The "List"

Everyone has asked me to post the official list for my 101 things to do in 1001 days.. so here it is! I encourage you to make one of your own! This has really been a fun & unique challenge, and I'm glad I can accomplish a lot of it at the XIC!


Health
1.Take a multivitamin everyday for 2 weeks, then try to make it a habit from there. Jan.30 - feb. 13 - Now a part of my daily routine! :) 
2.Ask lots of questions at my next physical to ensure I’m healthier in the long run
3.Keep 10 pounds off by May of 2011, 15 by October of 2011, and 20 by May of 2012.
4.Go to the eye doctor and get my eyeballs checked out.
5. Drink at least 8 glasses of water everyday for 2 weeks
6. Stop biting my nails
7. Don't eat fast food for a week

Education
1. Graduate college!
2. Get at least a B in either Johnson’s class or App’s class
3. Get through the exit exam project atleast 2 weeks before it is due. YEAH RIGHT!
4. Apply before May 2012 to an MBA program

Sports/Fitness
1. Learn to ice skate. ( Ongoing! But I know the basics! )
2. Sign up for a hockey u program to learn how to play
3. Play broomball once.  January 09,2011! Love it & will continue to play!
4. Try curling once  April 29, 2011 - LOVE IT! 
5. Attend my first Zumba class
6. Get certified to teach Yoga
7. Join a sporting group/team/league that will help me keep in shape/meet others I'm in a Broomball League! :) 03/25/11
8. Finish my first 5K
9. Compete in at least 2 additional races
10. Attempt to ski
11. Go to an Atlanta Braves  baseball game during the week
12. Swim everyday for a week

Music/Arts/History/Books/Computers
1. Rock another JM concert with bff Joanne (and meet JM)
2. Read 5 new books by December of 2012
3. Watch “True Grit,” “Braveheart,” “Saving Private Ryan,” “Animal House,” "Inception," and “Sweet Home Alabama”
4. Go to Discovery Place!
5. Teach myself how to use Adobe photoshop
6. See someone I've never seen before in concert (Ron Pope with Casey on April 30th! )
7. Go to the history museum in Raleigh
8. Recraft something from an antique store

Eat/Drink
1. Give up soft drinks for 6 months straight, pacing myself in 2 week time periods.
2. Give up meat for lent for 2011 Very tough, but I did it! (with a couple exceptions!)
3. Find at least one fish dish that I enjoy / can handle eating
4. Bake fresh bread
5. Come up with my own recipe for something delicious
6. Try a new crock pot dish once a week for a month
7. Bake a cake from scratch
8. Cook something with "wine" as one of the ingredients
9. Make a pizza from scratch
10. Grill something besides burgers!

Travel
1. Visit my family in Costa Rica and return to the Hot Springs and playa Manuel Antonio
2. Plan and book a trip to Peru
3. Make a trip to the mountains to hike / see the fall leaves
4. Go CAMPING!
5. Be a bartender in a foreign country
6.Go scuba diving!
7. Go whitewater rafting again
8. Go on a cruise
9. Spend an entire week at the beach

Things to buy
1. A nice jewelry box / something to keep all my earrings in order
2. Replace all my towels (about 6) with big white towels
3. An expensive pair of jeans
4. A Black Leather Coach Purse
5. A mac book!
6. Book myself a day at the spa!
7. Own a pair of TOMS
8. AAA Membership!
9. New bedroom furniture
10. A custom necklace/bracelet with JM lyrics from Etsy
11. Order something off the internet that is completely ridiculous

Learn
1. Learn how to shoot a bow & arrow
2. Learn how to change a flat tire
3. Learn how to operate a handgun
4. Learn how to sew
5. Learn to play poker
6. Learn how to wax my car
7. Learn to golf
8. Learn how to wax my own eyebrows

Self
1. Don’t drastically chop my hair off within the next year (December 2012)
2. Spend an entire day devoted to detailing Black Beauty (my jeep)
3. Do Karaoke with the girls COMPLETED feb.4-2011
4. Recopy my great grandmother's / aunt's / mom's recipes and put them into one cookbook
5. Reprint my aunt's old pictures of my great grandmother
6. Pay off my credit cards
7. Pay for the person behind me in the drive thru's dinner
8. Go to the Old Mecklenburg Brew Fest
9. Get my nails done for a month straight
10. Send my mom flowers at work
11. See Corey Smith in concert  
12. Make a list of 100 things that make me happy

Life
1. Have a "family" Christmas card to send to all my friends
2. Bite my tongue more often
3. Drive a BMW 745li on 485/85
4. Say "Thank You" to my parents more often
5. Go somewhere for Spring break this year! Went to SC with Jo
6. Have an apartment on the Lake
7. Deposit 10% of every paycheck to my savings account for a year
8. Go on a picnic
9. Send 50 cards to people I care about (4/50)
10. Go to Ikea
11. Try 10 new beers (3/10) - Stella, Dos Equis, Blue Moon, Shock Top
12. Own something from Tiffany & Co.
13. Go to Trivia night at a bar

Work
1. Work on a project with NASCAR
2. Bring in $2K at the next College Night Not quite :( $900 short.
3. Connect the rink outside of Charlotte/surrounding
4. Find one sponsor for the rink
5. Decorate my office better
6. Spend an entire day devoted to yearly goals
7. Work on a project with the Atlanta Braves


 
If you can help me accomplish one, please let me know! :) I'll be doing a lot of these at the XIC! Thanks for all your support & encouragement! And I can't WAIT to read your lists!

