Holy October Batman!

Ohhh ya'll, I have been slacking on my updating!  Here goes:

Costa Rica - WAS AMAZING.  I had such a great experience, ate some amazing food, drank some Imperial (local beer), and met some amazing people.  The week and a half I was there for work, my co-workers treated me so great, especially my dear friend Johanna.  This was only our second time meeting face to face, but we work together frequently on the phone/IM/emails.  She took us on the long trek to Arenal volcano from San Jose and we spent the day at the hot springs which was amazing.  Never got to see the top of the volcano, but I have lots of pictures of it with the clouds :) 

Matt and I's vacation at the end was amazing.  We took an internal flight to the Pacific side of Costa Rica and just laid by the beach and the pool the whole time at our amazing hotel.  I got eaten by mosquitoes while Matt remained untouched, saw howler monkeys, iguanas, and pisotes (which are a raccoon/monkey).

The one thing from my list I didn't do is go zip lining, but I was ok with that with all the other adventures.

Break in the back deck party - completed.  We had 3 couples plus 3 kiddos come over and we did it up right.  Matt made homemade pulled pork sandwiches (even homemade is own BBQ sauce), grilled pineapple, corn on the cob, and lots of drinks.  I tried to make a Bellini recipe off of the Food Network, but as per usual it didn't turn out.  I have had a bad streak of luck with cooking lately, and now it's transferred into drink making.  Matt on the other hand continues to get better and better, I think there's only enough room for one cook in the kitchen.  I do a great job of doing dishes though.

Book an awesome concert - Matt, Jake, his GF Nancy, and I have tix to go see the Red Hot Chili Peppers in November.  While they weren't the first people to pop in my head for #1 concert choice, I think they will put on a great show.

Banks/Vernonia Trail - Well Matt and I both bought new bikes and have rode about 15 miles of the trail but not the whole thing.  We have done some fun bike rides, I think the most I have done so far is about 20 miles so I have a way to go before I'm running with the big dogs.  Here's my new ride:

Something not on my list, didn't think it would ever be on my list, but I started running.  In June, I began doing the couch to 5k training program.  August 22nd my good friend Kristin and I ran my first 5k (her second, she was my inspiration to get started).  Last weekend Gretchen came down and she ran in my second 5k with me, along with my two best homies Kristin and Lisa.  We participated in the Color Run in PDX which they douse you with paint along the course (paint meaning some sort of colored corn starch material).  I ran the whole time in both races which was my goal so I'm pretty proud of myself.  Here's us crossing the finish line:

Oh we had a pretty amazing evening making those tutu's.

Basically what I'm taking from this 30 before 30 list is it is way freaking harder than I thought.  Of course I had some big aspirations, but you have to dream big or else what's the point.  I have about a month and a half to knock some more items off my list, and some things I'm looking forward to:


We're spending Thanksgiving at the beach with my family.  We rented a beach house at Cannon Beach and I'm pretty jazzed about that because we'll be there on my actual 30th bday!!

My friend Gretchen wants to take a little trip beginning of December and I might get to meet her somewhere fantastic, which would be awesome.  I don't know if we'll be going to one of the places on my list, but I don't care, I'm ready to have a girls trip!

May Updates!

I thought I would post a quick update since I haven't really been doing anything on my list lately because I'm preparing for Costa Rica!  I leave on Monday, Matt is meeting me there the following Thursday.  Super excited, and a lot of my list is going to be happening over the summer after I get back so stay tuned :)

One thing that wasn't on my list and I kind of debated about was doing some sort of organized run.  I hate running.  That's why it isn't on the list, but I live in the mecca of people who run marathons and half marathons and Hood to Coast, so I feel a little left out.  After much harassment by my friend Kristin (I kid, she only harassed me like 3 times), I'm going to do a run at the end of September.  Starting small with the 5K, don't want to get too crazy for a run-hater.  I think it will be fun though, my other friend Lisa will be doing it also, and they spray paint you with different colors as you progress on the run.  I am more excited by this aspect than the running.

The other update is my CPA license.  I found out that I have to do some more work experience for one of the required competencies before Intel will accept my application, so it's going to be awhile longer.  I still have a goal to submit my application this year, but I think it will be wishful thinking to get the official license from the Oregon Board in 2012.  It's kind of a complex process, you have to get Intel approval and then Oregon State approval, so there's a lot of red tape and hoops to jump through. 

I'll be sharing some pictures from Costa Rica!!

Stepping up my game!

