Life After 30

Wellp, I did it! I achieved my '30 by30' and completed my project.  It was absolutely a blast and fulfilled it's purpose of getting my mind off of turning thirty. However, I was surprised by how it all hit me the day after my birthday. No more miles to run. No acts of kindness to perform? I didn't have to be at the temple...where would I go? What would I do? Well, I'm happy to say I still got up and ran :) and I thought it was the perfect time to make some more goals.  Some have said life begins at thirty and so here we go.... :)

Here's some highlights of my birthday weekend...I loved every minute of it and am so thankful for the friends and family that celebrated with me.

My last day of Instagram Gratitude in pictures. The word of the day was Self Portrait. This was the best I could do  :)

Highlights from my birthday. Beautiful balloons and goodies at work (plus lunch!), gorgeous flowers and a temple trip to finish up my project.  Such goodness!

The biggest surprise of my birthday-a Kindle tablet from my family!! I was absolutely shocked!!! I'm so thankful for my family and their love for me. They even included a "30 Things We Love About Amy" in it....almost made me cry!! 

 

Day 29: Birthday Eve!

I received my first '30' birthday card yesterday! It was from my Aunt Kate and she wrote inside, in her fabulous handwriting, 'It only gets better from 30'. I hope that's true, it sure is feeling like it. :)

I finished my running goal this morning! 30 miles total in May! My app says I ran thirty one, which I'm okay with, but I'm pretty sure it rounds up..  I'm so excited that I finished it! I want to keep running for the simple reason that I never want to have to start running again. It's finally gotten bearable and something I don't loathe and I know if I quit now it will easily become that again. Honestly I think one of the things that helped me achieve this goal was that it was public. I couldn't imagine logging on here and having to report that I didn't make the goal. So I'll let you all know what my next goal is. :)  The other goals are chugging right along. Tomorrow I just have to do my last two temple names and my random act of kindness.

Today's RAOK is to invite others to join in on the fun. Here goes....

YOU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED....

 

IN HONOR OF AMY'S 30TH BIRTHDAY....

 

TO GIVE ONE RANDOM ACT OF KINDNESS....

 

 

 

Really, do it, it's actually pretty fun :)

 

I listened to this song the other day by Hilary Weeks and loved it.  It's pretty much how I feel about these random acts of kindnesses. I'm sure I'm not changing anyone's life with these small acts, but hopefully I can give just a moment of hope and at least a smile. :)

 

 

 Somebody's down to their last dime
Somebody's running out of time
Not too far from here
Somebody's got nowhere else to go
Somebody needs a little hope
Not too far from here
And I may not know their name
But I'm praying just the same
That You'll use me Lord to wipe away a tear
Cause somebody's crying
Not too far from here

Somebody's troubled and confused
Somebody's got nothing left to lose
Not too far from here
Somebody's forgotten how to trust
Somebody's dying for love
Not too far from here
It may be a stranger's face
But I'm praying for Your grace
To move in me and take away the fear
Cause somebody's hurting
Not too far from here

Help me Lord not to turn away from pain
Help me not to rest while those around me weep
Give me Your strength and compassion
When somebody finds the road of life too steep

Somebody's troubled and confused
Somebody's got nothing left to lose
Not too far from here
Somebody's forgotten how to trust
And somebody's dying for love
Not too far from here
Now I'm letting down my guard
And I'm opening my heart
Help me speak Your love to every needful ear
Someone is waiting not too far from here

Let me know how they go! :D

Tally To Go:
RAOK: 1
Miles to Run: 0
Temple Names: 2
Days Left:1

Days 24-28 Memorial Day Weekend!

The month is quickly coming to a close and I'm pretty sad about it, but not as sad about turning 30. I think that means that this project is working! This weekend was so busy but full of goodness. 

FRIDAY: On Friday some friends and I took part in an important birthday tradition....a free meal at Tucanos Brazilian Grill. Tucanos is a yummy place to eat, it has a ton of Brazilian meats and a salad bar that I love and the best thing about it is they send you a free meal postcard during the month of your birthday. Yesss! So my friends and I went on Friday, with some family visiting from California.  It was great! And at the end of the meal as the waiter asked us if we had saved room for dessert, I called him over and told him I wanted to buy a dessert for someone else, anyone, he could choose, just send the bill my way. I don't think he fully understood it at first, he thought I wanted to secretly buy one for our table but then I explained the whole project and what I'm doing and gave him one of my "Random Acts of Kindness" cards to go with it and he got the idea.  He ended up giving the dessert to a couple dining at a table in our vicinity and watching their faces light up with gratitude was pretty awesome. I kind of love kindness, especially the random kind. ;)


SATURDAY: Saturday was busy and chaotic but so fun.  I was able to run again, finally. The wall of laziness last week had really put a damper on my running.  And I realized, on my run on Saturday, that I had 8 miles left to run in four days. Sounds do-able, right? Well normally it would be, just two miles a day, but then I realized that one of those days was chalk full already with a temple trip before work and working my second job until 10 pm, there really wasn't time for a run that day. So during my first of two miles on Saturday I mentally figured out that if I ran 3 miles Saturday and 3 miles Monday I could eliminate running one day and finish by Wednesday. So that's what I did. I wasn't sure if I could do it, but I just continued on until the three miles was finished. It really wasn't that bad and I'm glad I pushed myself to do it. 

