Do something new every month

Pretty much went all out this month.

Road trip with no planned destination. Fun but I need a plan.

Went hang gliding. Also fun, but to short of a flight.

Kayaking at night to see bioluminesence(sp) in the water. Awesome.

Rode a ferry between islands with my car. Yea, not very exciting, but I have never had my car on a boat before. Now I’ve done it twice.

Ate a crayfish for the first time. Not very good but probably because it was at a buffet.

Walked the beach at 5 am. Not a beach person but it was incredible seeing all the stars out over the ocean.

Drove 12 hours in one day. Never again.

Started dancing lessons. Saw in ad in paper and decided to do it. So far it’s fun, but I am not very good at it.

Saw Rocky Horror Picture Show in the theater with fans in full costume. Lots of fun. Only downside was the theater’s sound system sucked.

Joined a group on Meetup.com and met the group for food and trivia at Bogey’s Bar and Grill. Learned I’m not very good at trivia. It was a friendly group of people.

Overall, a good month to end this goal on. Despite the fact I am ending the goal, I will continue to do something new every month. It is a good habit to get into. It has enabled me to explore new things and push myself as an individual.

Went to an Indian restaurant and ate Indian food for the first time. It was good but nothing I would seek out.

Went and saw Titus Andronicus at the GA Shakespeare Festival. I’ve never seen live Shakespeare. It was a fun experience and one I’m definitely going to do again.

Slow month in June but I did do a few new things.

Went to Coldstone Creamery for the first time. Pretty good ice cream and it was cool seeing them mix ice cream and toppings.

Went to the Laughing Skull Comedy Lounge at the Midtown Vortex to see Greg Proops. It’s a pretty cool venue. It’s small, only 78 seats so it’s up close and personal with the comedians.

Decided to go all out for May and took a trip to Vegas. I had never been there so I spent 3.5 days out there. While there, I also did several other things new – played blackjack and craps in a casino, saw the Blue Man Group, played slots and ordered off the In-N-Out secret menu. Overall, it was an excellent trip.

The Taste of Marietta was held today in the Marietta Square. It’s a day where local restaurants and businesses set up tents and offer items from their menus. I went in hopes of tasting new foods I had never tasted before. I wasn’t disappointed. Here are the restaurants I ate from and the food I ate.

Sal Grosso Brazilian Steakhouse
- Filet Mignon with Bacon – it was a bite sized piece of filet mignon wrapped in bacon. Delicious.

Houlihans
- Mini burger – a miniature cheeseburger with a slaw type topping. Very tasty

Fuji Hana
- Sushi Combo – had two pieces of crab and four sushi things wrapped in rice. Don’t know what was in them. I am now addicted to sushi and this was extremely good.

Blu Greek Taverna
- Baklava – have never had it before and it was delicious.

Aspens Signature Steaks
- Prime rib and cheddar mashed potatoes – I’ve had both of these before but this was out of this world. Very tender meat and delicious cheddar potatoes.

Mellow Mushroom
- Slice of pepperoni pizza – have never had Mellow Mushroom so figured I would try. Wasn’t that impressed. It was good but not extraordinary. I do like their ads though.

Jiboute Cajun Cafe
- Alligator stew – wanted to try for the alligator but wasn’t that impressed. Kinda bland.

Sogno Gelato
- Cookies and cream gelato – never tasted gelato before. Another good but not great experience.

Entree Vous
- Smore eggroll – Interesting idea but really gross.

Dairyland
- Waffle ice cream sandwich – couldn’t pass this up. Fresh waffles with ice cream in middle. Unique taste I really liked.

Overall a fun experience. Spent a little more than I wanted to, but it was worth it. Had a lot of great food and it was beautiful outside. Highly recommend checking it out next time Marietta hosts a Taste of Marietta.

