Well, I'm 30...

... let's see how I did on completing my "30 Before 30 Bucket List."

1. READ THE BIBLE FROM COVER TO COVER.  

I read every last word (and more because my copy has lots of extra notes/commentary).  To be fair, this took me more than a year to accomplish.  I was already in Luke when I set this as a goal, so I didn't have very far to go.  Also, I have started over and intend to read it fully again although I'm not quite as consistent in daily reading. 

2. GO ON A BACKPACKING CAMPING TRIP.  

We went on a one night trip to Round Top Lake. 

AND... we spent 2 nights backpacking along the PCT.  

3. REFURBISH OUR BEDROOM FURNITURE. 

BEFORE

AFTER

4. GO TO SEATTLE.
I wish.  But, it didn't happen.  Not yet at least.  

5. VISIT PORTLAND. 

We tried SO many times to get this item done.  We almost jumped in the car in January and took off driving to Portland, but at the last minute we bailed because it was going to be cold and pouring down rain all weekend.  Then, we also went AGAIN last week, but nixed the trip due to temps in the 100's.  So, one day it will happen.

6. RUN A HALF MARATHON. 

See last weekend's post!  I had so much fun running this half marathon, I'm already signed up to do it again next year!!!

7. COMPLETE ANOTHER WHEELS FOR THE WORLD TRIP.

I spent 2 weeks in Peru.  The wheelchair outreach was in Lima, and then I was fortunate to be able to spend a few days in Aquas Calientes and stood in awe of Machu Picchu.  

8. DO A PADDLEBOARD YOGA CLASS.

Ok so I haven't FORMALLY achieved this one.
I do have a yoga teacher friend who I take classes from regularly, but she's like a cat around water.  But, I have done a LOT of yoga on a paddleboard... I just haven't taken a formal class.  So, I think it counts.  It's still yoga... on a paddleboard.  Yep, I'm counting that.  

9. WATCH THE SUNRISE FROM EMERALD BAY. 

10. LEARN TO MEDITATE. EFFECTIVELY. 

I still struggle with this, but yoga is helping. 

11. GO ZIPLINING.

DONE! KINDA???

I didn't actually achieve this item.  However, I've been ziplining before.  So, what I did instead was part of a ropes course at Heavenly village.  And even though it's a bit of a stretch, I'm counting that. 

12. SUMMIT FREEL PEAK.  

10,886 ft above sea level.  

13. RIDE ON A SNOWMOBILE.

Not done.  However, I blame mother nature.  We didn't have enough snow!

14. GET A HOT STONE MASSAGE. 

Done immediately after the half marathon!  Best. decision. ever. 

You'll just have to believe me... no pictures to prove it. 

15. LEARN HOW TO BAKE A CHEESECAKE. 

Ok, I totally achieved this.  It was delicious... ask my husband.  And I KNOW I took a picture of it as proof that I accomplished it but for the life of me I can not find that picture... anywhere.  

16. HIKE TO ALOHA LAKE.

See the picture from item #2 on this list.  That lake?  That's Aloha.  One of my favorites!

17. TRY PADDLEBOARD SURFING.

Admittedly, not done. SAD!  I will rectify that.  No worries.  It will now be on the 40 before 40 list?

18. RIDE IN A CABLE CAR IN SAN FRANCISCO.

19. OPEN A RETIREMENT ACCOUNT.  

Woohoo!  I love my job, but there will come a day that I will no longer want to work.  And, knowing myself, I will probably want to travel when I'm retired.  So, best to start saving ASAP. 

20. LOOK UP MY FAMILY ANCESTRY.   

Well, at least some of it.  Truthfully, I didn't get quite as far as I wanted, but that's ok.  I still learned a lot.  

21. PADDLE LAKE TAHOE UNDER A FULL MOON.

Not a great picture but you get the idea. 

22. RENT A BOAT AND CRUISE AROUND THE LAKE. 

Not done.  Which is sad.  But, on the bright side, my brother bought us a sunset cruise on the lake for Christmas which we intend to use in a few weeks!  So, even though we won't cruise around the whole lake, we will get to see part of it by boat. 

23. LEARN TO DO A YOGA INVERSION. 

24. JUMP OFF A CLIFF INTO WATER.

This was awesome.  Thanks again to our friends for being so adventurous and joining us on our cliff jumping expedition. 

25. PAY FOR SOMEONE ELSE'S MEAL... ANONYMOUSLY.

This feels amazing!  I bought some donuts for one of the local firestations.  And, I've paid for the person behind me in a drive through (I found that to be the easiest to keep it truly anonymous). 

