Bucket List

1. See One Direction in concert
2. Meet One Direction
3. Meet Taylor Swift
4. See Taylor in concert
5. See Carrie Underwood in concert
6. Go to the Grand Canyon
7. Hike the Appalachian Trail
8. Go to San Francisco
9. Go to London
10. Go to Paris
11. Go to Greece
12. Go to China
13. Go to Israel
14. Go to Egypt
15. Go to South America
16. Go to Mexico
17. Be in a Flashmob
18. Run in a marathon
19. Go to NYC
20. Go camping
21. Graduate from college
22. Go to a Hawks game
23. Play paintball
24. Go to Carlos Bakery in Hoboken, NJ
25. Go Mudding
26. Go Hunting
27. See the redwoods
28. ride an ostrich
29. Go to India
30. blow glass
31. ride a camel through the desert
32. get a pixie haircut
33. eat a fried oreo
34. Eat fish and chips in London
35. Go to the Olympics
36. Get a cream pie in the face
37. Go to the world cup
38. Ride a zip line through the jungle
39. Learn to play the ukelele
40. Write a book
41. Ride a motorcycle across Europe
42. Get a free upgrade on a plane
43. sleep on the beach
44. catch fireflies in a jar
45. Swim with a dolphin
46. Feed a giraffe
47. Go White Water rafting
48. Live on a farm
49. Be kissed on top of a ferris wheel
50. Go to a chocolate factory
51. Learn to use a sewing machine
52. Go to the World Series
53. Go to the Superbowl
54. Attend a Hollywood movie premiere
55. Catch a home run at a Braves game
56. Teach a high school class
57. Feed animals at the zoo
58. Go bungee jumping 
59. Marry the man of my dreams
60. Watch a meteor shower
61. Shower in a waterfall
62. Crush grapes with my feet in a vineyard
63. Go on an African Safari
64. Try surfing
65. Go to the TODAY show
66. Backpack across Europe
67. Visit every continent
68. Visit Stonehenge
69. Compete in a dogsled race
70. Cut someone's hair
71. Be a Disney princess in Disney world
72. See the Pope
73. Climb a rock arch over the ocean
74. Go to space via Virgin Galactic
75. Go to Oktoberfest in Munich
76. Kiss under the mistletoe
77. Ride a Hot air balloon
78. Do Ironman Hawaii
79. Cross the Nile
80. Eat snails in Paris
81. Live in NYC
82. Go crowd surfing at a concert
83. Learn how to use chopsticks
84. Melt crayons onto a canvas
85. Swim in the sea at night
86. Go skinny-dipping
87. Make a wedding cake
88. Buy and paint a hippie van
89. See the Taj Mahal
90. Experience zero gravity
91. Drive the Autobahn
92. Learn to beatbox
93. Drive a 4 wheeler
94. Pay for a stranger's groceries
95. Pay for a stranger's gas
96. Ride an elephant
97. Go on a cruise to the Bahamas
98. Go to the Great Barrier Reef
99. Drive a race car
100. Walk through a drive thru
101. Go back to the Grand Tetons/Yellowstone
102. Have a White Christmas
103. Go shopping in Paris
104. Have a day where I tie-dye EVERYTHING
105. Have a movie marathon

FRIENDS ARE...

Friends are all different.  You can have friends that are the antithesis of you or you can have friends that alleviate you bad moods and pain.  You can also have friends that see droll to you or friends that are nondescript.  No matter how you "classify" or think of your friends, they are the people that you tell everything to.  They are the people that know everything about your life.  Your family knows mostly everything , but your friends truly know everything.  It's not mandatory to tell your friends everything about your life, but since you spend so much time with them, it's hard for you not to tell them or for them to figure it out.

