Katie's 99 in 999 (currently 55 in 555!)

This one took FOREVER.  Seven cans of spray paint and about a million trips to Wal-Mart later, our dresser is finally refinished!  When we arrived in Florida, I knew it would be my only chance to make it over, so our clothes have been stacked haphazardly around our bedroom waiting to have a home. We inherited the dresser from the wonderful Kaitlyn, who lived in our VA apartment before us and left it behind because it was a behemoth to move.  We didn't want to get rid of it, obviously--it's a free piece of furniture!--but I had to do something with it because it really was not jiving with my style. The very first thing I did was remove the hard water etching design from the vanity mirror. I was pretty amazed at how easily it came off.  I used a fine-grain sander and some water and it disappeared!  (See upper left corner of the mirror for an in-progress section.) And after: Ta-da! Next, I repainted the vanity section that sits on top of the dresser. Ther...

About three months ago, when we decided we were definitely going to move into an apartment that allowed pets, I began looking for a new addition to our family.  In my online searches of pounds, humane societies, etc., I stumbled across Brooke's Legacy Animal Rescue, an organization that literally rescues cats and dogs from kill shelters on the day they're scheduled to be euthanized--I was excited at the prospect of freeing up a space for another animal to be rescued, so I looked through the pages of pets and found the most gorgeous calico cat!  My childhood cats were calicoes, and I love them more than the average person probably does, but how can the average person NOT love them?  I mean, they're stinkin' beautiful. Anyway, my only concern was that our big move was still months away, leaving an uncomfortable amount of time for someone else to snatch up my lovely cat. So I waited. And waited. And waited. Then WE FINALLY MOVED. And I waited a little more. T...

(The dollar sign in the title post is intentional, of course.) This has been one of my favorite list items so far!  I knew Atlas Shrugged was a classic and everything, but I never had any desire to read it...probably because it's over 1,000 pages long.  Go figure.  When you read a description of it, it sounds like the most boring plotline imaginable.  A railroad executive?  Corporate America?  Overreaching government?  1,000 PAGES?!  (You can see why it took me so long to begin reading it.)  Imagine my surprise when it took about .2 seconds for the story to become incredibly engaging.  Out of the entire behemoth of the book, there was only one section of about 30 pages that had me anxious to skip ahead to the more "exciting" parts I knew were coming, and even those 30 pages were worth reading. Besides being a wonderfully well-written and appealing story, the philosophy is fascinating!  It's almost impossible to walk away fro...

Florida driver's license! (Masterfully censored for identity theft protection.) This means that next fall, I get in-state tuition!  (Quite honestly, that's the only reason why I got this done so quickly.  It took me ages to get my Virginia license.  It's amazing what the thought of saving $700 a credit hour will do!)

Compared to many of my other 99 goals, this one seems a little silly.  After all, what impact will acquiring a table and chairs have on my personal growth?  But, let's be honest, some things are just necessary.  Ricky and I loved eating on the couch and everything, but it's a tad embarrassing when you have guests...so I was on the hunt for a table, not for my personal growth, but for my social development.  And by "on the hunt," I mean "scavenging Craigslist."  (As if you didn't already know!) Most of the options down here in southwest Florida fall into two categories: the white-washed, pastel-cushioned, retirement-community style... ...or the metal-and-glass, I-don't-have-any-children-that-may-break-their-faces-on-this style. Give or take a few rattan pieces (which probably could be used as makeshift rafts in a hurricane-induced pinch, I suppose), this was my selection. "Why can't I just find a contemporary, wooden set that just h...

I got in! "Dear Ms. Randall:  It is my pleasure to grant you acceptance into the Masters of Arts Program in English at Florida Gulf Coast University. We are very proud of this year’s class, and I am happy to invite you to be a part of it." That's right, ladies and gentleman.  I'm officially a graduate student. My classes for the fall are "Literature, Language and Society" and "Gospel Music and Early American Literature." I was going to take Shakespeare, too, but let's face it--I hate Shakespeare. Meanwhile, I'm working on #75--find a job--by applying to all the bookstores in the area. Pardon my enthusiasm, but THIS IS THE COOLEST THING EVER!! :D

The weekend before we left for Florida, we drove up to D.C. to say goodbye to my family.  While we were in the area, we decided to venture north for 2 hours more and spend a day in...  Philadelphia!  (For you non-baseball fans, that's the Phillies Phanatic. Scary, huh?) We met up with our extra-awesome friend Angela to tour the sites, including one that just happened to be on my list. (I won't try and pretend that crossing an item off my list and hanging out with Angela weren't my primary motives for the Philly trip.) Here we are, in line for the Liberty Bell.  The two girls in strange outfits standing behind Angela represent everything wrong in America...namely, cutting in line.  Ok, so that's more like "everything wrong with the third grade," but really--who cuts in line to see the Liberty Bell?!  When I visited the Liberty Bell for the first time back in 2002, it was just a glass enclosure.  Now, there's an entire Liberty Bell Center!  It w...