#90: Visit Mackinac Island

Joe wanted to celebrate my 24th birthday in a special way. He wanted to make it my best birthday yet. The way that he figured it would be the most memorable? By removing me from my comfy bed and placing me in the middle of the woods for a weekend of camping.

I am not an outdoor-sy kind of girl. I love the indoors. It would take a lot to get me to agree to sleeping in a tent on the hard ground on my birthday weekend. Because I really love my bed. And my air conditioning.

Joe knew the magic words though. "We'll visit Mackinac Island!"

And with that I packed my essentials (which included makeup and my curling iron, FYI) and spent the weekend in a tent on the hard ground. Because we spent all of Saturday on beautiful Mackinac Island, treading along the shorelines, sampling many different kinds of fudge and bar-hopping from pub to pub with reunited friends.

It was my best birthday ever.

#28: Send a Secret into PostSecret

PostSecret is one of my favorite websites. Every Sunday I wake up and do a little squeal in my mind because I know that new secrets will be posted. I admire the courage of the people who send in their secrets. I never thought I'd have anything juicy enough to send in.

Then I met someone who pissed me off. He affected me in a way I didn't think any guy could. And that fact pissed me off. And helped me get creative.

And so yesterday I made up my own PostSecret postcard. And dropped it in the mailbox. And pissed off I have not felt since.

This is one amazing site.

#85: Move Out of the U.P.

The hardest thing about moving wasn't the packing up of all of my things or the logistics of moving two girls from two different areas to one very new, very scary bigger city or even the eight hours of driving behind a U-Haul. The hardest thing about moving out of the U.P. was saying goodbye.

It took three tries before I could semi-successfully say farewell to my sister. The sheer enormity of hugging her for what could be the last time in a very long time hit me as I drove along the lakeshore of Lake Superior. I bawled my way through the drive on US 41 and US 2.

I didn't realize it would be so hard.

I miss being close to a massive body of water. I miss being five minutes from NMU. I miss going anywhere and recognizing at least five people from classes or events.

The move was well-worth it as I have a good job, a small but firm circle of friends and a fabulous apartment in a quiet area of town. But this goal proved to be my hardest yet as I didn't realize how difficult it would be to leave the only area I've ever known as home.