How many of these 99 things have you done?

As both an avid blogger and a scrapbooker, I'm always on the prowl for topics or lists that can serve as jumping off points for posts and paper crafting projects alike. When, this past May, I first encountered the 99 Things game on the stellar beauty blog Art Evolve, I knew at once that I'd be bookmarking it to try my own hand at in the near future.

As I embark on the first few days of my 28th year of life, now seems like an ideal time to go through this list and see just how many of these ninety-nine activities and events I've experienced so far.

If you're not familiar with this fun blogging chain game, all you have to do is go through the list below and highlight any of the following things that you've done in bold, leaving those that you haven't (yet) experienced as they are (notes in italics are my own, you may want to remove them if you try your hand at this list). It's quick, enjoyable, and thought provoking all in the same go.

{99 Things}

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain (a very tiny one!)
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightening storm
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitchhiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community (I've seen a Mennonite one though)
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkelling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater (I adore drive-in movie theaters, as discussed last year in this post)
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies (Girl Guide cookies)
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been a passenger on a motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Kissed a stranger at midnight on New Year’s Eve
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life 90.
Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Got a tattoo
94. Had a baby 95.
Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

{I've done #22 precisely once in my lifetime, and that was only because the car that my friend and I were driving in ran out of gas at about 11pm and we needed a lift to the nearest filling station - this being in days before everyone had a cell phone. There was, I assure, you no suggestive skirt hiking up in evolved, and I hope that I never have to hitch a ride again, though am glad in a way that I got experience it once during my youth. 1941 photo of actresses Joan Blondell and Carole Landis via Keen Delage on Flickr.}

♥ ♥ ♥

To say that this list is a mixed bag would be a massive understatement. Amongst its entries one finds incredibly profound events and experiences nestled right next to the seemingly mundane or every day. Few, if any, of us will ever do or experience all of these things, and that's totally okay. The point, I believe, of this exercise is not to strive to check off as many things as you can, but rather to reflect on those that you have done, while looking ahead to others that you may wish to experience in your lifetime (for example, I'd love to Visit Hawaii, France and Russia, publish a book, and have my portrait painted).

It's not a bucket list per se, because you did not create it yourself, but it can certainly help add an entry or two (or more) to the database of things you'd love to try your hand at during the course of your lifetime.
I was surprised in a way to see how many I'd done (both ordinary and spectacular), as well as some seemingly commonplace things (like sing karaoke) that I've not yet tried my hand at. I think that it would be wonderful to revisit this list again, perhaps ever ten or so years to see which items you can now highlight, and which others remain as dreams and goals for the years that lie ahead.

For those who may be wondering about entry #89 ("saved someone's life"), when I was 13 years old I was present as two men were were moving a bulky refrigerator down a flight of stairs. One was in the back and one was in the front of the fridge, as they neared the bottom of the steps I noticed that the fridge was slipping off of the dolly and that the man in the front couldn't possibly hold it up on his own.

In a flash I jumped in and somehow (I was not a freakishly strong child by any means), spurred on by the strength that comes from the adrenaline rush of a stressful situation, managed to hold the fridge up on my own while the fellow just barely escaped out of the way before being crushed. I cannot say for certain that I saved his life, but I know for sure that I was able to spare him from being extremely injured by the weight of a clunky old fridge toppling down on him. I've never shared this experience with anyone before, and I certainly don't view what I did as a heroic, just fortunate that I happened to be there at the right moment to prevent someone from being seriously injured or worse.

We've all done thousands of things, big and small, run-of-the-mill and utterly unforgettable over the years, how many of the 99 listed above have you experienced in your time and which do you hope to accomplish in the future?

We've come a long way, baby!

A (slight variation on a) Virginia Slims slogan that was coined in the late 1960s might seem like away a unique to begin a post, but I woke up this morning with those exact words at the forefront of my mind.

Yesterday, March 10th, is an interesting and important date to my husband and I, for it was on that day six years ago exactly, that we left Ireland for Canadian. While I'm Canadian (born and raised) myself, my husband - hailing originally from Italy - is not, and so fulfilling our dream of moving to Canada together for the first time was a monumentous occasion for us.

Though a hefty tome could be written about all that transpired before hand to make such a move possible, and an even thicker volume on everything it took to ensure we could remain here. For the sake of brevity though, I will not go into great detail about such topics.

My husband and I married (by modern standards) fairly young, two years prior to arriving in Canada. I was twenty, he twenty-four. Our wedding was, to say the least, extraordinarily humble and low key with a nearly non-existent budget, taking place just a few months after we met (to say we had a whirlwind courtship would be a substation understatement).

