Archive by Author

#26 Walk across the Golden Gate Bridge

5 Mar

Well, I guess I’m failing at my New Year’s resolution (post to my blog right after completing an experience) because I actually checked this one off over Christmas break…oops.

My mom used my list to get ideas for Christmas presents and also for ideas of things to do while I was at home for the week in between Christmas and New Year’s. We kept busy the whole time I was home with one activity after another, which was fantastic!

One day we decided it would be fun to drive to San Francisco and check number 26 off the list. My mom and I got up early, hopped in the car and made our way to the City by the Bay. Two hours later we had found a secret parking area, bundled up in our winter coats and were all set to walk across the Golden Gate Bridge.

It should be noted that when I put this on my list I thought this was a big undertaking, but come to find out that the bridge is only 1.7 miles long and everyone from toddlers to grandparents walk across it. Regardless, we set out to cross the bridge.

After stopping for a ton of photos and dodging bikes and slow pedestrians, we reached the Marin County Line sign, meaning we were officially leaving San Francisco.

When we reached the other side, we headed up to the viewing platform to get a few more photos. 🙂

And check our BlackBerry’s. 🙂

After the little rest, we made our way back across the bridge and encountered this very helpful sign.

Once safely back on the San Francisco side, we contemplating buying these t-shirts, but then decided a photo would suffice.

Some fun facts I learned during our trip:

  • Length of main span – 4,200 ft.
  • Length of one cable – 7,650 ft.
  • Diameter of one cable – 36 3/8 in.
  • Number of wires in one cable – 27,572
  • Total wire used – 80,000 miles
  • Weight of cable – 24,500 tons
  • Height of towers above water – 746 ft.
  • Depth of tower piers below water – 110 ft.

If you’re planning a trip to San Francisco I highly recommend this outing. It’s something everyone can enjoy while getting great views of the city and experiencing one of the California’s most iconic structures.

Thanks for the awesome day mom!

Tags: , , , , ,

#22 Buy a New Car

2 Jan

I’ll preface this one by saying that I think my new year’s resolution needs to be posting to my blog in a more timely fashion because I officially checked this one off the list on Halloween, but better late than never, right?

The search for a new car has been a gradual, ongoing one for a while now. I’ve known that my Passat wasn’t going to last for much longer and that was confirmed when I took it into the mechanic to get the timing belt replaced. He let me know some plastic thingy that goes over the wheels was cracked and would cost $1,000 to replace. With that knowledge, the search became a bit more serious.

I enlisted the help of my dad who is WAY more into cars in general than me (plus, car shopping really is a boy job…).  Initially I thought I wanted a smaller SUV like the Toyota RAV4, but after seeing one pull up at a stoplight next to the 4Runner, I decided that car just looked a little bit funny and wasn’t cool enough for me. 🙂

It was my dad who actually told me to start looking at the Lexus IS250, so I did some research and decided to focus on that and the Lexus RX350. Very different cars, but both were appealing to me for different reasons. From the looks of the used car inventory online, it seemed like the Lexus dealership in Torrance would be a good place to start…WRONG! I went to the dealership by myself, which was honestly pretty intimidating. I was definitely out of my element, but being the strong, independent woman I am, I went for it. After walking around the dealership for a good 20 minutes without a single person even so much as telling me they’d be with me shortly, I was frustrated and left. Maybe I wouldn’t be able to do this on my own…

I wasn’t going to give up that easily though, so a couple weeks later, I stopped by the dealership in Santa Monica. Wow, was that a different experience! I was greeted the moment I walked in the door, offered coffee and cookies and immediately assigned a salesperson. Neal was a nice guy that definitely knew everything there is to know about Lexus’. We test drove both the car and the SUV, but I still couldn’t make up my mind. To help me out, the manager let me borrow the brand new RX350 for a day. I was amazed that they were putting this much faith in me…and petrified that I would scratch it or hit something! After driving it for a day, I really loved it, but decided that I would be more comfortable in the car.

I now had to decide if I wanted to buy a used car or lease a new one. Everyone in my family has always bought used cars, so that’s what I am more comfortable with, but after hearing Neal out, I could see the benefits of leasing as well. I found a couple of used cars that I wanted to check out before making my decision, so I grabbed a couple of my friends – Gian and Logan – the next weekend and went to go check out the options. I figured with two boys by my side, I would get some respect at the dealerships.

