#43 - Nicolas Sparks book site visit - Complete!

#43 - Nicholas Sparks book site visit!!! - COMPLETE

Nicolas Sparks is definitely my favorite author and this trip was a dream come true as a fan of his books. He references New Bern, NC constantly in his books and he also actually lives there.  This trip was special for a few reasons. A little something people may not know about me is that my second son, Landen, was actually named after two Nicholas Sparks book charachters.  I remember when I fell in love with his stories.

My sister convinced me to go see "A Walk to Remember" and I was hooked from that point on.

While I was pregnant with Landen, my second favorite movie, "The Notebook", was coming out. So Zoe convinced me to read the book so I could go see it with her. I sat there and read the book cover to cover in a day. I laughed, cried, the whole nine yards. The main charachter in this book is Noah and the main charachter in "A Walk to Remember" is Landon. I changed the spelling but baby #2 is Landen Noah Sutterby. New Bern is the site referenced in the books so that is where I wanted to go.






 No trip to New Bern would be complete without doing a little drive by of Nicholas Sparks house. It was amazing! The biggest reason this item off the bucket list was so wonderful? I actually got to take the trip with my sister in law Amy (she always will be family not matter what and yes there were two Aymee/Amy Sutterby's) and my niece and nephew, Kayleigh and Drew. They were so well behaved I was so impressed and Kay said she had a lot of fun!


I was so grateful Amy spent the 3 plus hour EACH WAY drive with me. We got to catch up and make memories together. She got just as excited as I did and so far this is one of the most memorable off the list!















So in true "kick the bucket list" fashion...another one bites the dust! #43 - COMPLETE!

My BIG FAT REDNECK bucket list item!

This may have been the coldest day to possibly go outside this year BUT I had so much fun. I had to go sit in the car in between turns to warm up my hands which kept going numb from the cold.  At first, I was a little scared by the stories I had heard about the gun kickback since I'm slightly on the smaller side.  They gave me a 20 gauge shotgun instead of the 12 gauge. I was told I would enjoy shooting more so I decided to go the fun route.

I think I did a pretty good job for being a beginner. I would definitely do this again! The people were really helpful and didn't make me feel bad for knowing nothing.

#103 on the list - DONE!

If you are interested in going and trying this out, there is a great website with all the places in the State of Florida:   http://www.claytargetsonline.com/list.php/FL 

#89 - Complete!

Go backstage and meet the band at a concert and take a picture

Went to the most amazing Black Violin concert at the Straz Center in Tampa.  My friend Ashly had a friend who is their manager and he got us to their sold out concert and backstage to hang with the band and take some pictures. They played some very current songs like Rhianna and so much more. If you haven't heard of them check out the video, just a    small clip of their amazing skills!

 

www.blackviolin.net

#32 - Best Picture Winners

My brother has volunteered to help me kick this one off the list. So goal #32 is in progress. I've made a list by year of all of the winners, signed up for Netflix and the first movie is on its way! We started with my brother's favorite, Braveheart.  I came home to boxes of candy and two of the bucket list movies ready to go. I love that he is so excited about helping me check things off my list. Surprisingly, I haven't seen too many of these movies.  Here's the full list if anyone is curious what movies have actually won over the years.

