Category Archives: 30 New Things

30 Things I Wanted To Do

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Well, it is the day after my 30th birthday and you know what?  I feel the exact same as I did yesterday.  I had a nice, normal day.  This really is what my life revolves around now: work, music, food, and family/friends. Luckily for me I have a job I love: helping musicians work on their websites, designing stuff, writing. I took my little doggy to the dog park for a run in the sun on my lunch hour. So my day, though uneventful, was fulfilling and flew by.

And my sweet sister in Toronto sent me these as a surprise:

Flowers

After work, I went to the Brookstreet hotel’s patio to watch Tyler play and sing under a beautiful warm summer sky, sipped wine, ate appetizers, told stories and showed off my trip pictures, surrounded my friends and family.

Tyler Kealey at the Brookstreet hotel

When I wrote my original post, vowing to carry out 30 tasks in the next 8 months, I thought I’d have plenty of time.  I’ll paint a picture!  I’ll weave a basket! Why not?? Well, I kind of failed at completing everything, but – I think scored pretty well given the idea behind it.

The idea behind 30 things before 30 was to try to make myself do things I wouldn’t normal do.  I don’t like change, I’m happy to stay at home, rattling around doing the same thing every day, safely behind my computer, or in the kitchen, where I know what I’m doing and I feel comfortable.  I don’t travel a lot – I find it stressful and weird being out of a routine.  But look:

beach toes

Here I am, on the other side of the world, feeling the breeze on my sun-warmed face, listening to the waves gently washing up on the shore and the birds screeching overhead, and I know that sometimes change is just the best.  You get to see and experience different and exciting things.  It makes the uneasiness of stepping out of your comfort zone worthwhile, times a million.

So…while I didn’t tick off every item on my list, I did get quite a few and I’m happy about that.  For everything I didn’t get to – I have a whole other year.  And another. And hopefully many more after that.

1. Eat 5 foods that I think I hate ~ mushrooms (not so bad).
2. Try 5 foods I’ve never had before ~ alligator, pulled pork, kangaroo, Vegemite, flying fish eggs
3. Bake a pie from scratch
4. Eat vegan for a week
5. Go wine tasting

6. Make 5 new blog friends
7. Comment on a different blog everyday for a month ~ actually did this back in November!
8. Learn how to use Twitter properly ~ yess…Tweeting away
9. Learn 5 different WordPress plug-ins

10. Learn a song on the guitar
11. Learn to sing Ave Maria in Latin
12. Discover 5 new musical artists ~ finding out new ones ALL the time. I love it.

13. Watch 5 popular movies that I haven’t seen before
14. Read 5 famous books that I’ve never read ~ Anna Karenina so far
15. Donate to 5 charities with either money or time
16. Volunteer at an animal shelter
17. Teach my dog to heel

18. Skate on the Rideau canal ~ (well, I TRIED)
19. Do yoga or pilates every day for a month
20. Take an aquafitness class
21. Be able to do 30 pushups in a row ~ am up to about 15, not bad

22. Travel to a new country
23. See the statue of Liberty
24. Get a facial

25. Write a short story or a poem ~ sort of.
26. Paint a painting
27. Decorate my living room
28. Plant a vegetable garden
29. Knit a scarf

30. Watch a sunrise and sunset on the same day

Best Blogs of 2010

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I started my own lil blog in 2010, and little did I know that there was a huge community out there of avid and incredibly interesting bloggers.

Whether they blog for business or pleasure, I have each of these great blogs in my google reader and check them out as soon as they post something new. I know it’s bound to be a great read. It’s really tough to narrow it down, but here are my Top 12 blogs for 2011 (I origianlly was going to do 11, you know, top 11 for 2011, but I just couldn’t narrow it down!)

Check them out!

Yes and Yes - This is a lifestyle blog and was the one that really inspired me to start my own blog as well as my 30 things to do before 30 list. I love following Sarah Von’s adventures. Amazing, wonderful, I can’t say enough about how much I love reading this blog!

Organic Pixels – Linds blogs about everyday stuff – just like me! Her likes, dislikes, dogs, new recipes, and she takes great photos. She is also way funnier than me!

Life of K – K is a high school chum and I love being able to keep up with her adventures as a new mom (soon to be of 2!) through her down to earth blog.