 

So Proud! A new personal record!!

Saturday's RAOK was to empty the spare change in my wallet into a tip jar.  We have a local frozen yogurt joint that I found out had a tip jar.  So on my way to the temple on Saturday I stopped for some fro yo and emptied my change. The girl behind the counter watched one handful of change, then another, and finally another (who knew I was carrying around so much change?!) and she just looked at me and said "Oh thanks, you're awesome!" :)

Isn't their tip jar clever? It says "Tipping isn't just for cows" Teehee..

I was able to go to the Draper temple on Saturday. I have to admit, even though the Mt. Timpanogos temple being closed is costing me more gas money, I am loving the opportunity to visit other temples in Utah! Draper is a gorgeous temple that sits up on a hill. It has a great view of Utah Valley too. Beautiful!!

SUNDAY: Sunday's act of kindness was to 'Be Grateful'. I have kept a gratitude journal for years and write in it every so often, catching up on the things I'm grateful for in my life. So I wrote in it again on Sunday and focused all of my prayers that day on gratitude, asking for very little, but instead expressing appreciation for all that I've been given. As my '30 Book' quotes "I now believe in growing old gratefully, not gracefully"

MONDAY: Monday was awesome!! The random act of kindness for Monday was Service. I spent the morning helping out my roommate and her siblings at the health and rehab facility where she works putting on a flag ceremony and pancake breakfast for war veterans. It was fun and especially nice to get to talk with some of those who have served our country so willingly.  After that it was pool time! :) And then finally to finish off another three mile run. Good stuff!

Not the best pic, but the Veterans being honored

 with "God Bless America"

Flag Ceremony with the Boy Scouts

 

 

TUESDAY: This morning I got up bright and early and headed to the Provo temple. Only two more names to go now!! At lunchtime I am planning on my act of kindness for the day, picking up trash at a local park.  Should be good. Only two days left!!

 



Tally To Go:

RAOK: 2

Miles to Run: 2

Temple Names: 2

Days Left: 2

Days 21-23: Catching Up...

I've hit a wall of laziness!! This week has been uber unproductive, so I'm deeming today a "make up day". I don't know what it is but I have been lovin the lazy life this week. Just one more week of this project left and I want to finish strong. So here's a recap of the last few days and me making up for the unproductivity of it all.

Tuesday's RAOK was 'Make a Donation' so I took a box to DI (our local thrift store) and our extra plastic bags to Target. It was great for me too, that box has been sitting in the trunk of my car for a year or so. It was good to finally get rid of it and I hope that someone can use the jeans and t-shirts inside. And plastic grocery bags are another of my pet peeves. I don't know why some stores think each item you buy needs its own plastic bag but it kind of drives me crazy. I love Target for so many reasons, but especially because I can take my huge pile of plastic bags and give them away and they recycle them. What a great idea!

Wednesday's act of kindness was to give compliments. It was fun to see how one simple compliment could really brighten someone's day and I am honestly surrounded with such amazing people, it was hard to just pick one compliment per person!

No run on Monday or Tuesday made Wednesdays run extra hard and mentally tough, but I pushed through and ran two miles Wednesday morning.  That makes the total down to only 8 more miles to go!! Yay!

I was also able to go to the Oquirrah Mountain Temple on Wednesday night. It is such a beautiful temple, love it! So now the temple names total is up to 17, only 13 more left there.

 

 

Today's random act of kindness is to SMILE.  This one is kind of letting myself off the hook and have an easy day, cause I'm a smiler by nature.  I don't know what it is but smiling is just something that comes natural to me. I'm pretty happy go lucky and genuinely happy most of the time and there's no hiding it on my face. I feel like I'm pretty lucky to be one of those people, rather than someone who naturally frowns and so today I'm sharing my smile with the world. :) It is funny how many people notice a smile and how it can put us all at ease sometimes.  In the words of Buddy the Elf.... "I like smiling, Smiling is my favorite."

 

 

 

Tally To Go: 

 RAOK: 7

Miles to Run: 8

Temple Names: 13

Days Left: 7

Days 17-20: Do you believe in karma?

karma: the good or bad emanations felt to be generated by someone or something:

 

I don't know that I necessarily believe in karma, but I do believe in this scripture

 

"Fear not to do good...for whatsoever ye sow, that shall ye also reap; therefore, if ye sow good ye shall also reap good for your reward."  

 

I received this in the mail today....

 

A personalized thank you from a member I helped with a loan last week. It came in the form of a postcard and was such a sweet surprise!! Totally made my week! (And it's only Monday...)