So this past weekend I went to Seattle to see one of my besties and we had a very productive weekend as it relates to my bucket list. I'm pretty impressed that between our gab sessions we were able to fit in this number of things and I was only there ~48 hours. Here's some highlights:

• First of all, the day before my trip I purchased a new camera to help increase my photo skillz (that's right, with a z). I bought a Canon Rebel T2i and I'm so happy with it. I took some amazing shots while I was in Seattle, Gretch and I took a specific trip to Pike's Market just to take some shots. We had such a blast. I also uploaded a shot of the bubble gum wall for the Chimpsy photo contest. There's some pretty amazing shots there that I'm competing against, but I thought why the hell not? Here's the photos: http://flickr.com/gp/erinrandall/4x257G/


• Gretch is also my partner in crime for trapeze and we now have a tentative date of June 2 for the event.


• We discussed the Portland Bridge Pedal since Gretch also likes to bike, she's totally in as long as she's free that weekend. August 12th Gretch! We talked about the Seattle to Portland bike ride also, this year is sold out, but maybe next year? At least that would give me plenty of time to train because the thought of biking that far makes me exhausted just sitting her.


• We discussed my awesome concert potential. After chuckling about going to see Van Halen and how our high school volleyball coach would sometimes make us listen to it during practices, we determined a concert in The Gorge is the way to go. To clarify, Van Halen has some jams, don't get me wrong. I believe I mentioned in a prior post thatDave Matthews is coming to The Gorge over Labor Day weekend. Even though I don't completely love Dave, I could jam out to some Crash.....into me........because it's at THE GORGE! We also talked about Florence + The Machine which I think would be pretty amazing.


• Gretch and I also talked about CANADA because she was so shocked that I had not been to CANADA when it's like 2 hours from her house. Hoping to plan a trip there next time I go up, she and I may spend a weekend in the beautiful Vancouver B.C.! There's also the Victoria Clipper that you can take out of Seattle which would be pretty fun.

Bucket List - Recap

Since I have pieces of my entire list in different posts I thought it would be a great time to put them all in one post and provide some amendments/updates to the original list:

So, first off is that I think this will have to be a living document (does that translate with you all or is that a term my work over uses?) throughout the year. Because some very exciting news that impacts my list is that I am getting an opportunity to travel to Costa Rica in May for work. Matt is going to meet me for vacation there after work is over, which means we have to cut some of my other travel ideas, but I'm totally ok with that.

Also, I've decided not to put pressure on myself to come up with 30 items just to have 30 things. Otherwise I'll wind up putting things on here that are just fillers, and I want this all to be totally legit!

Here's updates on my existing list:

• See the Grand Canyon - Keeping this on the list, I'm hoping that maybe this fall Matt and I can still manage this trip. I have enough "frequent flyer" rewards to buy one ticket. If I can find a reason to travel to Phoenix for work I can get a free ride on the corporate shuttle and we got ourselves free airfare!
• Go to the Wings and Waves waterpark in McMinnville, OR
• Get my official CPA license (currently my exams are complete, almost there) - My "portfolio of experience" I have to submit at work is currently in the capable hands of my CPA mentor. Current plan is that it will get submitted for the April 30th reviews internally, and I think that means I could have my official license by Fall'12.
• Take a photography class - COMPLETED (although through Groupon I do have one more class available)
• See Crater Lake, OR - I'm going to keep this for now, hopefully this can be combined with a road trip
• See the Painted Hills in Fossil, OR - Also keeping this one since I'm sure with enough time, Matt and I can take a detour some trip down to see my parents in Pendleton.
• Portland bridge pedal 2012 - This totally stays on the list even if I can't afford to upgrade my bike and I have to ride my old crappy one.
• Go to Mt. Hood Ski Bowl - in the summer time
• Go to Tree to Tree Adventure Park
• Keep a Journal - I'm considering my blog my journal, although I was planning originally to keep a separate hand written journal. "When I first found it, I just thought it was a sad, hand written book." Little quote from Bridesmaids there.
• Watch all 2012 best picture Oscar nominees - COMPLETED full of blood, sweat, and tears
• High tea at the Columbia Gorge Hotel
• Trapeze Lessons
• Go floating (in a river with inner tubes and beer)
• Huber's Spanish coffee
• Go horseback riding
• Read a big ass book (Ex. Anna Karenina) - I'm currently reading Steve Jobs' biography, and it's pretty big ass. Although I just googled Anna Karenina and it's 864 pages, so Steve's measly ~550 isn't that huge so I guess that one doesn't quite cut it.
  
