30 Before 30 List - the (almost) halfway point update

I am about halfway through the year I gave myself to accomplish everything on my 30 Before 30 list and I think I'm doing pretty good so far! 

30 Before 30

1 – Host a dinner party for 6 people. - Not crossed off yet but I plan on having an outdoor dinner later in the summer :) 

2 – Lose at least 30 lbs - Working on it... 

3 – Lay on a beach in the sun while drinking margaritas 

4 – Blog 30 days in a row

5 – Sing karaoke - CHECK! Sang Shania with the bride at a wedding last weekend. It was quite the show. LOL 

6 - Have $_____ in savings (I know the number but I don't think I need to put it onto my blog) - About half way to the goal. Right on track. 

7 - Celebrate my 30^th b-day in style! - Can't be checked off until the end of the year obvs. 

8 – Write a good chunk of my book - This is a work in progress. And it has been on my mind a lot lately. I need to take a few days to myself and type out what is all in my head. 

9 – Host a theme party - I have plans... oh do I have plans! But for later in the year. 

10 – Have a completely Sober October

11 – Do something that is completely selfless - Not quite sure if I am counting this as my "selfless act" but I just gave away about half of my wardrobe. FIVE suitcases worth. 

12 – Do something that scares me - CHECK! Done a few so far this year: Went into this CREEPY (at first) cave at Ainsworth Hot Springs, still need to blog about that trip! And I also pet a manta-ray in Vegas! 

13 – Send 5 people cards for no reason in particular except to make their day.

14 – Forgive my sister…

15 – Wear red lipstick (not on Halloween)

16 – Write a poem that I’m proud of

17 – Fly a kite

18 – Play hooky from work and get day drunk

19 – Watch every movie that has won an Academy Award for Best Picture (already started this one! If you want a copy of the list let me know) - This is a work in progress, I've watched 27 out of 85 so far. 

20 – Create a funny youtube video. - CHECK! There are actually 3 or 4 different videos technically. BiSC was truly amazing. 

21 – Try 10 foods I’ve never had before. - CHECK! - dried mango, gnocchi, Shamrock Shake, spaghetti squash, buffalo, fennel, crawfish, ever-clear, biscuits and gravy, snapper. 

22 – Sign up for a fitness class and attend all classes. No excuses. - CHECK! - Zumba, two rounds. Boom! 

23 – Cook a new recipe every month. One that I’ve never tried before. - Right on track! January was a buffalo chicken meatloaf. February was roasted butternut squash soup. March was scalloped corn. April was roasted spaghetti squash and then May was a spicy turkey spaghetti sauce on spaghetti squash. Can you tell I really like spaghetti squash now? 

24 – Go on a vacation, somewhere hot. - CHECK! ... VEGAS!!!! 

25 – Put a tag/sticker on ALL articles of my clothes and shoes. If I don’t wear it by the end of the year, get rid of it. - I didn't put stickers/tags on but I went through EVERYTHING a few weeks ago when I was getting rid of a lot of clothes so I know what I have worn this year and what I haven't yet. 

26 – Try to only wax my legs for the whole year, no shaving. - Totally been doing this all year and it's been awesome so far. I may even stick with this forever? 

27 – Buy coffee for the person behind me in line at Tim Horton’s. - CHECK!

28 – Teach someone something new. - CHECK! Taught a few people how to gamble in Vegas! 

29 – Figure out the “art” of liquid eye liner. - CHECK! 

30 – Drink tea everyday. - Been pretty much on track with this too! 

Bloggers in Sin City Recap - The Final Episode

Life Lessons Learned in Las Vegas: 

The Las Vegas airport has two completely separate terminals. Which means folks you know arriving at the same time may not be at the same baggage claim as you. This was news to me even though I had been to Vegas four times perviously. 

Don’t drink the ever-clear. It will only lead to bad things. Especially when you choose to drink it in copious amounts.  

Chicken and waffles are a thing… a very BIG and delicious thing.

Tiff is the most amazing person at dividing bills for large parties. All servers should bow down to her. It wouldn't surprise me if they end up tipping her one day. 

