I know this probably feels like cheating to some people, but my goal with the thirty before thirty list wasn't to make it a challenge I had to complete or fail. My goal with it was to learn, do or try 30 things before I turn 30 (also keep in mind I only started this about three years ago so I didn't have a full ten years to complete everything). So when something becomes impossible due to time or finances I'm going to change it to something I can hopefully complete (heck some of it is just plain change of interest!). With only a few months to go it's time to revise my list!
Here is the list.
1. Take Chrome on an overnight camping trip.
2. Stand in two places at once (state lines). COMPLETED 1-3-13
3. Go to a live horse race. COMPLETED 1-16-2012
4. Participate in a cattle drive on my horse or one of their horses.
5. Ride a/my horse on a beach.
6. Take a trip on an actual train.
7. Ride/drive a horse drawn carriage/wagon/sleigh. COMPLETED 9-13-14
8. Learn archery, bonus if it's on horseback.
9. Go to the Kentucky Horse Park and meet fellow bloggers. COMPLETED 4-25-15
10. Print out a coffee table book of my photos. COMPLETED 11-14-2012
11. Learn more about photography. COMPLETED 4-16-13
12. Learn American Sign Language (learn 100 signs). COMPLETED 1-1-15
13. Do something special for my fifth wedding anniversary. COMPLETED 4-26-14
14. Learn some sort of dancing (belly dancing, ballroom dancing, etc.)
15. Do a photo shoot with Jackal.
16. Experiment in different mediums (graphite, charcoal, watercolor, etc.) also learn calligraphy!
17. See cross country in person, like WEG or Rolex. COMPLETED 4-25-15
18. Train a horse from weaning to basics under saddle. COMPLETED 11-4-14
19. Take dressage lessons on Chrome.
20. Eat gluten free for a year.
21. See a polo match in person. COMPLETED 9-13-14
22. Gallop Chrome across an open field.
23. Go on a trail ride off property in the snow. COMPLETED 3-5-15
24. Ride a purebred Friesian! COMPLETED 2-17-14
25. Conquer my stage fright and show Chrome in a local dressage schooling show.
26. Grow a garden at my new home.
27. Go on a trail ride with Chrome and his sire or dam.
28. Learn to swim. COMPLETED 7-4-13
29. Finish building my new house.
30. Go kayaking! COMPLETED 7-10-13
Links are in the sidebar. So here are the ones I have left to do.
1. Take Chrome on an overnight camping trip.
4. Participate in a cattle drive on my horse or one of their horses.
5. Ride a/my horse on a beach.
6. Take a trip on an actual train.
8. Learn archery, bonus if it's on horseback.
14. Learn some sort of dancing (belly dancing, ballroom dancing, etc.)
15. Do a photo shoot with Jackal.
16. Experiment in different mediums (graphite, charcoal, watercolor, etc.) also learn calligraphy!
19. Take dressage lessons on Chrome.
20. Eat gluten free for a year.
22. Gallop Chrome across an open field.
25. Conquer my stage fright and show Chrome in a local dressage schooling show.
26. Grow a garden at my new home.
27. Go on a trail ride with Chrome and his sire or dam.
29. Finish building my new house.
The ones that I've decided I won't be able to complete in time are...
4. Participate in a cattle drive. I missed this while in Kentucky, but I still want to do it when Chrome and I are ready.
5. Ride a horse on the beach. The Kentucky trip pretty much ate up my vacation funds so this probably won't happen anytime soon. It will always be on my bucket list until I get to complete it.
6. Take a trip on a train. I was going to do a scenic train ride in the fall when the trees were pretty colors, but one crashed which freaked everyone out so I didn't go. I could go in the summer, but I think it would be kind of boring as far as taking pictures, so I don't know if I'll ever do this. I still love trains, but maybe I'll just love them from a distance hehe.
19. Take dressage lessons on Chrome. I am undecided on if I even want to take lessons on him now... I would like to teach him to use his body correctly, but I have no desire to really compete in dressage and my trainer is acting a little uninterested in teaching people who don't want to show. I could be misinterpreting her thoughts, but there's a weird vibe going on. I might still do this, but not right now.
25. Compete in a local dressage schooling show. Even if I started taking lessons now, I wouldn't be ready to compete before I turn thirty so this will have to get shifted to the forty before forty list. :)
27. Take Chrome on a trail ride with his sire or dam. Due to time and funds this isn't going to happen in time. It will definitely go on the next list.
