30 Never Felt So Good

A week ago today, I turned thirty years old, and it feels great. I had an amazing time celebrating with friends and family on the day of my birthday and this past weekend. I was away for a work trip to Houston, TX on my actual birthday, but my co-workers went out of their way to make me feel really special despite our rigorous work schedule. And to top the day off a small group of us had a very yummy dinner at Del Frisco's. This weekend my best friends surprised me with a big group of our friends meeting to go ice skating! We had a blast laughing and shakily making our way around the rink. A Mexican fiesta for dinner, and a side splitting game of Cards Against Humanity made for a perfect celebration. (Seriously the funniest game you'll ever play with your friends. It's like a dirty version of Apples to Apples)

But the biggest accomplishment I have to talk about is my 30 Before 30 list. Right after my 29th birthday I made a list of things I wanted to accomplish by February 11th, 2013. I've blogged about most of them, but I'm really proud to have completed so many. There are 10 pesky ones still hanging out there, but I've really enjoyed having this set list of things I want to do in my life, and I hope to cross them off soon. 

Thanks to everyone who wished me happy birthday and supported me here on the blog. Here's to life in my thirties! 

1. Get another tattoo
2. Dye hair red
3. Be brave enough to try a funky haircut
4. Volunteer for a charity I've put my name in to volunteer for 
5. Buy a car
6. Have 3-4 months of expenses saved up still working on this one! 
7. To be able to have a hard conversation argument with someone without crying (I'm a big softie what can I say?)
8. Make an origami paper crane
9. Find the perfect shade of lipstick, and wear it!
10. Pay off credit card or at least get balance below $500 still working on this one, but with my tax refund this one can get marked off very soon
11. Do Jillian Michael's workout for 30 days consecutively
12. Take styled pictures of where I live for blog
13. Find a reason to wear my sequin dress from Anthropologie
14. Make a 3 course meal
15. Add new page to my blog
16. Rent or own a shallow depth of field lens for camera and use it effectively I lost some of my enthusiasm for taking photographs lately, but I'm working on bringing that back to rent the lens
17. Make a cinemagraph
18. Own professional make up brushes, and know how to use them 
19. Get in a better beauty routine with my hair, not just let it be naturally stick straight everyday
20. Own dishes I love to eat off of
21. Read a classic novel like Pride and Prejudice
22. Have at least 75 followers to Little Yellow Apple at 70! I can only go up! 
23. Make some sort of progress towards learning French I have downloaded a program to help me learn French, now I have to make the time to learn it 
24. Travel to a fabulous place like NYC, LA, Europe or Disney World (or have plans to travel to one of these places) This year I went to Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Indianapolis, and Houston. It was great to be able to travel so much, but none of it was for pleasure. I'm hoping to go on a real vacation this summer. 
25. Meet a celebrity (a girl can dream right?) Still dreaming on this one! 
26. Go ballroom dancing didn't make it around to this one either
27. Watch all of Audrey Hepburn's movies since Roman Holiday (I only have 11 left to see) this turned out to be harder than I thought. It's hard enough to find a movie rental place, let alone old Audrey movies.  
28. Choose a handful of Pinterest challenges to replicate or try out and blogs about the results
29. Plant a terrarium 
30. Have the best 30th birthday party! 

Count it down

We have now entered the final countdown. To my 30th birthday that is. 

And my 30 Before 30 list still needs some checking off. I'm working on several of them on my own, but there's one only YOU guys can help me with. One of the things I want to accomplish is having 75 followers to this blog. So I'm batting my eyelashes, giving you my best pretty please smile, and asking you to click that 'Join this Site' button over there in the side bar to follow my blog. You won't regret it, I promise.

I want to do a fun give away for my 30th birthday for all the followers of my blog, so if you follow me now before the contest starts you'll get extra entries.

I'm going to say thank you now for all your support, and apologize that the Final Countdown song is in your head now.

Nailed It!

The Perfect Pour

Jack-o-lanterns

Who created not one, but TWO, cinemagraphs? This girl! This item on my list has been a tough one to cross off; until now. I watched, and read, many tutorials on how to create a cinemagraph in Photoshop but I could never get it to come out right. Due to the amount of frustration it was causing me, I put completing this project on the back burner until I could find the patience to finish it. But then I read about a new app called Cinemagraph and the world became a shinier, happier place. (I swear my iPhone has changed my life). It took a few attempts to get the right footage, but the app itself is very easy to use. You record a bit of action, isolate the area you want to show motion, and then loop the footage. You can change the speed and direction of the loop, and much like Instagram, Cinemagraph has a variety of filters you can overlay to give it a funky look.

If you're a fan of the ciemagraph trend then you need to download this app and try it out. I'm sure it will be become one of your favorite apps! 

I am Fit!

