Life is all about trying new things and connecting with different people. To put this mantra into practice, I learn a new skill(s) every month. Learn with me!

2019

Jan: financial planning
Feb: middle splits
March: wood carving
April: paper making
May: Adobe Premiere
June: hula hooping
July: coding an iPhone app
Aug:
Sept:
Oct:
Nov:
Dec:

End of the Year Wrap-Up

• Ate barracuda (while singing the song, of course!).
• Drank freshly made piña coladas in Belize.
• Howled at the super blood wolf moon eclipse.
• Spoke on two science journalism panels.
• Cuddled a koala.
• Poked a wallaby.
• Petted a kangaroo.
• Photographed a kookaburra AND the endangered cassowary.
• Survived moving apartments.
• Visited my final continent—I’ve been to all seven now! BOOYA!
• Met my dog niece, Mia, for the first time.
• Penned my first article for the New York Times.
• Sold my first custom-made cake!
• Taught high school students how to ace the SATs.
• Pied the Significant Other in the face in front of the Sydney Opera House.
• Ate camel, crocodile, black ants, Balmain bugs, quandong, barramundi and wallaby.
• Donated platelets to help cancer patients.
• Founded a support group for people with anxiety.
• Started a weekly yoga class in my apartment building.
• Volunteered at the Humane Society and loved every minute of it!
• Grew DiverseSources.org, expanded our outreach and made a difference.
• Read 32 books.

2018

Jan: pyrography
Feb: traveling by myself
March: songwriting
April: embroidery
May: archery
June: mosaics
July: blackout poetry
Aug: folded book art
Sept: textbook writing
Oct: pole vaulting
Nov: cement art, fashion photography, face paint
Dec: decorative pie baking

End of the Year Wrap-Up

• Took a class on Buddhism.
• Saw an elephant, giraffe, lion, leopard, buffalo and hippo in South Africa.
• Experienced Hamilton!
• Hosted a Friend Speed Dating for Women event.
• Created TWO public art installations.
• Watched for the first time: Die Hard, Jurassic Park, Terminator.
• Used CRISPR technology to alter butterfly DNA.
• Cut a bike in half.
• Ate Ethiopian food IN Ethiopia.
• Had my first artwork exhibition at Rhizome DC.
• Read 57 books.
• Taught a Freelancing 101 class.
• Ate springbok.
• Tasted zebra.
• Created a themed cat calendar.
• Cleared the bar in pole vaulting.
• Took a class on Hinduism.
• Co-wrote a college journalism textbook.
• Explored ancient Mayan ruins in Mexico.
• Wrote new songs.
• Drew 52 greeting cards.
• Rescued two stray kittens.
• Baked a BUNCH of creative cakes.
• Built a mannequin light.
• Hiked barefoot in Kauai.
• Filmed paint-throwing in slo mo.
• Dabbled in entropy photography.
• Taught our cats to high-five, push a shopping cart and play the piano.
• Volunteered with ECDC, helping immigrants get healthcare.
• Made HUGE progress on the middle splits.

2017

Jan: study Spanish
Feb: master the handstand
March: painting with water colors (here, here, here, here and here)
April: aerial silks
May: outdoor rock climbing
June: sew a quilt/acroyoga
July: aerial lyra
Aug: learn how to take care of kittens
Sept: teach kittens circus tricks
Oct: learn how to build bots
Nov: macro photography
Dec: night photography

End of the Year Wrap-Up

• Mastered a backbend.
• Learned to flip in aerial lyra.
• Punched a guy in muay thai.
• Hosted a jello wrestling match.
• Won a pie eating contest.
• Swam (aka floated) in the Dead Sea.
• Donated 25 units of blood/platelets to people in need (the maximum allowed!).
• Won an argument in Spanish while traveling in Cuba.
• Taught the Freelancing 101 class at a local community college.
• Saw the Northern Lights in Iceland.
• Learned what cold really is in Oslo.
• Took kittens on a plane ride!
• Visited all the (free) museums in D.C.
• Read 53 books.
• Invented a Zombie Apocalypse Survival Course.
• Ate sheep brain (tastes just like meatloaf!).
• Lost my appendix.
• Awarded the MJ Bear Fellowship.
• Visited five different countries.
• Ate putrid shark.
• Noshed on puffin.
• Tried whale (not endangered!).
• Snacked on fish jerky.
• Devoured monkfish skewers.
• Swam in a geothermal pool.
• Drove in the snow(storm) for the first time. *shudders
• Launched DiverseSources.org!

2016

Jan: study psychology
Feb: try improv
March: cake decorating
April: unicycling
May: learn Adobe Illustrator/master the splits
June: rock climbing/taxidermy
July: body marbling
Aug: glass blowing/bull riding
Sept: plane flying/cheese making
Oct: lock picking/hair dying
Nov: scuba diving
Dec: flying trapeze

End of the Year Wrap-Up

• Perfected my Monty Python silly walk.
• Learned to ride a unicycle for 35 feet without eating the pavement!
• Flew a plane AND conquered my fear of heights.
• Made cheese out of belly button yeast.
• Took a road trip to Intercourse, PA.
• Checked off all 50 states—I’ve seen America!
• Managed to do a flip AND a catch on the flying trapeze.
• Ran up the exorcist steps—twice.
• Ate fried duck heads. (They taste EXACTLY like fried duck heads.)
• Went glass blowing and didn’t melt off any appendages.
• Road a mechanical bull and took my first jello shot.
• Learned how to pick locks. (NOTHING IS SAFE!)
• Fell in love with scuba diving.
• Taught myself the fine art of body marbling.
• Went rock climbing and bouldering and have the calluses to prove it.
• Hosted a food fight.
• Taught myself how to draw with Adobe Illustrator!
• Poynter dubbed me “Cake Wizard.”
• Did the splits!
• Laughed my way through an improv class.
• Ate poutine in Montreal.
• Conquered the bound lotus yoga position!
• Visited the Menstruation Museum.
• Dressed up as a zombie and went grocery shopping.
• Cut a rug at square dancing night!
• Took a tour of the West Wing and the White House all decked out in its Christmas finery.
• Ate bull penis and turkey testicles.
• Escaped an escape room in record-breaking time!
• Went sledding on the Capitol Hill lawn.
• Saw Darth Vader at the National Cathedral.
• Served bugs at a dinner party.
• Taught a social media class to Medill grad students.
• Read 82 books.
• Hosted a NYE party celebrating with customs from two dozen countries!

Photo Credit: Casa Thomas Jefferson