26. ATTEND A CHURCH REGULARLY.

Although we aren't SUPER consistent, we've been trying to attend a local church regularly.  I love it!  It's an amazing church.  It's HUGE (by comparison to my little hometown church in Wendell, NC).  The praise band ROCKS each week.  

27. THROW A PARTY FOR A FRIEND.

I hosted a baby shower for a friend last July.  Now, her baby is here.  And she's adorable!  

28. FIND HAPPINESS IN EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.    

Every day for 365 days I wrote down what I was grateful for or what made me happy that day.  As I went to bed each night I was thinking of happy things, rather than stressing over the next day.  

Well, that's ALL that I posted initially.  

I said I wanted to keep the last 2 private until I achieved them.  

I guess it's time to reveal them.

(I will let you in on a secret... I couldn't think of 2 more things initially and that's why I didn't post them.  I had a few ideas that I wasn't excited about and I just couldn't commit to anything). 

So, eventually, with the help of friends, I came up with:

29.  PLANT A TREE IN THE RIM FIRE AREA.

Sadly... not completely done but, keep reading to find out why it's crossed off.  

The Rim Fire was a huge fire near Yosemite a few summers ago.  The Tahoe basin was filled with smoke for the majority of the summer.  It was a complete bummer.  So, I thought it would be nice to plant a tree to help with the restoration.  There's a couple of problems though: 1) it's kinda far from here and we just never planned a trip and 2) trees are expensive and big and would be hard to carry into the fire area for planting.  

But, I am donating to my former employer who is planting a tree in remembrance of someone.  So, I'm contributing to a tree planting.  Does that count???  Well, I'm in charge here and I say that is DOES count!  

30. READ 5 BOOKS.

It had been so long since I read a book for pleasure!  Now, I can't stop reading!  I've read WAY more than 5 books.  I feel that 2015 is the year of reading for me.   

For anyone keeping count, that's 25/30 and I'm totally happy with that!
Plus, I'm hoping to finish up my list and eventually get it ALL done.

My birthday was amazing!  We planned a cookout on the beach for Saturday evening and it was perfect!  We had lots of friends attend... lots of doggies... and lots of babies!  We grilled brats and ate fruit, chips, dip, and cupcakes/cookies!  There was a severe thunderstorm over Kingsbury (where we live) and we watched it all from the beach, but it passed right by us!  It was amazing.  When Mike and I got home, we noticed lots of limbs down all over the road.  We assumed it was from wind.  It wasn't until the next morning, when Mike was walking with Zater, when he noticed a tree had been struck by lightning right near our house!  Our neighbors told us the power lines were jumping from all the electricity.  One neighbor had a window bust out of her house (the same neighbor who recently had a bear break out one of her windows) and she has a piece of wood lodged in the siding of her house.  It's crazy to see the power of mother nature.  I'm glad we weren't home, but also kinda sad we missed it.

NOTICE ALL THE MISSING BARK? 

YOU CAN SEE LARGE PIECES OF FRESH WOOD
ON THE GROUND...
THAT'S AFTER A LOT OF IT HAD BEEN PICKED UP!
OUR HOUSE IS UP THAT HILL AND JUST ACROSS
THE STREET!

We spent Sunday morning watching the Race The Lake Of The Sky which is a paddleboard race in South Lake.  It's an awesome event.  Lots of famous paddleboarders come from all over the world (Australia... New Zealand... Ireland... Japan).  The afternoon was overcast and stormy, so we worked on some projects around the house and just relaxed.

Thanks so much to all of my friends and family for all the birthday wishes!  It was a wonderful birthday and I'm excited to be 30!  I really didn't feel any different at all until it dawned on me that I'm no longer "in my twenties" and I will never be "in my twenties" again!  That entire awesome decade is over.  I can't relive it.  But, that's ok.  I don't think I would want to!  I can't wait to see what's in store for my "thirties."  

Another One Bites The Dust

That is: another bucket list item bites the dust.  And it was a BIG bucket list item at that.  Saturday I completed my first ever half marathon.  WOOHOO!  

I decided to sign up for the Rock Tahoe Half Marathon for several reasons: 

1) It's super close to where I live and therefore convenient. 

2) A friend convinced me to do it with her. 

3) I knew the scenery on the run would be BEAUTIFUL!

4) Not only would it be MY first half, it was also the first year this particular race has been held.  

So we started training (off and on) in January, but really picked up the training in April/May.  I am so thankful I had friends to train with.  They kept me motivated.  I'm really not sure I would've gotten through it without them.  It was also helpful that I could "poach" the training runs that were organized by the hospital.  They mapped out long runs for their "B-fit" program, an exercise/race training program that I used to be a part of when I worked there, so I didn't have to plan out or map out long runs.  Therefore, I had no excuses.  

