The Lists of Others

I decided to investigate some of the things other people want to do. I asked around and searched the web to compile a t]list of the top ten things people want to do before they die. I would like to give credit to everyone I asked (Erin, mom, Kelsey for the food challenge post, David and anyone else I forgot) and

•  http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/top-10-things-to-do-before-you-die-1721252.htm,
• http://www.koolfm.com/Shows/Kool-Blog/January-2013/The-50-most-common-items-on-people-s-BUCKET-LISTS  

The following are in no particular order

1. Travel- everyone wants to see fantastic places and meet wonderful people. Few can resist the lure of jumping into a new adventure. Also now that we are so connected there is the constant pull of one place or another that you just can't wait to see. Of these many places some of the most commonly said are Fiji, the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, England, Italy, and Greece.
2. Learn a Language- It doesn't matter what a person is saying, if someone is speaking in a foreign language it automatically sounds cool . You might have no desire to ever see the country yet there is still that small part of your mind that wishes you knew how to communicate. Plus to become fluent in another language is one of the hardest skills to accomplish.
3.Watch a Sunrise-Very few people are awake when the sunrises. Even those who are don't take the time to stop and wait for the sun to crest over the horizon. This little miracle happens everyday yet few people actually see it.
4. Become Rich/Famous- pretty self explanatory. Everyone has a dream. Something they wish will happen that will get them doing what they love and living comfortably at the same time.
5. Sky Dive- This extremely dangerous task seems to be on every one's bucket list. Maybe its the fact that you're looking death in the eye or just being able to say "yeah I've jumped out of a plane".
6. Run a marathon- If you are able to run a marathon you are my hero. It takes so much training and determination. A marathon is 26 miles long which is incredible. Then for the over achievers there are also Iron Man Marathons. Biking, running, and swimming until your body literally can not move. But the sense of accomplishment is said to be worth it and many say that it is the best experience of their lives.
7. Meet your favorite celebrity- Everyone has a favorite celebrity. We read about them, see them on TV, and here them on the radio. Some people even become emotionally attached to these people. The last step is to actually meet the people you've been obsessing over. I can agree, I'm one of those people too so I' not judging.
8.Graduate Colledge- You don't hve to go to college. The truth is, after 12 years of school, who would want to go to another 4 or more depending on the career. But once you've learned what you actually want to learn and you've worked your but off towards finishing school forever, graduation is kind of a big
9.Visit all 50 States- When I was in ^th grade we had to sing a song in music class. Part of it was "50 nifty stars on a flag that glitters so beautifaully in the breeze. Each individual state contributes a quality that is great" Every state makes America the amazing country it really is and they all deserve to be seen.
10. See the Northern Lights-They are the closest things to magic that we can actually see. Vibrant colors appearing out of the sky. It would just be amazing to see them.

Chillin' With the Holy Spirit

In my family there are a couple of milestones that everyone goes through. It starts at birth, first day of school, learning to read, first holy communion and so on. Recently I past one of the biggest milestones yet, Confirmation. We aren't super religious holy rollers or anything but we go to church and my mom was determined to see each one of her kids get confirmed. So every Tuesday night for the past two years I spent an hour listening to everything I needed to know before I got confirmed in my faith. I memorized prayers, studied a saint, spent time doing community service, and filled out countless packets about the Catholic faith and the power of the holy spirit. This past Thursday, May 2, all the\at effort led up to the moment monsignor Vaughn came to give us all the sacrament of Confirmation. Even though I hated going through all that, I must say I was really excited to be confirmed. It was kind of like graduation. We had to wear red, graduation styles robes, and go in front of a church full of our families. We all received certificates with our names on them that informed the world that we are now full Catholics and that all the work was in fact leading up to this moment. We also got little wristbands that said "CONFIRMED AT SAINT ANDREWS: Chillin' with the Holy Spirit" hence the title. I originally wasn't going to include this in my 20% project or on my blog but it was just a huge accomplishment for me. I felt so proud so I decided to share it Worth the world. I am now Emily Ann Katherine, fully Catholic.

The Philedelphia Experience

I live in New Jersey so I am smack dab in between New York and Philadelphia but I've never been to either. In another blog post I covered everything New York City so this one Will be dedicated to Philadelphia. We walked all across that fantastic city. Much cleaner than new york and less crowded but still gorgeous. Not sure what else to say. We went tons of places including Reading terminal market and the ones pictures below.

