30 before 30 - Thursday Thoughts

After doing my "Someday I will..." post yesterday, it made me think with my 28th Birthday on Sunday, I'm going to be 30 in two short years and there has to be things I want to accomplish/do before I turn 30. So, this brings you to my 30 before 30 post of today. By November 3, 2016, I want to have completed the following 30 things (and I'll update you all along the way!) :

1. Become a Mom to a 2nd child
2. Hit and maintain my goal weight of 135 lbs
3. Lot 1000 miles in walking/running
4. Go to an all-inclusive adults only resort
5. Get 50 'official' followers between Blogger/BlogLovin (hint, hint loyal leaders)
6. Complete 6 half marathons
7. Beat my PR half marathon time (2:39:23)
8. Earn a promotion at work
9. Stop biting my nails
10. Run a sub 30 min 5k (actual chipped race, not on the treadmill)
11. Plant a garden that actually produces something edible 
12. Run 20 races (5k, 10k, half, etc)
13. Volunteer at GKTW 5 times
14. Get Diamond Plus status on Royal Caribbean 
15. Re-design my blog (not use a standard template)
16. Make a dinner meal plan for a week, which requires me to cook each night, and stick to it
17. Play a round of golf
18. Learn to shoot a gun
19. Go on a REAL picnic 
20. Build a back patio/lanai and screen it in (and by build, I mean hire someone else to do it)
21. Run at least (or walk) one mile every day for 30 days straight (can't make up for a day on a later day)
22. Complete EM's 1st year photo book
23. If we have baby #2 by my 29th birthday, complete daily photo collages for baby's 1st year of life (I haven't missed a day yet with EM but everyone keeps saying "I bet you won't do this for your next child, I am going to prove them wrong!)
24. Blog at least once a week (hopefully more!)
25. Take a trip to NY and visit family
26.  Have a date night, once a month with G
27.  Take a trip to visit my BFF and her family (currently in SC but being in the Navy, who knows where they’ll be)
28.  Complete 4 Pintrest ideas/projects (recipes don't count)
29.  Run/Walk and pick EM up from school (day care) and run/walk home
30.  Bike at least 30 miles in one day. (the most I’ve ever done is around 14)

While I was putting this together, I thought of so many more things I want to do that I know won't be possible in the next 2 years (budget constraints, plan to be pregnant, vacation days, etc) so I decided to also make my 40 before 40 list today as well. I actually finished the 40 before 40 list before I finished my 30 before 30 list.

1. Vacation in Hawaii
2. Take a transatlantic cruise
3. Take an Alaskan cruise
4. Take a European cruise
5. Go on a hot air balloon ride
6. Helicopter tide over a volcano
7. Stay at a Cabin in the mountains (jacuzzi on balcony a must!)
8. Adopt a family for Christmas
9. Visit 3 states I've never been to (driving through doesn't count)
10. Finish decorating/furnishing/painting our entire house  - including bathrooms
11. Break my PR 5k time (as of when I'm 30)
12. Break my PR 10k time (as of when I'm 30)
13. Break my PR half marathon time (as of when I'm 30)
14. Attend one UCF road game per Football season
15. Take EM (+ future child) on a Disney Cruise
16. Take EM (+ future child) to Disneyland
17. Take EM (+future child) to swim with dolphins
18. Take EM (+future child) to NYC in the winter/Christmas time
19. Take EM (+future child) to Hershey Park
20. Visit the Grand Canyon
21. Go to a place once a year that I have never been to before (some of the other items on this list will help that!)
22. Maintain that 135 lbs I plan to reach by 30
23. Assuming I'm still blogging, go to a BlogHer (or similar) conference
24. Assuming I'm still blogging, double my followers that I have at age 30.
25. Go to a drive-in movie
26. Plant a fruit producing tree and watch it grow
27. Attend an all-day country music festival
28. Swim in a hot spring
29. Bury a time capsule with EM (+future child) and dig it up 5 years later
30. Volunteer at GKTW at least once a year
31. Run a 5k with each child I have
32. Go Apple Picking
33. Make Wine (like stomp on grapes at a winery)
34. Cash in all my savings bond that have FINALLY hit maturity and stopped earning interest
35. Pay off our mortgage
36. Do a Wine Tour (on the train in California maybe?)
37. Go to a NFL football game
38. Be "Room Mom" at EM (+future child) School once a month (if this still even exists?)
39. Have a 10 year Anniversary Party
40. Make my 50 by 50 list!

And this concludes another edition of my Thursday Thoughts with Jen @ Ramblings of a Suburban Mom!

