Simply B

I figured that in order to cross off #25: Become a master makeup artist, I needed to meet with Denver's resident makeup master: Michael Moore, owner of Simply Moore for a lesson on makeup mastery. Michael and his endless knowledge certainly didn't disappoint, and while it ended being a pricey goal it was so totally worth it.

But let me back up for a second and say why this was a goal of mine. When I graduated college I treated myself to a makeup lesson at MAC. It was useful and I learned how to use some colors (like purple) that I would never have picked for myself, but made me look fabulous. But I've had the same look for the past seven years and have never felt like I really knew what I was doing. On top of that, the only time my "look" every looked any different was when I did something extreme like my version of a smoky eye. So I wanted to have another lesson with someone who really knew what they were doing in hopes that I would learn how to accent my best features and how to change up my look based on the event I was at.

My lesson with Michael was phenomenal. I learned that I was using the wrong color foundation (no shock there) and eye liner. And I was doing some techniques wrong that were actually counter intuitive to my goals, like trying to make my eyes bigger but using shadow in the wrong places was actually making them look smaller and deeper set. I won't spill all my secrets because everyone should really have their own custom lesson, but I feel so much more knowledgeable and prettier than I did yesterday. I know how to do an everyday look, a work dinner/event/evening look and a party look. And I have a bag upstairs full of new makeup to use. It's really fun to be a girl!

-B

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Tired and overworked, but the list must go on

Thankfully one of my goals wasn't become more reliable, because I certainly would have failed meeting that one. I can't believe how insanely busy life has been for me the past couple weeks. I've got more work to get done than hours in the day causing me to be pretty sporadic about blogging of late.

Good news is the massive project that I've been working on is scheduled to go live on April 19, which is also the actual day of my big birthday. Perfect timing for me to complete #12: Climb the corporate ladder. But, today's blog is actually about the completion of #7: Make someone else's day. A week ago, yes it's really taken me an entire week to blog about it, I was able to cross off my 10th goal from my list. Yay!

I've mentioned quite a bit on here how much I adore my girlfriends and while I know how much I love them, I'm not sure I do a great job of letting them know how much their friendship means to me. So as part of being able to cross off #7 I sent a card through the mail to each of my closest girlfriends letting them know just that. I hope that it made their days.

The second part of completing #7 I reserved for my coworkers who put up with me and all my loud sighs day after day. Nothing says thank you better than cash, but I'm on a tight budget these days so I said thank you, and hopefully made their day, by bringing them the second best thing: Santiago's breakfast burritos.

Doing each of these things also made my day, which proves the old adage "It's better to give than receive" completely spot on. And because it gave me such a great buzz, I plan to incorporate more random acts of kindness into my life in hopes of making someone else's day a regular occurrence.

-B

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10 down... 20 to go

Those of you who follow the blog know this is not my first blog about goal #11 (read 30 books). I knew when I made this goal it was going to be a hard one for me to hit. In December I realized that I needed to read 3.25 books per month to hit this goal before September. I panicked slightly and hit the books!

Since then I have read 10 of my 30 books goal and I am pretty damn proud of that. The thing I have loved the most about this goal is not only feeling like I am really accomplishing something, but I have found out how much I really do enjoy reading. Not that every book I have read has been amazing... because believe me it hasn't been, but it's addicting! Similar to crack but better for your brain. This is one goal I am going to make an honest effort to keep up on after I turn 30.

Using the same math I used in December... with 10 books down I need to read 3.33 books per month or 62 pages per day to hit my goal, which means I am on track to hit this one!

-K

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List rewind: Learn more about wine

K and I started our blog a little late in the game and by the time it launched, I'd already crossed off a couple of my items. Because I'm proud of those accomplishments, and you're probably wondering what I did to cross them off, I wanted to share with all of you. Enjoy!

I'm starting to think that between my posts about cocktails, my love of gin and the copious amounts of champagne I drink all of you are minutes away from staging an intervention. To that I say "Cheers! I love drinking too much to give it up." Case in point is #11: learn more about wine. This was actually the very first goal I crossed off. And it's totally because it was one of my favorites on my list.
 
