28. Take a cooking class

Meet Jackson from Williams-Sonoma. He is a jam canning expert. He showed a group of about 10 of us how to make and can three berry jam. I learned the difference between water baths and pressure cookers. I learned why ball jars are the best jar to use. I learned how to make jam without the pectin.

Here's the jam before canning it:

Guess what my next big purchase will be?! Yes. Canning supplies. Matt usually has a big garden with lots of extra veggies that we end up cooking and freezing. But I love my freezer space, so if I can the extra I save my freezer space for my bulk cooking meals.

Overall, I had a great experience at the Williams-Somona cooking class, which by the way was free and they offer a variety of classes all throughout the year. Next time, I'll bring Matt along and make a (free) date out of it!

56. Go to bed at 10

My usual bedtime is after 10pm. Way after 10pm. Ever since I was a teenager, I was a night owl...preferring to stay up and be productive, then sleep in. I do my best organizing, planning, cleaning, etc at night.

My bedtime this week is 10pm. Yikes. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can. Beginning tonight - July 5, I will be going to bed no later than 10pm for a week. I'll shoot for a 7 day week, but settle for a 5 day week.

Gotta go. I have less than an hour to get the kitchen cleaned, house picked up, and some home school lesson planning.

UPDATE: I did it. Sort of. Close enough. For 5 nights, I mostly went to bed at 10. Lights were out. Some nights, I was actually able to go to sleep right away. Others, I couldn't. To be honest, I only really loved the 1st night. The others were work to make myself go to bed at 10. Another negative - the house. Disaster. Evenings are usually when I pick up from the day. Clothes get folded and put away in the evenings. Dishes get washed. Dishwashers get unloaded for the next morning.

Going to bed at 10 made it so that I didn't get all that stuff done. So while I may have woken up a little less grumpy, I came downstairs to a dirty kitchen. Which in turn made me grumpier than if I had just stayed up until 11.

Overall - I checked this off just to check it off. It didn't change my life or schedule at all.

84. Host a swap party

I love books. I love wine. What better thing to swap than books and wine? I had a few friends over and we ate, drank, talked books, and had lots of fun. It was a great opportunity to try out some of the fun recipes I've pinned, but haven't had the occasion to make. Mini cannoli, strawberry shots, avocado egg rolls, and more. And it was a great opportunity to find some fun new books to read.
Thanks sweet friends of mine for making this a great night and another check off my list! (And thanks to Matt for helping me prepare all the food!)

25. Golfing with Matt

Well, yet another one will need to be altered. When I put this on my list, it was to do something fun with Matt that we did when we were in college. We played golf. It was a fun memory that I thought would be fun to recreate.

Once again, life has changed this list. Here's the number one thing I've learned from doing this 101 things in 1001 days. Life happens. People change. What you think you'll want to do two years from now may not be something you will actually want to do two years from now.

Matt and I have no interested in playing golf. Or watching golf - not even on tv. So, I'm exercising my right to change this to...

Going to the symphony. The only experience I've had with a symphony orchestra is Pops in the Park. Fun to be sure, but completely difference from the Charlotte Symphony at Belk Theater.

This was amazing. It was a performance of Beethoven's Missa Solemnis. He wrote it when he was completely deaf. He was brilliant with the things he composed when he could hear. Pure genius when he couldn't. There was a huge choir and four soloists (soprano, alto, tenor, bass) and the whole thing was beautiful. The Nicene Creed sung in Latin was absolutely remarkable. I have nothing but good things to say about the Charlotte Symphony. 

The conductor was like a mad scientist. He looked the part. Imagine the conductor in the picture above, but with grey hair. And just a little bit crazier.

My take away: I love the Symphony. I know the difference between a symphony and an orchestra. And I love tapas restaurants (we went to Dandelion Market in Uptown).

And yes, I know this isn't even in the same vein as golf. But, it was something I did with Matt (and a dear friend, CV) so it counts. 

56. Read from 8 - 10, then go to bed

OK, so this one's dumb. I think my reason behind it was to not get sucked into a good book and read until 3am. However, I have 4 young children. I don't have the luxury of sipping tea and reading a good book during the day. Reading into the night is how I get my books read and I will have to embrace that for now.

The question remains...what to do to #56. I'm not keeping it as is. I'm pretty sure I don't even have 1 whole week of nothing to do in the evenings.

It must be changed to something in the same vein or that makes sense. So, I'm changing it to...drumroll please....going to bed at 10 for 7 days straight. This will be difficult. I clean the house in the evenings. I meet with my 2 dear friends to pray for one another in the evenings. I go to book club in the evenings. I do a million things in the evenings that I can't do during the day. I frequently go to bed past 10...way past 10.

Not sure when I'll start...can't be this week. I have bridge on Friday night. We stay up late. Very late. Next week is Ingrid Michaelson concert. So, it can't happen then. The following week I'll need the evenings to get ready for our vacation and get our house ready for the renovation that will happen while we're away. The week after that, we'll be on vacation. The week we get back from vacation, I'll be putting my house back together from the renovations.

Life. Is. Too. Busy.

43. Spend all morning yard saling by myself

I love a good yard sale. I get things dirt cheap that I would otherwise probably never buy. And I love being by myself since I'm an introvert.

So, my sweet and loving husband gave me the morning off of life today to go to breakfast by myself. Zada Jane's + a good book + no one I know = a great morning. Afterwards, I decided to go yard saling. I got some great finds - cross stitch frames for the Pinterest idea I saw that I love (but am totally not paying full price on). I got a bed for my kid's American Girl dolls. I got a Vera Bradley sleep overnight bag for my girls. And a Van Gogh art book. All for $10. Amazing. I might make this a monthly routine - thanks Matt!!

18. Attend a major sporting event with Matt

Background: I dislike sports. Forget the fact that I played Varsity soccer in high school. I dislike sports. Unless it's horse related or the Olympics. Matt loves sports. So, I put this on my list so we could do something together that he enjoys. Because he's done his fair share of wine festivals, rom com movies, and shopping with me. 

Bobcats V Celtics. Celtics won, which is great since Matt's from Massachusetts. And now I can check this off. And while we had a great time together, I think Matt would probably rather do to a sporting event with a dude who can carry on a conversation about the event.