My 30 Before 30 List!

Creating my "30 Before 30" list was more difficult than I imagined. While I was thinking of items to put on the list, I would feel these sudden urges to write down ridiculous goals, like "Learn how to surf" or "Climb to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro." But then I realized something. I don't want to learn how to surf, and I really don't want to climb to the top of the highest mountain in Africa.

I do have big goals in life, and I do want to accomplish significant things before I turn 30, but I want this to be a FUN list with a good mixture of easy and difficult things that are possible for me to finish.

Also, whether I complete the list or not, thanks for coming along for the ride.

1. Finish Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred (because we saw how well my attempt at Slim in 6 turned out)
2. Take a weekend trip
3. Try a new restaurant
4. Make homemade ice cream
5. Have a girls night
6. Throw a party
7. Go hiking
8. Print wedding photos (now putting them somewhere is a different story)
9. Redecorate one room in my home
10. Run a race
11. Read five New York Times Best Sellers and review them here
12. Bake a cake from scratch
13. Document a "day in my life" with photos
14. Spend time exploring a city in Georgia
15. Visit an Atlanta attraction
16. Try Pinkberry (they finally made it to Atlanta)
17. Write a short story
18. Decorate my work office
19. Plan and implement an entire date day
20. Volunteer for a worthy cause (besides English School, where I have volunteer taught English to foreign adults for nearly three years)
21. Go on a picnic
22. Spend a whole (non-sick) day lounging around the house with movies, books, etc.
23. Do 100 consecutive push-ups
24. Create a scrapbook
25. Go dancing
26. Visit a museum
27. Create an A-Z album (idea borrowed from Janet)
28. Make cupcakes
29. Create a new cocktail
30. Visit a foreign country

Top Five: The Comedy Movies I Never Get Sick of Watching Edition

While I finish thinking up my "30 Before 30" list, I am going to take another page from Slice of Pink Janet's blogging playbook. She listed the top five movie she never gets sick of, but when I tried to think of those top five, I realized that I like way too many movies to just list my top five in whatever genre. So, I narrowed my focus to comedy. Because I watch way too many movies, and I put way too much thought into this post.

So, here are the top five COMEDIES I never get sick of watching.

Groundhog Day (1993)



Don't drive angry. Don't drive angry!

Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001)



Great. I was wearing a carpet.

Something’s Gotta Give (2003)



I'm so glad they still work. I haven't used them for kissing in such a long time, more like for wearing lipstick... and whistling.

Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)



Milk was a bad choice.

Shaun of the Dead (2004)



As Mr. Sloan always says, there is no "I" in team, but there is an "I" in pie. And there's an "I" in meat pie. Anagram of meat is team... I don't know what he's talking about.

What's on your list?

A 20-something for a little longer

In Februrary, I turned 29. Woo. 29.

Can you feel the excitement?

Am I where I want to be since I turned "almost 30?" The next statement could not be truer: I am in a place I never thought I wanted or where I thought I could be, but I am so happy to be here.

I married my best friend; I finally figured myself out enough to stop worrying about becoming something and just being; and I started a new career path that I truly enjoy.

Are things perfect? Not even close. Would I trade it for anything? No.

All that to say, I feel I have some things I would like to do before I'm 30. Even though I kind of sucked at my 109 in 2009 list.

So, in the spirit of my blog friend Janet's "30 Before 30" list (on which she received an "A"), I will spend time during my family trip to Florida this weekend coming up with 30 things I would like to do over the next eight months.

Suggestions are, of course, most welcome. Encouragement (and chocolate) are also appreciated.

The WORST nail salon in Atlanta

Well, the worst that I have tried.

On April 30, the day before my wedding, I really wanted to go somewhere special to have my nails done. I had purchased a Groupon coupon to be used at the Cure Nail and Body Bar in the Castleberry Hill part of Atlanta. As an aside, I shall one day declare my love for all things Groupon in a post that will most likely be long and drippy.

Anyways.

I have always gone to the $30 mani/pedi places, and for the past year or more I have done my own nails (which I highly recommend!), but I thought that an $80 Spa Tender Toe Love pedicure and Palm Passion manicure - that I got for $35 thanks to a deal I bought through Groupon - would be amazing. But Cure Nail and Body Bar was so unbelievably horrible.

