60, 68, 75

60. Make seasonal cakes/desserts - Here are a couple pictures from the past few holidays:

68. Get a manicure - a birthday present from Justin

75. Get involved with a Bible Study

I'm going to count our small group. We do it once a month and always include a devotional and prayer time, so I think it counts.

31, 85, 87, 98

31. Conquer the anxiety and go camping

I am so proud to say that I have done this!! It was a big deal for me, but it went really smoothly. Thank goodness for Paxil! We just stayed one night, but it was fun!

85. Try a new food that I don’t think I’ll like

I had hummus for the first time this summer, and was pleasantly surprised! I am not generally a fan of health food, and it looks really gross, but it was pretty good! I also ate tomatoes this year. I'm still not crazy about them, but I didn't pick them off every sandwich I ordered at a restaurant as usual. And when I accidentally got them on my tacos once or twice, I ate them anyway. Go me. Antioxidants.

87. Go to the beach four times (twice a summer)

We actually went a few times this year. Justin and I went to Grand Haven (which I think I've already posted about), then we went with my family a couple weeks later for Libby's birthday, and then again last weekend while we were camping! Here's a picture from the beach at Ludington:

98. Start a game night or book club or something and invite my friends.

I've been getting together with my cousins and one other girl once a week for a few months. It started as a "writer's workshop" since most of us are writing stories, but has melded into dinner, talking, sometimes games, and a little bit of "writing talk." It's great!

47

47. Go to a Whitecaps game

104

104. Take Justin to "The Donut Shop"

Growing up, we went to "the donut shop" every Saturday morning. It's just a little podunk bakery in Bailey of all places, but we loved it as kids. I haven't been there in so many years, but Justin and I both had the day off today, so we went to check it out. It hasn't changed a bit. It was so nostalgic. And delicious. :-)

25, 33, 74, 87

25. Go to a couple festivals/fairs
We went to Sparta Town and Country Days again this year. And Coast Guard Festival last weekend.

33. Plan a class reunion
Everything is planned. Now I'm just waiting for RSVPs and hoping people show up.

74. Use whitestrips on my teeth
I started this, but they hurt my teeth really bad, so I'm taking a break.

87. Go to the beach four times (twice a summer)
We went to Lake Michigan while we were at the Coast Guard Festival last weekend.

99

99. Get (or borrow) “Gilmore Girls” on DVD

I borrowed the first few seasons from Ali at the beginning of June, and just finished the seventh and final season two days ago. So I watched seven seasons in two months! Haha. I absolutely loved them, am completely obsessed with them, and am horribly sad that the show is done.

I don't know what I'm going to do now that I'm done. This marathon has filled up all my free time for the past two months.

18, 25, 34, 36, 99

18. Spend more time with my nephews - invite them over or take them somewhere at least ten times

25. Go to a couple festivals/fairs

Start of summer Celebration in Rockford

34. Go to Ikea
We did this while we were in Canton for Justin's soccer tournament. We bought a bunch of little stuff, but spent $90!

36. Get a Pedicure
















99. Get (or borrow) “Gilmore Girls” on DVD
I borrowed the entire season from Ali a couple weeks ago, and am halfway through season three already. I love it!

10.

10. Do "Restaurants A-Z"

While we were in Canton, this weekend, we did "C."

Cici's Pizza

We always see the commercial for this and wish that we had one around here (we did just get one in Muskegon, but that's still quite a drive), so we were excited to try it in Canton. It did not disappoint. The biggest pull for me is the price: Endless salad, pizza, pasta, breadsticks, dessert buffet plus a soft drink for $5!! Amazing! AND they have Dr. Pepper so they automatically win bonus points. Haha.

Of course, I skipped right over the salad, but Justin liked his. And the pizza was really good, too. They had a bunch of different kinds - some kind of odd, some normal. My only complaint is that they weren't labeled, so we just kind of guessed what they were.

Here's my first plate:

On the left was some kind of alfredo pizza with ham, I think. It was really good. The middle piece is macaroni and cheese pizza, which was surprisingly good as well! I actually really liked it! And then the breadsticks. I took a bite before I remembered to take a picture. Haha. They were delicious as well.

Justin's first plate:

I don't remember what all these are. All I know is he didn't like the spinach one, but he liked the rest.

I only had one plate of pizza, because I wanted to save room for dessert:
I was so excited about the dessert, I forgot to take a picture until I was half-way through. On the left was a delectable cinnamon roll, in the middle was some kind of apple-turnover-like-pizza, and then a brownie, which was actually my least favorite. All were delicious though. Yum!