• Take a road trip - See above references
• Make a vision board
• Attend a Baha'i Service
• Take a reformer Pilates Class
• Take up a new musical instrument (under consideration are guitar, violin, and turn tables) - I have been debating on this one for awhile. I was looking at the ukelele because it seems less intimidating that a guitar (and less expensive). But where my true passion lies, and Matt is encouraging me to look into, is mixing music. So perhaps "turn tables" isn't necessarily the right word, but some sort of mixing device?
  
• Ride the Banks-Vernonia Trail round trip (includes new Bike purchase for me and my partner in crime Matt). That will be a 42 mile round trip. - Not sure if bike upgrades are still in the budget (besides Costa Rica we are putting in a new deck at our house).
• See an awesome concert - Sasquatch was a potential but way too expensive. I would love to see a concert in the Gorge. I just saw Jon Bon Jovi on Oprah's Master Class and I realized, that would be an awesome concert!

Items that get added:

• Go zip-lining in Costa Rica
• Hike the volcano/check out the hot springs in Costa Rica
• Refresh on my Spanish - I have 3 years under my belt, but it's outdated (although I surprise myself with the number of words/phrases I remember) and I don't converse well. I'm looking into apps on my phone or perhaps some sort of minimal effort courses I can take. Rosetta stone is hella expensive. But I want to get a bit more fluent before I travel to Costa Rica.
• Have a "break in our new deck" party this summer

Items that got cut:

• Visit New York
• Visit Canada - This could potentially happen, but likely winds up on the chopping block due to funding.
  
• Learn Italian (focusing on the Spanish this year due to new travel plans)
  

To sum up, I think I'm going to be pretty busy this summer since most of these items I'll be doing during our nice weather months :)

Photography Lesson #1

Here is a link to the photos I took on my field trip during my first photography class. This is under the Fremont Bridge in Portland (and a fun fact I learned while there, it is the 2nd longest tied arch bridge in the world behind one in China):

http://flickr.com/gp/78066431@N02/3oj3nh/

I took my hand me down camera that my Dad gave us long ago to take pictures with. Turns out it's so old that a lot of the settings that the teacher recommended were not available on the old camera. When I go for class #2, I'll be taking my smaller, but newer digital camera.

Well....I'll be a Monkey's Uncle

When I got the URL for this blog I was amazed that it was available. Thirty before Thirty?? Awesome. It wasn't until like 2 days ago that I realized I mispelled the second thirty as "thrity." No wonder it was available. Apologies to all of you who were directed to a blog with one post about Mother's Day re: the Road to Thirty from 2006.

#29 on my bucket list........learn how to spell.

Oscar viewing party!

With all the work we put into watching the 9 movies (which in my opinion is far too many for the Best Picture category, I think I could have easily weeded out 4 movies to meet a total of 5 to select from), a party was in order. Lisa invited me to her compound for drinks and dinner and Oscar goodness.

On the agenda was tomato/pasta soup for dinner, and I brought Lambic, Champagne with O.J. and strawberries for mimosas, and vegan cupcakes from Whole Foods for dessert (because of my whole lactose thing, vegan cupcakes allow me to still enjoy delicious frosting, but you still can't beat a good cream cheese).

I spent 10 bucks on accessories for our party. I got what I'd like to call a fascinator (like what all the ladies were wearing to Will's and Kate's wedding last year, we're on a first name basis) and a strand of cheap pearls. It's kind of hard to see the fascinator because it's black, but you can kind of see the feathers. Here I am with my Lambic in my old timey champagne glass that I bought because I was watching a lot of Mad Men:





















I personally was a fan of Lisa mixing 80's pink hoops with some pearls:





















Lisa and I also filled out ballots for predictions of who the Academy would pick for the top 6 categories as well as our personal picks. Lisa got 5 out of 6 categories correct, while I came in second place with 4 out of 6 correct picks for the Academy awards. What a great way to wrap up this bucket list item.

Bucket List item - COMPLETE!

Here's my review of the Best Picture nominees because I saw ALL NINE OF THEM!!! Bucket list item complete! See additional post regarding our Oscar viewing party (and no, we did not get an invite to Elton John's viewing party, so we settled for a party at Lisa's):

Midnight in Paris - charming story set in Paris about a writer who's transported every night to the 1920s Paris and gets to mingle with the famous artists/writers of that time. I really enjoyed it, but the acting wasn't over the top amazing for me.

