Thing 2

30 things, in 30 days, before my 30th birthday...

Thing 2: Eat Tofu - SUCCESS

Tofu in our soup at Kobe

Yup, I ate it, and yup I still have the same feeling about tofu... kinda yucky

Decade One - 1980's

So... as you have seen from other posts, 30 has been a big focus for me, for whatever reason... But on April 15, I will be entering a NEW decade... so I thought it fitting to do a few "Decades in Review"... so Here is my 1980's decade in review. Just for fun I added some fun facts about the year I was born - 1983. And then you can see the photos, too. I don't remember much from the 80's, but you know, I was a kid so I, of course, just played with my siblings and enjoyed life!

Ahhh... 1983... See below for just a little list of important events from 1983:

           

1. Vanessa Williams becomes first African-American Miss America
2. The final episode of M.A.S.H. aired with more than 125 million viewers tuned in to watch.
3. The first Hooter's opened in Clearwater, Florida by six fun-loving businessmen with no experience in the restaurant industry. Their company Hooters Inc. was based out of Atlanta, Georgia. The casual beach-theme establishments feature "50s & '60s jukebox music, sports on television, and a menu that includes seafood, sandwiches, salads and spicy chicken wings. Hooters is mainly famous for their waitresses who wear orange shorts and T-shirts with the Hooters Logo.
4. Challenger makes its first flight (STS-6)
5.  Challenger makes its second flight (STS-7). It is the first five member crew with Crippen, Hauck, Fabian, Thagard, and Ride. Sally K. Ride is the first woman in space.
6. Reagan signs a bipartisan compromise bill that is supposed to save Social Security (HAHAHAHA That makes me laugh)
7. President Reagan signs legislation that makes the third Monday in January a national holiday  commemorating Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday. This is the only federal holiday commemorating an African-American.

1983 - Baby CJ

1984 CJ - Didn't have hair until I was like 2

1985 - Awww here I am turning 2

1986

1987 - Just riding on my little tricycle

1988 - For my 5th Birthday we went to DISNEY WORLD!!! :)

1989 - The end of the 80's and 6 years into my first decade of life

Thing 1

Hey hey... so right now we are 30 days before I turn 30. Yup, for WHATEVER reason, thirty is scary to me... so I'm putting a little bit of focus on it this year. hahaha. Then I'm going to turn 30 on April 15 and probably never think about it again!

Annnnyway... my Bible study girls encouraged me to do 30 things in the 30 days before I turn 30... I like to call it the 30, 30, 30... it's not a thing, because I googled it, but I'm going to go ahead and make it my thing. 

Sooo... Thing 1 - Drink Green Beer - SUCCESS :)

Out for St. Patty's Drinking my Green Beer

Looks a little more green in this photo

My Financial Advisor

Yup, that's right folks... I have a financial advisor. I don't have that much money, but I don't want to worry about having to DO stuff with it so that I don't lose it all, or whatever.

Laura works at the financial advisor's office. So I have to be honest, when I get my monthly statement, I usually get some type of sticky note or sticker or something that is cute. I LOVE IT!

Thanks Laura for the fun note! :)

30, 30, 30...

At Bible study on Monday, the ladies suggested I do 30 things for the 30 days before I turn 30. So this morning I decided to google that and see if its a thing... I couldn't find anything there, but I did find this interesting post/article (http://thoughtcatalog.com/2012/19-things-you-should-stop-doing-in-your-20s/#k1KQm5ieeciqC5SK.01) see below!

Just something interesting and fun! Have YOU stopped doing these things?!?! 

PS Stay tuned, maybe I will do the 30, 30, 30 thing of 30 things for the 30 days before I turn 30

19 Things To Stop Doing In Your 20s

OCT. 23, 2012 By HOLDEN DESALLES

1. Stop placing all the blame on other people for how they interact with you. To an extent, people treat you the way you want to be treated. A lot of social behavior is cause and effect. Take responsibility for (accept) the fact that you are the only constant variable in your equation.

2. Stop being lazy by being constantly “busy.” It’s easy to be busy. It justifies never having enough time to clean, cook for yourself, go out with friends, meet new people. Realize that every time you give in to your ‘busyness,’ it’s you who’s making the decision, not the demands of your job.

3. Stop seeking out distractions. You will always be able to find them.

4. Stop trying to get away with work that’s “good enough.” People notice when “good enough” is how you approach your job. Usually these people will be the same who have the power to promote you, offer you a health insurance plan, and give you more money. They will take your approach into consideration when thinking about you for a raise.

5. Stop allowing yourself to be so comfortable all the time. Coming up with a list of reasons to procrastinate risky, innovative decisions offers more short-term gratification than not procrastinating. But when you stop procrastinating to make a drastic change, your list of reasons to procrastinate becomes a list of ideas about how to better navigate the risk you’re taking.

6. Stop identifying yourself as a cliche and start treating yourself as an individual. Constantly checking your life against a prewritten narrative or story of how things “should” be is a bought-into way of life. It’s sort of like renting your identity. It isn’t you. You are more nuanced than the narrative you try to fit yourself into, more complex than the story that “should” be happening.

7. Stop expecting people to be better than they were in high school — learn how to deal with it instead. Just because you’re out of high school doesn’t mean you’re out of high school. There will always be people in your life who want what you have, are threatened by who you are, and will ridicule you for doing something that threatens how they see their position in the world.

8. Stop being stingy. If you really care about something, spend your money on it. There is often a notion that you are saving for something. Either clarify what that thing is or start spending your money on things that are important to you. Spend money on road trips. Spend money on healthy food. Spend money on opportunities. Spend money on things you’ll keep.

