Number 10...THE END

Watch the sunrise...

I can't believe this is it.

A few days ago, or maybe it has been a week at this point I don't even remember, my best friend Marie and I decided one night (at about 10 PM) that we were going to go to the beach.

That is what I love soo much about Marie. She is willing to be crazy spontaneous with me whenever I want!

Anddd soo we went to her house and she got everything she needed and put on her swimsuit (at least for the beachy look) and then we headed to my house.

I put on my bathing suit, got a sheet for us to sit on, and we both got our music collections.

We decided to leave my house about 2 and head for the beach. First, of course we stopped at Sheetz and we both got energy drinks and snacks.

Then we hit the road...
The drive was a blast and we listened to all our music and rocked out hardcore. The trip was our attempt to feel "infinite"

We pulled up to the beach and got out and it was so beautiful so late. You could see all the stars and hear the ocean. It was quite hypnotic.

We first decided to go up and sit in the lifeguard stand...
...but that got kind of boring so we decided to move down onto the sheet
We sat for awhile and just talked about everything in our lives. It is crazy that we are about to be sophomores in college and we are still best friends. Marie has been there for me since we were eight. We bonded and talked, and talked and bonded.
Then we decided to get into our bathing suits and go for a walk. I really wanted to go swimming but Marie was positive that I would get attacked by sharks so I didn't go in past my knees. It was so beautiful out there. Ok, ok I know i'm going a little picture overkill but it's my last post and I'm kind of emotional about it.

Finally, the beach slowly started to get lighter.It was only about 5:15 AM so Marie and I couldn't tell if we were going crazy or if the sun was already coming up. This went on for almost an hour. It just kept getting lighter and lighter with no signs of the sun.

I decided to pass my time by feeding the seagulls some Cool Ranch Munchies.Marie was not very happy at all. She ran half way down the beach screaming and threatened to go sit in the car. Apparently, she has a bird phobia...who knew?

Finally, we turned and could see the place where the sun was starting to come up.
It was just over these little houses (I was kind of upset because I was hoping it'd rise over the water but such is life). We watched it and took pictures.

It was honestly one of the most magnificent things i've ever seen. It is soo crazy how it happens, and so fast too. One second there was no sun and then less than five minutes later it was up.We finally left and headed home. We were both extremely tired and ready to get into bed.

We made a safe drive home, said goodbye to each other, and then slept the day away.
...and number 10 was completed.

And just like that, I'm done. I'm finished. It is so hard for me to even comprehend. It seems like just yesterday when the idea popped into my head.

It has been such an incredible summer. I appreciate everyone who has read this so so much. I have had a blast and am so thankful I did this. Thank you to everyone who helped me in any of the tasks.

I made this video sort of as a scrapbook of my summer. It is basically the entire blog put into about 3 minutes. It is my way of remembering everything.
I finished it.

MY LIST

MY LIFE

MY SUMMER

Number 14

Start training to run in a half-marathon...

Can we begin by noticing the word "start"

This task is more something that is going to be completed as I go into the fall. I'm not really sure what to write about it honestly.

My dad ran in the Outer Banks marathon a few years ago and that is when our family really was introduced into the whole marathon thing.

Since, he has also ran in a half marathon in Myrtle Beach (holla pops, i'm giving you a shout out).

I hate running. So, when I was thinking about what to add to the list I decided i'd put something that would be out of my ordinary.

Why did I pick this? I'm not sure.

I started running and let me just tell you that I couldn't even run a half mile. No lie I was about to fall over dead.

Now, I'm running about three miles and hoping to continue to improve.

The only reason i'm not overly stressing about this is because the Outer Banks half-marathon (if I choose to do it) is in November so I still have months to prepare.

I have actually learned to enjoy the running aspect (as long as i have my ipod) and it's been a nice way to have some alone time.

I have been doing lots of research about different training techniques and all this stuff I don't really understand. I'm trying to figure it all out but for now I guess the best thing is to just keep running and hope that one day i'll reach my goal.

Number 14 is done...(at least the "start" part)

ALSO, Harvey opened this weekend so everyone should come out!

Go to the Magnolia Arts Center website for more information. It is a really great and fun play. Hope to see you there!

Number 5

Buy lemonade from a neighborhood stand...

Ughh this one was sooo hard. Every time I would drive through any neighborhood I would look but could never find one.

About a month ago, I got a call from my parents saying they had found one and so I got dressed and rushed to the place they said it was...and nothing.

