A New things adventure

Yesterday I had to be over by Mall of America for a meeting about a Product study I am doing (I can't get into details but I will say for once not having children is paying off...for this study anyway.) Well I had a day of new things AFTER I fought the traffic from YOU KNOW WHERE in order to get there. Here are the new things I did.

1. I went to Ikea for the first time--I LOVE that store. I only bought a couple of things but got good deals on them. I WILL BE back!






2. I tried the Arby's Roastburger for Lunch PRIOR to heading to the Mall--It was ABSOLUTLEY TERRIBLE! What a waste of money!






3. I had always wanted to Play Bozo's Grand Prize Game--yesterday that thing got check off my new things list--when I went to Nickelodeon Universe in Mall of America (which was better when it was Camp Snoopy).






4. I went to the American Girl Store--Those dolls are cute but are $110 for just the doll and starter outfits. (GULP).






5. I tried Panda Express for dinner--It was delicious. I WOULD CERTAINLY try this again






6. I walked around the Mall for 2 hours in my flip flops.--Not recommended, I was very sore today. Talk about feeling the burn!






7. I followed in Jeanne's footsteps and photo documented my journey.

-Jackie

Wordless Wednesday--the start of a New things Wed ...

Monday of New things

I am not normally home on Monday nights because of Small Group. But tonight it got cancelled because everyone else could not make it (that is starting to become a pattern every other week in our group.) When I got to page 400 of Twilight I decided to take a break from it So I watched the TV Show the Big Bang theory. It's never looked appealing to me but I think the previews have deceived me. It is a very funny show. I found myself laughing a lot. I will have to start watching it on Monday nights when I am home.

EXTRA CREDIT: I Checked out a Frank Sinatra CD from the Library with one of my favorite songs on it. I have been singing it on my way to work in the mornings to lighten up my Mood for the Morning.....I Did It....Myyyyy way!

-Jackie

A wknd of New things

This wknd has not turned out 100% the way I planned but it has been a good wknd nonetheless. I had a few new things this wknd. Here they are:

1. I took Pretzel for a walk away from our house. There is an area by the library that I know is a Pet Friendly area. So I took him for a walk there, put him in the car, then drove him home. He was so spoiled on Friday, he got 2 car rides and one walk!




2. I watched Slumdog Millionaire: It's sad to see what this main character (and his love interest) had to face growing up but it had a good ending. For me I think it is one of those movies I watch once and it is enough.




3. I jumped on the Bandwagon and started reading the first book in the Twilight series. I am halfway through, all I have to say is so far, so good.




4. I was awakened at 3Am by a sick puppy. Pretzel had eaten something that did not agree with him. I made him boiled rice and hamburger which the vet says helps dog settle their stomach. I had to miss my Volunteer "gig" today because I needed to monitor him and make sure he was okay. He was fully back to his old self by 2pm.




5. We gave A BIG LOAD of stuff to a lucky Freecycler: I have always agreed with the saying "The early Bird get the worm"--it was true with this Freecycler. This family was first to reply on things I posted and they ended up with a Playstation X, a 27 inch TV, scrapbooking stamps and a stamp pad, some old clothes of mine and a Kodak Easyshare battery charger with batteries. It is nice to get some things off our hands now that we are moving!




6. I messaged some people on Facebook about old photos. : I found doubles of photos I had from a 2003 scrapbooking meetup in Wisconsin and from InterVarsity Christian Fellowship which I was a part of in College. I am hoping these people will be interested and these photos will find a new home.

-Jackie

Recorder Fit

This was one of those weekends where New things come out of Nowhere! On Saturday my husband, friend Andy and I went out for lunch and then went to Gamestop and Barnes and Noble. It was at those two places my new things came about.

First at Gamestop Andy bought a Wii Fit but decided he did not want to use it yet so is letting me borrow it. I did my first workout last night (Sat). I love that you can pick your own trainer and the exercises you want to focus on but Hate that they make your Mii gain or lose weight based on your weight and BMI. What a downer! I am thinking if I continue to like this I will be getting one for my birthday in July. I am very sore this morning and I only did a few exercises. I also learned my my posture is leaning towards the right. Wow!