While not lavish, those initial beginnings were more than enough to cement our relationship however, which proved critical in the face of the myriad ordeals life would throw our way in the coming years.

Today however it’s not the trials and tribulations, the hardships or the sleepless night that I wish to focus on per se. No, it is the moments of accomplishment, the milestones and triumphs.

On that frosty day in March when we landed in Toronto six years ago, we each owned a couple of pieces of luggage to our name (having sold or given away our other possessions to help facilitate the cross Atlantic move), and little more.

Our first lodgings in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area) left a great deal to be desired, and in those early years it seemed every day was presided over by a cloud of uncertainty pertaining to (my husband's) immigration.

By 2008 however, things had picked up a fair bit. My husband, Tony, received his Canadian Permanent Residency and, come summertime, we were able to move into a better apartment. Though my health (which has already been in decline for several years) took a dramatic nosedive that year, 2008 also saw a major positive milestone when Tony published his first book.

In the ensuing years since then, and some of the ones that proceeded '08, we each launched various websites and blogs (some of which are now important income generators for us), founded businesses, advanced our careers, and grew both as individuals and a couple. Though neither of us were tenderfeet when it came to living in the "grown-up sphere" when we married, the world - and how you opt to handle it - look very different when you 20, 25, or 30.

Last year was an extremely busy one for us for many reasons, not the least of which was because Tony wrote his second book (Technical Blogging: Turn Your Expertise into a Remarkable Online Presence), which - as with his initial book three years prior - I was the first line editor for.

As 2011 wound down, we made put our life under the microscope then whipped it over to the dissecting table, where closer inspection revealed - or helped to further highlight - areas that needed to change and/or improve, one of which was that we felt was that it was time for us to leave Ontario.

The rest, as regular readers of this blog know, is history. Once the decision to move from Ontario to British Columbia was firmly made, we wasted no time in channelling all of attention into that project. In late February we reached our new town in B.C., and this coming week move into our new home (a thoroughly lovely condo on a pristinely peaceful street, which by sheer coincidence alone, I was actually living on at the time back in 2004 when I met Tony - talk about a small world!).

{While online vintage photos of our new home town, Penticton, B.C., seem to be fairly scarce, I've found a few so far, including this charming 1950s postcard feasting a shot of the beach at Okanagan Lake - one of the areas loveliest attractions and ,most popular summertime haunts. Image via Neplains.}

Though many renovations have already taken place, there's much unpacking to do and arranging of belongings so as to create the groundwork of our new home. I'm extremely eager about the prospect of, over time, finding additional pieces - both big and small - to help decorate our home further, especially those of a vintage nature (yard sales and second hand shops, here I come!).

As if these points alone weren't wonderful enough on their own, yesterday, exactly six years to the date from when we hopped off the plane in Toronto, we bought our first car. Another coincidence which certainly did not go unnoticed by either of us.

This incredible step forward is one that I know will only further improve our lives and which will help grant us a new kind of freedom and independence as we settle into life in a picturesque town in the heart of B.C.'s sunny Okanagan Valley.

I don't share these things with all of you to gloat, but instead because I think that it's crucially important for all of us to take stock sometimes of just how far you may have come over the span of a few years (or even a single year sometimes). This, I feel, is especially true if you've juggled both highs and lows in your life, as the darker moments often have the ability to cloud the positives and push them to wayside.

On that late winter day in 2006, I don't honestly recall where I foresaw our lives in six years. At the time, all I could think about was how elated I was to be in Canada again, while at the same time stressed beyond measure about Tony's immigration. Life back then was heavily focused on survival and laying the groundwork for the dreams and goals we believed would form organically as time went on.

One thing you learn as you get older is that life will always throw curveballs your way. No amount of success or money, not the fanciest home, biggest portfolio, fastest car, largest circle of friends or any other achievement can protect you from the unforeseeable. I believe however, that something far greater than any of those things - the inner strength you develop as you age and build up a wealth of different experiences - can truly help make tackling the unpredictable substantially easier.

Where then, one might ask, do I predict our lives to be in another six years? That's an excellent question, and while I'm more certain of the future today than I was in 2006, lacking a crystal ball, I really cannot say. I hope that more great things come our way, that we'll be able to stay in our new house for several years, and that most of the unexpected events that occur will be positive ones.

So, looking back at the last half a dozen years and reflecting on the abundance of changes and accomplishments we've made, as well as where we're at today, I think it's more than safe to say - with a smile on my face - we've come a long way, baby!