Don't take the free sample of the “energy gum”. It tastes like pennies and won’t give you extra energy. Lies I tell you.  

Sharks... because Vegas! 

Watch out for hidden glass floors because SHARKS and Vegas!

When you hug someone for 8 seconds, you bond. It’s been proven. And when you hug someone for 45 seconds or longer you instantly become life long friends.

Food courts are the best place for bonding at 3:00 am. The best. 

Everyone has a story and you would be surprised at how similar others are to yours. We are never alone.

The "O" Cirque du Soleil show is the best of the cirque shows. 

 If you’re not tired at 2:00am… GET UP! It’s Vegas! Sleeping is for being at home.

Silicon and Silicone are two very different things. And silicone breast implants have nothing to do with "Silicon Valley".  The more you know. 

Solar panel breast implants need to become a thing. You know… so we can charge our phones in our cleavage.

 Nico apparently knows Vegas very well… you know… because he is Phillipino…?

 It IS actually possible to krump in a pool. And when you are Casey, it still looks as bad-ass as when you do it on dry land. 

 According to the conversations we had about this topic (multiple times), Canadians apparently say “mmm hmm” differently that Americans. Canadians say mm-hmmmmmmm…. And drag out the hmmm in a calming agreement. Yet Americans add a question mark at the end. “mmm hmmmm? As in ‘Do I agree with you?’”. 

 Biscuits and Sausage gravy at breakfast. This invention is delicious. Who knew? Yet this must remain in the U.S. or I would just eat them at all the breakfasts!

The party is wherever you want it to be. Even in an H&M fitting room.

All the feelings come out when folks wear wigs to brunch.

Don’t even bother packing heels. You are wasting precious suitcase space.

True friends can be found anywhere in the world You just have to open your heart and mind and not be afraid to take a chance.

Biscuits equals family. 

THIS!! ....... All of This!

You guys!!!

There's something I totally forgot to tell you!
(unless you follow me on Twitter. Because on Twitter it's been my main topic of conversation for the last couple of months... I'm kind of excited...)

I'm going to Vegas!!
In about a month.

To be more specific... I'm going to Bloggers in Sin City!!!!!

You may remember that I went to this same "Un-Conference" back in 2011. (Read that recap here)
Unfortunately due to finances I couldn't go last year BUT all the stars and blogging gods aligned for me and I was able to register for this year!! Thank goodness too because sadly this will be the final year.

Needless to say, the next 36 days better go by quickly. Tackle hugs for old and new friends await!

How NOT to bleach a beard.

In December, the boyfriend and I went to an "End of the World" party.

The boyfriend drank a bit too much. Conversations arose about his beard and how big it had gotten. Somehow he was convinced that if it was white he would look like Santa. It was just before Christmas and since it was the "end of the world" and he was way too many drinks in, he thought it would be a good idea too. Oh boy...  

So he bleached it...

And for a while he looked like a wizard... 

But it wasn't going white enough so he wanted us to add heat to boost it...

 After 2 hours... this is what he ended up with.

Yes, that is an orange/yellow beard instead of white. And yes, thats still dark brown hair on top. I told him it wouldn't work but he didn't listen to me. Plus I wanted him to get rid of it so i figured if he bleached it and hated it he would just shave it off in the morning. Boy was I wrong...

He woke up the next morning and said "It's not Santa... but I kinda like it... I look like Hulk Hogan... I think I should keep it". Oh god...

We had other holiday parties to go to that weekend and he LOVED his beard and wanted to show it off so I made a deal with him that he could keep the ugly orange-beard as long as it was either gone or died back by Christmas Eve dinner with my family. He died it. Actually... I died it. So weird.

I thought I hated the beard before but after seeing orange-beard... I will take brown-beard any day.

The 12 Days of Christmas Recap

(a little late... but I've been busy this Holiday Season)

 On the Twelfth Day of Christmas my girlfriend gave to me...