Most friendships are vivacious and exciting.  Generally, you love hanging out with this person so much that you can't wait for the next time you spend together.  These friends are the people who are magnanimous to/for you.  Since you know so much about each others lives you can most likely figure out shy they did something that made you mad, or sad, or even happy.  These are also the friends that will laud you the most when you achieve something great or one of you goals.  In short, these friends are your best friends.  Your best friends are the people that you don't want to disparage.  You my not think that you have to work hard to maintain your friendships with these people, but you do.  I have felt like my best friend and I are slowly drifting apart.  We didn't spend as much time together and I was appalled at how it impacted our relationship.  When we were best friends, she knew everything about my life and I knew everything about hers.  Losing your best friend in a phlegmatic way is hard.  It's like that feeling you get when you've been planning to do something for so long and then suddenly, it's rescinded.  Which is basically what you feel like is happening; you feel that everything is going to be okay in your friendship without you trying to do anything, but that's not true.  Contrary to popular belief, you can not loll around in your relationship with your best friend just because you're best friends.  But unfortunately, that's not how any relationships work, even best friend relationships.  Both of you have to give something and to maintain a good relationship, you have to try and work at it.  (FYI: this is one of those flashback- moment -thingies- from- your- past that Neumann wanted us to do :) )

The easiest best friend relationships to maintain seem to be those where you and your best friend are dissonant.  You're always finding things out about your best friend that irk you and your relationship becomes a bellicose one.  But at the end of the day in these friendships, you realize why you ever became friends in the first place and you whet your desire to not fight with them again tomorrow, even though you know that you probably will.

One of my friends is very loquacious and has a lot of alacrity.  She explains something in a very wordy way and then feels the need to elucidate what she just said.  This friend also enjoys tearing apart and complaining about edicts that are imposed on us at school.

No matter what your friend is like, whether they are hard to be around, easy to be around or fun to be around, you're friends with them for a reason.  That reason  is the basis of your friendships whether they are life-long relationships, or friendships that will last just through high school or college.  Life is hard without friendships and they teach you how to deal with so many of the people that you will meet in life as well as all the different people you will be friends with.

Song: Forever Young by One Direction

FAMILY IS...

Family is the ultimatum.  We can't do anything without our families.  People who are implacable believe that they can do without their family, but in reality we can't.  Families support us through the good and bad, and if your family doesn't, then maybe they really aren't the people you thought they were.  No matter how infinitesimal  your family is, they should support you and help you through all the bad times and all the exuberant times in your life.  I feel bad for people whose families feel a type of antipathy towards them.  To go through life and not have the compassion of a family.  Family can militate whether for good or for bad.  Our families have an affect on our lives whether we want them to or not.  Families are one of the inescapable things in life, similar to death and friends.  
Family is our support system, the people who will never give up on us.  Even when they beset us when we do something wrong.  You have got to accept your family though.  Even if they cause you duress.  You do not have to be a facsimile of your family.  It is okay to be different.  Your family cannot stipulate you and you cannot stipulate them either.  Your family can be one of your greatest assets in life or your family can be one of the most annoying things in your life.  It is your choice, and that choice can either change your life forever or it can be an innocuous choice.  
Family is applicable to your everyday life.  Your family can affect every one of your decisions or at least have an influence on them.  Family can have a stentorian affect on your life and your decisions and sometimes that's not always good.  People whose lives are ruled by their pushy and aggressive families don't really have a life at all.  Their decisions are always being made by others.  Usually these "others" are the mother hens or powerful dads that are making the decisions.  They have this vision of what they want this family member's life to be and unfortunately, most people go along with it and don't stand up for themselves and say " I have the patent to my life.  I control it, not you."  Living a sedate life is not always fun.  People may prefer it, but most people don't.  I think that the main reason there is this difference in the world is because of family.  Your family teaches you almost everything that you will need to know in life from decorum to how to handle certain situations and just how to imbibe life.  Your family makes you who you are and it is hard to change that once you have been with your family for all of your life.  Now of course not all families are loving and nurturing like we would hope that they would be.  Some people come from very unstable families and may hate just hearing their family's names spoken.  But just because you come from a family like this does not mean that you or that person are going to be like your family.  There have been amazing stories of people not coming from great families and they have been kind and gentle even though they have been through so much at home.  People who can do that have a certain prowess in my eyes and I would give so much to be able to have that prowess in my life that they have in theirs.  To me, to be able to come out of  that and still be a kind and gentle person is just amazing.  I could not imagine being able to stay true to yourself when you are in that kind of situation for years on end.  It just blows me away that people have the ability to do that.

Song: I'm Gonna Love You Through It by Martina McBride