10. Perform in the Vagina Monologues

The first time I ever performed in the Vagina Monologues I did the piece called "The Vagina Workshop". It's about a woman (with a British accent) who goes to a workshop because she hasn't had a "magical, mystical orgasm" in over two years and she's become frantic! So, she draws and describes how she views her vagina, looks at it with a hand mirror and finally gets in touch with her clitoris, discovering connection between her body and herself. It was a joy to perform! I messed up at one show and skipped like a whole page of dialogue, but other than that, it was awesome.

It was my junior year of college and I had come out as bisexual only two months before. Mom wouldn't come to the show. It really hurt my feelings, but she just wasn't comfortable. I talked to Dad on the phone a few weeks before the performance and he said, "Why didn't you ask me if I would go? I like vaginas!" So he came!

The experience changed my life; it really opened my eyes to a whole new level of awareness about myself and my body.

I produced, directed and performed in it in 2006 at North Central College. I did the piece "I was in the Room". I made sure to hand the responsibility of directing off to capable hands (ie. my sister) and it has become an annual thing! I have no doubts that I'll be directing it again in the future. It empowers women and changes their lives. How could anyone NOT want to be a part of it?

68. Get my nose pierced

It wasn't until my second year of college that I really considered getting my nose pierced. I thought I might get my tongue or lip pierced first, but I kept watching friends appear with nose rings and the more I looked at my own nose, the more I realized that a nose ring would look really cute on me!

So, a few weeks after my sophomore year ended, my friends Brandon Ring and Kevin drove me over to Blue Byrd Tattoo to get it done. I picked out a light blue stone and the piercer brought me up to the chair. I wasn't too nervous until he pulled out the big needle to push through my selected nostril. He pushed it through while my friends squealed in disgust like the queens they were. My piercer tried to insert the nose screw into the hole, but it wouldn't go through - it wasn't stretched out enough (the screw), so he had to go downstairs and stretch it out in order for it to go through my abnormally thick nostril. So, I sat there with a paper towel on my empty hole and waited for him to come back and re-pierce the hole and successfully insert the screw! It was pretty painful, but still manageable. The boys were grossed out, but I was ecstatic!

About a week later it fell out while I was sleeping and I had to go get a new one put in. Luckily it didn't have to be re-pierced again! All my friend loved it right away, but it took my parents some time to get used to it. I wear a hoop in it consistently now, but I still like to accessorize with it. Getting my nose pierced still feels like one of the best decisions I made in my college career. I love it!

#16. Grow my hair out for Locks of Love

In college I had this long, beautiful mane of slightly curly, strawberry-blond hair. People knew me by my hair. I identified myself by my hair sometimes. I wasn't going to grow it out for any specific reason until people started asking me if Locks of Love was why it was so long. It went down past the middle of my back, so it was a valid question. I started off saying "I don't know" and ended up saying "Yes I am!".

I cut off 14 inches for Locks of Love while I was home on spring break during my sophomore year of college. It happened at Great Clips. I didn't cry and I didn't really get emotional. I was just happy that someone would enjoy a beautiful wig in the future.

I'll never forget Eric Shamo walking right past me because he didn't realize it was me with the short bob cut. He eventually did a double take and came over to express his disbelief that all my hair was gone.

It was a good experience. I've always been complimented on my unique hair color, so I'm delighted that some beautiful woman will feel even more beautiful with my hair on her head!

100 Drops.

1. Get a professional pedicure - COMPLETED 4/21/06
2. Go to Ireland
3. Go to Italy
4. Have some sort of commitment ceremony
5. Have a child naturally
6. Produce an album
7. Write a book
8. Own a business
9. Get a cat - COMPLETED 8/26/09
10. Perform in the Vagina Monologes - COMPLETED 2/14/05,3/6-8/06
11. Get down to a size 16
12. Go water-skiing
13. Write 100 poems
14. Ride a motorcycle
15. Read my poetry in a public reading - COMPLETED 2/17/06
16. Grow my hair out for Locks of Love - COMPLETED 3/13/04
17. See a movie by myself - COMPLETED 2/15/09
18. Learn another language fluently
19. Go snorkeling
20. Walk a marathon
21. Make my own wine
22. Grow an organic garden
23. Go to the Virgin Islands
24. Buy a car - COMPLETED 6/15/06
25. Buy a house
26. Go to the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival - COMPLETED 8/4-9/09
27. Go scuba diving
28. Get an hour massage - COMPLETED 5/14/08
29. Walk in a Gay Rights parade
30. Go to Disney World/Land
31. Learn how to drive a stick shift
32. Blow glass - COMPLETED 9/8/07
33. Design a line of clothing
34. Build a piece of furniture out of wood
35. Pay back all of my college loans
36. Eat a fresh coconut that I hand pick myself
37. Become a godmother
38. Hatch a duck
39. Compose a piece of music for voice and strings
40. Meet my family in Italy
41. Fall completely head-over-heels in love - COMPLETED 11/4/07,8/9/09
42. Become a grandmother
43. Tip a waiter $100
44. Graduate from college - COMPLETED 6/9/06
45. Help women in a foreign country
46. Donate $2000 to a charity important to me
47. Learn how to play the harp
48. Get a drastic haircut - COMPLETED 1/16/09
49. Paint a mural
50. Take a ceramics class - COMPLETED 9/05
51. See a Broadway show ON Broadway
52. Get a Masters
53. Get a doctorate
54. Go to a live showing of the Conan O'Brien Show
55. Go to an Imogen Heap concert - COMPLETED 12/16/06
56. See My Chemical Romance in concert - COMPLETED 9/17/05
57. Learn how to drive a boat
58. Fly on a plane - COMPLETED 3/16/08
59. Go on a cruise
60. Sing in a Jazz/Lounge bar
61. Get my elements tattoos - COMPLETED 12/6/06
62. Buy the comfiest shoes I find - COMPLETED 6/11/08
63. Buy myself an expensive ring
64. Teach at a college
65. Get a personal trainer
66. See Cirque du Soleil live
67. Join a nudist colony for a summer
68. Get my nose pierced - COMPLETED 5/26/04
69. Adopt a child
70. Finish my collage book
71. Forgive Uncle Dan - COMPLETED 4/22/06
72. Take a series of artistic nude photographs
73. Be IN a series of artistic nude photographs
74. Go on a road trip with no plans made
75. Go to Thailand
76. Win 1st place in an art contest
77. Have my own art exhibition
78. Teach ESL in a foreign country
79. Live in an intentional community for at least a year
80. Get a massage recliner
81. Complete my "7 Seven Deadly Sins" glass series
82. Read every single book a own
83. Attend Burning Man
84. Put together a cookbook
85. Write a children's book
86. Visit all 50 states
87. Go to every single women's music festival in the US at least once
88.
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100.