40 before 40 Update

Well I am 40 now! I don't feel different at all.  I pulled out my 40 Before 40 list to see what I accomplished.  I didn't get everything completed but I sure tried.  I finished 24 items on the list.  I decided to work on the others over the next year and still count them.  So what did I accomplish. I already posted about some of the things I accomplished in July.  Here are the rest.

Item #4 Learn to make mom's rolls.  I completed this on Thanksgiving Day. 

Item # 5 Learn to make 7 family dinners.  Okay I basically already knew this but I tried out a couple of new things and my family actually enjoyed them.

Item #23 Go on a date.  I actually went on 3 dates with 3 different guys.

Item #28 Cook something with an ingredient I have never used before.  Quinoa was my new ingredient.  I am still working on finding a good recipe for quinoa.  The one I made did not have much flavor. 

Item #37 Do something that is not on the list but should have been.  I did a couple things that could have fulfilled this item but I chose ride an scary roller coaster.  This would be The Hulk Coaster at Islands of Adventure in Universal Florida. 

Item #16 Attend a Jazz Game.  I went to my very first Jazz game ever on 12/4/13.  We sat on the third row behind one of the baskets. It was awesome.

 

 



 Item #29 Read 40 books.  Does it count if I listened to most of them?

 

Item #30 Photograph something from my life at least once a week. This was an easy one for me since I love to take pictures.

 

Item #32  Watch a sunrise.  I did this on Thanksgiving morning.

 

Item #33 Watch a sunset.  I love capturing sunsets in photos. 

 

 

Items #3, 25 and 13  Spend a few days in Park City.  Visit Zermatt resort in Midway.  Staycation in Utah.  I spend a weekend up in Park City and Midway with a friend.  We went to the spa at the Zermatt resort and soaked in the Crater at the Homestead, then we went shopping in Park City.  We decided to make it an annual trip. 

 

Item # 39 Buy myself something special to celebrate my 40th birthday.  My sister in law and I went to a dinner while we were in Walt Disney World.  It was Be Our Guest at Beast's castle and I bought myself the most wonderful dessert.  "Try the grey stuff it's delicious."

 

 

Item #40 Have a party to celebrate my 40th birthday. See the post about my trip to Walt Disney World with my family to celebrate my birthday.  It was quite the party!!!!

 

Item #38 Write about each 40 before 40 item on my blog.  Done!  I meant to do this on the days I completed each item but I am not great at this blogging thing.  I am getting better though.

 

 

So far that is what I accomplished.  I am going to continue to work on the list and complete it before my 41st birthday. 

 

 



More birthday celebrations.

This is what my room and hallway looked like when I came home from vacation. My sweet niece decorated it for me.  My brother told me that she had it all planned out when he brought over.  She said, "Lisa is going to walk up to her room and she will see this sign and then she will walk into her living room and then into the bathroom and brush her teeth.  They she will go into her bedroom and see the balloon and colored streamers and say Oh my goodness."  She knows me so well.  I actually walked into my bedroom first but I did say "Oh my goodness, everyone come look."

Disney really knows how to celebrate!

Yesterday was my 40th birthday and I celebrated with Disney.  We went to Walt Disney World the week before Christmas.  It has always been a dream of mine to spend one of my birthday's in a Disney park.  It is difficult though because my birthday is 3 days before Christmas which is the busiest time at Disney.  This year was a big birthday for me and I decided this was going to be the year to celebrate. After a lot of sweet talking my parents decided to make it happen.  I was super excited.  We left on December 16th and spent 8 wonderful days in Florida. We stayed at the All Star Music Resort which was perfect for this music lover.  We ended up in the Broadway section of the resort.  Again perfect! Here is a short summary of the trip.

We spent a day at Universal Studios to check out The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  I felt like I had walked right into Hogsmeade.  They did a great job building the land of Harry Potter.  Hogwarts was amazing and I took a wonderful ride on a broomstick where I played Quidditch and got chased by a dragon. My favorite part of the day was riding The Hulk Coaster, not in Harry Potter world obviously.  I was very nervous since this coaster is crazy.  My brother rode it with me and made sure I was in the front row.  After the ride I was shaking.  It was the best roller coaster I have ever been on.  I was ready to go again but we didn't want to wait in line again. We finished the day with a wonderful dinner in Hogshead/Three Broomsticks and drank some butterbeer which was fabulous.

