checked off: #19!

i won't lie, i completely forgot that this goal was on my 30before30 list, but I'm so excited to cross it off! #19 on my list was to visit maui for our 5 year anniversary.

we got married in maui on march 1, 2011. and since the very day we got married, we said we would go back in 5 years because we absolutely fell in love with the place. shortly after luca was born, we decided to make that goal a reality and book our trip. we debated whether or not to bring him along, and after living through a 15 hour travel day just to get there, it's probably best that we decided against him. we will definitely be returning with him sometime in the next several years...when he's ready to adjust to a 4 hour time difference, and a total of 9 hours on a plane...but that time is not now!


our week was filled with lots of maui brewing company bikini blondes, delicious food, sand in ALL the places, more sunblock than two people should go through, the worst music ever in our rental car (why maui? why??? get better radio stations!), dinners and drinks with great friends, and about 20 whale sightings. we did a sunset whale watching cocktail cruise on the 2nd night, and absolutely l o v e d it. we saw lots of mama whales with their babies and they were showing off the whole time. the sunset was beautiful, and the cocktails were way strong, so we couldn't ask for a better time.
we also ziplined in the mountains of maui, and even though I thought I was going to die on the first line, I braved it and had such a great time. that's something we definitely hope to do again on another vacation!
here is an overload of pictures for us to remember what a great time we had:

see full list HERE



checked off: #13!

goal #13 on my list is to decorate our forever home to reflect both my husband & i perfectly.

well. here's the thing.

'forever' is such a long time, right? and when you're 24 years old and creating a list of things to achieve before you're 30, you don't really realize how quickly things can change, and that 'forever' isn't very realistic at that age, necessarily. so, now 4 years later, we're moving out of the home we originally thought might be our forever home - luckily, we're moving to a house that we may love even a little bit more (didn't think that was possible), and starting a new adventure. so, in honor of this new adventure, i am still checking this goal off of my list because it's my list and i can do that.

we listed our house on tuesday morning, and i was really happy to get these pictures of the house to keep forever. as much as we will miss this house, we're both so, so excited to get to settle in to the new house (new city...new state!). this house in austin was the first home we bought together, and where we brought luca home to. but, our new house will be the first one that he remembers, and we can't wait to make it feel like home.

bye, austin house! we will miss you.

(there used to be a really cool, big world map on the wall in the dining room below but we took it down for the purposes of listing the house)

full list HERE



in which TWO goals get checked off!

oh, hi! it's only been like a year and a few months since i've posted, that's all. no big deal.

i'm upset that i haven't kept up with this blog but the thing is that so many things have happened in the past year that it hasn't exactly been on my priority list! but...the reason i'm here today is to write that i'm able to check off not one, but two things now.

 

#6 : give birth (!!!) and #29: give my husband the best birthday gift ever.

 

i'm not here to share my whole birth story, so don't worry - i won't give too many cringe worthy details, but here's a little bit about how it went down:

one month before our baby's due date, husband was in tampa for work, and i'm trying to go to sleep and realize that i feel as if i just ran a half marathon - i'm exhausted, out of breath and so thirsty that i feel like i could drink enough water to fill a bath tub at 2:30 in the morning. i am not one to go to the doctor for stuff, in fact, i avoid doctors at all costs. i don't have anything against them, i'm just cynical and feel like sometimes there's an overreaction and they're too quick to prescribe stuff, but that's for another post. but, being pregnant, i decided i would call my doctor first thing in the morning just go pop in and get checked out. so, i have an appointment set for 7:30am that next morning, and i'm dressed in a fancy skirt and heels, expecting to go to work in a few hours....

not so much.

after a few tests, my doctor tells me to call my husband, tell him to hop on the next plane, and cross the street to the hospital because i was going to need to be induced to get this baby out safely, as quickly as possible. i had pre-eclampsia that was pretty severe, so i needed to give birth fast to get rid of it. i naturally started crying immediately, because i was picturing giving birth without having my husband there in time, and the thought of that made me want to throw up everywhere. also, i know so many women laugh at 'birth plans' because, of course, anything and everything can go wrong during labor and your plan can go out the window. but, we still had a plan anyways and giving birth exactly one month early was NOT a part of it at all.

this is where i could go on & on & on & on about the 48 hours i was in the hospital before finally giving birth to luca, and the entire week we were there afterwards while he was in NICU, but i'll sum it up in a few short bursts:

bed rest for a total of 72 hours (even during labor, couldn't leave the bed!), anti-seizure medicine that made me feel like i was on fire, pre-eclampsia developing in to severe HELLP syndrome, rainbow pops from my husband that saved the day during contractions, blood draws every hour for 72 hours (even during contractions!), the nicest nurses in the universe, and a pain-med free birth all led to luca, 6lbs and 8oz of perfection, being born on march 19, 2015.

