Turning 25...

Okay, I am celebrating my big 2-5 next Tuesday and it got me thinking about things that I would like to do better next year. This year was great though. Here are some highlights...

25 Cool Things I Did Before Turning 25

1- Quit working at the White House.

2- Fell in love.

3- How to hustle (babysitting, pet sitting, etc.)

4- How to take care of 3/4 kids at a time and what to do for fun.

5- Went on a Pirate Cruise.

6- Got my heart broken.

7- My first Jury Duty.

8- Met President Obama.

9- Missed President Bush.

10- Read a lot of books.

11- Spent the summer in the sun.

12- Traveled to Virginia Beach.

13- Had 6 flat tires. Learned a lot.

14- Learned to take care of myself.

15- Spent a lot of time pool side.

16- Camping in Harper's Ferry in Feburary.

17- Learned to say no.

18- Had dinner at a 3-star general's house.

19- Went to the top of the Andrew's Air Force Base Control Tower.

20- Learned my worth.

21- Went to Shenandoah National Park and went camping.

22- Toured Air Force One.

23- Volunteered a lot.

24- Scored an amazing job.

25- Learned a whole lot about myself.

And to get started on next year:

26 Before I Turn 26

1- Get in the best shape of my life.

2- Pay off my loan, car, and credit card.

3- Keep a journal.

4- Send out holiday cards.

5- Make a meal for the missionaries once a month.

6- Volunteer at least once a month.

7- Fall in love with someone amazing.

8- Start running every day/run a 10k.

9- Go on an amazing trip.

10- Build up my savings.

11- Read the Bible/Book of Mormon.

12- Help a total stranger.

13- Buy one very nice piece of jewelry for myself.

14- Go on a Capitol Dome Tour.

15- Do one big outdoor adventure every month.

16- Go sailing.

17- Read 15 books.

18- Organize my photos/create a nice photo album.

19- Try to attend everything that I am invited to.

20- Hot air balloon, sky dive, or bungee jump.

21- Learn better/daily etiquette and use it.

22- Donate blood as often as I can.

23- Be better at keeping in touch with people.

24- Be more positive. Learn to forgive a little bit better.

25- Pay tithing/do more church things.

26- Eat more homemade meals.

To Do: 75 Things

I love men's magazines. They are always so funny and simple.

I love this article from Esquire-August 2008 "75 Things Every Man Should Do Once"

I may try a few of them too because...

To Do: This Year

- get a job. 

- pay off all of my debt. {not that much :)}

- swim laps everyday. 

- do sit-ups and push-ups everyday. 

- learn to ski. 

- buy a kayak. 

- buy some jack purcells. 

- get a gold wishbone necklace. 

- learn a language. 

- refresh my spanish.

- read the bible. 

- go to my friend Amy's wedding in tx. 

- forgive my dad. 

- go to baltimore. check out the ship yard. 

- go to my friend Tyler's boot camp graduation. 

- read 30 books. {okay, I am not a reader}b 

Things On My To Do List: Right Now

from here

 - keep my new flower box plants alive (omg, i haven't posted pics yet!)

 - clean my apartment (I had guests last night and I need to clean up)

 - buy a hair straightener

 - iron (sorry, some of these things are just on my mind - not blog worthy)

 - drink hot cocoa  (doing this now)

 - get a hair cut for my meeting on October 21st

 - start wearing tights again

 - take my vitamins

 - go apple picking and pumpkin picking

 - start getting more sleep 

 - start looking for a new job (I just wanna travel)

 - buy more jewelry

 - get a tan

 - clear up my skin (with this, this, and this)

 - eat more of this delish hummus (doing this now)

 - do something that makes me feel like it is Fall

 - save money!!!

To Do: Learn How A Cactus Grows

found here.

To Do: Make a Giant Cardborad Gandhi

Since I love "How To" posts, I figured I'd post this too. Just in case you were wondering...






"Randi sez, "Perhaps you would be interested in a 17 foot tall Gandhi avatar made out of cardboard? An artist by the name of Joseph DeLappe made this for his Eyebeam spring residency. Should you want to make your own, the process is well documented on Instructables."