 

 

The next 7 days were spent at Walt Disney World.  Magic Kingdom was first and I will admit I was a little disappointed that they did not decorate for Christmas like Disneyland does.  It was decorated but not as much as they do in Disneyland.  The castle lighting made up for the lack of décor though.  At night it was lit up and sparkled.  You can't tell but in the picture below I was crying.  I had seen pictures of Cinderella castle at Christmas time but they did not prepare me for how I would feel when I really there.  It was amazing.  We spent the next couple days at Epcot, Animal Kingom and Hollywood Studios.  This is where the other parks made up for the lack of Christmas décor in Magic Kingdom.  Epcot had décor for each of the different countries and Hollywood Studios had a spectacular light show. You haven't seen Christmas lights until you have seen The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights.  (By the way they are not related to Ozzy and Sharon Osborne. It is a different family.) Oh my goodness there were lights covering every inch of the buildings on the Streets of America.  It was pretty crowed in the parks but not as bad as we expected.  We took advantage of Fast Passes and had fun chatting with each other when we were in line. 

Now we are to my birthday.  We spent the day in Magic Kingdom.    I wanted to be in front of the castle for the fireworks to celebrate my 40th. The day turned out exactly as I had hoped.  We found the perfect spot for the show.  It started with the Electric Light Parade and then they did an awesome show of illusions on the castle.  Finally the fireworks started and it was a great show.  It was the perfect ending to a wonderful birthday.  The day wasn't over though.  The park stayed open until 3:00am just for me.  Ok not really but it sure felt like it.  My brothers, sister in law and I decided to stay as long as we could.  We walked on to several rides without a wait.  We made it to 2:30am and just couldn't go anymore so we headed back to our hotel.   

 

We had a fabulous time in Walt Disney World and it turned out to be the best birthday and best Christmas ever.

October Julep Review

Julep is one of my subscription boxes.  It is mainly nail polish and tools for manicure's and pedicure's but they also have beauty products. I chose Classic with a Twist as my maven subscription box.  I have received three boxes so far and I absolutely love the products.  In the October box I received two nail polishes, a lip gloss and a sample of skin serum.

 

The nail polish colors are beautiful and perfect for Fall.  The one on the left in the photo is called Cynthia and it is a light beige with glitter.  It is a very neutral color and would be perfect for a party.  The other shade is called Sheila.  It is an orange red.  It matches the red on Arrowhead water bottles exactly.  (I just happened to have a water bottle on my desk.)

 

The lip gloss color is called Glowing.  The formula is smooth not sticky like most lip glosses.  It smells like cotton candy.  It is the perfect shade for me.

 

The serum is really oily so I am not sure how it will work on my skin type.  I used to have really oily skin but now it is combination and has been very dry on my cheeks.  The serum is supposed to deliver deep hydration and essential nutrients to help rebuild skin structure from inside out.  I applied some tonight so we will see how my skin feels in the morning. 

 

 I love this month's Julep box!

Weekly Update (November 11-17)

Again I am way behind on my weekly updates.  I am making a change for the positive.   I have designated Monday’s as blogging day.  Some of my favorite bloggers have designated days for posting.  Since I like to do a weekly update I thought Monday would be perfect.  I am also going to add some fun posts similar to a couple of my favorite bloggers and youtube personalities.  See links below.  I am not trying to copy them but I love the ideas they present so they will be very similar.  So today I will have several posts that I will be uploading.  For now the weekly update.

Health, Happiness and a Hug

We have had a lot of sickness at our home the last two months well actually the last two years to be exact.  I am sending the sickness vibes to someone else because we do not want them at our house anymore.  We would like several years of health for a change.

My niece Ella gives the best hugs.  On Sunday I was having a really tough day and they just happened to stop by after church.  She came running up to me and gave me a huge hug.  It was exactly what I needed.  She is just full of sunshine and happiness. 

Lisa’s Top 10 List

I ran across a fun blog post the other day on www.morganizewithme.com. She has a post about organizing your life and the 10 things you should do.  I am trying to get my life in order right now because the clutter and stress has taken over.  It is time for me to gain control again.  Thankfully there are several wonderful women out there that have fabulous websites that have been helping me. This is my top 10 list inspired by the list on the blog above.