"Best Picture Award" Movies

1928 (1st) Sunrise Wings
1929 (2nd) The Broadway Melody
1930 (3rd) All Quiet on the Western Front
1931 (4th) Cimarron
1932 (5th) Grand Hotel
1933 (6th) Cavalcade
1934 (7th) It Happened One Night
1935 (8th) Mutiny on the Bounty
1936 (9th) The Great Ziegfeld
1937 (10th) The Life of Emile Zola
1938 (11th) You Can't Take It With You
1939 (12th) Gone with the Wind
1940 (13th) Rebecca
1941 (14th) How Green Was My Valley
1942 (15th) Mrs. Miniver
1943 (16th) Casablanca
1944 (17th) Going My Way
1945 (18th) The Lost Weekend
1946 (19th) The Best Years of Our Lives
1947 (20th) Gentleman's Agreement
1948 (21st) Hamlet
1949 (22nd) All the King's Men
1950 (23rd) All about Eve
1951 (24th) An American in Paris
1952 (25th) The Greatest Show on Earth
1953 (26th) From Here to Eternity
1954 (27th) On the Waterfront - done
1955 (28th) Marty
1956 (29th) Around the World in 80 Days
1957 (30th) The Bridge on the River Kwai
1958 (31st) Gigi
1959 (32nd) Ben-Hur
1960 (33rd) The Apartment - done
1961 (34th) West Side Story
1962 (35th) Lawrence of Arabia
1963 (36th) Tom Jones
1964 (37th) My Fair Lady
1965 (38th) The Sound of Music
1966 (39th) A Man for All Seasons
1967 (40th) In the Heat of the Night
1968 (41st) Oliver!
1969 (42nd) Midnight Cowboy
1970 (43rd) Patton
1971 (44th) The French Connection
1972 (45th) The Godfather
1973 (46th) The Sting
1974 (47th) The Godfather Part II
1975 (48th) One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
1976 (49th) Rocky
1977 (50th) Annie Hall
1978 (51st) The Deer Hunter
1979 (52nd) Kramer vs. Kramer
1980 (53rd) Ordinary People
1981 (54th) Chariots of Fire
1982 (55th) Gandhi
1983 (56th) Terms of Endearment
1984 (57th) Amadeus
1985 (58th) Out of Africa
1986 (59th) Platoon - done
1987 (60th) The Last Emperor
1988 (61st) Rain Man
1989 (62nd) Driving Miss Daisy - done
1990 (63rd) Dances With Wolves
1991 (64th) The Silence of the Lambs
1992 (65th) Unforgiven
1993 (66th) Schindler's List
1994 (67th) Forrest Gump - done
1995 (68th) Braveheart - done (1/5/12)
1996 (69th) The English Patient
1997 (70th) Titanic - done
1998 (71st) Shakespeare in Love
1999 (72nd) American Beauty - done
2000 (73rd) Gladiator
2001 (74th) A Beautiful Mind - done
2002 (75th) Chicago
2003 (76th) The Lord of The Rings: The Return of The King
2004 (77th) Million Dollar Baby
2005 (78th) Crash
2006 (79th) The Departed
2007 (80th) No Country for Old Men
2008 (81th) Slumdog Millionaire - done
2009 (82th) The Hurt Locker - done
2010 (83th) The King's Speech

#69 - Complete!!

#69 - Take a yoga class

Early this morning I got the push from a friend to make it to a yoga class and get #69 off of my bucket list.  The yoga teacher, Jeanette, was so sweet and calming. The class was full of older people trying to keep themselves healthy which I thought was wonderful and inspiring!!

Here is my journey...

 Got in touch with my mind, body and spirit and will definitely be back to master some of the poses and feel healthy with some intense relaxation.

Thanks to the South Tampa YMCA for allowing me to 

take a complimentary class

www.tampaymca.org

#77 - Complete!

The boys are really enjoying doing this bucket list. In fact, they keep checking to see if I'm going to do one of them without them. I love that everyone is so into this.  Landen actually makes me do a video now so he can say what number we are finishing.

Bucket List Item - #23

For those who don't know, I was actually born in Scotland not the USA. You would never know by my highly American accent and the spatter of y'alls that come out of my mouth. We actually immigrated to Florida in 1984 so I've never really known anything else other than being here. My mom and dad applied for their citizenship but by the time they actually got it, I was past the cutoff for becoming one automatically.

I never really had a reason to go through with the process other than voting but after 9/11 it seemed pretty important. In July of 2006, I became an American citizen. I had to study for the test, read a couple of sentences to the guy at the INS office to prove I could speak english and then waited for the letter with my approval and date for the "swearing in" ceremony.

