40th Birthday Bucket List (Part 3)
Okay, friends, it’s been a few months since I shared my 40th birthday bucket list, and boy oh boy, do I have lots to tell you.
First of all, surprise, I’m pregnant. And trust me when I say SURPRISE! Baby Girl is due on August 9, but she’s welcome to join us any day now.
I found out we’d be a family of five just two days before I turned 39, so I had a heads-up before choosing what went on my bucket list. Don’t worry, we made sure everything was pregnancy-safe…except my OB said I shouldn’t get a tattoo while pregnant or breastfeeding. So that one will have to wait.
Here’s a quick recap on how the rest of my bucket list is going:
1. Sew matching dresses. Thanks to my mom, I knocked this one out in time for Mother’s Day. I can’t exactly take full credit for the dresses though – my mom probably did 40% (or more) of the work. I was grateful for her help because I learned I don’t have the patience or the passion to become a seamstress. But it was fun learning something new, and my daughter looooves our matching dresses. If you know my mom, you know she’s always been great at sewing and knitting and crafting, just like her mom. Maybe one of my girls will pick up the tradition someday, but for now, it looks like those skills have skipped a generation.
2. Perform a saxophone recital. Sooooo….I bought a saxophone. But I have a lot of practicing to do before I would ever dream of performing in front of people. And because Baby Girl is due in a few weeks, it’s unlikely I’ll get this one done before my birthday. There’s something about loud instruments and newborns that don’t seem to pair well. We’ll see…
3. Go to a sporting event as a super fan. We took the kids to their first Phillies game, and here’s picture-proof of my super-fan outfit.
4. Create a party game. I created a game called Sweet Talker. Here’s the basic gist: everyone writes a compliment on a slip of paper about each person in the game, and you have to guess who wrote each compliment about you. You get a point for each one you get right. You should come over, and we’ll play it!
5. Do a split. I had high hopes for this one, especially because when you’re pregnant, your body produces relaxin, a hormone that relaxes ligaments in your body. So if there were ever a time for me to do a split, this would be it. Unfortunately, I’m 100% not interested in doing splits at this phase (or any phase) of pregnancy.
6. Let Mama T do my makeup. This was the first one I checked off my list! Our former foster girls came with us to the beach for New Year’s Eve, and T did my makeup. I know you can’t tell from this pic, but she did my makeup to match hers. Was it weird going out in public like this? Not really…I couldn’t see myself, so I forgot what I looked like. Was it weird for my husband? Absolutely. I don’t think he took me seriously the whole night, especially when we went out to dinner.
7. Take a dance lesson with my best friends from college. I’ve tried a few times to make this one happen, but it’s hard to wrangle everyone together. I’m holding onto hope that we’ll get it done before December, but chances are slim.
8. Visit a national park I’ve never been to before. I checked this one off in the middle of June. For Father’s Day, I surprised my husband and the kids with a trip to Pittsburgh and Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio. I’ve been to most of the other national parks along the East Coast (except the ones in FL), so Cuyahoga was kind of our only local-ish option. We had the BEST time! My husband is always up for an adventure, and I love that about him!
9. Create a pyramid scheme. I initially thought I was going to skip this one, but it turns out, I’m pretty excited about it. When I was telling my coworkers about my bucket list, they said I should try to make it a positive pyramid scheme somehow. (Thanks, Jen and Scout!) And that’s how I ended up creating the $1 Giving Blitz: A Pyramid Scheme of Generosity.
Here’s how it works: my brother, my sister, and my husband each chose a charity. Their goal is to raise as many $1 donations as possible for their charity in 24 hours. The charity with the most donations gets an additional $100. (If you want to join the fun, check out the info below.
To join the $1 Giving Blitz — A Pyramid Scheme of Generosity, follow these steps on July 25, 2023:
1. Pick the charity (or team) you want to support.
You can check out these links to learn more about the charities:
Center for Parent/Youth Understanding — CPYU (Team Brandon)
Schreiber Pediatric Center (Team Lauren)
Water Street Mission (Team AJ)
2. Send your $1 donation to my Venmo: @aftan-fisher. *Don't forget to comment which charity you’ve chosen in the Venmo message. Note: You CAN donate more than $1; however, the winning charity is based on the number of donations, not the amount of money received.
3. Ask 2+ friends to join you in the Pyramid Scheme of Generosity.
4. Remind your friends to donate before 11:59 PM on July 25, 2023, and remind them to share this info with at least 2 other friends because that’s how pyramid schemes work.
5. At the end of the $1 Giving Blitz (July 25, 2023 at 11:59 PM), the charity with the most $1 donations will receive an additional $100 donation.
6. The winning charity will be announced on July 26, 2023. And I will send the total donations to each of the three charities.
*For legal reasons, this is not an actual pyramid scheme, but you knew that already.
Thanks for following along on my bucket list journey and for joining us in this random day of giving!
