Showing posts with label Bucket List. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bucket List. Show all posts

Monday, January 11, 2016

The Silos

Recently I had to go to Waco for work. 6.5 hour road trip was not all that exciting, except for the fact that I planned a little shopping trip.


You guys watch Chip and Joanna on Fixer Upper? Yep, I went to The Silos to check out Magnolia Market.  Checked this baby off the Bucket List.


It's really a cool area with their storefront (home and garden), a lawn area for kids and picnicking, a food truck park (I bet there were 10 trucks!), and soon-to-be a bakery. 



The store was cool. Lots of stuff you have seen on the show and very much the Joanna Gaines feel. 









But things were pretty pricy (A small candle I really liked cost $26, the yellow throw blanket above was $68) and there was not really that much stuff. 

I ended up buying a coffee cup for The Boy from Texas (we collect them), and I spent my Christmas money to get myself a journal and some really cute hymn cards with a clip holder. There are 12 different hymn verses so I will be displaying one a month!





All in all, it was an excellent little trip to visit The Silos!


Monday, January 4, 2016

15 in '15: Final Report

Looking back at 2015, I really was able to get a lot done.  No, I didn't manage to cross off every list item, but there's always next year (and my 2016 list!)

And now, for my report card...  I knocked out 9/15 list items.  Here's the review.


1.  Visit 2 new states.  COMPLETE!

Georgia in January; Iowa in April; Minnesota in April.

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2.  Print Instagram photos in Chatbooks.  COMPLETE!

They are happily on my coffee table waiting for visitors.
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3.  Read 12 more books.  (5/12 complete).

Bittersweet by Shauna Niequist (February)
St. John Paul the Great by Jason Evert (March)
Before Amen by Max Lucado (April)
Babywise (August)
The Harsest Peace by Kara Tippets (August)


I'm disappointed that this did not come true, but honestly, I way over-estimated my ability to read during maternity leave.
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4.  Run another half marathon.   Complete a post-baby 5K. 

Again, over-estimated my abilities after baby.  I am back to running again and WILL run a 5K and a half marathon in 2016!

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5.  Take a fun trip for The Boy From Texas' 30th.  COMPLETE!

We spent a few days at the beautiful Inn of the Mountain Gods in Ruidoso, New Mexico.  If you missed the blog recapping the trip, click here!


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6.  Plant flowers in our yard and the fun pots we got.  COMPLETE!

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7.  Cook 52 more recipes in the Newlywed in the Kitchen series.  (49/52 completed).


I came close on this one....within 3 meals!  I've not yet posted all of them (have several coming soon) but I've cooked them so I'm counting it!  To see all the Newlywed in the Kitchen posts, click here.

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8.  Finish Uncle Black Belt's book. 

We're still rolling on this.  Uncle Black Belt has gotten drafts down of the first 6 chapters and he's working now on 7 and 8.  I'm working on edits and photo placement and the like.  This, too, is on the 2016 list.

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9.  Complete one Bible.com study a month.  COMPLETED!


January:  New Day, New You by Joyce Meyer.
February:  Breathe Spiritual Passion into Your Marriage by Gary Thomas.
March:  Praying for your Elephant - Praying Bold Prayers
April:  Discerning God's Will
May:  Hope
June:  Assurance
July:  The Lies of Busyness:  Devotions from Time of Grace
August:  Using Your Time for God
November:  Hard Questions and Adore
December :  Waiting Well and Remembering All God has Done

I'm a big fan of this app--makes it super easy to get your devotional in because it's right on your phone!
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10.  Complete 5 Pinterest projects (other than recipes).  COMPLETE!

Plant a ceramic pot garden (April)
Plant a mixed plant pot (April)
Send a birthday box to a friend (May)
Make lavender bunches (June), baby folders (August)
Homemade stain remover (September)


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11.  Knock off three more bucket list checkmarks. COMPLETE!

Meet a blog friend in person (January)
Stay at the Inn of the Mountain Gods (July)
Have a baby (September)
Visit Cadillac Ranch (December)



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12.  Order books/prints/canvases of our wedding photos.  COMPLETE!

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13.  Listen to the New Testament. 