I am all about the accomplishments this week! Yesterday I crossed another item off my 30 for 30 list: doing Jillian Michael's workout 30 days in a row. Jillian has a workout DVD called The 30 Day Shred. You do 3 levels of workouts, each progressively harder, for 10 days in a row. In the beginning it was pretty easy, but around day 12 or 13 I started dreading workout time a little more. But I kept at it, even when I was at the hotel in PA, I kept doing the workouts. Sure, some days were tougher than others but I'm really proud of myself for sticking it through to the end. Am I totally ripped like Jillian? No, but I can definitely see results. My stomach is flatter, my arms are getting some definition, and I feel stronger.

The best part of accomplishing this one is I feel really motivated to set up a post-Jillian work out to keep the momentum going. I'm giving the DVD a rest and hitting the gym instead to see if I can get that six pack I keep seeing on Pinterest. (you guys know the ones I'm talking about, talk about motivation!)

Hello Everyone!

Hello! Is the perfect salutation to everyone here on little yellow apple after my two week absence. I was gone for a week in Pennsylvania for work, and then the following week I had some bigger things that needed my attention. But I'm back, and ready to share all sorts of new things. Fall is in the air and that means boots and scarves weather, crafts involving pumpkins and leaves, and all sorts of good movie watching.

I'm also coming back this week with some items crossed off my 30 list. The first one I want to share was finding a reason to wear my sequin dress from Anthropologie. I put it on the list because when a dress is normally priced at $200 and goes on crazy sale for $20 you buy it immediately and figure out a place to wear it later. Two years later it was still hanging in my closet with no place to go. Putting it on the list was a sure way I knew it would get out of my closet and live a little. A fancy dinner at Holly Hill Inn in Midway was the perfect excuse to get all dressed up.

PS what do you think of my untied bowtie as a necklace? I'm making it happen this year!

#1 Accomplished!

The whole reason I started the 30 Before 30 list was so I could have a documented declaration of my desire to get another tattoo. The thought was I'd feel really guilty if I didn't go through with it; so I can goof off on the 20 or so I have remanding now that this one is out of the way. I kid, I kid! I was inked a little less than a month ago, but I've been wanting this particular tattoo for 2 years. The idea came from the little birds in Cinderella who make her ball gown. It's a way to represent my love for all things girlie and cute. I mean the little birds have eyelashes for goodness sake, does it get any cuter than that?

This was by far the most painful obstacle on the list so things like planning a trip and cooking a meal should be a piece of cake!


P.S. If you live in Lexington, and are looking for a talented tattoo artist, Stu at Bleed Blue Tattoo Shop will hook you up!

Marking 'Em Off

Two items crossed off the 30 Before 30 list recently! I found pretty plates that I'm very happy to eat off of, and I read a classic book. The plates are from Anthropologie (surprise I know), but I got them on sale, so total score. I love the little scalloped red edge and cheerful blue and yellow flowers. The book, as read by most high school students, somehow escaped me. I can't say that I fell in love with it; perhaps if I was a teenager reading it for the first time I could relate more to Holden Caulfield, but it feels good to finish it.

Having More Fun

Cross another one off the 30 before 30 list. I got me some red locks over the weekend! In my head I thought I would go for a color like this or this, but I played it a little safe and went with something a little darker. I'm super happy with the color change and think I will be braver on my touch up visit and go a little brighter. I'm ready to see if red heads have more fun!

30 Before 30

This past weekend I celebrated a birthday. I have 363 days to have a last fling with my late twenties before I can usher in the years of my early thirties. I think that gives me plenty of time to mark off some of the fun things I plan to accomplish before then.

1. Get another tattoo

2. Dye hair red
3. Be brave enough to try a funky haircut
4. Volunteer for a charity
5. Buy a car
6. Have 3-4 months of expenses saved up
7. To be able to have a hard conversation or argument with someone without crying (I'm a big softie what can I say?)
8. Make an origami paper crane
9. Find the perfect shade of lipstick, and wear it!
10. Pay off credit card or at least get balance below $500
11. Do Jillian Michael's workout for 30 days consecutively
12. Take styled pictures of where I live for blog
14. Find a reason to wear my sequin dress from Anthropologie
15. Make a 3 course meal
16. Add new pages to my blog
17. Rent or own a shallow depth of field lens for camera and use it effectively
18. Make a cinemagraph
19. Own professional makeup brushes, and know how to use them
20. Get in a better beauty routine with my hair...not just letting it be naturally stick straight everyday
21. Own dishes I love to eat off of
22. Read a classic novel like Pride and Prejudice
23. Have at least 75 followers to Little Yellow Apple
24. Make some sort of progress towards learning French
25. Travel to a fabulous place like New York City, Los Angeles, Europe, or Disney World (or have plans to travel to one of these places)
26. Meet a celebrity (a girl can dream right?)
27. Go ballroom dancing
28. Watch all of Audrey Hepburn's movies since Roman Holiday (I only have 11 left to see)
29. Choose a handful of Pinterest challenges to replicate or try out and blog about the results
30. Have the best 30th birthday party!