And then, Justin's favorite part: the self-portrait in the booth:

Again, Justin looks like a weirdo, but I look super cute! Lol.

So, Cici's gets an A. I loved the food, the price, and the Dr. Pepper. Now we just need to get one in Grand Rapids!

21, 28, 33, 61, 64, 65

Catching Up

21. Have people over for dinner once in a while
I'm considering this one done. We have people over for small group every couple of months, and I've been hosting writer's workshop here every week where I make dinner.

28. Write stories or character sketches
I've been writing a new story, and doing a lot of character sketches.

33. Plan a class reunion
I wrote the initial letter, looked up addresses, and will be mailing the letter today.

61. Go on more field trips with Chase
I'm considering this one done. We go on field trips at least once a week. I have a few more planned for this summer, though, so I'm sure I'll upload some pictures.

64. Go on more dates with Justin
We do stuff all the time - restaurants, movies, etc.

65. Have a garage sale
Did this at my sister's house a couple weeks ago. Made like 53 bucks. Spent it all on food. :-)

10, 97

Disclaimer: I have tried and tried to fix the spacing with the pictures and the bill recap, but I can NOT figure it out, so I'm sorry that it's not very pretty.

97. Dance with Justin to “our song”

We did this last night by candlelight in our apartment. After going to a wedding, I was feeling nostalgic, so we watched our wedding video, then danced to our song ("You Are" by Jimmy Wayne.) So sweet. :-)

10. Do "Restaurants A-Z"

Kansas City Dip N' Grill

This place just opened a month or so ago, so we decided to try it tonight. Again, nothing great. We just haven't had much luck with trying new places, lately! Here's the breakdown:

The decor was nothing fantastic. There was a vinyl tablecloth on the table. The booths looked pretty new. The waitstaff didn't have uniforms - which was very odd. Most of the waitresses were wearing black t-shirts, but our waiter was wearing a Tiger's jersey. And no one had name tags or anything, so it was kind of difficult to even tell who worked there and who was just walking around. Haha. The menu was very small. Apparently they specialize in dips. They had lots of different kinds, but most had lots of veggies in them (onions, mushrooms, asparagus) - and we (ok, I) are not crazy about vegetables. They also had a few burgers, sandwiches, and salads. There was one kind of steak offered, and three Mexican options. No dessert.

Justin ordered the steak. He got two sides: fries and the southwestern dip n' chips. It cost $12.99. Here is the dip n' chips:

Sorry, we ate some before I remembered to take the picture. I didn't really like the dip. It tasted like the stuff you get at the grocery store deli counter. Very sour creamy.

And here is his steak:

I had a bite of his steak. It was spicy, but good. He liked it. The fries were nothing special.

I ordered the chicken caesar salad, just because I wasn't very hungry and nothing else jumped out at me:

Aren't those croutons so weird looking? Haha. It was just ok. There wasn't nearly enough dressing, and it was weird to me because they mixed in the chicken (instead of just putting on top in strips), so the whole salad was warm.

So the bill looked like this:

Justin's steak: $12.99

My salad: $8.59

My cherry coke: $1.99 (Justin had water)

Total (with tax): $24.98

Tip: $4.00 (he wasn't very good)

Total: $28.98

Overall, it was fine. Nothing special. We probably won't go back again. Minus 10 points for no Dr. Pepper. Plus five points for free refills, though! Haha. Minus 20 points for grammar errors in the menu. The word "choices" NEVER has an apostrophe in it!! C'mon people!

So here's our "cute couple" picture of the night:

Justin wouldn't let me take it in the booth, so we did it out in the foyer:

I don't know why Justin looks so weird in this picture, and I am definitely make-up-less and windblown, but we were going low-key tonight. :-)

61

61. Go on more field trips with Chase

Last week, we had a picnic at the park. And this week, we painted a plate at "Naked Plates" for Mother's Day!

18

18. Spend more time with my nephews - invite them over or take them somewhere at least ten times

The boys spent the night last night. We had game night (played Monopoly and Skip-bo). Then this morning we went bowling and out for lunch. What a good aunt. :-)

I can't figure out the pictures, so I'll put them on xanga.

10. Do “Restaurants A-Z”

Angela's

Tonight we tried Angela's in Sparta. Despite always having lived here, we've never been. It's another small-town type place that was nothing special. But we had fun nonetheless.