Then we went to Barnes and Noble and I found a Recorder and songbook. I played the recorder in 4th grade and only learned one song. So I got the songbook and recorder (only $5!) and went home and started to learn the notes. I am working on Camptown Races and do not have that down yet but see above for a video of me doing a simpler song!

EXTRA CREDIT: I went to Target to pick up some supplies and got a free re-usable bag with a coupon for $2 those energy efficient bulbs. I am excited to have the bag to shop with at Target and at Aldi. We only use the plastic bags to clean up after Pretzel with anyway!

-Jackie

Radiant Red?

I am moving in 55 days so the bulk of my time has been spent getting rid of old things, packing and throwing things out. But I read on a Xanga site many days ago reviews on some John Frieda products that are supposed to be great for keeping your hair color vibrant and shiny. Normally I am a skeptic when it comes to this sort of thing BUT with the number of comments left on this website with reviews like "my hair has a good deal of shine to it" and "it shows my red highlights without leaving my hands the same color" I had to try it. My ideal color is reddish brown (see above). I had red in my hair when I was a baby. Red highlights look good on me but with red shades, it's hard to keep the shade for too long. So I bought the Radiant Red Shampoo and Conditioner this morning and used it. Those light enhancers they talk about? It's true. I am also seeing more of the red shades in my hair and that's only with one use! For you Brunettes and Blonde's out there--I have heard good things about those products too. Considering my hair is in need of a good trip and not at it's best--but I am getting these results--this product gets the Jackie seal of approval! (Sorry I can't post a current pic, my camera is out of battery power. Boo!) :(

Take Care,

Jackie

Very Fishy (April 16th)

I actually have 2 new things for today. First of all I made a fish dish for supper. I love shrimp, scallops and mussels but am not a big fish person. But today I decided to try it and make Telapia. It was flaky and okay but not my cup of tea.I ended up giving the rest of it to my husband.

I also was featured in the Alumni Newsletter for the Social Work department at my College. This is a big New Thing for me because for the first time in my career I feel successful. When I supervised group homes I felt burnt out more than anything. When I supervised Nursing Assistants I felt some sense of accomplishment but was burned out from being on call 24-7. My current job brings a nice sense of balance.

-Jackie

The top 15 because it's too hard to do just 10!

Below you will find a list of my top ten new things. But before I start on those I have to mention these five new things...that were special to me and close to making the top 10 but just didn't get there...

15) Taking a shower on the deck, in the rain with all of my clothes on--it felt great on a hot summers day!

14) Going to the Viking Museum with Amy, Andy and Mike in Alexandria. It was so fun!



13) The live CD recording concert I went to at my Church, Eaglebrook. It was so cool to be a part of such an awesome worship CD!


12) Mike and I's Thanksgiving was a little on the drab side so we bought our own Turkey and had our own Thanksgiving that next Sunday which watching the Jets play football. (And lose.)

11) With a Community Women's group I participated in a Fall Swap where we brought items we didn't want and were able to "Shop" each room and pick up 5 items each trip of things we DID want. I was barely able to carry everything to the car!

and now for the top 10....

10) I went to the New Guthrie Theatre with my Mom (in Minneapolis) and we saw "Little House; the Musical"--Melissa Gilbert played Mrs Ingalls. We also ate in the Guthrie restaurant beforehand. It was a lot of fun!

9) Going to Cantebury Park with Mike and Andy the wknd of my birthday on $1 night. It was so fun and I won the first 3 horse races. I just picked them by the name and the stats.

8) Volunteering at the House of Charity Soup Kitchen. This is something I have started to do on a regular basis.

7) I become ordained online to become a Minister. I can perform any wedding ceremony now. (Don't ask me to though because I did it for fun more than anything!)

6) I got lost and found the Mansion of Kevin Garnett, former Timberwolf and current Boston Celtic!

5) I worked as Head Election judge during this history making election.

4) I helped spread the word about Ratchet, a dog who was adopted in Iraq but who the military was trying to detain from being rescued and brought back to MN. There was enough response that Ratchet was allowed to be brought back to his loving home in MN (It was a US soldier who adopted him).

