The amazing author and girl-power guru, Maggie Mason posted this life list on her blog about 100 things she wants to accomplish before she dies. This inspired me immensely to create my own. While I have already created minor goals, and a few major within that, I have never sat down with a journal and jotted down the 100 things I hope to do before I die. Please feel free to check back at this list to see how I've progressed!

Climb to the top of a mountain peak | Publish a teenage self help book | Publish a few children books | Take a spur-of-the-moment trip | Learn public speaking / be a part of a debate class | Live in Canada or Australia | Start or help charity group |  Join the movement against cancer | Vacation in Colorado | Meet my idol | Brainstorm an entire main course and cook it! | Learn to hip-hop dance | Meet Paul McCartney | Finally learn how to use my espresso maker | Try Chinese cuisine | Learn CPR / first aid | Study dog language | Go to a drive-in movie | Eat (more) meat | Take an art class for fun | Research my family tree (both bio and non-bio) | See either Wanda Sykes or Kathy Griffin's stand-up live | Meet a president | Honeymoon in the Bahamas | Stay at the Atlantis resort | Learn and implement eco-friendly habits in my life | Become hooked to a drink not produced by Starbucks | Be bi-lingual | Adopt a child | Take a couple writing-prompt classes | Design my own shirts | Meet Sean Covey | Have a cat as a pet | Attend at least two different colleges to broaden my horizons | Own an iPhone or Apple product | Make a montage with my own video footage | Take a long road trip | Live in an apartment | Invest in a good-quality, portable camera | Buy a dress from Nordstrom | Purchase a bag from Gucci | Spice up my relationship | Vacation in Newport Beach, California | Experience New Years in Times Square | Shop in 'The Big Apple' | Join an anti-bullying organization | Visit Mexico | Meet my birth mother | Vacation in Europe, stopping in Ireland | Dine in a Scottish cafe | Go zip-lining | Learn what it takes to create a social networking site | Take a culinary class for fun | Give birth at least once with a doula by my side | Take a self-defense class | Visit a foreign country | Dance in public | Follow through with a detox | Skate on 'the' Lake Placid, NY rink | Get my wisdom teeth removed | Learn to like spiders | Go blonde | Learn Russian after Spanish | Tend to an annual garden | Dive into the depths of journalism | Attend the Olympics in Russia | Visit Sergei Grinkov's grave | Learn Geography | See a Broadway play | Do something "risky" | Learn Japanese tea mannerisms | Attend a meditation retreat | Get a ground photo of myself near the Eiffel Tower |

(There are 73 here with more to come soon... !)

Last week, I discovered one of the most brilliant freewares I have ever used: Poladroid, the free polaroid-mimicking agent that clicks and snaps just like a polaroid camera on your computer desktop with both PC and MAC compatibility.



You start out with a free screen with the mini polaroid camera icon in the corner. Then, you simply drag a photo to the camera icon, and watch it develop. If you want to speed the process along, shake the photo icon across the screen in a right-left motion. It will develop within approx. 10 seconds if you shake fast enough, but will take a good few minutes if you do not.

... And BAM! You have a polaroid photo ready for prints and framing right before your eyes. In my case, I am starting a Flickr stream / blog posting category called "Poladroid-a-Day", in which I include little photography surprises in between every other blog post - ya never know when one will pop up!

I encourage you to start the "polaroid" journey with me, and download Poladroid for free here (no spyware or viruses - I promise!) :-)

(You can follow "Poladroid-a-Day" in my Flickr stream here...)

I was flipping through a book with ideas for blog entries, and came across one I do quite like (a lot!)... form an interview with a best friend or partner that explains why you chose them to be in your life as they are. So, for this entry, I will pull out the best in my partner, Mark, and prove why I think he is the perfect man.

Me: What are the top three personality traits you pride yourself on having? How do they help you in every day life?
Mark: Friendly, patient and caring. They help me focus on my work and be more productive because I'm not worrying about drama, or other nonsensical people. Being patient and caring also helps me compromise with loved ones and people within my community.

Me: What is your aspired career path, and why?
Mark: Some sort of an electronics technician, but I would love to work with communications on water. Some sort of boating. I have a background in these things, and grew up around them. You could say I have electricity in my blood!

Me: What are the top three personality traits you look for in a partner? Why?
Mark: Caring, respectful and tolerant. I want someone who respects me for who I am and what I do, and even though they may not understand what I do or why I do it, they still support it.

Me: As a graduating high school student, what advice would you give to freshman just entering the 4 year experience?
Mark: Get the hard classes out of the way first and don't slack off or screw up! If you are a good student and work hard, your senior year will be very easy. If you have a chance, go to a tech or vocational school - easy credits in quick time, and good work experience for future careers. Don't give in to peer pressure, and be your own person. Only you know who you really are and what you believe, so don't let others try to influence you.

Me: Through the multiple hardships you've endured in your lifetime, what is the biggest piece of wisdom you will take?
Mark: Everyone copes at different times and different ways. No one can speed up the coping process, nor will it hit the person right away all the time. Life goes on - I know that's a cliche, but it does get better. Remember that yesterday is history and tomorrow is never promised.

Me: What is the drive behind you helping out your community in multiple examples of volunteer service?
Mark: I suppose I instilled the drive in myself, with support from my friends and family. I found the community service type that was right for me and I think that everyone throughout their life should do something to help out their community.

Me: Whether negative or positive experience, what is one lesson you have come to understand about parenting that you will instill in your future children?
Mark: To let them have freedom and not be an overly-controlling parent. It also needs to be a two-way street of communication, not just the parent telling the child what to do or how something will play out.

