Help me win zip lining tickets! Vote for my story!

Many of you reading this will know, I am a bucket list junkie. New experiences are what fuel me, like what coffee, drugs, alcohol, and caffeine do for others. I have 39 bucket lists, for everything from food to countries to books to read. Two years ago I made myself a list of 101 Things to do in 1001 days. You can read this list by clicking the link on this page. If you do, you will see Zipline and Tree Canopy Exploration on the list. I've been working for two years to achieve this goal, but paying the fees on top of a hotel room for the night and gas for driving to Austin have held me back. Now I have less than a year to complete this goal and my heart is set on it.
 Let me let you in on a secret - I'm terrified of heights. I can't even stand on the edge of a balcony without panicking. But I also love to push myself to face my fears. I felt the fear when I rode in the race car at 135 MPH, when I flew a plane, and when I was on top of the Ferris wheel. I will feel it when I hold a tarantula as well. But it's a good fear, you know, when you push yourself to new levels and achieve things you didn't think you were capable of before. You master yourself, even for a few moments. If you haven't tried it, I recommend doing so. As scared as I am, I want so much to stand atop the trees, feeling the breeze blow past me, causing me to sway as I remind myself not to look down. Feeling a little dizzy when I ignore the internal warning and look down anyway. I will keep my eyes open and cherish the maddening rush as my stomach leaps into my throat and I fill with glorious adrenaline as I'm pushed off my perch and set free to fly.
If you can find just a moment to vote for me to win these passes, understand that you won't be giving me a nice day out and a little fun, you will be feeding the essence of my soul. You will be getting me two steps further to completing my 101 Things before the deadline. You will give me a new experience to hold inside me forever. You will give me the keys to be master of myself by facing a new fear. No one could appreciate it more.

Marsha Roberts - Houston Bucket Lister

Thank you in 26 languages!

I just want to say thank you, gracias, merci, danke shon, origato, xie xie, gratzie, gratias, mesi, dankie, tack, takk (twice), dank u, dankon, salamat po, efharisto, dik, mahalo, obrigado, doh jie, spasibo, shukran, shukria, danyavaad, asante, and toda to all my friends for helping me mark stuff off my 101 things list. By the way, I just marked off "learn to say thank you in 26 languages"! Gracias - Spanish Merci - French Danke Shon - German Origato - Japanese Xie Xie - Mandarin Gratzie - Italian Gratias - Latin Mesi - Haitian Creole Dankie - Afrikaans Tack - Swedish Takk - Norwegian and Icelandic Dank U - Dutch Dankon - Esperanto Salamat Po - Tagalog Efharisto - Greek Dik - Czech Mahalo - Hawaiian Obrigado - Portugeuse Doh Jie - Cantonese Spasibo - Russian Shukran - Arabic Shukria - Punjabi Dhanyavaad - Hindi Swahili - Asante Hebrew - Toda

Cat show at the George R Brown

Hubby and I went to the cat show here in Houston at the George R Brown convention center this weekend so I could check "go to a cat/dog show" off my 101 things list. I'm fairly certain now that we will be purchasing an Oriental Shorthair or Siamese cat from a breeder close to us in the near future now. Not for me, but for my husband who lost his favorite pet cat a few years back. There isn't much to tell about the cat show, as it's basically just walking around looking at adorable cats and watching a judge pick them up, stretch them out like superman and then giving them a ribbon if they'd met some criteria I don't know about. But here are some adorable cat pictures you might like.

Create your own bucket list of at least 100 things you want to do before you die

The first thing on the achievable bucket list is to create your own bucket list. The items on this list will be personal to you, with your hopes, dreams, goals and aspirations. You may want to summit everest, write a bestseller, have a romantic wedding on the beach, or any number of things. If you don't already have a personal bucket list, you may be wondering why it's such a big deal to write things down. One reason is because once you write your goals down on your bucket list, you will be much more likely to achieve them. You will take more opportunities than you used to because you will say oh, that's on my list, yes I'll do that! Instead of no, thank you. I'm too busy, broke, depressed, yada yada. I've always had a bucket list, since I was a kid, but before I started writing down some more reasonable goals (such as ride a camel as opposed to dive to the Titanic wreck and see it up close) I would say no to a lot of things. Do you want to ride an elephant? Nah, I'll let the kids do that. Pilot lessons? No, too scary. But now, it's on my list. I have to do it! And I'm always very glad I said yes instead of letting another opportunity pass me by. I also believe that writing down our goals helps make them official to the universe. This is what I want, Universe! It's right here in black and white! The things I write down tend to be the things that happen the most for me. Maybe it's a coincidence, but maybe not. If you're stuck on what to write, feel free to use my list for inspiration. Plagiarize, I don't mind, just make sure that you add your own goals and passions in there, otherwise you're just living mine.

Celestine Chua has a wonderful post about bucket lists on her blog Personal Excellence that I highly recommend for further reading.

One year News-aversary and the Rockets game

Last year on the 2nd of January I was interviewed for a little news segment about Shoe of the Month clubs. I mostly did the spot because being on TV was on my bucket list, so when they put the word out they were looking for someone who was a Shoe Dazzle member, I jumped on it! KHOU reporter Tiffany Craig came to the house with one camera man, and talked to me about shoes and my feelings on the clubs. We actually spoke on camera for quite awhile, and they took a couple lines from it for the show. But I suppose that's how it always goes. When it was posted on their website after airing on the local channel 11 news, a very mean woman posted hateful comments about my appearance in reply, so I didn't show the video to anyone who hadn't seen it live. But to heck with her. One of the comments she made was that I needed a bra of the month club, but if you look you will see my belt is askew and rising higher in the middle so it looks like my chest is down to my waist. Stupid lady. I'm still self conscious about that. But whatever. Here is the video, or at least my part in it (another lady was interviewed first, so you'll see some shots of her mixed in too).

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Also last night I got to go to my first Houston Rockets basketball game! A really amazing organization called LifeGift held a contest on their Facebook and Twitter pages asking when national donate life month was. I was the first to reply that it was April, so I got two tickets. It was FREEEEEZING cold outside, and security made my husband throw away his teeny tiny pocket knife that is attached to his keys (it was the size of small nail clippers) but it was definitely still worth it. We got to sit in the press box, which was really nice. Comfy seats, a nice atmosphere, and not as crowded as regular seating. There was a Chinese couple sitting next to us who kept screaming in Mandarin the entire time, but I didn't mind it too much. They seemed like they were having a great time, too. We ended up winning, so that was a bonus.

Have you registered to be an organ donor yet? If not, you should. My best friend's husband had a life saving heart transplant in 2012, so I am extremely grateful for everyone who says YES to donate for life. What are you waiting for? GO REGISTER!!

The Achievable Bucket List for almost everybody!

I've just created a list of almost 400 things that just about anyone can do (exceptions may be people in very rural areas, limited mobility, very limited finances, social phobias, etc). I guarantee you that any person who completes all or most of this list would change their lives for the better! I've added things to help break you out of your comfort zones, face your fears, become happier, help others, be more secure, become a little more cultured, understand others better and just have tons of fun. In 2013 and beyond, I will start making blog posts about the things on this list to better describe them and try to entice you to complete them. I hope you will join along on the adventure!

Free Hugs!

Just contacted SugarLand Town Square about holding a Free Hugs event there sometime soon. I know it's not on my 101 Things list, but life cannot be lived by list alone. Hoping I hear something back soon giving me a green light to go ahead and make official plans!