#28: Find a white wine that I really, really like (wherein the author returns from an extended hiatus)

Hello folks. It has certainly been a while since I last posted here. I make no apologies for this however, as I've had an absolutely lovely summer, despite not having made much more progress on this list. That was one of the things that appealed to me about doing the 101 things: spreading out the list over such a long period of time allows for the natural peaks and valleys of commitment and success that come with goals and resolutions.

However, because I'm such a natural nerd, the return of the fall season can always be counted upon to spur me to do two things: 1) seek out a new fall wardrobe and 2) to renew my commitment to being organized and following through on goals. In my school-age years this obviously resulted in several weeks of meticulously organized binders and school planners, before I would inevitably return to my natural habits. In this case, I'm finding the colourful leaves and cool weather to be just what I needed to get going on my list again.

One of the accomplishments of the last few weeks included finding a white wine that I really enjoyed. I was a little hesitant about posting it here simply because it has such a silly name and certainly does not sound like a very serious wine, but I can't deny that this was one of the most enjoyable discoveries I've made in a while.

The Kung Fu Girls riesling from Washington State is described as follows:

An ever-so-slightly off-dry, zingy, wine with floral and pineapple aromas and flavors plus asian pear, apricot, quince, and a zesty lime peel with great minerality on the palate. This wine, from the strange mind of producer Charles Smith, is so sleek and racy that it never seems sweet. The grapes came from the rocky soils of the Evergreen Vineyard near the town of George, Washington. The vineyard lies on the crest of an undulating basalt ridge between 1300 and 1400 feet in elevation. The initial 250 acres were planted in 1998 with the balance of the current 450 acres completed in 2005. The soil is a shallow clay loam over basalt and caliche, contributing to the wines mineral tone and complex fruit flavors.

This wine is incredibly affordable ($14 in most places), and I'm hoping it's also available in Canada. If not, I'll make sure to stock up on a few bottles before my next trip home so that I can share the wealth.

Thank-you to the 2 or 3 remaining readers who have continued to check in on the status of this blog during my hiatus. I'm hoping to return to more regular posting in the coming weeks and knowing that there are a few people monitoring my progress is great incentive to get back to work.

I'd love to see some suggestions posted in the comments about which item from my list I should focus on next...

#22: Make a home first aid kit

Okay, so clearly I've been a little behind in keeping up on my 101 things. However, the gods were clearly smiling down upon me this week as I received a total 'gimme' on #22. Our office was holding a 'Vendor Day' (opportunity for companies to come into the office and hold a bunch of giveaways in an attempt to get us to become customers). In addition to having won a free night at a Starwood hotel (I swear Starwood Hotels is not paying me to endorse them), I also got this sweet, free first aid kit:




How on earth could such a small kit contain all the necessities of a first aid kit, you might ask? Well, my friends, I invite you to behold the glory that is the new Meneer household's first aid kit:



- 10 bandaid of varying sizes
- 1 sterile non-stick pad
- 1 packet of pain relieving gel for burn relief
- 3 packets of antiobiotic for general disinfection
- 1 nasal and sinus decongestant
- 2 extra strength pain relievers
- 4 alcohol prep pads
- 2 (fruit flavoured!) antacids
- 1 sterile gauze pad
- 6 antiseptic towelettes
- 1 roll of medical tape

I am totally not above taking 'things' where I can get them!

#63: Complete 5 DIY projects (wherein the author reminisces)

I totally stole this idea from one of my favourite new decor blogs, This Young House, and decided to make it my first DIY project. The idea actually came to me late at night a few weeks ago while I was staring at an already hanging picture frame and realizing it really needed to 'pepped up'. Once I remembered the scrapbooking paper I had stored in the back of a closet, the whole project came together.

I used keys from the various places that we've lived over the course of our relationship, and glued them to the scrapbooking paper. I inserted these pieces of scrapbook paper into the frames, and voila! instant nostalgi-art!

Isn't it super cute?

#94: Go to a Red Sox game at Fenway (wherein the author takes up citizenship in the Red Sox Nation)

One of our closest friends, Yuna, came to visit us this past week on her way back from a trip to Washington. Her visit was truly fantastic, and while I wish I'd been able to take time off work to be able to show her sights, I know Nate did a fabulous job playing host.

Having friends and family come to visit is wonderful for so many reasons, but one of those is the excuse that it gives us to play tourist in our own city. Although Nate and Yuna probably walked the equivalent of several Boston marathons over the course of the week (including hiking up to the summit of Wachusett Mountain!), I luckily got to participate in a few of their outings. One of these was the highly anticipated Red Sox game on Thursday night.

Yuna is a massive baseball fan, and she was gracious enough to take time from watching the game to explain a few particularities of the team and the rules, making the whole experience even more fantastic. Fenway Park has such a sense of history and nostalgia to it, and even walking around in the hours preceding the game was a lot of fun. Boston is so good at creating a mood of excitement around its sports games, and just watching and listening to all of the busy action around us got us more than pumped for the amazing game to come. The night got off to a particularly good start with a dinner of sausage on a bun, eating while sitting on the curb outside of Gate C.