3) My husband and I attended our first service at Our New Church, Eaglebrook. We cannot tell you how much the people in that Church have blessed us!

2) I got my beloved car...my 2007 PT Cruiser!

and the #1 new thing....you may be surprised! It occured on Day 83 of my new things challenge....

1) I was going to have dinner with a friend when a car full of College Guys pulled up alongside me and serenaded me. It is one of those moments that is so rare and funny you can't help but remember it fondly!

I hope you enjoyed my recap of my top 15 things. Here's to more fun and exciting new things in the Future!

-Jackie =)

Day 368 (April 12th)--This is it--now what?

Today was one of my favorite Holidays--Easter. I was glad it was not snowing here like it was last year as it made for a depressing day. This morning my husband and I spent Easter with my parents, sister and niece. The new things of the day for me are very heartfelt as they represent yet another step forward in my battle with infertilty. For privacy reasons I am not posting the pics of my niece on here but for those of you on facebook, the pictures are on there. Not only was I able to shop for and give my niece an Easter Present but I was also able to hold my sleeping niece in my arms without breaking down. I cannot tell you how huge this was for me.

When I started this new things challenge a year ago, I was in a very rough spot....I was in the midst of a year that shook all I knew to the core and one week after I started this challenge, my husband faced a crisis that made me wonder if I would be able to continue. I tend to be someone who is very hard on myself and there were days when I wondered if it would always be dark--would I ever see that dawn that follows the darkest days? This challenge has really taught me a couple of very important things 1) You can serve others without having a lot of money--a small act of kindness can make all the difference. 2) Looking for New things really helps you appreciate the simple things. and 3) A lot can change in your life for the better if you just open your heart.

I want to thank those of you who have ever read this site or left a comment. Finishing this challenge was huge for me and I feel finishing it on Easter was huge for me. I have decided that I will continue this blog--I have new things I still want to do. But I will not be doing them everyday. I will update this blog as I try new things and want to share them. New things have become a big part of my life and I want to continue to share them with you all. I also want to thank my husband Mike and my good friend Andy who encouraged me during this challenge. They were a big source of some of the new things I have tried.

I think it is important to see where you've been when you move forward. My next post will be highlighting the top 10 favorite New things. I look forward to sharing them with all of you.

Take Care,

Jackie

Day 367-- (April 11th) Mid Day and Mandarin Buffet

I had a couple of new things today. The First is that I went to Easter Celebration Services the day before Easter. We are having our family gathering at my Mom's who lives out of town tomorrow and also our church is so big that they ask the people who can come on Saturdays to do so to leave room for more attendees on Sunday. (The 2pm Service I went to was PACKED!)

I was SUPPOSED TO go see my co-workers play tonight, The Secret Garden at a place Theatre in St. Paul but I got so lost I ended up at the State Capitol. (This happens to me quite a bit--my next Big Purchase is a GPS) so instead my husband and I had date night at a Mandarin Buffet. One part of the buffet is you choose your meats, veggies and sauce and the chef will cook it up for you stir fry style. I had steak and it was delicious. It's a little pricey but my check was a tad bit extra this time. We have had a stressful week so it was also good to have that time together! We will go there again, just not weekly or anything!

-Jackie

Day 366--April 10th--New Good Friday Tradition

I am someone who wants to attend Good Friday Services each year. One year I ended up in the emergency room and remember telling my husband "But we are missing Good Friday Services." This year my husband was helping out a friend with his new business so it was just me. The church we attend has 3 campuses but for services like Good Friday and Ash Wednesday services are held at the main campus only. I hate getting in and out of there so I decided to try something different.

