Check it off! I crossed the finish line!

I completed my first 5K last weekend! (Something that is on my Bucket List). Some of you know that I've been training the last two months for it... sorta. One of my best friends, Kristen, and I tried to work up to running the entire 5K with an interval training program we found on Runner's World. But, it turned into us kinda bailing out more often than not to bike ride or sunbathe and running only three days a week.

But I did it! I ran the whole time... I'm pretty proud. I've never ran a race before, and it was super fun. The biggest challenge I thought was sticking to my own pace at the beginning while every one took off a breakneck speed. I'm pretty slow, but I wanted to make sure I paced myself, so I could run the entire time.

I didn't feel like it was a huge struggle, but I was glad to see that finish line (with beer and bananas. Oh my, what a pair). I'm definitely going to sign up for another race in a couple months to keep up the cardiovascular momentum!

And of course, after all that running and working out, a girl's gotta eat. So, I washed down my 5K calorie burn with a corn dog! DUH.

Currently Feeling: Pumped from the Pearl Jam concert last night. Eddie makes my heart sing.
Currently Anticipating: Sunbathing today! End of summer, what? It's supposed to be 89 degrees in Seattle.
Currently Loving: That I can smell the saltwater air coming through my windows right now. I love living near the water!

I guess my Bucket List is missing a few XXXs

I'm just going to preface this post by saying the Internet is a strange, strange place. Sometimes even I am baffled by its contents and entirety.

Movingrightalong, I was Googling for God knows what today - something work related, I'm sure. And I noticed a link for someone's Bucket List came up. (Which I won't link to so I can make super duper fun of this person and not feel nervous that they'll read and get their feelings hurt. I'm so thoughtful!) I really like to read other people's Bucket Lists cause it usually sparks my imagination and leads to things I want to add to mine.

So, I start reading this person's 500+ item list, and right next to items like "go on a Christmas boat to sing carols," "spend the whole day shopping with mom" and "volunteer at my kids' schools" were:

88. Get a Alice in Wonderland costume and wear it for Master

(Some bunny loves you!)

85. Do a strip show in front of a group of people

79.Be caged

(You animal you.)

80. Be in extended bondage for an afternoon or day

116. Break my orgasm record (12 orgasms in a day/night)

(Bitch.)

54. Get spanked with a English Tawse

(Is this a fancy name for a whip?)

119. Write another erotic/spanking story

(Pulitzer material, I'm sure.)

132. Try the violet wand

(I have no idea what this could possibly be. I lie. I do have some idea.)

209. Try out a Liberator

(Too scared to click the link.)

215. Get spanked with a paddle with holes in it

251. Have phone sex again

252. Receive a double cropping from two Doms at the same time

(Am I supposed to know what this means?)

273. Try out a Feeldoe for the first time

(Good God, what could that be?! You click it! You click it!)

283. Buy a padme costume and dress up as her (maybe Master can wear his Darth Vader costume that same day?)

(What a great suggestion! Why didn't I think of that?)

312. Get spanked with my own belt (instead of Master Anakin's)

(Such ambition!)

353. Self spank for someone over the phone again (hopefully the person won't just ask me to do 3 paddles like the last person did)

(God, I know. That gets me every time!)

425. Dress up like a man for a night

(Pffff. A little imagination here! Who hasn't done this one?)

520. Get another collar to wear

(A girl can never have too many shoes collars)

Ok really, really? Is this the kind of stuff you want people to read about you, or have your family and friends follow? And this is only half of it, my friends. I left some seriously X-rated additions of this edited version of the list. I mean, I'm happy that you have all these amazing goals and aspirations for your sex life, but couldn't you write them on a slip of paper and keep them under your pillow at night to refer to? The funniest thing about this list is that nearly ALL normal items like "Go to a tropical beach" were not crossed off, but nearly all of these BDSM items were. Girlfriend, something tells me you're missing out on life a little cause you're spending it in your bedroom, chained up by your fancy collars.

I have never felt more vanilla in my entire life.