"After walking with Gandhi in Second Life for 240 miles I decided it would be interesting to extract my avatar from this online world and recreate him in monumental scale. This instructable takes you through the process of creating the 17' tall cardboard Gandhi using a variety of readily accessible (mostly free!) software tools, cardboard and a hot glue gun. The production of this sculpture took a total of 4 weeks, 6 days a week, 9-11 hour days with the assistance of an intern for two-three days of each week. "



via Boing Boing

To Do: Pegboard

I think that this is such a cute idea. Thank you Oh Happy Day!

Check it out here.

To Do: Create Succulent Terrarium

Okay MStetson Design...

I have to thank you for the cute green computer desktop that you made and now this!

It reminds me of Arizona and I love it!

I am going to have to make one and maybe give a few away!

Cute. Cute. Cute!

To Do: Upgrade My Entry

This is my drabby entry way. It needs a makeover.

I have added a cute mail box and a big flower pot. But...

I was driving by a cute house the other day and I loved their yellow door. 

What do you all think about me painting the door the yellow from the living room?

I think that it would look really cute. I need to talk to my landlord about it. And I want to buy some cute numbers for the address. I think it will make the whole place look amazing. 

To Do: Live Like A Rockstar

I heard this song on the way to work today.

I love old rock songs. Yeah, everyone may have been tricked out on coke, but everything seems so calm and cool in rock songs.

I wanna start living my life with an old rock soundtrack.

To Be or Not To Be

That is the question.

to be a good patriot and spend my economic stimulus check frivolously

or

not be a good patriot and save that money

(Illustrations by Peter Arkle via here)

I really need new shocks on my jeep so that may be the winner. That will help keep up its re-sale value as well so it would be better in the long run.

Ill get this out of the way and then pay of my credit cards and save money later. Urgh. Nothing exciting here today!

To Do: Open My Eyes

I used to do event planning and I still work on some major projects/events. I recently helped with a HUGE event at work and there were so many volunteers there that they had everything broken into sections.

Things in my section were really quite and laid back but I wanted to walk around and check out some other areas near the entrance of the event and their sections was in chaos. They were running out of handouts and they couldn't pass everything out quick enough. I ran up to go grab some more handouts for them and tried to help them out.

They were so busy that they couldnt even leave or call for more help but my section was just standing around chatting and passing out the few handouts that we had.

This reminds me of what is going on in the world today. We can all stand around chatting and going about our glamous lives in our area but there are areas in the world that are in utter chaos. And they really need our help. It is so easy for me to sit in my cushy office and watch the news about all the destruction across the world and then move on with my life. But I just can't. I just want to pack up my bags and donate all my money to help these people.

There is no conclusion to this post because there is no conclusion to this problem. I just don't know what to do!!

To Do: Take Care of Your Feet

For those of you who know me know that I hate feet. This grosses me out...

The Open Toed Shoe Pledge

I pledge to follow the Rules when wearing sandals and other open-toe shoes:

I promise to always wear sandals that fit. My toes will not hang over and touch the ground, nor will my heels spill over the backs. The sides and tops of my feet will not pudge out between the straps.

I will go polish-free or vow to keep the polish fresh, intact and chip-free. I will not cheat and just touch up my big toe.

I will sand down any mounds of skin before they turn hard and yellow.I will shave the hairs off my big toe.

I won't wear pantyhose even if my misinformed girlfriend, coworker, mother, sister tells me the toe seam really will stay under my toes if I tuck it there.

If a strap breaks, I won't duct-tape, pin, glue or tuck it back into place hoping it will stay put. I will get my shoe fixed or toss it.

I will not live in corn denial; rather I will lean on my good friend Dr. Scholl's if my feet need him.

I will resist the urge to buy jelly shoes at Payless for the low, low price of $4.99 even if my feet are small enough to fit into the kids' sizes.. This is out of concern for my safety, and the safety of others. No one can walk properly when standing in a pool of sweat and I would hate to take someone down with me as I fall and break my ankle.

I will take my toe ring off toward the end of the day if my toes swell and begin to look like Vienna sausages.

I will promise if I wear flip flops that I will ensure that they actually flip and flop, making the correct noise while walking and I will swear NOT to slide or drag my feet while wearing them.

I will promise to go to my local nail salon at least once per season and have a real pedicure (they are about$25 or $30and worth EVERY penny).

I will promise to throw away any white/off-white sandals that show signs of wear... nothing is tackier than dirty white sandals.

