#30b

Sew an Apron with Michelle & Jenica


Ok, I'm HOOKED to sewing! I LOVE my new apron & wear it almost every night when I make dinner. I'm not the best at it, but loved the process! I can't wait for my own sewing machine. I'll let the pictures walk you through how we made it:

 Halfway point!

 Ryan's stinky feet!

The finished project!

 Fred has the cone of shame!

#25...sort of

Find a facility & start volunteering for the Delta Society with Nickel

I can't cross it off my list b/c I haven't accomplished it yet, but I have sent 2 emails to get started. Hopefully, I will get a response soon!

Celebration of Life

Yesterday I attended a Celebration of Life for sweet baby James. Kara, a sorority sister from my days at Baylor, did such a great job planning it (which had to be so difficult). My heart breaks for Kara & Matt, as I could only imagine how difficult the past month has been on them. It was truly a celebration of the life James spent on earth & his reunion with God. James was diagnosed with a rabdoid tumor which is a very rare form of brain cancer in children under 2. In fact, 5 years ago there was not a treatment plan. Before that it was misdiagnosed. As it is not my story to tell, you can read about James's journey here. The situation that Kara & her hubs have been placed in is beyond devasting, yet their faith continues to be strengthened. Kara and her family are truly an inspiration to me. They live their faith "out loud" and don't even try to hide it. What a great example! James affected and changed more lives in his short 8 months than I have in my almost 30 years. I know he's changed mine & Ryan's. This has me thinking: What am I doing to change the lives of others? What's my focus on? In situations like this one I am reminded that life is fragile and we are not always promised tomorrow. So how will I make today count? These are not questions that I'm looking for answers to from my readers (if any!), but I guess questions to focus on what really matters each day and to let go of the petty stuff.

Kara has set up a foundation in honor of James. The James Camden Sikes Fund which will go towards researching rabdoid tumors. Ryan & I are donating and I know so many others are. If you have any desire to help the Sikes family, this is how and it would mean so much to them. I know many of my friends & family have been praying for James and his parents are so greatful and are amazed at how many people James has touched. You can read what Kara & Matt said at the service here and here. I have no idea how they had the courage to speak, but I guess that goes back to their faith in God & that he would provide what they needed when they needed it. It's comforting to know that I have many, many grandparents up in Heaven who are probably waiting in line to hold & play with sweet James!

#17 & #19 - Glamping!

Go Camping/Plan a Cheap Weekend Getaway

So as I warned you last month, this may not look like your typical camping experience with tents, campfires, bugs & lack of showers. I mean did you really expect ME to do that?!?! I don't think so! Outdoor camping is not my idea of a good time. What Ryan & I did was more like "Glamping" if you don't know what that is, the Today show explains it perfectly! I actually haven't googled it before today, but there are a ton of sites. Here are some if you're interested: http://www.goglamping.net/ , http://www.glampinggirl.com/ , & my favorite definition from  http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=glamping . I can see my friend, Jilll, shaking her head at me in disbelief and disappointment as my camping excursion did not include roughing it in the wilderness for a few days & eating hot dogs. Jill is an avid camper & I think she would live in a state of camping if she could. She loves her summer camp she went to for years & has already told me she will brain wash my future children to love it too. This is one thing where we are complete opposites!! Anyway....

Ryan & I wanted to plan a weekend getaway to celebrate our awesome 5 years of marriage that didn't break the bank & I wanted to go camping...I mean glamping. So where did we end up booking our trip? To the awesome Four Seasons in Las Colinas where else?! It was awesome. I had an in-room massage one morning, drinks by the pool every afternoon, saw Mark Cuban playing pool games with his cute family and a spectacular fireworks show over looking the golf course. We went over to University Park to eat at Maggiano's one night. My family & I eat there in Oak Brook, IL everytime we go up. The next night we ate at Via Real, a gourmet mexican restaurant recommended by some friends we met at the pool. Las Colinas/Dallas is a completely different world than FW. I felt as if we were in CA or NY. It's more glittery & fancy. People dress up for no reason or I guess on the off chance they run into celebrities they will be looking their best. FW hardly has any celebs & operates at a much slower pace where you can wear your "dressy jeans" to a fancy steak dinner. So that was my camping trip & our cheap weekend getaway in one. Ryan is still debating the cheap part, but it counts!