Currently Feeling: Guilty for the caramel chocolate brownie I ate for breakfast. Um, but I kinda want another one for lunch?
Currently Anticipating: A free cocktail and appetizer tasting tonight at Tini Bigs for "media." Sometimes Twitter leads to some really cool connections!
Currently Loving: The nude Jessica Simpson heels I bought a cpl weeks ago - they go with everything!

Sushi 101

Sushi class last night was fracking amazing.

I arrived, hung over and exhausted from a sleepless week that I couldn’t seem to catch up from. A three hour cooking class, immediately after work, felt like someone was asking me to climb the Himalayas while stoned, with only one leg and a blind mountain guide. Basically – how am I EVER going to make it through this?!

But, it wasn’t long before the energy in the class ZINGED me wide awake. I found myself joking around with the other people in the class, laughing a lot (my favorite), smooching my boyfriend when I could sneak it in and rollin’ some of the best damn beginning sushi rolls I’ve ever seen, if I do say so myself.

The best part about our class was that it was also a sake-tasting class, so we had about 20 bottles and five different types of free-flowing sake. That stuff isn’t as bad as I remember it being after playing drinking checkers with sake bombs for Mardi Gras in 2002. (THAT was a bad night). The instructor also bumped music while we all hustled and bustled around the kitchen. Tunes from Led Zeppelin, Fiona Apple, Kanye and other randomness kept us moving while we learned how to make basic sushi rolls with some really amazing ingredients – anything we wanted out of Whole Foods, basically. Tuna, shrimp, real crab, fake crab, veggies, cream cheese, yellow tail – even Copper River salmon. We also made a number of other Japanese dishes, including miso-glazed eggplant, gyoza (pot stickers), steamed clams with sake, udon noodle soup, Agadashi tofu and a green tea shortbread cake. Then afterward there was A GREAT BIG FEAST, obvs. It was so fun.

I learned some very key tips about making sushi – like how to make the perfect sushi rice (did you know you have to add a mixture of water, rice vinegar, sugar, sake and salt to the rice??); that inside-out rolls (rice on the outside) require you to use saran wrap on your rolling mat and sesame seeds so the rice doesn’t stick; that you MUST wet your fingers down before touching the rice cause that shiz is sticky; and how to perfectly cut the ingredients.

Here are some pics:






[BTW - Did I mention this is the FIRST thing to officially cross off my Bucket List? (!!!)

Currently Feeling: SO freakin excited to pick up my new bike from REI today.
Currently Anticipating: A weekend away at Osoyoos Lake. We decided to try something new this Memorial Day – I’m looking forward to wine tasting on our new bikes!
Currently Loving: That I seem to be dropping pounds without trying too hard now? Weight lifting is the best. You burn calories even when you’re not working out!

My Bucket List - 100 Things (and growing) I Want to Do Before I Die

I discovered the idea of posting a Life List on a blog I read. This of course inspired me to put together my own little Life List since there are approximately 1 million things I want to do before I die. The list is open to interpretation or addition, since I know one'll probably crop up in the middle of me brushing my teeth one night... (All completed activities will be highlighted in bold).

My Bucket List

1. Go to a Bazaar in Istanbul, Turkey
2. Volunteer in Africa for three weeks with Cross-Cultural Solutions
3. Run a 5K race (9/20/09)
4. Live in another city for at least one year
5. Write a memoir
6. Keep a savings account – with a balance – for more than one year
7. Find my dream job – and work there (9/29/09)
   
8. Visit Auschwitz
9. Electrolyze every surface I currently have to shave
10. Meditate in a Buddhist temple
11. Marry my greatest love
12. Cook Thanksgiving dinner
13. Become an entrepreneur – in a small or large way
14. Take my parents to Ireland
15. Swim with dolphins
16. Stay in a little hut on a white sand beach with blue waters
17. Teach myself to video edit
18. Own a house with a library with floor to ceiling bookshelves and a ladder
19. Perfect one recipe and make it my “special”
20. Make amends
21. Order weekly organic produce for at least one month
22. Take a Tantric Sex class
23. Live in one of the old, cute little houses in upper Queen Anne
24. Take an extended road trip to all the places in America I’ve wanted to see
25. Party my ass off (or my top, I should say) at Mardi Gras
26. Take a sushi-making class - (5/21/09)
    