Unfortunately we weren’t able to find the perfect match. The one at CarMax was dirty and they don’t negotiate at all on the price (who knew!). And the other one was priced too high and they wouldn’t negotiate as much as I wanted. So, I headed back home empty handed and a little bit discouraged. Part of the problem was that thanks to all the research my dad and I had done, I knew exactly what I wanted – a white IS250 with tan leather interior and navigation. At this point I had decided I wanted to buy, not lease, and it was proving difficult to find exactly the car I had in mind.

Everything changed though on Halloween. I got a call from Neal at the Santa Monica dealership letting me know he had my car. He told me I needed to head over right away. Thankfully since Halloween was on a Monday, I didn’t have any plans, so I hopped in my car and drove to the dealership. I really wanted to see the car and see how much they would negotiate since it was the last day of the month, but I had absolutely no intention of buying a car. I figured I would wait until my dad was in town the next weekend, so he could help me with the negotiation part.

I met up with Neal and he took me across the street to the used car lot…the moment I saw it I knew it was the one. It was everything I had been looking for. We took it for a quick test drive and starting talking price. It didn’t take long to get to a price I was completely comfortable with, but I had promised my dad I wouldn’t sign anything. I stepped away to quickly give him a call and get his advice and surprisingly he told me to go for it. With that and a solid hour of paperwork the car was mine.

It was such an amazing experience. I have been a pretty independent person for quite a while, but this was one of the most empowering and liberating things I have ever done. I bought a car all on my own!

The following weekend my parents came down to visit…they had intended to help me find a car, but instead they helped me sell my old one. I was just going to sell it to CarMax, but my dad was able to find a buyer on Craig’s List who was willing to pay twice as much! Sold!

I have had my car for two months now and it is perfect! It has all the features a person could ever want…including a back-up camera. And best of all, I don’t have to worry about it breaking. I couldn’t be happier.

Tags: , , , ,

#28 Watch a futbol game in Spain – Part 2 (Ibiza)

31 Oct

Due to the delay at the Barcelona airport, I arrived in Ibiza around 10 p.m. I felt bad about getting there so late because I had planned to meet up with my cousin and introduce her to my LA friends Heidi and Ronnie. Well, turns out I had nothing to worry about. Being the social, resourceful people they are somehow the three of them met up on their own. The other problem with being late was that my cell phone didn’t work, so if everyone had already left to go out for the night, there was no way I would find them. I dropped my stuff in my room and quickly ran over to the room registered to Heidi  (no phones in the room, so you have to get off your butt and actually walk over there). To my pleasant surprise, Heidi opened the door to reveal my cousin and Ronnie hanging out and ready to go out for the night.

I was quick to learn that in Ibiza time works on a completely different schedule. Let me walk you through a typical day – wake up at noon, have lunch, take a siesta until 5 p.m., get up and have some drinks, get ready, go to dinner around 11 p.m., go to the club at 3 a.m., go to bed at 11 a.m. Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m getting old and I can’t keep up with a schedule like that. Don’t get me wrong, I gave it a shot (literally), but my body quickly reminded me that I’m not 21 anymore.

We went out the first night to one of the big typical Ibiza clubs. The word big doesn’t really do this place justice though. It was gigantic. So many different rooms. At one point we were in a room with a stage and a rock concert going on. This place put Hollywood to shame!

One awesome (read: not so awesome) thing about Ibiza is the cost of a drink. It’s somewhere in the neighborhood of $25 for one drink. And this isn’t even a large, generously poured drink. This is one measured out shot, two ice cubes and a can of coke on the side. Needless to say, I definitely recommend drinking before going to the club.

So after a couple hundred dollars in alcohol, endless rooms of different types of music, dancing on a platform, meeting some of my cousins friends and nearly 100 photos (we tend to take a lot of pics when we’re drunk), we finally decided to head home.

Now while you probably think the next morning is the moment when I remembered I’m not in college anymore, prepare to be shocked. None of us felt amazing, but we did make it out of the room the next day. Here is the mistake though – we started drinking out at the beach (where I met my future husbands – see below) and NEVER stopped!

