Bucket List Update (Because I'm "In My Thirties")

Almost five years ago I posted my bucket list. Looking back it now I just want to say, "Poor April. You have no idea where life will take you. Bless." HAHA. But seriously, some of the items on my bucket list from 2011 would still be on there today and others...not so much.

So in the spirit of "because I'm in my thirties" (I'm 31 for the record) I'm serving you some updated bucket list realness...

Left side is the original bucket list and the right side is the updated list. Some of the items previously included literally made me scratch my head...why would I ever put that on there? So you'll notice some of the items have been changed.

Comments: I have zero desire to ever go on a cruise. Being trapped and surrounded by water...at the mercy of the waves and ocean? No thank you. I also have no desire why I put be a redhead on there. I did it, yes, but it wasn't a bucket list item. I modified my "live on a large body of water" to "living near a body of water". :)  Also, no idea why I put Visit San Diego on there. Nothing against SD, but I have no desire to visit there...except for the zoo, which is amazing. I think that was my original line of thinking so I updated to say all the major U.S. zoos. Because zoos are my jam.

Another befuddler is bake a loaf of bread. WHYYYYYYY is that on there? I have no idea. So I updated to a more normal one of "See the Northern lights." I probably won't have a chance to see them in Banff but I will definitely try.

Do you have a bucket list? Do we share any items in common?? I'd love to hear!

Summer Goals

image via

I can't believe the beginning of summer is right around the corner! This is an unusual summer for us because we aren't taking a typical beach vacation. With that, our goals might be a little different, but here they are.

one. Save extra money for our Banff vacation in August.

two. Go to 9Round at least 3x per week. I took like 2 sets of 6-7 days off while I was traveling in May and it is KICKING MY BUTT right now. I don't want to miss so many days again.

three. Cook brussel sprouts. I always thought I was anti-brussel sprouts but I had some sweet chili lime roasted ones at a restaurant and they were DELICIOUS. I'll be on the hunt for a similar recipe and trying them this summer.

four. Get away to the beach even if just for a short weekend trip. I'm hoping that we can find a good hotel deal and do a 2 day, one night thing just to get to the beach.

five. Get my passport renewed.

six. Kayak the Catawba river.

seven. Try a new dessert recipe that's non-chocolate. Basically my life revolves around chocolate so I'd like to find and try a new dessert recipe that is not chocolate. Maybe strawberry something?

eight. Learn all the words to "Guns and Ships" from the Hamilton soundtrack. I love the LaFayette rap so I think I should learn it to impress my friends.

nine. Host a get together at least once this summer.

A 30th Birthday to Remember

On Saturday I had a wonderful "controlled surprise" birthday party to celebrate me entering my 3rd decade of life. (Controlled surprise means I knew the date, time and attire...but knew nothing else.) It was a great time to gather with friends and celebrate.

There were a few party games and themes. First, the color theme was pink, black and white and, of course, 30. Then, there were two fun party games that weren't lame. HA! First was Pin the Statement Necklace on April...just like Pin the Tail on the Donkey...only it was on a picture of me. Then there was April Trivia...multiple choice questions about me that everyone had to answer. It was a lot of fun.

Below are some photos of the night. I took the liberty of putting them into a collage for ease of viewing. :)

There was also a photo backdrop for photos. It was a lot of fun and I loved seeing everyone's serious and ridiculous photos. Side note - there were a number of people taking pictures with a REAL camera and it was so nice to have everything documented. There's nothing wrong with cell phone cameras, but there is something awesome about having photos with a real camera. You know what I mean?

One of the other themes was, of course, 30. My friends who threw the party (pictured below) asked everyone to bring 30 of something. It could be 30 different things or even 30 attributes about me. I got such an awesome assortment of gifts. I got 30 York peppermint patties, 15 pairs of sock (so 30 socks), 30 hair ties, $30 gift cards, 30 My Little Pony drawings, a 30 piece MLP puzzle, 30 chocolate truffles, and even a really awesome handmade scrapbook of 30 memories from my friend. It was a lot of fun! 

Other highlights from my 30th Birthday weekend included:

• A family lunch on Sunday
• Trying out a new Italian restaurant with M on Sunday night (it was great!)

Hope your weekend was awesome as well! 

summer bucket list

I've been making a mental list of all the things I want to do this summer...my first summer living in Wilmington. Between the river and the ocean, this town is almost SURROUNDED by water, so I want to take advantage of that with my summer bucket list. Not to mention the fact that I work ON the beach with a bunch of outdoorsy, watery, natural-y people that might be able to be persuaded to teach this water-phobe how to have fun in the surf.