(If you ever get curious here is the link for the sample test)http://usgovinfo.about.com/blinstst.htm

Most people probably don't know but its a very intense and emotional ceremony where they give you a little American flag to wave while they call out each country in order of how many people are becoming citizens from the most representation to the least. THEN, as they call your country you stand up and wave your little flag, followed by a video from the President congratulating you on being part of the team. I definitely cried a little bit when they mentioned giving up your country for America. Every time I hear "God Bless the USA" by Lee Greenwood, I still get a little bit emotional.

It was at this point I decided to make seeing all 50 states a major lifetime goal! Can't wait to see what the great USA has to offer. We are pretty lucky to live here, if you ever want to complain try visiting a third world country...yikes.

I'm officially halfway to my goal of 50 states. I plan on getting a few each year off this list.

Alabama - complete
Alaska - scheduled for July 2012
Arizona - complete
Arkansas

California

Colorado - complete

Connecticut - complete
Delaware

Florida - complete

Georgia - complete

Hawaii

Idaho

Illinois - complete

Indiana

Iowa - complete February 2012
Kansas

Kentucky - complete

Louisiana - complete

Maine

Maryland - complete

Massachusetts - complete

Michigan

Minnesota

Mississippi

Missouri

Montana
Nebraska - complete February 2012
Nevada - complete
New Hampshire - complete
New Jersey - complete
New Mexico
New York - complete
North Carolina - complete
North Dakota
Ohio - complete
Oklahoma
Oregon - planning for Summer 2012
Pennsylvania - complete
Rhode Island - complete
South Carolina - complete
South Dakota
Tennessee - complete
Texas - complete
Utah
Vermont - complete
Virginia - complete
Washington - planning for Summer 2012
West Virginia - planning for Spring 2012
Wisconsin - complete
Wyoming

#33 - What a delicious goal!

Last night I got to complete #33 with my brother, Jordan. We actually got the green tomatoes at the hydroponic farm on Saturday. They were organic, chemical free and absolutely delicious! My brother is actually a pretty great chef, he used to want to be one when he was a kid.  We dipped the green tomatoes in an egg wash, then coated them with a mix of flour and panko crumbs to make it crunchy and fried them up.  Jordan made a "secret sauce" with a little kick. WOW! So good.

Of course the movie was amazing. Positive and motivating. Fun to watch it with my brother and knock another one off my list.

Can't wait to keep this going!

Big news - Item #21

There are two big items on my list that have been wanting to do since I was a child.  One of them is in progress as of the weekend... 

Cruise to Alaska - BOOKED!!!!!

July 2012 - Item #21 will be crossed off my list. I am so excited, I can barely contain it on this one.

And the first item complete is....

To see what was crossed off the bucket list first, watch the video below....

This morning Landen, Kellan and I decided we would tackle #88 on the bucket list!  I was really surprised at how much fun we actually ended up having.  I went online and found this great place that rather than just picking vegetables, fruit and so on in a normal field...we actually were able to go to a hydroponic farm that allows you to pick year round.

http://www.hydroharvestfarms.com/

The place was down in Ruskin but well worth the trip! I'm actually really excited about this because not only did we get to accomplish a goal today and have a lot of fun doing it BUT it was really educational and healthy as well.  Apparently the cold weather the other night froze a lot of crops and the strawberries were almost all wiped out. The owner of the farm let us go look for strawberries anyway so it ended up being fun while we hunted for the ones that made it through the freeze.

The farmer was right there answering questions and showing us how to clip kale, lettuce, arugula, broccoli and a lot more. Kellan was in heaven going up and down the aisles picking strawberries and running around the farm.  Landen on the other hand really bonded with the woman who owned the farm, and was busy helping her pick vegetables that we would use shortly after to make a few recipes.

The picture on the top left is of the kale chips we made which the kids both devoured, top center is the cooking demonstration where she let them get involved and showed them how to properly clean everything and prepare it for each recipe.  We ended up also making fresh pesto and turning that into an arugula pesto cream cheese dip which was DELICIOUS! She also gave us all the recipes.