Moneyball - great story about the early 2000's Oakland A's team that's a true story. Brad Pitt played his part amazingly as the A's GM, Jonah Hill didn't knock me out of the park with regard to his supporting actor role for which he was nominated. Overall I liked the story and was entertained, but felt for the title of Best Picture, it didn't cut it.

War Horse - I sweated and sporadically closed my eyes through this movie. This was another great story and I liked that it was about the horse, Joey's, journey through various people's lives in the early 20th century during WWI instead of sticking with one character throughout. But I am a softy who doesn't like to see animals get hurt plus I'm not huge into the big action scenes that take place in war movies, so this one didn't make my list.

The Artist - I initially thought this might be my pick to win it all because the movie was very charming and the actors did a great job of telling a story with just their expressions and actions since it was a silent film. Also when I first heard about it, I wondered how I could possibly be entertained by a silent film and thought I might take a snooze halfway through. I like that it was a different format and unlike the other films. But it wound up not being my pick because of this little gem:

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - This was my pick to win it all (my personal pick, I banked on the Academy picking The Artist, which they did). This had the three elements I wanted: great acting, a great story, and it was fictional (I shouldn't be biased, but I have to give a little credit to someone who thinks up a whole story on their own vs using one that already exists). Don't get me wrong, I love a good true story movie, but when it comes to criteria to win Best Picture for the freaking Oscars, you have to set the bar high. Anyway, I liked that they didn't overly focus on Sept. 11th. The child actor was robbed by not getting a nomination for Best Actor because he was AMAZING. He had long monologues with big words and was very animated. The story made me cry, but I didn't walk away feeling super bummed out like a few of the other ones left me plus I had some laughs in there. This gave it all the elements I wanted for best picture.

Tree of Life - My props if you get this movie because I'm not deep enough to even remotely understand what the hell was going on. There were a ton of nature shots, at one point dinosaurs were involved (Brad Pitt in a movie that has dinosaurs, you do the math). I thought some of the shots were well done, the way the camera shot the children playing or interacting, but overall Lisa and I were actively boo-ing the nominations this received. We almost turned it off multiple times.....

Hugo - Cute movie about a boy who lives in a train station. I thought the story was anti-climatic like when the boy finds out the truth behind the old guy's past life. Good camera work though and a few laughs.

The Help - Before I saw Extremely Loud and Incredibly close, this was my pick to win. I liked the story, I know there is some controversy around it, but I loved the story line and the acting. And I love that the snobby biatch ate that pie (you have to watch it to know what I'm talking about). I think I really love Emma Stone now.

The Descendants - Love George Clooney always and also his teenage daughter (great actress in this movie). The storyline overall didn't move me, and this one left me bummed out. I know you should walk away like, oh George and his kids are going to be closer and he's probably going to be a better Dad, but I just couldn't get over the super sad circumstances with his wife.

This may be the first and last time I am able to do this, but it was a fantastic journey and loved spending time with my buddy Lisa at the theaters (we went to 5 different ones to get this done).

Photography Classes - BOOKED!

I just booked both my photography classes for March 4th and April 1st to become a world renowned photographer. Done and Done!

OSCAR MANIA, literally mania, continues. I'll provide you with a more thorough update, but Lisa and I have 3 movies left and 4 days until the Oscars (you can do the math). Two are still in the theater and of course they are located no where convenient to where we live. That means there will be another movie trip downtown PDX and one to the beautiful suburb of Tigard to meet our deadline. Cocktails may be involved.

So far I have 3 favorites: Midnight in Paris, The Artist, and The Help. Have any of you seen all the movies? Favorites???

Oscar Mania Continues

9 movies requires a plan of action. Lisa and I scheduled a lunch meeting and went to a collaboration room at work to build our Oscar schedule. Don't pretend like you don't surf Facebook and rewatch that YouTube video of the sneezing panda/double rainbow guy over and over at work.

Here's Lisa diligently scheduling our Out of Office requirments. It's like Mad Men, but instead of going to lunch and getting sauced with clients, we sneak out of work to watch movies:

Here's the output. The WW stands for work week (it's an Intel thing). Also, obviously Feb. 31 should read Jan. 31. You'll have to click on this picture to make it bigger.

And that evening we knocked out a movie! At 5 bucks, I consider that a bargain.