Friday night my running buddies came over for a "carb loading" spaghetti dinner.  We had salad, spaghetti, garlic bread, and delicious peach flavored tea.  

Obviously this pic was taken AFTER the race but whatever. 

Saturday morning we planned to meet at 5:45 am.  Our sweet friend met us and drove us to the start line.  Thanks again Angie & Christian!  It was ~48 degrees that morning and we had about 30 minutes to wait at the start line.  But, that was great because we got to talk to lots of other runners we knew before the race.  I ate my breakfast at the start line and they had great music.  So, even though it was pretty "chilly," we had lots of adrenaline pumping and it was definitely tolerable.    

AMY, NANCY, and ME... LOOKING EAGER AND
ENERGIZED AT THE START (in our crazy pants).

"THIS IS WHAT FAST LOOKS LIKE"

"IN SLOW MOTION"

 My awesome friends and I decided to buy "crazy pants" for this race.  They were neither flattering nor comfortable.  But, I got lots of compliments on them as I was running.  Mine were covered in sharks.  I bought them back in February?  Something like that.  But, I found it ironic that there have been so many shark attacks in NC lately.  I joked that they were covered in the "North Carolina state fish."  Too soon to make jokes???

ELECTRIC GUITAR NATIONAL ANTHEM

 After the National Anthem was played, they counted down and the race began.  

Here's where I should mention that 2783 people ran in this race.  There were 2 waves, 7:00 am for the walkers/runners and 8:00 am for the competitive runners.  That's a LOT of people in each wave.  So, the start line was crowded.  They blocked one lane of the road for us, but that doesn't really offer a lot of space for that many people.  I kept waiting for it to "open up" and not be so congested, but it never really did.  There were always people around you. 

But, the views were awesome:

RUNNING SELFIE

RUNNING THROUGH CAVE ROCK TUNNEL

WE HAD TO STOP FOR A PIC WITH THE YETI!!!

 The aid stations were amazing.  I was handed a cup of water by an Olympic gold medal skier at the very first aid station.  Each aid station was competing to be voted "the best" for a monetary prize.  There were DJ's and bands, awesome costumes and funny signs.  It was great. 

We stopped for a picture with the yeti above.  It was a pretty social run.  But, the breaks were needed.  We were running above 6,000 ft above sea level the entire time.  So, although MOST of the race was downhill, it was tough.  And there were definitely hills.  And we definitely needed breaks. 

AMY HEADING TOWARD THE FINISH LINE!

 The last mile was the easiest thing I've ever run in my life.  It didn't even feel like a mile.  I wanted it to be over so badly that I practically sprinted to the finish line.  Mike didn't even see me run by him.  I was a blur of shark pants.  The atmosphere at the finish line was amazing.  There were TONS of people cheering and shouting.  Everyone seemed so genuinely proud of you.  And as soon as you cross the finish line, they put that awesome medal around your neck.  

THE CRAZINESS AT THE FINISH LINE!

MY RUNNING BUDDIES AND I AT THE FINISH LINE!

MY BIGGEST FAN!

 The absolute best part of the finish line was that all 3 of us had "our men" there to tell us how proud they were... and Amy's man brought ICE cold Bud Light.  A Bud Light has never tasted so good (it also went down pretty quick). 

THE BARTON B-FIT TEAM!
THANKS AGAIN FOR LETTING ME POACH YOUR RUNS!!!  

 So after the race we were STARVING.  We ended up across the street at a place called "The Lucky Beaver."  They gave us the most beautiful lei's.  We all ordered a cheeseburger with garlic parmesan tater tots.  I ate in record time.  It was dripping in grease.  And it made us feel horrible.  Yep, it sounded good at the time.  But afterward, we paid the price.   

THEY DON'T EVEN LOOK LIKE THEY JUST RAN 13.1 MILES!

PURE HAPPINESS TO BE SITTING DOWN

 Arguably, the dumbest thing on my bucket list was running a half marathon.  But arguably the smartest thing was getting a hot stone massage (also on the bucket list) which I did a few hours after the race.  I got my sore muscles rubbed out.  It was genius.  And when I woke up this morning, I wasn't very sore in my muscles... my joints, well that's another story.  My hips, knees, and ankles are not happy.  But my quads, hamstrings, calves, etc. are ok!  

After the massage I ran home to shower (not literally "ran"... I drove my car... no more running for me for a while).  I loaded up a paddle board and then headed to the beach.  One of the other PT's from Barton recently left and this was her slightly belated going away party!  A cookout on the beach with hamburgers (ugh... just the sight of them made me wanna get sick after my greasy, way-too-much-food lunch).  I absolutely love these people.  They are the BEST.  And even though I don't see them at work all the time, I love that they still invite me to "Barton events."  