1.       Simplify

2.       Exercise and eat clean

3.       Learn to say no

4.       Routines are my friend

5.       Everything in its place

6.       An attitude of gratitude

7.       The Secret

8.       Keep one calendar ( I borrowed that one from the list)

9.       Daily Scripture study

10.   Pray everyday

 

Hang in there...

new posts are on the way.  I am having internet problems tonight and the posts won't load correctly.  Check back tomorrow.

Weekly Update (September 8-14)

It has been a few weeks since I posted an update.  I have had a tough few weeks and didn't want to post anything negative.  Things are a little better now so I thought I would post a quick update. 

August

The month of August flew by for me, thank goodness.  It was not a good month for me.  I was extremely emotional and very down on life.  There were a few good days here and there. I decided to start September on a good note. Fall is one of my favorite seasons so I always look forward to it.  It starts to get cool outside and our family loves to play games outdoors.  I also look better in cardigans so I get to wear some of my favorite clothes during this time of year. 

Never forget! Hope Rising!

My work is right next to the Healing Field for 9/11 in Sandy.  I love to see the thousands of flags that go up each year to remember the lives lost on 9/11 and to remember the heroes who have died for our freedom.  It was a hard day for our country and I never want to forget how our country came together over the past 12 years to fight for our freedom.  This is a great reminder of hope rising. 

One of my favorite TV shows

I love watching medical dramas, documentaries and even medical youtube videos.  They just fascinate me.  I also love them because I understand everything they talk about since I briefly studied medicine in college.  I did not become a doctor or nurse because of the stress and anxiety involved in the hospital. Instead I choice to be on the billing side of medicine.  Right now I am on the claim research side of medicine or EDI (electronic data interchange) and most days I love it.

My favorite medical drama show right now is Grey's Anatomy.  I watched a few seasons when the show first started on TV but stopped when I had a class the same night and was not able to watch.  All 9 seasons are on Netflix right now and it has become my nightly routine to watch a couple episodes.  There is no way I will have all of the episodes completed by the time Season 10 starts next week but I am going to try. 

My 40 Before 40 Update--Completed Items

Item #6 Travel somewhere I have never been.  This was completed last year on 6/28/12 when I went to Mount Rushmore.  I have a blog post on that in my archive.  Here is a picture of my Smash Book page.  I also went somewhere new this year.  We went to Kodachrome Basin in Escalante Utah.  I am going to add my blog post about that later this week.

Item #17 Attend a Bee's Game.  Completed this one twice.  Last year on 7/24/12 and again this year on 7/23/13 which I just blogged about. 

Item #27 Go to a restaurant I have never been to before.  I completed this one on 12/21/12 for my birthday.  I went to Sonny Bryan's.  It has become a favorite restaurant of mine ever since.  I love BBQ food. 

Item #36 Buy some red shoes.  I have always wanted some red shoes.  I have been putting together fun outfit ideas and the photo below on my Smash book page was the inspiration for wanted red shoes these days.  I actually purchased the exact red shoes shown in the picture below the outfit.  They don't have magical powers like Dorothy's red shoes but they do make me feel confident and happy when I wear them. 



 

 

Item #25 Visit Zermatt resort in Midway.  Completed on 5/3/13.  I will be blogging about this in a post later this week.  I still need to upload the photos. 

 

Items #3 Spend a few days in Park City.  Part of the Zermatt weekend.  We only spent one day shopping in Park City.  I want to hike and visit Main street in the old part of Park City so I may do this again very soon. 

 

Item #31 Go without sugar for 1 month.  Completed 2/12/13.  I will probably do a separate blog post about this one too.    

Weekly Update (July 21-27)

Another summer week down.  I am not a big fan of summer.  It is just too hot for me.  I also don't really get to enjoy it because I work all day and rarely take vacations during the summer months.  Growing up the summer months were always the busy months for my dad's business so we never went on vacation.  It has just continued on into my adulthood.  I have really needed a vacation this summer though.  I just need a break from everything.  I am not sure I will get that break though. Oh well! Maybe next year.



Pioneer Day

I had to work on Pioneer Day this year.  We celebrated the night before by going to a Bee's Game.  It was an amazing game and the fireworks after were the best I have ever seen.  This is fun tradition we started last year.  I hope it continues.

 

Birchbox Review for July

I gave in a started a Birchbox subscription.  I have had three boxes now.  The first one I got was a mess.  One of the products leaked all over everything so I was not impressed.  The second one was okay.  I forgot to take pictures of both of those boxes so this review will be on my third box.

