Friday, January 9, 2015

*2015 Goals*

I must admit, I only completed one item off of my 2014 yearly goals. Did I set them to high? Did I not believe I would accomplish them, so that's why I didn't bother to try? So many questions I've asked myself when just reading that post back to myself. 

2015 i want to focus on myself and dig deep of what I need to do in order to be even happier with my life. I want to travel more, sure everyone would love to fly all over the place and see things. But why do I have to fly somewhere to see cool things? I bet you didn't know that there are ALOT of major Oregon and PNW famous landmarks and places that I've never even been to?! *cough* Crater Lake?!?! *Cough* I mean seriously, I'm failing as an Oregonian whose lived and breathed this Oregon air her whole life. So even if I only fly somewhere once this year(I have a work trip scheduled to Baltimore that i'm extending into a mini vacay), I can still go somewhere once a month or every other month in the state to see some cool things and experience adventure. But below is just a mini list of what i'd like to check off, i know some may be repeats of 2014's life goals, but lets face it, i failed miserably at them, so some need to be repeated for this year

2015 Goals
Lose 30lbs
Take 3 trips (must fly somewhere)
Go on a road trip to Southern Oregon & Northern California
Complete at least 1 item monthly on my 100 in 1000 days challenge
Try to find a positive in everything/No negatives
Try a new restaurant at least once a month-PDX is full of great places
Be even happier with my life than I already am

Friday, November 21, 2014

The JT Experience....

Where to even start...how about i haven't posted since April..WOW! My brother's wedding sure kept me busy along with working two jobs most of this past year. Well...i guess starting my blog back off with JT is the best way to go.

Last night a HUGE item of my bucket list was finally checked off! I got to see the amazing Justin Timberlake in concert!!!! What. An. Experience. You see him on TV: acting, singing, and dancing but in person it was unbelievable to see it. I caught myself just staring at him during dancing scenes with his dancers and just him, so amazing.We were on the side, but 3 feet away from him when he came to our side. I walked down and touched the stage. I had such a great time with my good friends Brandon and Siobhan too, such a wonderful memory to make! Ahhhh i still can't believe i saw JT!!!!








Wednesday, April 2, 2014

A year in review...

Can it really be a year since I've started this blog and adventure journey?! It’s amazing how time flies when you’re having fun. J When I was thinking about how I wanted to write this post, I was contemplating talking about the bad that’s happened this year with the good, or to just leave the bad out completely. Then I thought I accomplished items when the bad came along, so I need to talk about.

I think that I could have done better with getting more things crossed off my {101 in 1001} list, which is what this blog is all about. There are something’s that I will not write a post about (the simpler tasks; buy flowers for no reason) but most adventures or big ticket items I will write about. I have completed 16 of 101 items in all of the categories with 6 still in progress. Like I stated, I feel like I could have done better, however; #8 is half finished (Read 20 books) and #55 just needs one more to complete it (Experience food in 15 new restaurants) and then there are others that will not be able to be checked off till the very end because they are ones that I need to hold myself accountable for throughout the whole challenge.

I have tweaked a few items here and there to make them geared more towards me. When I saw this challenge/list it was off of my friend Jyndia's Blog that she had started, so something’s were just ideas until I knew what I really wanted to do and thought about my dreams and what I want to accomplish in the 1001 days. Along with the good this year, has come the bad like I was talking about in the beginning part of this post. Losing my Uncle last May suddenly (Until we meet again) was hard for me to handle and therefore I changed a few things to accomplish that has to do with him and my memories of him. With this, came a lot of great things this past year. My brother got engaged over the 4th of July at St. Paul Rodeo and I got a new position at work that I am very happy with and feel right at home and where I’m supposed to be at in my career.


My goals for this year 2014 mainly are to complete 10 things off my list, with me completely 3 already this year. I know that a lot of my travel and adventures overlap onto what would be the same trip or trips when I take them, but they all go together with dreams that I've had or things/places that I've wanted to see. I think that I will crush my 10 items this year to complete (I really only need 7 more to reach that goal). So maybe I should make it 20?! I know that I can do that for sure. This year has been a fun one and a sad one but I am happy that I have created this blog and that I can document my adventures and dreams, even though many people may not always read this blog, at least I can say I've done it!

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Weekend Recap of Snowmageddon ‘14

Thursday
There was the threat of snow for the late afternoon, roughly around 4pm, so we all knew it was coming. Well…about 11am it was starting to hit WAY sooner than they anticipated. It started out just flurries for the longest time, not too big of flakes. So about 1pm I finally look out my window to see the flakes are still a constantly flurry, but I see that there is a good inch and a half on the ground already…WHAT?! What got me excited about this snow was I could tell it was dry powdery Eastern/Central Oregon type of snow! Snow you’d find on the mountain, not usual western Oregon wet snow. It was reminding me of the winters in La Grande and the memories. So I made the choice to finish up work and leave about 3pm was my goal, well at 2:30pm, it was worse so I left then and BOY was I glad that I did. The roads weren’t packed with people yet but it was already dicey out! I made it home in about 15 minutes, which was great considering I was expecting at least 20-30 minutes. I spent the rest of the day watching it come down and before I knew it about 7pm, there was about 4 inches on the ground, it was crazy beautiful!