LOVE THESE PEOPLE. 

LOTS OF KIDDOS AND LOTS OF PADDLE BOARDS

 This cookout was the PERFECT end to a truly amazing day.  

I watched the sun rise and set over the lake.  

 Sunday morning, Mike and I slept in until about 8:30.  He rolled over in bed and said, "I wanna go get breakfast somewhere."  I love those words.  I love breakfast.  Without a doubt it's my favorite meal of the day.  We tried out a new-ish little coffee shop near us.  My sweet friend Amy got us these awesome shirts and I rocked mine at breakfast: 

"IN TRAINING FOR THE LATEST STUPID RACE
THAT MY STUPID FRIENDS MADE ME DO"

 It's SUPER windy here today and there's not much to do besides relax on the beach, so that's what we did.  We headed to Kiva with Zater in tow.  

 Kiva beach is slightly protected, so the water wasn't very rough in this spot, but farther out in the lake there were white caps.  

I LOVE WHERE WE LIVE!

BARELY ANY SNOW LEFT ON MT. TALLAC
... AND NOT MANY PEOPLE OUT ON THE BEACH!

EXACTLY WHAT I NEEDED TODAY!

ZATER'S EARS IN THE WIND! 

After falling asleep in the sun, on my stomach and my back, I am thoroughly sunburned now.  We made a quick stop for a chocolate/vanilla twisty cone from Snowflake Drive-In on the way home.  A perfect summertime thing to do.  We had plans to go to a free outdoor concert tonight but we are both feeling a little exhausted.  So, we are opted for showers, laundry, and lounging on the couch blogging and watching tv.  There will be lots of other summer concerts around Tahoe.  

This has been the most amazing weekend.  

Since today is Father's Day, I've got to give a quick shout out to my dad, my father-in-law, and my brother, who are all awesome dads.  I love all of you. 

Working on That Bucket List

My 30th birthday is just a couple of weeks away and as many of you faithful blog readers know, I created a "30 before 30" bucket list of adventures to complete before entering a new decade in my life.  Time is winding down, but I've put a pretty big dent in my list and this weekend, I checked off one more item.  Before we get to that, let me back up a bit...

Lately Mike has been wanting a camper shell for the bed of his truck.  Well, he found a good deal on one and agreed to drive to Fremont, CA to pick it up.  He asked if I would join him for the drive and we decided to make a whole weekend out of it.  Saturday morning I woke up early and took the dog for a run before dropping him off with friends in North Lake.  Then, we hit the highway for Fremont.  After picking up the new addition, we headed for the coast... Santa Cruz to be exact.

THE TRUCK BEFORE (WITH LOTS OF RACKS)

LAST WEEK (MINUS THE RACKS WHICH WERE SOLD)

THE TRUCK NOW

We've been to Santa Cruz once before... we ate dinner on the pier right along all the action of the boardwalk.  So we decided to skip all that touristy stuff on this visit. Instead, we opted to drive North on the Cabrillo Highway (aka US 1) along the coast up to San Francisco.  We stopped at a lot of the beaches along the way.  

Looking toward the boardwalk in Santa Cruz...

LOTS OF SURFERS

Beautiful wildflowers grow in the salty air...

 And there are always lots of sea lions around.

SANTA CRUZ SURFING MUSEUM

 We made a quick stop at Natural Bridges State Park:

 Then headed up the coast where we ALMOST missed this super little spot.  It's around the area of Bonny Doon Beach and it was almost impossible to see from the road.  We both happened to catch a glimpse of it with enough time to pull the truck over into the little unmarked parking area.  We ended up spending a lot of time here because it was just so beautiful.  

DEFINITELY A HIDDEN GEM

 You could hike down to the beach but we opted just to walk around the cliffs (bluffs?).  The views were spectacular. 

 It was cloudy and overcast for most of the day but that kept the temperature down.  

PIGEON POINT LIGHTHOUSE

We stopped in Half Moon Bay for dinner.  We deliberated (for way too long) between Barbara's Fishtrap Restaurant and Half Moon Bay Brewing Co. but opted for the Brewing Company which had live music and an equally good view of the water.  We split a steamy bowl of New England clam chowder in a San Francisco sourdough bread bowl... and the crispy cod fish tacos.  Both were delicious!  The fish tacos came with the biggest piece of fish I've ever seen.  You couldn't even wrap the tortilla around it!  Of course, being at a brewery, we sampled a few of their beverages as well.  

