"The List" 2013/2014: Accomplishments - Part 2

This is part 2 of a 2-part post. You can read part 1 here.

I did it! I met my goal! Altogether, I accomplished 26 items from my 2013/2014 List - 25 original items and one "bonus" item. That said, I have been horrible about sharing my accomplishments and adventures here on TwentyTenThirty, so to make up for it, I'm serving up a 2-part snapshot-style write-up to knock them all out. Let's do this!

Part 2

51. Spend the night in a castle: When B and I attended HRL's murder mystery dinner party in January 2013 (also known as #15 on the 2013/2014 list), the location was Spicer Castle Inn. Given the name of the Inn where we stayed, I'm totally counting it as an item completed. Yeah, it's a stretch...I'm ok with that.

60. Go to NYC for fun (NOT as a part of a business trip!): OK, so this trip was actually a work trip to start, but I extended it into the weekend, and B flew out to meet me so we could celebrate his 30th birthday in NYC. Yeah, baby! We had a blast, including a stay at a trendy boutique hotel near Columbus Circle, saw a show (Avenue Q), did some sight seeing (Circle Line, High Line, MoMa, etc), and had some great meals (including a great steak dinner at The Smith). Here's the birthday boy in Times Square while we were waiting in line at TKTS.

Wooo! B turns 30!

71. Get a hot stone massage: B and I did this during our recent 'minimoon' in Traverse City at the Grand Traverse Resort and Spa. Aaaah, luxury!

72. Make a snow angel: B and I did this one on Lake Calhoun, the day we encountered a lake dinosaur!!! Confused? You can read about it here.

76. Travel by Nice Ride: According to Bicycling.com, Minneapolis is the #1 bike-friendly city in the US. We've enjoyed several "Nice Rides" around the chain of lakes - a great spring/summer activity. AND, I have to point out, bike sharing came to be in MPLS in 2010, WELL BEFORE it was brought to Chicago, NYC, and SF. See? MPLS can totally lead the trends!

79. Lake Minnetonka boat cruise: In June, 2013, my Mom and Step-dad came to visit B and I here in MPLS. I wanted to take them to the Walker Sculpture Garden and other fun outdoor adventures, but the weather chose not to cooperate. Therefore, we had to stick to indoor activities, like a trip to the Mill City Museum. Thankfully, the weather cleared up toward the end of their stay, and we were able to cash in on my Wayzata Bay Charter Groupon for a champagne boat cruise on Lake Minnetonka. It turned out to be a lovely outing, and here's a photo of my Mom and me on the cruise.

I love my Mom!

81. Send photo Christmas cards: I don't know about you, but the majority of Christmas Cards we now receive are photo cards. This year we were busy getting married and whatnot, and since we're still finishing up our thank you notes (so close!), we opted not to send holiday cards. However, last year, we decided to get in on the photo card action -- but we opted to do New Year's cards instead of Christmas cards (I'm still counting it as meeting this goal). 2014 was an awesome year for me, maybe the best I've ever had. Here's a copy of the card we sent to ring in the new year and kick off the kick ass year. It was fun putting our card together (with the help of VistaPrint), and we'll definitely do it again down the road.

2014 was an incredible year!

87. Host a game night: Completed! We hosted a little game night (including Telestrations, one of my favorite party games) as a part of our Wisco ski adventure, so check-check-cha-check-check it out!

93. See Aziz Live!: Aziz is so fun to see live, I checked off this list item twice. B and I saw Aziz live for the first time in 2013 and again in 2014 here in Minneapolis. What a funny little dude. Did you know Aziz studied business in undergrad? What the Whaaat? So glad he found his true passion as an entertainer and comedian! My write up is here.

