Dear  Friend,

New Year’s Eve is almost here!  I told you there would be lists… and here is a long one!

Lots of Love, Mandi Jo

50 Things I did in 2012 (in no particular order)

—although the first thing really was first, and the last thing, really was last… —

1. Choreographed a dance for a EMU student written, directed, produced, performed, etc musical!
2. Took a day trip to Charlottesville for ice skating, cupcakes, and general merry-making with Megan, Kelsey, Everett, Jia, and Malinda over Thanksgiving break.
3. Spent the summer babysitting two fun and adorable girls Claire and Evelyn.
4. Had my appendix removed.
5. Finished my first year of college!
6. Moved into a suite with three awesome people: Morgan, Lenore, and Alyssa!
7. Celebrated Christmas with Morgan’s family.
8. Started my second year at EMU.
9. Finished my third semester of college with an improved GPA!
10. Got accepted into the Middle East Cross-Cultural for Spring of 2014!
11. Participated in a book club, reading Gary Thomas’ “Sacred Marriage.”
12. Spent the summer buying groceries and making dinner for my family.
13. Went to see the Dark Knight Rises with Christophe.
14. Took a trip to the Topsail Island with my family for the week over my birthday.
15. Voted in my first Presidential Election.
16. Learned how to drive manual.
17. Officially Applied to EMU’s Social Work Program.
18. Put together a book list, and actually started reading books off of it.
19. Started working out with Jia (and sometimes others) on a regular basis.
20. Made a Christmas dinner for my suite.
21. Took a quick trip back to Kettle for the wedding of my dear friend Heidi!
22. While in WA, saw and visited with people who will always be my non-biological family…
23. Had dinner with my friend, Ethan Zook, at the Bowl of Good.
24. Got baptized! So did my phone, but unfortunately for it, this did not bring everlasting life…quite the opposite in fact, immediate death.
25. Watched the Bachlorette with my friends… every week. I’m not sure why, but it was a great way for us to get together regularly.
26. Watched Bradley Wiggins win the Tour de France! Well, we watched the whole thing, not just the last little bit.
27. Surprised my sister, Lydia by convincing my dad to renovate her room and then painted it a bright (but rather dark) red… it looks awesome! And her new closet is pretty sweet.
28. Started a bucket list!
29. Said goodbye to an adored family menace, Aang, the adorably psychotic dog.
30. Said hello to the adorable Shih Tzu that now sprints around our home, Po.
31. Took picture’s for EMHS’ Jr.-Sr. Banquet.
32. Traveled to Roanoke with my dad to take pictures of some potential work sites, stopping by Staunton on the way home for some Gelato at the Split Banana…
33. Took a quick trip with Megan and Kelsey to visit Melinda! We at Chinese, got coffee at Starbucks, fed baby swans, and even saw Christophe for a little bit!
34. Fasted for a week! Except for juice…
35. Participated in a faith discussion with people who attend my church.
36. I visited my friends Gennie and Carissa for an afternoon on JMU’s campus.
37. Took a spontaneous trip with Christophe and one of his friends, Erwin, to go Bowling!
38. Changed my program from Social Work with minors in Art and Peacebuilding to Social Work with a minor in Math.
39. Went to the Annual Relief sale!
40. Went hiking on Massanutten Ridge with Lenore, Morgan, and Ryan.
41. Had brunch with Christophe over at JMU.
42. Went to Rally in the Valley… a conference for Social Work majors at Virginia Universities.
43. Worked at the Fair handing out T-Shirts for the Shout Out project
44. Was a “rock” for Halloween… which would have been weird except that it was in conjunction with my suite mate’s “paper, scissors, and shoot”
45. Went to Rehoboth, Delaware for spring break with the girls on my hall… In an attempt to find live music, we may have unknowingly found ourselves in a Lesbian bar…
46. Was hired for the first time!, but then never actually started working because I had appendicitis and there was a lack of good communication (admittedly,from both ends… but mostly theirs)
47. Read Dracula cover to cover… this makes the list because it literally took me half the year to do it, I don’t know why but I couldn’t ever be reading, JUST THIS BOOK… so I was always reading Dracula AND something else.
48. I celebrated my 20th birthday… two decades down… hopefully, many more to come.
49. Decided I want to become fluent in ASL
50. Watched the Pickle drop in Dillsburg, PA with Lenore… technically, I’ll be doing this tomorrow night, but I wanted to include it.