The first product I tried is the Protect Shampoo and Conditioner.  It smells wonderful and really cleaned my hair.  I had been to get a massage that day and had a lot of oil in my hair.  It got all of the oil out and added a lot of volume and shine to my hair.  The second day my hair still looks clean and feels incredibly soft.  This is a great product. 

Inside the little pouch is four products for the face. Two packets of Luminizing Sunscreen with tint.  It was a little dark for my skin coloring so I probably won't be using this color again.  It covered really well and did not smell like sunscreen.  I have not tried the other two products yet.  The tube is a moisturizing cream and the other is a blush tint. 

Weekly Update (July 14-20)

Never thought I would miss my six year old alarm clock.

As noted in my weekly update last week my 6 year old niece and 9 year old nephew stayed with us over the weekend while their baby sister was born.  Ella wanted to sleep with me in my bed.  We had a great time but she sure likes to get up early and no matter what she will not let you sleep in.  She would shake me and whisper loudly in my ear “Time to get up Lisa” each morning.  It was great on Monday when I needed to get to work but Saturday and Sunday are my sleep in days so I was not super excited to get up.   However, when you have a sweet 6 year old begging you to play with her you get up and just start the day. 

 

I know what a broken rib feels like

Friday during lunch I had my bi-monthly massage.  We are trying to get my back and shoulders aligned to their proper position and to relieve some stress and pain I have been experiencing.  I had a new massage therapist who was filling in for my regular therapist.  She was able to work out a massive knot but then suggested she work on my diaphragm and ribs.  It really hurt as she was massaging the muscles but I felt an immediate release that felt great afterward.  On Saturday morning I felt the worst of it though.  My lower ribs felt like they had been broken.  It hurt to breathe and to lay down.  It also hurt to lay on my back because of the work that had been done there as well.  I had to sleep on my side which is not very comfortable for me.   Sunday afternoon the pain had eased quite a bit and I started to feel the good results.  Today (Monday) my posture is better and the pain in my back and neck is almost gone.  My ribs are still a little sore but I can breathe a lot deeper which means my ribs and diaphragm are closer to their correct position.   

RSL Game- Another Life List Item Completed

On Saturday July 20^th I finally got to go to a Real Salt Lake soccer game in the new stadium.  I have wanted to attend a game since the stadium opened.  I love soccer.  Actually I love watching any sport live so I was super excited.  My brother Trent has season tickets and one of his friends was not able to go.  Trent’s wife Anne was not feeling good so he asked if I wanted to go with him.  The stadium is pretty amazing.  It doesn’t feel like it should be sitting in the middle of a small city like Sandy Utah.  The game was pretty sad.  The referee’s missed a lot of calls and in the end they were supposed to only add an extra 5 minutes but ended up going to 7 minutes with the opposing team scoring in the 7^th minute.  It was horrible.  However, I still enjoyed it.  They had an amazing fireworks show after for the Pioneer Day celebration.  We were able to go down and sit on the field.  Trent and I found a spot in the middle of the field which turned out to be perfect.  The fireworks were super close and felt like they were going to fall on us.  It was the best show I have seen since Disneyland’s Christmas and Halloween fireworks shows. 

 

 

Overall it was a pretty good week.  After 5 years I finally figured out a work routine that makes me feel like I am getting everything completed each day.  I discovered that I am the type of person who needs a checklist that I can mark off each day.  I have been struggling to enjoy my job lately.  I just feel so overwhelmed and unorganized.  I have used my checklist for three days now and it has made a huge difference for me.  I actually enjoy my work again and feel like I am accomplishing more work than I have in months.  I find that I am able to get everything done and still have about an hour at the end of each day to go over the lower priority items and get ready for the next day’s tasks.  Now if I could figure out how to do this with my housework.   

I am still having a lot of emotional days.  I miss my old apartment a lot and I am ready to be back out on my own.  I miss the dating scene and want so much to find a companion.   I have come to realize that I may not be able to have children this late in life and I am okay with that.  But I am not giving up on finding a companion to share my life with.  I am lonely and tired of being single.  I want to start my own traditions and enjoy my life with someone.  It has been especially hard for me lately and I am worried that it is not going to happen.  I am not sure what I will do if I stay single for my life here on this earth. 

