Steal This Meme.

I liked the idea of this - and the opportunity to post a lot of memories in one fell swoop. I might even expand on some of them at a later date (good brainstorming exercise). Found the meme at this website.

Here are the rules: Bold the things you’ve done and post on your blog!

1. Started your own blog - I started *3* (pats self on back) - this one, edible cville (Charlottesville food), and escape cville (travel stories).

2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower

6. Given more than you can afford to charity - Yes, to Animal Friends because of our doggie daughter Lois (we adopted her there, she'd been a shelter dog for a YEAR - had been adopted and then returned. Their loss, our gain).

7. Been to Disneyland - I lived in Orange County when I was 5, so we went there every weekend. We even have Super 8 home movies of it circa 1973. Very Brady Bunch.

8. Climbed a mountain – Just Humpback, here in Nelson County. Once with my grandfather, and once with a college boyfriend. Now I want to go back with my husband.

9. Held a praying mantis – I held a tarantula in the 4th grade on a school field trip. Very tickly.

10. Sang a solo - Does karaoke count? I sang Lynrd Skynrd's "Gimme 3 Steps" after much encouragement and many Jameson's neat. Forgot about the 3-minute intro but was applauded after. That same night my husband sang "Big Bottoms" from Spinal Tap. You should've seen everyone's face. It was HIGH-sterical.

11. Bungee jumped

12. Visited Paris - My husband flew me there for a few days after a conference he had in Belgium. We were still in the early stages of dating then, and it was magical. After that trip I knew he was something else.

13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch

15. Adopted a child - Our doggie daughter, Miss Lois, in 2007.

16. Had food poisoning – Oh lord, I'd rather forget this. Once in Las Vegas and once on a trip to view potential houses in Charlottesville (before we moved here). Both times were ugly. I crawled into the CVS and bought saltines and Gatorade. The cashier actually said, "So, how're you doin' today?" I just looked at her.

17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty

18. Grown your own vegetables - I used to grow habaneros. Now I grow tomatoes and herbs, and I'd like to branch out and try salad greens.

19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France - We never made it to the Louvre, oddly enough.

20. Slept on an overnight train - I took the train to Miami from Richmond, VA while in college after a BAD breakup. Then rented a car and drove to the Florida Keys. Stayed a week and felt my icy exterior just melting off. It was beautiful. It was February and snowing when I left Richmond, 85 degrees when I stepped off the train. Got drunk in the dining car on the way and talked with a guy who was a citizen of Monaco. Imagine.

21. Had a pillow fight - Has anyone NOT done this? It was the main event at slumber parties when I was 11 and 12.

22. Hitchhiked

23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill - Oh no, never. ;0)

24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb

26. Gone skinny dipping - My sister, her friend and I went to Virginia Beach as teenagers and bribed the caretaker's son of a Howard Johnson's motel to open up the pool. He thought he had died and gone to heaven.

27. Run a Marathon - No, but I'd like to. My mother did. Whenever I run, I miss her.

28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse

30. Watched a sunrise or sunset - Many, many times. Most recently in Punta Cana. My husband and I were there for his cousin's wedding, and on the last day we forced ourselves out of bed to view it and take pictures. It was breathtaking. And I am blessed because the sun sets in my kitchen window every day.

31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise

33. Seen Niagara Falls in person - My husband was born and raised in Buffalo, so yes. He has a picture of me all bundled up for winter, holding a cup of coffee, standing in front of the falls, grinning. It's in a frame on his desk at work and I think it's the best picture of me that's ever been taken - trust me, there aren't that many good ones.

34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors - I keep looking for our Irish or Scottish ancestry, so I'm going to say yes. I lived in Scotland for a time, traveling to Ireland for four glorious days. I love both countries and feel an affinity for both.

35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language

37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied - Right now. I'm trying to live in a state of gratefulness always. You're only "poor" if you find yourself wanting.

38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing

40. Seen Michelangeo’s David - I saw a copy in Florence, Italy in the Piazza della Signoria, on the day we were married. It was stunning and surreal. I'll never forget it.

41. Sung karaoke – See #10.

42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa

45. Walked on a beach by moonlight - Many times in the Outer Banks. As a teenager with my friends, as a young woman alone when I needed a weekend away, and now with my husband.

46. Been transported in an ambulance - A college boyfriend and I were in a major accident on I-95 headed to Washington, DC on November 2, 1992. The car flipped 4 times, but miraculously we walked away from it. My purse ended up 50 yards down the road. The door to the car was ripped off by a van of Marines traveling to Woodbridge. I remember the EMT wanted to cut off my bra to check for collarbone injuries but I wouldn't let him because I'd just bought it. We lay on our gurnies for 4 hours because another accident was brought in just after us. Those people died. I remember feeling so fortunate.