So my replacement items will be...
4. Learn calligraphy. I can do this instead of lumping it with number 16.
5. Paintball. I've always wanted to try it and I recently found a place where we could go. :)
6. Take Jackal camping. I'm disappointed I didn't get to take him to Kentucky (although it's a really good thing we didn't) so I'd love to take him camping locally.
19. Stand up on Chrome's back. I tried this one time and wasn't able to get all the way up without him moving. It's something I should be able to complete in time.
25. Teach Chrome a new trick with clicker training. Because I need some motivation to get the clicker back out.
27. Find a suitable horse for my hubby to start riding with me. This is kind of cheating since it already happened, but I was planning to put it on the list before I asked for Rocky so I'm letting it count. :) I'll get a post up on this tomorrow.
So my new list is!
1. Take Chrome on an overnight camping trip.
2. Stand in two places at once (state lines). COMPLETED 1-3-13
3. Go to a live horse race. COMPLETED 1-16-2012
4. Learn calligraphy.
5. Try Paintball.
6. Take Jackal camping.
7. Ride/drive a horse drawn carriage/wagon/sleigh. COMPLETED 9-13-14
8. Learn archery, bonus if it's on horseback.
9. Go to the Kentucky Horse Park and meet fellow bloggers. COMPLETED 4-25-15
10. Print out a coffee table book of my photos. COMPLETED 11-14-2012
11. Learn more about photography. COMPLETED 4-16-13
12. Learn American Sign Language (learn 100 signs). COMPLETED 1-1-15
13. Do something special for my fifth wedding anniversary. COMPLETED 4-26-14
14. Learn some sort of dancing (belly dancing, ballroom dancing, etc.)
15. Do a photo shoot with Jackal.
16. Experiment in different mediums (graphite, charcoal, watercolor, etc.) also learn calligraphy!
17. See cross country in person, like WEG or Rolex. COMPLETED 4-25-15
18. Train a horse from weaning to basics under saddle. COMPLETED 11-4-14
19. Stand up on Chrome's back.
20. Eat gluten free for a year.
21. See a polo match in person. COMPLETED 9-13-14
22. Gallop Chrome across an open field.
23. Go on a trail ride off property in the snow. COMPLETED 3-5-15
24. Ride a purebred Friesian! COMPLETED 2-17-14
25. Teach Chrome a new trick with clicker training.
26. Grow a garden at my new home.
27. Find a suitable horse for my hubby to start riding with me. COMPLETED 5-30-15
28. Learn to swim. COMPLETED 7-4-13
29. Finish building my new house.
30. Go kayaking! COMPLETED 7-10-13
I should manage to complete all of that in time! :D One reason I've enjoyed this list is because it makes me excited about my birthday instead of dreading it. I'll have a huge feeling of accomplishment and know that I worked really hard to try and learn new things instead of coasting along through life in a rut. :D
Sunday, May 31, 2015
Saturday, May 30, 2015
2015 Reading Challenge Progress V
I have been so disorganized with my reading challenge!! Most of what I'm reading I don't know if it even applies to the list! I'm going to sit down this weekend and try to figure out what categories I've completed and which ones I still need to do so I don't miserably fail this challenge. For now, here is what I've read for May.
The Perfect Date is one I read at work. There is a limited supply of books there (and I'm not taking my Nook up there!) so it's slim pickings. I used to read R.L. Stine when I was a kid so I might be able to make this apply to the list. My opinion of this book is.... uhh... I liked them better as a kid I think. It was fairly predictable, a little slow, but there was a surprising twist in the epilogue. It was good for passing time at work. :)
Hidden Riches is one I started out reading at work... the toddler that I babysit at the feed store is obsessed with playing with the Reader's Digest books they have up there. She always hands me one and tells me to read it while she pretends to read one (she's three). One day instead of pretending to read I actually started reading this. Then when she was napping I started reading it again. I was hooked. Then I started wondering how much I was missing out on because I've never read the digest form of a book, so I checked to see if my mom had the ebook (she did) and I started reading it over from the beginning at home. Wow they take out a lot!! Whole scenes!! So I won't be reading digest forms of books ever again. I really enjoyed this book. There was something I didn't like about it, but I finished it so long ago now I don't remember what it was, but for the most part it was great. I really enjoyed the characters.