A small new thing, but something I’ve been meaning to do. I walked down the the Clear Conscience store that opened about a half mile from me to check out what they offered. Lots of good organic food and pet food at pretty high prices. But as they said, you get what you pay for. I tried a fresh organic smoothie and it was pretty good. Not sure I would get one again, but I enjoyed it while I was drinking it.
In Anderson, SC for a church seminar and they have a Jack in the Box. We don’t have those in GA, so I ate there. It was ok. Like that they put mayo on their burgers. Fries were a little to thick for me. Very slow service. Like their mascot though.
Went to the Anderson Jockey Flea Market yesterday. It is the South’s largest flea market. I thought it was great. Where else but a large flea market can you buy redneck kids clothes, bed sheets, dogs, snakes, funnel cakes, fried pickles, books, sugar gliders, toys, bootleg DVDs, old used auto stuff, records, shoes, bras, chickens, goats, ducks, Obama posters and shirts, paintings, fried Snickers, boiled peanuts and good old country people. Lots of fun.

Pretty uneventful month so far. Haven’t really tried anything new so far, but I did win a trip to CA through work and was able to do two new things through it. First, I went whale watching. Thought that would be a cool experience, but it ended up just sitting on a boat and looking at the ocean. Saw zero whales.
Second and most exciting, I got to pet a meerkat. I love meerkats and was lucky enough to be at the San Diego Zoo when two zookeepers brought out two meerkats on leashes to let people pet them. All I really got to do was pet their back, but it was still cool.
I may try to do something new in GA this last week though, but not sure what it will be.

I decided to try smoking a cigar. I have never smoked anything in my life and I know nothing about it. I bought a pack of Phillies Blunt because I didn’t want to spend a lot on this, especially if I wasn’t going to like it. It was definitely different for me. Mine probably were not the best, but the taste was enjoyable. Not sure I will do this again, but I am not opposed to it, if the price is right.

If anybody has any suggestions for a certain type of cigar to smoke, I’d love to hear it.

Decided to splurge and fulfill another new activity. I went to the local spa and tried one of there spa packages. I received a mini-facial, massage, manicure and a pedicure. It was definitely a new experience, I’m not used to being pampered like that. The mini-facial was the strangest to me. Felt odd having the the girl rub different kinds of lotions on my face and the clean out my pores. Face still stings a little from it. Massage was nice, my back always hurts and it felt good having her ease out all the tension in my back. Didn’t really care for the manicure. I guess it’s nice having your nails rubbed and cleaned but I didn’t care for it. The pedicure was much more relaxing. Having my feet soaked and massaged while in a massage chair almost put me to sleep.
The spa was a fun and relaxing experience and I’m glad I did it. It was an experience worth having but not sure if it was worth the amount of money charged by spas.

I spent yesterday doing new things – yay! I went to the Dialogue in the Dark exhibition that’s at Atlantic Station in Atlanta. It is an experience where one goes through several rooms in pitch black. The experience is to show one what it feels like to be blind. You are led in a group by a blind leader who talks you through everything and helps you identify objects, smells and noises. Very interesting experience to go through and it definitely opens your eyes to what blind individuals experience.

After that, I went to the Atlanta History Museum. The museum is a fascinating place with exhibits on the history of Atlanta, the Civil War, fold art and the Atlanta Olympics. However, the main reason I went was to see the Smithsonian traveling Jim Henson exhibit. It had many of Henson’s sketches on display as well as many of the Muppets used in Sesame Street and the Muppet Show. They also had clips of old commercials Henson created. Very informative and entertaining. I am so glad I went.

To finish everything off, I went and ate at a Polish restaurant. I have never eaten Polish food in my life even though I am 3rd or 4th generation Polish. I ate Polish potato salad and Silesian dumplings. They were good but kind of bland. I took home some pierogies to eat as leftovers.

This month I have been working crazy overtime, over 50 hours a week, so haven’t really had lots of time to achieve this goal. because of this I made today my day to do something new. I was able to complete two new things!

1. Ate Jamaican food. I ate curried chicken with rice and beans and a beef patty. I have never eaten jamaican before and a coworker suggested a good Jamaican restaurant. It was good, but a little too spicy for me. Not sure I’ll eat it again.

2. I visited the new coffee house that opened by my house. I have never been in a privately owned coffee house, ie not Starbucks, so I thought I would try a local store. In fact, I’m in it now using their wifi and drinking hot cocoa. Pretty cool actually. It’s relaxing to be in a different environment. I will definitely visit them again.