This was the thing I'm the most disappointed in myself for not doing.  I didn't even make it through Matthew.  I just didn't get it done, no excused.

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14.  Pray Novenas for 12 friends and send them notes to tell them about it. COMPLETE!

January:  Novena to St. Anne for a friend suffering through infertility.
February:  Novena to St. Joseph for my single friends.
March:  Novena to St. Patrick for my friend and her growing family.
April:  Divine Mercy Novena for another good friend expecting a little one and a friend diagnosed with cancer.
May:  Novena to the Infant of Prague for two friends struggling with infertility.
June:  Divine Mercy Novena for a good friend going through a stressful time.
July:  Novena to St. John Paul II for a friend taking the bar exam.  Happy results...she passed!
August:  Novena to St. Joseph for a friend whose husband was looking for a job.
October: Novena to Sts. Louis and Zelie Martin for a friend having a baby.
October:  Divine Mercy Novena for a friend who lost his brother.
November:Novena to St. Joseph for a couple who got married.
December:  Flying Novena to the Infant of Prague for friends of ours making some major life decisions.
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15.  Organize my pictures. 

I do have some folders set up, all of my cd's of wedding, maternity and newborn pictures in one place, and photos saved off of my phone onto the computer.

Monday, March 2, 2015

15 in '15 List Update: January and February

So the surprising addition of The Baby from Texas to the midst sort of slowed down my 15 in '15 accomplishments these first two months.  Other moms assure me that I'll stop throwing up and being so exhausted I'm asleep at 9:00 every night soon.....let's hope they are right because this list needs some work!

All total, I've made at least some form of progress on 8/15 items.  I'm on track (of ahead of schedule) for 5/15 items.  Here's the low down.


1.  Visit 2 new states.  (1/2 complete).

In January, I headed to Atlanta to speak at the Southern Dairy Conference.  Georgia has officially been checked off the list!


2.  Print Instagram photos in Chatbooks.  (No progress).

I have no reason for not having this done, especially after College Roomie gave me gift certificates to pay for this for Christmas.

3.  Read 12 more books.  (1/12 complete).

I just finished Bittersweet by Shauna Niequist.  She's got the best writing style, she's hilarious, and I wish I knew her in real life so we could be friends!  Here are a couple of my favorite quotes from the book:

"It is not hard to decide what you want your life to be about.  What's hard is figuring out what you are willing to give up in order to do the things you really care about."

"When I pray, I ask for God's help, that I will be able to see something I wasn't able to see before, or at least something I wasn't able to see before, or at least trust Him to do the seeing."

4.  Run another half marathon.  (No progress....likely will not happen!)

So yea, having a baby in September means that half marathon I had planned for the end of July is kinda out of the question.  And the odds of me being ready for a half marathon by the end of the year after having a baby are probably not that good.  We'll play this one by ear (there is always Tulsa in November....) but it may get modified to be running a post-baby 5K.

5.  Take a fun trip for The Boy From Texas' 30th.  (No progress.)

So the plan for the big trip to either Hawaii or Ireland has been baby proofed as well.  We're kinda needing to keep vacation days for the big arrival, so we're looking at a few ideas of long weekend trips that might work better for us at this point in time.

6.  Plant flowers in our yard and the fun pots we got.  (No progress).

Well, the pots are officially placed on the front porch waiting for action, but because it keeps snowing, there is nothing planted yet.

7.  Cook 52 more recipes in the Newlywed in the Kitchen series.  (5/52 completed).

Things on this front were really rolling, and then morning sickness hit.  At this point, we're just excited if I can handle the smell of food and choke it down, so gourmet meals have been put on hold.  Hopefully I can get back on track though!

8.  Finish Uncle Black Belt's book.  (Some progress made).

We've been editing on this and hope to have the first four chapters done within the next month!

9.  Complete one Bible.com study a month.  (2/12 completed.)

I really enjoy the Bible.com app.  I'm not very techy, so I resisted for a long time, but several of my friends use it, so I decided to try!  It makes it so easy to do my daily reading, particularly when I'm on the road.

In January, I did the "New Day, New  You" study by Joyce Meyer.  It was a great way to kick off the New Year!

In February, I completed the "Breathe Spiritual Passing Into Your Marriage" study by Gary Thomas.  It was a great study to help you keep the focus on the bigger picture and purpose of your marriage.