I was going to go to a Catholic Church at midday but I was having a rough day so I ended up going to the first church I found with a 6:30 PM service. I had only been to this church for taste tests and had worked there during the election. I grew up ELCA Lutheran and this was a MISSOURI SYNOD Lutheran Church which is very different that what I was used to. The people were very friendly and though I walked in late (during the sharing the peace with one another) I was greeted right away and given a bulletin. The interesting part was during the Seven words of Good Friday they had people by letter of their last name come up and pound a nail into the cross to represent the sinful nature for which Christ died. I did participate in this and found it to have a deep impact on me. My husband was raised strict conservative Baptist and I asked him about that when he got home. He said that the Baptist Church found things like that Blasphemous and they would have not done that. (He is not fond of his upbringing in that Church..I'll leave it at that.) It was a good new thing for me to do but I still want to attend a Catholic service sometime to see what it is like. (For those of you wondering, my husband and I attend a Non-Denomination Church).

-Jackie

Day 365 (April 9th)--One year yes, but I have an announcement!

Today is the official one year mark and my 365th day of completing my New Things challenge. Due to circumstances beyond my control today, I had to do a last minute switch on today's activity. But I've thought about it and decided I am going to do things differently. INSTEAD OF DOING A 365 DAY NEW THINGS CHALLENGE, I am extending this one to 368 days. The official last day will be on Sunday. I have some fun things planned for these last few days and am excited to break the mold and do 368 days straight instead of 365.

This new thing was challenge by the Host of the Amazing Race, Phil Keoghan. A couple of weeks back I read his book about going the distance and doing things you once might have thought of as being impossible. One section of the book talks about reliving things from your childhood. With waiting on news about our new apartment and having time off from work the last thing I really wanted to be doing was acting like an adult. So today I did many childhood things.

1.I ate captain Crunch in front of some old episodes of the Brady Bunch, a childhood favorite of mine.

2. I named my 5 favorite childhood TV shows and posted them on Facebook.

3. I curled my hair....as a child I loved curls and started getting perms when I was 9.

4. I read two pre-teen books

Would I do something like this again? YES! Channeling that inner child is something I think we need to do every once in awhile. It helps one forget about the "grown up stresses" of life for awhile.

-Jackie

Day 364 (April 8th)--Going Deeper

I have been meeting with a small group through Eaglebrook Church on Monday nights. We ended up dumping the book we were doing (A book for busy women that is actually focused more on stay at home moms...but she does not advertise it as such.) So this week we decided on our next course of study and we have decided to do an inductive bible study. These are different than regular studies as they did deep into the book of the bible you are reading, verse by verse. Right now we are studying the book of Philippians. All I can tell you right now is that the study is different for me and will take some getting used to. I am more used to topical bible studies and once I took a class where we read the whole Bible in 90 days. We'll shall see how this goes....either way it is better than Elizabeth George and her busy womens devotional...

-Jackie

Days 363 (April 8th)--Ahhhhhh!

Can you believe I am just two days away from accomplishing my new things goal? Wow! Today I was not feeling well when I went into work...I was suffering from the stomachache and backache that are common for women (won't get any further into that one). I had to go in because I wanted to get things wrapped up before my vacation. But the pain was pretty intense. So I tried this silk rice pack that was donated to our office. It looks like a silk long sock but has rice in it. You microwave it and it heats up. I used it for my back and stomach.....ahhhhhhh! I felt 100% better after that. I am going to have go and get myself one of these sometime soon. If I wasn't a terrible sewer I'd just make one myself!

-Jackie

Day 362 (April 6th)--I get lost in your eyes....

"It's like being lost in heaven, when I get lost in your eyes." LOL! There's something about starting work at 4am (no, that's not my new thing) that makes one a little silly. This new thing was very unplanned but I think it has been one of my funniest. A few times in my year of new things I have been randomly serenaded, once when a car full of college guys pulled up besides me (this is my favorite of the new things so far) and another time when I was bell ringing for the Salvation Army. Today the shoe was on the other foot when I was at the store picking up a couple of small things. Debbie Gibsons song "Lost in Your Eyes" came on and I sang it (loud enough for others to hear) all the way through the store....from one end to the other and through the self checkout. I did get some curious glances, yes but I had fun and hey, I had been up since 3 am so I was entitled to be a little cheesy. Wasn't that what the 80's teen idols were all about?