I'm Back!

Just so everyone knows, my learn to skate lessons didn't do me in. I wasn't cryo-genically frozen the minute I stepped on the ice. What really happened is I got buried beneath a pile of text books, papers, and empty cans of Red Bull.

The XIC staff knows I'm still in college, but for my new friends, I am a senior at Wingate University, currently cranking out 24 credit hours of classes to graduate on time (16 days to go!). So with 8 classes, a couple papers a week, tests, a social life, and a busy hockey season, I will admit that I couldn't hack it.(and if you can't take the heat .. get off the ice)

With that in mind, I am FINALLY finishing up my last round of classes, I've bought the cap & gown, I've avoided stepping on the Wingate seal for 4 years now (urban legend says you won't graduate on time if you do), I've gotten my 40 lyceums, and I'm diligently planning out my exam study schedule & writing those last papers before I can get a handshake & a piece of paper.

So! .. Friday night, I am accomplishing something on my list of 101 things to do in 1001 days (I'll post that next!)! I am going to Learn to Curl with the Charlotte Centre Curling Club! If you've never curled before, I hear its a lot of fun, and they do some post curling activities that really quench one's thirst. So if you're around, Learn to Curl, XIC, Friday night, 7, On the ice, $10, Lots of fun, and yours truly (that last one makes it all practically worth it). If you're too wimpy, well .. I'll do it for you!


See you on the ice!
--- Your favorite (no longer an intern), Brandy

Goodness "Grace"ious

Now, my mom didn't name me Grace for a reason. She named me Brandy because I'd grow up to be the type of person to keep things a little unbalanced from time to time (just like a strong drink should).

So Saturday morning when I put on my skates for the first time, I knew that it was more than likely that those donuts I had eaten for breakfast were going to "cushion" my lack of grace during my lesson later. For those of you nay-sayers who say that skating is "too dangerous," and "you're going to fall and break your hip," I would like to be your guinea pig in saying that I have no broken bones, no ailments, or newly detected mental issues.

Coach Kate, Coach Tappie, and Coach Jenny made sure to teach our entire class the first basic lesson of skating: safety. With their help, I learned easy ways to protect myself and others while skating to ensure I wouldn't be making a repeat visit to my dear friend Dr. Friedrich at Carolina Bone and Joint. (I have a frequent customer card). Safely skating begins with learning the correct way to fall and the correct way to get back up on your feet.

With my safety lesson for back up and my extra Krispy Kreme cushioning, I went on the ice hand in hand with Coach Kate. The first step for getting on the ice is marching, rather than attempting to slide your feet back and forth. As I'm marching and somehow skating from one side of the rink to the other, Coach Kate has graciously skated right beside me with play by play instructions on improving my movements. Before I knew it, I was ready to take the training wheels off and skate on my own.

Now don't get the impression that I looked like Nancy Kerrigan, because I looked like a fish out of water. I had my hands out in front of me, my knees slightly bent, and a look of concentration so hard you'd think I was taking an IQ test. As I began to venture with "glides" and "dips," my cushioning came in handy. I went to do a dip, which is really kind of like squatting in the woods when you've really gotta go (you know what I'm talking about), and instead of gliding gracefully, I ended up just kind of sitting. So yes, I fell. But no one caught it on camera, so it technically doesn’t exist. (just like that bad haircut you had from the 6^th grade)

I am still learning, and I am really looking forward to spending time with my awesome, supportive classmates tomorrow morning at 9:50. Please feel free to come watch or even join in on the class! Pictures to come soon!


See you on the ice! 


--Your favorite intern, Brandy

We'll take the physical challenge!

I love a challenge. You know on A Christmas story when Flick gets TRIPLE-dog dared to stick his tongue to the pole. That's me. I got triple dog dared to jump a fence in the fourth grade. I jumped it, and I broke my arm, but that's not the point. I can't pass up the infamous, epic triple dog dare. EVER!

So I've been the marketing intern here at the Extreme Ice Center for about 3 months now, and I have yet to step on the ice, (gasps!) and I've only been skating one time ever in my entire 22 years of existence. So to answer your next question, why work at an ice rink then? Well, its back to the challenge thing. I took on something that would open my eyes to another world of sports I had never experienced.

So here I am: brand new to the world of ice hockey, ice skating, curling, broomball, Canadian beer, and Zamboni driving. I feel like I've been reborn in the heart of Canada (even though I've still got my southern accent). My boss, Moe, as most of you know her, decided to challenge me a week ago by signing me up for Learn to Skate Class, a program offered for kids of all ages, 3 to 99. I accepted the challenge, and I'm excited about finally being able to go out on the ice acting like I know something.

I will be in the Saturday 9:50 am class for 7 weeks. (That is an open invite to anyone who wants to come watch publicly and get in a good laugh) If you want to enroll with me, sign ups end on January 2nd. Yes, I'll be posting pictures. Yes, I'll try to post videos too. Yes, Mom, I'll wear every ounce of safety gear I can find. I am excited about sharing my updates with you, conquering the triple dog dares, and getting in a few (thousand) laughs.

See you on the ice!

--Your favorite intern