Then earlier this week, I got a text from my brother's girlfriend Whitney saying she had seen one. I get in the car head to where it was...and it was gone...again.

I was starting to get really frustrated until my savior texted me.

Allison is amazing and told me that her daughter was setting up a lemonade stand the next day and I should stop by, and I did!

T.D. and Allison were my youth pastors in high school. They have two daughters and one is the perfect age for lemonade stand-ing?

I stopped by, got my 25 cent cup of awesome, and loved my life to finally cross it off.


Thank you so much T.D., Allison, and most importantly Isabella!

Number 3 and Number 4

Have my 15 minutes of fame...

Jump into water fully clothed...

I have been so excited about these. When I first added have my 15 minutes of fame, I was worried about whether it would be possible or not. I knew I didn't want to use my plays because they were used for another specific task.

Soooo I started contacting people right away telling them what I was doing. I actually got one e-mail from a woman saying she was interested from The Daily Reflector and then about two hours later I got an e-mail from a different woman saying she was interested from The Daily Reflector. I e-mailed them both back and then they talked to each other and we worked something out.

Kristen Day is my hero. She is the one who wrote the article, interviewed me, and put up with all my stuff for probably about 6 weeks.

We have been e-mailing back and forth almost all summer ironing out little details and trying to come up with ways to get the article together.

We decided that it would be cool to have me do "jump into water fully clothed" for a picture for the newspaper. After a few issues on where to do it, Kristen e-mailed me and told me that she had talked to the people at North Campus Crossing and they would love for us to do it there.

Wednesday, July 21st, we set the day and time to meet for our interview and to do the big jump. I brought Pat (my little sister) along to video me because I knew I'd want documentation myself.

I met Kristen outside and we sat at a table and began our interview.

1. Kristen is possibly the nicest person I know in the world
2. I was so nervous and felt like I talked in circles
3. The interview lasted close to 45 minutes

After that Pat and I ran to the gas station for a drink (we had about 30 minutes until the photographer was showing up) and Kristen went to run an errand.

We all met back up for the big jump!

I was pretty nervous because I was going to run and jump into the North Campus Crossing pool with all of my clothes on in front of probably about 30 peers.

I told Kristen that I was silently hoping they were all drunk enough not to be aware of what was going on.

For the jump, I wore a white collared shirt and a teal undershirt (I wanted something summer-y looking for the paper) and shorts and rainbows.

After some planning out about where I should jump, we settled for through the waterfall underneath the pirate ship.

The rest can be seen on the video...



After the initial jump, the photographer wanted to take a few pictures just in case so we staged me kind of falling into the water backwards...



After, I got out, attempted to dry off, said goodbye, and headed home.


Then came the fun part...waiting for the article.

I had a good 10 days to wait until it would be published.

I did, however, have a few things to help.

In the interview, Kristen had asked if she could talk to one of my friends, so I set up a phone interview with her and Marie for that Monday (July 26)

That helped quench my nervous/excitement a little

AND then

On Friday, the 30th I woke up to a picture message from her showing me what the front page would look like.

I was bouncing around all day showing just about everyone I could the picture.

Alas, today came (Sunday, August 1) and my article came out.
I woke up at 6 and ran to the mailbox only to see that it hadn't come yet so I went back to sleep for a few hours and finally saw it!

Here is a link to the article for anyone that wants to read it...for some reason it won't let me make it a hyperlink so just copy and paste it.

www.reflector.com/features/done-and-done-43261

I am so so happy and so thankful to Kristen and everyone at The Daily Reflector!

Also, if maybe you stumbled across my blog from the article or something, leave a comment. I would really appreciate hearing from you!

All you guys that have been faithful readers, I love hearing from you too!

Number 3 and 4 are done!

Number 8

Fly a kite

Ahhh alas a task to take me back to my youth

Sooo last Saturday (July 24) we (my family and I) woke up and went to Family Dollar or Dollar General or something and picked up an awesome kite.

I didn't originally plan on it having any particular picture or design on it but when I saw the Spiderman one I knew it would be perfect...plus it was only a dollar!

We decided to drive to New Bern to fly the kite because we knew there would be some wind coming off the water.

It was beautiful weather (apart from the six million degree heat)

I got out and took off running and before I knew it BAMMM there was all sorts of crazy kite flying going



After a few minutes, we packed up and headed to lunch.

It wasn't the most life-changing task, but it was fun!

I'm wrapping up the list and just have a few small requests...

IF YOU SEE A LEMONADE STAND PLEASE TEXT ME

Also, stay tuned because some exciting ones are coming up!