Guest Post- Heidi

I'm traveling this week.  Right now I am back in San Diego for work, but today I leave for Vegas for vacation!  I'm doing the Vegas trip with some people who are high rollers and really like to party and not sleep, so I am a little nervous.  Say a little prayer for me that I survive the next 4 days!

While I am gone, please enjoy a very special guest post from one of my bloggy friends Heidi:

Hi 30 Before 30 readers!

My name is Heidi, and I blog over at Bartlebee's Bumblings about school, friends,

and my boring life as a 21 year old college student.

I like the idea of things to do before I turn thirty,

and I have started several lists of my own,

but I always get distracted researching the things on the list and never finish!

So, in honor of Suz's list,

I've decided to create a list of my own, but with a twist.

I combined her idea of a list with a "If you really knew me" list, inspired by Danielle from Sometimes Sweet.

So, here's 21 things you would know if you really knew me:

1. I am not very outgoing until I get to know you well. I pretty much don't talk to new people. I don't mean to be rude, I just prefer to listen.

2. I am a picky eater. Tomatoes are the bane of my existence, to the extreme that I don't even eat ketchup.

3. I hate being touched. Unless I initiate a hug, stick to a wave for your own safety.

4. I am a klutz. I injure myself walking into walls all the time. My nickname in high school was Crash.

5. I am only an English major because of #4. I love science, but klutzes and chemicals don't mix well.

6. I have never seen a single Star Wars, Star Trek, or Indiana Jones. I was apparently raised under a rock.

7. I was that kid that desperately wanted to be popular in high school. I was a cheerleader, but I was never popular.

8. I used to hate my sisters. Now I want to be my sisters. One's in school to be a chiropractor, the other an emergency room doctor.

9. I used to play "Doctor's Office" by myself when I was little, where I was a doctor's receptionist. Now, I actually am a receptionist in a medical facility. Dream come true? Not really...

10. I sometimes dream about growing up in 1912 Brooklyn alongside Francie Nolan from A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, my all time favorite book.

11. If I'm mad, or just hanging out with my roommate, I cuss like a sailor on leave. If I'm not super worked up, I make up my own cuss words.

12. I love clothes, but I hate clothes shopping. When you're in between sizes like me, shopping becomes a nightmare.

13. I am easily distracted. I have been known to start several projects and completely forget about them ten to twenty minutes later.

14. I've had the same best friend since I was 13. She's my exact opposite, so much so that we can't agree on a design for our best friend tattoo.

15. I have been riding horses longer than I have been walking. Here's photographic evidence:

(To be precise, this is a mule, not a horse...)

16. I have my own mule. She's the one pictured above, and her name is Baby. She used to be my grandma's, but Grandma doesn't ride anymore.

17. I am a small town, country girl through and through. I get nervous in big cities, seeing as how I went to a high school of 117 people total, including the staff.

18. I am in the Honors program at my university, and I can't stand it. It was fun up until it wasn't.

19. I love to bake, but hate to eat what I make. Cake baking is my stress release, but I am sick of cake, so I usually give it away.

20. I started blogging because of Frills for Thrills. Sarah is the daughter of one of my coworkers, and I'm friends with her sister.

21. I am jealous of Suz. Girl has her life together - owns her own house, works for an awesome company, has the cutest animals ever. When I grow up, I wanna be her!

Well, now that you all know me a little better,

don't be afraid to hop on over and say hello!

Guest Post! Taylor from The Daily Tay

Well Hello!

My name is Taylor and I blog over at The Daily Tay

Original blog name, I know. But Princess Diaries was already taken…

Anyway,

I live in Chicago with that handsome fellow above,

and our very vocal, and incredibly needy dog, Harlow.

I blog about whatever catches my eye for the day.

Which as of lately has been something regarding Emily Maynard,

Florida cannibals,

or the fact that my boyfriend likes to say I “hide his stuff”

when in fact, I just put it away. 

What’s up with that?

And today, in honor of Suz’s lovely blog,

I thought I’d talk about my own list.

I just turned 25 two weeks ago, and decided I should make a list of 
25 things to do for my 25^th year.

#1 on the list: is to actually make the list.

I just keep talking about it.

#2 was originally going to be: go on kayaking tour down the Chicago River.

But too many Yelp reviews say dead rats float next to you on this tour…ew.

So I have to rethink this one.

#3 should be: run Chicago Marathon.

But that’s already full. So I think I’ll just say, run a marathon.

#4 : Go to amateur night at comedy club and tell jokes.

But first I have to write my bit, or learn what a “bit” is.

And come up with some jokes…

#5: Go skydiving.

