Whence comes this melody constantly flowing

Bonjourno, friends! :) Can you believe it's already 2011? What an exciting, exciting year that lies before us, eh? I can hardly believe that it's been nearly 1.5 years since we returned from Korea, 6 months since we moved to Arizona and 25 years since I was born! Holy smokes!

Anyway, with 2010 having come to a close and 2011 starting off, I figured I'd do an update on...dundundun...the list! We didn't manage to get everything crossed off, but we did do a lot of things and many of them were things we may have not otherwise done without a little resolution push! Behold:

The whole list:

• build an igloo (pictures here)
  
• go strawberry pickin' (pictures here)
  
• make tofu
  
• don't eat processed food for 30 days
• read a book together and talk about it
• make ice cream
• try a new restaurant (we hit up the Red Lion Grog House in Fountain Square - yum!)
  
• pull an all nighter
• color a picture
• grow a garden
• buy a bike and ride it
• go to a museum (pictures here)
  
• host a dinner party
  
• pay off a credit card boomchickawowow!! (newbie!)
  
• buy something at a farmers market
• go fishing
• go to a music show **We went to a Jimmy Eat World concert in Tempe for the New Years celebration. Just in the nick of time!
  
• go to noraebang (karaoke)
• make wine
• shadow a beekeeper(pictures here)
  
• walk in a park
• go bowling
• no technology for 3 days (including phone, computer and TV)
• draw on the sidewalk with chalk(pictures here)
  
• go to a festival (any kind)(we went to the Indianapolis Brew HaHa!)
  
• go camping w/ no whining from wendy
• make homemade ravioli from scratch (pictures here)
  
• take a road trip(pictures here
  
• try a restaurant from diners, drive-ins and dives (pictures here)
  
• take a class on whatever
• go to the indy 500(no pics! but it was fun. :P )
  
• practice our german and spanish
• bring food to our neighbors
• buy a $20 lottery ticket (don't judge)(that was an unfortunate $20 down the drain!)
  
• try miracle fruit KACHING!
  
• make our own pizza from scratch
• go to the zoo
• go to a place that makes cheese (pictures here)
  
• go to the shipshewana flea market
• volunteer somewhere **I performed at a nursing home for Christmas!
  
• move out of the state(pics here!!)
  
• have an international skype party
• make a play jungle for goguma and lamia
• have a picnic with wine/cheese
• go a week without air conditioning in the summer
  
• have a dance party
• take a nice picture together (we've totally taken a bajillion)
  
• repurpose a piece of furniture from flea market/garage sale/craigslist (picture here)
  
• don't drive for 1 week

Okay, so new ones crossed off were:

• Make Tofu

David and I tried several times to make the tofu, but we weren't very successful. The first time we tried making our own soy milk and then curdling it. No go. The second time we used store-bought soy milk and curdled it, got the water out and then it just fell apart! We tasted it though. 'Twas a bit chalky, but at least we gave it a good go! :P

• Pay off a credit card

Since this was on our list, we made a conscious effort to really pay down a credit card over the course of a year. It took some hefty payments, but we're proud to say we accomplished our goal with a final payment of $100 going straight to Mr. Discover. Whew, that feels good!

• Go to a music show

On New Year's eve we headed to downtown Tempe for their NYE celebration. Tempe natives Jimmy Eat World (a favorite for both David and me) performed outside in the brr brr freezing cold brr and we all counted down to 2011! Sadly, no pics, though I do have fond memories!

• Try Miracle Fruit

David lamented in early December that it'd be impossible to try a miracle fruit as we'd run out of time. Little did he know what I had up my sleeve! I surprised him with a sampling of miracle berries as an early Christmas present. We prepared ourselves a fabulously weird meal, including blue cheese, vinegar shots, lemons and mustard. Pictures:

What each berry looks like. You need to chew on it for about ten minutes for the tongue to be affected by its zany properties.

Our "meal."

Verdict: Miracle berries are freaking weird! The vinegar was SWEET, the lemons tasted like you were eating lemonade and the oranges were so sweet it was almost unbearable! Very cool and I totally recommend this experiment.

volunteer somewhere
I performed at a nursing home for Christmas with my voice teacher and her other students. We sang lots of Christmas carols and David came, as well. :)

So, there you have it. A whopping 36 items crossed off out of 50. Not too shabby, eh? I promise I'm going to unveil version 2.0 of the annual bucket list after this update. It doesn't seem right to combine last year with this one in a single post. Stay tuned!

Wendy City