A Twelve Pack of Beer

Eleven Pickled Pickles (heehee) 

Ten Timbits

Nine Lady Fingers

Eight Laughing Cheeses

Seven Shortbread Cookies

Six Scratch Tickets

Five Gooooolden Baaaalls!

 Four Funny Movies

Three French Toasts

Two Turtle Doves

And a Peanut Butter Cupcake from Crave!

The 12 Days of CHRIS-mas...

The Boyfriends name is in the word Christmas (obvious...) so its even more fitting that I get creative and do a 12 Days of Chris-mas just for him!!!! 

Day 1 - A Peanut Butter cupcake from Crave 

(best cupcakes ever....!!! Check them out here.) 

Two "Turtle Doves".... get it. I'm so funny...

Three French Toasts!! Mmmmm!!!!!!!

Stay tuned for the days ahead!

It's the little things...

Like spending the afternoon with your Grandma putting up the Christmas Tree. 

Seriously, how cute is she? 

Cue all the excitement!!!

Tis the season!

Now that American Thanksgiving is over and its only a few days away from December, I can put up my Christmas decorating with out feeling like I'm jumping the gun. 

I looked up some photos for a little inspiration... 

This is a little excessive... yet I still love it. 

I totally already made one of these a few weeks ago... 

Yum! Definitely making these! 

A cozy candle cozy.

Remember that time... in Italy... When the lights were out...

Get your mind out of the gutter. This isn’t THAT kind of story.

I told this flashback story to a coworker today and thought it would be a funny one to share on my blog. Always thinkin’ about you fellow bloggers!

Once upon a time (11 years ago), in a land far, far away (in Italy), there was a young girl. It was me actually!! I was 17 years old and on a Grade 12 Europe Trip with my school. There were 40 students on the trip and we went to France, Monaco and Italy. One of the most interesting and fun holidays ever!

This particular story took place at a hotel in Rome on the last night of the adventure. After dinner a group of us were hanging out in the hotel room (we may or may not have been drinking the 12 bottles of wine we purchased that day…) and we heard some noise outside the balcony of the room. We looked out and low and behold there was an Italian soccer team staying in the other tower of the hotel. Well... we being 17 year old girls of course started whistling and screaming for them. They hollered right back and tried to get us to open the door of our hotel tower to let them in (at the hotel you needed security cards/keys to get into each of the buildings). We knew the teachers on the trip were in the rooms next to us and we would get in SO MUCH trouble if we let them in so the crazy Italians started trying to climb up the balconies. After a while they started creeping us out so we closed the balconies and went about our own “last night in Europe party”.

For the entire trip I had been rooming with 2 other girls. They were exhausted and wanted to go to sleep but I was planning on pulling an all nighter with the rest of the group. The thing was you needed to put one of those security keys I mentioned into a slot in the room in order to get power to the room, the same key you needed for the halls and for the door to get in and out of the room too. Really smart plan for saving power, but not smart when we only had one key between the 3 of us. So my roomies and I decided that I would take the key since they were just going to sleep anyways and didn’t need lights.

Off I went down the hall to join the rest of the group, key in hand. At 3 am we heard banging and yelling from somewhere in the hotel. Those of us that were still up instantly thought it was the Italian soccer team so we were too scared to open the door to the hall to check. After a while someone said “I think that noise is coming from our floor??”, we opened the door and peeked out. “Umm… Mich… I think that noise is coming from YOUR room??”.

We ran down the hall to my room and opened the door. There were my roommates, soaking wet, in complete darkness. The pipe from the shower burst somehow and water was spraying everywhere. The poor girls were locked in the room with no lights and no way out.

It’s a funny story NOW but let me tell you… they were not happy having to pack all of their soaking wet clothes for our flight early that morning.

I'm not made of money ya know...

Let's vent a little shall we...

So I'm going to a bachelorette party this weekend. Yay! I love bachelorette parties. BUT what I don't like is when whoever is planning said party thinks everyone invited is made of money and/or has a sugar daddy.