EXTRA CREDIT: I took my husband over to do a taste this this afternoon and I got to encounter one of the stupidest drivers on the road. Right off the Highway there is a side street with a clear divide between the two lanes. But this lady kept driving directly into the wrong lane. I was the third car that passed her and I motioned that she was going the wrong way but she just kept going. I would have called the cops but did not catch her license plate number. The last I saw she was heading past 2 other people doing the exact same thing. She looked older, I hope a cop caught her and took care of it.

-Jackie

Day 361 (April 5th) Goodbye to you

I am not someone who is a clothes horse. When I find a good piece of clothing I had onto it for quite awhile. Heck, sometimes I even hold onto the clothes I have had given to me (or I have bought and decided later I did not like) for that same long period of time. One of these pieces of clothes is a cardigan my oldest sister gave me 9 years ago. I keep it because I can never seem to find another one I want to buy to replace it. It is getting old and worn. Today I finally gave in and put it in the Goodwill pile. I am hoping to find it's replacement in the next couple of weeks.

-Jackie

Day 360 (April 4th)--Baby showers and Artwork

Today I went to my first baby shower. My husband and I have been struggling with infertility for the last 5 and a half years. It's been hard. But I made it through the shower without breaking down and in one piece. It was for a friend of mine. It was strange though because there was just lunch and gifts. Aren't there normally games at baby showers? My friend Liz was great--we are both uncertain if we will ever be able to have children so we stuck together--talked and laughed and talked about what gifts we would like for our own personal use. Afterwards I did reward myself and got some sushi!

I also created some artwork using my photos on loonapix. One is so cute I used it as my Facebook Profile pic. (See above).

-Jackie

Day 359 (April 3rd)---Love someone tonight

The above slogan is from the Delilah Show which a popular show where she lets her listeners tell stories form the heart and make dedications. I have listened to this show off and on for the last 9 years. Tonight I e-mailed in a request. Some of you may know about the rough 2008 my husband and I had. I shared our story and requested a song. Hopefully she will respond. Here is some of the lyrics from the song I requested--an oldie but a goodie. (On the Wings of Love by Jeffrey Osborne)

Just smile for me and let the day begin You are the sunshine that lights my heat within I'm sure that you're an angel in disguise Come take my hand and together we will rise
On the wings of love Up and above the clouds The only way to fly Is on the wings of love On the wings of love Only the two of us Together flying high Flying high Upon the wings of love

EXTRA CREDIT: I went to a Lia Sophia Jewelery Party. They have some nice items but it's pretty pricey. The cheapest items are $20. I think I like Premiere better. We had to go around and say where we wanted to wear our Jewelry using the name of a place that went with the first letter of our name. Since my first name is Jackie I said. "I will wear my Lia Sophia jewelery is Jail!" LoL!

More Extra Credit: My co-worker who was throwing the party had her sister there. Her sister is going to my throwing this co-worker a surprise party to celebrate turning 50 (she does not look 49 at all...wow!) and I am going to supply the work contact list to her via e-mail. I can't wait to be part of the planning! She is great!

-Jackie

Day 358 (April 2nd)--Showing off my creative side

Part of this new thing I got from reading Heidi's blog but the context of this I thought up all on my own. I created some Social Work inspired clothing and apparel on zazzle.com. Above you will see my handiwork. These are mottos/slogans we use at work to get us through the more challenging days. The one on the T-shirt is one of our favorite mottos. There is a place where we can sell our designs....maybe that will be a future new thing?

-Jackie

Day 357 (April 1st)--A few new things and a few cool ones too!

Today I went to get a Mountain Dew from the machine downstairs. Instead it gave me a Diet Mountain dew. I have always wanted to leave CHANGE in a vending machine but today I left a free pop for whoever wants it! I hate diet pop!

EXTRA CREDIT: As an April Fools Joke I kept calling my co-workers phone and then hanging up right before she got over there!

UPDATE ON APARTMENT--We were able to get out of the lease early. Our lease expires the end of June but we will be moving throughout the month of June due to one more free specials (or at least we hope so) at the apartments we are interested in.

This isn't really a new thing but it is cool and helpful when one is trying to save money (see above)

-Jackie