The first part of the day had been wonderful. My bridesmaids and I had a great lunch and margaritas at No Mas! Cantina (a delicious, but overpriced restaurant). We were looking forward to what we thought would be a great day at a nail spa. Um, no.

The owner was INCREDIBLY RUDE from the moment I called to confirm our appointments; she didn't want to hear that my mom had been unable to join us. She made me feel extremely uncomfortable and guilty. Who wants to feel guilty about a nail appointment??

The Cure Nail Bar is fairly pretty inside, but nothing special. My nail technician was very sweet, but it was her first day EVER working at a salon and she didn't know what to do. At all. She kept asking other staff members what to do, but no one seemed to know what to tell her. She was shaking she was so nervous. One of the strangest things she did was to randomly buff the nails on just one of my hands, and when I asked why she did it, she couldn't find an answer. She seriously didn't do anything but rip up the cuticules on both my feet and hands because she actually pushed back my cuticles while they were dry!

The polish job on my feet and the shaping of my fingernails were so bad that I told her just to put clear polish on my hands. I wish I had photos. My bridesmaids also had terrible manicures and pedicures, including misshapen nails and a french manicure that was hot (HOT) pink. The staffers kept asking each other what to do next and they all looked so stinkin' confused. It was so uncomfortable to watch, and I left there feeling horrible and sad.

Thankfully, the next morning I went to Nail Trend in Marietta and they did an incredible job. So, in the end, I had pretty nails for the wedding. The girls at Nail Trend kept asking who had done my nails and even told me that my nails and cuticles were really messed up. Seriously, if you are thinking about going to Cure Nail and Body Bar, find ANYWHERE else to get your nails done.

If I can keep just ONE person from going to this horrible nail "spa," I will feel 100 percent better about my experience there.

Not THAT bad for you

Ever since I started living by the South Beach Diet principles, I have actually lost a bit of my sweet tooth.

I know, shock and awe, people. Shock and awe.

Anyways. Whenever I find a dessert now that I really like, I file it away in my mental "delicious" file. And eat it very rarely. But rather than keep all the sweet goodness to myself, I thought I would share my new favorite find: frozen yogurt from Publix**.

Now, I don't know if you have Publix where you live (Hi, Kari!), but if you do, now is the time to try at least two flavors because they are having their 2 half-gallon cartons for $5 sale. I know. Be still my thrifty heart.

My frozen yogurt flavor of the month (heck, year) is their blueberry cream pie: cream cheese yogurt with pieces of pie and blueberry filling. Holy kitten crap, this stuff is THE STUFF. And it is lowfat! Though loaded with sugar and other bad things, but look, LOWFAT!!

Now that we are all wanting some frozen yogurt (and for those Atlantans reading this, have you noticed how freaking hot it is here?), what's your favorite ice cream/frozen yogurt flavor?

** Publix frozen yogurt is NOT South Beach Diet friendly.

New, New, New

I hate highly dislike when bloggers don't blog forever and then they come back on the scene all "HEY, I'VE BEEN SUPER BUSY AND LIFE GOT IN THE WAY AND I WILL NOW WRITE EVERY SINGLE DAY."

Well, life didn't get in the way. Except that it did. I lost my job in the middle of last year and didn't find a new one until March 2010. A new job that I love. (Seriously. I'm not sucking up to anyone. None of my co-workers read this blog.)

Now, losing my job put me in a terrible, terrible place. I felt worthless and lost. Yeah, it was a really overdramatic reaction, but it was mine. It truly sucked. I'm much better now.

I also married my boyfriend, Cam. Yeah, he totally rocks. We had a wonderful, small wedding (as one guest put it, "the sweetest little wedding") and now I am trying to figure out life with him and his enormous house that I need to redo for my sanity and figure out my new(ish) job while continuing to do lots of extracurriculur activities. Phew!

So, the blog went on hiatus because I lost myself for a while. But now I'm BACK. This blog will be a little different than it was before because my husband (yeah, that is still so much fun to say) does not like me putting out too many personal details about our life. LIKE THE FACT THAT HE DOESN'T EVER MOVE THE CLOTHES FROM THE WASHER TO THE DRYER OR THE DRYER TO THE DRAWERS. There, I said it. I feel much better now.

A Different Bird will be more about Adventures in Atlanta and random crap I like. Because who doesn't want to read about that?