The I's of Iris is one I've been wanting to read for a while because it's written by one of my favorite bloggers at Nuzzling Muzzles. I'd never read a book about a psychic before so I was really curious about this one before I even started it. The beginning was a little confusing, but the end was an on the edge of your seat, can't put it down, what in the heck is going to happen kind of book!! I was totally blown away by the plot twist (not giving anything away hehe) and I loved it!!
Melting Into You is a romance book that I was asked to read as part of a box set called Love Down Under (they are all in Australia). There are eight books in the set, so I'm glad this was a quick read. The one I'm really impatient to read is the fourth one because it's written by fellow blogger Hsin-Yi (blog here) that I've known for years (she also wrote the Big Honey Dog mystery for kids based on the Great Dane she had and the Beach Vet book that I read already for part of this challenge). So anyway this book Melting Into You was actually really good. I totally fell in love with the characters. The euphemisms were distracting and made me giggle. It was weird because the author used euphemisms for some words and not others that you would think she would have. It was odd, but it didn't really take away from the story or anything. This was a great book and I'm looking forward to reading the rest in the box set.
The Rancher's Promise is another book I read at work (can you tell I spend more time awake at work than I do at home lately??). I picked this one based solely on the cover (hello horses! I didn't read the description) since that is one of the categories for the challenge. Um... the cover is really nice... the book was kind of boring. I didn't enjoy it very much at all to be completely honest. The entire book was I can't love her, I can't love him, she doesn't love me, he doesn't love me, why doesn't she love me, why doesn't he love me, etc. It was totally predictable and didn't really have much of a plot other than them constantly coming up with reasons they couldn't admit they loved each other. Rather annoying. I understand it is supposed to be a "clean" romance (they only kiss), but it wasn't that romantic to me. It was just two undecided, prideful people who wouldn't openly and honestly communicate with each other. If they'd just say what the heck was on their mind the book would have been two pages long. Anyway sorry for the harsh review. Maybe it's just not my cup of tea. I was reading it at the same time as Melting Into You and although I don't normally read hard core romance but I much preferred it to this one.
I'm glad I actually managed to read quite a few books this month, but I'm concerned that I won't be able to make them fit into the challenge list... if they don't all fit a category then I am way behind! Hmm... I'll figure it out. :)
ETA: I did manage to fit all 22 books I've read this year into a category. To see which category they are in see the list in the sidebar. :)
The Perfect Date is one I read at work. There is a limited supply of books there (and I'm not taking my Nook up there!) so it's slim pickings. I used to read R.L. Stine when I was a kid so I might be able to make this apply to the list. My opinion of this book is.... uhh... I liked them better as a kid I think. It was fairly predictable, a little slow, but there was a surprising twist in the epilogue. It was good for passing time at work. :)
Hidden Riches is one I started out reading at work... the toddler that I babysit at the feed store is obsessed with playing with the Reader's Digest books they have up there. She always hands me one and tells me to read it while she pretends to read one (she's three). One day instead of pretending to read I actually started reading this. Then when she was napping I started reading it again. I was hooked. Then I started wondering how much I was missing out on because I've never read the digest form of a book, so I checked to see if my mom had the ebook (she did) and I started reading it over from the beginning at home. Wow they take out a lot!! Whole scenes!! So I won't be reading digest forms of books ever again. I really enjoyed this book. There was something I didn't like about it, but I finished it so long ago now I don't remember what it was, but for the most part it was great. I really enjoyed the characters.
The I's of Iris is one I've been wanting to read for a while because it's written by one of my favorite bloggers at Nuzzling Muzzles. I'd never read a book about a psychic before so I was really curious about this one before I even started it. The beginning was a little confusing, but the end was an on the edge of your seat, can't put it down, what in the heck is going to happen kind of book!! I was totally blown away by the plot twist (not giving anything away hehe) and I loved it!!
Melting Into You is a romance book that I was asked to read as part of a box set called Love Down Under (they are all in Australia). There are eight books in the set, so I'm glad this was a quick read. The one I'm really impatient to read is the fourth one because it's written by fellow blogger Hsin-Yi (blog here) that I've known for years (she also wrote the Big Honey Dog mystery for kids based on the Great Dane she had and the Beach Vet book that I read already for part of this challenge). So anyway this book Melting Into You was actually really good. I totally fell in love with the characters. The euphemisms were distracting and made me giggle. It was weird because the author used euphemisms for some words and not others that you would think she would have. It was odd, but it didn't really take away from the story or anything. This was a great book and I'm looking forward to reading the rest in the box set.
