Learn with Me

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: tying a tie
Aug: bike riding
Sept: roller skating
Oct: bound lotus pose
Nov: grant application writing
Dec: teaching cake decorating

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 at three journalism conferences.
  • Cuddled a koala.
  • Poked a wallaby.
  • Bear-hugged a kangaroo.
  • Photographed a kookaburra AND the endangered cassowary.
  • Survived moving apartments.
  • Ate baby bees (they taste like teriyaki chicken!).
  • Visited my final continent—I’ve been to all seven now! BOOYA!
  • Met my dog niece, Mia, for the first time.
  • Penned my first articles for the New York Times and The Washington Post.
  • Sold my first custom-made cake!
  • Taught my first cake decorating class!
  • 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.
  • Walked across an entire country.
  • Biked across a (different) country!
  • Taught high school students how to ace the SATs.
  • Volunteered at the Humane Society and loved every minute of it!
  • Grew DiverseSources.org, expanded our outreach and made a difference.
  • Practiced being more patient with myself.
  • Read 61 books.
  • Fostered two adorable and eager kittens.
  • Taught a Freelancing 101 class.
  • Baked cakes. Lots of pretty cakes!
  • Biked 40 miles down the WO&D Trail!
  • Proposed to Greg on a zero-gravity flight.
  • Explored FIVE new-to-me countries.
  • Asked my best friend to be my maid of honor.
  • Survived the initial wedding planning horrors.
  • Took an overnight train.
  • Kissed on top of the Seattle Space Needle.
  • Kicked axe at axe throwing.
  • Played archery dodge ball and didn’t lose an eye!

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