Weekly Update (July 7-13)

It has been an interesting week.  Work has been unusually slow for me.  This is both good and bad.  I was able to catch up on a lot of things that I have had to put off since I have been super busy the past 6 months. However, by Wednesday afternoon I was all caught up and didn't have a lot of work to do.  I am not going to complain though because I know things will get super busy again and I will be wishing for some calm days like Thursday and Friday were this week.

I have had some up and down days emotionally the past couple weeks.  I am not sure what is wrong with me but some days I just feel really down and then other days I am super happy and full of energy.  This week was an entirely up and down week for me.  Luckily the energy days far out weighed the down days and I have been able to get a lot of work done at home.  I am trying to clean out and reorganize my life.  I call it Project Simplify.  It is something I have been working on for several years and not been successful at completing. I have found some fun youtube channels that have been inspiring me to get organized and that has been helping a lot. One of my favorite channels and blogs right now is organizedjen.com. She is just the cutest person.  I enjoy watching her youtube videos and reading her blogs. 

The most exciting part of this week started on Friday night. 

Friday night my niece and nephew came to stay with us while their mommy went to the hospital to have a new baby.  They were super excited to see their new sister.  All day on Saturday when the phone would ring we would all jump up and hope that it was the call to tell us that baby June had been born.  Finally around 10:30pm we got the call. The kids were too excited to wait to see their sister so we drove up to the hospital to see her.  She is a beautiful little girl and Ethan and Ella just love her. 

To blog or not to blog

That has been the question on my mind for months.  I couldn’t think of anything to write about and I didn’t know if anyone was even reading my blog.  I came to the conclusion that I didn’t really care if anyone read it or not.  This blog is for me.  It is my journal of sorts.  I have a hard time writing in a regular journal on a daily basis.  I decided this was an easy method for me and still shows what I have done in my life and what I care about most.  So I am going to continue to blog.  I have a some new fun ideas that I am super excited about.  If no one else reads this I don’t mind but thanks to anyone who is still reading my blog.  I love to read about people’s lives and the fun things they do each day, week, year etc.  Even though I will be writing mainly for myself if I do have any readers I hope you find this interesting.  So as the Little Couple says in the beginning of their reality show of their lives:  “This is my story and welcome to it”. 

40 Before 40

I celebrated my 39th birthday on December 22.  It was a great day. I actually celebrated all weekend.  Friday at work my sweet co-worker took me to lunch. That evening I went to dinner with my parents.  On Saturday (my actual birthday) I spent the day with my mom and then I went to a Family Christmas party that night. They sang Happy Birthday to me.  It has always been hard to celebrate Christmas at the same time as my birthday.  I often have Christmas parties on my birthday.  The hardest year was when I turned 16 and I had a Family Christmas party instead of Sweet Sixteen Birthday party.  This year it didn't bother me as much especially when my grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins all sang to me. On Sunday I celebrated with my brother Jared and his family.   I decided I am going to enjoy this year so I created a 40 fun things to do before turning 40.  I plan to celebrate turning 40 so all of these fun things will lead up to a grand celebration. 

40 Thing Before Turning 40

1. Establish a workout routine and stick to it for at least 6 months.
2. Lose 40 pounds
3. Spend a few days in Park City
4. Lean to make mom's rolls
5. Learn to make 7 family dinners
6. Travel somewhere I have never been before
7. Go to Disneyworld to celebrate turning 40
8. Clean up craft room
9. Create a Yoga oasis somewhere in my home
10. Go to Tuacahn to see Mary Poppins and Starlight Express
11. Do a real retreat
12. Pay off debt
13. Staycation in Utah
14. Attend a ballet
15. Attend an opera
16. Attend a Jazz game
17. Attend a Real soccer game
18. Attend a symphony
19. Pass Zelda Twilight Princess
20. Pass Epic Mickey 2
21. Write in journal at least once a week
22. Plan trip to Europe before I turn 45
23. Go on a date
24. Get scrapbooks up to date
25. Visit Zermatt resort in Midway
26. Visit Timpanogos Cave again
27. Go to a restaurant I have never been to
28. Cook something with an ingredient I have never used before
29. Read 40 books
30. Photograph somehting from my life at least once a week
31. Go without sugar for 1 week
32. Watch a sunrise
33. Watch a sunset
34. Try acupuncture
35. Host a fondue party
36. Buy some red shoes
37. Do something that is not on this list but should have been
38. Write about each 40 before 40 item on my blog
39. Buy myself something special to celebrate my 40th birthday
40. Have a party to celebrate my 40th birthday