 

New York City

All my life I've lived exactly 50 miles from New York City.  50 miles from the largest city in the United States. But I have never visited it before recently. It’s not like I have a fear of being in a city or that I didn’t have the desire to see the "big apple" but I just never went. Over spring break I finally saw what the city was all about. The goal of this whole trip was to basically see the most famous New York City landmarks in the one visit. Trust me we spent the whole in the city and we didn’t even see it all. We started off by visiting the Museum of Natural History (the museum from the movie Night of the Museum). Then went across the street to Central Park which was incredible. It was huge and honsetly my favorite part was seein the police officers patrolling the park on horses. We visited a castle... umm not wuite sure about that one but there most certainly was one in there. Afterwards was across the city to the 9/11 memoial. That was really touching and it was just incredible. Then to my favorite place of all which was the Empire State Building! You could see the entire city. I was just in awe the entire time. I wanted to stand away from the edge but at the same time get as close to it as i could and just stare out at the world. Afterwards we hit Times Square which was just a rush of sound and noise. Lastlywe visited Trump Towers.I finally understand why New York City is called the city that never sleeps. It was complete sensory overload. There were people everywhere and everyone was going on their own way. Its like entering a different world. It was the most unique place I'ver ever seen. And all y life I've lived only 50 miles away.

Soda and Mentos

Soda and mentos. The classic combination.When these two are combined they result in a shooting tower of soda. Or so I thought. I decided to try this classic experiment for myself and I was thoroughly disappointed. It was nothing like I was hoping for. Instead of a steadily erupting stream of selter water, I got a bit of soda bubbling out of the bottle. I didnt need Niagra falls in the form of shoprite brand selter but something a bit exciting would've been nice. Instead I ended up with a bit of fizzing and a wet patio. Not all that exciting. Well, just goes to show that not everything works out the way that you expect. Sometimes it exceeds expectations and other times you get a barely fizzling bottle of soda.

Food challanges

I'm pretty sure everyone has heard of the infamous cinnamon challenge. Either you've done it yourself, heard people talk about doing it, or you've seen a video of it. And unless you've been living under a rock, you've probably heard about how horrible of an experience it is.  But despite all the negativity there is still a part of you that wants to do it. That's how I feel at least. So this week me and my friend and I decided to do many of the most popular food challenges. They are as follows

The Cinnamon Challenge: Swallow a spoonful of cinnamon without spitting it out
This is impossible. Not only does the cinnamon get stuck to every inch of your mouth and throat, when you cough to get it out it poofs like a cloud. Then you have to drink for cups of water trying to get every bit of cinnamon. By the end of the ordeal you are left with a sore throat, a counter full of cinnamon, and a lovely warning to others who feel the desire to try.
The Peanut Butter Challenge-eat a table spoonful of peanut butter without drinking anything.
This was remarkably easy. It could be the fact that I love peanut better or just that after the Cinnamon challenge anything seems easy. I look really strange sitting there trying to get the peanut butter off the roof of my mouth but over all the challenge wasn't even that difficult.
The Lemon Challenge- hold a lemon in your mouth for 20 seconds.
I'm pretty sure this ruined my teeth but after the initial 7 seconds of pure acid it wasn't that hard and by the end it tasted pretty good.
Saltine Challenge- eat 7 saltine crackers in a minute.
Basically I feel like I just ate card board. They were so dry and just flat out horrible ( for anyone who doesn't know saltines are the crackers people serve with soup. Also known as soda crackers.)
The Bread Challenge- eat a slice of plain bread in a minute.
Basically, tried and failed miserably. Because i was doing this with some friends i notice that people try different methods. On method is the good old fashioned shove it all in your mouth and chew rapidly. Another is methodically eat your way around the bread. I used the eat piece by piece method. I just tried to take one bite at a time. Sorry to say, none of theses methods worked. At all.

Wanderlust

I love going to different  places. My mom always looks online and finds cheap airfare deals for three day trips. Because of that I have been to countless places for two to three days. I've been to San Antonio Texas, Myrtle Beach South Carolina, West Palm Beach Florida, Boston Massachusetts, Orlando Florida....etc. I must say that since I've only been flying for a few years and we don't take all that many trips a year, it has been quite an accomplishment. On the other hand I've never left the country. My mom has been trying for years to go on an overseas vacation but none of the plans have seemed to work out. So considering we've never left the country I've had no need for a passport up until now. This year my family is going to Hungry for two weeks so we finally applied for a passport. It came in the mail two weeks later and bam! It is now legal for me to leave the country. I feel like getting my passport has opened so many doors. Its not that I think my family is going to be jet setting across the country its the fact that we can. I feel like with a passport the world is my play ground and I am ready to see it all.