checking in.

I would like to post another blog before the month of June is over so I can double what I am currently averaging. Yes, my stellar record of one post a month is nothing to write home about (probably a bad cliche to use). And yet, here we are, June 29th, and about 1/3 of the summer is nothing but a memory... of which I have nearly nothing to show.

KIDDING. What I mean is, I still have yet to take a picture this summer, which is sad. However, I am well on my way to cruising through my summer bucket list. So, here is my original list which was posted on May 2nd and appropriate updates:

1. Move out of my parents house
Check. I moved out about 6 weeks ago (see previous entry) into a place in Sherman Hill. I love everything about living here - biking all over, walking to Gateway Market, being super close to downtown and everything that entails, being on my own, and even my incredibly bizarre neighbor who grills out EVERY SINGLE DAY and sings at the top of his lungs while he does it EVERY SINGLE TIME.
2.Get a tattoo
Check. If I want you to know where it is and what it looks like, I've probably already shown you. Cheers to my friend Angie for hooking me up with Bradie at Mid Air Ink downtown.
3. Attend my first music festival
Not quite check, but sitting next to me is a ticket to Camp Euforia July 15-16, a bluegrass/jam music festival just south of Iowa City. Needless to say I'm absurdly excited for it.
4. Skydive with my mother
Not yet. All I can say is soon... very soon.
6. Farmer's Market, Art Fest, 80/35, and all the other Des Moines staples I missed last summer
Respectively: check, check, not quite check (it's this weekend). I'll also throw in Capitol City Pride and Nitefall on the River as "Des Moines staples."
7. Adopt a kitty from the ARL
OBVIOUSLY check.
8. Go to Traverse City for the annual film festival
Hopefully check. That weekend is also the 48-hour Film Fest. Le sigh.
9. Camp as much as possible with the people I love the mostest :)
Soon to be check. Heading on a camping/kayaking/4th of July bonanza this weekend!
10. Spontaneous roadtrip
Check. Chris and I drove to Missouri the other day to buy fireworks for the aforementioned camping trip. We were in the state for about an hour... just enough time to blow about a hundred bucks and eat at a kitschy diner in Eagleville, MO.
11. Convince Kalena to move back to Des Moines
CHECK. Well, it wasn't solely because of me, but she is indeed moving back to the Dez at the end of July. WHADDUP.
12. Hit up all the places on my ''Periodic Table of Des Moines'' shirt I haven't been.
Pseudo-check. Hey, give me a break; there are 118 (or is it 119 now?) on the shirt and I'm missing adventures at about half of them.

So all in all, a pretty successful summer so far. There is still a lot of livin' left to do. Once again, here's to actually documenting the damn things I'm doing...