Peach Pit – Peach is another high school acquaintance and simply cracks me up. Warning: her blog is a wee bit on the vulgar (but absolutely hilarious) side.

Ottawa Dog Blog – I found the Ottawa Dog Blog after many hours of researching the kind of puppy I wanted. Liz has a pup from the same place that we got Herman and I’ll always be thankful that she pointed me in their direction. Great place to read about and discuss doggies!

Capital Mom – I don’t know Capital Mom and I don’t have kids, but I probably enjoy her “mommy” blog the best (and I read quite a few!) I think it’s because I love the way she writes. She could write about making a tuna sandwich and I’d want to read it.

Line 25 – I’m always excited when Chris Spooner posts a new blog. I love his web design Sites of the Week especially.

Blog Tyrant – There are 3 blogs about blogging that I really enjoy, and Blog Tyrant is one of them. I find him to be a very straight shooter and insightful with an attitude.

Chris Brogan – Connecting, networking, blogging and marketing your brand. I find Chris Brogan so incredibly inspiring. Every time I catch up on his blog I feel like getting all kinds of work done. I just love it.

Six Pixels of Separation – Social Media and marketing made simple. Or at least, Mitch Joel de-constructs things in a way that makes you want to engage in a discussion. And isn’t that what its all about?

Smitten Kitchen – I read a ton, and I mean a TON of cooking blogs, and hers is probably my favourite. I adore her writing style, she is very particular and experiments to make the best food. I’m never let down by her recipes and every time I visit her site, I find another one I just HAVE to make.

Brown Eyed Baker – I swear by her baked goods, and am dying to try to make some of her cheesecakes. Oh. Yum. Craving brownies now.

I follow a lot of other bloggers, both in feeds and on Twitter, and I encourage you to do the same. The internet has opened such a crazy wide world for us and I’m enjoying every bit of it! I’m sure this time next year I’ll have discovered even more interesting, engaging, wonderful blogs.

One of my goals (resolutions?) is to work on and redo the way my blog looks, and organize it a bit more. So stay tuned!

Here’s hoping everyone had a fantastic 2010 and here’s to an even better 2011!

Halloween at the Black Sheep Inn

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HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Sorry I’m late in posting this, after my teaser about our great, homemade costumes! It’ll be worth the wait, I promise – just keep reading!

So my sister was in town this weekend to practice driving, and take her test on Monday. She drove us out to Wakefield on Sunday afternoon for some drinks, food, costumes, and great music.

sheep at the black sheep

We arrived at the Black Sheep Inn around 3:30pm. Needless to say, when we couldn’t think of a good idea for costumes, we took inspiration from the bar (which is one of Tyler’s favourite places to play, as well). BAAAAHHH!!!

sheep at the Black Sheep

Some other great costumes too – like Man caught in Wind, a crayon, a cat, and Nacho Libre. Oh, and my sister the wolf (who did our nose make-up. and Nacho’s mustache touch-up. yeeeeah!).

Halloween costumes at the Black Sheep Inn

Wolf costume at the Black Sheep Inn

AND – I ate another food item that I haven’t tried before. I’m really glad I added that to my list, because I always get the same kinda thing when I eat out cause I know I’m going like it and what-if-I-pay-money-for-something-and-then-don’t-like-it? But instead of a club or something predictable I got a pulled pork sandwich. I know, I’ve never had one before – I’m crazy!! Not really a pork eater. But, take that club sandwich – the pork was AMAZING! As was the salad, and I also polished off most of Tyler’s sweet potato fries. Goooooood food.

pulled pork at the Black Sheep

Did I mention great music? First up was Brothers Chaffey, and then Silver Creek. The afternoon went by so fast – the music was great and perfectly suited for an afternoon/evening out in the crisp country. Check out their websites and you’ll see what I mean!

Silver Creek at the Black Sheep Inn

costumes

My sister drove us home, to get a little more practice, but while she was driving, I noticed that the lights were dimming and flashing, and the wipers were moving really, really slowly. I tried to be calm and directed her to pull over, and then we couldn’t get the car started again. Oh no! Luckily we weren’t too far from my dad’s house, and he got us jumped and I left the car overnight at my mechanics (Update – just got home after forking out $485 for a new alternator! Ugh!)

It was also lucky that we had our nice warm sheep hats to keep us warm while we waited in the car for rescue.

sheep at the Black Sheep

Hope everyone had a great Halloween!