Here are the stats:

We seated ourselves. The whole dining room was non-smoking, which was nice. We were immediately greeted by our waitress and ordered our drinks. (No Dr. Pepper -10 points.) I had cherry coke made with grenadine. It cost $1.75, and I was only allowed one free refill.

There was a big menu. It took me forever to decide. I was surprised by how expensive their entrees were for being such a small-town place. Their chicken alfredo was $10.95. I can get it from Olive Garden for that price! (Ok, I order the lunch portion at O.G, but you know . . .)

So despite cringing at the cost, I finally just gave in and ordered the cheese manicotti. The half portion was 8.99. I asked for it with alfredo sauce, which unbeknowst to me cost me an extra $2.

It was nothing special. I liked the ricotta filling, but the alfredo definitely tasted like it came from a jar. My meal came with a salad and garlic bread. The salad was good because they have really good ranch. The garlic bread looked like this:

Justin ordered the meat stromboli. He got the small portion for $7.99 which looked like this:

I wonder what the large portion looked like! Justin said he likes the stromboli I make at home better. :-)

This is us in the restaurant:

I had my hair in a ponytail - hence the appearance of baldness.

Aaaand me outside the restaurant. Yes, Sparta is classy . . . and so am I. Lol.

Our total bill came to $20.81 for two meals, one pop, and a water. I left a $4 tip, so our total came to $24.81. With the budget surprisingly depleted, we decided to get dessert at McDonald's . . . off the dollar menu.

Justin with his ice cream . . . and incredibly cheesy grin.

And me being a poser as usual. Isn't it awesome that our McDonald's has a corvette in it? Haha. So weird.

So overall, Angela's doesn't get a very good score. It was too expensive for not-that-great food. Justin does want to try the pizza sometime. So maybe we'll give it one more chance to impress us. :-)

61

61. Go on more field trips with Chase

Frederick Meijer Gardens' Butterfly Exhibit

39,84, 94

39. Go to a department store make-up counter, and learn how to wear make-up.
I went to Ulta a couple weeks ago and had them "color match" me. I bought some really expensive make-up, too.

84. Do the laundry at least once a week
I've been doing at least a load or 2 at Niki's every Thursday when I watch her kids. So I'm crossing this one off!

94. Watch an entire football game with Justin and attempt to understand it
I'm counting the super bowl for this one. I watched the whole game and asked questions when i didn't understand what was going on. Yay football. Haha.

10

10. Do restaurants A-Z

Well we have finally started on this one . . . even if we are starting in the middle of the alphabet.

Last night we went to Fricano's Pizza. Justin's been wanting to try it for ages, so last night we finally did. It was nothing to write home about. It was just very "hometown pizza place," and I was very disappointed about the selection. I thought there would be all kinds of Italian foods to choose from, but there were literally two choices: pizza or spaghetti (and you couldn't even get spaghetti after 9:00 - haha!) Even the topping choices were pathetic. There were five options, and only five: pepperoni, Italian sausage, mushrooms, green pepper, and some other kind of pepper. No ham, black olives, nothing. And there was only one size available: 12". They didn't even have breadsticks or anything as side items. So we ordered a pizza with pepperoni and sausage.

The drinks were also a sore subject. Not only did they not have Dr. Pepper (which is a deduction of 10 points, right there), there were NO FREE REFILLS!! I didn't think anyone did that anymore!! Seriously, who denies free refills??? So I had to drink sparingly all night, when 1/2 the reason I go to restaurants in the first place is to fill up on pop.

The pizza was tiny, and though it tasted very good (it had some kind of garlic seasoning, I think), it was extraordinarily greasy, and was definitely not enough for the two of us.

The one good thing about the place is that it's cheap. Our total bill came to $9.75 (including two oatmeal chocolate chip cookies at the counter). Here's how it breaks down:

• Pizza: 8.50



• My drink: .75 (Justin got water)



• 2 Cookies: .50

So in all, I give the experience a C-. They didn't completely fail because the food was good, but nothing else was up to par.

Here are the night's pictures:

This is two pieces of pizza. Also, notice the nice paper plate, and tiny drink.

Enjoying our time together, nonetheless.

19,51

19. Have more girls' nights with my sisters
We went and saw "Juno" last night. I think I'm going to cross this one off the list. Now that I live closer, we spend a lot of time together. Yay!

51. Dye my hair (or at least get highlights)