If I were to participate in all of the bachelorette weekend festivities they would include:

Drive from Calgary to Banff (and return after) - lets say $40 in gas
Pay the Banff National Park fee for parking there over the weekend - $20??
Hotel for 2 nights (shared with other girls) - $150
Spa day - probably like $300
Dinner at a very expensive restaurant on Saturday night - $60
Booze for pre-drinking at the hotel room - $30
Night out at the bar - I'm gonna guess about $80
Small gift for the bride - $20
Meals for the rest of the weekend too - $50?

That estimate totals up to $750..... SEVEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS!!!!!!! 

Holy Shit!

Sure I adore the bride and would get a girls weekend out of it but damn... I could go to Vegas for that cost. Shoot I could find a deal and go to Mexico for a week for that cost.

Not happening.

Myself and another invitee are going to drive to Banff (share the cost of gas) on Saturday afternoon and meet up with everyone just before dinner time and then stay with them until after the bar and then drive back together. (I wont be drinking in case you were wondering).

I swear... whenever I get married I will make sure my bridesmaids think of those who are on a budget.

Rant over.

Speech! Speech!

This summer my best friend got married and I had the (terrifying) honor of the speech to the bride: 

Good Evening everyone,

If you don’t already know, my name is Michelle and I would just like to say a few words to the newlyweds. But before I do that, I would like to thank all of the groomsmen for everything they have done for Bryan and Jennifer’s special day and for looking so handsome this evening. Ladies, can we get a quick round of applause for the handsome groomsmen?

Jen and I have been friends for about 18 years now and we have countless memories together from all of our adventures. I would like to share a story though that very few people in this room know about, in fact, I’m pretty sure Bryan isn’t even aware of this.

Early last May, I was rummaging through some old boxes at my parents house and found a bunch of things from high school, most of which were just pictures of the Backstreet Boys and notes between Jen and I. But then I came across an envelope that had some very important papers in it. It was about 6 pages folded together that were titled “The Dream Love List”. I called Jen right away and told her what I had found; she was just as excited as me and made me promise not to look at it until we could read it together. Best friends do those sorts of things for each other…

So we got together the next day and, as giddy as can be, unfolded “The List”. We wrote this list when we were about 17 years old so it was of course written in blue marker and covered in heart shaped stickers. When we wrote the list, we said that before either of us even thought about marrying someone, we would have to go back to that list and make sure he fit the criteria.

The list was composed of very important qualities that any good man should have. Such as:

# 4 – Has to be able to dance.

Or

# 28 – Must have good hair.

Or how about,

# 39 – Doesn’t mind shopping.

After we laughed over all 50 items on the list and how brilliant we thought we were at 17, we thought it would be fun to see how well Bryan scored. We went through the list line by line, item by item and he scored a whopping 97%!!

Both of us looked at each other and said “well… I guess you can marry him now…”

The very next day, I got a phone call from Bryan asking me to help him organize the surprise party where he would be proposing to Jen… It was fate.

As someone who has known Jen since before her height growth spurt, I can tell you Bryan, you are one lucky man today. Not only are you marrying the most beautiful woman in the room tonight, you are also extremely blessed to be marrying someone who will stand by your side no matter what life throws at you, someone who will never cease to amaze you with how much love she can give and someone who only gets better with age.

Every single one of us ladies at this table have felt the contagious love that Jen can give and if that is even just a glimpse of the love she will show to you as her husband, you have a lifetime of happiness ahead of you.

Jen… my soul sista… words could never express how much I cherish having you as a best friend. I am so beyond proud of the amazing woman you have become and it is an absolute honor to be up here with you on your special day. I truly can’t imagine another man more destined for you than Bryan. I wish you both all the best in your new adventures as husband and wife.

Lets all raise our glasses for the newlyweds. Here’s to love, laughter and a happily ever after.

Want to see more photos? Or are you looking for the BEST wedding photographers in Calgary? Check them out here: Diane & Mike Photography.

Halloween Decorating at Chateau Mich

Love these little guys!! 

Before all the snacks were set out.

Turning the best party game into a drinking game = AMAZING!!

Made these for the halloween potluck at work. They were
a big hit!