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!