Cliché, but whatever.

#6: Stop picking nails and cuticles. For real this time.

#7: Get out of debt- so maybe rethink skydiving, I think it’s like $250.

#8: Actually watch Breakfast at Tiffany’s rather than just pretending like you’ve seen it all these years.

#9: Cook a turkey. Mmm I love leftover turkey.

And by the time I get to #10 I’m usually ready for a drink.

I’ll finish this later.

Stop on by sometime, I love new visitors!

Taylor

www.thedailytay.com
Follow me on Twitter!

To crush or not to crush?

I am sorry I have not been blogging much lately.  You see my mind has been a little preoccupied...

I have a crush.  I full blown crush.  At first it was kind of exciting.  Getting butterflies.  Flirting.  Day dreaming.  But now it has become overwhelming.  I hate it actually.  As much as I want something to happen with the crush, I am SO afraid of something real happening.  I can't take getting hurt again.  I can't take losing a best friend again.  Sometimes it is better to keep it all in your head.  Until that is all that is in your head!

Maybe I have built him up too much in my head?

Maybe I have read too much in to the situation and he really isn't in to me at all?

Maybe something could happen but then it wouldn't work out and I'd be devastated?

What if he doesn't love Jesus?

Does he know that I like him?

Should I be doing something to try to get him?

What if he does know but he doesn't like me?

What if he's just not that in to me?

What if he is into me but is just too shy or hasn't seen a opportunity to do anything?

Source: whysosiirious.tumblr.com via ncsuz on Pinterest

And talk about insecurities.  I have so many insecurities.  About my body.  About my awkwardness.  About my conversation skills.  About my flirting abilities.

I've always had this crush problem.  I've had intense crushes since middle school.  I used to make up code-names for them all so that I could talk about them with my friends without anyone knowing who we were talking about.

In fact #6 on my list was "ask out a crush".  But I wrote HERE about why I was crossing that one off the list without doing it.  But maybe I should reconsider?  hmmm highly unlikely...

I wish I could just turn it off.  Just go back to a time when I didn't have a crush on this person and everything was normal.  Ahh I remember that time.  It was so much less stressful.

Maybe I want something to happen.  Maybe I don't.  Either way I wish it would move in one direction or the other because right now I am just consumed.

Since I am so consumed and cannot form coherent thoughts in my head, I have lined up a fabulous guest blogger for tomorrow.

And if any of you readers would like to guest blog this week while I try to get this crush situation under control, please let me know!

Working Girls Monday

Ever wonder what your favorite bloggers do for their day jobs?  Nikki has started a great series that highlights a different blogger's career every Monday and today I am guest posting over on her blog about my job- the one I have that allowed me to mark off #3 on my 30 Before 30 List- get a job I love!

Thank you for letting me share a little bit of my working life with your readers Nikki!

Go check it out!

  P.S. Wondering how I'm celebrating MLK day today?  I'm in the office. Working.  So try not to rub it in too much if you got the day off today :) 

Valentine's Day guest post

I'm boycotting Valentine's Day, but I know some of you may not be, so I got a great guest blogger to bring you some Valentine's Day entertainment:

Hi, I’m Martin and I’ve been writing rhyming birthday and love poetry for a few years now. Most of these poems are very sweet (corny) and overly sentimental. However, there are a few gems that won’t bore you to death and are actually quite funny (pure bias).

Since it's Valentine’s Day, here’s two funny love poems that will hopefully make you laugh.

Disease
Some call love a grave disease,
Comes and goes, like a morning breeze.
To attain it, use your knees,
A shiny diamond and a please.
Few years later it smells like cheese,
To keep it fresh, you try to freeze.
Bills and payments, so many keys,
Love has mastered, the wallet squeeze.

Here’s an example of a more realistic date, it’s definitely not from a romance novel:

Hungry Love
A little surprise and delicious meal,
Tried my best, to conceal.
I know your very favourite taste,
At the farm, I was chased.
The scented candle, has been lit,
To hide the odour, from my pit.
But don’t you worry, it is fine,
All you need is a bit more wine.
This love of ours, is very hot,
Food in the oven, I forgot.
I am sorry, the food is burnt,
For next time, I have learnt.

Here’s one of my favourite birthday poems

Your Zoo

A birthday should always be a joyous occasion,
Family and friends; obvious invasion.
Duplicate gifts, you don’t even like,
If you complain, might get a strike.

One simple day, placed on display,
Carefully observed, for signs of decay.
Dishonest smiles, they don’t mingle in truth,
As if you were the only, losing your youth.