Me: Some find it hard to follow their own advice and wisdom. After a variety of hardships, how do you continue on, besides the wisdom you have learned?
Mark: I generally move slow, and take it one week at a time.

Me: What are some of your favorite hobbies?
Mark: Photography - I like to see what I can do with my camera and experiment with at least one new setting each time I shoot, or angle something differently. Amateur radio, because I enjoy building and seeing how things work, and meeting new people all over the world. Hiking - I enjoy being outdoors and observing nature.

Me: What are some of your pet peeves?
Mark: People that jaywalk, people that don't attempt to use correct spelling or grammar in text messages,  people that don't try in school, but still show up.

Me: Who are a few of your idols or role models? Why?
Mark: You! I wish I had you as an idol earlier on in high school so I could have seen how good of a student I could have been. It gives me something to work towards. You are honest and you speak your mind, which I have never been that great at. Bud - one of the owners of Buddipole atenna company. He shows a small dream that you start building in your garage can turn into a huge company. He is in his early 70s and still goes into his office and works. I also look up to my friend Tom; he is energetic and full of new ideas or projects to work on.

I hadn't popped in Payless Shoe Source in quite some time, but did so today to search for sandals that would match my needed criteria - arch support when orthotics cannot be inserted.

What did I find? Two amazingly cute pairs of shoes by the Payless-supplying brand: Montego Bay Club. Right now, Payless has a buy-1-get-1-half-off deal on all shoes, so I scored a $30 deal from $40, and walked out of the store with some Mira Wedge Slides and flip flops with a nice, beaded trim. If I could have had one more pair? I would have purchased a pair of the Sammie Embellished Wedges.

I was a happy bargain hunter. It is so rare when you find a affordable, comfortable, and cute shoes all in one visit to the shoe store!

Towards summertime, I notice a shift in common 'tude; a different facade for many individuals. What's up with this buzz about people being "perfect"? I'm surely not! I am nearly positive you are sitting there with a smug grin on your face, reader, contemplating the depths of what's about to become my most embarrassing blog post ever.

In the society I live in, in order not to be conceived as thinking you are perfect, you have to express how imperfect you are. When I hear or discover others' imperfections, I start to feel better about how sane I myself can come across, and I am sure you experience the same, at least a majority of the time...

I am a flip-flopper. I typically stay on one designated path, but change my mind about the minuscule details encountered along the journey. "Should I buy this top? If I saved up, I could buy that wallet that I truly need to function day-to-day, and I already have like sooo many tops. But then again, if I don't, I could miss out on a top this cute.", or: "Should I buy this type of cheese? What if it's too spicy, and then I just spent like $4 on slices of cheese that are too spicy, but if I buy the other cheese that's just plain, I'll want to buy even more cheese! Either way, cheese is bad for me... but I really want cheese!" So, I admit: maybe some of this is the GAD talking, but my what-if mindset affects my family, partner, and self immensely.

I have my insecurities. While some are far too personal to discuss within a public blog, they are present. Perhaps I don't have burning self-esteem issues, but I'm still shaky around heights, and squeamish around spiders. Afraid of ending up alone, and screwing up my future child's life. While many of my irrational fears are just that - irrational, I have a lot that worries me and tugs at the heart strings.

I am a perfectionist type of person, one adjusted to routine and organization around the house. When I get out from taking a shower, I have to shake off the towel before I dry myself off. "For what purpose?", you ask. The answer? I have no freakin' clue! It's developed as one of those little, quirky habits that I have to conform to before the day starts off right. I also get pretty bad test anxiety and forget all of the information I have taken in over the months when I am faced with the possibility of getting it wrong (when we all know, I'm gonna get it wrong).

When I really, really, reaaalllyy want something: I whine. I use a persuasive, childish little voice to try and make my mommy think I'm cute, but we all know that's just annoying and probably isn't getting me anywhere. I have a hot temper, and become irritably "loud" quite quickly. Also annoying. I am TERRIBLE with directions! I barely learned any Geography in school, and it shows. Unless I know the route to the place I am going, or landmarks around it, I cannot make out a street address for the life of me.

I am somewhat materialistic, and certainly can't live without money. I calculated how many hours I would have to work on minimum wage as a College student in order to pay utilities and rent, while getting the extra, leisure "fixes" I would like to have per week, and it came out to around 4 hours per day, including weekends. Along with my relationship with money comes a little bit of spoiling from my family. I am certainly not a "spoiled brat", but growing up I did get what I wanted a majority of the time (props to being an only child, too).

I have high expectations of others. I will automatically accept you no matter what, and be your friendly acquaintance (what you do on your own time is your business), but if you're going to be a close friend of mine, I typically don't associate with druggies or "lowlifes", which is a good chunk of the teenage scene where I reside. When beginning a relationship, I'm not too picky, and expect full honesty/trust as a given. If you make a mistake, I'm quick to forgive, but never forget. We are all humans, but when people start to make excuses for compulsive mistake-making, I get a little ticked-off.

Did'ya like that rant? I thought so. Jot down a few of the things that make you specially YOU, imperfect, or perfect in themselves, and try to turn them into humorous facts or learn how to associate them with positive traits. Sure, I do want a lot of things in life, both material-wise and emotionally, and I am quirky and sometimes misunderstood, but it shows that I truly am living. I care enough about my life to ask for things, and not live in the dark in which every day I am expecting a surprise from people. I am not searching high and low for what I want - I know what I want. I push myself to the tallest heights and don't give up until somehow, someday I will ace the test.