Once we were sufficiently stuffed with comforting seafood, we headed out to Pillar Point, better known as the location of Mavericks.  

LOOKING BACK ON HALF MOON BAY.
HALF MOON BAY BREWERY IS NEAR THOSE SAILBOAT MASTS.

THE TRAIL TO PILLAR POINT HAS LOTS OF WILDFLOWERS
AND BUNNIES. 

 Have you heard of Mavericks?  There are lots of surfing competitions there when the waves are breaking, which is usually in the winter.  The ocean floor changes from hundreds of feet deep to only about 20 feet deep due to a large reef.  When storms blow in from the northwest, it sets up a series of HUGE waves.  I mean, HUGE!!!  

Here are some pics of Mavericks... 

PICTURE IS BORROWED FROM http://www.justinbuzzard.net/2010/02/12/
mavericks-surf-contest-green-light-for-tomorrow/

PICTURE BORROWED FROM DAILYSTOKE.COM.

This is what Mavericks looked like while we were there: 

 It was a beautiful area, but definitely no big waves.  We have already talked about going back for a visit during the winter to try and witness the mighty power of the ocean.  It's amazing and baffling that people are able to surf something so powerful.  

Shortly after our stop at Mavericks, the sun disappeared and it was time to find a place to stay for the night.  Thanks to the Hotel Tonight app (which has helped us out more than once in San Francisco), we found a decently cheap hotel near the airport.  Despite being directly beside a highway... and an airport... our room was extremely quiet and the black out curtains and king sized bed allowed us a pretty good night's sleep.  

Sunday morning, we turned to our trusty smart phones to help us find the "best breakfast in San Francisco."  Apparently, that is Dottie's True Blue Cafe.  There was a line out the door and around the corner.  Naturally, we jumped in our place at the end of the line and waited almost an hour before we were seated.  

The wait is actually not too bad because, well, it's San Francisco and (how do I put this nicely?), it's full of crazies!  Our wait was kind of entertaining.  A girl in line ahead of us (clearly still drunk from the night before), puked.  A random guy came up to the couple in front of us YELLING something about genocide in Romania in Y2KX????  I mean, it was all pretty entertaining and it definitely helped pass the time.  

The actual restaurant is adorable.  Old wood floors, thick granite countertops with seating, rustic little bistro tables, high vaulted ceilings and lots of OLD trinkets around.  Happily, I can report that we both felt the food was totally worth the wait!  

Mike got a biscuit with fried egg, avocado, prosciutto, and provolone, which comes with homefries and fruit.  I got a whiskey fennel sausage scramble with spinach and mushrooms which comes with a side of homefries and jalapeno cornbread with jalapeno jelly.  Wow.   

I should also mention... the portions are HUGE!  And I ate all of it except approximately 7-8 bites which I simply couldn't fit inside my body.

I don't often take pictures of my food, but I made an exception this time.  

MIKE'S BREAKFAST... THAT IS A LEGIT BISCUIT (and I can judge a biscuit). 

I LOVE JALAPENO JELLY ON JALAPENO CORNBREAD... WHO KNEW?

While waiting on our food we read reviews of Dottie's and one of the most reviewed and recommended items is their coffee cake... so....

...obviously we HAD to get a piece to go!  Can you believe that coffee cake?  Covered in cinnamon streusel and icing.  That is my idea of heaven for sure.  

We waddled out of Dottie's and headed to Fisherman's Wharf.  Our favorite part of San Fran.  But this time, since we didn't have the dog, we were able to hop on a historic cable car so I could cross that item OFF the bucket list!!!!  Woohoo!  

 The cable car dropped us off in Union Square and rather than ride back to Fisherman's Wharf, we decided to walk the ~3 miles back to the truck (we did have a LOT of extra calories to burn off).  

I HEART SAN FRANCISCO!!!

 It was another great trip to San Fran.  I love that we can just drive a few hours to the coast AND we can enjoy such an awesome BIG city.  But I love, love, LOVE, coming back to the clean air of Tahoe.  We took the scenic route home via Donner summit.  We stopped at a little spot overlooking Donner lake and we devoured the coffee cake and fruit.  Every single bite was delicious of course, and the view made it taste even better.  

DONNER LAKE

 Finally, we picked up the dog and headed for home.  He enjoyed being able to ride in the back of the truck with lots of space to roam around, and we didn't have to worry about him.  We are already putting this camper shell to good use! 

Next weekend I will hopefully be able to cross off at least 1 more item on the bucket list.  And the weekend after that (my birthday weekend), I'm HOPING to knock off one more item!  It's crunch time though.  Only 14 more days until the "1st anniversary of my 29th birthday!!!"