I’ve Learned at UW-Whitewater
• I’ve Graduated
• Sisterly Bonding
• A Summer of Learning
• Hiking & Wine: Pacific Northwest Style
• To Portland and Back
• EOU Internship Week 5: Thank You!
• Road Trip: Lessons Learned

Here’s to the past 2 years and many more!

28 Candles Mix

Today is my 28th birthday! Well, at exactly 5:32pm will be my birthday! The post title is a play on a mix cd I made for one my sister’s recent birthdays. The past couple days I kept thinking about how I could celebrate my birthday through my blog doing something with the number 28. Here’s what I came up with: music. Music has always been a huge part of my life, as a listener and performer (I played the clarient & flute). A lot of my life experiences are tied to music. So, I thought I’d share some more of what makes me the person I am through the music that has shaped my life.

Side note: turning 28 is making me feel a little “old.” However, I think the “oldish” feeling will really kick in, in a month when my little sister turns 25!! To mom, dad, & Julie: THANK YOU for 28 fantastic years of fun, laughter, support, love, and family awesomeness!

1. Romeo & Juliet Soundtrack (1996 movie) – this was my very first full-length cd (this was back in the day when you could purchase singles on cd!). To this day, I still adore this cd. Favorite songs: You & Me Song by The Wannadies and To You I Bestow by Mundy.

2. Soundtracks, in general – I love soundtracks to movies. They house some of my favorite music. I totally love the soundtracks to: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire; Center Stage; The Devil Wears Prada; Garden State; Twilight; Pride & Prejudice (the Keira Knightly version); How to Train Your Dragon; The Last Song; and Flicka.

3. Uninvited by Alanis Morrissette – The music of my first winter colorguard show. It will always have a special place in my heart. My favorite thing about colorguard is the use of music to tell a story. Other favorites tied to colorguard: Nothing Else Matters by Apocalyptica (originally by Metallica) & Taste by Lorna Vallings.

4. Wonderwall by Ryan Adams – The original by Oasis is pretty good, and there’s something about Ryan Adams’s voice that I fall in love with every time I hear the song. (It’s my 2nd most played song on iTunes!)

5. Coldplay – my absolute favorite band…EVER! I’ve seen them twice in concert and cannot wait until they are back on the road…especially because that’ll mean they have new music out!! Favorite Coldplay songs: Trouble (the one that started it all during Freshman year of undergrad!), Fix You, Strawberry Swing, and Lost.

6. U2 – Tied for my 2nd favorite band ever (they’re tied with Rascal Flatts). Bono is just awesome, as a performer and as a musician. Songs I love: Beautiful Day; Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me; City of Blinding Lights; and All I Want is You.

7. Rascal Flatts – my other tied for 2nd place favorite. I was introduced to Rascal Flatts by my freshman year roommate, Megan. Since that fateful introduction, I have seen them twice in concert and own each of their cds. Favorite song of all time by Rascal Flatts: Bless the Broken Road.

8. Fallen by Sarah McLachlan. It was hard to choose my favorite song by Sarah. My largest single artist cd collection is of her…I own 9! The kicker is that I don’t even have all of her cds. I saw Sarah in concert with my friend Amanda. It marked the single most spontaneous thing the 2 of us did during college. We had intended to get tickets to see Josh Groban, not realizing how fast they sold out. In a matter of a conversation or 2, we decided to go see Sarah McLachlan instead. The buying was the spontaneous part because that was in March and the concert wasn’t until September. Other Sarah favorites: Building a Mystery, I Will Remember You, and Sweet Surrender.

9. In the End by Linkin Park – Megan and I played this song just about every night before bed during freshman year. I don’t remember why we did this, we just did. I think we both just really liked the song. Another fav: Leave Out All the Rest from the Twilight soundtrack.

10. Cosmic Love by Florence + the Machine – I first heard this song on So You Think You Can Dance this past summer…before she got so popular. It remains one of my favorite songs and is currently the most played song on my iTunes.

11. Breathe Me by Sia – another one I first heard on SYTYCD and there’s something tragically beautiful about the song.

12. Young Folks by Peter Bjorn & John – was one of my favorite songs that played on the PA system when I worked at Pier 1 a couple years ago. We would get cds from corporate that were on 3 hour loops. When you worked anywhere from 20 to 40 hours a week, like I did, you got to know the music really well. Another notable: My Moon My Man by Feist.