I realize I’m making us all sound like lushes right now, but understand that’s what people do in Ibiza. We went out that night to a more loungy, Miami-style place, which did indeed close at 2 a.m., but the damage had already been done…

The next morning we woke up early to take a ferry over to the island of Formentera with a group of Brittany’s friends and I was not in good shape. **This is the moment I was referring to earlier.** This was the moment that I wished I could just curl up in my own bed at home. Instead, I made the decision to get on a ferry in incredibly choppy waters. Needless to say, that was not a good idea. We made it to the island and after renting three motos and a car, we made our way to a couple of beaches. It was absolutely gorgeous and the water was so clear that even I swam in it! In retrospect, I probably should have just stayed at the hotel and recovered, but I never want to miss out on the fun.

We made it safely back to Ibiza and parted ways from Brittany’s friends. We decided to just keep it mellow that night and the four of us went to dinner in the harbor. One really cool part about this is around midnight every night all the dancers from the clubs walk through the street singing and performing, basically trying to entice people to come to their club. I think it is a really cool idea and provided for some good entertainment as well.

We had one, absolutely amazing drink and then called it a night.

Well, most of us that is. Brit ran into some old friends from when she used to live on the island and decided to go check out one of the clubs. It was the perfect night for me and Brit got to do what she wanted as well, so it was a win-win for all!

For our next and final day in Ibiza Heidi, Ronnie and I wanted to go do some touristy stuff, so we parted ways from Brittany, who went meet up with her friends. The three of us walked around an old castle that overlooks the island and the ocean. It was beautiful and actually very interesting. I would have never expected to find history on a party island.

It was also a cool experience because it was completely deserted, as we were there during siesta (since we went to bed at a decent hour the night before, we didn’t need a siesta).

After that we did some souvenir shopping and then headed back to the hotel.

I hadn’t had paella yet, so we decided to go out for a nice final dinner. We ended up finding a place that had the most interesting menu I have ever seen. Zebra? Really?

It worked out well for us though because Heidi wanted sushi, which they had, and I wanted paella, which they also had. I’m not sure if there’s anything this restaurant didn’t have!

It was a great dinner and a perfect ending to the trip.

The next morning I got up and went back to the airport. Three quick flights (Ibiza to Barcelona, Barcelona to Paris and Paris to LA) and I was back at home.

I had the most amazing time in Spain. It was so great to see and experience the culture firsthand. I can’t wait to go back sometime and if you’ve never been I highly recommend it. Just be sure if you’re going to Ibiza, you know what you’re in for!

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

#28 Watch a futbol game in Spain – Part 1 (Barcelona)

4 Oct

In a last minute decision, I decided to use my vacation time to meet up with my good friends Heidi Loera and Ronnie Landazuri during their trip to Spain. Since I just started my new job and didn’t have too much vacation time, I wasn’t able to do the exact same itinerary, so I planned to meet up with my cousin Brittany in Barcelona and then head over to Ibiza to meet Heidi and Ronnie for the second half of their trip. The experience was so amazing and I did so much that I’ve decided to break it up into two blog posts, so here goes part 1…Barcelona.

After 15 hours of travel that included short stops in Salt Lake City and Paris, I arrived in Barcelona.

Quick airport tips – you may want to change some money there to get you started. Surprisingly, the airport exchange rate was one of the best I found in the whole city, only second to my cousin exchanging money for me at her own bank. DO NOT make a call from the airport payphone on your credit card unless you really need to. A few minutes=$50. There are a couple of options for transportation from the airport. A taxi will run you about 30 Euro, but I recommend the aerobus. It was only 5 Euro and it was really nice. I was sort of expecting a city bus with 300 people and some chickens, but it was a nice, air conditioned coach that only made a few stops before arriving in Plaza Catalunya.

Upon exiting the bus I heard someone yelling my name, “Nikki!.” Well, not that many people call me Nikki anymore and I don’t know too many people in Spain, so that meant only one thing…it was my cousin! She told her work that she couldn’t come in that day because I was visiting…gotta love that. They even let me store my suitcase there while we went exploring!

We walked around the plaza, checked out some archicture created by Gaudi, a famous a Spanish Catalan architect and stopped to enjoy some tapas and sangria and a cute little outdoor restaurant. That was one of the things I loved about Barcelona…all of the restaurants have wonderful outdoor seating areas. The weather was beautiful, so I thought this was the perfect way to dine. I gave into the jet lag and went to bed fairly early that night knowing I had a couple of big sight-seeing days ahead of me.

