30x30 - #23 - Check!

#23 - Visit a winery

I'm excited to say that I've checked another thing off of my 30x30 list! Yay! This one is thanks to my wonderful friend Stephanie. As an early birthday present she took me to a winery in Calistoga. We toured the Castillo di Amorosa. It is a beautiful castle! I loved the tour and the wine tasting was fun too. Gasp! Yes I had wine! I am a wimpy wine drinker though. Steph and I told the man serving us that we really wanted the sweet wine. The bottle I bought hardly had any alcohol in it. Ha! But I liked it. :) 

Here are some pictures of the fun day we had in Calistoga!

Item #2 check!

I've been waiting to check off #2 from my 30x30 list for a long time. For the most part I enjoyed growing my hair out. I figured out some fun ways to fix it, but I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my haircut! The girl who cut my hair (at a "Cool Cuts") was able to cut off 10 1/2 inches. Just enough to donate it. Phew! 

I love having short hair. Several weeks after I got it cut my sister dyed it for me. It is a little darker and I really like it. It is fun. :) 

I still have to mail in my ponytail that was cut off. It is weird to think that it was once connected to my head. Lol! I wonder if they will send me a picture of what it looks like as a wig for someone. Hmm. I'm excited to send it in a hear that they use it for someone who needs it. 

30 by 30 Revisited & Revised

My 30x30 list has been on my mind lately. I have a 1 & 1/2 years to go and I'm thinking I need to make a few changes. I haven't crossed off nearly as many things from my list as I thought I would have by now. There are several things that I'll be able to get done, but I'm going to take out the ones that I don't think are realistic for me to do. 
(Bold items are ones I am working on right now)

1. Read through the entire Bible
2. Donate my hair to Locks of Love (I'm growing it out at the moment)
3. Publish a cookbook of my Grandma's recipes
4. Read 1 book a month from my bookshelf. (That is only 19 books - totally realistic!)
5. Draw one sketch each day for 30 days in a row
6. Make a quilt for my bed
7. Walk in a half-marathon
8. Take a cooking class
9. Loose 20 pounds and keep if off 
10. Make a Christmas quilt (I started cutting out the pieces a while ago and haven't picked it up in a while) 
11. Visit Yosemite
12. Eat at the Melting Pot  (Yum!) 
13. Cook through an entire cookbook
14. Visit another country (other than the ones I've been to)
15. Sew something I can wear  (I made an apron!)
16. Publish a children's book
17. Stick to my budget for two months in a row (I hope after 2 months it will be easy to stick with it for a long time)
18. Go on a hot air balloon ride (I plan to do this on my 30th Birthday) 
19. Visit the Grand Canyon
20. Get into the habit of calling my Grandma twice a month
21. Clean out my Gmail inbox to zero
22. Have a picture taken of me that I really like
23. Visit a winery in Sonoma County
24. Sing with someone famous (I still want to do this...but I'm going to change it to -- Follow my box of cleaning cards for 1 month) 
25. Go to the middle of nowhere and look at the stars
26. Get a massage (Amazing!) 
27. Learn to play the piano so I can sing a song while I play
28. Make a pie from scratch
29. Take a flower arranging class
30. Host a tea party at my apartment. 

#12

#12 - Eat at The Melting Pot
Yay! I've completed another thing on my 30x30 list!








Can I tell you that I absolutely LOVE The Melting Pot! Yum, yum, yum! I was totally stuffed afterwards. We had a wonderful girl's night out!

#15 - New sewing project

I can now check another item off my 30 x 30 list!! I just sewed something that I can wear! I'm so excited!

I had a day off of work today. It was so nice. I started the day at Starbucks, read my Bible and laughed as I overheard a conversation at a nearby table. Next I had lunch with my mom and Danika. It was nice to spend that time with them.
I took my mom's sewing machine home with me and had plans of working on a quilt. I didn't get a bit of cleaning done today, but I really enjoyed my day off working on some sewing projects.
(Something I don't get to do very often)
I started out working on a baby quilt for my friend Kelley. She had her sweet baby, Jenna, almost 2 months ago and I'm still working on her quilt.
 I made pretty good progress on the quilt, but when I got to the point of needing to iron I was ready to stop.
I don't know about you, but I'm not a big fan of ironing.
So I started on a pattern I had for making an apron. I was shocked at how easy it was to make! Even adding the rick-rack edges was easier than I anticipated! Yay! I think I'll have to make a few adjustments when I make another one but there is no problem with that.
I am so excited that I was able to make this apron in one day!
I love the fabric, and the style of the apron is so cute.

