Almost exactly a year ago, I had decided to embark in an ambitious endeavor of completing 365 things 365 days. At the time, it was a creative way for me to continue to try new things while regaining a new life balance, something that was lacking in 2014. The original list was full of mini road trips, photography projects, wish list items and many, many, many random to-dos
Forgive me if this sounds cliche, but there is no other phrase that can describe why all of the items on the list did not get completed. The unexpected happened in my life early in the year, placing me on a winding path for the rest of the year. Instead of focusing on this list that was sure to bring me enlightenment, circumstances caused me to rise to the occasion at work, where I had barely been for four months. An unintended Master’s class was upon me, expanding my industry knowledge and skills sets in a baptism by fire way. Somehow I blinked, and 2015 is in the final stages. In total, 95 items have been completed on the original 365 list. Yet there is no doubt that over the past year, the amount of new experiences, purchases, projects and skills developed total that target number of 365.
While all of the items are not included on here, each one has impacted who I am. From discovering my uncanny ability to multitask high priority tasks, to exploring my strengths as a professional, the direction of my future is clearer now than I had anticipated it would be this time last year. In respects to my writing, in 2015 I have had 33 essays published including 20 syndicated pieces and 13 original. My mind is still reeling about that reality. The gratitude I have in my heart for the opportunity to share my stories to help others feel less alone cannot even begin to be explained. Personally, the items that were completed (both planned and spontaneous) served as additional crumbs of insight leading me the path of learning more about myself. Self acceptance and inner peace is still a daily struggle, but maintaining an undistorted viewpoint has become more manageable.
To check out my favorite moments of 2015, including a photo gallery, click here!
To check out a photo gallery of my favorite photographs that I’ve snapped in 2015, click here!
To check out all of the 33 articles I’ve had published in 2015, click here!
Below are the list of the 90 items checked off the list, as well as a few of the additions:
Make that vision board I’ve been saying I would make for the past year- Buy a sketchbook
- Finger paint
- Meet with a financial advisor (you can read about it here)
- Pay off my credit cards (one of them!)
- Contribute to my retirement fund (bi-weekly 401k set up)
- Get an IUD (you can read all about it here)
- Start writing essays for my way in the future book (way harder than anticipated)
- Be published/featured in new publications
- Enter a writing contest
- Submit an essay to Thought Catalog (technically they syndicated two of my articles- which you can read here!
- Write a list of 25 lessons I’ve learned in 25 years (you can read it here)
- Write a letter to a friend I have lost touched with (Written but not sent, yet….)
- Sip on a glass of scotch
- Pop a bottle of champaign
Have dessert for breakfast- Have breakfast for dinner
- Eat something I can’t pronounce
- Try a new vegetable (rutabaga)
- Go to a piano bar
- Eat at Han Dynasty
- Eat at the Pop Shop
- Get ice cream from an ice cream truck
- Eat at a really fancy restaurant (Parc and Fo Go De Cho)
- Go to the gym in the morning before work for an entire week
- Take a walk in the rain
Wake up and watch the sunrise- Watch a sunset
- Make a snow angel
- Dig my feet into the sand
- Lay outside and stare at the stars
- Dance in the rain
- Look up at a really tall tree
- Skip stones
Wish on a star- Lay on the grass and watch the clouds
- Throw a penny in a wishing well
- Yell really loud and listen to my echo
- Run through a field of really pretty flowers
- Go an entire day without speaking
- Spend an entire weekend reading at least two-three books
- Stay at a hotel/motel by myself (The best way to save your sanity when life is overwhelming)
- Attempt to mediate (Still is a bust)
- Go to Hershey Park (Brought along a friend’s family and created my own rented-family vacation)
Renting a mini-van and a family for the day to go to Hershey Park - Walk through Valley Forge
- Spin in a chair with wheels until I get dizzy
- Hang upside down
- Play Jenga
- Ride another upside roller coaster (at Hershey Park)
- Ride a wooden roller coaster (at Hershey Park)
- Attend mass at St. Peter and Paul’s Basilica
- Visit the Constitution Center
- Visit Franklin Square
- Go to the Philadelphia Museum of Art
- Polar Bear Plunge (you can read about it here)
- Take a painting lesson- not one that involves alcohol (you can read about it here)
- Feed ducks
- Do a homemade hair treatment (you can read about it here)
- Do a homemade face treatment (you can read about it here)
- Make my own body scrub
- Successfully use a hair sock bun (although it only lasted several minutes)
- Take an epsom salt bath (a new favorite relaxation device)
- Try Reki (you can read about it here)
- Experience a new spa treatment
- Try Halotherapy
- Try reflexology (you can read about it here)
- Make that vision board I’ve been saying I would make for the past year (it totally worked!)