On day 2 of my trip, my cousin and her British roommate Emma had to go to work, so I joined some of her roommate’s friends on a little outing to Montjuic, a hill that overlooks the entire city. At the top of the hill there is a massive castle called Castell de Montjuïc.

The views from the top of the hill were spectacular and really helped demonstrate the massive size of the city.

We took several forms of transportation to get to the top – metro, funicular and finally a cable car that was sort of like a small gondola at a ski resort. On the way down though we decided to walk through the beautiful gardens, as this is one of the greenest areas of the entire city.

From there we met up with my cousin and the two of us decided to go on an impromptu bike tour of the city. They have these amazing little bike stations called bicing. If you are a resident, you can subscribe to the service that lets you check out a bike from one location and return it to any other station throughout the city…genius! My cousin’s roommate uses the service, so she let me borrow her card for the day.

The bike tour was one of my favorite things I did on the entire trip. It was unplanned, which I love, and we got to see so much of the city. I highly recommend seeing Barcelona by bike. In the span of a couple hours we saw some amazing churches and museums, the Arc de Triomf (didn’t even know they had one in Spain before this), amazing gardens, the famous Sagrada Familia and so much more. Some guy even asked me if I spoke English…I must have looked incredibly Spanish on my bike.

After a fun day out and about in the city we went back to Brittany’s place to get ready to go out and meet a couple of her friends for some drinks. We got the plaza before the others, so we had the opportunity to enjoy an interesting unique experience. People were just hanging out around big fountain in the middle of the plaza and guys would come up to you and ask if you wanted a beer. For 1 Euro they would give you a beer from their 6-pack and you just stand there drinking it….highly illegal everywhere in the U.S. with the exception of Vegas and I think New Orleans (?). Next we met up with Brittany’s friends Denise and Ster…really awesome girls and I had a great time getting to know. Ster is actually a Spanish clown, so you can just imagine how fun she is to be around!

The next day Brittany took off to Ibiza and I went out to continue exploring the city on my own. I had seen the super-touristy double-decker red buses around the city the previous days, so I determined that would be the best way for me to see as much as possible during my last day in the city. It was an excellent decision. I spent a good 8 hours roaming around Barcelona that day and the bus was the perfect form of transportation. They give you a headset when you buy your ticket (which is only 30 Euro), so you can plug in and listen to a guide explain all the sites your are passing from stop to stop. I had already decided that I needed to visit Park Guell based on everything I had heard, so I made that my first destination. The park was beautiful.

It offered another breathtaking view of the city and is a fantastic combination of peaceful natural surroundings and the artistic style of Gaudi. I hiked around the entire park, which is quite extensive. It was a nice little workout, especially considering the sweltering heat (much better than cold weather in my opinion). Just as I got to an amazing lookout point my camera died (travel lesson for me to charge my camera every night). I’m obsessed with taking photos though, so upon leaving the park I walked around looking in shops until I found a disposable camera to finish out the day.

After getting back on the bus, the next stop I made was at the FC Barcelona stadium. Now it should be noted that the team was not in town, so I didn’t have the chance to see a match in person, but watching it on TV and going to the stadium is enough for me to check this off my list (don’t judge!). Brittany’s other roommate works at the stadium, so she had given me a pass to take a tour of the museum and the stadium. It was an amazing sight to see and I can only imagine what is like filled with thousands of screaming fans.

These photos were taken with an amazing Kodak yellow disposable camera. Not embarassing at all to ask strangers who barely speak English to take a photo of you with that amazing piece of photography equipment. Oh well!

Believe it or not, these two stops had already taken up a good part of the day because I was so into both places that I spent a significant amount of time at each one. I was a little bit tired from all the walking around, so I decided to let the bus and the pre-recorded guide show me the rest of the city. From the gorgeous Museo Nacional d’Art de Catalunya to the stadiums where the Olympics took place to the ports and beach area, I think I saw almost all of Barcelona. I highly recommend the bus tour. It was a great value and an excellent way to see the whole city.

I headed back to the apartment to see if I could catch Brittany’s roommate and her friends before they headed out for the night, and luckily I caught them just in time. We went out to an Irish pub (don’t ask me…I guess it’s the fun locals spot though) and ran into even more of my cousin’s friends. I have to say that they were all super nice and welcoming. It was great to already have a built-in network of people to hang out with.