Overall takeaway from The Descendants: Liked it (I pretty much love most movies that take place in Hawaii), but it was kind of a Debbie Downer. I walked away a little bummed out, but I thought the overall story line was good. I was pretty impressed with the actress who played the older teenage daughter. And George is always easy on the eyes.

Best Picture Oscar Nominees Out

So, my thanks go to the academy for changing the rule about the number of nominations in the best picture category to allow for UP TO 10 FILMS to be nominated. Fortunately they didn't go crazy and only picked 9. Lisa and I are FREAKING OUT about the amount of movie watching we have to cram in during the next month. That includes ~4 films in the theater which equates to $$$$. We may do a 2 for 1 deal, if you all catch my drift (pay for one movie and stay to see another, let's keep this between us, ok?).

Lisa and I had great plans to get up this morning to watch the nominations live at 5:30am PST, but due to work and the fact that she and I awesomely mentor high school students on Tuesdays, we dropped the plan (plus 5:30am???). So here's what we're up against:

1. The Artist


2. The Descendants


3. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close


4. The Help


5. Hugo


6. Midnight in Paris


7. Moneyball


8. The Tree of Life


9. War Horse

So far, we have seen The Artist. Lisa is one up on me as she has seen The Help, but will be rewatching with me on a movie marathon day. Please pray for us.

Oscar Countdown

Since the timeline for the Oscars is tight (announcements aren't until Jan. 24th) my P.I.C. for this mission, Lisa, and I decided we needed to start attacking potential best picture nominees stat. After analyzing the data, we decided this rumored nominee was the one most at risk for being caught in that space between theater and DVD.

I took my girl Lisa out on the town with my free movie tix and we ventured all the way downtown Portland to the Fox Tower Cinema to see "The Artist." It was a great movie, completely a silent film about a silent film star in the late 20s, early 30s. It was definitely an interesting way to watch a movie considering we are so used to hearing the dialogue when watching a film.

To be continued........

Trapeze Lessons - Getting a P.I.C.

I have seen this on TV and it looks fantastic so of course it had to go on my list. Matt and Jake (the Reverend) both have their reservations about me trying this, but Matt has agreed to come along as the filmographer. The best part: Groupon (as I said earlier, should be sponsoring my blog, perhaps I should write a letter) and a Partner in Crime (P.I.C.). This started the ball rolling, a text to one of my besties:

















I waited in anticipation to see if she would tell me, "hell no, you crazy", or perhaps just throw caution to the wind and say yes. As you can tell from the timeline, I had to wait 3 whole hours dying to know what she was thinking. Fortunately for me she went with option 2:






















Seeing myself use OMG in a text makes me feel multiple confusing feelings.

So then this happened and it made me happy (oh and Gretch, forgot to mention our little Groupon includes Aerial Fabric? What what?):

New Year 2012

Happy New Year all! New Year's 2012 looked to perhaps be another year with just Matt and I playing the Wii at home, drinking champagne, and watching Dick Clark's Rocking Eve hosted by Ryan Seacrest (which have been pretty amazing New Years). Turned out that by procrastinating the hell out of New Years we cranked it up to 11.

We made last minute plans to rent a hotel room downtown Portland with our Reverend Jake (hopefully all who are reading this know the story of how/why he's called the reverend and is our actual reverend otherwise you are probably thinking, "this is a weird scenario"). We hit the town, met up with some great friends, and Matt and I wound up with a first.......it was the first time in my 29 and his 34 years that we have actually been out on the town for New Year's and not at a house party, working, or playing the Wii and drinking champagne in our living room watching DCREHBRS (there's almost a pronounceable acronym there). Reverend Jake has a new nickname, Fireball, and let's just say it was memorable for all.

This was not on my list, but I realized I always wanted to experience New Year's out on the town, or do something grandiose so I believe I just knocked something off my larger bucket list.

I'm excited that I've inspired both my mom and Matt to start cracking on some bucket list things. Mom wants to learn French. Matt has a list (but I do not think his is a bucket list, it's more of a "short term things I want to do" list). Matt's is more geared toward getting ready for our summer garden that we will plant. I think he's worried if we both start attacking bucket lists with wild abandonment, we may have to start accessing our Cayman Island account for funding. And that just leads to hassle and questions from the government, IRS, my mom, etc....

And over the holidays with all the quality time with friends and family, I thought of one more thing to add to my list:

27) See an awesome concert (maybe I'm copping out by not naming specifically who I want to see, but when I come across it, I will know it's the right choice for my bucket list). Also to clarify, I have seen many concerts, most of them awesome, but again, looking for that amazing one!