Like champagne, gin and pretty much all alcohol including moonshine, I love me some wine. It took me a while to get into it, but today it's rare to find one that I don't like. However, despite that love affair I know virtually nothing about it. Varietals? Legs? Tannins? What the hell are we talking about? I answered most of those questions and then some on a May 2009 trip to Napa with the hubby. We spent three glorious days touring vineyards, discovering that we do in fact like Merlot and getting pretty drunk.
 
But it was during all those tours that I learned a lot about grapes, the aging process, the difference between bottling wine and bubbly, and how to really use my palate to discover small nuances between blends and when a wine needs to open up and breathe. One of my favorite experiences was doing a barrel tasting at Pine Ridge. Tasting a young, aging wine before it's maturity was incredible. The trip was also a success because we managed to bring back 12 undamaged bottles of wonderful, amazing wine through airport security. This was by far the most enjoyable goal I've crossed off and although I'm not quite a sommelier ... yet ... am glad that this goal will continue to be a passion of mine until my liver gives out.
 

- B

 
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List rewind: Climb a 14er

K and I started our blog a little late in the game and by the time it launched, I'd already crossed off a couple of my items. Because I'm proud of those accomplishments, and you're probably wondering what I did to cross them off, I wanted to share with all of you. Enjoy!

I crossed off #2: climb a 14er on August 29, 2009 by climbing Torreys Peak (elevation 14,267 ft.) with K's husband and my husband. It was by far the toughest thing I've done off my list so far. #2 was added to my list because despite being a Colorado native, I'd never hiked anything over 10,000 ft. and I was going to be required to turn in my native card if I didn't climb at least one before hitting 30. 

Climbing it was a lot more difficult than I thought it would be. I never thought my legs could burn so much and there were easily 100 separate times during the hike up that I was ready to call it a day. But I pushed on and managed to summit just over two hours after starting, and it was an incredible feeling to look out across the Rockies and know that I was just about as high up as I could get.

I swore I wasn't going to go another one, one was enough thank you, but K added climb a 14er to her list and I want to share accomplishing that goal with her like she shared running the Bolder Boulder with me.

-B

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Riddle me this...

Let me start with a little background information. I am not the type of person who meticulously counts calories or lives and dies by the scale. I generally eat what I want and monitors my weight through sporadic doctors appoints throughout the year. I have always been an active person and have been blessed with never having to really battle a weight problem.

With that being said when I turned 25 I went from having the figure of a boy (save breasts) to having things like hips and curves. Now, I do understand that I cant look like a 15 year old boy my whole life but I would like to not have things like muffin top and cellulite.

For the past two months I have been watching my caloric intake and exercising on a regular basis. To help increase my perception of accomplishment I decided to weigh in when I started this process. Thinking it has been two months I would do a check in on the scale and see how things were progressing. Minor heart attack when the scale said I have gained 9lbs. If that 9lbs was muscle I could rationalize it in my mind... but I assure you it is not.

So here's where I'm at now. For the last two months I have felt starving on days and I miss some of my very favorite foods. Do I stay the course and hope by being more diligent I will start to see the change I would like? Do I give up watching what I eat so I can eat and be happy but keep the gym routine going? Or do I just give up...

I started working on number 14 hoping to trim off a extra 10lbs, but now that 10lbs has doubled and it feels harder then ever to achieve my goal.

K

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The cocktail to end all cocktails

During my romantic weekend in with the hubby I decided to tackle goal #19: create a signature cocktail or drink. Anyone who knows me would say champagne is easily my drink of choice. It’s what girlfriends gift me for my birthday, it’s what I get most excited about drinking and I think it’s symbolic of my personality: celebratory, sophisticated, a bubbly personality … and expensive .

Anyone who knows my husband and I would say that our signature couple cocktail are Moscow Mules. We’ve introduced many a friend to them either out at bars or at our annual holiday party. But vodka isn’t my liquor of choice, gin is, and ginger beer is hard to find.

But it seemed too simple to just choose champagne, how is stating something I know really meeting a goal? So the hubby and I hit up the liquor store and tried some combinations using my favorite tastes and liquor. The end result was ultimately representative of me, and something I plan on ordering as often as possible.

Pamplemousse Royale (pamplemousse is grapefuit in French)

2 oz. St.-Germain Liquor
2 oz. white grapefruit juice
Top with a brut champagne of choice (mine is Veuve)

We messed around with the amount of each part, and I think the above was the best combination. Mix it up a little to match your preferences and enjoy!

-B

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