To Do: Read Books

I found this list of classics on WWJAD. I need to start reading more. :(


(image via here)


Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Anna Karenina
Crime and Punishment
Catch-22
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Wuthering Heights
The Silmarillion
Life of Pi
The Name of the Rose
Don Quixote
Moby Dick
Ulysses
Madame Bovary
The Odyssey
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Eyre
The Tale of Two Cities
The Brothers Karamazov
Guns, Germs, and Steel: the fates of human societies
War and Peace
Vanity Fair
The Time Traveler’s Wife
The Iliad
Emma
The Blind Assassin
The Kite Runner
Mrs. Dalloway
Great Expectations
American Gods
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
Atlas Shrugged
Reading Lolita in Tehran : a memoir in books
Memoirs of a Geisha
Middlesex
Quicksilver
Wicked : the life and times of the wicked witch of the West
The Canterbury Tales
The Historian : a novel
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Love in the Time of Cholera
Brave New World
The Fountainhead
Foucault’s Pendulum
Middlemarch
Frankenstein
The Count of Monte Cristo
Dracula
A Clockwork Orange
Anansi Boys
The Once and Future King
The Grapes of Wrath
The Poisonwood Bible : a novel
1984
Angels & Demons
The Inferno
The Satanic Verses
Sense and Sensibility
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Mansfield Park
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
To the Lighthouse
Tess of the D’Urbervilles
Oliver Twist
Gulliver’s Travels
Les Misérables
The Corrections
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Dune
The Prince
The Sound and the Fury
Angela’s Ashes : a memoir
The God of Small Things
A People’s History of the United States : 1492-present
Cryptonomicon
Neverwhere
A Confederacy of Dunces
A Short History of Nearly Everything
Dubliners
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Beloved
Slaughterhouse-Five
The Scarlet Letter
Eats, Shoots & Leaves
The Mists of Avalon
Oryx and Crake : a novel
Collapse : how societies choose to fail or succeed
Cloud Atlas
The Confusion
Lolita
Persuasion
Northanger Abbey
The Catcher in the Rye
On the Road
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Freakonomics : a rogue economist explores the hidden side of everything
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance : an inquiry into values
The Aeneid
Watership Down
Gravity’s Rainbow
The Hobbit
In Cold Blood : a true account of a multiple murder and its consequences
White Teeth (my favorite book of all time)
Treasure Island
David Copperfield
The Three Musketeers

Thing That I Need To Do That I Don't Do

(I made this list during church yesterday.)


- pray on my knees everyday
- pay tithing (something/anything)
- read my scriptures more often
- fast and fast & pray
- eat better
- exercise daily
- save money
- write my friend mark (on a mission) at least once a week
- floss & brush more

which reminds me... resolutions.

To Do: Take the Stairs

No not to be green. But to save yourself from this. 

To Do: Make Love

Oppps. I meant to write "Make Love Bars" :)

Thanks to Marta (image via Marta too) I made the most delish treat for my dear coworker Dickie Poo. He had the worst day yesterday and I wanted to show him a little love.

Since my bike finally is fixed (my first bike was stolen and then I bought a new one and someone stole the seat!!! Urgh!) I rode to the local Safeway (in the Ghetto, we call it the Un-Safeway) at 8pm last night to buy the supplies to make love... I mean Love Bars. Sorry. :)

Today will be fun. I have a cute outfit on and the Pope is coming tomorrow. Yay. Except I have to get here at 5:45am tomorrow for it. Urgh.

To Do: Be grateful for Petty Officer Michael A. Monsoor, U.S. Navy

This post is about Michael Monsoor. A US Navy SEAL who jumped on top of a live grenade to save the other men in his unit. President Bush presented his family Monsoor's Medal of Honor yesterday. This is the highest honor that a member of the military can receive.

Please watch this video of the ceremony. Its on the right side of the page.

Its amazing.Here is more about Michael Monsoor's story.

To Do: Buy Shoes

...believe it or not but this is not another shopping post.

I love reading this guys blog: Can of Worms. He is just a 23 year old kid from Cali who moved to Iraq to help people. 

He also started this amazing company: Buy Shoes, Save Lives. And all the money goes to help people who need surgery. 

Check it out and if you can... help out!!

To Do: Remember MLK

Thank goodness for people who stood up for what they believed in. These images are amazing and powerful.