Leaving Athens

I can't believe I am leaving Athens. After 5 years, this place has become my home, but my life has drastically changed in the past year. I started graduate school (and am 1 class and an internship away from graduating), moved to a new apartment and lived with people who I hardly knew, started nannying, got real life experience working with students, lost my dad, started dating an amazing guy, and helped my best friend find her wedding dress, to name a few. Also, I started a new Day Zero List (a year and almost two months ago), and haven't given up on it yet. In fact, I have accomplished 21 things and have made progress on 21 things. Here are my updates.

Completed
15. Take a hike- I realized I forgot to put this one in my last post, but on June 9, Jason and I went on a hike at Craggy Meadows in the Blue Ridge Mountains. I think it was only 2 or 3 miles, but we decided to keep on hiking to a different trail after seeing a post for a waterfall. After about 30 minutes of hiking, we ran into a guy who said that he didn't think there was a waterfall on this trail, so we ended up turning around, and then we got caught in a thunderstorm. 

25. Visit Alyssa- I am so glad I was able to go visit Alyssa in Oregon. I hadn't spent more than 6 hours with her since last June, and being able to spend six days with her was awesome! I'm also glad I got to know her fiancé Ryan better since he is living there now too. We went to a lot of cool places while I was there, and she found her wedding dress! There are pictures from my trip below.

47. Try Every Cupcake Listed on the Menu from Silver Lining- I have some sad news. After 3 years, Silver Lining went out of business. I went several times before they closed their doors and tried the Strawberry, Vanilla Twilight, and Pineapple Lemon cupcakes. They were all so moist and delicious. I'm heartbroken knowing that iI would not be able to go there again. I am marking this one complete even though I didn't try all of them, but because I have tried a bigger percentage than days I've been working on the list. Also there were a few that I had prior to my attempt for Day Zero (, that didn't count for this goal. I wish there was something else I could do to support them, but it is out of my control. I did some research and found two cupcake bakeries near my new life (one close to my school, and another to the house), but I'm not going to pick up a new list since I completed a significant portion of this list. I'm sure I will go there many times though. Have to have my cupcake fix! 19/30

72. Mail 20 Letters- I finished this goal by sending a thank you note to my brother for my plane ticket to Oregon and one to Jason's family for letting me come visit. My 21st letter was a birthday card to my mom  21/20

Progress

19. Go to 10 new college campuses- I went to Oregon to visit Alyssa, and I explored Oregon State's campus one day while she was in class. It was really neat to see the buildings, and they had some nice green space. I didn't go inside their stadium, even though I probably could have (I think the gate was open), but I did notice they had this really weird football sculpture outside the stadium. We went to Eugene so Alyssa could go wedding dress shopping, and after that, we drove through the University of Oregon's campus. It was interesting that their football stadium was across a bridge and it seemed very separate from the main campus. I didn't see a whole lot of it because we didn't walk around (not enough time and it was really hot), but I did like the architecture of the buildings. There were parts that seemed a lot like UGA. (5/10)

20. Go to 3 new big cities- Portland, Oregon. I didn't do a whole lot while I was in Oregon. Most of my time was exploring other places, but driving through it was really neat. I loved that you could see Mount Hood as well as Mount St. Helens from the city. Alyssa and I went to Dick's Kitchen, which was in the Portland neighborhood of Sunnyside, east of Downtown. It was a very hipster neighborhood. There were a few things we had planned on doing more in the city, but we just didn't have time. I hope that I can go back and visit her, next time focusing on Portland and possibly going up to Seattle. (1/3)

21. Go to 3 new states- I finally used my plane ticket Kevin gave me over a year and a half ago, and I was able to cross two states off my list. I went to Oregon to visit Alyssa, and it was such a blast. We explored the Colombia River Gorge, about 40 miles of the Oregon Coast, Salem, Eugene, and Corvallis. We also crossed the Bridge of the Gods into Washington and had a picnic in an apple orchard, therefore I got to count Washington (my requirement is that I have to eat a meal, not in an airport, for the state to count). Words can't describe how beautiful these states were, nor can pictures, but here is my best effort.  (2/3) 

Multnomah Falls

Bridge of the Gods- Crossing into Washington

Mount Hood in the clouds

I survived the Oregon Trail!

Devil's Punch Bowl

Lighthouse

Oregon Coast

35. Go to 3 new MLB stadiums-  Jason and I went down to Tampa to spend some time with his family, and they took us to a Rays game! I don't have any pictures, but it was a really neat experience because the stadium is a dome, so it was a completely different experience than any baseball game I've been to before. We root, root, rooted for the home team, and they won, which is always a good thing.  (1/3)

80. Listen to every song on my computer- (3620/5131)