Next we went to a drum and bass club. Now, if you had asked me what that was a couple of weeks ago I would have had no idea. Now I can tell you it’s a little bit like the band Prodigy. It was definitely interesting. The group I was with though was really fun so I had a great time. I can’t exactly keep up with the Brits though, so I sent myself home in a taxi around 2 a.m. It should be noted that people in Spain operate on an entirely different timetable than we do in the U.S. They are practically nocturnal, but more about that in part 2 of the Spain tale.

The next day I was off to the airport to catch my flight to Ibiza to meet back up with my cousin and Heidi and Ronnie. One last little tip – the Barcelona airport literally has a mall in it, so don’t worry if you get there early….there’s plenty to do. Our flight was actually about 3 hours delayed, so I just did some shopping, posted some very important messages on Facebook and grabbed a beer. I seemed to be a little more calm about the situation than some others though. The cultural difference there was astounding. The Spanish people were up at the counter surrounding the poor gate agent and yelling at her. I felt so bad. I guess it works though because the other day I got an email apologizing for my experience and offering a 25% discount for the next time I fly that airline. It was all very interesting. Eventually, the small riot subsided and we all got on the plane. Off to Ibiza! I had no idea what I was in for…

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

#1 Go skydiving

19 Aug

With experience number 1 under my belt, we set out this past Sunday to check number 2 off the list. For as long as I can remember I’ve wanted to go skydiving, so Jonny Dangerously (appropriately named), Logan Cromwell and I met in Orange County for a nutritious breakfast and started our trek to San Diego to jump out of a plane. There are several places to go skydiving in Southern California – Santa Barbara, Perris, San Diego (there may even be others) – but we chose San Diego because of the amazing views we knew were in store. (Nothing against the lovely town of
Perris, CA.)

The drive to SD was pretty quick…probably because we were all as excited as little kids on Christmas. We arrived at  Skydive San Diego in plenty of time to use the luxurious porta-potties, watch a disclaimer video from 1972 and sign our lives away. We then attended a “training” session. I use the word training loosely here because the only real instruction we got were to arch our backs and bend our legs up trying to kick our instructors in the butt. Armed
with this knowledge we were ready to go.

After a short wait we were assigned to our instructors. I was paired with the same guy who had given our training – André. We chatted a bit as he was strapping me into the harness and I found out that André is from Brazil and only skydives part time, working for Southwest the rest of the time (mainly to get the free flights 🙂 ). Most of the instructors do this full time – jumping about 15 times per day – but André wants to be sure he doesn’t lose the passion for it, so cut back to only three days per week. Next we met Matt, my photographer. The three of us had a quick consultation about what faces to make and what hairstyle would result in the best photos (I’m sure you can guess whose idea this little meeting was).

Trained and fully acquainted with the man who was soon going to be responsible for my life, we headed out to the field and hopped on the plane. As we started to climb I was getting increasingly excited. I checked in with André to see how high up we were and his response was, “halfway.” This was the only moment that I got a little bit nervous because “halfway” was REALLY high up. I got over that quickly though and the excitement took over once again. Looking around the plane, people were starting to sit on their instructors laps to get attached and ready to jump.

Before you knew it, one by one the plane was emptying out. I was the last to jump and it felt like only a matter of seconds before it was my turn. Now, that moment everyone thinks they’re going to have skydiving – the one where you are staring out the door of the plane down to the earth below and think “I don’t know if I can do this” – didn’t happen. Smartly, the instructors don’t allow time for self-doubt. By the time you get over to the door, you are jumping out.

We jumped from 13,000 feet and freefell for approximately 60 seconds. The exhilarating feeling of falling from the sky was amazing and something that I don’t think I can even get close to accurately describing here. We spun in circles and posed for photos…it was amazing! What is even more impressive is the photographer. Without being attached to you, he stays right there, only a matter of feet away, capturing every moment of likely the most
adventurous thing you’ve ever done in your life.

At 5,000 feet André pulled the cord and the parachute opened up. The speed and rate at which you are falling toward the earth changes significantly at this point. You go from the force of the wind pushing back and distorting your face to a peaceful floating feeling. Personally, I liked the face-altering freefall part the best. With the parachute deployed everything is so calm and peaceful that you can now talk to your instructor and enjoy the view. Andre let me steer for a bit (super easy) and we got to spin in some fast circles as well. After about 8 minutes of floating back down to reality we came in for a smooth and easy landing.