The Rancher's Promise is another book I read at work (can you tell I spend more time awake at work than I do at home lately??). I picked this one based solely on the cover (hello horses! I didn't read the description) since that is one of the categories for the challenge. Um... the cover is really nice... the book was kind of boring. I didn't enjoy it very much at all to be completely honest. The entire book was I can't love her, I can't love him, she doesn't love me, he doesn't love me, why doesn't she love me, why doesn't he love me, etc. It was totally predictable and didn't really have much of a plot other than them constantly coming up with reasons they couldn't admit they loved each other. Rather annoying. I understand it is supposed to be a "clean" romance (they only kiss), but it wasn't that romantic to me. It was just two undecided, prideful people who wouldn't openly and honestly communicate with each other. If they'd just say what the heck was on their mind the book would have been two pages long. Anyway sorry for the harsh review. Maybe it's just not my cup of tea. I was reading it at the same time as Melting Into You and although I don't normally read hard core romance but I much preferred it to this one.
I'm glad I actually managed to read quite a few books this month, but I'm concerned that I won't be able to make them fit into the challenge list... if they don't all fit a category then I am way behind! Hmm... I'll figure it out. :)
ETA: I did manage to fit all 22 books I've read this year into a category. To see which category they are in see the list in the sidebar. :)
Friday, May 29, 2015
30 Before 30 - #9 and #17 Complete
I have been slacking off horribly on updating my 30 Before 30 list, so bear with me back posting this (since I only have time to post on weekends now and have other posts planned for this weekend).
#9 is go to the Kentucky Horse Park and meet fellow bloggers.
#17 is See cross country in person, like WEG or Rolex.
So if you follow my other blog, you already know I went to Rolex in April, saw cross country in person (AWESOME!) and met fellow blogger Monica from Chasing the Dream. You can see the full posts I did on my other blog here. I still have more pictures to post so there will be more Rolex posts on that blog under that tag. :)
For this post I'm just going to share some of my favorite pictures from Rolex! Feel free to skip them if you've already seen my posts on the other blog.
It truly was the trip of a lifetime and the best anniversary trip to date. If you have time and haven't seen the full posts I encourage you to read them. A lot of good things happened on the trip that made it feel like it was truly meant to be. :)
#9 is go to the Kentucky Horse Park and meet fellow bloggers.
#17 is See cross country in person, like WEG or Rolex.
So if you follow my other blog, you already know I went to Rolex in April, saw cross country in person (AWESOME!) and met fellow blogger Monica from Chasing the Dream. You can see the full posts I did on my other blog here. I still have more pictures to post so there will be more Rolex posts on that blog under that tag. :)
For this post I'm just going to share some of my favorite pictures from Rolex! Feel free to skip them if you've already seen my posts on the other blog.
Me at the famous Rolex keyhole jump!!
Meeting fellow blogger!
I even got to ride a racehorse hehe!
Winner's victory lap.
It truly was the trip of a lifetime and the best anniversary trip to date. If you have time and haven't seen the full posts I encourage you to read them. A lot of good things happened on the trip that made it feel like it was truly meant to be. :)
Thursday, May 7, 2015
2015 Reading Challenge Progress IV
I've been so busy! Sorry I'm so late with my reading challenge progress post!!
I read Tintin in Tibet for my graphic novel and because I've always wanted to read one before hehe. It was great!! I've never read a graphic novel before, so I didn't really know what to expect. I'm not used to having pictures to look at so I was reading the words and kept getting really confused because I didn't know what they were talking about. I went back and looked at the pictures and all of a sudden it made sense and was so funny!!! Some of the things they say are so funny mostly because they aren't anything anyone in the U.S. says hehe. I really liked it.