- Spend a whole day not using my laptop (not by choice, but because the Apple Store had it)
- Clean out my closet and drawers
- Buy a nice poster for my room (Breakfast at Tiffany’s Kissing in the Rain scene- thrift store steal of $10)
-
Guess Who caught the Garter Be a bridesmaid in a wedding (my girl is now a Mrs. as of October 2015)
- Tell someone exactly what I need when asked, as many times as possible
- Forgive someone that has hurt me
- Pay for someone’s coffee behind me anonymously (in honor of Weston’s 9th birthday)
- Donate blood (attempted to but apparently my veins were too small)
- Listen to an elderly person’s life story (this is a privilege that I get to experience quite often at work)
- Buy a flask AND FILL IT UP (technically I won a flask at an ugly sweater party)
- Buy a silk robe (another thrift store steal- Victoria Secret’s brand for $5)
- Buy a star in honor of someone (in honor of my buddy Weston, which you can read about here)
- Buy a really high quality dress (Jessica Simpson brand for a cocktail gala)
-
My first pinterest creation- fruit gobbler Buy a bold shade of lipstick
- Buy an overpriced hair accessory
- Watch a Ted Talk
- Go to the Crayola Factory (you can read about it here)
- Take Taylor to New York (you can read about it here)
- Take a photo every single day for 365 days (the app Project 365 was great for this
- Enter a photo contest
- Learn how to use external flash on my DSLR (still a work in progress but I’ve shot several times using it)
- Get professional head shots taken (twice!)
- Learned that the Philadelphia Parking Authority will tow your car for outstanding parking tickets
- Put air in my own car tires
- Rented a car for the first time
-
Papal Cat - Took off from work for 13 days straight for Christmas vacation
- Organized a food drive for Philabundance
- Stepped in to continue marketing endeavors of an organization after my boss unexpectedly left- 5 months after I was hired
- Had several articles syndicated by multiple publications
- Watched Christmas Vacation for the first time
- Published several articles on Your Tango for the first time
- Published articles on Elite Daily for the first time
- Published an article on Muppet Mindset for the first time
- Had an article syndicated on Yahoo Parenting
- Had an two articles syndicated on Thought Catalog
- Had an article syndicated on Everyday Feminism
- Had an article syndicated on Psych Central
- Successfully pitched and had media coverage for the 1st Annual Feed the Fire Event (you can read about it here)
- Won an ugly sweater contest
- Tried a pie milkshake from Magpies
- Went to a male stripper review for a bachelorette party
- Dressed the cat up like the Pope during the Philadelphia Papal Visit- had it showcased on television and online
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That time i came into work and 50 pumpkins were shoved in my office Tweeted the Borgota because of poor customer service during a bachelorette party weekend- received free cover to nightclub
- Interviewed to be on Worst Cook in America
- Landed my highest paying freelance job, starting in 2016
- Wrote and produced my first ever Annual Report for a non-profit
- Purchased a multi directional antenna
- Shot my first boudoir photo shoot
- Having Annie the Cat featured on several social media outlets, including Meow Mix (you can read about it here)
- Took my niece on her first train ride
- Took my niece to see the Radio City Christmas Spectacular for the first time (you can read about it here)
- Went to the Philadelphia Christmas Village for the first time
- Went to the Philadelphia Comcast Center light show for the first time
Caught the bouquet of flowers at a wedding - Had a gentleman put a garter up my leg at a wedding reception
- Schooled that gentleman by being forced to put the garter up his leg- with my teeth
- Had my first chest x-ray
- Befriended a person who let me document her incredible health journey
- Produced a short video for a non-profit gala (you can read about it here)
Helped put on a 100-person gala - Had 48 pumpkins delivered to my not-so-big office for a pumpkin decorating contest I coordinated at work
- Spent more time writing in notebooks using pens
- Read at a friend’s wedding for the first time
- Attended two rehearsal dinners for the first time
- Stopped a woman from attempting to steal my iPhone
- Bought high-thread count sheets
- Bought a duvet cover
- Went to Dorney Park
- Attempted to make baked brie
- Started seeing a massage therapist on a regular basis
- Learned the importance of using Microsoft Excel
A bridesmaid virgin no more - Had to manage the paper promotional items of an organization- and came to realize digital is more my thing
- Watched a family reunite with the hospital staff that they considered family for several years
- Had my photo taken with Santa at the Macy’s in New York’s Herald square
- Launched my first organizational blog, Next Chapter for Penn Rehab (you can read about it here)