it was not at all the way we planned things or expected things to go, but man. i can honestly say that i would not have it any other way now. i am so happy he came one month early and that we have had extra time with him. he is happy and healthy and absolutely perfect in every way.

giving birth was even more empowering than i could have ever imagined and i won't lie - i felt like a complete badass after it was over, knowing i could do it on my own without medication made me feel incredibly strong and like i could do anything (seriously - like, if you need a car lifted up? call me. or maybe you would like me to fight a lion for you? i can do that). i wish everyone could have a husband like mine that made the process so much easier, too. he made me laugh when he needed to, brought me popsicles when he needed to, found the perfect pandora stations and let me squeeze his hand until it almost exploded.

 

which leads me to my next goal - i wouldn't necessarily count luca's birth as a birthday gift to my husband but he absolutely does and insists that i've crossed that off my list. i went in to labor with luca (induced) 2 days after the husband's birthday. so, in his head, that's close enough and i could never, ever top this birthday gift!

 

this was about one week before going in to the hospital:

 

 

 



checked off: #4!

i am so, so, so happy to say that goal #4 has been checked off my list: to own an original art piece.

this one was not an easy feat, guys. 

i try to give back stories with some of my goals, so here's this one:

tucker & i went to new orleans in 2012 to celebrate our one year wedding anniversary. we spent a lot of time going to art galleries, and came across a gallery that had some show stoppers for us. we had talked before about how hard it is to find a piece of art that two people agree on - i mean, if you're spending money with the intention of something being on your wall forever, it's sort of a big deal! but, this gallery had a few pieces that both of us absolutely loved.

and then we looked at the price tag. and suddenly, we didn't love them so much anymore. but the goal of owning an original piece was something that we both left new orleans with, and we thought it would be something we'd work towards over the next several years.

fast forward to december, a few months ago.

we go to guadalajara to visit my family there, and stay in one of my dad's new houses - above the master bed there is a huge painting of a tree, and literally at the same time, both tucker and i thought "i want that and i want it now", veruca salt style. so we get some information from my dad about the artist, and it turns out that she's a local artist there in guadalajara who he could get us in contact with, and who could provide a huge original for a fraction of the price of one in the states. we were able to provide her with the exact size we wanted for our wall, and pick our colors as well as talk about the style of the tree we wanted, which was great. this all sounds fine & easy & great until you try to ship a 6ft oil painting that can't be bent from guadalajara to austin, tx without an importer's license.

so, without getting in to the story too much, i will tell you that it took a little over three months to get to us once it was completed, the border agents actually wanted a photo of it because of how familiar they were with trying to ship it, my brother mario's help was crucial and we wouldn't have gotten the painting without him, and now we are so happy that it's here. 

so here is what my 30before30 list looks like now:

1. visit santorini, greece - 2. learn to speak portuguese fluently - 3. go on a girl's weekend trip to a vineyard - 4. own an original art piece - 5. learn how to bake my own bread! - 6. give birth - 7. start a movie night tradition - 8. participate in some sort of marathon or race - 9. plant a thriving vegetable garden - 10. go on an annual camping trip - 11. read at least a book a month for one year - 12. master taking photos the way i picture them in my brain - 13. decorate our "forever home" to reflect both my husband & i perfectly - 14. start a sunday night supper tradition - 15. visit spain - 16. see radiohead live again - 17. become crafty - 18. ride in a hot air balloon - 19. visit maui for 5 year wedding anniversary - 20. start teaching my children how to speak spanish fluently - 21. start a regular yoga practice - 22. sleep in a tree house -23.  see northern lights - 24. host thanksgiving at my house (insead of a parent's house!) -25. take a weekly photo of my child/children for an entire year - 26. take a road trip (more than like 12 hours of driving!) - 27. learn to tango with my husband - 28. take my own (professional looking) newborn photos of my children - 29. surprise my husband with the best birthday gift ever (still don't know what that is....) - 30. end this whole thing with a 30th birthday bash that's worthy of being blogged about

checked off: #18!

back in july the husband gifted me a ride in a hot air balloon, knowing it was part of my 30before30 list, and i finally got to check off that goal very early on christmas eve.

you know the part in james and the giant peach where they are able to get the peach to fly high up in the air? i think that's where my hot air balloon dream started. i'm aware it's not a hot air balloon in the book/movie by any means, but it's the closest i can get without actually living in a roald dahl book. and just on a side note, if i were to live in a roald dahl book, it would definitely be the bfg, but that's neither here nor there. anyway, i think that's where this whole thing began and i've been saying it's on my to-do list since i was little.

