Photo a Day Challenge : Week #35

Day 25 - Culture

Day 26 - Entrance

Day 27 - 10 Minutes From Home (stopping to check pee mail)

Day 28 - Corridor 

Day 29 - Lucky (Remi feels lucky when he has his Frisbee) 

Day 30 - Cluttered

Day 31 - Dangerous

30 Before 30

Today I turn 29 years old...

My emotions on this birthday are mixed... of course I feel an extreme thankfulness for having such a wonderful decade of 20 somethings... but then there's that shock of fear that I'm only a year away from 30! Where did the time go? Did I do everything that I wanted to before I hit this milestone in my life? What are some of the reachable goals I still have for myself before I hit my thirties? And that's where the list of "30 Before 30" comes into play...

Several of my friends have been talking about making their "30 Before 30" list which absolutely inspired me to do the same... and since I'm all about setting goals I figured what better time to make mine than right before my 29th Birthday.

So without further adieu... here it is! Keep in mind I only picked goals that I thought could be reach this year, so there is no huge life goals such as cage diving with Great Whites... haha! 

1) Get life insurance policies & wills set up

2) Set up an outline for a retirement plan

3) Save a large down payment for a new house

4) Pay off the rest of Dan's student loans

5) Finish my Master's degree

6) Advance in my career

7) RX 5 CrossFit WOD's

8) Get kipping pull-ups

9) Get toes to bar

10) Get double unders

11) Do a "fun" run

12) Run another 5K

13) Run another 10K

14) Run another half marathon

15) Run 400 miles between now and my 30th B-day

16) Learn to drive a stick shift

17) Read a book a month for enjoyment

18) Read the entire Bible... again

19) Whiten my teeth

20) Work on my knitting projects

21) Do a family photo shoot

22) Find a church we would like to attend regularly

23) Find an organization I'm passionate about and start volunteering

24) Organize my entire house

25) Grow my hair longer than it has ever been

26) Learn how to french braid my own hair

27) Learn to crochet

28) Start dressing more professional

29) Cook a new and healthy dinner once a month

30) Get pregnant (yes you read that right)

There you have it folks... all the things I plan to accomplish before this time next year! HA! Okay, probably not! Realistically, I'm sure there are some things that I will completely fail at such as learning to drive a stick shift, but I sure plan to give these my best shot and keep you posted on them along the way! Any of you preparing your "30 Before 30" list... or other milestone?

Rimmel London Lasting Finish Pro

I have found a new favorite nail polish product! You know me... I like polishes that last a while because I really don't have the time to constantly change it, but I also am a perfectionist, so I don't want it to look crappy after a day.

I ran across some reviews recently on Rimmel London's Lasting Finish Pro Nail Enamel and thought I better at least give it a try. It says that it last up to 10 days without chipping and many people were claiming it was true! I had to see it for myself!

I ended up picking the Steel Gray color because it was neutral and I thought it would go with several things...

When I opened the bottle up to paint my nails I noticed that the brush was a lot different than others I have seen. It was kind of flat but had a rounded out tip. I thought I wouldn't like it, but it actually made the nail polish go on flawlessly! LOVE!

After putting it on I thought that it dried pretty quickly and also that it went on so smoothly. Much better than other polishes I have tried in the past. I only had to use two coats to get a nice solid color.

Here are my nails on day six... no chips and still look good. This was amazing to me because most nail polishes I have used in the past don't last more than a few days on my nails...

Here are my nails on day eight... the tips are getting worn and there are a few tiny chips here and there, but for the most part they still look great! If you don't look super close you would never know that they hadn't just been done!

And finally day 10! I must say I'm impressed! This polish preformed better than OPI which cost over $8 most places!!! This polish was bought for $3! What a steal! I'll definitely be buying a few more colors to add to my collection!

Mileage & CrossFit Monday

Running stats and CrossFit WOD's for the week of August 19th - August 25th... the biggest thing I'm struggling to do right now is my back to back workouts where I have CrossFit and then need to fit a run in. I'm usually so wiped out from my WOD that day that the thought of doing a run of some sort seems like a daunting task. My best plan is just to run when I don't do CrossFit, but most of the time my body is so stinkin' sore that I just don't want to run at all. I struggled this week with my WOD's... lots of weights where involved and I just don't have that much upper body strength. It seems most people in my classes love lifting during their WOD's, but I would much rather do exercises that just use my endurance and own body. I once again was a disappointment with my running this week. On the days I didn't have CrossFit I chose to spend quality time with my husband and it was well worth it!