What do you want to do before 30?
Or 40? Or 50+? Share your list with me :)

Someday I Will...

Today, I am linking up with Taylor over at The Daily Tay for ‘Someday I will…’

So without further ado, Someday I will..

• Not snoop before my Birthday/Holiday on my Amazon.com Wish list. It doesn’t tell me who bought the items, just that they were bought, so I’m still surprised when whoever gives it to me. I did the same thing for my wedding and baby registries. G hated it when I’d tell him what we were getting in advance
• Rock a 2-piece again (stretch marks and all)
• Make a 30 by 30 List. I was actually going to do this for my post today, but I couldn’t come up with 30 things (that can be completed in 2 years) that quickly, so it’ll be posted in a few days
• Exercise before work on a regular basis
• “Do” my hair for work more than once in a blue moon (who has time for that anyways?!)
• Care more about my appearance (in terms of hair/makeup/dressing up – see above)
• Be able to maintain my weight without being on a “diet” / tracking everything I shove in my mouth
• Spend an entire day at the spa. (What do you do there all day? I think the most time I’ve ever spent at a spa is a few hours)
• Fit into all the clothes in my closet
• Get more than 1 or 2 comments on a blog post (hint hint readers!)

Totally Posted Tuesday

Linking up with Karly Kim and Glossy Blonde for Totally Posted Tuesday!

• So I tried the foundation that I got in my Birchbox last week (review: here), it was alright. I mean it covered OK, but felt greasy to me and I definitely wouldn’t spend $38 on a full sized bottle.  

• Remember about two weeks ago when I blogged about my obsession with the scale?  Well I’m happy to report I stayed away from the scale except for my weekly weigh ins on Friday and both Fridays I lost 1.6 lbs! (3.2 lbs in 2 weeks is pretty good, especially considering the two weekends I had) I think it helped NOT knowing how I was doing each day because I was more adamant about being “good” since I didn’t know how bad I screwed up over the weekends (when I cheat). Hopefully I see another loss (or at least maintain) when I weigh in in a few more days! I’m trying super hard to be at my pre-pregnancy weigh by the time EM’s 1^st Birthday comes around in just over 2 weeks, and I’m SO close!

• Speaking of Birthdays… you know your birthday is coming up when you start receiving all the emails from the many restaurant mailing lists I sign up for with free (or discounted) offers. I probably won’t actually end up using any of the offers though, but we’ll see. I’m sure I’ll get some more too as the week goes on. So far my options are:
• Free Sub and Drink at Jersey Mike’s on 11/3
• Free Magnificent Seven at Perkins by 11/10
• Free Dessert at Longhorn by 11/12
• $25 off any food purchase at a Talk of the Town Restaurant by 11/18
• $30 off any meal (with purchase) at Kobe’s Japanese Steakhouse by 11/30
• Free Birthday Pastry at Panera by 12/27

• I’m not doing anything special for my birthday (G is taking me away somewhere later in the month, but it’s a surprise so I don’t know where yet) because I didn’t really WANT to do anything, just a nice meal. Since we’re doing something so big for EM two weekends later and everyone will be coming over for that, didn’t feel like making a big deal out of my Birthday. Looks like now the whole weekend is jam packed with other non-birthday related items anyways and G has to fly to Atlanta (for work) Sunday evening so I’m just going to go to dinner with my Mom (My dad is in China on business so he won’t be able to join us, boo!)
• Saturday Morning is the Give Kids the World Gingerbread Run 5k (I am happy to share my birthday weekend with this cause every year, it’s such an amazing organization Check it out at: www. gktw.org)
• Saturday Afternoon/Evening is a going away party for G’s Uncle who is moving to PA
• Sunday Morning/Afternoon is a Gender Reveal Brunch for our good friends (yey!! so excited to find out what they are having, my guess is a boy!)

• One of my first blog posts was about all the races I (and G) signed up for this year and spring, well I’m a sucker for some medals and just signed up for the OUC Half Marathon on December 7^th. We have another one on December 1^st so I hope I recover ok from that one to actually run the one on the 7^th and I hope I recover ok from the 7^th to enjoy our cruise on the 8^th!  Guess I better start picking up my mileage the next month if I want to do OK (read: not die/get picked up for going to slow) in them. 

  

  How awesome is this?

• Luckily the weather has been BEAUTIFUL! Last night I went for a short run and it felt sooo nice, so tonight I went for over 5 miles! Apparently the temps are going to be up to the high 80’s by the end of the week again (I guess fall wasn’t REALLY here after all) but a cold front is supposed to come over the weekend, so maybe it’ll stay cool after that! HOPEFULLY!