95. Pay off my car: I crossed this on off the list in early 2014. This is the first car I've owned outright, completely on my own. My dad bought my first car for me from a police auction when I was in high school. It was beat up Hoopty -- some kind Chevy I think? A Cavalier? that sounds right maybe, I don't know, it was old and kind of rusted. For a while, I was driving around with a loose clamp hanging under the car that my friends and I called "Chucky" because of the awful and terrifying noise it made dragging on the pavement. Anwyay, Hoopty died my during freshman year in college. My next car, also gifted to me by family, was a blue Suzuki Esteem (aka "Suzy Suzuki", or it's lesser known name "The Blueberry", or its even lesser known moniker, courtesy of my friend RH, the "Suzuki Self-Esteem"). Suzy Suzuki survived for ~6 years or so, and died on Thanksgiving day, during my drive home to Thanksgiving dinner in the mid 2000s. I was stranded on the side of the road for about an hour waiting for my dad to pick me up and waiting for the tow truck. Shortly after Suzy's untimely end, I leased my third car -- and I now realize that leasing a car is basically like lighting money on fire -- but it helped me to get into a set of wheels quickly. Car three was a Chevy Cobalt, a great and reliable little car. It had a sun roof, and it was awesome. When my lease ended while I was living in Chicago, I finally decided to purchase a car, with my own money, like an adult. My step-dad is a GM retiree, and I was able to cash in on a nice family discount and selected another reliable Chevy, this time a Malibu. I purchased my Malibu while living in Chicago...and now 5+ years after my purchase, that Malibu has less than 30K miles on it. No joke. In Chicago, I public trans-ed it to work, and in Austin, I worked from a home office, so for about 3 years, I basically only drove on the weekends. I'm so happy to own my Malibu outright, and given its low mileage and my diligent vehicle upkeep and maintenance routine (regular oil changes and such), I'm going to be driving this car for many years to come.

98. No Diet Coke for a month: I knocked this one out of the park, kicking the habit for muuuch longer than a month. That said I've recently back slid, and am currently 'off the wagon', but I don't drink it all that often. I know I'd be better off if I once again did away with diet coke entirely, and I'll likely tackle this goal again in early 2015. I wrote about this one here.

102. BONUS - Visit the Southern Hemisphere: I was kind of dreading my recent work trip to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It was right after my wedding, I didn't have a lot of time to mentally prepare for foreign travel to a country, I was woefully unfamiliar with the language, and I was facing an intimidating client environment (Yeah, let's see how chill YOU are leading up to a presentation to an audience that includes 25 global CEOs, followed up by a presentation to an upwards of 100 industry professionals and see how calm you feel about it!!), Of course, the trip turned out to be awesome, incredible, stellar, badass, etc...and I wrote about it here.

99. Get Hitched!: I'm listing this one "out of order", but I wanted to save the best for last. B and I got married in Ann Arbor on a beautiful fall day this past October, and thew a helluva party to celebrate. This life event deserves so much more than a few quippy sentences, and one of my 2015 goals is to organize our memories from this special day. But, for now, I'll let this photo do the talking. One of the best days of my life!

Cheers!
Photo credit: Jesse D. Green Photography

And, that's a wrap on 2013/2014 list tackling. Tune in on New Year's Day 2015 for the new list!

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Just over a year ago, I decided to tackle my very real, mega addiction to diet coke. Per my 2013/2014 list, I wanted to challenge myself to 30 days diet coke free. At my worst, I would drink 3 to 4 cans (sometimes more!) in a day, and my unwavering dedication to such a dangerous and addictive drink is not something I'm proud to admit.

My former trainer and nutritionist in Austin were both adamant that I cut diet coke out completely, given the surfacing dangers of sweeteners (both artificial and real) and diet sodas. During my Austin days, I was not strong enough to quit cold turkey (much to the disappointment of my health squad).  Plus, despite the evidence, I wasn't ready to believe in its evils - the first step is admitting you have a problem, and I wasn't there yet. Back then, if I had been asked in a focus group to describe my relationship with Diet Coke I probably would have  said something horribly embarrassing like "Oh, she's my trusted friend and confidante,""she's like a sister who's always there for me"...though now I know the reality...she's a conniving "frenemy" who'snice to your face but talks about you behind your back, and tells you nothing but lies! LIES!    While I couldn't fully sever my dependence on DC while living in Austin, I was able to get down to less than a can a day, averaging a slightly safer 4-5 cans in a week.

