Tag: 100 Experiences
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Which film will win the Oscar for Best Picture?
For the first time in my life, I have seen each of the films nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award. In a typical year, I see one or two, if I’m lucky. Frankly, I don’t normally have much interest in the nominees, but this year the films grabbed me and I was compelled to see…
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My top 10 favorite experiences of 2016
As 2016 quickly draws to a close, I need to stop and reflect upon the joy I felt this year. In fact, especially this year. By just about every measure, 2016 was a difficult year for many people. Generation X lost many of our pop culture idols; a presidential election went wonky at the last…
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DONE: 1 Year, 160 New Experiences
One year ago today I set out on what I believed to be an incredibly ambitious journey and one that I wasn’t sure I could complete. Today I celebrate the successful completion of that journey and reflect on the lessons I’ve learned and the new person I’ve become. My life was in a rut, both…
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Better Safe Than Sorry or The Chronicles of My Cat Scan
Thursday night, after my car accident, I went to bed feeling fine. A little stiff, but fine. Friday morning I woke up with a pretty sore abdomen. I had a few errands to run and ran them, still feeling a dull ache. Late in the morning, my awesome State Farm agent called to talk about…
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Like a Good Neighbor, State Farm and My Friends Were There
On my way to Skokie this evening, in the heart of rush hour, I was in a car accident on Interstate 94 and it appears I’ve totaled my car. It doesn’t really matter exactly what happened. Well, I suppose it does, but for this post, those details are meaningless. What is important is that there…
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Chicagoans React to Ban Bossy
In response to my blog post last week titled “Why I Can’t Lean In to Ban Bossy,” I received an email from a journalism student at Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism asking if she could interview me for a class project. To say I was flattered would be a gross understatement. I immediately wrote her…
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Thank You for Reading Little Merry Sunshine
It’s been a busy week of New Experiences and I’ve gotten a little behind sharing them with you. I will remedy that situation this week. Do you remember how, when I reached my goal of having 100 New Experiences in 8 1/2 months, I decided to reset the goal and have 150 new experiences by…
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National Day of Unplugging, Oil Pulling, Pinterest, & Spaghetti Squash
Last Friday I wrote a post about my plans to participate in the National Day of Unplugging from sundown on Friday through sundown on Saturday. I was going to give up my electronic devices – iPhone, iPod, and laptop – for 24 hours. At exactly 5:48 p.m, as the sun went down, I shut down…
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Could You Unplug for 24 Hours?
Could you unplug for 24 hours? No, this is not a rhetorical question. I’m completely serious. A few days ago, my friend Anthony posted a story from Fox Chicago about something called the National Day of Unplugging. Without knowing anymore than it meant taking a pledge to turn off all electronic devices for 24-hours from sundown…
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New Experience #185: Jump Off a Cliff
Today I jump off a cliff. Okay, it’s more of a figurative cliff than an actual cliff. I’m not THAT brave. What am I actually doing? I quit my job without a new one to head off to immediately. I’m sure that many of you reading this are thinking “You did WHAT? In this economy?…
Jessica L Gardner 