Disclosure: This post contains referral links!

UCF vs. UCONN

I only maybe mentioned it a few times in the last week, but what can I say, I was super excited for the UCF game this week. I had missed the last big home game so I was even more excited for this one. The game started at noon but EM and I arrived around 9am to tailgate. (G, his Dad, and some of our other friend arrived at 7am, but I value sleep much more than them). The weather was a little on the chilly side for us Floridians. I think it was in the high 60's when we go there. I put a blanket and some toys out for EM in our tent and she had a blast! Of course she got lots of loving from all our friends as well! I was also excited because during tailgates is when I always get a good change to catch up with my childhood friends (Amanda and Jaime) who are also huge UCF fans!

see it's dark and EMPTY when the early birds get there!

EM really enjoyed the tailgate and I was surprised she hadn't fallen asleep on the walk over to the stadium (it's a good half mile walk from where we tailgate to the stadium) since it was her nap time. I was thinking to myself this wasn't going to be good, she does get a little cranky when she's tired. I was told they had a place to leave strollers once inside the stadium, but no one mentioned anything when I walked in and since it was a small umbrella stroller, we just collapsed it and brought it up to our seats with us (which are the top row of the lower bowl so there is a decent amount of space) -- BEST.IDEA.EVER!  EM fell asleep in the stroller during the first few minutes of the game, and slept through 3 touchdowns and lots of cheering! She didn't sleep as long as she normally does (only lasted about 30 mins rather than her usual hour) but wasn't cranky when she woke up, so I was happy! It also got super hot in the sun - she went from her jeans, socks, onesie, and jacket to just her onesie and a ton of sunscreen. I swear it had to of hit 90 degrees in the sun! I was dying in my jeans and t-shirt! 

my little angel sleeping through 3 TD's

After EM woke up, we played "pass the baby" with all the people who wanted to hold her - she didn't whine once! During half time, Steph and I took her for a walk around the stadium in the shade. UCF was up 45 to 10 at the half and I was pretty much over the heat so we decided to leave at the end of the 3rd quarter. Is it sad that I whined more than EM? 

UCF ended up winning 62 to 17 making us undefeated in our conference and 6-1 overall!  Official Poll Rankings came out today and it's our highest ranking in UCF history on the AP Poll! Up to 19 (from 21) in the AP; up to 22 (from 25) in the USA Today; and stayed at 23 in the BCS! Keep it up boys!

Oh yea, huge Mommy fail, when I was going to make her sippy cup around 10:15 I realized I had forgotten a sippy cup and/or bottle. We took a quick walk to the UCF bookstore to see if they maybe had some since they sell baby clothes, but nope they didn't. Luckily, Steph was still on her way to meet up so she saved the day and stopped at the store and bought a sippy cup to bring! Whew!

A few more fun pictures:

GO KNIGHTS!

Birchbox "Beauty Buzz" - October 2013 Review

If you remember, I just recently re-activated my Birchbox subscription (read about it here). I didn't think I'd get an October box, but I did! 

For those of you that don't know, Birchbox is a monthly subscription (cancel/pause any time) where you  get a monthly box, delivered to your front door, of 4-6 high-end beauty and lifestyle samples from top brands. It's the best way to discover new products and buy with confidence. The best part, it's only $10/month (free shipping!) 

Birchbox was delivered in a nice pink box, and then within the packaging, there is always a nice little box with all the goodies. 

When I first opened the inside box, the information card was on top.  I love when subscription boxes come with information cards because sometimes they send items you aren't familiar with, so this helps tell you what exactly you are getting (and how to use the products). The theme of the box was "Beauty Buzz" (You know what all the fancy people are buzzing about - aka stuff I wouldn't have ANY clue about)

First Look!

Floss Gloss Nail Polish (Color: Faded): Wasn't sure if I would like the color but I tried it on one nail and I was pleasantly surprised. Since I'm a nail biter, I can't really say how good it is since it did chip, but my fingers are always in my mouth (yes, I know it's a disgusting habit!) It supposed to only take 1-2 coats for a glossy, opaque finish. The website doesn't state how big the normal size is vs. the size we got so I'm assume the sample was half the normal size (it looked like a decent size). (~$4.00)

Alison Raffaele Reality Base Foundation (Color: Skintone 3): I haven't tried this yet. I don't typically wear a lot o foundation anymore unless I'm going out somewhere special or I have pimples to cover. It is rated 3 of 5 stars on the Birchbox reviews. It's described as weight-less and oil free. I have a big meeting at work tomorrow so maybe I'll try it out tomorrow. I have no idea how big this sample is compared to the regular size bottle which is $38.00, since it's not labeled, so I'm going to say maybe ~$4.00.