Although we ended up opting for the cheapest tickets available, all of us were pleasantly surprised by the position of our seats. Fenway is a small enough field that you feel pretty close to the action regardless of where you sit. We were particularly lucky to be almost dead centre outfield, and even though we weren't sitting in the covered section, we avoided the pretty constant drizzle throughout the game since we were sitting directly under the jumbotron. Pretty sweet!!



And of course, the best part was the phenomenal game itself. The definite highlight was the record breaking TWELVE-RUN sixth inning!! Yuna commented that she'd never heard of a sympathy cheer such as the one that the Boston fans bestowed upon the Cleveland Indians when they finally got their first out. Needless to say, the Sox won 13-3- we're pretty sure it had to do with how loudly we were cheering...in French no less!



I also had to include this last photo, as it was the result of about 10 straight attempts to take a photo of the three of us. With every one of the first 10 being ruined by someone blinking, we decided to just screw it and take one with all of us blinking...much better!! (p.s. Don't you love how Yuna looks like an anime character when she closes her eyes like that?!)

103 days in...

So, I'm now 103 days into this process. According to the schedule, that puts me at 2 "things" behind, assuming I'm doing 1 every 10 days. I'm not overly concerned by this however, because I have several "things" that have been started (the quilt, AFI movies, perfecting casseroles, decorating the bedroom and living room, etc.) so I feel that there will inevitably be a bunch that get wrapped up around the same time.

I thought I would post this update thought to just put into words my thoughts about how the first 100 days have gone. I am loving this process: there are already so many activities that I would never have gotten around to beginning (or finishing!) if I didn't have the feeling of this blog breathing down my neck. They're mostly things that I have thought a lot about doing over the past few month or years (reading the LoTR trilogy and A Brave New World, developing a chore schedule, having fresh flowers in the house, trying new restaurants) but that I've never seemed to get around to accomplishing. I can only hope that this blog continues to compel me to get off my rear and put more of these idle daydreams into action.

I'm also enjoying having some people participate in this with me. I know of two other people who have begun their own 101 things list, and it's exciting to have others to share this experience with. And I really appreciate that there are other people reading this blog (we've been averaging 50 unique viewers per week), which is helping to hold me accountable for finishing this list. As I said from the beginning, my hatred for blogging has been overshadowed by my need for a mechanism for shaming me into following through on this.

Anyway, just wanted to give everyone who's been nice enough to indulge me by reading this blog a little update and a promise that there will be a bunch of new "things" getting crossed off the list in the next few weeks. Thanks for continuing to hold my feet to the fire!

#7: Read Brave New World (wherein the author blows her mind)

Nate has been on my case to read Aldous Huxley's "Doors of Perception" for quite some time, ever since he read it while writing his honours' paper last year and found it unbelievably profound and mind-altering.

I had tried to get a copy for myself in the summer, but when Chapters didn't have it in stock, I picked up Huxley's "Brave New World" instead, thinking it would be a good primer for "Doors".

It took me quite a while to get into, as I started and stopped reading it several times since then. But last week I decided to push myself and finally finish it (a clear influence of having this list, as I was driven mostly by wanting to find something easy to 'cross off').

I am so glad that I did. I don't think I have finished fully processing it yet, as there have been several times in the last week where I suddenly have a new thought or realization about the book's meaning.

But this is a truly staggeringly good book. Peeling back the onion-layers of its meaning, I find myself thinking and feeling about the various connections it has produced within my mind, as I find the articulation of thoughts that I have never myself been able to put into words.

The most obvious of these are the book's thoughts and implications about religion versus sprituality, and the human soul's need for a God. Huxley is able to so indirectly and without the usual self-consciousness of these type of futuristic, apocalyptic novels, make such piercingly honest statements about spirituality. One passage that almost literally knocked the wind out of me when I first read it was this:

"They say that it is the fear of death and of what comes after death that makes men turn to religion as they advance in years. But my own experience has given me the conviction that, quite apart from any such terrors or imaginings, the religious sentiment tends to develop as we grow older; to develop because, as the passions grow calm, as the fancy and sensibilities are less excited and less excitable, our reason becomes less troubled in its working, less obscured by the images, desires and distractions, in which it used to be absorbed; whereupon God emerges as from behind a cloud; our soul feels, sees, turns towards the source of all light; turns naturally and inevitably; for now that all that gave to the world of sensations its life and charms has begun to leak away from us, now that phenomenal existence is no more bolstered up by impressions from within or from without, we feel the need to lean on something that abides, something that will never play us false–a reality, an absolute and everlasting truth. Yes, we inevitably turn to God; for this religious sentiment is of its nature so pure, so delightful to the soul that experiences it, that it makes up to us for all our other losses."

If I'm not mistaken, the above passage was actually written by Cardinal Newman, and not Huxley. But the passage is so much more brilliantly underscored and heightened in its meaning by Huxley's narrative around it. The world that he creates, and its similarities and differences from our own, makes such a fertile ground for proving and disproving so many of our conceptions of God, spirituality, religion, love, society and government.

I can't imagine why this book is used in high-school curriculum though. I don't think I can truly appreciate its various messages at age 23 and after having already wrestled with some of these issues on my own; I can't imagine many 17 year olds who would do better.

I'd love to hear comments from anyone else who has read the book; as I said, I feel there's still a lot that I need to 'work through' in its meaning, and would love to hear others' takes on it.

#66: Make a quilt (wherein the author reassesses her timeline)

One down, 19 to go.