Dragon Fantastic is a book of short stories by different authors. I was at work and had finished reading Cold Fire, so I went through the limited selection of books they have and saw this one. I like fantasy books and dragons so I figured I'd give it a try. I didn't realize at first that it was short stories. I'm not really a huge fan of short stories. I like to read really long series because I get so fond of the characters I'm always sad to see a book/series end. Short stories don't give you enough time to learn to like the characters lol. It actually really worked out well for work though since I'm interrupted constantly. It had a bunch of really short stories. Some were boring, some were really funny, some had good messages and some were mildly entertaining. It fulfills the need for a book of short stories on my list and it was entertaining for slow times at work. :)
I LOVED Gone with the Wind!!!! I honestly don't even know what to say, because it was so awesome. I thought there was no way I would like it from the snippets I'd seen of the movie when I was a kid (in the process of watching that from beginning to end for the first time ever... it's long!), but I was wrong. It's so funny because normally I don't like books where I hate all (okay most) of the characters, but in this one I loved to hate them! I don't want to give anything away in case you haven't read it and want to, but I recommend it (not done with the movie but I can already tell you the book was better). It's LONG! Like 900 pages long! So I'm using this one for my book that is more than 500 pages on the list. :) Oh and I would totally read this book again! The funny thing is when I started reading it, the first chapter went on and on and on and on and on about this one conversation and only halfway through it I was ready to scream! I was actually not going to read it, but mom told me to stick with it and I'm glad I did! There are long winded parts, but it's totally worth it. :) P.S. My only complaint about this one was the ending... I like a book to have all the loose ends neatly tied up. I forgive this one though because she did such an incredible job writing it and she was making a point which was perfectly made by leaving it open ended. :)
I read The Alchemist for my book that was originally written in a different language. All I can say is I'm glad it was only 100 pages. I can normally read 100 pages in a day, but this one took me a week or two.... it's not that it was a bad book... it was just really different, kind of boring... it's hard to explain. :\
I hope you guys are enjoying following my progress and my reviews. Sorry these weren't the best reviews. I was in a hurry because I have to go to bed ASAP! Night guys!
I read Tintin in Tibet for my graphic novel and because I've always wanted to read one before hehe. It was great!! I've never read a graphic novel before, so I didn't really know what to expect. I'm not used to having pictures to look at so I was reading the words and kept getting really confused because I didn't know what they were talking about. I went back and looked at the pictures and all of a sudden it made sense and was so funny!!! Some of the things they say are so funny mostly because they aren't anything anyone in the U.S. says hehe. I really liked it.
Dragon Fantastic is a book of short stories by different authors. I was at work and had finished reading Cold Fire, so I went through the limited selection of books they have and saw this one. I like fantasy books and dragons so I figured I'd give it a try. I didn't realize at first that it was short stories. I'm not really a huge fan of short stories. I like to read really long series because I get so fond of the characters I'm always sad to see a book/series end. Short stories don't give you enough time to learn to like the characters lol. It actually really worked out well for work though since I'm interrupted constantly. It had a bunch of really short stories. Some were boring, some were really funny, some had good messages and some were mildly entertaining. It fulfills the need for a book of short stories on my list and it was entertaining for slow times at work. :)
I LOVED Gone with the Wind!!!! I honestly don't even know what to say, because it was so awesome. I thought there was no way I would like it from the snippets I'd seen of the movie when I was a kid (in the process of watching that from beginning to end for the first time ever... it's long!), but I was wrong. It's so funny because normally I don't like books where I hate all (okay most) of the characters, but in this one I loved to hate them! I don't want to give anything away in case you haven't read it and want to, but I recommend it (not done with the movie but I can already tell you the book was better). It's LONG! Like 900 pages long! So I'm using this one for my book that is more than 500 pages on the list. :) Oh and I would totally read this book again! The funny thing is when I started reading it, the first chapter went on and on and on and on and on about this one conversation and only halfway through it I was ready to scream! I was actually not going to read it, but mom told me to stick with it and I'm glad I did! There are long winded parts, but it's totally worth it. :) P.S. My only complaint about this one was the ending... I like a book to have all the loose ends neatly tied up. I forgive this one though because she did such an incredible job writing it and she was making a point which was perfectly made by leaving it open ended. :)
I read The Alchemist for my book that was originally written in a different language. All I can say is I'm glad it was only 100 pages. I can normally read 100 pages in a day, but this one took me a week or two.... it's not that it was a bad book... it was just really different, kind of boring... it's hard to explain. :\
I hope you guys are enjoying following my progress and my reviews. Sorry these weren't the best reviews. I was in a hurry because I have to go to bed ASAP! Night guys!
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