Kellan fell asleep before we left the parking lot...

#88 is a wrap!

#46 - Pole Dancing

I have no clue why I even want to do this but Groupon just posted pole dancing classes. You only have 2 days to buy it. If anyones interested in trying this with me here is the link:
http://www.groupon.com/tampa-bay-area/deals/kiss-tale-pole-fitness-1

According to their website, you burn about 450 calories in one class. I hope I can keep up! Looks like #46 is going to be crossed off sooner than I thought.

~aymee

Why a bucket list?

As I was finishing my bucket list, I realized there is so much I've actually been fortunate enough to do that may have actually been on my list. I've always been a thrill seeker, goal oriented, always chasing the next big thing in life. Call me crazy but I TRULY believe that I can do anything I want if I put my mind to it.

Challenges can only get me down for so long and then someone says something or some big turning point comes and I make the choice to take it head on and conquer. Well, thats exactly what happened a few weeks ago. I spent most of 2011 in a funk and a friend said to me "Aymee, I've never heard you complain so much". That was my wake up call.

Before I post the list, I thought I would share a few pictures of some of the big things in my life. Somewhere I also have pictures of a hot air balloon ride, parasailing, singing back up with my high school chorus for Shania Twain on stage at her concert, theres a video of me somewhere as Britney Spears on a Carnival Cruise in the talent show, France, Scotland, Italy, Greece, Egypt, Turkey, Cypress, a couple of major awards at work, being published in a few magazines, following Limp Bizkit through 5 states to go to their concerts, trying out for American Idol, ice skating in Central Park, recording a CD, hung out with Method Man, met the Wayans Brothers in Vegas at my sisters bachelorette party, went back to college and graduated about 10 days before my due date with Landen, became an American Citizen, had 2 natural childbirths, got married, met the loves of my life (my 3 baby boys), rode a camel through the desert in Egypt, rode in a gondola in Venice, owned a home and so much more. I guess you dont realize how lucky you are until you actually write it down...