10.  Complete 5 Pinterest projects (other than recipes).  (No progress.)

I'm hoping the baby pins I'm finding will motivate me to really get rolling on this.

11.  Knock off three more bucket list checkmarks.  (1/3 completed).

- Meet a blog friend in person.  I actually did this twice, first when I met Dairy Carrie in Atlanta (and learned we were both secretly pregnant and due on the same day!) and second when I met up with my long-time blog friend, Katy, in Washington DC.  Katy requested an official Figuring Out the Plot name, and I deem her Dixie in DC.  If you are not a reader of her blog, go here now!

Me and Dixie in DC posing in the subway station.

12.  Order books/prints/canvases of our wedding photos.  (No progress.)

Another that I just need to sit down and get cracking on!  We've pretty much got the new house decorated, except that we have one---ONE---wedding picture in the entire joint and it's a 5/7 in a frame on my nightstand.  Fail.

13.  Listen to the New Testament.  (Minor progress made).

I was doing so good on this one, listening as I drove to work, but then I somehow stopped doing that and kinda forgot.  Back on it now!  I've currently made it through the first ten chapters of Matthew.  Onward.

14.  Pray Novenas for 12 friends and send them notes to tell them about it.  (2/12 completed).

This is easily my favorite list item.

In January I prayed a Novena to St. Anne (the grandmother of Jesus who was barron for over twenty years herself) for a friend suffering through infertility.

In February, in honor of Valentine's Day, I prayed a Novena to St. Joseph (patron saint of worthy husbands) in honor of my single friends.


15.  Organize my pictures.  (No progress.)

When it's all cold and snowy and I'm stuck inside, this would be a great time to tackle this project.  What have I done instead?  Napped and watched junk tv.  Awesome.

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Confirming I Am Still Alive

After getting multiple emails checking on my well being after a week of blog silence, I want to assure you all that I am, indeed, still alive.  Here's a little summary of what's been goin' on 'round these parts.

*  Southern Dairy Conference.  Last week, I made a whirlwind trip to Atlanta to speak at the Southern Dairy Conference.  It was a really fun presentation on how to prevent and survive an undercover video on your farm.  There was a great group of dairy industry folks in attendance, and this was a fun (and important!) new topic for me to speak about!

* Bucket List Checkmark:  Meet a Blogger in Real Life.  For years I've hoped to meet one of the bloggers who I follow (and didn't already know) in real life.  I was able to do that in Atlanta when I met Dairy Carrie.  She is a huge blog and twitter sensation, so when I saw her on the agenda, I had big hopes that I could introduce myself and check this one off the list.  Sure enough, she actually raised her hand to comment during my presentation, Tweeted that I had done a good job, and we got to visit for about half an hour while waiting for an airport shuttle.  She was the sweetest person in the world and, turns out, we have quite a few things in common.  Biggest blogger regret to date....no picture was taken. What was I thinking??

*  We suspect a pregnant dog in our midst.  Don't even get me started.  Apparently the dog The Boy from Texas repeatedly told me as old and barren is like Sarah of the Bible and it looks like we will have puppies in the next month or so.  The puppy daddy belongs to my parents, so I'm on a mission to make these things half their responsibility.  They claim no parental responsibility.  Sheesh.

*  We've hit up several sheep shows.  So we've been running all over the Panhandle going to sheep shows.  Our lambs have been doing an excellent job of bringing home purple banners.


*  We bought a house!  We are so excited to have closed yesterday on our very first house together!  It's a tiny little cottage (well, not quite like that show Tiny House, but not that far from it) with a few acres.  As you know, The Boy from Texas and I are both farm kids and we love the idea of having our own land.  So the next week is going to be chaos as we clean out junk (why is it that when people move they don't haul off all of their crap??), doing a bit of work and painting, and moving in.  I took before pictures last night and will have after pics soon.....stay tuned!




Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Bucket List Year in Review

“If there's one thing I learned, it's that nobody is here forever. You have to live for the moment, each and every day . . . the here, the now.” ~Simone Elkeles, Perfect Chemistry

Each year I like to look back and remember the bucket list checkmarks I was able to obtain in the past 365 days.  Here are the recaps for prior years..... 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013.