Now I just need to cook more so I can wear my new apron! :)

30 by 30 - checking in

 I'm excited because I can cross off some items from my list. So I thought I'd post it. :) I am also going to make a few minor adjustments to the list. For instance, I'm going to try calling my Grandma once a week instead of writing to her. I realized that would work better for her.

Italicize things are ones that I am working on.
And crossed out items are done!

1. Read through the entire Bible
2. Donate my hair to Locks of Love (I'm growing it out at the moment)
3. Publish a cookbook of my Grandma's recipes
4. Read through the books on my bookshelf that I have not read
5. Draw one sketch each day for 30 days in a row
6. Make a quilt for my bed (I bought some of the fabric)
7. Walk in a half-marathon
8. Take a cooking class
9. Loose 20 pounds and keep if off for 6 months
10. Make a Christmas quilt (I started cutting out the pieces a while ago and haven't picked it up in a while) 
11. Visit Yosemite
12. Eat at the Melting Pot
13. Cook through an entire cookbook
14. Visit another country (other than the ones I've been to)
15. Sew something I can wear (been looking for a good pattern)
16. Publish a children's book
17. Stick to my budget for two months in a row (I hope after 2 months it will be easy to stick with it for a long time)
18. Go on a hot air balloon ride (I looked at some prices and I'll have to save up for a while)
19. Visit the Grand Canyon
20. Call my Grandma every other week
21. Clean out my Gmail inbox to zero
22. Have a picture taken of me that I really like
23. Visit a winery in Sonoma County
24. Sing with someone famous (not sure if that is realistic or not)
25. Go to the middle of nowhere at look at the stars
26. Get a massage (it was wonderful!)
27. Learn to play the piano so I can sing while I play
28. Make a pie from scratch
29. Take a flower arranging class
30. Host a tea party at my apartment (had a lovely time)

 Yay! I crossed off two things! And I have several things in progress!

# 30

Another thing to check off of my 30 by 30 list! 

A few weeks ago I hosted my first (of hopefully many) tea party at my home. It was lovely. 

Three of my wonderful friends came over. We had scones, some tea sandwiches and tea of course. 

For dessert we had chocolate moose with strawberries in a chocolate cup. 

It was yummy, if I might say so myself. :) 

Now I do realize that there are no pictures of people, but you'll just have to take my word on that one. I forgot to get my camera out until after they left. Oops!

My goal is to host at least one Tea a month. I want to invite the ladies I work with next. Unfortunately my apartment isn't very big so I'll only be able to invite a few of them at a time, but I know it will be fun. 

I'm so excited to cross another thing off my list!

a little crumbly, but very tasty scones

I found a cute chocolate mold at a craft store.

Teas I found at Cost Plus World Market.

# 26

I've finally been able to start checking a few things off of my 30 by 30 list! Yay!

#26 - Get a massage
Over Christmas break I went and got a massage. It was so nice and relaxing. I could totally get hooked on having them if I had enough money. Someone gave me a gift certificate for my birthday (in May) to Massage Envy. It took me long enough to use it.
I thoroughly enjoyed it.

30 by 30

I've been feeling inspired by seeing my friend's lists of thing they want to do by a certain time. In 2 1/2 years I will be 30 so I'd say that is a good amount of time to get through a list of things I want to get done.

Italicized items are ones I am working on right now.

So here is my list in no particular order.

1. Read through the entire Bible
2. Donate my hair to Locks of Love (I'm growing it out at the moment)
3. Publish a cookbook of my Grandma's recipes
4. Read through the books on my bookshelf that I have not read
5. Draw one sketch each day for 30 days in a row
6. Make a quilt for my bed
7. Walk in a half-marathon
8. Take a cooking class
9. Loose 20 pounds and keep if off for 6 months
10. Make a Christmas quilt (I started cutting out the pieces a while ago and haven't picked it up in a while) 
11. Visit Yosemite
12. Eat at the Melting Pot
13. Cook through an entire cookbook
14. Visit another country (other than the ones I've been to)
15. Sew something I can wear
16. Publish a children's book
17. Stick to my budget for two months in a row (I hope after 2 months it will be easy to stick with it for a long time)
18. Go on a hot air balloon ride
19. Visit the Grand Canyon
20. Write my Grandma 2 letters per month
21. Clean out my Gmail inbox to zero
22. Have a picture taken of me that I really like
23. Visit a winery in Sonoma County
24. Sing with someone famous (not sure if that is realistic or not)
25. Go to the middle of nowhere at look at the stars
26. Get a massage (I have the gift card, just need to make the appointment) 
27. Learn to play the piano so I can sing while I play
28. Make a pie from scratch
29. Take a flower arranging class
30. Host a tea party at my apartment. 

I'll be posting things as I cross them off of my list. 

Some aren't extremely realistic, but they are fun anyway.