#18—Meet a Celebrity

Ok, ladies, if you are one who easily becomes jealous, you maybe should stop reading this blog entry. I’ll use ellipses to create a pause so you can close this page before you read any further…

As many of you know, St. Louis hosted the 2009 All-Star game. With a nationally recognized event come celebrities. A couple days before the game, I was invited to an All-Star themed RCGA lunch through one of our carrier representatives. There were two speakers at the lunch: Bob Costas and Cedric the Entertainer. After much thought (and an informal vote at our lunch table) it was clear that because it was my birthday I needed to:
1. Accomplish the first item/an item on my list and
2. Meet Cedric the Entertainer

The great thing about checking #18 off the list first was it not only took place on my actual birthday but I considered not including it on the list because I wasn’t too sure how I would go about doing it. I honestly didn’t care who I met, but I will say, when I envisioned meeting a celebrity meeting one of the Original Kings of Comedy did not cross my mind…not even a little bit.

I’m sure you’re sitting at your computer thinking, “Holley. That must’ve been amazing! Please tell me everything. What was it like?” Well, let me tell you…From beginning, it was nothing short of magical. Maureen (the woman who invited me to the lunch) tapped The Entertainer on the shoulder after he stepped off the stage, and explained it was my 30th birthday and I would like to take a picture with him. The introduction set the stage for a beautiful relationship. He obviously obliged. We made eye contact across the room. He smiled and motioned for me to come over. I said “Haaaaaay Ceddy…” Actually, I put my arm around that big goofy guy and said “Hi. Thanks. Today’s my birthday. My friend Angie will be jealous I’m meeting you because she has a crush on you. She’s cute.” As we stood there for about 10 seconds posing for our photo…I found myself thinking, “hmmm, he’s a large man and I'm amazed that even through his three piece suit I can tell he’s kind of clammy…”

Ok, well, maybe it wasn’t magical, nor was it amazing. But I checked it off the list. And it was random…and I very much appreciate random. 1 down…29 to go. :)

Strictly Business--The Official List

Disclaimer: I'm not so sure this blog will be funny or entertaining, but it will be informative and informative is good.

So, today, I’m officially 30…which means I get to start doing things vs. planning them. Over the past few months, I have received a lot of great ideas. That being said…with so many great ideas, I kind of switched things up a little bit.

I originally planned on 15 categories with 2 things in each category. For those of you non-math people 15 categories x 2 = 30 things. :) I also tossed around the idea of having the contributor actually do the suggestion with me. For example, if Joe suggested I go skydiving, and I opted to sky dive, then Joe goes sky diving with me. Basically…all those ideas had a baby which resulted in:

1. No categories, just 30 ideas. What was nice about the 15 categories is they created diversity. Though the formal categories are gone the general idea stuck. I ended up with a big variety of things to do/try.

2. I opted against having the contributor participate in the suggestion, mainly because as I talked about my list with people, I found that a lot of people want to do the same thing. So, I decided there is an open invite on any of the below items. Continuing with the skydiving example…before I go skydiving…I’ll send out an open invite to go skydiving. So if you're interested, or know someone who is, let me know. Who knows, maybe we could rent out the whole plane. Not only does it give people an opportunity to scratch something off their own list, but I always have fun doing things with friends and making new friends.

So, here’s my list:
1. Purchase energy efficient products like CFL light bulbs and faucet aerators
2. Grand Canyon
3. South Africa
4. Read “Tipping Point”
5. Cooking class
6. Dance Class (Salsa? Swing?)
7. Self Defense Class
8. Kentucky Derby
9. Complete a Marathon
10. Cardinals Cubs Game at Wrigley
11. Chuck Berry at Blueberry Hill
12. Memorize a Chapter of the Bible (not just a few verses)
13. Weekend of Silence
14. Fast Eddie’s
15. Melting Pot
16. Sky Dive
17. Match.com
18. Meet a Celebrity
19. Loose a pants size
20. Watch the Alfred Hitchcock movie “The Birds”
21. Visit the NYC for a weekend of Art and History. I’d also like to visit two churches in particular: Redeemer and the Brooklyn Tabernacle.
22. Book #2: A few pending suggestions, I’ll fill this soon. Open to suggestions…
23. Watch “Juno”
24. Keep a personal journal of experiences between 30-31
25. Learn to snowboard
26. Ice Skate at Forest Park/a Local Park.
27. Take a road trip to see at least one out of town college friend
28. Visit a missionary my church supports
29. Buy a tiny dog and name it Beyonce
30. Buy a car

And, this idea just came to me, but I’m creating a short list of “alternates”. Since my main objective is to do 30 new things, IF there is something on the above list that I’m not 100% ready for (like getting a dog) then I’ll replace it with one of the below:
*Charlie Gittos.
*Misc. idea that comes to me.
*Take 1-2 month’s off work to travel (start before I turn 31, but can still be traveling at 31).
*Memphis in May and/or Jazz Fest
*Ride on a motorcycle
*Watch Casablanca
*Misc #2 idea…just in case…

Ok, that’s my official “update”. Oh, and stay tuned because I actually was able to scratch one of the items above off my list today! But, I’m too tired to type about it…