9. Stop treating errands as burdens. Instead, use them as time to focus on doing one thing, and doing it right. Errands and chores are essentially rote tasks that allow you time to think. They function to get you away from your phone, the internet, and other distractions. Focus and attention span are difficult things to maintain when you’re focused and attentive on X amount of things at any given moment.

10. Stop blaming yourself for being human. You’re fine. Having a little anxiety is fine. Being scared is fine. Your secrets are fine. You’re well-meaning. You’re intelligent. You’re blowing it out of proportion. You’re fine.

11. Stop ignoring the fact that other people have unique perspectives and positions. Start approaching people more thoughtfully. People will appreciate you for deliberately trying to conceive their own perspective and position in the world. It not only creates a basis for empathy and respect, it also primes people to be more open and generous with you.

12. Stop seeking approval so hard. Approach people with the belief that you’re a good person. It’s normal to want the people around you to like you. But it becomes a self-imposed burden when almost all your behavior toward certain people is designed to constantly reassure you of their approval.

13. Stop considering the same things you’ve always done as the only options there are. It’s unlikely that one of the things you’ll regret when you’re older is not having consumed enough beer in your 20s, or not having bought enough $5 lattes, or not having gone out to brunch enough times, or not having spent enough time on the internet. Fear of missing out is a real, toxic thing. You’ve figured out drinking and going out. You’ve experimented enough. You’ve gotten your fill of internet memes. Figure something else out.

14. Stop rejecting the potential to feel pain. Suffering is a universal constant for sentient beings. It is not unnatural to suffer. Being in a constant state of suffering is bad. But it is often hard to appreciate happiness when there’s nothing to compare it to. Rejecting the potential to suffer is unsustainable and unrealistic.

15. Stop approaching adverse situations with anger and frustration. You will always deal with people who want things that seem counter to your interests. There will always be people who threaten to prevent you from getting what you want by trying to get what they want. This is naturally frustrating. Realize that the person you’re dealing with is in the same position as you — by seeking out your own interests, you threaten to thwart theirs. It isn’t personal — you’re both just focused on getting different things that happen to seem mutually exclusive. Approach situations like these with reason. Be calm. Don’t start off mad, it’ll only make things more tense.

16. Stop meeting anger with anger. People will make you mad. Your reaction to this might be to try and make them mad. This is something of a first-order reaction. That is, it isn’t very thoughtful — it may be the first thing you’re inclined to do. Try to suppress this reaction. Be thoughtful. Imagine your response said aloud before you say it. If you don’t have to respond immediately, don’t.

17. Stop agreeing to do things that you know you’ll never actually do. It doesn’t help anyone. To a certain extent, it’s a social norm to be granted a ‘free pass’ when you don’t do something for someone that you said you were going to do. People notice when you don’t follow through, though, especially if it’s above 50% of the time.

18. Stop ‘buying’ things you know you’ll throw away. Invest in friendships that aren’t parasitic. Spend your time on things that aren’t distractions. Put your stock in fleeting opportunity. Focus on the important.

19. Stop being afraid.

Two (or three) for one!

As one of my goals for the year is to make 6 new recipes, I am trying to make meals that I can make again that taste REALLY good. This month, I got a "two-fer"... I made a turkey breast in the crock pot... it was DELICIOUS and there were really only two ingredients: turkey breast and onion soup mix. It was the MOST moist turkey I think I have ever had.

Funny story about this turkey. I had bought a smaller one than the instructions said. So I was trying to figure out how long to cook it. Also, since my friend Anna was coming over on a Friday night, I needed to make sure it was fully cooked (but not OVERcooked) before she got to my house. I found one of the comments on the turkey was that they had a 5lb turkey and cooked on low for 10 hours. That was perfect! So I did that.

I was supposed to have lunch with my old evaluator at work on Friday and he cancelled last minute so I decided to go home, eat, and check on the bird. Good thing I did, too, because sometime between the time I got home and 15 minutes later when I had finished my lunch the little red pop out thing popped out and the bird was done! So I ended up turning it to low and going on my merry way.

Wait you can cook turkey in a crock pot?!?!

Turkey, mashed potatoes, broccoli and my fav crescent rolls!

So that turkey fed my friend Anna, who came over for dinner on Friday, me, and I sent leftovers home with her. Then I had turkey again on Saturday night with my friend Kathryn, and sent some home with her too. So now we are at 6 meals with this turkey. Then I had some turkey for dinner Sunday, too! Oh, but wait, we're not done yet! I took the LEFTOVERS and made Turkey Tetrazzini. This is a recipe my mom used to make after thanksgiving with leftover turkey. I have never made it, so therefore, it becomes the "two" in my "two-fer"! So that will be roughly 12 meals out of that turkey! I'd say it was worth the $12 I paid for it!

Turkey Tetrazzini

Oh, but wait, guess what else!!! I am going to make turkey broth with the carcass!!! I just haven't done it yet! :)

Aperture, ISO, and Shutter Speed

That's right folks, I went to take a camera class yesterday and learned all about lighting, shutter speed, ISO, and HOW to operate my DSLR camera without using the AUTO setting.

I can't wait to practice!

I have a funny story, though. See below for what we were REMINDED to bring with us to class. Now, mind you, we received this reminder when we signed up for the class, and we received it AGAIN when we got the reminder that the class was coming up.

I wish I was kidding when I say that: people did not have charged batteries, did not have DSLR cameras and did not have memory cards... Sometimes I wonder...