Start of a New School Year

So I go back to school in 8 days! I cannot believe how fast this summer has gone by and it's made me realize how little I've done. I mean I worked a 40 hour/week job and took two online summer classes, but I did not really do anything really fun. So I think this whole going back to school thing has really gotten me kicked into gear.

Exciting news: I am trying out for SAU's golf team. I played a full round for the first time in quite a while today and I have to say, it felt great! I do not really like to play for the competitiveness necessarily, but more just for fun. I think it'll be a great season and it will definitely keep me busy.

In other news, I have officially started my "training" for RAGBRAI 2012! I am super excited to actually do it and I am definitely going to finish. So many people I have talked to say it is so much fun and it's a great experience. I absolutely cannot wait!

Also, I think I'm going to be going to Belize this spring break! I want to take a marine biology class this spring and the lab is in Belize. I'm so excited to get to travel and I have already bought a new swimsuit for it. I just applied for my passport and am so so so excited to go!

I think that's all for now. I am going to try and post more often :)

100 Books to Read

This is my list of at least 100 books to read. I have read some of them before, but I want to read them again. Most of the one's I've already read, I had to read for school, so I thought if I re-read them on my own, I might get more out of them. A couple are books that have been on my worst book list for forever, so I thought reading them again might change my mind. This is what I have so far:

1. The Lord of the Rings
2. Pride and Prejudice
3. The Da Vinci Code
4. Memoires of a Geisha
5. The Power of One
6. The Hobbit
7. Wuthering Heights
8. Jane Eyre
9. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
10. The Time Traveller's Wife
11. Catch-22
12. Gone With the Wind
13. Dear John
14. Anna Karenina
15. War and Peace
16. The Little Prince
17. Little Women
18. Lord of the Flies
19. The Other Boleyn Girl
20. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
21. Animal Farm
22. Watership Down (just to see if it is really as bad as i thought it was in 6th grade)
23. The Count of Monte Cristo (everyone loved this book, but I do not really remember it)
24. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
25. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
26. Alice in Wonderland
27. The Color Purple
28. The Catcher in the Rye
29. Brave New World
30. Crime and Punishment
31. Great Expectations
32. The Great Gatsby
33. The Lovely Bones CHECK!
34. Nineteen Eighty-Four
35. Northern Lights
36. The Odyssey
37. Of Mice and Men
38. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
39. To Kill a Mockingbird
40. Tuesday's With Morrie
41. The Scarlett Letter
42. The Kama Sutra
43. My Sister's Keeper
44. The Five People You Meet in Heaven

To be continued...

Suggestions are welcome!

Bucket List

So, this is my bucket list at the moment. I'm sure things will be added in the future, but one of my items on my list was to write a blog, so I thought a blog about my bucket list would be a great way to keep me accountable. It's kinda long and random and doesn't really have any particular order to it right now, but that's ok. Some of these are kinda simple and others are really a stretch, but I figured why not just put them on it?
- Not just visit the Grand Canyon, but hike it too
- Visit Yosemite and Mount Rushmore
- Gamble in Vegas (once I'm 21 of course)
- Have a margarita in Mexico
- Celebrate Mardi Gras in New Orleans
- See Niagra Falls lit up at night
- See a kangaroo in Australia
- Visit Rome
- Be in Times Square on New Years Eve
- Climb a mountain/hike in Colorado
- Run a marathon
- Read the Bible cover to cover
- Become fluent in a foreign language
- Ski down a real mountain
- Swim with dolphins
- Learn to surf
- Scuba dive
- Sky dive/bungee jumping
- Go white water rafting
- Go rock climbing
- Camp under the stars
- Ride an elephant
- Go to the Smithsonian
- Learn to play piano
- Go on a roadtrip
- Fly in an airplane
- Go on a cruise
- Fall in love!
- Be happily married
- Have healthy children
- Celebrate my 25th and 50th anniversaries
- Have a pet
- Not be in any debt
- Write a blog CHECK!
- Get fit!
- Do something newsworthy
- Go canoeing/kayaking
- Go jet skiing
- Take up photography
- Learn to juggle
- Scrapbook my travels
- Make a list of 100 books I want to read, and read them
- Become an early riser
- Learn to say "no" without feeling guilty
- Get a college degree
- Get my doctorate in physical therapy
- Get a job I love, helping people get better
- Make a difference in at least one person's life
- Build a Habitat for Humanity Home
- Donate blood whenever possible
- Go on a safari
- Stay up to date on my CPR certification
- Get a hole in one
- Milk a cow (random, I know)
- Buy my own car
- Kiss in the rain
- Go to a concert
- Watch a sunrise with someone I love
- Save money for something I really want
- Work for a worthy cause
- Do the St. Jude Memphis to Peoria run
- Run in the Bix7
- Complete RAGBRAI
- Travel to Belize