Late Birthday Post / 26 Things to do While 26

Last Saturday, my husband spoiled me. We left Georgia in the capable hands of my in-laws for a day and drove off to Park City, Utah. There, we went shopping at the outlet malls (hello Aldo flats for $12.95), ate at Ruby Tuesday (hello free birthday burger) and partied at the Olympic Game Park by going down the Alpine Slide and the steepest zipline in the world (hello buy one, get one free). It was pretty amazing to have six hours of just Scott and myself- I'm finding that alone time is the best birthday gift.

That's right. I said birthday.

On Monday, while most of you were celebrating Labor Day (and not caring what that holiday even means), I celebrated my 26th birthday. 26. When my mom mentioned that I was getting old, I decided to focus on how old that made HER rather than me. Poor, mom. Always my scapegoat. Anyway, because my actual birthday was on a holiday, Scott didn't have to go to school or work and this made me happy. I slept in while Scott tended the baby and made me a breakfast quiche in bed. Georgia greeted me with a sign around her neck that read "Happy Birthday MOM!"

Then, we went shopping for a while to hit the sales and I came home and took a nap. It was a great nap. After that, Scott gave me a list of things that we could go do, but I wanted to just have some peace and quiet. In the end, he took care of the baby while I painted my nails in my underwear watching Bachelor Pad and drinking a tall Diet Coke with lime. Like I said, the best birthday gift.

But after a few hours, Scott's parents stopped by and we played Just Dance on the Wii (oh yeah, we got a Wii. I have more to say about that later) and ate this AMAZING cake. I had found it in Martha Stewart magazine- zucchini cake with orange glaze.

It looked just like the picture. Good job, Scott.

This last year, I set 25 goals to accomplish and I accomplished 13 of them. While I didn't do ALL of them, someone pointed out I did the most important/time-consuming ones (read: graduate college and start a family). When you look at it like that, I'd feel pretty successful.

And now...

26 Things to do While 26

1. Ride a zipline (this really was my goal, and then Scott took me on one, so I'm counting it as already complete).

2. Get in shape

3. Serve my family more (both immediate and extended)

4. Buy a dress from Antrhopologie

5. Finish redoing that rocking chair

6. Read the New Testament starting at New Years and finish by Easter

7. Throw an awesome first birthday for Georgia

8. Keep all of my personal/spiritual goals

9. Attend a mission reunion

10. Go to yoga classes for a month

11. Try a new food

12. Create something (handmade) at least once a month

13. Juggle

14. Keep a private journal

15. Join a book club

16. Take an IQ test

17. Read at least 24 books and record which ones they are

18. Visit another state (besides Idaho)

19. Have a food fight

20. Play a hymn on the piano (with BOTH hands)

21. Ride the Heber Valley Railroad

22. Create a soundtrack to my life if it were to be turned into a film

23. Go a month with no internet (... or a week... with a baby this one is hard because everyone will want to see how she is growing. Still. Even a DAY with no internet would be difficult for me)

24. Make an origami bird garland

25. Be on TV

26. Run (or walk) a half marathon