My Official Bucket List

1. Start a blog about my bucket list - DONE

2. Go Skydiving - May 7, 2012 - DONE

3. Sing Karaoke at a bar in Nashville - DONE - January 4, 2014

4. Join a church choir

5. Send a card every month for a year to an old friend

6. Get a family picture of me and the 3 boys

7. Take a trapeze class

8. Have a BBQ in a park with a group of friends and fly kites

9. Attend a real luau - September 2016 - DONE

10. White Water Rafting Completed July 2018

11. Stand at a toll booth and pay strangers tolls until I run out of money

12. Serve a meal at a soup kitchen - November 2016 - DONE

13. Hike to the top of a mountain and take a picture at the top

14. Ride the American Orient Express

15. Travel to Costa Rica

16. Travel to India

17. Stay in a hut on the water (Maybe Bora Bora)

18. Watch the Macys Day Parade in New York

19. Visit the pug cafe in Japan Completed April 2018

20. Go on a trip in an RV

21. Go on a cruise to Alaska 

22. Travel to Norway

23. Visit all 50 states in America

24. Ride on a motorcycle - Completed October 2012

25. Go to lunch or drinks with a facebook/twitter friend I've never met in person

26. Milk a cow - DONE - December 1, 2013

27. Visit a chocolate factory (Preferably the Willy Wonka factory) - DONE - July 2013

28. Use Starbucks as my personal office for one full day

29. Have a food fight

30. Go to a drive in movie or one outdoors Completed April 2013

31. Go to a NASCAR Race COMPLETED Feb 2015

32. Watch every movie that has won an Academy Award for Best Picture

33. Watch the movie Fried Green Tomatos and eat them

34. Play checkers with someone elderly

35. Drive on route 66 - Completed July 2013

36. Change a flat tire - Completed June 2012

37. Climb to the top of a building in downtown using only the stairs

38. Put a message in a bottle and drop it in the ocean

39. Decorate my house with enough Christmas lights that people will stop outside

40. Enter a grape stomping competition  Completed Feb 2012

41. Take part in or witness a civil war reenactment

42. Meet Nicholas Sparks

43. Visit and take a picture at the site of a Nicholas Sparks book    Completed Jan 2012

44. Go down a hill in a zorb ball

45. Attend a church service at a church with an authentic gospel choir

46. Take a pole dancing class  Completed May 2012

47. Sightsee at a volcano site

48. See all 7 natural wonders of the world

49. See all 7 ancient wonders of the world

50. Swing on a rope into the water

51. Organize a "summer games" with potato sack races, water balloon toss, egg/spoon, etc

52. Go camping Completed October 2012

53. Teach my boys and/or play hopscotch   Completed March 2012

54. Travel somewhere on a train

55. Read the bible cover to cover

56. Buy my sister the toy she wanted for christmas as a little kid

57. Attend a murder mystery dinner or host a Murder Mystery Dinner - Completed October 2014

58. Read a book outside in the sunshine Completed September 2012

59. Go sit and talk to an elderly person about life (Regrets, great times, wishes)

60. Leave a gift at a strangers house

61. Attend a football game at my old high school, HB Plant, with friends from high school - Completed 9/12

62. Play paintball - Completed April 2012

63. Make a doctors appointment just to get a check up

64. Live for 6 months with no cable television - Made it 9 months in May 2012

65. Go to a football game and spend the afternoon tailgaiting

66. Hug someone every day

67. Organize a bowling night out for all my friends Completed 2012

68. Play a game of kickball - Completed August 2012

69. Take a yoga class   Completed Jan 2012

70. Take a painting class Completed July 2013

71. Once a quarter do a "spring cleaning" and donate all the items to charity

72. Return something to someone I borrowed from

73. Put all my photos into photo albums

74. Kiss someone on a ferris wheel

75. Read an inspirational quote every day for a year Completed 2012

76. Have a huge water balloon fight  Completed April 2012

77. Have a picnic with the boys   Completed Jan 2012

78. Speak at The Special Event   Completed Jan 2012

79. Support a charity with my time or donations

80. Take one of the boys on a "date" once a month for all of a year

81. Attend a Lady Antebellum concert and get to the front row Completed May 2012

82. Go christmas caroling door to door with a group of friends Completed December 2013

83. Park near the airport and lay on the hood of my car watching airplanes land

84. Go visit my grandparents without being told to

85. Write a letter to someone who changed my life and let them know  Completed December 2012

86. Drive as far as I can on one tank of gas and spend the day there

87. Make pottery like in the movie "Ghost"

88. Go to a U Pick field and make something out of what we picked   Completed Jan 2012

89. Go backstage at a concert and take a picture with the band   Completed Jan 2012

90. Take lunch to a firestation just to thank them for their service

91. Purchase an item from an infomercial

92. Dance in the rain to a song that mentions rain

93. Host a fake bachelorette party and pick one of my friends to be the bachelorette

94. Take 5 planking pictures in ridiculous locations

95. Go on a canopy tour

96. Take a cooking class - Completed February 2018

97. Reunite with the "Now and Then" crew

98. Go cow tipping

99. Visit one of the weird "Worlds Largest" road side attractions and take a picture (largest ball of twine, largest roller skate, etc) Completed November 2013