Lucy on her 'perch' watching the kids play! She sat here for hours.

Friday
The gym was closed due to the school districts being closed and OHSU was on inclement weather policy, which means that if you have no direct animal or patient care, to not come in and leave your residence. I only live 2 miles from the Primate Center, but there wasn’t much for me to do, so I kept my email on and watched TV, movies, took Lucy out for a few walks since she oddly loves the snow! Watched the kids play in the snow and build snowmen and make hills to sled in, walked to get the mail and also walked up to get coffee with my friend Katie who lives in the complex as well. Came home and watched Dallas Buyers Club which was Phenomenal!!!! MM and Leto both deserve their Oscars that they are nominated for, it was done brilliantly. I got some awesome photos of the girls having fun in Scappoose where they got over a foot of snow. Lee came over and we had some drinks and watched the Blazers lose in OT which should have never happened. I went to bed early as I was up early in case I had to get into work.


My beautiful nieces having fun in the snow in Scappoose

Saturday
By this time I was getting very antsy and wanted to get out of the apartment, to go anywhere! It was too the point where i could not watch one more second of TV or even look at the thing! I did some laundry, ran the dishwasher, and cleaned up a little bit. Went on a walk with Lu again and she loved every minute of it. I am in the middle of watching Lost for the first time(I know, I know) and I was getting a little bored with it, became dull to me for about 3-4 episodes in Season 3. Luckily about 4pm my brother texts me that they have an extra ticket to the PBR, so of course I’m in because I wanted to go in the first place. I had 2 hours to get ready before they’d be there to pick me up, of course I had a little more than 2 hours in reality because they are always a smidge late ;-) PBR was a lot more fun this year than last year, it was WAY more entertaining. The bulls were very aggressive and some threw some major tantrums throughout the night. There was one injury that was pretty bad and he was knocked out, sadly I cannot find any information on how he’s doing. There were a few FANTASTIC rides during the night as well, 3 in the 90 point range! It was always fun with the group that we go with and I cannot wait until next year. The roads weren’t the best and the freezing rain was coming down for sure, but my brother kept it at a steady 30-35mph and we were fine. If there is anyone I trust to drive me in any crazy weather it’s a PGE line crew employee, they have driven in the worst of the worst in those big ass line trucks! Kyle got called to work as he was dropping me off and worked a whopping 29 hours. Love those linemen!

 Pretty Awesome!
Love those cowboy butts ;-)
Support those lineman!

Sunday

Cabin fever was hitting MAJOR! After I woke up and took Lucy out and let her play a little, I watched a bit more Lost and then decided that I’m walking to Safeway to get out of the place and to get some groceries that I was in need of. Of course I bought way too much and that was a LONG walk back with an extra 20lbs on me, I took my athletic bag but still…I was tired! But I got my workout in for not doing much for 4 days. Sunday, I also woke up feeling a cold coming on, UGH! I made sure I picked up some throat coat tea and honey at the store when I went. I stayed in the rest of the day, only letting Lucy out to potty and cuddled on the couch! I wasn’t feeling too good the rest of the day and I wanted to beat this cold, I ended up crawling into bed at 7:15pm. It was a crazy 4 days of weather, fun and cabin fever. But I was very happy to go back to work and resume a regular schedule. The snow is going to be around for a while as the thawing is taking it’s time. In total I had 7 inches at my apartment with about an inch of ice on top of it Saturday to Sunday after the freezing rain!
 My snow dog :)

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

When life throws you a curve ball…


This past Monday night I was told something that I thought I’d never hear, a close friend has germ cell ovarian cancer…at age 29. All sorts of questions rose up: How? Why? What do we do? What does she need me to do? What can I do?

I have to give this girl a TON of credit; she’s one of the strongest people I know not only mentally and physically, but in her faith as well. She has an amazing support system that includes her family and SO many friends. I am almost positive this girl has no enemies, everyone just loves her and you can see that with how many friends she has.

So ovarian cancer, you now have gained a crap ton of more enemies and a BIG one in me. Not only will she be fighting you but so will I in any form of awareness, prayer and donations for research. GAME ON!

So when life throws this girl a curve ball…
I wait on it and hit it out of the park!

LETS KICK CANCERS ASS JYN!