The Lobby:

Our surprise from my parents & hotel staff:

Night of the fireworks:

Room Service for Breakfast:

FAVORITE ANNIVERSARY YET!

Garden Update

My goodies from my garden! I love how there's a red jalepeno!

June Recap

Here's Where I am so far:

1. Run a 5k

2. Sew a button on & it stays

3. Blog about 30 under 30 - post pics & update my progress - so far so good.

4. Eat Indian Food

5. Master 3 or 4 Greek dishes – Saganki, Passtiso & Moussaka, Baklava
I made Pastiso for Ryan's cousin, it's getting much easier & taking less time!

6. Take a cooking class

7. Cook a whole chicken/turkey

8. Plant/grow tomatoes

9. Host a formal dinner party

10. Have a murder mystery dinner party - Planned for June but we had to reschedule. I think it's a better fall activity anyway!

11. Host a family holiday

12. Paint a painting – Need to pick which day I'm going.

13. Make & Paint pottery

14. Take a self defense class

15. Learn/invest in the stock market We've already made some money!

16. Read the One Year Bible - in progress

17. Go camping - Planned for the end of June but we moved it to July 4th weekend...This might not look like you're typical camping...

18. Take a road trip by flipping a coin

19. Plan & take a cheap weekend getaway - It correlates with the camping trip.

20. Sell $6 million in RE in 2011 – Whoa, this is a lot of real estate to sell, especially when the market is still unstable but I won't give up!

21. Pay off HH Loans - Scheduled to pay off a chunk in June, we haven't done it yet.

22. Get my Broker’s license

23. Get CRS Designation

24. Leave my 20's in style - so far I'm having a blast!

25. Find a facility & start volunteering for the Delta Society with Nickel

26. Hang a light fixture

27. Add curb appeal to our house

28. Take at least 1 picture of RH & I every month - so far so good. Here's June's:

It was taken in Corpus while we were there for Ryan's continuing education. We had the best dinner that night!!

29. Indoor rock climbing

30. Learn to sew a quilt & apron with Michelle & Jenica - we rescheduled it for July!

Only a few more to go!! Color Code: I gave up on it! It was getting too colorful anyway :)

#16

Read the One Year Bible

Without disrespect, this is a very long book! I'm a fast reader, especially by the pool and it's going slow. Now that I'm past Leviticus & Deuteronomy I'm moving much faster! I decided to go with an app on my iPhone instead of the book. It's the exact same plan, but I can make the font bigger, take notes, read different versions, etc. Plus it tells me when I'm expected to finish & my % complete.

Here's my stats to date:
37% complete
Day 139 of 365
Estimated completion date Feb 24th (On June 13th my completion date was June 27, 2012)

Finished Pottery

I've already blogged a lot about the pottery class, but it was a multi-step process! Plus, it was one of the things that was the most fun. Here's what the finished product looked like:

Here's what Michelle's looked like:

Don't worry, I wasn't driving! Our commemorative bowl looks like:

Finally, we are showing off our "Vanna White" skills & the art that was in the studio:

Halfway Point

Oops, I forgot to hit publish.....This was on June 6th:
Yesterday was my 1/2 birthday!! That means today I'm closer to 30 than 29. How am I doing on my list? Well, I've got 14.5 things completed so far plus 4 that are reoccurring until December. I'd say I'm making a lot of progress considering I still have 6 months left and have 3 items scheduled to be completed by the end of June. That will leave me with 9.5 items left in 5 months.

#2

Sew A Button On & It Stays

Sandy, Ryan's mom, needed a button sewed on so she showed me how she does it. It toook 5 minutes & the button was securely attached. AMAZING!!!! Since then Ryan's started telling me about all the buttons that need to be sewn on his clothes. My response, "Well I'll just take it to the dry cleaners." I guess I'm not used to me new skills! I still need to sew buttons on my coat. I didn't take a picture because it was so fast, but I'm going to sew a button on my apron that I'm making, so I'll post a picture of that!