Perhaps do a breast cancer walk or walk to raise money for cancer (Vanessa Foote)

Well, I've gone rogue on this dare. Although cancer walks are extremely worthy causes, I just can't authentically feel inspired to fund raise for it. If you feel inspired to raise money for cancer research and prevention education, please do and let me know so I can support you.

I was commuting to work with my mind wandering and I saw a poster for BARCC's Walk for Change on April 11th. I instantly thought of this dare. I had been researching cancer walks, but once I saw this poster it resonated with me. As a survivor of sexual violence, I feel it is important to take this opportunity to give myself and encourage others' giving in an area that has directly and dramatically touched my life. 

For me, the scary part of the dare is asking for money. Seriously, talk about uncomfortable! Therefore, I feel like I am being true to the challenge by raising money for a charitable cause - Boston Area Rape Crisis Center (BARCC). Sexual violence disrupts the lives of victims and those who care about them. BARCC is committed to giving survivors and their families and friends the resources they need to reclaim their lives and begin healing, to raising awareness of the issues survivors face, and to ending sexual violence through healing and social change.

UPDATE: DARE ACCOMPLISHED!

A sincere and heartfelt thank you for your support! Although this is not all about me, I feel fantastic that I exceeded my goal and have been able to direct my first fund-raising efforts to a cause that is so personally important to me.

Thanks Vanessa for giving me the extra push to try raising money for charity.

March Dare Count

And a flood of new dares have come in! All right, a flood might be an overstatement, but there were definitely some new dares received.

To date,
Dares received:19
Dares completed: 5

1. Create a blog
2. Wake up everyday and smile and stretch
3. Get highlights
4. Relax and sample new adventures (on the cheap)
5. Go to a drag show

Dares in progress: 3

1. Run a 10K
2. Fund-raiser walk
3. Paint a portrait of someone I love(d)

Dares on deck...

• Fund-raiser walk (4/11)
• Paint a portrait of someone I love(d)

You might also be wondering why so slow on the dare completions Courtney?  
Well, I am a work in progress. I do what I can.

For my excuses, I have also been keeping myself with busy with weekly treks to Middlesex Fells with Lola, Mandarin class on Sundays, finally getting to home improvement projects, a new gym membership, a try at West African dance, civil engagement and good times with friends (details excluded to protect those that claim innocence).

I don;t know if I can promise big number in April, but i can promise that I am loving this and working my way through them one at a time. Thanks y'all for all the good times.

February Dare Count

Well, I don't even want to look at the numbers. I'm not as far as I'd like to be... which includes getting dares back. If you are hesitating putting in the mail, go ahead and do it. I want to pack my year full of daring events.

Instead of a count, I am going to try reflection. Since the inception of this, every day has been a surprise.  

Some days I am delighted to be single again. Dinner is whatever I choose; the weekends are full of my activities and if something isn't right, I can change it, because I am responsible for it. Those are the days that everythings seems a little sunnier and a little less important. 

But, some days, not so much. Despite the growing distance, I can still find myself getting all worked up about some trivial matter like how the laundry smelled like fish (he worked in seafood, I know it made sense that the laundry smelled like that) or being angry at myself for letting it become a broken relationship.

Regardless of how I have decided to interpret any given day, I'm happy I am where I am. The dares have helped me break out a little. It is easy for me to blame something expected or new on, "oh yeah, my friend dared me to do it", but I've also internalized it. If this is to be my most daring year yet, it isn't going to happen without creating my own private dares or public bonus dares. I can accomplish those every day. Thanks for all y'all's support (and yes, my Wisconsin friends, I said "all y'all's")

Get highlights in your hair (Brett Parker)

The motivation behind the dare was for me to embrace something bold and to experiment with my appearance a little, so why not?

I can say I've gotten complacent with my "look" - brown hair, pony tail, flat iron, sometimes curly, recycle, repeat, messy bun thing. For those of you that remember the bleached out pink or blue streaks of 2002, as foxy as those were, my job these days is not as accommodating to that color choice. Here is my BEFORE:

Do blondes really have more fun? Is this my chance to find out?

It seems I won't find out yet. I arrived at the salon a mess. Still wearing my hiking boots from the trip to the Fells that morning, I hadn't even thought about how to express my hair color desires. I believe I contradicted myself five times in trying to describe how light I was willing to go. The colorist sensed some underlying hesitation to embracing the bold change I want and I know would thrill Brett. So I believe I have completed Step One to ease myself into drastic hair change. I never said a dare had to be finished all at once, right. Here is my AFTER for now:

It's slightly lighter, but still  very predictably brown. Stay tuned, people. Change is on its way, but it moves slowly.