This year, although fewer in number, I am pretty excited about the list items that have been achieved!

1.  Get married.  The biggest item on the list has fallen.  WOO HOO!



2.  Visit friends in Canada.  Ever since I met my first Canadian friend (The Crazy Canadian) in college, I knew that I wanted to visit one day.  As you will read about in a recap series coming soon, our honeymoon offered us the perfect chance to see the beautiful country, have fondue with our sweet friend Miss Canada, and to visit The Crazy Canadian's parents' ranch.



3.  Complete a 365 day photo challenge.  I've tried this a couple of times with no success.  I am so excited to report that I successfully completed the Fat Mum Slim 365 day challenge!  And I didn't do it alone!  College Roomie, Miss Arizona, and High School Friend all completed it as well.  I could not have done it without them!  Coming up soon, I will be sharing my favorite photos from that challenge.

4.  Grow my own tulips.  I love tulips.  Hands down my favorite flower.  So growing my own had always been on my list.  Last fall, I planted bulbs.  This spring, up came beautiful tulips.  They didn't last too long before I killed them, but it was enough for me to check it off the list!



5. Watch a game at Fenway or Wrigley.  I'm not a huge baseball person, so it may seem strange for this to be on my list.  But being a major sports fan (and a good American), I felt like seeing our national past time played in one of the most iconic venues in the country had to be on there.  When I work trip took me to Boston this past summer, Fenway was calling my name!  Read the full blog here.

6.  Become a famous blogger.  This is a checkmark that I honestly didn't think would actually ever come.  But when I started blogging back in 2009, I put it on the list.  And although "famous" is pretty arguable, I'm going to go ahead and count the fact that my Texas Agricultural Law Blog was named one of the top 100 legal blogs in the country by the American Bar Association count as famous enough!

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Watch a Game at Fenway....Check Mark!

This baby had been on my bucket list from the beginning.  Now, I'll admit, I'm not a huge baseball fan.  Y'all know I'm more of a football girl.  But there is just something so iconic, so American, so fun about Fenway, I've always wanted to go.

So when a work conference took me to Boston earlier this summer and the Red Sox were playing at home, I knew I had to seize the opportunity.  So I recruited one of my friends who was also attending the conference and off we went to see what all the hype was about.

It was a great atmosphere, beautiful sunny evening, great hot dogs, cold beer, and baseball.  Glad I was able to mark this baby off the list!


The Green Monster
First Pitch



 Oh, yea, and then I found the opposite of a fun park like Fenway.  This is a "passive park" that allows no ball playing and closes at dusk.  Talk about a place that is no fun, sir!





Thursday, January 9, 2014

The National Finals Rodeo...Bucket List Checkmark

For as long as I can remember, we've watched the NFR every year.  We could tell you the round, the name of the horse, the color of the horse, and the score for just about each of the 10 times that Billy Etbauer won the 10th round of saddle bronc.  We know the arena record for calf roping and have burned out brains how Speed Williams would already have the calf roped before his horse was all the way out of the box.  We're NFR fans.

Going to the rodeo had always been on my bucket list, but this year when my dad mentioned that he wanted to go, well I knew that we had to make it happen.  So a couple of phone calls and it was booked.  My parents, The Boy from Texas and I were Vegas-bound for the festivities.

I'm going to tell you this---you cannot hang with my parents in Vegas.  I don't care if you're 21 and go crowd surfing in clubs on the weekend.  YOU.CAN.NOT.HANG.  Something happens to these two when they hit Sin City and they all of a sudden morph into crazy 21 year old kids again.  Case in point:  First night, we arrive at 11:00 pm.  I had some work to do and it was freaking night time, so I didn't go out.  My parents bee-lined it for the Tropicana.  When I woke up at 6:00 the next morning, no sign of them.  I was about to text my brother to ask what to do if I thought mom and dad were dead in a ditch somewhere when they stumbled in.  At 6:20 in the morning.  My mother upset that my dad made her leave the casino when she was on a roll.  Who are these people?


Onto the rodeo.....we all headed for the Thomas and Mack Center and milled around outside buying t-shirts and grabbing a bite to eat and chatting with some friends from back home that we ran into. 