100. Go dogsledding

101. Sell lemonade on the side of the road at a homemade lemonade stand

102. Visit the Mall of America - Completed September 2017

103. Go skeet shooting   Completed Jan 2012

104. Go to the airport with no plans and buy a ticket on a flight to somewhere random

105. Go to Mardi Gras

106. Break a Guiness World Record  Completed May 2012

107. Go to a professional basketball game

108. Play Bingo at a Bingo hall Completed October 2012

109. Walk uphill in the snow both ways  Completed February 2012

110. Stop biting my nails

111. Write something in wet cement

112. Attend an "ugly sweater" party Completed December 2012

113. Take a pilates class

114. Try out for "The Voice"

115. Attend another Gary Gulman Show  Completed April 2012

116. Attend another Dane Cook show

117. Try out for The Amazing Race

118. Attend a horse race

119. Get my concealed weapons permit

120. Run a 5k with Bryson  Completed May 2013

121. Sing the national anthem at a public event

122. Be a passenger in a private plane OR take a flying lesson - Completed September 2012

123. Go hang gliding 

124. See the Hollywood sign and the stars on the Walk of Fame in California

125. Go Skinny Dipping   Completed May 2012

126. Watch the sunrise and the sunset in the same day

127. Play the drinking game, pizza box "Battleshots"   Completed May 2012

128. Have/Attend a Superbowl Party and build a giant "Snack stadium"

129. Buy a magic 8 ball and base all my decisions on it for a whole week  Completed December 2012

130. Make a list of 25 things I like about myself and post it where I will see it every day Completed June 2012

131. Put change in someones expired parking meter

132. Play a game of "butts up" as an adult

133. Play 4 Square as an adult

134. Take a "coin flip" day trip

135. Complete the A to Z City challenge (visit a town or city that starts with every letter of the alphabet)

136. Sail on a boat on one of the Great Lakes Completed July 2013

137. Visit Mt Rushmore

138. Be a contestant on a game show

139. Complete a coloring book

140. Visit a national park

141. Take a young me/now me picture

142. Ride a Segway - Completed November 2018

143. Learn to juggle

144. Have an old school sleepover as an adult Completed September 2014

145. Answer the 50 Questions that will free your mind (http://www.marcandangel.com/2009/07/13/50-questions-that-will-free-your-mind/)

146. Read all the Harry Potter books (yes I'll do it Eric)

147. Eat no fast food for a month

148. Bake a birthday cake for someone

149. Complete my bachelors degree - Completed December 2015 (+ Masters May 2018)

150. Visit every attraction on the FAA attraction share list

151. Eat a meal at a restaurant completely backwards (dessert, main meal, appetizer)

152. Conquer my fear of frogs by holding one  Completed March 2013

153. Fill an entire wall with pictures of my life

154. Perform a Chinese fire drill

155. Build a blanket fort and sleep in it

156. Spend a night stargazing

157. Organize a "Positive things I like about you" for our entire office Completed January 2013

158. Participate in a mud run

159. Do something to positively affect my community Completed 2013

160. Help someone else complete an item on their bucket list or accomplish a goal

161. Refinish a piece of furniture

162. Make a legal will

163. Do 10 random acts of kindness

164. Have a movie marathon day where I watch all of the favorite movies of the person I'm having the movie marathon with only

165. Reach out to 5 people I haven't talked to in a long time

166. Make a playlist of my 50 favorite songs

167. Make an article of clothing from a sewing pattern and wear it

168. Participate in a Great American Teach in Completed November 2013

169. Participate in "Take your child to work day"   Completed April 2018

170. Visit all 7 continents

Yes I finally made a "bucket list"

I finally made a bucket list and i ain't afraid to show it. Ok Im obviously kidding here but really, it's been a very long time coming. I sat down and wrote out a physical bucket list and I'm ready to begin the process and start checking some things off of that bad boy.

My goal is to post pictures and document as I complete a goal and even the process of working towards the goal. Coming out of my most challenging personal year in life so far, it seems appropriate to channel my energy into something really positive. Some of my goals are short term, some are long term, some are silly, some require travel, some require no money and some are things I did as a child that I want to redo in adulthood. 30 years old seems like a good time to start this project.

I'm pretty sure the list will keep changing but the point is to force myself to see all the things life has to offer and enjoy every moment of living. I'm on a journey to make a change through this list and to fill my life with memorable moments that will be milestones on the journey of life. I will be posting my list soon....

Stay tuned. ~~aymee