At this point the exhilaration and amazement of what you have just done takes over. I ran over to my friends for a big group hug and we all exclaimed with excitement about how awesome the experience was. We had such a great time that we immediately started planning our next trip. Unless you are deathly, paralyzingly afraid of heights, I think everyone should try skydiving. It was an incomparable experience that provides an ultimate rush. I am so happy that I got the opportunity to do it and so thankful that my amazing friends Logan and Jonny were there to experience it with me.

Tags: , , , , ,

#11 Go horseback riding by the Hollywood sign – Yee Haw!

15 Aug

This weekend got off to a great start with plans to check the first thing off my list. I should kick this off with a little bit of background on how this item actually made it to the list. A couple of years ago one of my best friends, Anita Singh, and I were watching an episode of “The Girls Next Door,” a great show from the masterminds at E! Entertainment, that featured the girls horseback riding up by the Hollywood sign. It looked like so much fun that we vowed to go on the same adventure sometime soon (see the video below for a taste of how we got convinced). After talking about doing it for several of my birthdays to no avail, I decided it needed to be added to the list to actually get accomplished.

To get our adventure started Anita and another one of my closest friends, Heidi Loera, met at my place in Marina del Rey. We got decked out in our best horseback riding/cowgirl outfits (Heidi even Googled it to be sure we were dressed appropriately) and headed out to Hollywood. Note that we definitely would have been wearing cowboy hats if we weren’t provided with those stylish white helmets. As we were climbing the hill with the Hollywood sign getting bigger and bigger right before our eyes, we knew we were almost there.

Despite being located right in Hollywood, Sunset Ranch is no sissy horseback riding attraction. It’s a real ranch and you can smell the horses from a mile away. After a short wait and several photo opps, we were matched up with our horses – Anita with Trigger, Heidi with Patches, and me with Ace. Now they mention in the “Girls Next Door” episode that the horses are matched to their riders personality – I’d say that mine was a little pushy and stubborn, Anita’s was well behaved aside from stopping to eat a lot, and Heidi’s was a bit rebellious – take from that what you want. 🙂

The ride was really fun. We went through the hills and up to the top where we were able to get an amazing scenic panoramic view of Los Angeles (so you know we took at least 100 photos…especially with Anita there!). The only disappointing part was that we didn’t get to be closer to the Hollywood sign, but I think that’s a preservation thing, so I’ll get over it.

The website warns that “you will use muscles that you may not have known you had,” and boy were they right! My knees were hurting by the end of the ride and today my butt and legs are a little sore. I guess that’s what happens as you start getting older! My only other warning/suggestion would be to bring a bandana to cover your face. While it looks ridiculous, it will protect you from breathing in all the dirt that gets kicked up on the ride (just don’t take any photos during that part).

Overall, it was an amazing experience that I’m so happy I was able to share with two of my closest friends. We checked the first thing off my list and I will remember it forever!

Tags: , , , ,

THE LIST

9 Aug

Today is the big day! I’m no longer in my 20’s and can’t blame any of my mistakes on being young and dumb (here’s to hoping there aren’t many more…). After a lot of thought, consideration and input from some of my closest friends, here it is…the list of 40 things I want to do before I turn 40. I’ve already got a couple of things lined up for this weekend, but if you see anything here you also want to do, let me know and we can check something off our lists together!

  1. Go skydiving
  2. Learn to use my toe edge snowboarding
  3. Ride in a hot air balloon
  4. Run a 10K
  5. Pay off my credit cards
  6. Bask in the sun on the Greek islands
  7. Become actively involved with a charity
  8. Keep a plant alive for more than three months
  9. Fly an airplane
  10. Ride a gondola in Venice, Italy
  11. Go horseback riding by the Hollywood sign
  12. Go to a fashion show at NY Fashion Week
  13. Watch the sunrise on a deserted beach
  14. Try my hand at class 4 white-water rafting
  15. Visit the Guinness Factory in Ireland
  16. See a Broadway show
  17. Start my own business
  18. Weigh the weight listed on my driver’s license
  19. Go to the Magic Castle
  20. Learn to speak Spanish
  21. See an opera at the Sydney Opera House
  22. Buy a new car
  23. Learn to change my own oil
  24. Start taking dance classes again
  25. Learn how to cook a signature dish
  26. Walk across the Golden Gate Bridge
  27. Buy a condo/house
  28. Watch a futbol game in Spain
  29. Go to the Kentucky Derby
  30. Stay in one of those bungalows over the water in a tropical location
  31. Research my family tree
  32. Go on an African safari
  33. Learn to play golf
  34. Get an adorable little dog
  35. Learn to meditate
  36. Study various religions and explore my spirituality
  37. Swim in the Blue Lagoon in Iceland
  38. Take an epic road trip
  39. Find my soul mate, fall in love and get married
  40. Have a baby (after getting married)