 
 



Right before we went in, we were standing outside and my dad was facing the opposite direction from me.  He screams, "Hey Billy!"  I thought he saw someone from back home that he knew.  Well, I was freakin wrong.  I turned around and there stood Billy Etbauer, in the flesh.  He shook my dad's hand and said, "Hey man, how ya' doing?  How've you been?"  My dad, in what was probably the first and only time I've ever seen him short on words, sort of stammered and stumbled, "I...uh...well...I've been good."  I stood there like an idiot with my mouth wide open in shock and didn't even grab my camera.  BILLY ETBAUER.  Afterward my dad said, "Well, I mean, it was Billy, of course you say hi.  If there was one cowboy I would have wanted to meet, that was him.  It was pretty cool how I towered over him, huh?"
 

And then, it was time for the big show.  I'm here to tell you, you can think you know what it's like in that building.  You can watch it on tv 100 times and have been to 100 other rodeos in your life.  You don't know.  It's something unreal to be at in person.  A couple of times, I saw my dad's eyes well up a bit.  And that was cool.



The rodeo was great.  Maybe the best night of the 10 to be at.  Shania Twain came out on a bit white horse, much to the approval of my father and boyfriend.  Watching my mother watching the bareback was better than the event.  I guarantee you my dad has bruises on his left arm when she was through.  We cheered like crazy for New Mexican Taos Muncy, who led for a while, but ended up second in saddle bronc.  So crazy, in fact, that the people next to us asked if we were his family.  We New Mexicans stick together like that.  Martin Lucero, whose family lives in New Mexico, won the team roping, so we were quite excited about that too.  Sherry Cervi dominated the barrels.  It was a great night.



When we left, my dad said, "I don't have a bucket list, but if I had one, that would have been on it."  Which made the NFR cooler to me than any other bucket list checkmark that I've gotten.


The next night we didn't get rodeo tickets, but made our way do Freemont Street to watch the rodeo at the Golden Nugget.  Well that turned out to be really awesome as well---they jam pack a bunch of country people into a movie theater-like room with 5 big tvs and a bar right outside the door.  Everyone was hoopin and hollerin and having a great time.

Afterwards we did a tour of Freemont Street (and frankly saw some things that I will never be able to unsee), did a bit of gambling (slots for my mother, craps for my father), and then The Boy from Texas and I decided that midnight was going to do it for us.  Were my parents ready to leave?  Heck no!  They stayed out until after 3 gambling and chatting with some "crazy Canadian guys" at the bar.  You can't hang.  Seriously.



So that pretty well summed it up.  Bucket list checkmark, meeting Billy Etbauer, being shown up by my parents on the fun meter.  Viva Las Vegas!

Friday, January 3, 2014

Fifth Annual Bucket List Year In Review

"If you think back and replay your year, if it doesn't bring you tears either of joy or sadness, consider it wasted.”

I know that you guys are probably sick to death of these year-in-review posts, but this is the very last one.  Over the years, my bucket list has been a source of a ton of fun (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012)!  I have been able to check a ton of things off my list, and this year I added 7 more checkmarks.  Check it out!

1.  Go to the National Finals Rodeo.  I am behind on life and have not written about this yet, but my parents, The Boy from Texas and I all went to Vegas for the rodeo.  And it was freakin awesome.  More to come soon!



2.  Go on a 30th birthday trip.  4 countries.  2 great travel companions.  2 miserable overnight trains.  700+ pictures.  I think that the Eastern European Adventure lived up to my expectations and more.









3.  See Auschwitz.  I knew this would be hard.  I did not know what it would be as hard as it was.  If you ever have the chance to go, do it.  Without a doubt one of the most moving experiences of my life.




4.  Go dancing at Billy Bob's Texas.  Even though The Boy from Texas got there too late for dancing, Real Cowboy filled in and took me for a spin around the dance floor so that I could check this baby off the list.



5.  Have an article published in a magazine.  I actually managed to have two published in Seeing the Every Day this summer.



6.  Fall in love.  There, I said it.  The "L word."  On the blog. 



7.  Give a stranger $100.  Being able to do this in honor of one of the sweetest people in the world's 30th birthday made this even better!