Serious Skincare® Glycolic Gommage Extreme Renewal: This is essentially a deep cleaning facial cleanser. Luckily, my skin isn't too bad, so I don't need expensive face cleaner (espeically because I hardly wear any face makeup so that certainly helps), however I do like to switch it up so my face doesn't grow immune to one cleanser, so this will definitely get used. Although this one sample is about what I pay for a much larger size of clean and clear (~$4.28)

Karuna Hydrating Treatment Mask: I love trying out new masks. I'm not someone who uses them even close to regularly, but I do enjoy trying new ones out. Reminds me of my middle school days where my girlfriends and I would buy those cucumber peeling masks... loved them! I am sure this is MUCH better! Described as a "deep conditioner for your face"! Definitely thinking I'm going to try this tonight! (~$7.00)

ChapStick® Hydration Lock: This Chapstick is awesome! But then again, I love all kinds of chapstick. It definitely lasted. I wouldn't say 8 hours like the package states, but it was good! Especially with the cooler weather, that means I'll be getting chapped lips more often so this will be put to good use. This was added in the box as a "Birchbox Find" which Birchbox says are "extras":  Birchbox Finds are products we’ve come across that we think are exciting. On occasion, we'll send them to you inside your monthly box, but these must-try extras are in addition to your usual samples—they never replace them. (~$2.99)

Total estimated value of box: $19.28 (not including shipping or the "Birchbox Find" which would bring it to over $20)

Total Cost of box: $10.00 (free shipping)

Overall impression: I liked it, even though it only had 4 actual items (not counting the "Birchbox Find") which in the past I always got 5 or 6! All items will get used. Even with my estimated pricing, it was definitely a great value!

If you are interested in signing up for Birchbox, use my referral link. If you review each product monthly you also get credit money in the Birchbox shop. If you review each product each month (assuming there are 5) that equals $5 so the box itself pretty much costs $5 which is a great deal! 

My box was "Birchbox 10" - thanks to Jen @ Ramblings of a Suburban Mom  - she explained how you can find out which box is yours and what all the other variations were each month! 

Disclosure: This post contains referral links!

Thursday Thoughts

Linking up with Jen again at Ramblings of a Suburban Mom for another edition of Thursday's Thoughts!

• Could it be possible, could we actually be experiencing some fall weather FINALLY?? It only took until the last week of October to hit temperatures under 90 degrees! (We had a few days earlier this month but hoping this time it's actually going to stay!) Forecast for the next few days, specifically in the UCF area = beautiful! This makes me super happy because last Saturday was in the low 90's and was miserable in the sun and considering I plan to bring EM to her first UCF game on Saturday and was worried about tailgating/sitting in an entire aluminum stadium in that heat. 

• So I finally made it to Home Depot last night to buy the paint for today's painting (better late than never!) I ended up with three different colors than originally thought (although close) because they looked very different on a computer/phone screen than they did in person. Here's hoping that I made good color choices, picking paint colors is SO stressful IMO, especially after picking ones I didn't care for in the last house. I can't wait to do before and after pics, although it'll probably be a while before I get the rooms fully situated/decorate enough to do "after" pics. Granted this is a picture from my iPhone and I know the one color is on my living room walls currently and looks better in person, this will kind of give you an idea. See the difference: 

1. Tropical Breeze will be in the gym. The original color we had picked out was way too bright for my liking. 
2. Raffia Cream  will be the staircase, halls, mud room, and non-main walls in the play room. We never had a color really picked out for this and weren't sure if we wanted a cream or a grey but we decided on cream.
3. Seafoam Spray will be the one main wall in the play room. I think it will make the room pop but won't be too juvenile or crazy (and if we end up hating it, it's only ONE wall)
4. Valley Mist is the current color of our living room which feeds into the 1st floor portion of the stair case, so I had to make sure Raffia Cream went OK with that as well. 

• Today is my Friday, yey! I love having every other friday off! Tomorrow I plan to get a massage in the morning. I have a monthly membership at Massage Envy and have found one masseuse that is incredible. Whenever I find a deal on LivingSocial or Groupon for massages and go to them, they are never that great (even though I end up only paying like $20 for an hr massage) so now I only go to my one person and I know it's going to be wonderful, every time. Plus MassageEnvy has heated tables, and that makes such a difference! 