 

What a weekend! This past weekend I went on a little getaway with some of my best girl friends to St. George, Utah. It was beautiful and a very much needed weekend away from work and worry.  Ah, loved it.  But today is Monday and that means back to reality, and so here's a recap....

Friday: Friday's RAOK was to hold open doors for people, which came in handy since we were shopping at the outlets all day. I was so excited and a little distracted by shopping that I sometimes forgot to hold doors open. Good thing my friends reminded me...they would all stand at a door and wait for me to open it for them :)  I'm glad I have good friends that help me remember to be kind and provide those opportunities... ;) There was one mom that was especially appreciative of the gesture. She had a big stroller and another young one walking with her. I want to remember to hold doors open for people more often, it's so easy and can mean a lot to someone.

Friday's Instagram Gratitude word of the day was memories, and boy did we make some memories!

Saturday: Saturday's random act of kindness was 'no complaining'. I guess that one wasn't too hard being on vacation in sunny St. George, but it was kind of nice to hold back from complaining about anything. Obviously not complaining helped me focus on the good, but I was surprised by how easy it was once I put it out of my mind. I would think, 'Man, you know what I don't like...' and then dismiss the thought and not think of it again.  I like that. And I'm sure the friends I was with enjoyed no complaining during our 3 hour road trip home :)

I finally ran on Saturday at our hotel. It was hard but there was no complaining about it :) I'm glad I did it, that's all I have to say.  We also were able to go to the temple in St. George over the weekend. It is such a gorgeous temple and I'm so glad we could all go together.  So it was a productive weekend, two more miles and one temple name down.

 

Look what I found on Saturday! I better hurry and get to reading this baby...only 10 days left! ;)

Sunday: For Sunday the RAOK was to write a missionary.  In our church we have a missionary program where missionaries volunteer 18 months to 2 years of their lives and are assigned to go to a certain area, or mission, to preach the gospel and talk to people about our church and religion.  I served my mission in Long Beach, California and honestly it was the best experience of my life. It is sometimes hard as a missionary being away from your family and friends and so we are always encouraged to write to missionaries to help them and encourage them in the work they do.  I remember having tons of friends and family write me and let me know things were great at home and that I was doing a great work.  I survived on those letters.  So I took a couple minutes out of Sunday and wrote my friend Irene. She is currently serving her mission in the Cleveland, Ohio area and she's an awesome missionary. We've been writing for about a year and she'll be home soon. It's exciting to see through her letters how she is growing and the success she is having.

 

Monday: Today's random act of kindness was to make cookies for co-workers. So that's what I did.
               Mostly male co-workers + chocolate chip cookies = a very happy office


Tally to Go:
RAOK: 10
Miles to Run: 10
Temple Names: 18
Days Left: 10

Days 15 & 16

I don't want May to end!! I am honestly having so much fun! It's been exhausting and kinda hard sometimes but so so SO fun and exciting.  Here's the past couple of days....

Yesterday's RAOK was to bake a cake.  Since we have a friend who's birthday is on Friday, I decided to make him a birthday cake and we all got together for a little birthday celebration last night. It was a blast.

So, I have a Facebook friend who works at a McDonalds up in Idaho and he recently posted a picture of a receipt where the order taken came to a grand total of over a hundred dollars.  Yeah. At McDonalds. I don't know if it was the Duggar family or if they were feeding a small army but that was their bill.  Since seeing that I've been a little hesitant to do the whole 'pay for the person behind you' act of kindness because what if those people are behind you!?! haha.  It really scares me. So instead, on my way to work this morning, I stopped for a delicious croissantwich at Burger King and also got a $5 gift card for the person behind me. It may not have paid for their whole meal, but at least it could take a small chunk of a $110 breakfast bill. :)

No running for the past two days = a big itch to get my run on.  Maybe I will end up running some over this weekends trip.  I was able to go to the temple early this morning-finally! I got 5 more names done today which brings the total to 11. It was a beautiful morning for a temple trip! As I was leaving though I noticed a sign that said the temple will be closed for cleaning next week...haha...  Good thing I live in Utah and we have about 5 temples within a 40 mile radius.  I'm very thankful for that and hopeful about fulfilling that goal.  Happy Thursday!


Tally To Go:
RAOK: 14
Miles to Run: 12
Temple Names: 19
Days Left: 14

Day 14: Laugh

Today's random act of kindness is to laugh and spread laughter to others. So I sent random jokes of the day to some family/friends. Here's some examples.....

 

I love me some Italian jokes..

 

 

My mom is so smart! I didn't think she'd get that one...

 

 

 

To my little sister..she's kind of a hipster herself so I thought she'd like that :)

 

 

J is my fave :)

 

 

Har Har!

 

Love it!

 

 

 

Tally To Go:

RAOK: 16

Miles to Run: 12



Temple Names: 24

Days Left: 16