So on my journey to make my inner blonde an outer blonde...

Laura Brelsford snapped this photo of me on the left after my hair appointment in March . On the right is a photo from August. I am keeping up with the lighter hair, but I'm not going to be a blonde.  I'm pretty happy with what I got so I think I'll work it.

January Dare Count

16 dares recieved
3 dares accomplished

I will admit these are not impressive numbers. However, I plead my case that I am fully committed to my dares. I am actively working on completing the 10K dare. I have been out in the frigid weather, avoiding ice and slush, and cursing the first 5 or 10 or sometimes 25 minutes. Sickness was a set back, but I am moving forward. Other dares are waiting for warming weather and some I am researching how to make it happen.

Stay tuned... more to come...
And, send in your dares if you haven't already!

Come with me to a drag show (Teri Linardos) with bonus dare

Hello, ladies! Um, yeah, Mis-Leading Ladies!

Thank you Jaques Caberet and Teri! Every Saturday night the Mis-Leading Ladies wow with two shows. I was definately wowed. We settled down at the end of the stage. In our group we had a couple of show virgins and a few old timers. I was a show virgin, but am no more. These gals are dirty and fantastic. I've been to drag shows before, but this one by far was the best.

If you haven't been there, check it out.

BONUS DARE - I had to take it one step further and dare myself to wear a Bump It to the drag show. After sitting througha whole meal with Laura in Rustic Kitchen terrified that the waiter would actually see the Bump It, I made it to drag show with the Bump It in place. Truly rockin' a Jeresy poof is all in the attitude. I can put the poof in the hair, but I can't fake the 'tude. I'll keep working on it kids.

Relax and sample new adventures that won't make you broke (Jewell Burke)

I am going to break this one down:

1) Relax - that says something spa like to me

2) Sample new adventures - never taken advantage of my jetted tub, yes even though I lived in the house for 9 months

3) That won't make you broke - I think I can do this on the cheap

So it may seem simple on the surface to make this dare happen, but for me, it's not. I am wound pretty tight and given current circumstances, I have been wound even tighter. If I don't take some time to relax, I might pop or least it feels that way.

Dennis was to be moving out this weekend... but his plans have been delayed. I need relaxation, and it is not easy to relax when something life changing is happening. Yes, yes, I know, I ended it weeks ago when the life changing thing actually happened. However, this has been dragging on until the official move out.

I wanted to exercise this dare now. I need to relax; I need to let go to find my new adventures; and I need to do it within budget. For at least an hour, it was pur relaxation. The jetted tub is amazing and so perfect. It should not have taken thislong to pamper myself and take a bath. I learnewd my lesson; I won't be going another 9 months without spending some time to pamper myself.

Don't worry, there are no in progress dare pictures, but mission accomplished, prune fingers and all:

Wake up everyday and smile and stretch (Tonya Russ Price)

Do a charity fundraiser walk (Sharon Napier)

Ok, any charity suggestions?

Create a blog to share the dares (Schafers)

Done! Phew, one down... so many to go. Thanks for lobbing this one to me. I hope y'all like the blog.

Hike the AT or Skydive (Eliza Sparkes)

I've been given a choice between two exhilarating experiences. Weighing my options:

1) Hike the Appalachian Trail. I'd love to; I have hoped to for a long time. In fact, the boots on the right I bought in 1997 in hopes to hike the trail between high school graduation and my first college class. My heart beats a little faster thinking about it!

However, a thru hike is a commitment and Deval has not gotten quite that scary with the furlough days. If this does happen, it would need to be in stages. Would this work? Can I hike the AT over several long weekends?

2) Skydive. Whoa! I would never do it without this challenge. It would be over quickly. And y'all could get a great youtube video out of it. But, geez, that is scary.

So, I am undecided...
                      if you want to express your opinion, comment or take the poll.

Courtney Curran, I dare you to...

Inspiration

Here is the genesis,

my 2009 holiday card:

2009 was a great and disappointing year. At the end of a long relationship left me puzzling, what do I do with myself now, and I needed some help looking forward.

I have always had wonderful, creative, and intelligent family and friends with a good sense of humor. With their uncanny knowledge of how my life has gone horribly wrong or right; who knows/cares, I wanted to rely on them to have some fun.

I am at a point that I accomplished my early adulthood big ticket items. I want to shake it up:

1) to remember what it was like to do something totally stupid just because,

2) to commit where I haven't been able to commit before,

3) to reconnect,

4) to enjoy myself and others, and
5) who knows why (I'm not in control of this one)

Let's get started. A toast to 2010 -

Here's to making me pleasantly uncomfortable doing the things I always wanted to do, but just didn't know it yet!

Thank you,

Courtney