So, instead of storing a mental bucket list, I decided to make a fun little photo collage that will inspire me to accomplish these goals this summer!

Let's NOT refer to the fact that 3 of the 5 goals have to do with food. I figure, since the other two are physical activities, it's okay, right?

Right.

Now, I feel I should explain them a bit.

1) Eat at Britt's Donuts. There is this donut place on the island that's been there for decades and is only open seasonally. Apparently, it's legendary. They only serve donuts and they only serve glazed donuts, but they are so good (allegedly) that is has turned even the most devout Kreme or Dunkin fan to Britt's. And, I pass it on the way to work a few times a week.

2) Make Frozen Elvis Bites. I found this recipe on Pinterest and would change up the original a bit by swapping the peanuts for bacon bits. YUM! These would be perfect for a summer treat.

3) Have a beach picnic. It is now feasible for me to take a picnic to the beach one weekend or even one evening for dinner. I'm just a few minutes from the beach. Maybe someday I'll have a Mister to picnic on the beach with!?!

4 & 5) Go kayaking or paddleboarding. I've never done either and both seem like something I could totally do. I'd love to try both but would settle with either. I've never been one for watersports and swore off of whitewater rafting because of a bad experience and waterskiing because it was too fast. (I know, I'm quite grandmotherly when it comes to speed.) So, because I can set my own pace with this, I'm down like a brown clown wearing an upside down frown.

Now, what about y'all? I'm so interested in hearing about your summer bucket list! Do y'all have one? Leave me a comment or link up a blog post in the comments. I can't wait to hear about it!

bucket list-revisited

It's been awhile since I've posted about my Bucket List. If you'll remember, I originally posted about it in August.

Well, I can't say I've had a lot of progress on it, but I have crossed some items off and I needed to add a few. :) So, here's my updated Bucket List.

1. Learn to do a cartwheel.

2. See the Mississippi River.

3. Eat at a diner.

4. Learn to play the guitar.

5. Get married.

6. Ride in a hot-air balloon.

7. Get a tattoo.

8. Go to a state fair.

9. Go on a cruise.

10. Visit Washington D.C.

11. Become fluent in Spanish.

12. Be a redhead. (temporarily)

13. Write a childrens book.

14. Publish something.

15. Have a flower garden.

16. Sew a dress.

17. Live on a large body of water.

18. Design my own pair of shoes.

19. Meet Paula Deen.

20. Visit Bora Bora/Tahiti.

21. Visit San Diego.

22. Ride on a train. (the choo choo kind, not a subway)

23. Go kayaking.

24. Have a blog.

25. Bake a loaf of bread.

26. Go see a Saints game at the Superdome in NOLA.

 

I'm still kinda iffy about crossing off number 17. Technically, I don't live ON a large body of water, but I'm 5 minutes from the Atlantic Ocean. Does that count? I guess it's just a semantics issue really. HA!

 

Also, there is the potential to cross of number 22 soon. Maybe. Anywho, link up to me in the coments if you post your Bucket List! I can't wait to read them!

Bucket List

There's something about writing stuff down that really keeps you accountable. A long time ago some friends and I all got together and we wrote down our "Life Lists". This is stuff that we wanted to do, see, accomplish or learn in our lifetime.

The term "Bucket List" has been coined more recently after the movie came out about 2 men and their wish list of things to do before they "kicked the bucket".

Though I've written my Bucket List down before, I've never published it for others to see. I have two purposes in doing this; to hold myself accountable and share with you as I complete items on my list and to get advice/insight into items on my list from readers who may know about it or have done it before.

DISCLAIMER: if you choose to read my Bucket List, know that some things might seem small/trivial and others are huge and complicated. It's an assortment of items and very random...like me.

So without further adieu...

1. Learn to do a cartwheel.

2. See the Mississippi River.

3. Eat at a diner.

4. Learn to play the guitar.

5. Get married.

6. Ride in a hot-air balloon.

7. Get a tattoo.

8. Go to a state fair.

9. Go on a cruise.

10. Visit Washington D.C.

11. Become fluent in Spanish.

12. Be a redhead. (temporarily)

13. Write a childrens book.

14. Publish something.

15. Have a flower garden.

16. Sew a dress.

17. Live on a large body of water.

18. Design my own pair of shoes.

19. Meet Paula Deen.

20. Visit Bora Bora/Tahiti.

21. Visit San Diego.

22. Ride on a train. (the choo choo kind, not a subway)

23. Go kayaking.

24. Have a blog.

25. Bake a loaf of bread.

What about y'all? Care to share anything that's on your Bucket List? If you have a blog, you could post your own Bucket List and link back to me so I can read it! Let's keep each other accountable and share in our goals achieved.