47. Had your portrait painted

48. Gone deep sea fishing - Yes, with work friends in 1999. We spent 8 hours off the coast of Cape Hatteras. I caught two 20-pound tuna, and a 10-pound mahi-mahi. It was fantastic. Later that week we were caught in a Nor'Easter which was awesome to see but very frightening.

49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person

50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris - Lines were too long :) And who wants to wait in a line on a beautiful June day in PARIS?

51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling

52. Kissed in the rain - My husband, on our first date - or at least I like to think we did.

53. Played in the mud - Hasn't everyone unless you're a stick up the rear milquetoast?

54. Gone to a drive-in theater - All the time in my '67 Rambler with the Mickey Mouse mitten we used as a car door opener. I miss drive-ins. You'd hear crickets, hear the tinny sound of the movie (usually a bad one) and eat stale popcorn. Total summer.

55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason

64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma – I donated blood ONCE. They told it it wouldn't hurt. It did. Like a sonnafabitch.

65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp

67. Bounced a check - At least one a week from the time I was 20 until I was 25.

68. Flown in a helicopter

69. Saved a favorite childhood toy - I have so many of these it's sad. I even have the magenta tricycle I owned when I was 4! It has my name on the seat written in fingernail polish. Used to love seeing my nephews ride around on its creaky wheels when they were little.

70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial - Yes, many times because I used to live in Alexandria. It's magical at night.

71. Eaten Caviar – Oh, I heart caviar so much. Especially if I'm eating it while sitting in Bally's in Las Vegas at their Sterling Brunch. Sipping Perrier Jouet champagne. Sigh. If you go, sit in Hugo's section. He's waited tables there for 30 years and is very chatty and generous with the champagne...

78. Pieced a quilt

79. Stood in Times Square - Many times, but haven't been in 5 years. I'm overdue. Love the surreal ambience all those lights give off. A mini-Tokyo.

80. Toured the Everglades

81. Been fired from a job - Um, yeah. When I was 19 and working as a secretary at a law firm. I caught bronchitis, missed a week of work, and the mean ol' senior partner who used to hobble around the office on a cane because of his gout (who gets GOUT in this day and age?) told me to not bother coming back.

82. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London - Was in London this past June, but missed this.

83. Broken a bone

84. Been on a speeding motorcycle - Yes. With my husband on his Triumph. It's awesome. I love it.

85. Seen the Grand Canyon in person

86. Published a book - I want to. Very badly.

87. Visited the Vatican - We ate at a basement Trattoria less than a stone's throw from the Vatican. But we had arrived late at night by train, and were leaving early the next morning, so we missed it. Next time.

88. Bought a brand new car - Um, duh.

89. Walked in Jerusalem

90. Had your picture in the newspaper - When I was 11 my sister, mother, and I had our hair cut. For the first time, and the first time in 12 years for my mother. Over 80 inches of hair disappeared. Not only did we make the paper, we made the local news.

91. Kissed a stranger at midnight on New Year’s Eve
92. Visited the White House

93. Killed and prepared an animal for eating - Just fish. On that deep sea fishing trip (see #48).

94. Had chickenpox - Yep. As a kid. I just remember it being really scratchy.

95. Saved someone’s life

96. Sat on a jury - Almost. I was called in, waited several hours and then was released. A current prisoner was suing the jail, but his lawyer wasn't ready. It was nice to get most of the day off from work, with pay. I read a lot.

97. Met someone famous - Once in college a professor had a crush on me and gave me the opportunity to sit next to Joyce Carol Oates for a dinner at Randolph Macon College. I was thrilled, then later so scared I totally chickened out. I think I was afraid more of what this professor would expect of me after.

98. Joined a book club

99. Lost a loved one - Too many. My grandmother and great aunt just this year. My other grandmother in 1999. And my mother in 2001.

100. Had a baby - Too painful a topic for me...

101. Seen the Alamo in person
102. Swam in the Great Salt Lake

103. Been involved in a law suit - LOLOLOL! Well, almost...

104. Owned a cell phone - Um, yes. What year was this meme written?

105. Been stung by a bee - I was stung by a hornet on the VERY FIRST DAY I arrived at my first full-time paying teacher assignment at Matoaca High School. I was unpacking my trunk when I felt a burning on my arm. I should've taken it as a sign...