Monday, August 19th, 2013 - Warm up : run (400 meters) 30 good mornings, 45 hip extensions, 60 second L sits / Strength : 2x12 back squats (55#) / CrossFit WOD : (10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1) ... box dips, kettle bells (18#), and jumping air squats with (15# bar)... 10:38 minutes / Ran 3.1 miles

Tuesday, August 20th, 2013 - 2 mile walk with Remi / REST DAY!

Wednesday, August 21st, 2013 - Warm up : push press (35#), situps, jumping lunges / Strength : push jerk (50#) / CrossFit WOD : 5 rounds... 2 minute AMRAP (30 tuck jumps, 10 max effort ring pulls, 10 box dips)... Rest 1 minute... 2 minute AMRAP (max effort burpees)... 17 minutes... first time I EVER felt like I was going to puke during a workout

Thursday, August 22nd, 2013 -Warm up : different cleans with PVC bar / Strength : power cleans 10x2 (55#) / CrossFit WOD : "NANCY" ... 5 rounds... (400 meter run & 15 over head squats (18#)... 18:50 minutes

Friday, August 23rd, 2013 - REST DAY!

Saturday, August 24th, 2013 - REST DAY!

Sunday, August 25th, 2013 - 2 mile walk with Remi and Dan / REST DAY!

Total miles ran this week : 3.1 miles

Photo a Day Challenge : Week #34

Day 18 - Someone I Spoke to Today (Remi and I have long convos with each other after Dan goes to work)

Day 19 - Lost (remember Lint... lost but now in a furever home)

Day 20 - Stairs

Day 21 - Slow

Day 22 - A Room (my least favorite one)

Day 23 - Yellow

Day 24 - In the Background

Community Safety Day with the LPD!

This past Saturday was Community Safety Day in the city Dan works for. LPD and their SWAT Team were putting on several demonstrations so we decided to go to see what it was all about.

Community Safety Day had a pretty good turn out for the city. There were a lot of different organizations there illustrating how they benefit the area. I think one of the major reasons LPD has such a strong presence at Community Safety Day is to help improve the relationship with the people in city.

It was really an enjoyable day for me. Mostly because I don't often get to see Dan doing what he loves. I hear about it, but actually seeing him do it is beneficial for me so I understand why this line of work means so much to him.

To keep the show going Captain Steele worked the crowd and the kids! 

First up was the SWAT Demo that Dan was a part of. They demonstrated several different styles of rappelling down a building.

First demo was rappelling by bounding... Dan and Brandonburg did this one...

Next was Aussie style rappelling where you go down face first... which was done by Hensel and Romeril 

Next was a Bang & Entry demonstrated by Gordon... basically on this entry you are rappelling down and then you throw a flash bang into the building and then enter through the window.

Next demo was done by Dan and Brandonburg which was the upside down rappel... this one kind of scared me since the guys up top are in control of the speed and stopping point of Dan! YIKES! They even had Dan and Brandonburg do a race to see which one could reach the bottom fastest so Dan was at the bottom on the building in a matter of seconds! So cool but so dang scary for me watching! Obviously these guys have an extreme amount of trust in each other!

Phew! All finished!! It was a hot day out... but with 50+ lbs of gear... even hotter!

After the rappelling demo was finished it was time for K9 demo!

J. Clark and K9 Rudy

Going in for the bite!

The power of police K9's are amazing... really!!!

However, another amazing thing is that it took both Dan and Gordon to get the bite suit off Captain Vaughn :) HEHE!

The last demo was the Taser... they had a fire department intern and an officer as their victims... Lord knows I would never want to get hit by a taser!

Getting wired up!

TASER! TASER! TASER!

The next one the officer stood and Gordon and Dan held him up so they could gently lay him on the ground once tased...

Getting wired up...

TASER! TASER! TASER!

And then... one of the LPD's officers wives VOLUNTEERED to get tased. WHAT!!!

TASER! TASER! TASER!

Don't ask me why all the officers doing the tasing have evil smiles on their faces.... LOL! I guess it never gets old.

So I know this post was extra picture heavy... but I am so incredibly proud of my husband. Being a police wife is hard... really hard... but these opportunities that I see Dan doing what he loves makes it all worth while!

I'll leave you with the sweetest picture I took of the entire day... a future fire chief!

Doesn't get more precious than that!