27. Buy a condo
28. Go to Teatro Zinzanni
29. Spend a weekend in Vegas in one of the nicest, most expensive hotels in their nicest, most expensive room (minus a suite or penthouse)
30. Visit Bali and wear flowers around my neck
31. Squash grapes with my feet
32. Donate a major lump sum to World Vision
33. Give birth to a little girl with curly hair, and name her Savannah
34. Further my education – either a certificate, art degree or Masters
35. Go on a vacation by boat and do it under the stars
36. Print and assemble some of my 4,000 photos off my computer into a photo album of my 20s (or 30s, etc.)
37. Collect my friend’s addresses and send out holiday cards
38. Own either a restaurant, breakfast place or winery
39. Read one book from all the “great” authors – Hemmingway, Kerouac, etc.
40. Figure out who all would be included on a list of “great” authors
41. Have only one credit card that I pay off every month
42. Close my eyes and feel that there’s nowhere else I’d rather be than right where I am at that moment
43. Own a beach house
44. Take a Web site design class
45. Plant a vegetable/herb garden
46. Make fresh salads and food with my homegrown veggies and herbs
47. Feel amazing in a bathing suit
48. Visit a rural village and bring gifts for the children
49. Be a member of the Bacon of the Month club for one year
50. Take classes and give an effing sweet striptease to whichever boy is lucky enough to be with me at that time
51. Buy a Seattle Zagat guide and go to at least 50% of the restaurants
52. Get a Brazilian wax (to be done before number nine)
53. Be a KEXP Plutonium Club member just once
54. Live in a houseboat
55. Have a closet that dreams are made of – walk in, with shelves for shoes, and floor length mirrors everywhere, in lots of gold and cream with leopard print
    
56. Feel amazing with myself at my 10-year high school reunion
57. Have sex in a Burger King bathroom
58. Go in a hot air balloon ride
59. Own a license plate with my name on it
60. Live somewhere with a patio overlooking the water with wind chimes and flower pots
61. Become an expert in something – and offer my advice to others
62. Run with bulls in Pamplona, Spain
63. Treat myself to a manicure, pedicure, facial, massage, hair cut and color – all in one day
64. Buy satin sheets for my bed
65. Celebrate Oktoberfest in Munich
66. Learn to sew
67. Buy something really amazing for my grandparents and my dad
68. Release a butterfly
69. Take a shower by candlelight
70. Ride my bike to work
71. Go on a game show
72. Participate in Lent
73. Wash my face and moisturize every night for one month
74. “Make love” on a bear-skin rug in front of a fire
75. Finish the last quarter of my Life List
76. Learn to make jewelry - preferably earrings so I can make some fantastic big dangley ones and sell them on Etsy.
77. Learn to speak Spanish
78. Stop biting my nails
79. Wine taste in Napa Valley
80. Meet a blogger whose blog I read regularly in real life
81. Learn a little bit more about sake and explore the world of sake
82. Give up fast food for a year
83. Make a cookbook of my grandmother’s recipes before she passes
84. Plant an herb and or vegetable garden
85. Go to dim sum for breakfast
86. Take a digital photography class so I can become more than an "automatic" setting photographer.
    
    

What I want to accomplish in 2009

I'm all about goals - a tidy little list that I can review and check off. Plans and goals are the way of my life. So, I've decided to make a short little list, in addition to my long term Bucket List, of the things I want to specifically accomplish in 2009:

• Take a Spanish class
• Start my social media blog/resume site
• Buy a bike and ride to work at least a couple times this summer
• Get a "Live, Laugh, Love" tattoo on my foot
• Run in the 5K Fremont Oktoberfest BrewHaHa race
• Take a jewelry making class so I can learn to make some sweet, big dangley earrings and possibly open an Etsy shop
• Purchase my Seattle Zagat quide and start checking off a few of those restaurants!
• Figure out the school I want to go to for grad school for a Masters in Digital Media/Social Media, and apply by the end of the year

I think that's a pretty great list! Onward and upward toward living life to my FULLEST!

xoxo
Je