Thursday, January 23, 2014

2014, here’s to a fresh new start…

A new year means a fresh start; does anyone else feel like this too? It’s nice to feel like you have a clean slate from everything that happened in the last year whether it is good or bad. 2013 brought me a lot of good times, and memories but it also brought a lot of heartache with losing my Uncle very suddenly in May that is very hard to deal with to this day.

2014 is bound to be WAY better than 2013, in fact, I think it’s going to kick 2013’s ass just because of how awesome I know it’s already going to be with events set
  1.  I’m turning 30 and going to have a killer birthday bash!
  2.  I am going on at least one vacation.
  3. I’m gaining a SISTER this year and I’m the Maid of Honor.
  4. All the camping trips!

Those are just a few that I know are going to make 2014 great! As for one of the dream vacations that I have always wanted to do: San Francisco, Boston or Vancouver, BC. It’s crazy to know that two of those are seriously in driving distance. Yes SF is a little farther away than BC but it’s crazy to know how close they are and yet I’ve always wanted to go spend a weekend at either place. I REALLY hope its Boston this year though! I mean, I’m turning 30 and what better way than to have a trip to the holy land as I know it?! I would probably cry going to Fenway…there I said it! There are tentative plans in the works with Caryn to go 2 weekends before my birthday; they are playing the Tigers home so that would be awesome for the both of us!


I do have some goals that I’ve set for 2014 like I always do. 2013’s goals were good and I met most of them but I’d like to do a little better for this year.
2014 Goals:
A.     Lose another 10-15lbs (Goal Weight: 155-160lbs).
B.     Take a Trip to one of the following:
a.      Boston
b.      San Francisco
c.      Vancouver, BC
C.     Be 160lbs for Kyle’s Wedding (8.2.14-I have 6.5 months to lose 10lbs).
D.     Go on a road trip to Southern Oregon & Northern California.
E.      Complete a least 10 items on my [100 in 1001 days] list-I completed 13 in 2013.
F.      Become a regular at church again (at LEAST twice a month).

Now I don’t think any of these goals are that far out of reach for me. The last one is really important to me as I’ve put my life first before God and I really need to change that. I used to be so close with him and I feel as if I’ve drifted and I need to get back to him. I believe I’m happier when I’m more consistent being with him and attending mass on a regular basis.

I am pretty sure that I will conquer the Read 20 books this year, as I already have 8 completed and I am half way into another book with TONS more lined up to read! I also only need 3 more new food experiences to finish off that list which I could probably do in the next few months as well. I want to make 2014 such a better year full of SO many great memories and trips!


So here’s to 2014 kicking ass!!! J

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Vacation at Christmas Time

What a great time of year to take a trip to the East Coast! Some may think I was a little crazy considering the weather I could have possibly had…and then I HAD it as they were right. I can tell you that I got to experience firsthand an East Coast Snow Storm in other names: Winter Storm Dion (seriously? Who makes up these names?) My flight in was perfect, I was on time and not delayed at all. I flew into Denver so it was AMAZING to see The Rockies during the daylight and they were breath taking! Our plans quickly changed as I was in midair to DC as the storm was coming in faster than they first thought. So after I landed, we went and grabbed some dinner, hung out at Becky and Spooner’s house for a little awhile and then headed up to Gettysburg to brace for snow, ice and COLD! Luckily living in La Grande, OR for so many winters, I was used to the cold to the bone kind of cold that a winter can bring.



 We ended up getting 8 inches over 3 days and it was so beautiful on the farm! Cole got to experience his first snow and sledding (which he about fell asleep). Then we adults got to take our turns being pulled around the field and that was tons of fun. Spending the week with Cole Man was special. I was able to experience a few firsts with him: Snow, first word (Dada) and Sledding. I also was able to have some delicious food that the boys hunted and prepared. Dove, Duck and Deer! Although I have had deer before, but the Dove and Duck were very tender and SO good. We didn't get to go to New York City as we had hoped due to the snow but it was still fun and the snow saved me a lot of cash J



 Kristen and I were able to get away for an afternoon and stroll around Gettysburg Square, do a little shopping and had lunch! I was able to get a few awesome keepsake ornaments and a few unique Christmas presents as well. I just love small town shops; they have such great little things that you can’t find anywhere else. We headed back down to NOVA to spend a few days there before I head to fly out. KJ was home from college so I was able to spend more than just 5 hours this time with her. The day before I left KJ, Spooner and I headed into DC to see the National Christmas Tree, The National Law Enforcement's Memorial, Capital Tree that’s from the State of Washington and a few other things that are holiday related. It was a ton of fun just the three of us and since Spooner is a cameraman in DC; it was like having our own personal tour guide telling us about the history and the buildings. I was sad to have to leave, but I was really happy to be home too. It was fun and memorable! I cannot wait to go back but it’s their turn to come to Oregon! So happy that I was able to check a few things off my list as well and eat some GOOOOOOOOD food…that I now crave daily! Until next time NOVA…