At such a wise age, everything seems so clear,
Excuse to celebrate, they all came for beer.
Deep down inside, you know that they care,
Your Zoo is unique, normal is rare.

Shawnessy's 30 Before 30

Let me introduce you to Shawnessy!  She has an awesome 30 Before 30 list with an even more awesome bonus goal!  I just love seeing what others have on their list because it inspires me to reach for the stars and gives me ideas of fun things to try that I hadn't thought of!  I was sure impressed with some of the things on her list.  You can follow along with her list progress here on her blog.

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I turned 29 last November and it really started to hit me that 30 was just right around the corner. With every other late 20-something, I was getting a little freaked out. I love my life. I have a great job in advertising, my family is pretty awesome (all 10 of us!), my friends are amazing, and I have a lot of great hobbies that keep me busy (running, reading, traveling, Yankees games). I can’t really complain. However, I did want to attempt to check off a bunch of things before I turned 30. So New Year’s rolled around and I really started to think about it and I started to make a list. I figured doing a 30 Before 30 list as my New Year’s resolution isn’t a bad idea. Now, I know most people give themselves years to accomplish their 30 things. I had less than 11 months. But I’m not a person to shy away from a challenge. I’m a pretty ambitious person and am determined to check everything off my list!



So how did I come up with my list? Well there are things I’ve always wanted to do, so I put it on the list. I googled for some ideas, and added a few more things. I asked for input from my siblings and friends, and all of a sudden I had 50+ goals! Well obviously way too much, so then my next task was to take it down to 30 (well plus a bonus). I tried to provide a good mix of things from outrageous and scary (sky diving and dating), to things I should just get done (pay my credit cards off and finish knitting my first scarf). Others, I’ve wanted to do for a really long time (go to Southeast Asia and take a photography class). By making a list and of course blogging about it, I am stuck with the list and everyone who knows me (or at least reading the blog) will hold me to it!



I’m happy to say that within a month of posting my first blog with the final list, I’m made some good progress. I’ve checked 2 things off completely; will check one more thing off this weekend, and another next weekend. And of course constantly trying to make progress on goals that will take me ALL year to do.



Without further ado, here’s my list!



My 30 Before 30 list (Plus a bonus):



1. Write a blog
2. Go to an NFL or MLS game
3. Boston Qualify
4. Sky dive
5. Go to the Baseball Hall of Fame
6. Finish knitting the scarf I started in November 2008
7. Pay off my credit card debt
8. Go on 11 dates (1/month)
9. Improve my race pace to 7 minutes/mile
10. Snowboard for the 1st time
11. Pick 10 classic novels and read them
12. Try kangaroo meat
13. Finish a whole crossword puzzle (no cheating)
14. Take a photography class
15. Move
16. Shoot a gun at a shooting range
17. Travel to a continent I’ve never been to (I’ve only been to North America and Europe)
18. Go on a hot air balloon ride
19. Create my Family Tree
20. Bake a pie from scratch
21. Write a haiku
22. Do a Polar Bear plunge
23. Take a sommelier class
24. Volunteer with kids
25. Dance in a flash mob
26. Print and frame pictures from post-college
27. Try paddle boarding or surfing
28. Get a fancy drink somewhere fancy in NYC
29. Do a mud run or obstacle course race
30. Watch the sunrise and sunset on same day from 2 different coasts of the USA
31. Kiss Justin Timberlake

Stylish Blogger Award

I am getting ready to leave for my trip, but before I do...

Frankie @ Cheerful Carolina gave me a Stylish Blogger Award!

So here are the rules:

1. Thank & link back to the person who awarded me this award

Thank you Frankie!! You made my day and I got to discover some great new blogs through your post!!



2. Share 7 things about myself...


1) I LOVE sushi! There is a great sushi place right near my house, Tasu, with the best sushi and it is even Buy One Get One Free. Unfortunately they don't let you do BOGO for takeout though.

2) I love playing Words with Friends on my iPhone and not to toot my own horn, but I am pretty good at it. Although I did have a random opponent beat me five times in a row before I gave up. He got at least 20 points for every word he played somehow. It was ridiculous. If you want to play, my name on there is ncsuz.

3) I'm an only child and when I was little I did almost every activity imaginable: dance, gymanastics, swimming, tennis, horseback riding, soccer, piano, cheerleading, basketball, summer camp with rock climbing and waterski lessons...I guess you could say I was very well rounded.

4) I was held several positions in my sorority in college: house manager, scholarship chair, treasurer, and vice president of recruitment. I think those positions prepared me more for corporate america than my classes did.

