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.