For some reason though, the words of my Austin health squad stuck with me, and last year, on April 10th I decided I was ready to give up my favorite beverage - at leasttemporarily - just to see what the hype was about.

I wound up giving up diet coke (and all artificial sweeteners) for 240 days. Our initial breakup was painful. For the first week, I felt like shit. I experienced legit withdrawal in the form of irritability, horrible headaches, trouble sleeping, trouble concentrating, and feelings of lethargy.  But, I stuck with it, and after the first 5-6 days, I felt pretty amazing.  After 30 days, I decided "what the hell?  Let's see how long this can last!" But,  I didn't want to restrict myself by saying "never."  Spring swayed into summer and lilted  into fall, and all the while, I was feeling good with my commitment to stay "DC dry." But as the days began to shrink and freeze, I relapsed.  

In December, as a "reward to myself" (It's the holidays!  I've been working long, crazy consultant hours!  The darkness and cold suck so I deserve a treat!), I knowingly cracked open a can of diet coke. While it didn't taste quite the way I remembered, it still had a "hit the spot" comfort and familiarity. Once an addict always an addict. Throughout my 240 days, I thought about diet coke way more than I care to admit - the addiction I have is more powerful than I imagined, and my addictive thoughts actually  scared me a little bit (if this is what a dc addiction is like, I can't even imagine overcoming an addiction  to drugs or alcohol!) When I "gave in", however, I never went back to the same level of diet coke gluttony. At the worst during my relapse, I was drinking a can a day on the weekends, and the occasional can during the week.  

But...I felt the hold strengthening, and on March 5th of this year (day 1 of Lent), I decided to once again give up DC again for Lent and beyond. In fact decided to expand my ban to all sodas (diet or not) - which didn't seem a big leap since I rarely drank other soda anyway, save for a Sprite every few weeks. Lent is now over, and I'm feeling strong and healthy and proud to have conquered my diet coke and artificial sweetener addiction, and while I do still think from time to time how much a dc would quench the thirst, the thoughts are not nearly  as powerful or frequent as the first go-round.  

Still, I remain a bit of a real sugar fiend, with a serious sweet tooth (Caaake!  Ice cream!  M&Ms!  ommmmmnom) and I can tell it's taking a toll on my general health and well being (the hips don't lie, they've been SCREAMING the truth at me for YEARS now).  But, it's not just about a desire for weight loss and to look "good" in my wedding dress this Oct (I'll look  good no matter my size!!). I've mentioned it here and there, but I manage clinical depression and anxiety, and I want to see how much of an impact diet can have on my daily mood.  I've read that a linkage exists between sugar and depression and other mood disorders, and I'd like to do more to minimize my risk.

Today is my birthday (perfect landmark date to make a change!) and I spent much of today planning and prepping for the 21 Day Sugar Detox, which I'm set to start tomorrow.  I bought and read the book, written by Diane Sanfilippo, BS NC, a holistic nutritionist who runs a nutrition blog called Balanced Bites. For the next 21 days, I'm going to follow the yes/no list (level 1) as closely as I possibly can. B's going to do it with me. The Detox includes an inspiring, detailed menu -- but for me personally, it's very overwhelming to imagine trying to learn and try so many new recipes in a week on top of managing a busy work/life schedule. So, the yes/no list works best for me, and I've used it to define a daily eating plan based on healthy recipes that are already in my repertoire and that I know fit into my lifestyle (with a few of the books  recipes mixed in as well).

Throughout the process, I'll do my best to update the blog with my daily menu, and general assessment of mood and well being. It's an accountability thing.

It all began with cutting out artificial sweeteners and ending my relationship with dc...and now I'm looking forward to kicking it up a notch.  Here we go...