Continue reading →

Tags: , ,

30 Amazing Things By 30

6 Aug

As I’m preparing for my birthday party tonight and my actual birthday on Tuesday, I started thinking about all the cool things I’ve already done and experienced in my life. I’ve done a fair amount of traveling and shared some special moments with some of my favorite celebs, so in anticipation of the “40 before 40” list I’ll be posting on Tuesday, I thought I would put together a list of 30 amazing things I did before turning 30. I’ve had the privilege of sharing these experiences with some awesome people, so I’m sure this will bring back memories for some of you reading this. Enjoy!

 

  1. Went swimming with the dolphins in Grand Cayman
  2. Met and shared a longing gaze with George Clooney
  3. Flew over glaciers and then landed on the ocean in a seaplane
  4. Ziplined through the trees in Alaska and Puerto Vallarta
  5. Saw the Mayan ruins in Tulum
  6. Went snorkeling with sea turtles in the Bahamas and Hawaii
  7. Took an oyster shooter in Vegas
  8. Flew right next to Mt. McKinley in a prop plane
  9. Bought a “designer” purse from a sketchy man in a van in NY
  10. Talked about playing the banjo with Dave Matthews
  11. Lived on Kauai for a summer
  12. Danced in a parade in Paris
  13. Sponsored a family for Christmas
  14. Traveled with a professional cycling race
  15. Attempted to take a photo of the Mona Lisa
  16. Got a tattoo that was specially drawn for me
  17. Went parasailing in Puerto Vallarta, Hawaii and Cabo San Lucas
  18. Took a photo in 4 states at one time
  19. Walked through a real castle in Versailles
  20. Held a monkey in the rainforest in Honduras
  21. Drank a Duck Fart with the locals (and a group of rowdy travel bloggers) in Alaska
  22. Walked through Central Park in stiletto boots
  23. Jumped off the top of a waterfall in Hawaii
  24. Got into the communications major at UCSB and graduated in 4 years
  25. Waited on Jack Johnson and then reminded him I had been his server when I met him for the second time (very smooth)
  26. Took Jell-O shots with my mom in Vegas
  27. Cheered at the Big West tournament as a UCSB Gaucho cheerleader
  28. Hung out with Egypt’s head of antiquities at the King Tut museum exhibit
  29. Danced at the halftime of a Clipper’s game
  30. Started a blog

Tags: , ,

40 Things I Want To Do Before I Turn 40

1 Aug

As my 30th birthday kept creeping closer and closer, everyone started asking me what I would be doing to celebrate. Now this is a logical question, especially considering the bashes I’ve thrown the past couple of years – rooftop pool party in Manhattan Beach when I turned 28, golf-themed pub crawl complete with costumes and scorecards for my 29th – but this year was different. I hadn’t put any thought into my birthday and I honestly just wasn’t very excited about it at all. That was until the morning of Wednesday, July 27.

While getting ready for work, in the shower to be exact, I had an epiphany – I didn’t want to get drunk and crazy for my birthday; I wanted to start doing some of the things I had always wanted to do…start checking off my bucket list. In general, I’m not a fan of the term “bucket list” because it sounds way too morbid – and let’s be honest, I’m getting old, but not THAT old – so I decided to create a list of 40 things I want to accomplish before I’m 40.

I’m still working on creating the actual list, but I plan to post it on my birthday (Aug. 9). So far some of them are pretty simple, but I somehow have still managed to put them off, and some are a bit more complicated and will take a little planning. I’m hoping that when I turn 40 (or hopefully even before then) I’ll be able to look at this list and know that I had an awesome 10 years doing the things I have always wanted to do. And then it will be time for 50 things to do before I’m 50!

Tags: , ,

Newer Entries →