there's your backstory! now:

bright and early (and i mean early early, as it was a sunrise ride), we headed to the meet-up spot for take-off. i was actually pretty nervous on the drive there because, as much as i've wanted to ride in one of these, it's still scary. you're going all the way up in the air in a wicker basket suspended by a balloon...filled with fire. that's lacking some logic, no? but it was absolutely beautiful, perfectly cold, and so so much fun. we spent about 45 minutes total in the air going over the hill country and ended up over a neighborhood waving hi to little kids who came out in their pajamas to see the balloon. and when we landed (in someone's front yard!) we got a brief history of hot air balloons from our hilarious and inappropriate pilot, and a champagne toast.
and for the record, it's not scary at all...and this is coming from someone who is not a fan of flying.

^that's the little tiny moon you can still see up there! ^

here's what my list looks like now:

1. visit santorini, greece - 2. learn to speak portuguese fluently - 3. go on a girl's weekend trip to a vineyard - 4. own an original art piece - 5. learn how to bake my own bread - 6. give birth - 7. start a movie night tradition - 8.participate in some sort of marathon or race - 9. plant a thriving vegetable garden - 10. go on an annual camping trip - 11.read at least a book a month for one year - 12. master taking photos the way i picture them in my brain - 13. decorate our "forever home" to reflect both my husband & i perfectly - 14. start a sunday night supper tradition - 15. visit spain - 16. see radiohead live again - 17. become crafty - 18. ride in a hot air balloon - 19. visit maui for 5 year wedding anniversary - 20. start teaching my children how to speak spanish fluently - 21. start a regular yoga practice - 22. sleep in a tree house -23.  see northern lights - 24. host thanksgiving at my house (insead of a parent's house!) -25. take a weekly photo of my child/children for an entire year - 26. take a road trip (more than like 12 hours of driving!) - 27. learn to tango with my husband - 28. take my own (professional looking) newborn photos of my children - 29. surprise my husband with the best birthday gift ever (still don't know what that is....) - 30. end this whole thing with a 30th birthday bash that's worthy of being blogged about

checked off: #24!

i can finally check off another 30before30 goal!

#24 on my list was to host thanksgiving at my house. this may seem like a pretty small goal compared to some of the others, but believe you me - it was a big deal to me. i've thought of it as a rite of passage almost, and now i'm pretty convinced that i'm a real live adult. we sat in the dining room and used cloth napkins and everything!

my parents came in from dallas, along with my step-sister and her partner, and my furry nephew (their dog, fenway). we had so, so much fun and even though my sister in law did most of the turkey frying (because i was 99% sure i'd blow up my family and house on accident), i still kind of cooked my own thanksgiving turkey. and mostly, the husband did all the marinating and stuff. but, we'll pretend i did it all myself.

the day was full of football, wine, lots of pies, ping pong in the backyard, and sitting by the fire. i didn't take as many pictures as i would've wanted, because i alawys get distracted and forget about that. but here's at least some photographic proof that all of this is true:

 

 

 

and now that thanksgiving is over, i am in full christmas mode. all christmas presents have been purchased, some of them have been wrapped, and the house is decked out in its christmas gear.

i've even started watching all of the horrible christmas chick flicks that started playing on tv as of december 1st, and i'm not ashamed of it at all.

 

here's an update of what my list looks like now (and PS. the hot air balloon ride has been booked, and is in a few short weeks!!)

1. visit santorini, greece - 2. learn to speak portuguese fluently - 3. go on a girl's weekend trip to a vineyard - 4. own an original art piece - 5. learn how to bake my own sourdough bread - 6. give birth - 7. start a movie night tradition - 8. participate in some sort of marathon or race - 9. plant a thriving vegetable garden - 10. go on an annual camping trip - 11. read at least a book a month for one year - 12. master taking photos the way i picture them in my brain - 13. decorate our "forever home" to reflect both my husband & i perfectly - 14. start a sunday night supper tradition - 15. visit spain - 16. see radiohead live again - 17. become crafty - 18. ride in a hot air balloon - 19. visit maui for 5 year wedding anniversary - 20. start teaching my children how to speak spanish fluently - 21. start a regular yoga practice - 22. sleep in a tree house -23. see northern lights - 24. host thanksgiving at my house (insead of a parent's house!) -25. take a weekly photo of my child/children for an entire year - 26. take a road trip (more than like 12 hours of driving!) - 27. learn to tango with my husband - 28. take my own (professional looking) newborn photos of my children - 29. surprise my husband with the best birthday gift ever (still don't know what that is....) - 30. end this whole thing with a 30th birthday bash that's worthy of being blogged about