5) My first job was a cashier at a grocery store in high school. I think I stuck it out for a little over a month before I quit. The produce numbers killed me...I was ringing up apples as cherries and blueberries as pomegranates because I never wanted to pull out the cheat sheet book to look them up. I think they have better ways of looking those up and more fruits and veggies have barcodes and stickers on them now-a-days.

6) My favorite food is honeymustard. I could drink that stuff! And not all honey mustards are created equal...I am a honey mustard connesiour now!

7) I have lived in North Carolina my whole life and love it, but I also love to travel and have a goal of visiting all 50 US states.

3. Toss this award to 15 other bloggers

Made You Blush
Green Door Designs
Domestic Goddess
Barefoot in the Park
Simply Suzanna
The Cottage Gray
Think Classy
That's So City
Big Adventure Calling
Hang On Tomato
tryin' to throw my arms around the world
Miles to Run
Simply Sam
Tales of Our Journey
From LA to L.A.

Also, I've got some guest bloggers lined up in my absence, so be sure to check them out!

Blogging Tips and Guest Bloggers Needed

I have been blogging for almost 3 years now. Not only that, I have been reading blogs for even longer. It is my favorite hobby. I love following along with all the blogs I subscribe to. Google Reader is daily part of my life now. I love when I read a post and immediately want to have a whole conversation about that topic with the blogger. I love that my friends now also say "I heard about that or found that on a blog I was reading." Blogs are just fabulous in my opinion.

However I have developed some preferences and learned some tips and tricks over the years when it comes to blogging. I'm going to try to not be offensive because I know everyone is different and every blogger probably has their own ways of doing things, but as a follower and a writer, here are some things I've learned to make managing my hobby a little easier and more enjoyable:

1. I hate word verification on comments. Please, please if you have word verification on your comments consider taking it off! I understand you don't want spam comments, but commenting should be easy. And word verification makes it hard. If I am on my phone or have a slow internet connection, it's impossible to comment with word verification. And nothing frustrates me more than when I have typed out a long comment and submit it and then the word verification comes up. It makes me want to throw my phone out a window!

Trust me, I haven't had a spam comment get through in months and even when I did have spam, I would get an email with a notification of the comment that was posted so I can go in and delete it immediately. I'm begging you if you have word verifation on your comments, please consider removing it.

Here is a great post on how to turn off that setting:

No Word Verification

2. Please do not do partial feeds to my Reader to make me click over to your blog. If I start following someone who has partial feeds I immediately remove them. I do not have time to click through just to read a post. Why do you think I have a Reader tool? You could be the best writer in the world but I am not going to read your posts if you have a partial feed. One of my favorite authors Jen Lancaster has a partial feed so I no longer read her posts. Please make it easy for your readers. If I like your post and have time I will click through and comment, but if I can't even read your post, I just get frustrated and move on. Please, please push your complete post to my reader and not just a tiny teaser.

3. I don't get blog hops. I don't know what they are. Again I don't want to click through so when all you say is I'm participating in this blog hop, but there is no other content in your post...well I just don't get it and if you do that too many I will unfollow. If someone wants to explain this to me, please do. I think it has something to do with getting more followers to your blog. Well, I'm no expert at that, but I know I don't want unneccessary content filling up my reader. Why don't you just try posting good content people want to read...that is a good way to attract and better yet keep followers I think.

4. Bloggers- please post at least once a week not once a month. I really do want to get to know the people I follow and if you only post once a month I will not remember who you are. I love feeling like I know the people I follow and reocgnizing certain people just by the way their posts are organized. To become a good blogger, you really have to do it on a regular basis.

5. Please allow me to reply by email to your comments on my blog. When I first started blogging I was so confused as to the best way to respond to comments. I have found the best way for me as a follower and also as the blog owner has been to reply by email or get an email reply to the comment I've left. Commenting in the thread isn't good because how do you know the person will come back and read it? Commenting on their blog doesn't work because not all blog readers have a blog. Here are instructions on how to enable the email reply feature in blogger:

Edit your profile and enter your email address under the "Identity" section. Then click on the box next to "show my email address" under the Privacy section. This will provide a link on the profile page that says "Email" and a person could click on that to email you directly. Most importantly this provides a legit email address a blogger can reply to when responding to a comment left on their blog!

6. I know this is easier said than done, but please do not get upset or discouraged if you lose a follower or don't get a lot of comments on one of your posts. Some people just don't click with others. You can't please all of the people all of the time. Even if you don't get comments on a post, that doesn't mean people did not enjoy reading it. I find you just have to try not to take that stuff too personally.

These are just tips and preferences I've developed over the years.  What are some of yours when it comes to all things blogging??

