#5 - Visit My Alma Mater

I actually attended two schools for college, Florida Atlantic University (FAU) and the University of Florida (UF). I get to see FAU every time I go home to visit family, but UF I haven't visited since I left in the mid '90s. I knew it was time to go back.

I was super excited that I got to revisit my youth with my BFF. We had a blast! We first met up with a very good friend of ours and his son for an afternoon of Gator Baseball. We used to go to ALL of the Gator Baseball games, so this was a definite must for us.

We had a great time! The Gators won, and since are now playing in the College World Series, it was dollar days, so the tickets and food were a dollar, and we got quality friend time. Plus, my friend's son was picked to be the announcer for one of the innings. Totally cool!

The bad news is I got terribly sunburned. I guess that is what I get for not living in Florida for 8 years. I completely forgot sunscreen!

This is the before picture, with my BFF. My sunburn hadn't appeared yet. But that night, I was on fire.

The next day we walked around campus and revisited our favorite spots.

Turlington Hall, where we took most of our classes.

Broward Hall, where I lived for 2-1/2 years. See my sunburn now? :(

And the famous, Bell Tower.

We also ate at all of our favorite spots, with our main stop at Leonardo's, which makes the best pizza, ever!

I'm so glad I got to go back and relive my youth, even if it was for only 2 days!

#14 - Raise Money for Charity

It has been awhile since I posted, so I figured I'd better update my progress, thus far.

A few months ago I signed up to walk in the SPCA of Wake Co.'s K9-3K dog walk. Though I don't have a dog, I was going to walk in support of my oldest cat, Drusilla. I adopted her from the shelter 6 years ago. Last year the shelter became 100% no-kill, so I knew I had to support them somehow.

I asked all of my family and friends to sponsor me in the walk, and they came through, big time! I raised over $250.00!!!

The SPCA K9-3K Dog Walk was scheduled for April 16, a day the city of Raleigh and central NC will never forget. That was the day of the worst tornado outbreak in 30 years in NC.

While the walk did occur in the morning, I was a little hesitant about going to downtown because of all of the weather reports, so I stayed close to home. I am really glad I did, as an F-3 tornado moved straight through downtown and within miles of my home.

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The good news is everyone from the walk made it home before the tornado outbreak, but downtown was hit hard. I have been downtown since the tornado and it is starting to get back to normal, which is really good news!

So, while I didn't get to walk, I did raise over $250.00 for the no-kill shelter. I am very proud of that.

And so it begins. . .

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Those of you who follow along on my craft blog, Crafting with Cat Hair, know that I am a sucker for lists. I love to make lists, but very rarely do I finish everything that is on them. Well, this list is one that I am going to try my hardest to finish.

My 40 by 40 list was started after I realized that I am now over the 35 hump and speeding towards the big 4-0!

I have never been that concerned about my age, but 40 seems so freaking old to me. I remember back in high school joking about how I'd be when I was older: living in LA, singing in a rock band, married with two kids tagging along as I toured the country. Yeah, so much for that happening. Though it would have been nice to have just one of those things come true!

So, instead of feeling sorry for myself, I decided to make a list of things I've always wanted to do, or things I have done in the past that I would like to do again. Of course, I limited myself to things that are within my control. All of those other things I'll have to leave up to God to take care of. :)

So, thus begins my 40 by 40 list. I have a little less than 3-1/2 years to finish it, or if you want to know the exact time look at the ticker at the bottom of the page. I can't. It totally freaks me out!

I think that is plenty of time to finish these 40 things. I've included some of my 101 in 1001 days goals as well as some new, more challenging ones. I couldn't make it too easy. Plus, I don't want to look back in 10 or 20 years and say, "I wish I had done that."

So, here I go. Wish me luck!!!