64. Attend 5 community events. (5/5)

Complete!  I returned to Harrisonburg in July for HFD's Free Pizza/Free Smoke Alarm event.  This year I answered phones and delivered pizza with Chief.  It was so nice to be back with such a wonderful group of people.  We broke last year's record and delivered 506 pizzas in four hours!

All of the former HFD interns.

66. Visit all 50 states. (36/50)

I went to California for the first time in May.  I spent a few days in San Diego for work before heading up to Anaheim to visit a friend at Disneyland.  It seemed like there were beautiful flowers everywhere in San Diego.  I also got to drive out to the Cabrillo National Monument at Point Loma.  The views were incredibly gorgeous all along the coast!  I definitely want to vacation in San Diego sometime because there is so much that I didn't get to do while I was there.  It was fun to visit Disneyland, too.  I went to both parks, Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure.  I even got to ride the new Star Tours before it reopened to the public.  Awesome!

61. Complete 5 new puzzles. (5/5)

Complete!  I finished a panoramic hot air balloon puzzle in June.

68. See Disney's Beauty and the Beast on Broadway in Roanoke.

Complete!  My sister and I went to see Beauty and the Beast back at the beginning of May.  I enjoyed the performance.  I am always amused by the unique touches that each cast brings to the production. 

69. Be a tourist in a new city.

Complete!  I went to Chicago for work at the end of April and spent my evenings walking around the city.  I loved Chicago and would go back in a heartbeat.  Staying downtown and wandering around on foot made my experience more unique.  I think I saw more of the true, non-tourist Chicago this way.  Although, I did see some of the typical tourist spots, too.  Looking back through my pictures makes me want to go back tomorrow.

View from my hotel room at night.

Had to eat at Harry Caray's one evening.

I loved the bridges.

The Chicago Theatre Sign

Cloud Gate, "The Bean," in Millennium Park

Reflection in "The Bean"

Crown Fountain in Millennium Park

Deep Dish Pizza

The Navy Pier

Dusk

View from the Navy Pier.

Gorgeous interior of the Grand Lux Cafe.

Scene from my last evening walk.

Cupcakes

I did use the skills I learned in my cake decorating class for good.  Back at the end of March, I made cupcakes for a friend's birthday.

I practiced my basketweave on a few...

... and some flowers on a few mini cupcakes I made with some extra batter.

My favorites were the sunflowers.  I will definitely do these again.  They were a big hit.

For fun, I also made ice cream cone cupcakes.  I baked the cupcakes in the cake cones, swirled on the icing, and added sprinkles.  So cute.  So easy.

And in case you don't believe me, here is a shot after I sampled my work.

My method for transporting these babies?  Rings of aluminum for support in my cupcake carrier.

Oh hey. It's August...

... and I'm long overdue for an update. Obviously.

I'm going to try to get back up to date.  I'm going to try to finish this thing out. But it's pretty clear how the last few months have gone.  And by "last few months," I mean almost five months. Which isn't to say that I haven't been doing anything on my list. Because I have. For realz. Probably I should also work on my grammar and sentence structure.  It has taken a real nose dive with this post.  I'll get right on that... and maybe a few of these remaining tasks.