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