• After my massage tomorrow, I have to come home and take the dogs to the vet for their annual appointment/check up/shots. This will be our first time at the new vet since we moved. I hate taking them to the vet, it's so freaking expensive because everything is multiplied by two. As much as I love the pups, if I had to do it again, I would only get one. Having two (especially two crazy ones!) makes everything so much harder/more expensive (dog sitting, vet visits, etc) Although I love how they play together and that, I guess, makes up for it! And at least they got to stay together (well 2 of 7 pups in the litter anyways).

• Heard on the radio this morning that there are over 10k homeless kids in the tri-county area. That is absolutely heartbreaking to me. I hate when innocent children suffer due to their circumstances (parents bad choices, bad luck, whatever it may be).

Ponytails - Totally Posted Tuesday

Yey! Em's hair is finally long enough to put in a little pony! How cute is this: 

They did it a few weeks ago at daycare but I hadn't been able to duplicate it until today. 

Just downloaded the new Mac OS X 'Maverick' - anyone have any good hints about it? What is it going to offer me? I didn't get the last OS update (didn't see the need) and I was super excited to see this one was FREE! 

The painters are coming Thursday and we still haven't fully decided on paint colors (or bought the paint) These are the colors I'm currently leaning towards - but still need to see the color sample cards in person since who knows how my computer screen is really portraying them. 

Velvet Morning for the Gym, Mint Frappe for the accent wall in the playroom and Smoked Oyster for the rest of the playroom and halls/staircase 

Weekend Shenanigans

This weekend totally fits in with the Weekend Shenanigans link up!

What a game Friday night for my UCF Knights!! I didn’t watch most of the game until the 2^nd half because my parents were in town so I was chatting with them and my mother in law but had the game was on in the background. We knew every time something big happened because of the cheering (or cursing at times) coming from upstairs where G, his dad, and our buddy Will were watching the game on the big screen. About the end of the 3^rd quarter I started watching a little more closely and by the last 10 minutes of the 4^th quarter I was on the edge of my seat! We had a few friends at the game and I was totally jealous! I know how it felt when we went to the Penn State game and won, I’m sure this was even better. For us Knights to beat out the #8 ranked team in the country; that was HUGE! It is our biggest win in UCF Football program history! I’m glad that I at least got to see it on TV! No pics since we were just watching it at home, but my friends who were at the game sent us this one:

Plus Sunday’s rankings came out, and as happy as I am to be ranked, considering how some of the other teams did, I was a little disappointed we weren’t ranked a little higher, but we’ll take it! Even more excited for the game on Saturday vs UCONN!!

On Saturday, G and I and 10 of our family members and friends hit up the Food and Wine at Disney’s Epcot to Drink around the World. (DATW) We’ve done this several years (sometimes more than once a year) in a row now (last year I was pregnant, and it was not fun for me, but every other time has been a blast! ). This year one of my best friends and her fiancé drove up from South Florida to join us. For being mid-October, it was freaking hot (like 90 degrees), my Dad’s poor face got soo burned! I wanted to take pics in every country and keep track of what I got in each one (to blog about it), but after a few drinks, that idea went out the window. We always start and end in the Rose and Crown pub in England and Saturday was no exception. EM came along with us and enjoyed all the extra attention from everyone! We’re those type of people who don’t let having kids stop us from having a good time. All of our friends love her, plus she had her aunties and uncles and both sets of Grandparents with her, so she was well taken care of once Mommy had one too many. I LOVE the fact that my family gets along so well with my in-laws and that we can all get together and do things together! Because we stayed on Disney Property (we stayed at the Disney All Star Sports Resort so we didn’t have to worry about driving) we got to test out the new Magic Bands. Only select people get to try them out, they function as your room key, park admission, fast passes, your way to use your meal plan, and also your credit card. The last part was dangerous as I apparently got reallllly generous towards the end of the night and kept swiping my band and was buying everyone (very expensive Disney priced) drinks. My bill on Sunday morning was not a nice surprise! Oh well, totally worth it! Can’t wait until the next time we DATW!! Some how I didn't get any group pictures but here are a few of the many we took! and there were apparently a few videos that G just showed me... yea, those are not going up in blog land, or facebook! 

this was before I changed my shirt, it was TOO hot to not be in a tank

every ime we do DATW, I go on a hat stealing spree lol
Love my Sister!

in Germany, more than half way around the world

G and I in Germany

EM playing the drums in Mexico

Carish I-Bombs

boys being silly and photo bombing us
notice a different hat lol

On Sunday, I took a much needed nap to recover from Saturday and then had a Target/Panera date with EM at since Daddy was sleeping since he had to work at midnight (night shift this week, boo!)

she loves the shopping cart