13. Don’t Rain on My Parade as sung by Rachel on Glee – I LOVE Glee! Don’t Rain on My Parade has been my ringtone for the past year.

14. Tonight, Tonight by Smashing Pumpkins – another favorite that was used as colorguard show music, even though I loved it long before it was used for a show.

15. Hallelujah by Jeff Buckley – there are so many covers of this song out there. I enjoy this one the most because it’s so simple.

16. Just Dance by Lady Gaga – because sometimes I just want to dance. If you ever saw me in my car during the commute to internship this past year, you may have thought there was something was wrong with me because I like to “dance” in my car to music. What else is there to do while sitting in traffic? I also love: Bad Romance (Glee version rather than the original).

17. Canon in D by Pachabel – besides loving classical music, this song is tied to another beautiful colorguard show. Also in this same category is Aaron Copland’s “Simple Gifts,” especially the version by Yo-Yo Ma & Alison Krauss.

18. Divine Comedy (Inferno, Purgatorio, Ascension, & Paradiso) by Robert W. Smith – my absolute favorite marching band show that I performed in during high school. We took the audience on the journey from hell to heaven using Inferno, Purgatorio & Paradiso. We moved people to tears! We also were rained out at the State Championships and had to perform standstill indoors.

19. Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Green Day – this song is linked to one of the colorguards I taught. The song was played so much that one of the students in the group said she heard it every day on the radio during the winter season. Plus, I just like Green Day, and who doesn’t love “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)”?

20. Cello Suite #1 in G by Bach as played by Yo-Yo Ma – check out the West Wing episode “Noel” from season 2 where Yo-Yo Ma performed the song as part of a Christmas Party. It was beautifully linked to a story about post traumatic stress disorder of one of the main characters.

21. Let Go by Frou Frou – favorite song off of the Garden State soundtrack. To be honest, I saw the movie once, and really didn’t like it. However, the soundtrack just stuck with me. Plus, it was an awesome homework study cd…low-key enough without being boring.

22. Drive by Incubus – another love from early undergrad. I had a thing for rock bands during that time (think: Green Day, Sugarcult, Nickelback, Good Charlotte, Linkin Park, etc).

23. Make This go on Forever by Snow Patrol – I love the shifting between quiet and intense in this song. Honestly, it lends itself perfectly for a dynamic winter colorguard show. If only it wasn’t so long (winter guard shows typically need to be around 4:30 minutes).

24. Moment I Said It by Imogen Heap – I was introduced to Imogen Heap by a cousin of mine. I love her voice and the interesting construction of her songs.

25. Please Read the Letter by Robert Plant & Alison Krauss – This was one of the many Alison Krauss songs that were listened to last May while my friend Jenny and I drove through Yellowstone National Park…in the dark…in a snowstorm. Yes, we were freaked out and the lovely Alison Krauss helped to keep us calm.

26. Malguena as played by the Madison Scouts – I LOVE the Madison Scouts…well, I love almost all drum corps music. The Scouts have a special place in my heart because they were the first drum corps I ever saw with their “Pirates of Lake Mendota” show in the mid-1990s. When these guys (they are 1 of 2 all male drum corps) play anything with Latin flavor, it sounds AMAZING with all of the talented high brass voices that are generally part of the organization. Writing this makes me want it to be summer so I can go to a drum corps show!

27. Set Fire to the Rain by Adele – while I know this song just came out on Adele’s most recent cd (in February, I believe is when it came out), I love it! Adele has such an awesome style and I could listen to her music any time of day.

28. Ain’t No Mountain High by Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell – mine and my sister’s song! During the year Julie and I both lived on-campus at UW-Eau Claire, this song seemed to always play during our drive between home and school (it was on a mix-tape that lived in my car). “If you ever need a helping hand, I’ll be there on double, just as fast as I can…” what better explains the relationship between 2 sisters?

Okay, so this exercise took me a bit longer than expected. It was hard to narrow down to just 28 pieces of music or artists. There are so many that aren’t on here: Josh Groban, Michael Buble, Keith Urban, Taylor Swift, Tori Amos, Jack Johnson, William Joseph, Butterfly Boucher, etc. Regardless, I hope you enjoyed of music!

To all the April birthdays out there: Happy Birthday!