P.S.  I am leaving for my ski trip tomorrow and I am looking for some guest bloggers to keep my readers entertained here on my blog.  I know this is short notice, but if you send me a post about your own life list (it can be about marking something off or just a copy of the things on your list or something you did that inspired you to make a list.)  and also the link to your blog I will post it here on my blog while I am gone.  I leave right after work tomorrow, so please get your post to me by 10 pm EST TONIGHT so I can set them up!  Can't wait to see more about YOUR lists!

Not so Likeable?

Today over at 20 Something Bloggers they are doing their big Blog Swap. Someone else would guest post here and I would do a guest post on their blog. I was pumped. I mean I am trying my best to immerse myself in this little bloggy world and the Blog Swap sounded awesome to me! But you’ll notice- No Blog Swap for me today. My partner never responded to my email. And I never got assigned a new partner. Whatever.

That is the story of my life lately. I don’t know what is going on, but I have never felt so alone. I am starting to get insecure. Do people just not like me? I have always thought I was pretty likeable. But now I am not so sure.

Last week in Bible Study our leader told each of us to call another random person in the group and ask for their prayer request for that week. I never got a call.

Lately no one calls me unless I call them. I spend 9 hours in a cubicle barely talking to anyone because my office is so darn quiet. It is like against the rules to talk around here. I go home and no one calls. I try to call friends sometimes, but 9 times out of 10, no one answers and I don’t do voicemail. If I leave you a voicemail, I am either desperate or it is an emergency. I’m a pretty quiet person in general, but this is killing me.

I have no idea why I am going through this or what I am supposed to learn from it, but it SUCKS.

To take my mind off of the quiet and loneliness, I have challenged myself to run (ahem, jog…or maybe even just walk) 3.1 miles everyday between now and December 6 (the day of my 5K). I went to the gym last night and planned to jog the whole time on the treadmill. (Remember I haven’t jogged in 2-3 weeks!) Well, I got a shooting pain in my side. So I slowed down to a walk until it went away. Then I would jog again until it came back. And repeat. It took me 42:30 to finish 3.1 miles. (I actually thought it would be worse!) My goal is to have a time in the 30-40 min. range on race day. (It’s my first one, so cut me some slack!) And since jogging outside is a lot harder than on a treadmill, I am going to have to really improve on that time over the next 2-3 weeks!

Who needs companionship or talking when there is so much running to be done anyway?

Happy Birthday!

Today is a guest post from my dog Cam (AKA- Schnookums or Schnookie). Cam doesn't make many appearances on my blog, but that is not because he isn't a huge part of my life. It is because he is too fast to keep up with! But today is his BIRTHDAY, so I am giving him my translating and typing skills for the day so he can talk to all of you!



Today is my birthday! I am 2 years old today. (That translates to something like 14 in dog years.) I only know this because my mom keeps saying things like "It's your Birthday!" and "Happy Birthday CAM!!!!!", which was fun at first, but is starting to get annoying. I get all excited and then nothing really happens.



It feels like yesterday I was just a little puppy. (Probably because I still act like one.) I was so cute (still am!) Just a big fluff ball. So tiny. I used to bunny hop up the stairs every night to bed. (I also used to poop in the crate every day and shred mounds of toilet paper when no one was looking!)



I don't know if you can tell from my pictures, but I'm a boarder collie and pretty high strung. When my mom gets home from work, she has to entertain me (usually with the b-a-l-l or a w-a-l-k. Yes, I have learned how to spell now.) I am persistent. I will let you know what I want and I won't give up until I am satisfied. I will be all up in your grill and impossible to ignore. I'm obsessive. I love to do laps around the house which makes it impossible to hear the TV. I love to play chase with Bailey (my kitty brother) and make you think I am on the verge of accidentally killing him so you will get up to investigate. I have many tricks to keep the attention on me.



But today I need more than just mom's attention. I made her give me her blog post today so I can get some attention from all of you! I hear it is rude to ask for gifts for my birthday, so just imagine me sitting in front of you with an intense but adorable stare. I am telepathically sending you the following message: "ball, treats, ball, bone, ball, walk, ball, doggy daycare, ball, ball, ball." You know what to do.





Also, I know a lot of English- car ride, doggy daycare, ball, dog park, walk, go potty, monkey (long story), get on the bed, bailey, down, bow, wait, leave it, stay, no, let's go, high five...I think you get the picture. I am flippin' smart! So leave me a comment for my mom to read to me! (only because I haven't perfected the art of reading YET!)



Today is all about me. It's my day. Thanks for sharing it with me!